Taylor Titch Anniversary

[flitzerpilot]

The canopy was especially made to my mock-up of a scaled Yak canopy by a real artist in metal forming. The hood slid on guides with small wheels running in a U section and the entire canopy and thin overlapping section hinged to starboard for ease of access. The aeroplane handled beautifully in the air and on the ground, capable of a very small turning circle with no ground looping tendency with the improved ground angle and reduced gear rake. I personally never noticed any problems approaching the stall and recovery was fast.
After my forced landing the aeroplane was fully restored but the Group decided to sell it. Sadly the inspector who was advising the purchaser told him to revert to the standard undercarriage track (but still using the longer legs) and to scrap the canopy, reverting to an open cockpit and repainting it in a civilian colours, despite having CAA permission to retain the Russian military scheme.

I tried to re-acquire the canopy some time later for a potentially more accurate Yak replica to no avail.

 

[Bill-Higdon]

The canopy was especially made to my mock-up of a scaled Yak canopy by a real artist in metal forming. The hood slid on guides with small wheels running in a U section and the entire canopy and thin overlapping section hinged to starboard for ease of access. The aeroplane handled beautifully in the air and on the ground, capable of a very small turning circle with no ground looping tendency with the improved ground angle and reduced gear rake. I personally never noticed any problems approaching the stall and recovery was fast.
After my forced landing the aeroplane was fully restored but the Group decided to sell it. Sadly the inspector who was advising the purchaser told him to revert to the standard undercarriage track (but still using the longer legs) and to scrap the canopy, reverting to an open cockpit and repainting it in a civilian colours, despite having CAA permission to retain the Russian military scheme.

I tried to re-acquire the canopy some time later for a potentially more accurate Yak replica to no avail.

A set of Ladd retracts while not true to scale would be a fun addition to such a project.

 

[flitzerpilot]

Hi Bill, Yes I mentioned those in a previous post on this subject. Bob Ladd kindly sent me a set of drawings for them, but the gear was rather short for a 'Yak' (in terms of the ground angle I'd arrived at). Bob used a shorter four-bladed propeller to absorb the thrust allowing for such a short undercarriage. But a modified retractable landing gear would have been a good addition. However, there was little point in taking things much further without making a new taper wing and tailplane and it would still have lacked total realism and would certainly have required extensive flap area and more power to make it worthwhile.

Later I went so far as to make paper studies of a Lavochkin La 5FN and made a working wooden mock upon the retractable landing gear using a double acting ram and up and down locks. It's easier to fit a flat four into a radial cowl. Other designs were for a Yak 1 and a Polikarpov I-16 to about 83% scale which include a cable-wound retractable landing gear winding onto a wheel rim on a spider plate bearing located on a suppressed firewal. I did send details of this to the Group several year ago.

This last and a Yak UT-1 were 'flown' in X-Plane simulation and worked very well, surprisingly with no vices. Currently I'm working on a much lower-powered scale biplane project.

 

[cluttonfred]

I posted this on Lynn's behalf back in 2017: Design concepts from Lynn Williams

Other designs were for a Yak 1 and a Polikarpov I-16 to about 83% scale which include a cable-wound retractable landing gear winding onto a wheel rim on a spider plate bearing located on a suppressed firewal. I did send details of this to the Group several years ago.

 

[flitzerpilot]

Thanks Matthew for reprising that.

I noticed my 'brain fade' in reference to the 'SK26'. That designation was actually for my Samolet Kombinat 26, based loosely on the Polikarpov I-5, and was an earlier Flitzer biplane alternative that was about 50% structurally completed many years ago and is still stored in Norfolk. UK. It won the PFA's 'best part completed project' trophy back then for Vic Long, but was later shelved while he completed his lovely, fully aerobatic Flitzer Z-1S, G-ECVZ.

The correct designation for the previously attached 'LaGG' style, fixed gear monoplane was SK35.

 

[T Taylor]

The history of the Taylor Titch is readily available so I won't repeat it here, Suffice to say, my wife did considerable research into the aircraft before electing to build, including a visit to Terry Taylor in the south of England before committing and buying plans - so indeed, my wife is likely to be the lady that Terry alludes to. She also corresponded quite a bit with Jim Miller in the US, whose Titch is a superb example of the design.

