Building a Non-Flying Hurricane

It was for a Rickenbacker 4003s copy, but with a maple neck and a body created from clear acrylic material like the old Dan Armstrong basses.

It would be ambitious work for somebody out there! It could be possible. You could derive 1/5 scale parts in a similar manner to gedburke3‘s methodology, starting with some off-the-shelf kit and scaling up the parts accordingly (without treading on toes of course). You could 3D print these parts, and something like a more detailed cockpit interior and exterior parts. You could then ‘skin’ the framework using more traditional methods, trusting that everything is compatible with your 3D printer’s substrate.

Alternately you could re-scale the parts from the balsa kit and have them laser-cut by a commercial company. How you scan each piece I do not know, nor do I know what format (etc) you would need to provide the company with.

To keep costs down, there may well be companies in China that could do either the 3D printing and laser cutting for a cut down cost if you are buying multiples. I’ve liaised with a few musicians I know in a particular circle, and we’ve discussed having an unusual bass guitar design built in China with, say, five of us involved to keep the costs down.

Some great ideas there Meddle. What bass guitar design was it? I used to play bass myself.

I’m right now looking for Sindlinger plans and may find a way to pay for them too. Does anyone know where I could by Sindlinger’s 5/8 scale Hurricane blueprints?

Would really be of some help as I can’t seem to find any for sale online! which is really strange…

I think the Open Hurricane Project sounds awesome, let me see if I can change it to that.

It would be ambitious work for somebody out there! It could be possible. You could derive 1/5 scale parts in a similar manner to gedburke3‘s methodology, starting with some off-the-shelf kit and scaling up the parts accordingly (without treading on toes of course). You could 3D print these parts, and something like a more detailed cockpit interior and exterior parts. You could then ‘skin’ the framework using more traditional methods, trusting that everything is compatible with your 3D printer’s substrate.

Alternately you could re-scale the parts from the balsa kit and have them laser-cut by a commercial company. How you scan each piece I do not know, nor do I know what format (etc) you would need to provide the company with.

To keep costs down, there may well be companies in China that could do either the 3D printing and laser cutting for a cut down cost if you are buying multiples. I’ve liaised with a few musicians I know in a particular circle, and we’ve discussed having an unusual bass guitar design built in China with, say, five of us involved to keep the costs down.

What about building a large scale model first and then deciding if you really want to go ahead with full size?
….

If you’re going to spend 10,000 hours building a replica, then spending a couple of hundred hours planning what level of detail and then what construction approach you’re going to use will likely be worthwhile.

An excellent suggestion HURRIRV7. I’m thinking of something bigger like Sindlinger size. Anything smaller will not make me motivated and I’m likely to lose interest. Also, I’m mainly interested in the structural aspect and its hard to implement that in small replicas….

TonyT:
Thanks those look like brilliant little planes. Thing is, I was just noticing they don’t have the structural genuineness I’m looking for…

Flyingblind:
Those pictures really help! Thanks I love looking at the Warren-Girder innards. Both informative and helpful for my project.

Beermat:

That is exactly what I want to do! Build the Warren-Girder structure as was original, even if in somewhat smaller scale. And use dope cloth and all those long lost building techniques!

QLDSpitty:

Thanks those are nice! Makes me realize how many parts and bits there are and how hard that would be to replicate!

PS: How do I change the thread to the “Open Hurrican Project”?

Nails on the SimHq Flightsim forum is building a very nice cockpit.
http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/4019183/29/3D_printed_replica_parts_for_F

One thing you could do to make your project a bit different is make the original warren-girder fabric wing. Would you like my drawings?

Here are some photos from my project. Its an original Hurricane but you can get an idea about the tube construction

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Cheapest Idea I can come up with is to buy something like this

http://www.hobbybase.co.uk/hawker-hurricane-1-24th-scale-balsa-aircraft-kit.html

http://www.alwayshobbies.com/model-aircraft/balsa-model-kits/west-wings-hawker-hurricane-mk1-balsa-plane-kit

Then scale every part up and cut it out of what ever you have, that will give you the shape etc of the main aircraft, true you might have to strengthen it in places like with a spar and a support in the fuselage, but it will look like a hurricane.

A couple of probably fairly worthless thoughts…..
Maybe OP should chair the ‘Open Hurricane Project’ with a view to making plans freely available available online, right down to CAD or CNC plans for 3D printable parts….
….

