I haven't seen this thread in a while and it makes me happy that they chose EZ-Goin' as the model for the project.

Here is some more hopefully interesting pertinent information.

Crews trained and flew together for the duration of their tour of duty and were described using the pilot's name. So the first crew of EZ-Goin' was called the Marmorine crew, and here is a photo of them during flight training at Ardmore OK. My father is bottom row second from the right.


EZ-Goin' second crew (Martin crew) had a harrowing collision with a ME-109 which damaged the plane badly, but they made it back.


Here is my father as an Aviation Cadet at age 19, a newly minted navigator, and then a veteran of 35 missions at age 23.
 

Here are his medals and such, the wings being original, but the others are replacements.


He never spoke of the war, but always proudly displayed his "Luckye Bastardes Club" certificate in his office next to his diploma. Sadly, it has been lost but this is what it looked like:

Yup, already discussed having them printed.  

Kids were psyched to see the possibilities of adding those details.

Awesome pictures and story to add.   Thank you!  

Glad you like that.  Not sure why I didn't try to do that earlier.

Update 10/23

These gals have worked hard on all 4 legs of our panther mech.   This is the last leg to finish.  


Sophia is working on sculpting Roy's portrait.  She did a little googling to find similar features on faces to help fill in the lack of detail on the small portrait she is working with.   @Manuforti your father actually has some very similar aspects to his face, as Rays.    I told Sophia that she can fill in as best she can when the details are lacking.   This is her first ceramic portrait.  Not an easy thing to do the first time, but she is an exceptional artist.  


Kamryn is photo bombing us in the background while she works to fit the last foam ring on the port side outer engine.   Sean is working on assemblying the new motors.  


Will cut out holes to allow the motor body to fit a little deeper on these outside engines.   We talked today about having all 4 motors set teh same distance from the outside rings, even thought the outside engines have a more shallow set.




Peyton, who was interviewed by KLUR8 stapling down the first piece of skin on the wing.  She has done this before on previous projets and is teaching new students the process and where we can make mistakes.


Reese is attaching one of our junction boxes under the wing.  These will have access panels and our wires for out motors will be running through them.

Some continuity issues on the circle drawn in outline.  Squish is normal due to anistropy of being off axis but the line wanders, as long as bottom is kept in mind it should be close enough.

TL;DR  Centered. Ish.  ≈1" low it appears. going from rear of shaft, might want to use a string to be sure.



Going In from extents of axis:

Saw this under $25 and might be something you can use to get your boards screwed solid going in at shallow angle to screw onto other boards.  WAY cheaper than the Kreg Pocket tool jig, this is also designed for smaller pieces which I think is ideal you don't need to fiddle with something capable of a 2x12 for most of your stuff.

--ETA:  A Link might help...



https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B09DYR8D9Q

Update 10/24

Many details beginning yesterday.  

The Robotics teacher started messing with printing versions of our engines.   There are different detail levels; some of which we can probably do by hand, rather than print.   Once we get going on the correct scale, we will have to devide these into 4 pieces, as they will be too big for our 3D printers, and too big to get under our foam rings.    Each quarter will be printed and then painted, then attached inside the shaped foam cowling.   The pieces need to be removeable, as they will cover our motors, and we will have to be able to access those when things go wrong.


These are gonig to be pretty sweet.  We don't need the version with the guide rings for the cowling, as they would not fit anyway.  


This is Anna.  Anna has been making .50cal barrels.   I just told her we found a CAD version of Browning .50 cals............   and barrels.   Anna is not happy with me in this picture.  I told her that we needed to finish the barrels, and we can see if they fit the scaled recievers.   If so, we will use them.   They are looking pretty good.  


Michael was working on the top turret and got a bit frustrated with the end result.  Our design probably wasn't workking as well as we would have liked.  I said we could give it another try, so he put the original asside and we are not trying version 2.0.    The 1/72 scale models gave us a bit more idea of exactly what the shape should look like, and we think this might be a good start.  He cut off the waterbottle base, and is cutting it down to 2 pieces that make a 9" shape.   From there we will work to see if we can get it more exact.


