"Larry Smith" wrote in message ...
"Lpmcatee356" wrote in message
...
where can I find construction details - howto files?

Try downloading the Quicke construction manual. It's not much more than a
seat
with wings.

www.finleynet.com


I used an ergonomically designed race-car seat as a mold and laid one up
using Rutan cloth and epoxy, then reinforced it with foam and a few more
layers of glass. The best way to learn about glass layups and molds is
reading Rutan's treatise on moldless foam construction and watching Mike
Arnold's AR-5 videotapes. Btw, the strength is not in the epoxy but in the
fiberglas. Or S-glass, or carbon fiber. However the resin matrix permits
the fibers to realize their strength.

At its website Cessna explains why it uses exclusively aluminum
construction. Cessna says there are too many unknowns regarding glass and
that aluminum is better. Well, aluminum IS better in some respects, but
glass is also better in many respects too. Fiberglas is easy to repair, it
lends itself nicely to compound curves, it does not corrode or fatigue like
aluminum, it is capable of absorbing more shock than aluminum, and its
strength-to-weight ratio cannot be beat.

Plus, when is the last time you saw a laminar flow wing made of aluminum?

You have to be very careful not to get your glass layup overweight. You
have to be very careful not to let your glass ship get hot in the sun. You
have to be very careful not to let UV rays eat the resin. But then,
composite construction must be viable or you wouldn't see so many Lancairs,
Cirruses, White Lightnings, Pulsars, and Eezies boring holes through the
sky.

Composite construction is labor-intensive, and that's part of the reason why
Boeing and M-D haven't migrated to it completely. Give them time.


Boeing are rapidly moving over to composite manufacturing if you look
at the press releases on the new Boeing 7E7 dreamliner project the use
of composite parts in the aircraft has risen dramatically and now it
is not just non-structural items composites are now being used to
manufacture major structural items such as tailplanes fins bulkheads
etc. The Airbus A380 is also making extensive use of composites to
minimise weight.

I believe that Boeing and Airbus both realise that the time of
composites has come they are just being cautious and implementing a
bit more with each new model.