Thunderbird Plans Wanted

LAST EDITED ON Dec-01-03 AT 06:38 PM (CST)
 
I am looking for the Thunderbird Plans but, the one with the Trike undercarriage that Bob Palmer toured South Africa with.
Does anyone have a copy of this or know where I can get it. It is the only T-bird plan I DONT have.

thanks

Sorry I can't help you, but since you have all those T-bird plans perhaps you could field a question for me. The T-bird from 1956 (Veco)is the one I'm wondering about. How was the bellcrank platform installed and did the plans show removing the wood out of the middle of the stab/elevators and putting in ribs and covering with fabric? I guess that's two questions. I built this plane when I was 13 and have had a friendly discussion with another fellow about this construction. The other fellow is Bob Palmer. Thank you,

Dale,

I will have to have a look at that for you. I think the Veco plan I have is the one that was Re-drawn by Tom Dixon. It does show both the Solid Stab/Elevator and the hollow one.

I will have to see how the bellcrank platform is installed.

Thank you. My recollection is that the plans (isometric drawings-not full-size) didn't show the hollowed out tail surfaces. I recall 0ne-sixteenth sq. balsa spars going through the wing tip to tip and the plywood platform somehow sitting in /on those skimpy little spars. The rest of the wing was a "C" tube, I think. I've just always been curious about that and never knew of anyone who had sets of those old Veco plans. That plane weighed a ton but I was sure proud of it. Best regards,

LAST EDITED ON Dec-03-03 AT 09:16 PM (CST)
 
I had a look at the VECO kit plan....it does show the hollow stab/fin construction ....

I will send a pic of the VECO plan and a scan of the plan I have for you to have a look at....I dont know how to put them on here....I will e-mail you.

Hi Dale. Just for your info. You are really close. The spars are actually 1/8" sq. and mounted thru the ribs in 1/8" round holes! However, this does work ok. All of the original Veco large birds had this bellcrank mounting on the 1/8" spar splice in the middle of the wing, and is quite strong. I've built almost all of the original Veco larger planes and have never had a bellcrank pull out during pull tests or inflight. I do MFG these planes and still use the original mounting system as did the factory. Infact, I use 3/32" bellcrank floors instead of the 1/8" door skins they put in the kits. I've heard of people using plywood ribs in the center wing, However, I've never done that. I do it the way the plans show and all works out ok. Many of the guys here on the SSW have my kits and maybe they could stop in here and offer their opinions to the situation. I to do not have the plans for the trike geared Thunderbird either. I don't know that they actually exist. Maybe Veco Joe will come in here and tell us.

Winn sent me an e-mail and I replied with a boring description of how my T-Bird failed the pull-test back in 1956. The platform came down the wing skewering the ribs like a shishkabob.The push rod came out the side of the fuselage. I think in an earlier post I mentioned I still have flashbacks! Bob Palmer and I talked about this one year at the VSC and I'm just trying to find out what went wrong. My shrink says I'm gaining ground, so I've got that going for me....that's good. All the best,

Dale,
I never got that e-mail.......unless it was soooooo boring I forgot I read it....

There are more computers in this house than found in a 777! The E-mail I sent went into cyberspace and then straight to the basement computer. My wife and I play dueling PCs since we put in this DSL wireless gizmo router thing. But it basically stated the same thing as the above post. I suppose as I kid I did something wrong if the troops aren't having problems and I did. The best running Fox in the best flying T-Bird I ever saw is Marvin Denny's. That was about 6 or 7 years ago. He really burned in some nice patterns that day in Dallas.

Here's a picture of Bob Palmer and the T-bird he took to Africa from the cover of MAN October 1957. The article in this magazine shows a three view of the T-bird demonstrator and the specs say the wingspan was 54".

Eggy

You can see the nose wheel in this picture. Looks like just an add-on to the regular plane.

Does anyone on this site know the whereabouts of this original airplane? Is it still around in a museum somewhere? If it's owned, then they might have the info. needed to find out the nose gear issue and if it's on a set of plans. I would really like to see those plans!

This plane is still around- it has been rebulit and flown and studied and reported and weighed by a modeller in UK. I found his website with his trials and tribulations with this plane and cannot for the life of me find that website now. Apparently it was given to someone in Britain after the tour so it wouldn't have to take up space when Bob returned. I'll keep looking for the site.

Dale, Wrong plane.....I thought that was the case as well....the website is..http://www.iroquois.free-online.co.uk

The author of this site has the model that Bob Toured South Africa and England with in 1957.

I dont think this IS the Trike Thunderbird, it makes mention of the Trike ship in the article. but also says that Bob was spotted leaving the country with another plane is his Cab......so, Is the mystery of this Trike undercarriage EVER going to be solved??????

Anyone else know about this????? maybe should post on the main forum huh????

Looks like you may be right. The plane on the cover of the magazine has the nose-wheel but not the ring cowling. I had assumed it to be the same plane. Thanks for locating the site. I liked the part where he stated he'd just as soon "drive a stake" through that plane. He DID go to a lot of trouble with it!

Exactly......but it still leaves the question out there.....WHERE IS THIS PLANE!!!!!!!!!

That's Dave Day. He posts here. Ask him.

SK