WAR Aircraft replicas international information

[holtzy822]

hi guys this is my first post on here but i just wanted to see if anyone has any information on the WAR aircraft replicas, Im an active member on the Homebuiltairplanes forum but there arent alot of people who seem to know alot about them like flight characteristic and the reason to why there aren't many flying. if anyone has any information that would be great, thanks.

[Victor Bravo]

I have no direct personal experience with them, so this is opinion only. However, they tended to come out a little heavy in a lot of cases, because you were essentially building two airplanes with one engine. You had a wooden Volksplane or KR-1 that was the primary structure, and then you built a foam and glass Vari-Eze cosmetic superstructure on top of it. So there would seem to be a propensity to have a heavier-than-necessary airplane.

With the benefit of 30 years' hindsight, a builder today might choose to build a wooden replica or a composite replica, but not both at the same time.

Today's advances in CNC routers, and CAD-based design, would allow the parts and jigs for a rounded wooden fuselage to be made much more easily, OR allow a CNC mold to be built for a vacuum bagged composite fuselage shell much more quickly than back in the days of WAR.

Like many others, I would LOVE to see this technology used to make kits for mini-warbird replicas today, using the Rotec radial engine or the GM aluminum V-8!

[CDS]

Seek and ye shall find:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvF0uUO1QIs

http://www.scalewings.com/mu%20welcome%20englisch.htm

[Hal Bryan]

FK's Mustang sure looks nice, but it baffles me that they'd go to all the effort to reproduce the airplane in such exacting detail, literally down to the number of "rivets", and then get the markings wrong - the "Star and Bars" not only with no white in them, but in the wrong place, on top of both wings, not just the left.

End of off-topic curmudgeonly geek rant.

[rwanttaja]

FK's Mustang sure looks nice, but it baffles me that they'd go to all the effort to reproduce the airplane in such exacting detail, literally down to the number of "rivets", and then get the markings wrong - the "Star and Bars" not only with no white in them, but in the wrong place, on top of both wings, not just the left.

End of off-topic curmudgeonly geek rant.
<Cough> Ever been in the Eagle Hangar, Hal?
2919

2920
(Note the border too thin on the wings, and the star going all the way to the edge of the circle.)

I agree that if someone is going to spend a lot of money, they ought to spend the time to get the markings right. You see beautifully-restored warbirds worth $M with the same mistakes in the marking. I have a long rant on the subject at:

http://www.bowersflybaby.com/stories/army_paint.html

Ron Wanttaja

[Hal Bryan]

<Cough> Ever been in the Eagle Hangar, Hal?

Touche', Ron! :)

I was also going to point out that one of the insignia is not only in the wrong spot but backwards on the scaled-down F-22 mockup in the KidVenture part of our museum.

Something about casting the first stone...

Anyway, apologies to Holtzy822 for hijacking the thread. Time to moderate myself!

[CDS]

FK's Mustang sure looks nice, but it baffles me that they'd go to all the effort to reproduce the airplane in such exacting detail, literally down to the number of "rivets", and then get the markings wrong - the "Star and Bars" not only with no white in them, but in the wrong place, on top of both wings, not just the left.

End of off-topic curmudgeonly geek rant.

Hal,

I understand your point. I hope that you - or someone else - will buy a few from FK and show us how it's done right!
:)

Blue skies,
CDS

[Hal Bryan]

That's a great idea! :)

I can't wait to see one in person - maybe this summer? Anyway, my nitpick about insignia aside, it really does look gorgeous... Enough for me to buy a few? Well...

[holtzy822]

... i dont have 100k euros to drop on an airplane unfortunately. the KR1 is a wood foam and fliberglass plane aswell, http://fly-kr.com/kr1.htm i would really like to do a full composite or full wood aircraft but honestly im no aeronautical engineer and i usually dont like messing with plans

[Bill Berson]

A scale airplane might have poor handling because of the " scale effect".
Probably not something for low time pilot. Combine with excess weight as Victor Bravo mentioned and that should help explain the small numbers, I think.

[holtzy822]

A scale airplane might have poor handling because of the " scale effect".
Probably not something for low time pilot. Combine with excess weight as Victor Bravo mentioned and that should help explain the small numbers, I think.
hmm ok, the information from the owner and designer of the aircraft says the airfoil and other things that effect handling have been changed to even let the aircraft fly, like a 2 degree twist in the wings for the FW190 and diffrent airfoils. lots of VERY small things that only a trained eye can catch

[Hal Bryan]

There was a very brief thread on this same topic on our old forums at Oshkosh365 - only two replies, but maybe you'll find something useful there:

http://www.oshkosh365.org/ok365_DiscussionBoardTopic.aspx?id=1235&boardid=147&forumid=178&topicid=6137

[holtzy822]

actually was quite helpful, thank you. Also condiering building a smith miniplane now. anyone know if its cheaper to build tube and fabric or wood foam and fiberglass

[EMBLEMHUNTER]

The real B-17 going around as "Memphis Belle" is one that sort of bugs me as to details, the nose art name , it is done in cursive script rather than the true original "block" stlye she really wore during WW2 , my 2 cents worth.....................................