Sean and Will working to get the motor square with the engine.  


Sean is drilling holes for our conduit to run wiring for our motors.....and engine lights.








Taylor finding out I forgot to tell her not to cover the pin holding on the outside engine.


Engines after having Paige sand them down and refine the rings a bit.


Isaiah working on trimming the inside of the foam rings.  You can see Paige already hit the outside of this one with sandpaper to smooth it out.  


Our metal hanger for the front of our B-17, installed.


Kaylen and Gavin working to put skin on the starboard side outer engine.   This will be a base layer, as I know we have some details to add over top near the rings.


Mitchel is one of my Seniors this year, and agreed to take on a particularly tough part of this project; the nose glass.  He and I brainstormed a bit.   This may not work.  We will see.  He is cutting 3/8" strip off of gated pvc pipe(from Mission to Mars).


We are going to see if we can build a frame work to then add plexiglass.   It may end up all being removed once we have the glass.  Not sure yet.  This is a build as we go thing.  He is using a heat gun to shape it into the correct contour.  


More stringers on our NGAD airframe yesterday.   We revised our wing plan a little and began cutting out cross sections of those.


Konner and Hayden working to get the notches cut out for the outer stringers.   There is a healthuy rivalry between 6th and 7th hours on this project.   They are all buddies so they give eachother shit about mistakes and which hour is getting more accomplished.   7th hour guys show up a bit early to find out what needs done, and who messed up what.....and find out what went right and wrong the day before.  It's a fun group.  



Our last panther mech leg getting the last of the foam added, and shaped.   Lots of detail work to go on this let.   It needs to lose a lot of mass.


Levi and Elias cutting out slots on the feet for our pad base.
 

Yeah, that marker drawing is definately not very concentric.   We had to abandon that ring for a bit while Will and Sean work on getting the first motor mounted and the design perfected.   They will go back to it later and start to clean it up a bit.  The outer carving is about 3/4 done.  They haven't used the cut-out guage yet on it in any precise way.   Just getting the basic shape.   The inside foam cut circle is pretty concentric.   Enough, most will never see the slight problems.

That's a very good idea.  No we haven't done that.   There is a plaque for the grizzley bear describing who donated for it to get done, but his story is not printed out.   If they get the engraver fixed down in the woods room, I'll have do do some begging.

We thought there might be a 3D CAD drawing propeller in that link I posted earlier, but it looks like there isn't one.   Will and the CAD teacher are struggling to get one drawn up.   It's not an easy shape to create.   If anyone has found a CAD drawing of a propeller blade, even if it needs adjusted to fit the B-17, I'd appreciate a link.  

They were so excited when we thougth we might not have to draw it up from scratch.  Now, not so much.

Kamryn will find this pretty funny.

Regarding 3D printing and the 50 cal guns.  I personally feel that it's more "artsy" to craft all the part than to paint something printed.  So if you have two options and one is really god but not exact vs 3D print, take the handmade one.  

This goes out the window when getting to things like the rotary engines, propeller blades, and instrument panel.    I suppose the instrument panel could be done but since it won't be visible it's just an add in for fun, while getting the NACA airfoil tapers for propeller and filing them down out of wood is very much not easy to do and very easy to mess up.

Going to 3 blades instead of two really makes it difficult, especially if showing the variable pitch collars.

1:6 model of engine with propeller  Says $25 but not sure if that's for the model or a  print..  Too cheap to be a print at the size it is displaying.


It's for a F4F or a B-24 but I don't think anybody would notice...

Thank you!   IM sent.   Please email me the files, if you can.   grabcad has been an issue for our district internet block list.

Update 10/25   Frantic Friday Edition

Just a "few" kids gone to day for activities.

Yesterday went well again.   Kids have found their groove a bit in a few areas.

Funny moment yesterday morning, Kamryn and Kyara arguing about who screwed up with a cut(very minor mistake) with skinning the wings.  


Korbyn using the basketball as a curved form to press the heated plexiglass on to.  It's exactly the correct size(used it as a form for the ball turret already), so this is working pretty well so far.


