Piloot
Active Member
As the title says, don't worry, I will not jump inside of a $750 Flying Suicide machine, I just want to conceptualize the cheapest possible way someone could theoretically, built an ultralight.
In the Aircraft Design/ Aerodynamics part of the thread, I made a forum post about Ding Shilu's "$495" airplane.
A few things came up and made me think, in the Good Ol' United States of America, aluminum is more expensive. In China, aluminum is the most produced and used out of any other country, meaning there was a lot of junk for Ding to use. Over here, wood construction seems to be the cheapest option, if you want to spend a while finding well grained wood, with no knots or sap pockets, etc.
A few designs I thought of would be something like Jack Harper's Ultralight, "The Home Depot Flyer"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Q-8TilAluQ
Home Depot aircraft an ultralight built from plans, with material from the local Home Depot, the Motor glider 101
Midwest Engineering & Design � How to Plans for product to explore our world by air, on land and underwater!
There are plans of Jack Harper's plane, and I am considering purchasing them to see this plane in detail.
The other idea is one I believe is called the "SB-1"
A biplane, wing dihedral 2 axis glider. It reportedly had all parts from the Lowes Department store, with "cheap pine" for the fuselage, with blue insulation foam ribs and aluminum conduit tubing. The creator said it cost just $500! It would take less, or around $500 to add a motor mount system, a PSRU, and a small engine or two.
N15KS's Album: SB-1 Ultralight Glider
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yls_Vgvc410
Not much information is available though.
One thing that I would like to point out, a cheapskate who would botch together a cheap plane, probably would not want to pay for hangar space, or expensive home-to-airfield transport, so portability, like either having 2 or more wings that bring the sideways span to ten feet or less, so it can be towed behind a car easily. Also, a wing attachment system would be easiest with a two axis aircraft, with no cords to put through so you can use alerons, and if someone would figure a way to easily attach and disconnect these control cables, it would be interesting.
Though, I am fairly certain that a two axis Ultralight is by far the cheapest possible.
So go ahead and discuss! Fantasize about the coming dogfight between the Lowes and Home Depot Airplanes! Reminisce about previous cheapskates who made cheap machines, and their uhhh, mishaps!
Have fun!
In the Aircraft Design/ Aerodynamics part of the thread, I made a forum post about Ding Shilu's "$495" airplane.
A few things came up and made me think, in the Good Ol' United States of America, aluminum is more expensive. In China, aluminum is the most produced and used out of any other country, meaning there was a lot of junk for Ding to use. Over here, wood construction seems to be the cheapest option, if you want to spend a while finding well grained wood, with no knots or sap pockets, etc.
A few designs I thought of would be something like Jack Harper's Ultralight, "The Home Depot Flyer"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Q-8TilAluQ
Home Depot aircraft an ultralight built from plans, with material from the local Home Depot, the Motor glider 101
Midwest Engineering & Design � How to Plans for product to explore our world by air, on land and underwater!
There are plans of Jack Harper's plane, and I am considering purchasing them to see this plane in detail.
The other idea is one I believe is called the "SB-1"
A biplane, wing dihedral 2 axis glider. It reportedly had all parts from the Lowes Department store, with "cheap pine" for the fuselage, with blue insulation foam ribs and aluminum conduit tubing. The creator said it cost just $500! It would take less, or around $500 to add a motor mount system, a PSRU, and a small engine or two.
N15KS's Album: SB-1 Ultralight Glider
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yls_Vgvc410
Not much information is available though.
One thing that I would like to point out, a cheapskate who would botch together a cheap plane, probably would not want to pay for hangar space, or expensive home-to-airfield transport, so portability, like either having 2 or more wings that bring the sideways span to ten feet or less, so it can be towed behind a car easily. Also, a wing attachment system would be easiest with a two axis aircraft, with no cords to put through so you can use alerons, and if someone would figure a way to easily attach and disconnect these control cables, it would be interesting.
Though, I am fairly certain that a two axis Ultralight is by far the cheapest possible.
So go ahead and discuss! Fantasize about the coming dogfight between the Lowes and Home Depot Airplanes! Reminisce about previous cheapskates who made cheap machines, and their uhhh, mishaps!
Have fun!