View attachment 103475

View attachment 103476
View attachment 103477

View attachment 103478

During this build Taylor Titch G-MOLE came up for sale and was one of those things that she 'just had to have'.

View attachment 103479

The aircraft now resides in the Far North of New Zealand where is is registered as ZK-RMC (my wife's initials).
I have been occasionally permitted to fly the aircraft, and the closest aircraft that I can liken it to within my limited

The history of the Taylor Titch is readily available so I won't repeat it here, Suffice to say, my wife did considerable research into the aircraft before electing to build, including a visit to Terry Taylor in the south of England before committing and buying plans - so indeed, my wife is likely to be the lady that Terry alludes to. She also corresponded quite a bit with Jim Miller in the US, whose Titch is a superb example of the design.

View attachment 103475

View attachment 103476
View attachment 103477

View attachment 103478

During this build Taylor Titch G-MOLE came up for sale and was one of those things that she 'just had to have'.

View attachment 103479

The aircraft now resides in the Far North of New Zealand where is is registered as ZK-RMC (my wife's initials).
I have been occasionally permitted to fly the aircraft, and the closest aircraft that I can liken it to within my limited experience is the Mudry CAP10B.

The aircraft is unusually spacious inside - the previous owner was about 6'4" and 220lb (in American money) although he had built a lowered seat pan in aluminium (aluminum) as opposed to the plywood platform called for in the plans. Both my wife and I sit on comfy cushions for best visibility.

The flaps do little other than to create drag - fine on the approach but the Titch is not exactly a STOL machine and so my wife has elected to save weight and omit them on the aircraft that she is building.

experience is the Mudry CAP10B.

The aircraft is unusually spacious inside - the previous owner was about 6'4" and 220lb (in American money) although he had built a lowered seat pan in aluminium (aluminum) as opposed to the plywood platform called for in the plans. Both my wife and I sit on comfy cushions for best visibility.

The flaps do little other than to create drag - fine on the approach but the Titch is not exactly a STOL machine and so my wife has elected to save weight and omit them on the aircraft that she is building.

Great to see Rhona progressing with her Titch and what I think is a one piece spar, like Jim Millers, construction looks excellent. Only one other female has ever contacted me and is building a Titch in the future, Alana Spurling, literally a rocket engineer. Nobody has ever fitted one of those to a Titch to my knowledge!

 

[Tailwind_Fan]

Great to see Rhona progressing with her Titch and what I think is a one piece spar, like Jim Millers, construction looks excellent. Only one other female has ever contacted me and is building a Titch in the future, Alana Spurling, literally a rocket engineer. Nobody has ever fitted one of those to a Titch to my knowledge!

Hi Terry,

Alana Spurling here, I don’t plan on installing a jato/rato bottle either. I stopped by Aircraft Spruce in late November to pick up the spruce spar stock for my Tailwind. I also brought my Titch plans to get an estimate on the wood to start building. No word yet from the young man who helped me. I know there’s several resources for materials in the Los Angeles area. I’m definitely going to build light and strong. Happy holidays.

-Alana

 

[Makaya]

Hi Kiwi

How did your wife joined the the spars to make a one piece spar .
Laminated center section, scarf joined to outer spar cap ?
Or straight in , spliced to center spar cap ?
What was the trick ?

 

[Bill-Higdon]

Hi Kiwi

How did your wife joined the the spars to make a one piece spar .
Laminated center section, scarf joined to outer spar cap ?
Or straight in , spliced to center spar cap ?
What was the trick ?

If I remember correctly the plans include the option for either a 1 piece or 2 piece spar

 

[Kiwi_]

Terry will have to correct me here, but my recollection is that his dad designed the wing to be built in a single car garage (this is an English concept - a garage sized to contain one car only due to 'real estate' being limited), hence it was built in two separate halves and subsequently joined. The 'joining apparatus' added some 18lb (from memory) to the weight of the wing. Given that we were not as constrained for space as Terry's dad, my wife elected to build a one piece wing.

I won't dwell on sizing the spar - it is a 'new' wing after all - however the calculated dimensions 'spookily' correspond with both the plans and an analysis that Terry was kind enough to supply. Naturally, the structure will be tested by static loading when complete.

