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I have a whole ton of noob questions and thought this would be the best place to ask.

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Terrh

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 12, 2016
Messages
77
Location
Windsor, ON, Canada / Detroit, MI, USA.
Sorry for having like 30000 questions in one post, but I've got a lot of questions and I figure you guys could give me a huge jump start.
I've never done anything like this before, though I have done a whole lot of automotive work, both design and building, and have taken a fair amount of engineering classes, and am always willing to learn more. I don't have much experience with any of the common airplane construction techniques, though none of them seem particularly difficult, and I think I like riveted aluminum the best, though I could see myself using composites for some areas, especially some parts of the fuselage.
I've read on here many times that having stated goals helps people giving advice, so here's what I'd like to do:
I'm wanting to design and build a small-ish plane, specifically, a 3/4 scale OV-10 loose replica. This is not exactly a beginner design, being twin engine, but I don't think that's really a game stopper for me. I have lots of time and lots of room, and access to a full machine shop. This will almost certainly be a multi year project, and possibly on the back burner from time to time as life gets in the way.
I would ideally like it to have reasonable STOL characteristics, and be able to do a bit of back country/unpaved/rough runway use. the OV-10 was designed for this already, and I think I could easily copy it's suspension setup. I'm in Canada, so I don't have to worry about LSA regulations or whatever, homebuilt aircraft here are allowed a max takeoff weight of 5000lbs. I'd also like a somewhat high cruise speed, and it to be somewhat reasonably economical to fly, though that's pretty low on the concern list. At 3/4 scale the OV-10 should have enough room in the "cargo area" for 2 dirt bikes and some camping gear for a weekend, which sounds fantastic to me.
Yes, I realize many of these demands are conflicting - that's fine - I just want a reasonable blend. I'm not looking for 2GPH at 300MPH while lifting 2 tons.
I have no intentions of starting construction until I'm reasonably confident in my design, probably next fall at the earliest.

Anyways, onto my questions:

How do I figure out how much horsepower I need? my WAG for empty weight is 2000lbs and a MTOW of 3500LB, but that's making a ton of assumptions that I don't know enough about yet to assume they can be even close to realistic. I'm hoping to find a suitable automotive turbodiesel, but I'm still trying to figure out just how much power is required. As stated above, I've got access to a full engine shop, and building a suitable engine is the least of my concerns, once I know exactly what suitable is.

How about wing area/design/etc? At 3/4 scale the OV-10 has a 32' wingspan, which seems like plenty, but again, I lack a lot of knowledge here.

When it comes to efficiency, how important is total weight? Is a heavier, more efficient engine ever worth the tradeoff?

How do I figure out exactly how strong wings, fuselage parts, landing gear, etc need to be built?

Is there somewhat easy to learn software that can help me with strength calculations for wing attachment, fueselages, etc? I've used autocad and sketchup a bunch, but they don't really offer much in the way of calculations.

Any books anyone can recommend? Ideally ones that aren't $300+ on amazon, or impossible to find, like many of them in the sticky posted elsewhere.

I've probably got more, but that's all I can think of off hand tonight. I've been wanting to write this post for a few weeks now but many of my questions have already been answered by reading on here.

Thanks in advance for any insight you may provide.
 
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