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  1. flitzerpilot

    75% scaling

    I agree with Crusty. 75% may be OK for some biplanes when you can climb into an open cockpit (although you may have to widen the fuselage slightly). But low wing monoplanes look 'toylike' at that and lower scales when you view them up close and personal. My feeling is that 80-88% is a better...
  2. flitzerpilot

    75% scaling

    Agreed. One favourable factor is the relatively large cockpit in relation to the overall size, so at 75% scale is should fit an 'average' pilot just fine, ie. with sufficient headroom. Combined with the low-set wing, evidently attached below the lower longeron line, this provides plenty of...
  3. flitzerpilot

    75% scaling

    The R.30 is an excellent choice due to the original machine having a relatively long nose for a radial installation and the cockpit situated almost right on the CG with the fuselage being of generous depth at that point..The radial cowl dimensions will suit a cosmetically-cowled flat-four and...
  4. flitzerpilot

    Everything I Really Need to know I Learned from my Fly Baby

    Ever seen a double circular rainbow, pasted on a cloud with the sun behind you? You approach it at speed with the shadow of your aeroplane in the middle rushing at you - almost instinctively you want to blink - and then you dissolve the cloud with a white, shockless impact. Magical!
  5. flitzerpilot

    Everything I Really Need to know I Learned from my Fly Baby

    I'm with Roy on this. Single seat yes, eyes aligned on a/c centre-line, flying in tee shirt and goggles on a sunny day, wrapped in an arctic jacket in winter, the elemental joys provided by an open cockpit - and the slip ball - it's there just to confirm that a wind riffling whichever cheek...
  6. flitzerpilot

    Those Were the Days!

    Yep, Canadian Car and Foundry Hurricanes were all without spinners. I have an idea that some, with Packard Merlins, used in films had spinners fabricated to fit that didn't look quite right, but served their purpose.
  7. flitzerpilot

    Dornier Do. 335 and Blohm & Voss Bv P.163

    I am a great fan of the BV designs and the P.208 above is definitely a favourite. But as the thread has drifted slightly to include the little Skoda-Kauba experimentals perhaps I may be forgiven for posting this image of an SK.V4 (rough draft) which was part of a paper study for a C.90 powered...
  8. flitzerpilot

    Just how fast was the SR-71?

    Whenever I got my Flitzer 'on the step' it could hit 95 mph! :0) (125 mph in a screaming dive.)
  9. flitzerpilot

    Weiss Manfréd WM-23 Ezüst Nyíl

    The relatively short-span elliptical planform, somewhat large (by comparison) tailplane area and the inverted gull wing was it seems strongly influenced by the design of the Heinkel 112 (export) fighter, intended as a home-produced radial-powered all wooden alternative. It remained a one-off...
  10. flitzerpilot

    The 10 Most Beautiful Military Jets Ever

    My list is long but it would definitely include the Me 262, F-80, F-84F ((me too BJC), Panther, Tiger, F-5, Hunter, various Sukhois, Folland Midge, various Meteors up the the F.8, MiG 17 and on and on.....
  11. flitzerpilot

    Britain's Top 10 Most Beautiful Aircraft

    The lovely Speed Six is the last of its kind. A friend of mine, David Hood, part-owned it for a while many years ago and rescued it from oblivion. Back then it had a large bubble hood.
  12. flitzerpilot

    Curtiss-Stinson Special

    JLF, your side elevation looks very pretty, but I don't know how you are going to enter the cockpit with that 'A' framr cabane, especially with an 18" wide fuselage. Are you going to mock up the cockpit area? That airfoil may have its zero incidence CP at about 40% which is good news for you...
  13. flitzerpilot

    The Experimental Swedish WW2 Fighter - Saab 21

    Yes, the MiG 31's canards looked as fragile as those on the Konkordski.
  14. flitzerpilot

    Britain's Top 10 Most Beautiful Aircraft

    I consider the Mew Gull's perfection of line to be unsurpassed in terms of pre-war British racing machines, matched only by the DH 88 Comet. It was a great golden age of air racing and many of the classics are represented in this oil painting of the preparations for the 1937 King's Cup Air Race...
  15. flitzerpilot

    The Experimental Swedish WW2 Fighter - Saab 21

    Maybe, who knows? Did that have a thermoplastic bonded RAM skin as well?
  16. flitzerpilot

    Britain's Top 10 Most Beautiful Aircraft

    Damnlottafun, I am flattered that the Flitzer was included in this list. Indeed the 'folklore' surrounding it was that it was intended as a publicity artefact for the novel I was working on, but which was shelved due to protracted testing and certification of the prototype Z-1 and developing...
  17. flitzerpilot

    The Experimental Swedish WW2 Fighter - Saab 21

    Clutton Fred, Re: the 'Mantis' close-support/battlefield air superiority/ stealth composite canard, yes, I designed the airframe for this back in the 1980s and the model was exhibited at the First Arab Air Fair in Dubai 1986, where it was confiscated, held in a side room under an armed guard...
  18. flitzerpilot

    Faking the curves?

    Hi Tiger Tim, I already did that years ago. I'll see if I can find a side elevation - sort of Wedell-Williams style. I also drafted a scaled GeeBee Z intended for a then available 1/2 price Rotec but the 160 hp. Verner 9 would have been sensational. I only drew the plan view though in some...
  19. flitzerpilot

    Faking the curves?

    Rigger Rob, yes the C-200 spars tapered in thickness gradually in a similar ratio to the elliptical planform. If I can find the time I will complete the drawings to a publishable standard. With the Blackburn Cirrus motors now exceedingly rare and the up-rated Mikrons rather expensive perhaps the...
  20. flitzerpilot

    The Experimental Swedish WW2 Fighter - Saab 21

    This was my suggestion.
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