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These are the Conquest IV molds in progress with the fist half completed. The second half waxed and sprayed with release ready to spray Gel Coat.

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With the Gel Coat applied and waiting for it to set up a little bit. Getting ready to apply the glass cloth next to complete the second half of the molds.

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The Conquest IV has been completed. Doing some remodeling in the shop. I needed to install another hundred or so feet of shelves to hold all these Classic Pattern Planes pictures to follow.

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I've had many emails and PM's asking me if I can show some pictures of the process of making one of these molds. OK, here I will show you guys some of what I go through to preserve one of these Classic Pattern planes. It is fairly costly and if I didn't love the great lines of these Classics I probably would never have taken on such a project. I just couldn't find these anywhere on the planet and I guess I just wanted to have them to fly once again. There just isn't anything else like them around.

I would also like to thank everyone that has helped in my efforts by loaning me the plane parts and kits to bring them back for everyone to enjoy.

These shots are of the "Atlas" a 1975 World Champion.

First here you see the fuselage set up in the parting board.

The second picture is the clay being applied all around the fuselage to fill the tiny cracks and voids between the parting board and the fuselage.

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The "Atlas" was designed by Wolfgang Matt and had a wingspan of 64 3/4". The wing area is 730 sq. in. & the length is 55 inches.

These next pictures are after the fuselage has been installed into the parting board, the cracks have been filled with the clay putty, the board and the fuselage has been waxed with Partall wax and the PVA release has been sprayed on everything. Then I spray the gel coat.

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I am showing here some of the beginning steps in applying the fiberglass to build the mold. I had cut glass marbles in half with a diamond saw to use as registration bumps on the mold. I glue these to the parting board with thick CA. In these first steps of applying the fiberglass I cover each marble with a few small patches of glass cloth to make sure there are no voids or bubbles of air trapped in these areas. Then I follow up by mixing some thickened resin into a putty and applying it to each location. The thickened resin is also applied to anywhere there is a sharp square corner because the glass cloth will bubble in these areas.

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Next is to apply all the layers of the glass cloth to make the mold. About 10 layers of 10oz. fiberglass cloth are required to build the mold thick enough to be durable and rigid. Besides the gel coat it takes over two gallons and many yards of fiberglass cloth to produce a mold. These are the finished molds.

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In the "Atlas" model it had a clear canopy that is installed to the fiberglass fuselage which is fairly unique. Most of the Classic Patter Planes that I have done had the canopy as part of the fuselage. In this case I had to make a plug of the original canopy for my Vac U Form machine. To do this requires the use of a different resin that sets up with out the heat associated with the tooling resins that I use to make the other molds. This is the picture of the finished Plug for the canopy of the Atlas. I make the new canopies with .030" PETG plastic and they are very nice. Better than the original

dhal22

Quick question Don. Was it only 2 days from me ordering to you shipping my Atlanta short kit? Or was it 3 days? Regardless, it was very nice to have received the kit so quickly. Thx a lot. Now my assembly line gets longer though.

doxilia

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Beautiful work as always Don.

Where are you at with the Deception siblings mold work? Have you had a chance to work on those yet?

Also, we need some snaps of your finished P8 on RCG! Inspiration for someone who's in the throws of painting!

David.

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Thanks David and David. Just doing some lettering and clear coats on the P8, A Chipmunk and an Extra. I'll post some picks soon. I have not done the Exception yet. Doing a Tiporare 750 and some others next.

doxilia

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Don,

would you be able to post some snaps of that T750?

David.

AllTheGoodNamesAreTaken

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Truly inspiring work Don!

It's cool seeing my Atlas being reproduced! A lot of these classics would eventually fade away without your work!

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Hi David

These are some pictures of the Tiporare 720 & 750. The 750 is the second one and it is a little longer at the nose and also at the tail. Looking straight at the nose the 750 is also more narrow. Anyway check out the pictures. The pictures with the three planes are the Tiporare 720, Tiporare and the Illusion. The Illusion is very much the same but the wing is raised up to a mid wing position.

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Hey Jeff

Here is the first Atlas pulled from the new mold. I also taped on a Clear New Canopy I made for it.

Don

I noticed the pics are a little out of focus, I will update with better ones later.

