A Family Project?

wleferrand · Post by **wleferrand** » Sat Nov 14, 2020 11:38 am

Dear all,

We're a little family of 5, currently living in France after 7 years in the US.

I got my private licence in 2014 in the Bay Area and I kept working on my ratings (IR, multi, commercial) while taking trips with the family. In 2015, we got an Aztec that we refurbished in Montana (I spent 9 weeks working with the shop) and that we flew back to France in 2017. More recently I got involved in ultralight helicopters and I am building a Mosquito XE285 (it's "just" missing the engine at this point, covid has been delaying the project by a few months).

I would like to figure out a way to share my passion for aviation with my daughters (they are currently 8, 7 and 3). They enjoy flying (the eldest has clocked 100+ hours) and I believe that they are interested in aircraft.

Now stop me if it sounds really crazy, but I was thinking of starting a homebuilt with them. We have plenty of time to get it finished before they can legally tackle flight training and, living in the Toulouse area in France, we have some support readily available (actually there is a shop dedicated to wooden aircraft near us, in Montauban).

Do you know of any stories of father/daughters Falco builds?

Also, I'm a bit confused as what exactly is available these days. Is there currently a company supplying kits? The girls have been building ribs for model aircraft in Balsa; could a good first step be to build some tail ribs?

Thanks in advance for your insights,

Blue skies,

William

Post by **Alfred Scott** » Sat Nov 14, 2020 1:40 pm

William,

Gunder Restoration and Design has all the same kits and components available that we had at Sequoia Aircraft. It took five truck loads to move the shelves, inventory, boxes, etc from Richmond to Red Lion, PA. Three of those were full moving vans.

Craig and Martha Gunder are doing a great job of supporting Falco builders and pilots. We will have a Falco Builders Letter out shortly.

There is a very significant change in the works. The P/N 520 Gearbox has always been made as a casting, but it will now be machined from a single forged block of 6061-T6 aluminum. Strength has never been an issue, but it will look like a piece of precision jewelry.

We are just a few days from the machining to begin. It’s a 40 hp machining center that carves up the aluminum like a block of cheese.

I am holding up the FBL to include photos of this.

Alfred

wleferrand · Post by **wleferrand** » Sat Nov 14, 2020 11:22 pm

Alfred, thanks for your reply. Glad to hear that the kits are still available. Looking forward to seeing that new gearbox!

We would like to build the ribs (vs. purchasing them). It seems that the logical first step is to grind our teeth by picking a tail rib and building its jig, and then maybe assemble a rib with scrap wood before ordering spruce. Does it sound reasonable? Talking about ordering spruce, is there a current source of a "cut-to-size" spruce parts (I see references to Western Aircraft Supplies on the internet but I couldn't figure out if the company still exists) ?

Also, I get that the plans are available online but is there a fee to pay to be able to start the construction (which the pdf of the construction drawings alludes to, on page 2) ? And one more question, is it possible to get CAD files, at least for the ribs (to mill the jigs) ?

Thanks in advance,

Best

William

Post by **Alfred Scott** » Sun Nov 15, 2020 12:26 am

Wiliiam,

Western Aircraft Supplies is no more.

The plans are in the public domain now. No charges.

You can print out the drawings and build ribs on top of them. Always important to check the dimensions.

Alfred

wleferrand · Post by **wleferrand** » Sun Nov 15, 2020 1:08 am

Thanks Alfred. I'll work on the rib jigs and will report on the progress.

I'm going to move some drawings to Fusion 360; I'll happily share the work if anyone is interested.

Best

William

PS: I was about to attach a screenshot but it looks like the file upload size limit is set to a very low value?

pete · Post by **pete** » Thu Nov 19, 2020 4:02 am

I somewhat randomly came across a partial but very detailed model of the Falco on thingiverse.com

Its a website where people post models for 3d printing, etc. Lots of it free to download.

The files appeared to be modeled off the Sequoia plans. Posted as a hobbyist, no commercial intent. You can download the models, print them on your 3D printer and build a little plastic Falco pretty much the same way you make a big wooden one.

Very detailed. Wing ribs are modeled as you would glue them on the spars. Gussets included. Spars are modeled. Fuselage frames similarly detailed, ends at frame 11, no empenage. There are some fuselage skins modeled, engine mount, cowling, Nustrini canopy. A nice model of an O-360.

Files are all in .stl format. Easy enough to import into your cad software. You would need to check dimensions against the plans. I have not.

Cheers,
Pete

wleferrand · Post by **wleferrand** » Thu Nov 19, 2020 10:21 am

Thanks Pete,I looked it up and indeed here it is: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3271229

Very impressive & detailed work. I'm going to go step by step and try building jigs in CAD, starting with the stabilizer ribs. I started a different topic to share the progress in case anyone is interested: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=42