The spar caps were constructed from a series of spruce laminations which were scarfed and run tip to tip. Joints are strategically located so as not to overlap and as far away from the highest bending moments as possible.

My wife commandeered my crappy old site saw, some of my clamps, some box section and then made a highly technical jig from 'weetabix' in order to create the scarf joints:



To my amazement it actually created a respectable scarf:



She cut up a work bench that she said that I didn't need and built a dedicated 'spar-building table' upon which the spar was fabricated (naturally said table was bolted to my one remaining work bench):



If you refer back to post 30 on October 28, it is possible to see more clearly the cheap shelving brackets used to retain the spar cap during construction (they must be checked for a 90 degree angle before using).

Given that I had no work bench, no table saw and no clamps alas I was sent out to work for a living and mule all of this spruce and aircraft hardware back from the USA.

My apologies for the tome - I do hope that it was useful for someone.

 

[T Taylor]

What thickness did you use Kiwi for each lamination? Losing all those nuts and bolts would be a real weight reduction.

 

[Kiwi_]

Hello Terry - I do hope that you are keeping well.

I seem to recall that the weight saving for a one-piece wing, as mentioned above, is of the order of 18lbs which is clearly significant.

Below is the method that we came up with to fabricate the spar caps. Please accept it caveat emptor - the wing has not been tested nor flown yet, so the information is provided for 'interest' only and in the spirit of sharing ideas.

The spar caps were laminated from a combination of ¼” and 3/8” thick sitka spruce planks. The simple rationale behind this scheme is to utilise the wood from the materials list on Sheet 3 of the plans. Additional 10’ x 3” x ¼” planks were acquired to provide the extra material required (although there is no reason not to laminate the entire spar cap from 3/8” thick spruce).

The 9’6” x 3” x 1½” (2) and 3’ x 3” x 1½” spar material (from the Materials List on Sheet 3 of the plans) is sawed and planed into planks of 3/8” thickness.

The spar cap material is scarf joined according to a predetermined schedule which must ensure that:

(i) All such joints have at least a 1:15 gradient.
(ii) Joints in individual laminations must be staggered as far from the aircraft centreline as possible (where the spar bending moment is greatest).
(iii) Joints between laminations should not lie adjacent to one another.
(iv) No through-fittings are to be attached to the spar in the region of a scarfed joint.

Each lamination should finally be marked with its centreline and a individual identifier which adequately describes its sequence in the spar cap lamination sequence.

You can see in the photographs that my wife is using Aerolite 306 adhesive. These photographs were taken in England mid-summer, and with this glue I recall that the girls had enough 'shuffle time' for about two laminations at a time. By switching to Aerodux they realised a longer 'shuffle time' and were able to lay up more laminations.

I hope that this is useful.

Kiwi

 

[bebedriver]

Here's another that appeared for sale in the UK Light Aircraft, Clasic Taylor Titch For Sale., For Sale, advert ID=23836

 

[T Taylor]

Hello Terry - I do hope that you are keeping well.

I seem to recall that the weight saving for a one-piece wing, as mentioned above, is of the order of 18lbs which is clearly significant.

Below is the method that we came up with to fabricate the spar caps. Please accept it caveat emptor - the wing has not been tested nor flown yet, so the information is provided for 'interest' only and in the spirit of sharing ideas.

The spar caps were laminated from a combination of ¼” and 3/8” thick sitka spruce planks. The simple rationale behind this scheme is to utilise the wood from the materials list on Sheet 3 of the plans. Additional 10’ x 3” x ¼” planks were acquired to provide the extra material required (although there is no reason not to laminate the entire spar cap from 3/8” thick spruce).

The 9’6” x 3” x 1½” (2) and 3’ x 3” x 1½” spar material (from the Materials List on Sheet 3 of the plans) is sawed and planed into planks of 3/8” thickness.

The spar cap material is scarf joined according to a predetermined schedule which must ensure that:

(i) All such joints have at least a 1:15 gradient.
(ii) Joints in individual laminations must be staggered as far from the aircraft centreline as possible (where the spar bending moment is greatest).
(iii) Joints between laminations should not lie adjacent to one another.
(iv) No through-fittings are to be attached to the spar in the region of a scarfed joint.

Each lamination should finally be marked with its centreline and a individual identifier which adequately describes its sequence in the spar cap lamination sequence.

