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Stitch and glue (or tack and tape) airplanes?

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cluttonfred

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I have mentioned this before but not, I think, as a dedicated thread. Some folks may know that I have built several small boats over the years and I am often scheming of ways to cross techniques over from boats to planes. One common modern boat-building technique, especially for amateurs, is the stitch and glue method. For anyone not familiar with it, the nickel version is that flat plywood panels are cut to approximate a rounded shape, pulled together along the edges with wire or zip ties around permanent frames or temporary molds, taped along the edges with epoxy and fabric, and Bob's your uncle.

Canoe_stitch_and_glue.jpg

There is also a simpler, no-stitch version you can use called tack and tape where you stick to easy curves (conical and cylindrical projections, or close) and you don't have to fight the plywood into position so you can jump right to the tape part. Of course, just like making a globe by stitching together American football-shaped pieces of paper, the more joints you the closer it gets to a curve, but the amount of work and weight increases as well since epoxy is heavier than plywood. On the other hand, if you stick to only a few joint lines (chines in a boat hull) then you can actually save weight because you can eliminate the long pieces of wood to which the the plywood edges would normally be nailed.

All this to say...why not do something similar for an airplane fuselage? The component parts and the permanent bulkheads or temporary frames could be CNC cut with precision, a strip of carbon tape laid in the joint could provide extra strength, bulkheads taped in as well, and the whole thing would be a lot faster and easier than either traditional plywood construction or composite hand layups. A hexagonal fuselage like this Praga Air Baby might be a good place to start.

praga air baby.jpg
 
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