Designing for scale

[Dylan Reynolds LaserCraft Services]

I have been doing some research for sometime now on scratch building a Sopwith Dolphin. I want to go 1/4 scale and basically have a copy of every already existing commercial plan out there plus 3 views, the Cosford book on the Dolphin and pretty much every pic available on google.

What I would like to know is, is it viable to follow my 1/4 scale Stampe for strucural techniques, ie, crutch layout, and just alter things to suit the Dolphin like wing position, top formers, cockpit position etc etc, or should I follow an existing plan (of which there isn't really any good ones for what I want)?

Or do I start from scratch? something I don't really think I have the knowledge for.

I fell in love with the plane after seeing it in Flypast, the resoration feature and then seeing the beautiful model at the Nats, and I have now decided if i'm gonna build it before I'm 50 (9 years to go) now is the time to start lol.

Any and all advice most welcome

Thanks in advance

[Danny Fenton]

Brian Taylor often followed the same method for his aircraft designs, basically a tapered box section fus from 1/4 square, with formers around the outside to create the external shape required.

Look forward to seeing how you get on, seeing Mike Goldbys Dolphin at the Nats was very special, and it was really nicely flown I belive by Ian Pallister?

Cheers

Danny

[Dylan Reynolds LaserCraft Services]

thanks Danny, yes it was Ian Pallister flying, if mine turns out anywhere near half as good as that one i'll be more than happy. This will be my first scratch build, what a subject lol