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  1. V

    P38?

    My favorite too. No known kits but I built a 5/8 scale one 15 years ago. I mounted 2 V6 Evinrude outboards with 2:1 gear drives on two 3" moly main booms covered with shaped forms. The center boom was a 500 gal P-38 surplus drop tank. It took me and another engineer over 10 years but it flew...
  2. V

    VW-powered Spitfire

    Sounds like a Sonerai except made of wood. Very feasible.
  3. V

    Heinkel He-111

    In the June 1994 issue of kitplanes mag someone built a Me 109 E.
  4. V

    Which P-51,Best bang for the buck

    The P-5151 is 70% scale and really( from a distance) looks like the real thing. I built one of the first but with fixed gear, underpowered and overbuilt weightwise. It was a fun plane even though.
  5. V

    replica's other than p-51 p-40

    How about getting Sonerai 2 plans, ($100) midwing, a little foam around to round out the body, and engine section to make it look like a radial, convert it to single place with a sliding canopy, a U.S.S. Enterprise paint job, and viola, you got a WILDCAT. Depending on time and skills, it could...
  6. V

    replica's other than p-51 p-40

    About 15 years ago I built a 5/8 scale P-38 with another engineer but had to sell out my half when he moved to Washington to work for Boeing. We were about 90% finished, and last I heard it flew ok, but was overbuilt, overweight, and underpowered. It barely broke 100 knots in level flight. I'm...
  7. V

    Loehle 5151

    I'm building my Sonerai 2 into a P-40. I'm building a single cockpit, sliding canopy like the P-40. I'm using a hopped up 2170 cc VW engine but disgusing the nose section. I'm thinking of using foam to round out the body but still using fabric. The small wing area makes it like flying a brick...
  8. V

    Raptor F-15 Replica

    About 7 years ago a guy had a 1/2- 5/8 scale or so fiberglas F-4 Phantom body at the airshow he was trying to market. I believe the only engines both fitting would be ducted fans, powered by a pair of V6 Evinrude outboards. They (the engines) would weigh about 150# each, be about 18 inches in...
  9. V

    P-51 Replica. It's a Slow Day, so Let's Design One.

    The landing gear I used on my 5/8 scale P-38 was power "tilt" cylinders and Bendix pump used on Johnson outboard motors. It was easy, cheap, and super light.
  10. V

    Loehle 5151

    I built one of the first ones, but I over built it "heavy" and it had fixed gear, and a 50 HP 503 engine. What a dog, but it was a lot of fun to fly, and I wish I still had it cause I'd trim some of the weight off it and put in a hopped up 65HP Geo engine with a reduction drive. I certainly...
  11. V

    Loehle 5151

    Re: 5151 Welcome to the club. I'm building a P-40 using a Sonerai 2 airframe but converting it to single place with sliding cockpit. I was building a hopped up Geo Tracker 1590 cc engine with 2:1 geardrive of my own design for power, but everything is dragging on so long I'm going to use a...
  12. V

    Building a twin mustang

    The Merlin had a gear drive. It had a WOT prop speed of 3000, but an engine speed of about 3850. A better choice for power would be an aluminum BB Chevy of 537 inches turbo charged. A conservative reliable 700 HP at about $15,000 each. A reduction drive for another $5000 for a total of $40,000...
  13. V

    Building a twin mustang

    Re: Bong Yes, Richard Bong was out of the Kenosha Wisc area. A real hero, 40 kills. Another hero was Kelly Johnson who at 28 years old designed and built the P-38 in record time. It flew perfectly right away. His other design was the SR-71.
  14. V

    Cost Of Full Size Replica

    From building a 5/8 scale fighter on, the cost of a larger scale increases by the square. A full size can cost 3 to 4 times what a 3/4 scale plane costs. Better off pulling a fighter off the bottom of Lake Michagan and restoring it.
  15. V

    Messerschmitt Bf-109

    The Me109 was more or less built by taking the largest most powerful lightweight engine, and building the smallest, lightest airframe around it. The guns, the MG42's were also very light, lighter than our M-60's, and the cannon was built into the engine, so they were not a weight factor. My...
  16. V

    Messerschmitt Bf-109

    A few of my ancesters also flew both BF 109 E's and Stuka's in WW2. Although the ME 109 was small by fighter standards, it might be a handfull building full size. I would think a 75% scale would be more practical with better engine availabilty for such, aluminum chevy 350, 3.1 V6 chevy, turbo...
  17. V

    Sonerai ii vs Sonerai iiL

    As a 50 year engineer of high performance vehicles, my advice is make only one modification at a time. If it doesn't work, it is simple to revamp. If you make 3 or four changes, you don't know which works and which hurts. But good luck with your mod's, as that's what EXPERIMENTAL means. Bill
  18. V

    Flywheel, alternator with regulator and other odds and ends for sale

    How much better does the C35 cam perform over a C25 with a 2180?
  19. V

    Ok, Critical turbine failure.... Corvair Engine in a Sonerai II ?

    I'd recommend a Geo Tracker engine. It puts out 75 HP stock, and 80-85 HP with minor tweeking, plus it only weighs about 150# dry. It will allow radiators to be put in the nose as a P-40, or under the belly as a P-51, where ever you want to balance it out. A prop drive is available from RAVENS...
  20. V

    Loehle 5151

    I'm not so sure about Mazdas reliability. When a Wankel goes, it locks up big time. Not something you want a fixed prop to do. Most piston engines will chug, pop, snort, and knock, and get you home somewhere before it completly craps out. I worked on the very first Wankel that entired this...
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