Flugwerk AP-51 Reproductions

[Michel Lemieux]

Flugwerk AP-51 Reproductions

Just read this new snip on their web site.

Just passing along for those interested..... Anyone knows of early takers for the first airframes ? They seem to have a few built so far.

Interesting comments on liability...and quite understandable in these days and age.

http://www.flugwerk.de/index.php#

The AP-51 from FlugWerk
Dear warbird enthusiast,

welcome to the newly styled Flug Werk Website. Along with the updated layout we like to fully introduce our new product line, namely the “AP-51 Palomino” structural kit. We dubbed the airframe kit “Palomino” in order to document it’s closeness to the P-51 Mustang, yet make it clearly discernable from the real P-51’s, so our new components do not end up on type certified Mustangs. This is a requirement by the FAA, which we happily fulfill.

We do target the individual who is looking for a payable way to get flying in his own classic US-warbird. The idea behind the project is very similar to our preceding Fw 190 project, which is now drawing to a close after 20 aircraft and kits have been built and delivered worldwide.

Only the best quality materials

All of the AP-51 assemblies are manufactured from western materials, such as SAE 2024 and/or SAE 7075 aluminum alloys and SAE 4130 steel alloy, where called for, in high strength applications. The structures are built, following the exacting standards of the original NAA manufacturing drawings and standards. Utilizing modern top of the line CNC-machinery we have the ability to manufacture for instance brackets, hinges for the tail-gear, all flying surfaces and most important of all the landing gear trunnion boxes: All of these new components are clearly better in quality and strength than their sand-casted predecessors from wartime. The trunnion boxes are made using a very large 5-axis CNC mill, one of two of their size currently in operation in Germany. The company which is running this “monster” makes prototype body plugs for the secret BMW designs… high-tech at its’ best. The result is a repetitive tolerance of less than 1/100th of an inch and no warping due to uneven cooling of the molten aluminum alloy, if it is attempted to fabricate the item as a casted part, such as some of our competitors tried with suboptimal results. On top, the modern forged stock alloy is strength-wise way superior to any casted material. Broken off gear door hinges are a thing of the past. Furthermore we are using hard tooling ( = metal stamping tools) and no wooden or polycarbonate tools/dies are used for stamping ribs on the rubber press. This assures a high degree of exactness which is mandatory, especially when manufacturing laminar flow wing ribs. The AP-51 wing profile demands absolute true coordinates, since we all know that the laminar flow wing will even credit “1/16th out of profile” with bad aerodynamically performance, caused by premature boundary layer separation.

The jigs which are utilized during the assembly processes are built following today’s aerospace industry standard and are second to none in the warbird manufacturing industry. Each individual jig employs fold-down templates to assure correct profile conforming surfaces to the smallest fraction of an inch while the entire assembly is under construction. Before the jigs are used for any assembly wrok they are heat treated for the purpose of relieving any stresses that have built up during their welding assembly. The entire jigs are therefore put in a furnace for a given time. After heat-treating the jig’s structures, all critical surfaces are milled to their final dimensions and by that gain the purpose as measuring zero-coordinates. Even the assembly work is done in a climate-controlled environment.

And our efforts don’t stop here in order to supply you with the best AP-51 structures your money can buy in today’s world. The stamped and trued ribs are subject to corrosion proofing, employing the “Alodyne” process, followed by primer coating with two part Epoxy paint prior to assembly. Yet the most vital part in the manufacture of aircraft structures are well-trained and highly skilled shop hands. All of the employees, who are building the AP-51 assemblies, are professionally trained aircraft sheet-metal specialists with individually tens of years of experience working within the aerospace sheet-metal profession.

The final result is an airframe that is similar and in some regards better to the original structures, which were built over sixty years ago with a different client in mind. The Flug Werk GmbH airframe kits are built to last and shall be safe and strong for generations of future warbird pilots/operators to come.

Although high quality is usually accompanied with prohibitive high pricing, we have cleverly managed to keep our cost down and –for the time being- concentrate on the manufacture of the structures only. There are still enough system parts available for the P-51 Mustang through approved and credited suppliers such as our friends Jay Wisler of “Warbird parts and Memorabilia” or Jack Roush owner of “Roush Aviation” RR-Merlin engine parts and the like.



Now on to the selling facts… here is the content of the AP-51 Palomino airframe kit:

- Engine mount, with smile but w/o lord mounts

- Center fuselage with dog-house, inlet- outlet duct, windshield assembly and firewall with stamped, dished insert. P-51 D style.

- Aft fuselage

- Vertical stabilizer, with ventral fairing

- Rudder ( for fabric covering ) with trim tab and balance weight

- Horizontal stabilizer ( standard incidence is set for P-51 D )

- Elevators ( for fabric covering ) with trim tab and balance weight, or

- Elevators ( metal skinned ) with trim tab and balance weight

- Wing, with left and right tip-extensions, body fairings, clamshell- and spade doors

- Ailerons, left and right

- Flaps, left and right


We plan to manufacture and offer the following items as well, depending on demand:

- Trim consoles with all mechanical parts

- Header tanks

- Oil tanks

- Cowling formers and skins

- And finally ATF-51 two-seater fuselages, suited for installation of dual controls.

All structures are built using brand new ALCOA/USA supplied aluminum extrusions and AN/MS hardware, also imported from the US.

