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Old 02-27-2021, 11:22 AM   #201
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I am loving your creativity!

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Old 02-27-2021, 06:44 PM   #202
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Starting to look like the New York Central "Chicago Mercury" streamliner above, doesn't it.
I drew in three rectangular headlamps above each other. They would be set back maybe six or eight inches.
The sample "bumper" is a railing from the front deck of a small boat I once scrapped.

And how about this... to serve as the "wheel area panel", I may be able to simply leave the original wall of the bus in place! It is correct width and already has the tire-opening.

This is why I have not cut into this bus yet. Seems like the more I brainstorm, the less of the bus I will need to remove for the final design.


Oooo... check out this beauty:

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Old 02-27-2021, 07:15 PM   #203
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The headlamps might end up in this position!
(I used Millicent for this photo.)
At this point, roughly a foot in front of the tire, the airplane is only around six feet wide, leaving plenty of "Chicago Mercury" gap for headlights.
Yes, I am having fun.

Thank you, Joeblack5 for the suggestion about pop-up headlights! That is certainly also a valid option. And I very much appreciate all suggestions!

And thank you, Peakbus, for appreciating creativity. I think we all have such creativity, but we are often afraid to share it, because we are afraid of being rejected for being "different".
This fear is a "stone age" survival instinct, from the time when we survived only by being in the center of our flock when hungry saber-tooth tigers arrived to dine on us.
These days, it is at least slightly less dangerous to suggest new ideas.
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Old 02-28-2021, 03:37 PM   #204
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Keep the front wheels inside the plane body, no cutouts if that is what you want.
Make it rear steer.
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Old 02-28-2021, 05:15 PM   #205
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BeNimble View Post
Keep the front wheels inside the plane body, no cutouts if that is what you want.
Make it rear steer.
I love the idea.
And I have indeed thought of narrowing the front axle (or installing independent suspension from a highway-bus -- same thing). But that would mean narrowing the frame, which would mean moving the engine amidship.

And a bus is tippy enough as it is, without turning it into a three-wheeler, almost.

Rear steer is tricky at speed.
It would be OK in parades and at Burning Man and such, at low speed.
A friend of mine has a boat on wheels for Burning Man, with rear steer. He simply installed the front of a front-wheel-drive car in the back of the boat -- engine and steering in one unit. I have driven it, and it works fine. But the speed limit at Burning Man is 5 mph.

Ever driven a fork lift?
At street speed, rear steer is inherently unstable.

And our roads -- street corners and such -- are engineered for front steer, and the public is accustomed to all vehicles steering at the front. Thus, it would be difficult to make "boat turns" in traffic, because other motorists would not grasp the concept of this 40-foot vehicle with rear steer.

So, while rear steer is a wonderful idea, it is not realistic for Albatross.
Nor am I up to doing that much work. I will be lucky to finish it at all in my lifetime.

But keep the ideas coming! Great brain-exercise, regardless of practicality.
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Old 02-28-2021, 06:34 PM   #206
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It takes getting used to, everyone will oversteer because they are used to seeing the steering happen immediately, with rear it is visibly delayed.

Another thought is use much small wheels so a smaller opening. You see the plane pic on the forum "Former Aircraft.." it has small wheels so looks more like an airplane.

And yet another one is to make the wheel actually separated from the body, like a roadster style, or this 3 wheel car shows it quite significantly. And fits in with the smaller plan wheel fairings style.



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Old 02-28-2021, 10:50 PM   #207
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An other good idea.
Trouble is... I cannot go much smaller because of the brake drum, which almost fills the existing 22-inch rim.

Also, I am not finding a smaller tire with adequate load rating. Granted, Albatross will not likely ever be scaled out the way Millicent sometimes is, but I am not about to compromise safety-related specifications. And tires with a lower load-rating than the axle is simply a trucking-industry-wide no-no. Each tire needs to be rated at least 6,250 lbs.

