Warbird Information Exchange

So I am thinking and dreaming - the WAR corsair kits are pretty cool but I am wondering, given enough incentive and $$ - could you have someone like MX Aircraft build a carbon fiber version? Granted, the current MX aircraft are in the $380K to $400k+ range but I thought how cool would it be to have a high performance version of the "mini" corsair?!

Anyone here with close expereince with the WAR kits or the MX aircraft company?

Tom P. - presently "dreaming"

The concept of building a Carbon Fiber Replica of a WW2 Fighter is clearly impossible. If somebody did that, the next thing you know they would show up all over the place on Youtube and even the Reno Air Races. Think of the Chaos and Havoc that would cause....

http://www.thundermustang.com/

This guy has been working for many years and seems to be taking the project in a new direction:

http://corsair82.com

Seems pretty common. Few of these types of projects ever get completed. At least the WAR F4U is designed and tested and there is a community that knows what works and what doesn't. Seems like a lot of these end up as kids' displays at museums though... Maybe too much liability to sell a flier.

It would be neat to have a Corsair a bit larger than a WAR replica...50-60%?

War replicas are neat but unless you can shrink your head and body to scale, it kind of ruins the effect.

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Remember the vets, the wonderful planes they flew and their sacrifices for a future many of them did not live to see.

With the exception of the pilot's head, they look at least as scale as many R/C planes I've seen.

Might be something if interest here: http://www.warbirdreplicas.com/frmNews.aspx

I go hot and cold on scale replicas. The smaller the scale the less likely they are to have anything like the sporty feel and performance of the original. The larger they are the more expensive everything gets. I can accept the out of scale pilot's head because that the first compromise of any scaled project.

I wonder if it would be possible to build and easily "moldable" nearly full scale aircraft. Something where you could change the turtle deck, wing tips, stabilizer tips, canopy and cowling etc. and go from say a P-40 to a Hurricane to a Tony etc. in one airframe. I wouldn't worry about the landing gear configuration. CGI could add or eliminate the necessary features. The aircraft would be used to substitute for the original type in the air only for film and TV work. On the ground you could have very accurate non flying articles that could be blown up or bulldozed or whatever is required. Probably the idea is 20 years too late since CGI will be doing everything in a couple of months.

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"I can't understand it, I cut it twice and it's still too short!" Robert F. Dupre' 1923-2010 Go With God.

Because of the shape, I can't imagine a more difficult aircraft to build than a scale Corsair. A Hellcat would be much simpler, although you still have the complexity of the rotating gear.

If someone could ever finish a decent plug, they'd be much farther along than anyone has gotten to date.