The current price for above detailed airframe kit in US $: 475.000,- net ( plus VAT if sold within the European Union, currently being a soaking 19% on top, thanks to our splendid taxation practices over here…). Prices subject to change without prior notice, due to ever changing raw material prices, cost of labor and customers’ attitude ( smile please ).

Delivery conditions: “Ex Works” Gammelsdorf/Germany ( as per INCOTERMS 2000 ).

We can quote on above individual assemblies, but will not quote or supply individual ribs or the like. Again we must stress that legally these assemblies are for the use on experimental aircraft type only, yet it is beyond our control where the parts finally end up being installed and we will therefore ask you to sign a concerning disclaimer at time of purchase. Also we are able to run your damaged P-51 airframe assemblies through our jigs at very competitive prices.

Using a bit of your scrounging talents, we figure that you can fulfill your dream and fly an all new, yet “exact to the bone”, WWII fighter for less than US $ 750.000,- net. That is half of what you presently pay for a modestly priced P-51 Mustang , with the reassurance of quality and safety from all new materials ( i.E.: no hidden inter granular corrosion in the main spar etc. ).

Keep a good thing going and reserve your manufacturing slot as soon as practical. Your decision to purchase and subsequent order will fuel our efforts to supply the seemingly impossible at truly manageable cost. It was 15 years ago, when we decided to build our new FW 190 “Butcher Birds”, with only a blank sheet of paper in our hands – today several of the 20 kits sold are flying or are close to getting to the air.

So much for our “Runway track-Record”……measure us by our performance and compare. >> Weiterlesen...

[DenverWarbirdFan]

Now where did I put that checkbook....

[AHancock51]

This is awesome! May have to consider one for the Fighter Fund, looks like you'd have to find your own engine though

[Michel Lemieux]

All the small fixtures...are still findable as NOS or repro.

And there are engines available.

Will be interesting to see the end result.

[Mike]

I doubt they'll be trampled in the rush for takers, going by:

1) The issues that owners have had with the 190s from the same source

2) Whatever an owner builds up from these kits won't be a Mustang, and won't be able to be registered as such.

3) The "AP-51 Palomino" will only be able to be registered in the Experimental category in the US (and any parts purchased from Flug Werk can only be used on Experimental-registered P-51s, if indeed they fit P-51s at all)

4) Why go this route at all, when for similar cost you can have a proper P-51 built up, and registered in the Limited category?

[AHancock51]

4) Why go this route at all, when for similar cost you can have a proper P-51 built up, and registered in the Limited category?

You can? Any particular company? Just curious

[Michel Lemieux]

I guess in the end it's really just a question of having a data plate & the proper papers no ?

[Mike]

I guess in the end it's really just a question of having a data plate & the proper papers no ?

A few $$$$$ also helps

[Enemy Ace]

The idea is to Pay-as-you-go with subassemblies, source your own merlin and bits and pieces and have a Mustang (er, Palamino) for @ 750,000.00. If the US Dollar keeps dropping the exchange rate with the Euro will kill this project IMO.

[Manonthefence]

I'm with Mike on this, they seem kind of pointless in the overall scheme of things. If you have $750k to spend on something fun there are more practical aircraft out there that still deliver the fun factor, it wont be a Mustang but neither will these.

Oh and the Flug-Werke 190s dont appear to be particularly reliable or well made from what I have heard.

[Warbird Kid]

That center section looks to be for a D model. Is that the only model there producing? Or could we see A's and B/C's?

[mustanglover]

I honestly still don't get.

You have Mustangs here in the states being built up from paperwork, you have P-40s having the same thing done.

Why can't you start with a data plate and registration paperwork and show this as a restoration?

Everyone else is doing it.

[Mike]

Because, technically, the Flug Werk-produced parts are only eligable to be fitted to Expermental-category aircraft. P-51Ds are generally registered in the Limited category.

However, I'm sure that owners will, in some cases, use these parts along with the identity and paperwork from a P-51 and claim that the resulting aircraft is a genuine P-51, with history.

They'll probably paint 'Scat' on the nose, too!

Similar things have happened with the Flug Werk 190s in the US, with several owners registering them as restorations of genuine Focke-Wulfs.

[Mark V]

I find this somewhat puzzling too. Clearly (reference to Mikes point) there is a difference between the Mustang (err Palomino) components and the FW-190 kits. The former is a series of major airframe components built from original NAA drawings (of which a large number survive) whereas the latter is essentially a kit aircraft that looks very convincingly like an Fw-190 (but as many have found there is very little direct interchangeability with original wartime parts and components). In the US it is commonplace to produce, often from virtually scratch, major airframe parts for P-51 restorations so I am struggling to see why the use of these components would be excluded from Limited catergory aircraft (the vast majority of registered P-51's). I do understand that in their own right as an assembled aircraft lacking an identity they would not be able to be registered as a Limited catergory 'original' Mustang but it seems strange that the manufacturer has been forced to explicitly point out to purchasers that the use of these components in existing Limited cat. aircraft is prohibited. I guess there is more to this than is an apparant from the FlugWerk website.

[Michel Lemieux]

Well....it does prompt a good question.

What is the cost today of owning a real paper Mustang ? I.E. the data plate & paper.

How much of an original airframe do you need to convince the "certification" powers that you started with the real McCoy & get licensed as limited ?

That is totally independent of whom does the job & where it is made.

In the end, is the paper $ cost count for more than I think it is worth ?

No clue here, just asking. In Canada as an example, what would be the $ of getting the papers and rights at Transport Canada for let's say a crashed Hurricane that has NO salvageable parts ?