oriol
Well-Known Member
Hi all!
Jim Marske says that when he went from wood to composites, with the Pioneer 3 (149kg) from the Pioneer 2 (195kg) he was able to save almost a quarter of the weight. So, one would think that perhaps most of aluminium and wood aircrafts, can experience a similar significative weight reduction. However, on a post discussing the Bede 5 someone suggested that the design could be improved using composites, but Orion replied that the Bede 5 was not possible to reduce its weight by using composites, given that the aluminium used was very thin.
As always, I guess that it is very difficult to make general statements, and that each case might be particular.
As a random an example, do you think that the Cri Cri can be made more lighter using composites, or it would be pointless, like in the case of the Bede 5?
I believe that something similar might happen with many tube and fabric airplanes, in which the resulting weight of using composites might be higher than that of a fabric skin.
OTOH, does a moldless airplane is much heavier, than the equivalent airplane using molds?
Marske suggests, that making molds becomes advantageous when doing at least three airplanes, if compared to building using the moldless technique.
Thanks for your inputs,
Oriol
Jim Marske says that when he went from wood to composites, with the Pioneer 3 (149kg) from the Pioneer 2 (195kg) he was able to save almost a quarter of the weight. So, one would think that perhaps most of aluminium and wood aircrafts, can experience a similar significative weight reduction. However, on a post discussing the Bede 5 someone suggested that the design could be improved using composites, but Orion replied that the Bede 5 was not possible to reduce its weight by using composites, given that the aluminium used was very thin.
As always, I guess that it is very difficult to make general statements, and that each case might be particular.
As a random an example, do you think that the Cri Cri can be made more lighter using composites, or it would be pointless, like in the case of the Bede 5?
I believe that something similar might happen with many tube and fabric airplanes, in which the resulting weight of using composites might be higher than that of a fabric skin.
OTOH, does a moldless airplane is much heavier, than the equivalent airplane using molds?
Marske suggests, that making molds becomes advantageous when doing at least three airplanes, if compared to building using the moldless technique.
Thanks for your inputs,
Oriol
