Project News
Projects which inspire others to build their own aircraft Compiled by Mike Slaughter
Project News A big thank you to all those who have contributed to Project News and made it so very varied and this month with some super projects. Whether your creation has flown, or is just part way through, please do share your experience with your fellow members. Every build is different when it comes to skills, experience, opportunities and courage, so don’t imagine that nobody wants to see your finished or part-completed project, get in touch and share! We have another instalment from Andy Best this month regarding his one-off own design project, Blue Two. For those not familiar with the project, over the last few years, Andy has provided updates as he reaches milestones during the design and build of his composite microlight design. Here he reports how the forming of a bubble canopy has been particularly taxing. Nigel Smith details the second ‘completion’ of his Murphy Elite. Initially finished and test flown some nine years ago as a taildragger, it has now been mated to the floats it was always intended to have. The Elite is an enhancement of what was probably Darryl Murphy’s most successful design, the Rebel. I have no recollection of a floatplane appearing in Project News ,
ever! I am sure there has been, but before my time. If you’re lucky enough to live in or near Scotland’s natural wild beauty, I can’t imagine anything better than being able to explore it in your own floatplane. Nigel has kindly given us a little peep into where amateur aircraft construction meets boat building. Tony Roddam’s Zenith CH-750 is an attractive part-built project, in real terms he still has a way to go, but to the neighbours’ eyes it will be an aeroplane that occupies his garage. As he has had to move and store the project, he has come up with a fantastic idea! Most kits come in a large crate, so he has used this to create a building platform, not unique, but large trolley wheels allow the construction platform to be moved outdoors on a nice day, which is very useful. The final bit of genius is that the crate can still largely be used as a crate; he can turn it into a ‘cowboy waggon’ for outdoor storage, with a large tarpaulin and water pipe hoops, adored by allotment holders for creating growing tunnels. An excellent idea for building and storing in confined spaces, worth emulating, I think! To get in touch with Project News, and tell your story, report a milestone or just to send a picture, email: projectnews@laaarchive.org.uk. Please share your story!
Blue Two (LAA 388-15251) A carbon composite two-seat original design By Andy Best
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know that fortunately, most of the Project News stories are of success and of great works done, but it may be of interest to some readers, of my failure to mould a Perspex canopy for Blue Two. A good friend of mine found a local business specialising in powder coating, and they have a large oven which is capable of reaching 200°C. Great stuff, all I need to do is heat the polyacrylic sheet (Perspex) until it is soft and pliable, bring it out of the oven and drape it over my canopy mould. Using a 2mm thick sheet we brought it hot from the oven, in a really floppy state, and draped it over the mould. The centre section formed alright but before we could sort out the waves at either end, the sheet started to harden, and that was that.
In a slightly desperate state of mind, it was decided that if we loaded both the mould and the sheet into the oven at the same time, then the ends might form by themselves, under gravity. Looking back, this was rather a naive approach, as two things happened. One was that the sheet did not form itself to the shape of the mould but remained resolutely wavy, and two was that the mould, made from foam, glass fibre and epoxy resin, just started to melt – unsurprising when you think about it. So, I retreated, and after much labour, cutting, sanding, filling and more sanding, managed to produce another mould but this time in MDF which I hoped would withstand the 170°C required to soften the polyacrylic sheet. This time the sheet was laid over
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