Fluburtur
Cardboard Boy
Enough teasing in other threads, now is time to make one dedicated for this one!
First, a bit of history of this airplane.
In 1937, the French air ministery wanted a light single seat fighter after realising in 1936 during the Spanish civil war that the french aviation wasn't really up to date. They published the wanted specifications, many companies were interested including L'arsenal de l'aéronautique or Caudron-Renault (which made the C.714, will probably make one in the future as well)
It was decided to build the airplane out of wood to save on strategic materials but as it turned out, it was a bad decision because the woods needed weren't cultivated anymore and it would make the logistic very complicated, however that also meant that subassemblies of the aircraft could be made in wood workshop and there were plenty of peoples skilled in that kind of work back then
The first prototype flew in april 1939 and could reach 558kph at 5200 meters and had a maximum altitude of 9000 meters.
In may 1940, 40 airframes were done and awaiting to be finished with 167 more being unfinished. Around 19 finished aircrafts including prototypes were made.
It didn't participate in combat because of the armistice and the German invasion so no one knows how it would have worked in combat operations but estimations can be made.
It was less armed than the BF109 but was faster and more maneuverable than the contemporary D.520 which would have made it very dangerous in the hands of an experienced pilot (my war thunder experiences confirms that, I love that plane)
Because of the wooden construction it could have been similar to the Yak 3.
In conclusions it is a nice aircraft and I could have included it in last year's build challenge because it fits the criteria.
Anyways, I decided to build one but this time I went into a more complex approach that folded cardboard or even wire cut foam.
I made a 3d model of the airplane that I plan on 3d printing in order to make plaster molds to either make molded foam models or fiberglass ones, apparently special equipment is needed for molded EPP or EPO so it most likely will be fiberglass.
I was a bit impatient so I printed a scaled down version of the full model, I will make it into a proper "desk plane" later.
The first few prototypes will probably have 3d printed bodies and wire cut foam wings, I am not done with the 3d model yet so im far from making it proper for RC use.
I plan to make molds in order to make them easy to make because I want to sell RC planes and start my own little company, I also plan on sending one to the FT guys but don't tell them.
First, a bit of history of this airplane.
In 1937, the French air ministery wanted a light single seat fighter after realising in 1936 during the Spanish civil war that the french aviation wasn't really up to date. They published the wanted specifications, many companies were interested including L'arsenal de l'aéronautique or Caudron-Renault (which made the C.714, will probably make one in the future as well)
It was decided to build the airplane out of wood to save on strategic materials but as it turned out, it was a bad decision because the woods needed weren't cultivated anymore and it would make the logistic very complicated, however that also meant that subassemblies of the aircraft could be made in wood workshop and there were plenty of peoples skilled in that kind of work back then
The first prototype flew in april 1939 and could reach 558kph at 5200 meters and had a maximum altitude of 9000 meters.
In may 1940, 40 airframes were done and awaiting to be finished with 167 more being unfinished. Around 19 finished aircrafts including prototypes were made.
It didn't participate in combat because of the armistice and the German invasion so no one knows how it would have worked in combat operations but estimations can be made.
It was less armed than the BF109 but was faster and more maneuverable than the contemporary D.520 which would have made it very dangerous in the hands of an experienced pilot (my war thunder experiences confirms that, I love that plane)
Because of the wooden construction it could have been similar to the Yak 3.
In conclusions it is a nice aircraft and I could have included it in last year's build challenge because it fits the criteria.
Anyways, I decided to build one but this time I went into a more complex approach that folded cardboard or even wire cut foam.
I made a 3d model of the airplane that I plan on 3d printing in order to make plaster molds to either make molded foam models or fiberglass ones, apparently special equipment is needed for molded EPP or EPO so it most likely will be fiberglass.
I was a bit impatient so I printed a scaled down version of the full model, I will make it into a proper "desk plane" later.
The first few prototypes will probably have 3d printed bodies and wire cut foam wings, I am not done with the 3d model yet so im far from making it proper for RC use.
I plan to make molds in order to make them easy to make because I want to sell RC planes and start my own little company, I also plan on sending one to the FT guys but don't tell them.