Warbird Information Exchange

Hey everyone,

My name is Evan Byrne, I'm based out of Santa Paula CA (KSZP).

I've been a long time browser of these forums, and seldom poster. 2-3 years ago I made a few threads asking questions about Cassutt's in hope I would get one somehow, but that was just a pipe dream (at 15 years old). Well low and behold, 18ys/old now and the dream is alive! I have a Cassutt project!

I'm in high gear researching Cassutt's and scrounging parts as I can pay for them. My plans for the airplane involve building as purely a sport airplane.

The project I acquired includes a 15ft wing, fuselage (uncovered), all control surfaces, tail, gear and engine mount. I also picked up a brand new bubble canopy (race style) from George Andre, which I intend on using.

I love the look of the low race-style turtle decks, and fortunately enough the entire turtle deck on my fuselage has been cut off, so I'll be fashioning a new one.

Do any of you guys have any pictures of the internals, or perhaps build process of some of the lower turtle decks being used on today's racers? Be it composite, bulkheads/stringers, or metal.


Thanks,

-E

Evan,
No two are built the same. One way I have seen is the turtle deck shape is added as an extension of the wood fuse formers. That was covered with a fiberglass shell. Which canopy did you get from Zip? If it was the one on Zipper it will tough to use for sport flying. You can't seen a darn thing out of most of the race canopies. Another thing to consider is that most of those canopies won't allow you to wear a seat pack chute and there isn't enough leg room to wear a seat back chute, so you won't be doing any acro with it. I want to build a cassutt with a bubble canopy like an RV-4 has. I think it would look good and actually have head room, and good visibility.

I got a canopy similar to the one Zip had on zipper, but its not mated to a frame yet, nor cut down.

Its hard to me to draw a mental image of what you're describing. I like the idea of using the fiberglass shell, I've seen a quite a few racers use something similar to this. Zip sent me pictures of how Zippers turtle deck was constructed, its just bulkheads and stringers. I like the idea of a composite turtle deck due to ease of modification later down the line, but I'm confused as to how they're mounted. Cam-locks on tabs welded to the top longerons and front bulkhead? Does it require internal support and an actual metal turtle deck structure underneath?