Mitchel gluing the pvc 3/8 ring on to the front of our B-17.   This is actually working pretty well.   We had it glued up there, but decided we needed it adjusted a bit, and it did not want to come off.   Pretty darn sound structually.  We can build off of this.


Sophia getting an idea of how to do the eyes on our sculpture of Roy Myers


Tru and Jack showing off their rendering of the wing root of our NGAD.  I bought them some all-thread this morning, so we can build the wing similarly to how we did the F-22.


Our Panther Mech with a foot pad base.


Ginny adding the first few pieces of foam to the foot.   I ordered another sheet of foam today.  We need it for the feet, and for the NGAD fighter.

Those are going to work perfectly.  Already printing it.  We will scale it and start the correct size soon.

Tip on the wing F-xx wing:  Needs to have either camber or a different profile on the top of the wing vs the bottom for it to have any lift.   A straight "boat" style wing doesn't provide lift and is what is used for stabilizer as example (or rocket fins).  They rely on thrust / angle of attack to provide lift and produce no natural thrust/lift.  

So, if for the F-xx to fly, the wing section needs to have a longer path over the top of the wing than the bottom, or the bottom of the wing needs camber (curved upward in middle instead of just flat)  but not equal on top and bottom unless it has a high angle of attack (also causes drag but creates lift).  Inherently unstable, no engine and they basically fall out of the sky even with that little lift, hence "Lawn dart" nickname for F-16, compared to a single engine Cessna which can glide a very long way with no engine due to fat lifting wings.

F-22




F-35 Notice bottom of wing is basically flat with the top part having the slight aero shape (very thin with mild difference to allow for supersonic flight, compared to a 737 fat airfoil, lift creates drag due to having to push air over a fatter wing, so thin wings need high speed due to less lift, but can't hold hundreds of passengers but can break sound barrier)


Body shape on Both 22 and 35 are also semi lifting with the path over center of fuselage a longer air path than under the plane but not a full lifting body like a B-2

They(2nd hour girls) all laughed pretty hard.  She loved it, and thought it was awesome to become a meme.  

Good stuff.   I'll show this to the team and they can adjust it.

Update 10/28
We are crtiquing today, so there will not be a lot of progress to report tomorrow.

Our Viking clock is still getting worked on.   They decided not to just go with paint on the outside.   It will take a little longer, and keep them from working on other things, but I like their ideas on this.   They are going to use leather and a couple other materials.    Should be cool when they are done.


This will be some of the "pouch" that the clock will be hanging from.


Teagan was not a fan of how the face and head were turning out on this.  She reworked them a bit, and the hand on the left.  Oils seem to the the best method for painting the jackets.  


On our Panther Mech
We have hollowed out the head for installing the eyes and wiring, but we will have to cut an access port at some time.   Kids have the feet frames on, and are now adding foam.   Skin on the body and legs this week?  Maybe.  


This group is quite the trip to start the morning with.   They are pretty fun.  Anna is trimming the skin on the engine to not hit the wall, and Taylor, Kamryn and Kyara are working on getting the skin on the top of the wing completed.  


We have the wing skin on the top of the wings as far as we want to go right now.  We left the front edge open so we could continue to run wiring.   We need to decide of we should flip the plane over to work on the bottom of the wings.   This would make it much eaiser, but our stands aren't going to fit with the top stringer the way it is.   May be time for the engine hoists again.  We will make a decision today or tomorrow on this, and maybe attempt a flip.  


Putting the stingers to the side of the center mark seems to be an ongiong problem.     It may have to be relocated.    The skylights in the cockpit were cut out Friday afternoon.   When the stringer isn't centered it makes centering the windows that much more difficult.


Our NGAD figher
Getting foam added to the fuselage edge, and the stringers done on the bottom.  We again had to rework some of these stringers as we eneded up with some cut to the side of the center mark, not over the center mark.

Update 10/29

We did have time yesterday morning to get the fuselage moved down the hall, then flipped under the F-22, and moved back to place on its stands.   There was just barely enough room to get down the hallway.  We did not have enough room under the Baldwin 4-4-0 to flip it where we are working on it.  