You can see in the photographs that my wife is using Aerolite 306 adhesive. These photographs were taken in England mid-summer, and with this glue I recall that the girls had enough 'shuffle time' for about two laminations at a time. By switching to Aerodux they realised a longer 'shuffle time' and were able to lay up more laminations.

I hope that this is useful.

Kiwi

Thank you Kiwi, that is very useful and I assume similar to Jim Miller's spar. I see a lot of discussion about glues on here, Aerodux 500 seems common over here now, I think this was 185 in the earlier days but 306 was considered a lot cleaner to use. A chap rebuilding a Titch says he just uses only 500 and puts the pieces together, no preparation of plywood or spruce at all. That doesn't sound right to me, I felt some de-waxing of the ply is essential.

Hope you're also keeping well, how far along is the Titch Rhona is building now?

Best wishes.

 

[T Taylor]

Hello Terry - I do hope that you are keeping well.

I seem to recall that the weight saving for a one-piece wing, as mentioned above, is of the order of 18lbs which is clearly significant.

Below is the method that we came up with to fabricate the spar caps. Please accept it caveat emptor - the wing has not been tested nor flown yet, so the information is provided for 'interest' only and in the spirit of sharing ideas.

The spar caps were laminated from a combination of ¼” and 3/8” thick sitka spruce planks. The simple rationale behind this scheme is to utilise the wood from the materials list on Sheet 3 of the plans. Additional 10’ x 3” x ¼” planks were acquired to provide the extra material required (although there is no reason not to laminate the entire spar cap from 3/8” thick spruce).

The 9’6” x 3” x 1½” (2) and 3’ x 3” x 1½” spar material (from the Materials List on Sheet 3 of the plans) is sawed and planed into planks of 3/8” thickness.

The spar cap material is scarf joined according to a predetermined schedule which must ensure that:

(i) All such joints have at least a 1:15 gradient.
(ii) Joints in individual laminations must be staggered as far from the aircraft centreline as possible (where the spar bending moment is greatest).
(iii) Joints between laminations should not lie adjacent to one another.
(iv) No through-fittings are to be attached to the spar in the region of a scarfed joint.

Each lamination should finally be marked with its centreline and a individual identifier which adequately describes its sequence in the spar cap lamination sequence.

You can see in the photographs that my wife is using Aerolite 306 adhesive. These photographs were taken in England mid-summer, and with this glue I recall that the girls had enough 'shuffle time' for about two laminations at a time. By switching to Aerodux they realised a longer 'shuffle time' and were able to lay up more laminations.

I hope that this is useful.

Kiwi

Just one thing, were you and Rhona married when we met at the local airport? How did I not realise that?!

 

[Makaya]

Thank you very much Kiwi. Very helpfull post of yours
Did she laminate the upper spar cap in form , then the lower, then assemble the whole spar ?
Or laminate the upper, then use them as jig to laminate the lower during assembly ?

 

[Kiwi_]

... I assume similar to Jim Miller's spar.

I had the good fortune to meet with Jim at OSH 2006 when I was on layover in Chicago. A truly gifted craftsman and gentleman, his Titch was very much a function of his ingenuity and talent. Jim's spar started life as a yacht's mast - I can't recall for sure, but would I suspect Douglas Fir. After he had carefully explained the features of his aircraft, such as the titanium gear legs, the canopy that he produced himself, its light weight and performance on a C90, I walked away with two pads of notes and a feeling of total inadequacy mumbling under my breath "I am not worthy".

Did she laminate the upper spar cap in form , then the lower, then assemble the whole spar ?
Or laminate the upper, then use them as jig to laminate the lower during assembly ?

Once again, caveat emptor - Rhona's wing has not been tested nor flown - this was just our solution to the problem of a one-piece spar. It is important to establish the lamination schedule as I alluded to in post #52. Using our method the caps must be built separately in order to establish the correct taper from root to tip then assembled. Something Terry clued me in on which I would have otherwise overlooked - the spar caps get quite thin toward the tip. Whilst they will easily carry what small bending moment exists way out there, it is worthwhile running a check on the glue joint against the shear web.

 

[n45bm]

If I remember correctly the plans include the option for either a 1 piece or 2 piece spar

MY plans for the Titch show only a two piece spar.