Alexia
Est. Contributor
- Messages
- 330
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- Diaper Lover
- Little
i decided to build a plane for a winter project. i imagine it can't be much harder or any different than building an RC model on a bigger scale. i mean, the laws of aerodynamics are exactly the same for wound rubber toys, RC models, and the big jumbojets.
i thought the best way to start my project is to go all the way back to square one and study the Wright brothers' planes.
all three of their early functional prototypes used a 12hp piston engine that weighed over 200kg which brought the weight of the whole plane to around 450kg and it still flew.
that was all the way back in 1903 when internal combustion engines were weak and heavy, but these days even a simple lawnmower has an engine that outputs 5hp and weighs less than 20kg. there's also a lot of light materials that didn't exist back then so i could reduce a lot of weight.
so in theory: two lawnmowers match the power of the Wright plane engine with 5x less weight, modern materials make a lighter frame which means the whole thing will have equal or higher power with less weight.
it all adds up on paper but i'm still curious about some secondhand opinions because i couldn't find any useful information on google
i thought the best way to start my project is to go all the way back to square one and study the Wright brothers' planes.
all three of their early functional prototypes used a 12hp piston engine that weighed over 200kg which brought the weight of the whole plane to around 450kg and it still flew.
that was all the way back in 1903 when internal combustion engines were weak and heavy, but these days even a simple lawnmower has an engine that outputs 5hp and weighs less than 20kg. there's also a lot of light materials that didn't exist back then so i could reduce a lot of weight.
so in theory: two lawnmowers match the power of the Wright plane engine with 5x less weight, modern materials make a lighter frame which means the whole thing will have equal or higher power with less weight.
it all adds up on paper but i'm still curious about some secondhand opinions because i couldn't find any useful information on google