AllTheGoodNamesAreTaken

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Fantastic!

jnred123

Hey Don,
Remember those three fuselages I got you to send to that guy in New York that we were buying a car from?
I got em today, YHOO!
We paid for the car about a year ago and had almost given up on the car and by default my fuse's but it all turned around in the last 6 weeks and we got the car and more importantly my fuse's.
So after about 6 or 7 months in the trunk of a 56 Chrysler New Yorker I have my Speeda and UFO Fuse's and couldn't be happier with them.
Anybody thinking of ordering a fuse from Don and are not sure about what they are getting just do it, they are strong, stiff, light and layed up with skill and care.
Oh and Don those wheel pants are spot on for my F3A models as well, thanks again.
Cheers
Greg Hede
Australia

doxilia

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Excellent Tipo pictures Don!

Good work on the Atlas too.

So I take it that if one aligns the wing saddle LE area of both the Tipo's, the 750 has a TE which ends aft of the 720 and both the nose and the tail end beyond those of the classic 720 as well?

It would then be interesting to compare the wing saddle of the Tipo 720 and Illusion as the latter is also a 750 squares design. The Illusion should have a wider wing saddle compared to the 720 but my understanding is that otherwise, except for its position in fuse, the two molds are identical. If you were able to take pictures of the fuses from above with their bottoms toward each other aligned at the saddle LE this could be confirmed.

It would also be interesting to compare the wing planforms of the Illusions and Tipo 750. While they both have 750 squares, they might not have the same spans or general planform. I'm not sure if you are going to put those wing planforms into CAD (if you don't, I'd be happy to do so) but I imagine you'll have to for purposes of cutting the cores. I'd be interested in a PDF of those planforms for my records.

As far as I know the T720 and I750 are 65" span wings. I don't know if the T750 has the same root chord as the T720 and a longer wing. Judging by the length of the fuse, I imagine it also has a slightly longer span (66-67" ?).

David.

AllTheGoodNamesAreTaken

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Tipo 720 "plan".

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David

The leading edge of the wing saddles are lined up in those pictures. I will take some pictures of the side so you can see the wing wing height in the Tiporare & the Illusion.
The difference in the root between the Tiporare 720 & the 750 is only about 3/8" so for it to have 30 square inches more than the 720 Tipo it would have to be a little more span also.
I'll measure it today, I guess 3/8" times the span would almost be 30 Square inches. I'll check it, it may be a 1/2" difference.

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Greg

Wow, I can't believe that you just got them now, that was a wait , wasn't it? Well it is good that you finally did get them and that they arrived in good shape. I guess they had plenty of time the cure in that car's trunk! I have made a lot of new kits since then and I have three more lined up right now to be molded. It is up around 15 different kits I believe. I never thought that I would be able to bring back so many great old pattern planes from the past. Thanks also for all you kind words.

Don

P.s. Post some pictures of your builds or the finished planes if you can.

doxilia

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Don,

thanks for your reply. It would be cool to see the fuses bottom-to-bottom so to speak . With a photo from above one can see the difference in "fuse side planforms".

Jeff, thanks for the GP Tipo plan. I have the equivalent Illusion plan but unfortunately not scanned. I'll get it done one of these days. If memory serves though the spans are the same (65") and the tips are only marginally different if at all. I believe the difference is all in the root. If that's the case then it would be interesting to see if the wing position in the fuse (wing height aside) is symmetrically spaced about that of the T720. In other words, is the additional chord at the TE, LE or even about the center of the saddle. If the two fuses are the exact same length then squaring them tip and nose will show where and how the additional area is positioned.

I'll go an compare the T720 and Illusion "plans" to see how the wing planforms differ.

The reason I'm interested is because I'd eventually like to modify the built up Tipo plans to produce an Illusion plan in CAD - primarily for smaller versions.

David.

doxilia

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Don,

is there someone you can ask to put together a simple one page web site with the list of models available, their cost and your contacts?

I sure hope you are teaching your kids some skills to preserve and reproduce these fuses! The best place for intellectual property is within other brains..., preferably those you trust.

David.

sledge_78

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Frequent Flyer,

After reading through this thread I am surprised no one has asked to make a fuselage for the "Taurus" one of the original pattern planes. I built one from scratch last year and was amazed at how well it flies. I also found a worldwide interest in the Taurus that is ever increasing. I think it would be a big seller. The few Kits I've seen on EBAY have sold for over $400.

Just a thought. It looks like you do excellent work.

Sledge_78

MTK

I appreciate the effort, knowledge and skill it takes to tackle such projects. Nice work!!

Which sprayable gel coat are you using for the mold?

Are your castings bagged?