Nice suggestion!

What about building a large scale model first and then deciding if you really want to go ahead with full size?

Here’s a few links to people who have made models:
– 1/8th scale Hurricane, unfortunately unfinished, built with hand tools and readily available materials. Used photographs mostly as the reference material with some Hawker drawings
http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234980465-daves-hawker-hurricane-in-18th-scale/
– 1/5th scale Spitfires and Mustangs, exterior built as close to full size aircraft, interior is wooden core except for parts which could be seen- like through the canopy to the cockpit interior
http://www.spitfireinmyworkshop.net/

If you really want to build a full size replica, then I see nothing wrong with starting with a set of Arthur Bentley drawings and supplementing them with readily available Hawker Hurricane drawings to get general dimensions and then photographs for detailed parts.

If you’re going to spend 10,000 hours building a replica, then spending a couple of hundred hours planning what level of detail and then what construction approach you’re going to use will likely be worthwhile.

Hi

I did this a few years ago relatively cheaply for a bit of fun.
I bought a guillows balsa wood and tissue hurricane model in a 1/32 scale.
This is a small scale model that has pre cut sections that you push out and trim as required. See picture below.
Anyhow, once I removed each centre section I measured it precisely and multiplied that measurement by 32 to get its full size dimensions.
I then marked that width and height on a piece of MDF which I stood up vertically against a wall.
Then I placed the small moulded piece of balsa wood on an overhead projector and kept moving the projector back until the reflected image met up with the width and height measurements on my MDF.
Then, using a marker pen, I drew this projected image onto the MDF sheet and cut it out to get a full size copy of the 1/32 scale model section.
I repeated this until I had all of the sections from the propeller to two sections beyond the cockpit ( I only wanted a cockpit).
These sections were then joined together using 2×1 roof battens.
Finally the whole thing was then covered in old bedsheets and coated in multiple layers of unibond pva / water painted on and left to dry and stiffen.
It worked really well.
Don’t underestimate the size of a full size hurricane cockpit, it took up most of my garage.
Gerry

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That would really make my life easy but I am holding out for trying to build the actual internal skelaton as it was, even if its in slightly smaller size – maybe something like a Sindlinger. Brilliant idea, would love to see some pics of your project!

A couple of probably fairly worthless thoughts:

1) Is it possible for designs to do the equivalent of going out of copyright, and if so is it simply the drawing, attributed to an individual, or does it apply to the design itself? I’m thinking of the various sundry aircraft that are labelled Spitfires, even if they differ in almost every element beyond a (passing) visual similarity. Was there a point in time when you couldn’t simply build a Spitfire in your shed and call it thus?

Maybe OP should chair the ‘Open Hurricane Project’ with a view to making plans freely available available online, right down to CAD or CNC plans for 3D printable parts….

2) Might it not be better for OP to work on restoring some basketcase replica? I recall a thread on here from somebody that had a fairly accurate replica of the rear half of a Hurricane; they were inquiring about its probable origins. While I’m not suggesting that that specific example is up for sale or suitable for restoration, but it seems that OP is trying to keep costs down so this might be a better move? The OP hasn’t detailed the materials they wish to use.

Some excellent suggestions, I am presently living in Bangladesh so it would be hard to find a basketcase replica… I think the Open Hurricane Project sounds awesome, let me see if I can change it to that.

I wish to use steel, wood, various types of scrap, and of course siloconed/doped cloth / various fabric/paint combinations…

Hi,

Alas, it was 15 years ago and the computer they were stored on was ruined in a flood.
It looked very realistic (from about 50 foot away), but once you were sat in the cockpit you were in no doubt that it wasn’t going anywhere. :very_drunk:
The hardest part was the canopy. I used some steel building ties (see pic below) which i connected together and bent over into the shape of a hurricane canopy.
Then, I used a thin sheet of flexible perspex sheet to form the glazing. The glazing was held firm using bolts passed through holes that already come drilled in the building ties. The ability to slide it open and shut was achieved using kitchen drawer runners.
Once all this was painted it looked OK.

It would have made a really good flight sim rig if you had a room big enough to indulge yourself.
I would estimate that the whole thing was about 15 foot long and 4 foot wide.