Albatross needs to meet all normal safety specs in two ways: Both by the letter of the Vehicle Code, and by less formal "best practices" and "good judgement" standards.

After the Highway Patrolman crawls all over her, I want him to say "By golly, Sir, you did a good job. Have a nice trip."

By the way, do you have the full name of that "former aircraft" forum? I cannot seem to find it. Thanks!
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Old 03-01-2021, 12:40 AM   #208
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hmm, it has been in the "You may also like:" promotional, but I googled and found it,
https://www.doityourselfrv.com/custo...0custom%20RVs.



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Old 03-01-2021, 02:00 AM   #209
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Aha! I saw that a few days ago myself. But that fellow does not make the airplanes into driveable vehicles. For one thing, the fuselage in the photo is at least 12 feet wide, while maximum legal width on US roads is 8 1/2 feet, and surely UK roads are similar.
The wheels look tiny because the fuselage is huge.

He sets those up as vacation rental cabins.
A fun thing to do, of course, just the same.
Thanks.
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Old 03-01-2021, 02:10 AM   #210
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Here are two other snapshots I have come across recently.




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Old 03-05-2021, 03:05 AM   #211
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the early mercury cougars had headlight covers that flipped up when turned on so it has been done before. Nice to see you working on a new project.
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Old 03-05-2021, 03:31 PM   #212
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And countless other cars have pop-up headlights of various types, including the 1992 Mazda Miata I used to own.

The most amusing was the 1968-73 Opel GT.
German Opel was then owned by US General Motors.
The Opel GT was their "Corvette for the European market".
The headlights popped up and down with a crude mechanical linkage which made a metallic clang you could hear from blocks away.

Thanks, Demonknight!
But Albatross is not exactly a "new" project.
I have always tended to work on projects in spurts. But I have been off the Albatross project for much of the last few years because of my often debilitating Major Depressive Disorder -- a chronic emotional ailment I would not wish on even the Seven Princes of Hell.

Meds help, but lose their effectiveness with time. I am now starting up again with the one med which has proven most helpful in the past, so things are looking up for the next six or eight months.
Because of Covid, there may not be a Burning Man this year either, but the target is to have Albatross roadworthy for that event in late August.
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Old 03-05-2021, 08:09 PM   #213
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New as in Millie was just a baby and I had just missed you at the port Townsend Kinetic Sculpture races (think it was around 2007)
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Old 03-05-2021, 09:18 PM   #214
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Oh, wow.
Yes, 2007 was Millicent's first season.
And my health was still decent.
Good times!

Below: Conquering the Mud Bog at Port Townsend, 2010 -- closest year I have a picture of.
My buses exist for the purpose of such events, yes -- participating in parades, KSR, etc..

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Old 03-08-2021, 08:23 PM   #215
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A handful photos have "evaporated" from the original post. (Apparently because a fly-by-night photo-hosting outfit suddenly went out of business.)
Here is what the Albatross airplane nose looked like when she "followed me home".
The trailer was originally a boat trailer, which I have built a deck on top of and use for pretty much everything.

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Old 03-09-2021, 05:49 AM   #216
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I don't know if you'll find this interesting, but in WWI there was a type of German biplane fighter called an Albatross (Albatros in German). I stumbled across this video showing them being constructed:

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Old 03-09-2021, 01:28 PM   #217
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Thank you! Marvelously interesting to see.
(And I need to learn how to work with fabric and "dope", since I have a... hmmm... fabric-covered fuselage (of sorts) requiring repair -- a Kinetic Sculpture Racing contraption.)

Yes, I have searched extensively for information on Albatross aircraft, and have found two or three other brands of Albatross from various epochs and countries. Almost inevitable that the name would have been used more than once, yes.

And recently, I have read quite a bit about WW1 (and other 20th century history). No wonder those German workers were all scowling at the camera.
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Old 03-09-2021, 01:53 PM   #218
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Then, there is the real Albatross -- the original and most graceful of them all.
(Click on link and scroll down to a short video.)

https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/09/asia/...cli/index.html
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