So a few days ago I started pondering over the concept of building an RC heinkel 111. I've always had a strong fondness for this plane, and found its smooth curves and eliptical wings very aesthetically pleasing.
I then thought about building it to the same scale as the FT spitfire, realising that the possibility of these two majestic warbirds, flying high in the sky as though they were in the Battle of Britain of 1940, would not be an opportunity to miss....
Today marked day two of drawing up the plans and it's reached the stage where I think it's maybe worth showing to the rest of the flite test community. Having been working hard on drawing up these plans for the past two days I've been doing some serious thinking of how feasable this project is.... (and whether I might just be a complete and total lunatic for even having spent so much time on it already) But for now, every part of me is compelled to build this thing and do it well. Thus I give you the progress so far, and present to you the plan of attack (pardon the pun) for undertaking this enormous task.
Here you can see all the current parts (though incomplete) I have drawn out.
With the top down view above and this front view you can get a good idea of how I will be building the engine nacelles. They will be built along the visibly straight/parralel section of leading edge. The design of the middle rib of this section will be adjusted and extended, allowing the rest of the nacelles formers to attach solidly to the main wing.
To allow for potential transport of this plane, the wings would be composed of three sections, each of approximate width 700cm.
The middle section, half of which is pictured here will be fixed to the underside of the plane.
And two outer sections, pictured below, that will slide off the end of the middle wing section, likely fitted with carbon rods/tubes.
Finally here is a shot of just the ribs of the fuselage and wing spar, which provides a good idea of how I'm planning to capture the plane's smooth curves.
All of these cad drawings might seem pointless if I can't convert them to physical printable plans, however this software has the great ability to allow me to convert sketches (This is what all of the things I have drawn so far are) into a DXF format. This can then be further converted to a pdf, jpg, many other formats, or even sent to a laser cutter if I desired. Though no, I will not be lasercutting the parts for this project.
Finally moving onto plans for actual construction, I intend on making these parts I have drawn up so far from 3mm or 5mm foamboard, and then skinning the entire thing with sheet pieces of 2mm or 3mm depron, this being without the paper, and thus lighter and more flexible. I am of course, concerned about strength, and I think I will have to make some fuselage and wing spars from 5mm birch plywood or balsa. My other main concern is weight, which of course the addition of some plywood will not help. I think that I will have to hope that the large wing area will be enough to provide significant lift for it to take off from the ground.
Next up on the design list for this project is finishing off the basic fuselage ribs, and potentially designing the custom 3D printable landing gear retracts. I want these to be a key feature of the aircraft, accurately recreating the mechanism from the original heinkel 111.
For now though, I'd love to know what everyone thinks of this project, and the progress so far: Do you think I'm an utter lunatic, or could this go on to be a successful project?
~Rob.
I then thought about building it to the same scale as the FT spitfire, realising that the possibility of these two majestic warbirds, flying high in the sky as though they were in the Battle of Britain of 1940, would not be an opportunity to miss....
Today marked day two of drawing up the plans and it's reached the stage where I think it's maybe worth showing to the rest of the flite test community. Having been working hard on drawing up these plans for the past two days I've been doing some serious thinking of how feasable this project is.... (and whether I might just be a complete and total lunatic for even having spent so much time on it already) But for now, every part of me is compelled to build this thing and do it well. Thus I give you the progress so far, and present to you the plan of attack (pardon the pun) for undertaking this enormous task.
Here you can see all the current parts (though incomplete) I have drawn out.
With the top down view above and this front view you can get a good idea of how I will be building the engine nacelles. They will be built along the visibly straight/parralel section of leading edge. The design of the middle rib of this section will be adjusted and extended, allowing the rest of the nacelles formers to attach solidly to the main wing.
To allow for potential transport of this plane, the wings would be composed of three sections, each of approximate width 700cm.
The middle section, half of which is pictured here will be fixed to the underside of the plane.
And two outer sections, pictured below, that will slide off the end of the middle wing section, likely fitted with carbon rods/tubes.
Finally here is a shot of just the ribs of the fuselage and wing spar, which provides a good idea of how I'm planning to capture the plane's smooth curves.
All of these cad drawings might seem pointless if I can't convert them to physical printable plans, however this software has the great ability to allow me to convert sketches (This is what all of the things I have drawn so far are) into a DXF format. This can then be further converted to a pdf, jpg, many other formats, or even sent to a laser cutter if I desired. Though no, I will not be lasercutting the parts for this project.
Finally moving onto plans for actual construction, I intend on making these parts I have drawn up so far from 3mm or 5mm foamboard, and then skinning the entire thing with sheet pieces of 2mm or 3mm depron, this being without the paper, and thus lighter and more flexible. I am of course, concerned about strength, and I think I will have to make some fuselage and wing spars from 5mm birch plywood or balsa. My other main concern is weight, which of course the addition of some plywood will not help. I think that I will have to hope that the large wing area will be enough to provide significant lift for it to take off from the ground.
Next up on the design list for this project is finishing off the basic fuselage ribs, and potentially designing the custom 3D printable landing gear retracts. I want these to be a key feature of the aircraft, accurately recreating the mechanism from the original heinkel 111.
For now though, I'd love to know what everyone thinks of this project, and the progress so far: Do you think I'm an utter lunatic, or could this go on to be a successful project?
~Rob.
Last edited:
