1:1 SCALE HURRICANE PROJECT (1 Viewer)

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Yes, the 'Piece of Cake' Spits used a motorbike engine, driving via a series of shafts and flexible drive, to the wheels. There was one at a place I used to lecture at, standing rotting away, and I wanted to restore it, but it ended up getting dumped, nose first, into a wood, as if it had crashed !
I've also seen a Hurricane replica with a small, 4 cylinder car engine, which sounded good due to straight-out exhausts, but I don't know how it was arranged to drive wheels and prop.
 
Cheers T bolt :)

An A series eh...mmm that's interesting.....I guess the prop would spin just for show? spinning directly from the crank pulley. Would it still steer through the rudder do you think?
 
Far as I know, steering was either by braking the wheels, or by using the 'rudder bar' to swivel the tail wheel, via a simple pulley arrangement. Not quite enough air flow to make the rudder effective on the ground.
I seem to recall there might have been two engines in some of the taxiing replicas - a small motor just to turn the prop, and the larger engine to provide traction to the wheels.
 
Hi chaps, sorry not been around much.....work, family issues/time, getting back to doing lots now......last week built the base for my Anderson Shelter, starting to get the Hurri canopy finished - working on the kick out door, working on P51 pedals. Today...drilling out rivets out on the Jaguar GR1.
Thursday I was off at Duxford looking around HFL/ARCO including the beautiful new N3200

I have proper Hawker drawings....any help I can, I will.
 
keen to put an engine in the hurricane for taxiing and spinning the prop, what do people suggest? bike engine maybe, A series mini type engine but they are really heavy but as Airframes said would make a good sound.. Electric motor? I cant find much out online on the 'piece of cake' spits. Also needs to be mobile too
 
I want something thatll turn the prop and ideally make the hurricane taxi. Not looking for any take offs or anything. Im going to steel frame it so strength wont be a problem, but also needs to be fairly mobile if I need to strip it down
 
The type of engine would depend, to an extent, on three things.

1. Physical size/shape - will it fit into the available space under the 'cowling', whilst allowing convenient connection/paths of drive shafts?
2. What is it required to drive and how?(eg. prop only, wheels only, or both).
3. Overall weight and power. Will the aircraft structure bear the weight, and will the power do what is required, without stress damage to the aircraft structure?
The engine is going to be virtually a 'stand alone' item, with all the power and torque being transmitted to whatever drive train is used, and to the replica airframe (maybe that should read 'ground frame?!), which, I suspect, would set-up quite a vibration in the framework, as, unlike a car, there would not be any heavy engine supports, or a solid drive train and gearbox, plus the damping effects of a chassis or monocoque, to absorb some of the stresses involved.
Remember also, in order to propel the replica purely from the action of the prop, the engine would have to be fairly powerful, and controllable via a basic throttle arrangement. More importantly, the prop itself would need to have the required pitch, to provide motion, whilst at the same time being strong enough to absorb the power delivered to it, without shaking itself to destruction, or worse, shedding blades in all directions.
A realistic- looking prop can be made from glass fibre, but it's doubtful that this would propel the aircraft replica on the ground whilst retaining structural integrity. It would, however, probably be fine if just rotating via the drive from a small engine, under a low power loading, again with throttle control, with motive power being supplied, via a drive system to the wheels, from a larger engine.
Or, the larger engine providing motive power, and rotating the prop by a system of reduction gearing, but then that's complicating matters.
 
If you're planning on building an ground-only airframe that is capable of moving by prop only, a good set of main gear with brakes might be something to consider...

Your project sounds like alot of work, but will be interesting to see how it all comes together :thumbleft:
 

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