We need to clean up the ends of the stringers near the back of the wing a bit.   We will add crossmembers to align them a bit before beginning skinning today.




Teams working on the panther mech discusssed skin yesterday.  I originally thought we should do it in overlapping squares of 3,6, and 9 inches, but the students want to do large pieces, then the smaller squares at the joints.   Looks like we will try that and see how it looks.  This will hopefully look like kevlar.  It will be painted, then the outside will have "armor plates" added.

If you're just going for the look of CF, look at the printed vinyl wraps.  Really fast and no need to paint to match the grey/black twill (I assume you meant carbon fiber with Kevlar?  Kevlar is yellow coarse stuff):

$7 for 5 ft²



https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B0748JRGJT

Or Vinyl print fabric (designed for boat seat covering but has the look and is cheaper per square foot)


https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B0B197K7HK

Update 10/30
We are getting stuff done again.  

Peyton is finsihing the edges of the bottom of the wings with strips of 1/4x3/4.   Skinning will be happening today.  Reese is cutting notches on the bottom of the fuselage for the final two stringers that we had put off.   We are leaving a 4" gap between them, so our makeshift stands can be rotated and inserted.   We intened to drop the whole plane down to a lower level today.  


Wing root and outer edges look much cleaner in their shape now.


Our NGAD was moving right along till we found two of our ribs out of square yesterday.   Attaching the wing roots symetrically became impossible, unless we re-aligned them.   Konner, Dominic, and Tristan are working to detatch the stringers, shift the rib, then re-attach the stringers.  


Tristan working to add foam to the cockpit area of our NGAD.


Danica working to begin shaping our Panther's muzzle.


Hayden, Dawson, and Ethan getting that first layer of burlap skin down on the leg.   We found that the burlap shrinks quite a bit after soaking it in water before applying.   Our initial cut out was a little small.   They stretched it out as much as possible, and I think we can work with it.  


The burlap with the donated paste from Sherwin-Williams in Cody, dries to a hard shell.   It adds to the regidity of the structure, as well as makes a good texture for our "kevlar" skin look.  

Cool looking vinal, and we may end up using something like that in some spots.   Right now, we need the texture and rigidity of the burlap and glue.   Our "kevlar armor skin" is black, not yellow.   It's improved.  

Ok, going for the kevlar body armor that has the black paint on it look.   The burlap does have a nice texture for that, usually hidden by nylon shell but SAPI plate shows it some when painted.  I can sort of see where going with this but how are you going to get the twill weave look on the body parts already mounted?   Pull them off and do on at a time or in situ?

What I'm interested in is the paste from Sherwin Williams.   I remember you using rather spendy taxidermy paste but not sure what comes from a paint store in a single application that is a paste that soaks in so nicely.

Update 10/31

The woodshop sent a nice update yesterday.  They are working on the rolling platform that will display our WWII portraits/manniquins and fireplace.   The fireplace will be built on top of this platform, and will be able to roll out of the way for cleaning.








Reese and Jordan getting the nose stringers attached on the bottomof the fuselage.  


Sara and Peyton got to take on the very difficult job of cutting the curved edge of the wing root/fuselage mating of the skin.   This takes a bit of cutting, checking for fit, cutting more, not too much, check again, fit, .........  


We have a bit of cutting to do on the right side there, but the left side is getting stapled down with some minor trimming needed to fit.  The 1/72 scale models were excellent visuals for students to understand what the shape/curve would look like.   Having no skin on the wing, and only a partial skeleton frame makes visualizing the curve very, very difficult.


We ran out of foam again yesterday. I grabbed a sheet this morning on my way to work.   The panther feet and the wing root used more foam than I thought.   Sixth and 7th hour classes have a healthy competiveness.    The note is from a 7th hour student, I believe Cambree, as she was working on the foam.   Pretty similar to a fake mod edit here on arfcom.  

Shaping this leading edge root is also an extemely tough job.   Visualizing how the two curves intersect needed the 1/72 scale model to confirm their plan.    They are doing a great job with this.


Danica working on the face of our panther, shaping the muzzle.


