George, if the truth be told.. Had I known then, what I know now, I'm not sure I would have taken this project on. I've spent a pile of money and time to get it up and going. It's been a real uphill battle to get the thing where it is today.

My day job is an Industrial designer [well.. and a corporate pilot but thats only part time] working w/ steel mills and power plants designing heavy equipment. This project is not much different from my day job, just alot more 'precise' which translates into headaches.. the thing grows ~ 0.0012" per degree-F in length. This can cause some problems in out warm Canadian winters :-). All in all, this isn't really an issue for building plug's and molds. A plug or mold machined to w/in 0.010" is going to be pretty darn good, and typically much better than the average hand built mold. For high precision molds which are accurate down to the thou, it's do-able, you just have to pay attention alot more to controled climate, as well as mantaining the machine temp to control thermal driven movement. [gee, that rolls off the tongue soo easy :-)]

I've several airframe design's but the one that prompted me to build the machine was this one[attached]. It's a four seat [expandable to 6 but would be a little cramped <-- like the back seat of a 172] twin, using two 20b's or two four rotor's. It would also fly on 13b's but they would be in a minimum weight model, not alot of amenities.

It most likely won't be my first aircraft however, as it's going to be a huge undertaking. I'll most likely start w/ something a little smaller. I've always wanted a Pollen Special [or a Corsair, Fw190, F8f] made from carbon. Trim it down, smooth out the lines a bit and throw a 20b up front, single seat.. it'd be a blast.

I've gotta be carefull what I jump at from now on, I'm gonna be a dad here in 5 months so.. all things concidered some of my 'hobbies' are going to have to start paying their way :-)

Freight isn't that bad to Austrailia! We send stuff down there once a month in my day job [ by the container load]

All the best

Jarrett

 

----- Original Message -----

From: George Lendich <lendich@optusnet.com.au>

Date: Wednesday, January 31, 2007 1:58 am

Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: New Cowl Contest

>
> Jarrett,
> A great and admirable undertaking - I wish you lived/worked locally!
> Give us an idea of your design!?
> George ( down under)