Vetteguy18
Member
Hey y'all,
I kinda jumped into the deep end here but I'm a go big or go home builder. I should preface this by saying, as much as this is a monumental project, I feel that it is within my (limited) scratchbuilding skills. I found plans for a balsa H-4 and scaled them up and got to building a basic fuselage. As it takes shape I'm having to start making design decisions and I am not super familiar with seaplanes. So basically I got a few questions:
1. I'm planning on running one esc per motor for a total of 8. And I'm a bit concerned about cooling. So I'm back and forth from locating them in the engine nacelles and having them be cooled from airflow into the cowlings, or centrally locating them in the fuselage and having some sort of cooling duct or maybe a fan. I would normally put them in the nacelles but I'm worried about water getting in and shorting something out. Should I go the cowling route and try to waterproof them? Or locate them in the fuselage and worry more about cooling?
2. I'm making the wings removable for storage purposes. I'm thinking 2x1.5 inch wood spar that essentially bolts to the center section of the wing/fuselage. But seeing how much the wings flex up on the real one as well as running some quick calculations guessing at weight and whatnot have me cringing at whether that's gonna be enough.
3. I'm 3d printing the nosecone, the tailcone, the cockpit area and the engine cowlings, and possibly the spinners. I was going to print a lot of the top deck of the fuselage but I'm trying to be mindful of weight. Any ideas in terms of access to the inside of the fuselage for access to the electronics tray/interior structure/etc? Best I can think of right now is some sort of hatch in the middle of the fuselage and probably another access point right below the flight deck 3d printed part.
4. I'm waterproofing it with flite test's method as shown a while back by Peter Sripol. Will this be adequate or do I need to consider another option for the v hull that makes up the bottom of the plane?
5. With an airplane this big I'm concerned about being able to stop after landing in an adequate distance. My friend that's spearheading the project with me has recommended either thrust reversing or speed brakes of some sort. Any thoughts from anyone who's built or flown a flying boat? At the very least the plane will have flaps, full flight controls, and throttle. I need to know if I am gonna have to buy something with more than 6 channels.
6. Finally, just trying to make sure the plane is gonna be structurally sound enough. As always I'm aware its a balance between strength and weight. Would a couple of wood longerons be a prudent move?
Closing thoughts: Thank you for reading my "book" of a post, before you say it, yes, I'm aware that this is an insane project, yes I'm aware this is very difficult, yes I'm prepared to spend an insane amount of time and a decent chunk of change on this, and I have an actual engineering student helping with this. I have built planes before, even big ones, But never seaplanes and I'm new to scratchbuilding with foamboard. Any thoughts and comments would be appreciated. The plan is to have it ready before flite fest next year. Oh and we might take it to the evergreen museum to see the real deal when it's done.......
Thanks in advance for your time and excited to see what y'all think.
Regards,
Alan Palmer
P.S. Yes the number one question is "where are you gonna put that thing when you're done building it????"...........
I kinda jumped into the deep end here but I'm a go big or go home builder. I should preface this by saying, as much as this is a monumental project, I feel that it is within my (limited) scratchbuilding skills. I found plans for a balsa H-4 and scaled them up and got to building a basic fuselage. As it takes shape I'm having to start making design decisions and I am not super familiar with seaplanes. So basically I got a few questions:
1. I'm planning on running one esc per motor for a total of 8. And I'm a bit concerned about cooling. So I'm back and forth from locating them in the engine nacelles and having them be cooled from airflow into the cowlings, or centrally locating them in the fuselage and having some sort of cooling duct or maybe a fan. I would normally put them in the nacelles but I'm worried about water getting in and shorting something out. Should I go the cowling route and try to waterproof them? Or locate them in the fuselage and worry more about cooling?
2. I'm making the wings removable for storage purposes. I'm thinking 2x1.5 inch wood spar that essentially bolts to the center section of the wing/fuselage. But seeing how much the wings flex up on the real one as well as running some quick calculations guessing at weight and whatnot have me cringing at whether that's gonna be enough.
3. I'm 3d printing the nosecone, the tailcone, the cockpit area and the engine cowlings, and possibly the spinners. I was going to print a lot of the top deck of the fuselage but I'm trying to be mindful of weight. Any ideas in terms of access to the inside of the fuselage for access to the electronics tray/interior structure/etc? Best I can think of right now is some sort of hatch in the middle of the fuselage and probably another access point right below the flight deck 3d printed part.
4. I'm waterproofing it with flite test's method as shown a while back by Peter Sripol. Will this be adequate or do I need to consider another option for the v hull that makes up the bottom of the plane?
5. With an airplane this big I'm concerned about being able to stop after landing in an adequate distance. My friend that's spearheading the project with me has recommended either thrust reversing or speed brakes of some sort. Any thoughts from anyone who's built or flown a flying boat? At the very least the plane will have flaps, full flight controls, and throttle. I need to know if I am gonna have to buy something with more than 6 channels.
6. Finally, just trying to make sure the plane is gonna be structurally sound enough. As always I'm aware its a balance between strength and weight. Would a couple of wood longerons be a prudent move?
Closing thoughts: Thank you for reading my "book" of a post, before you say it, yes, I'm aware that this is an insane project, yes I'm aware this is very difficult, yes I'm prepared to spend an insane amount of time and a decent chunk of change on this, and I have an actual engineering student helping with this. I have built planes before, even big ones, But never seaplanes and I'm new to scratchbuilding with foamboard. Any thoughts and comments would be appreciated. The plan is to have it ready before flite fest next year. Oh and we might take it to the evergreen museum to see the real deal when it's done.......
Thanks in advance for your time and excited to see what y'all think.
Regards,
Alan Palmer
P.S. Yes the number one question is "where are you gonna put that thing when you're done building it????"...........