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That sounds amazing! about a 5/8 scale I assume? I’m toying with the idea of scaling it down to make it less costly, specially after reading this thread. It would be a great achievement if I can get as far as you did! I’d rather lower my ambitions and have a finished product than fail miserably. I was just looking at the Sindlinger…

If you are looking to go down the FSM route, the Nye drawings are free here: http://www.rclibrary.co.uk/files_titles/1390/ScaleAircraft-Drawings_WWII_partA.pdf

There are some dodgy-looking Russian sites that also have a few free GA’s on them – by A.L. Bentley, so they’ll be pretty good. I won’t point you to them because they might be infringing copyright, what with being free?

The link is awesome it has a lot of planes in it! It does give me a better idea. I am looking at this as a long-term project so hope to finish it over time. I’m not going to have a real engine or a cockpit, but I’d like to have the skeletal structure as real, and the surface is mostly doped cloth which would in fact (me thinks) be easy!

Hi,

Alas, it was 15 years ago and the computer they were stored on was ruined in a flood.
It looked very realistic (from about 50 foot away), but once you were sat in the cockpit you were in no doubt that it wasn’t going anywhere. :very_drunk:
The hardest part was the canopy. I used some steel building ties (see pic below) which i connected together and bent over into the shape of a hurricane canopy.
Then, I used a thin sheet of flexible perspex sheet to form the glazing. The glazing was held firm using bolts passed through holes that already come drilled in the building ties. The ability to slide it open and shut was achieved using kitchen drawer runners.
Once all this was painted it looked OK.

It would have made a really good flight sim rig if you had a room big enough to indulge yourself.
I would estimate that the whole thing was about 15 foot long and 4 foot wide.

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Have to agree. What is your intention? If it’s a ‘Full Size Model’ (FSM), there are a few of them around and you don’t need to spend too much to build a new one from fibreglass or whatever from the general arrangements you can find on eBay for not very much – eg. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hawker-Hurricane-Original-Blueprint-Plans-rare-archive-period-WW2-Drawings-/282053943708?hash=item41abb9a19c:g:0-cAAOSwwpdW87l7 – It will be an engineering task of its own but it will not demonstrate any of the particular type of practical engineering (and I agree about that) shown by the real thing.

If you wish to replicate the engineering then you have a very expensive project on your hands, and the money that a full set of factory drawings will cost will still appear as a very small drop in the ocean compared to it.

You make some excellent points, I’m hoping to at least show some of that engineering brilliance if not all. I could use lighter cheaper parts but use the same methods / techniques or attempt to as closely replicate them.

I love the plans you shared but the auction expired! I could try to get a family member living abroad to get me the plans from ebay!

Its not that I don’t have the money its just that in the country I live in right now its hard to pay for stuff to buy from abroad – something to do with the balance of payments of the country…

Thanks everyone for all the comments and suggestions! I’m thinking of making it out of scrap material.

Any pictures of the finished articles?

Used a similar method to build a Hawk for the Lord Mayors Show when I was at Colt, except I sectioned a plastic model and put that on the OHP. The model was built like one of the caricature type cartoons, where the sections were true, but closer together to give a shortened / cartoon appearance.

Hi

I did this a few years ago relatively cheaply for a bit of fun.
I bought a guillows balsa wood and tissue hurricane model in a 1/32 scale.
This is a small scale model that has pre cut sections that you push out and trim as required. See picture below.
Anyhow, once I removed each centre section I measured it precisely and multiplied that measurement by 32 to get its full size dimensions.
I then marked that width and height on a piece of MDF which I stood up vertically against a wall.
Then I placed the small moulded piece of balsa wood on an overhead projector and kept moving the projector back until the reflected image met up with the width and height measurements on my MDF.
Then, using a marker pen, I drew this projected image onto the MDF sheet and cut it out to get a full size copy of the 1/32 scale model section.
I repeated this until I had all of the sections from the propeller to two sections beyond the cockpit ( I only wanted a cockpit).
These sections were then joined together using 2×1 roof battens.
Finally the whole thing was then covered in old bedsheets and coated in multiple layers of unibond pva / water painted on and left to dry and stiffen.
It worked really well.
Don’t underestimate the size of a full size hurricane cockpit, it took up most of my garage.
Gerry

Love the sound of your method, Gerry, and well done on having a go to fulfil your desire to have a Hurricane cockpit.
Any chance of a photo of your cockpit?

Rob