Why 90% Scale?

rainsux

rainsux

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rainsux
Just received the current issue of (airplane) porn. It featues a
2-seat, all metal Spitfire reproduction at 90% scale.

If going to the trouble of building a Spitfire reproduction; why
90% scale?

I've got 1 hour in the back seat of a Spitfire T9. Both cockpits
were cramped. 90% scale will only exacerbate that problem.

Vaguely related observations:

- The Spitfire cockpit is downright roomy when compared to the Me109
- The Mustang is a spacious, compared to the Spitfire
- The Corsair makes the Mustang feel cramped
 
Last edited:
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
Best fit for the available engine?
Click to expand...
Pretty much it, I think.

The 7/8ths scale Nieuport replicas are that size because the designer had a couple of spare wheels hanging on the wall of his garage. He measured them (24") and determined they were 7/8ths the size of actual Nieuport wheels.

Ron Wanttaja
 
rainsux said:
Just received the current issue of (airplane) porn. It featues a
2-seat, all metal Spitfire reproduction at 90% scale.

If going to the trouble of building a Spitfire reproduction; why
90% scale?

I've got 1 hour in the back seat of a Spitfire T9. Both cockpits
were cramped. 90% scale will only exacerbate that problem.

Vaguely related observations:

- The Spitfire cockpit is downright roomy when compared to the Me109
- The Mustang is a spacious, compared to the Spitfire
- The Corsair makes the Mustang feel cramped
Click to expand...

Many "scale" replicas have larger-than-scale cockpits.

Dan
 
wanttaja said:
Pretty much it, I think.

The 7/8ths scale Nieuport replicas are that size because the designer had a couple of spare wheels hanging on the wall of his garage. He measured them (24") and determined they were 7/8ths the size of actual Nieuport wheels.

Ron Wanttaja
Click to expand...
???

Are you referring to Graham Lee?

I thought I read that the reason he chose 7/8s and the Nieuport 11 in particular was that with that swept wing design and the right power plant, you could get it certified as an ultralight in Canada.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 
Fearless Tower said:
???

Are you referring to Graham Lee?

I thought I read that the reason he chose 7/8s and the Nieuport 11 in particular was that with that swept wing design and the right power plant, you could get it certified as an ultralight in Canada.
Click to expand...
That's why he chose the Nieuport, but he told the wheel story in a newsletter years ago.....

Ron Wanttaja
 
Some of the partial scale designs (Thunder Mustang or one of the other kits) have been mixed scale.
 
wabower said:
Some of the partial scale designs (Thunder Mustang or one of the other kits) have been mixed scale.
Click to expand...

I worked on the Thunder Mustang Project for nearly 10 years. The main reason for scaling was to fit it to an available engine, especially since we wanted near original performance at sea level.

It was 3/4 scale from the side view. But since the Thunder Mustang only weighed about 3000lbs gross as opposed to something like 12,000lbs for an original mustang if we went with a 3/4 scale wing we would have way to much wing area for the weight and it would have slowed the top speed of the airplane, so we went with a 5/8 scale wing. Did make it a bit interesting putting 3/4 scale landing gear in a 5/8 scale wing. We also widened the fuselage, I think it was 2 inches from scale at the cockpit area.

Also that 3/4 scale size reduces the surface area by about 56% making it perform much better for the available horsepower. This is probably just another way of saying we scaled it to fit the engine we had available.

Brian
 
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