Alyssa and Ginny working on the rear panther feet.   We had to go back and rework this a bit, as there was a void in there that would show, once the foot was cut back to the folded "wrist".


Abby, Ethan and Dawson have the system down to start the second leg and the large area with burlap.   Everyone seemed to like the pland and the results of the first leg.   The first leg was still a bit wet from more work during the day and previous day's work, so leg #2 got started.   They will begin a third leg today.  





The NGAD team got the all-thread on the fuselage and started planning the wing cross sections.   The cardboard cutout is just for finding length.   They will work on the shape later.

The legs of our panther are removeable.   The body and head will have to be done as they are.  

The glue is something that the manager of Sherwin-Williams suggested as a relpacement for the expensive adhesive we were buying for taxidermy.  He said this is what many of the local taxidermists use for their professional mounts.   It seems very, very similar, but maybe a bit better; slightly thicker?   The parts stick well, water soluable, and dries to a hard shell.   Combined with the burlap it ends up being similar to fiberglass, but less rigid and more flexible.   We can cut it with a saw easily, sand it down a bit and paint it.

Even better when a whole 5 gal bucket is donated by the awesome Sherwin-Williams crew all dressed up as paint sample cards today.

Awesome!  I would have never thought of wallpaper paste, my memories are from the 80s when it was junk that was beaten by elmers glue mixed with water.

Very cool of them to donate the materials and color cards to pick from!  Buying local has lots of little perks!

Here is the Cody WY Sherwin-Williams crew today.   Cool bunch of guys.

Not nearly that many, thankfully.   Yikes!!!  

I've got 123 right now.   Averaging 20per hour, but it should be 18.   I allow it to overload in most of the classes.

There is at least one Arcfommer in there.   Also might look suspiciously like a Fireman from the "Firebomber and Smokejumpers" thread.  

Update 11/1
Regional Volleyball is here today,  Football playoff game in Riverton, 1st Day of deer season for local "general" area, and Frantic Friday schedule.  I'm just going to hold on today.


Yesterday we did lower the fuselage down off the tables to the joy of the vertically challenged students.  It also allows us to skin the bottom of the wings easier.


Peyton and other students were working on getting the wing root/fuselage seam all perfect, and I brought out the 1/72 scale model.   Luckily for us, it is a gradual/soft transition and not a hard line like I thought it was.


7th hour got the first piece of skin on the back of the fuselage, and I just realized this morning, that we need a hole for the ball turret.    OOps.  Hadley is working on laying that out using the blue prints this morning.  


Alethia and Korbyn have some of the windows fitted and glued into our ball turret.  


Cambree and Jackson have the leading edge of the wing root just about done on the bottom.   We will flip the fuselage again when they are ready to finish the top.   They are kind of in control of how the plane is oriented right now, as we need those areas finished for skinning.


Sophia is getting a very good likeness of Roy in her portrait.   Lips were a bit of a challenge, as they always are, but she did an excellent job.  


Teagan just finihsed the back of the "Iza Vailable Too" bomber jacket painting.   She intends to bring in some sheepskin to line the collar and cuffs.  


Grace started carving the pads on one of the panther's feet.   Looking pretty cool!


Kaci and Haylee finished the Viking clock and hung it up.  They will do their Junior Duck Stamp projects next, then get back to tshirts and the mural above our fireplace.

There will be, just need a few more months before that begins.  Students have a couple ideas already drawn up.  We just need to refine them, and see what else happens in the project.

+150 supplies for rolling display, 2 more sheets of foam
Total as of 11/1           $1805.00

Viking clock turned out awesome!  With your rivet fetish I thought I'd see faux antiqued bronze tack heads around the edge of the leather right to the clear face.

Update 11/4

Michael decided he wanted to lay out the top turret on a piece of paper for exact measurements, before trying to cut any further details into our new attempt.


Myah woked to reinforce and glue up some of the skin and stringers from a better advantage point.  


Reese and Sarah working to get skin on the trasition from the wing to the fuselage.  We also cut out a hole for the ball turret.


Hadlee finished cutting out the hole, and added a couple 1x2s under neath as a stop for the ball turret.  


Panther Mech legs still getting skin on them.