Wings
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I have always loved flying. My father was an active pilot when I was young, and we were always flying somewhere for Breakfast. The feeling of flight is always a thrill for me. Even Commercial Jet Liners with their rush of power at takeoff fills me with fear and glee every time. With this kind of background and an interest in art, is it any wonder that I also like to draw flying things? Here are just a few ideas. I have Lot's more where they came from.
This is a simple, hand launch, "Ducted Fan" Radio Control airplane design.
This sprite of a plane is a kind of "Pusher" motor glider with a strange retractable landing gear.
Here is a small group of ideas. This is my current thinking on the subject of flying cars. I have moved the wing lower so that the car will have a lower center of gravity. You want to keep most of the weight between the triangle of the three wheels, and LOW, for better street handling to reduce the chance of overturning.
The aircrafts Center of Gravity and the cars center of gravity are in the right place now. I do not like the body shape yet, but the engineering is coming along. The rear drive system is based on a simple motorcycle layout bolted to the airframe. A transmission would switch power from driving the wheels to driving the prop.
This is my "Ahiru" Canard Radio Control Glider Design in action. The flying car would use a similar type of wing layout.
Yahooooo.... Flying low over the lake, they spot the one man submarine.
This is a cleaner version of the one above.
The prop on this one would hit the water. I had better think of another solution!
When I draw, I do not always think of everything. The engines were an afterthought on these "Flat Iron" shapes. I like the way they pierce the air.
This was my first radio controled airplane, an Ugly Stik, way back in 1972. The poor thing flew without a problem several times and then its last flight I forgot to put enough rubberbands on the wing tie down dowels. The wing angle of incidence changed right at takeoff and it pitched up radically. The air pressure subsided and the wing snapped back in to position just before it stalled. It pitched again and gained more altitude. It was out of control and climbing! Finally the few rubber bands holding the wing on gave out and I saw the fuselage at full power dive down straight to the ground ending in a sickening thud. So much for "Das Ugly Stik"!
This Sweet Stik model has been radically modified. It was patterned after a pylon racer. The landing gear was changed to a tail dragger configuration. The wing was made flat and the tie downs were nylon screws inside the fuselage. No rubber bands! I had later added thin aluminum racing wheels that used rubber O-Rings as tires and thin fiberglass wheel pants over those. This thing was wicked! If flew fast and handled like a race plane. It floated on landing but slid off to the side a bit each time. the tiny one was a paint job test. Cute little thing!
Here are 2 canard glider designs of mine. Both are hand built from scratch. The large glider flew well, but the little one had problems. I would like to build the little one again keeping in mind the lessons learned with the first one. The large Glider won second place at this 1983 International Glider Design Competition in Pasadena at the Pasadena Convention center. Warren Winslow stands behind them both. He is a great product and transportation designer. He designed and built a twin wankel rotor, porsche transmission, mustang II front end road warrior. He called it a Mazdarati! He also helped build the prototype Trihawk 3 wheel car. He is a very good clay modeler and a good friend to boot!
