Great plane name

cluttonfred · Nov 12, 2020

I think our Dutch members will agree, the last one is the best. Now we have a name for the 21st century Volksplane! ;-)

ScaleBirdsScott · Nov 12, 2020

So in Japan it is basically just a "whatwhat"?

12notes · Nov 13, 2020

I disagree, the Himster Gims sounds like an aircraft, and Ding's Bums sounds like a WWII squadron.

Huppeldepup sounds like the noise a radial engine makes at idle, which rules out the Volksplane.

malte · Nov 13, 2020

12notes said:
Huppeldepup sounds like the noise a radial engine makes at idle

I thought radials idling are making "bucket-o'-gas-bucket-o'-gas-bucket-o'-gas...."

ToddK · Nov 13, 2020

The best airplane name ever:
Pushy Galore

Turd Ferguson · Nov 13, 2020

ToddK said:
The best airplane name ever:
Pushy Galore

x2 if the pilot's name is Bond, James Bond.

cluttonfred · Nov 13, 2020

12notes said:
Huppeldepup sounds like the noise a radial engine makes at idle, which rules out the Volksplane.

Maybe, maybe not.... ;-)

BJC · Nov 13, 2020

That would be a cool looking airplane, especially with a taller turtlrdeck.

BJC

blane.c · Nov 13, 2020

On one hand the aircraft isn't especially streamlined to begin with, on the other hand it needs all the help it can get. Pressure cowling, and ditto the turtle-deck.

cluttonfred · Nov 13, 2020

Nope, no way I would hide that radial under a cowling (though sadly the 5V is no longer in production). We've had plenty of threads on "improving" the VP-2, but they usually end up concluding that Bud Evans was a pretty smart cookie, so I come back to "build it as designed, as lightly and simply as possible, then worry about modifications later."

Vigilant1 · Nov 13, 2020

My vote for best plane name goes to the XP-55: When Curtis flipped a plane around putting the tail in front and the prop in back, then named it the "Ascender.'

That would never make it past the corporate and military brass today.
Curtiss-Wright XP-55 Ascender - Wikipedia

Victor Bravo · Nov 13, 2020

No, the greatest aircraft name of all time, especially from the perspective of how it met its demise, is without a doubt the Beardmore Inflexible.

The name of this aircraft alone is enough to get the surviving members of Monty Python back together and write a sketch about it.

blane.c · Nov 13, 2020

cluttonfred said:
Nope, no way I would hide that radial under a cowling (though sadly the 5V is no longer in production). We've had plenty of threads on "improving" the VP-2, but they usually end up concluding that Bud Evans was a pretty smart cookie, so I come back to "build it as designed, as lightly and simply as possible, then worry about modifications later."

Ditto Evans was a genius. He also built it simple so that "cosmetic" alterations could be accomplished with little risk. Not increasing the weight is very important, but the original has cowling and honestly covering as much of the radials as practical will be easier on peoples eyes. And the problem most have with the turtle deck is even though it appears they try to make it light in many cases it ends up like a chunk of lead. The VP's are composite aircraft in the truest sense as there is wood, fabric, steel, aluminum, plastic and fiberglass in there construction so why not build the turtle-deck from carbon fiber and keep it light? It isn't structural just a fairing.

cluttonfred · Nov 13, 2020

The sketch shows the Verner 5V just bolted the firewall for simplicity in the drawing, but in reality there would be an engine mount as the Verner might end up slightly lighter than a VW and it would certainly have all it's weight concentrated and so would need to be mounted a little farther forward for balance. At that point I would make a cowling from the firewall to a circular "false firewall" or ring leaving the engine fully exposed like Scott did with his Verner demonstrator. Alternatively, I would continue the cowling over the case and around the prop hub for neatness but leave the cylinders exposed like a Sperry Messenger.

n45bm · Nov 14, 2020

blane.c said:
Ditto Evans was a genius. He also built it simple so that "cosmetic" alterations could be accomplished with little risk. Not increasing the weight is very important, but the original has cowling and honestly covering as much of the radials as practical will be easier on peoples eyes. And the problem most have with the turtle deck is even though it appears they try to make it light in many cases it ends up like a chunk of lead. The VP's are composite aircraft in the truest sense as there is wood, fabric, steel, aluminum, plastic and fiberglass in there construction so why not build the turtle-deck from carbon fiber and keep it light? It isn't structural just a fairing.

The VP-1 is as beautiful as the Stuka in the same sense.

blane.c · Nov 14, 2020

Well all I can say is Evans was looking for a much cleaner airframe going forward with the VP-3.

cluttonfred · Nov 14, 2020

blane.c said:
Well all I can say is Evans was looking for a much cleaner airframe going forward with the VP-3.

The VP-3's main innovations over the VP-1 were the cantilever wing and structural changes to the fuselage required to accommodate it and the swept rudder. The rest was quite similar in spirit -- box fuselage, fuel tank integral with forward fuselage decking, short fairing behind the cockpit.

PS--Does anyone still have a link to the source of those 3D model images of the VP-3?

blane.c · Nov 14, 2020

The yahoo link, I am not sure. I did copy everything I could find if you want it I can post it.

cluttonfred · Nov 14, 2020

I don't want to clog up this thread, but if you could send whatever of those 3D images you have (did Fritz do those?) that would be great. I do have all the plans image scans I could find. Thanks!