[CptBartlet]

I am doing a book presentation and i want to make a wing of a fighter. (small scale of coarse). but i need to know the resin that they used on ww1 fighters. It was a coating on the wings to make them waterproof and flame resistant i guess. Its just i cant find anything on google. please help

[RadPig94]

the things were pretty much canvas


Grade "A" cotton covering and nitrate dope.

[Heinkel-162]

The air wars of World War I were mainly fought with fabric covered biplanes that were vulnerable to fire due to the flammable properties of the Grade A cotton covering and nitrate dope.The German aircraft designer Hugo Junkers is considered one of the pioneers of metal aircraft, his designs started the move away from fabric covering. The highly flammable mixture of fabric, dope and hydrogen gas was a factor in the demise of the Hindenburg airship.

So there is your coating, Nitrate Dope, it is available for Hobby Aircraft aswell so you could get some their.

[RadPig94]

The air wars of World War I were mainly fought with fabric covered biplanes that were vulnerable to fire due to the flammable properties of the Grade A cotton covering and nitrate dope.The German aircraft designer Hugo Junkers is considered one of the pioneers of metal aircraft, his designs started the move away from fabric covering. The highly flammable mixture of fabric, dope and hydrogen gas was a factor in the demise of the Hindenburg airship.

So there is your coating, Nitrate Dope, it is available for Hobby Aircraft aswell so you could get some their.

i just said that

[Heinkel-162]

And I elaborated.

[dogz]

That dope was actually highly flammable, just certain materials weren't available back then, or at least in abundance, like Helium so then ended up using hydrogen for balloons and Zepplins.

Was the canvas cotton? I know the british used irish linen, perhaps some may have even tried silk, flimsey as those machines look today they're used the best they could for the time.

Just in case..... Most wings back then were flat but the cantilever wing first came in 1915 I beleive, it wasn't until Fokker moved to the Dr1 and D7 when that design became widely used. I don't think the allies ever used to it themselves until a while after the war, but they were the first to implement dihedral wings (in the SE5 and Snipe and bottom wings of the Camel for example), which the Germans didn't adopt.

[madcat]

That dope was actually highly flammable

Yeahhh man!

lol :lol:

[skyomish]

"Fokker moved to the Dr1 and D7 when that design became widely used."
After that the Allies could say " Look at those Fokkers Go"
It was something to behold for sure.

[CptBartlet]

Thank you

So its a nitrate dope like cellulose nitrate because thats GUN COTTON ?!?!? I though it was a resin made for fire and water protection and even though the Hindenburg was coated in the dope it was made during peacetime and would not have incendiary rounds fired into it.
Also when i'm done can i shoot this with a tracer and catch it on fire?

i like your avatar Radpig its of Captain Bartlett right?



Random questions... Can a flare gun destroy a ww1 balloon in one shot like in the movie the Red Baron?

[dogz]

In theory yes but I've yet to come across any accounts.

The french were the first to develop rockets to be fired at balloons and tracer/incendiary rounds were also developed as the war progressed....

Actually thats a new one I think.... Will CK have rockets for us to fire at ballooon?

[RadPig94]

i like your avatar Radpig its of Captain Bartlett right?



Random questions... Can a flare gun destroy a ww1 balloon in one shot like in the movie the Red Baron?

thanks, yes it's Bart, and I don't doubt that a balloon would just burst into flames, those things are dangerous

[caldrail]

.

Was the canvas cotton? I know the british used irish linen, perhaps some may have even tried silk, flimsey as those machines look today they're used the best they could for the time.

Irish linen where-ever possible. It was the most suitable material. Bear in mind that as antiquated as WW1 aeroplanes seem to us, they were cutting edge technology back then and not cheap. I've seen the cost of a Sopwith biplane quoted as £700 in an age when munitions workers, highly paid specialists doing dangerous work, earned between £6 and £10 per week.

[dogz]

Yeh it's like buying a Porsche or something like that in todays money!!!!

[caldrail]

Comparing costs is interesting. The average WW1 biplane was a labour intensive exercise to build, and although not especially difficult for the craftsmen of the day, one that required a measure of skill. You couldn't just knock one together from bits of plywood and expect it to fly.

Today of course mass production of jet fighters would be a massively expensive and difficult exercise. The range of suppliers for technical parts, the specialist manufacturing processes, and the vulnerability of networked factories would not be obstacles easily overcome. Of course the aircraft can't be easily 'reduced' in complexity as happened in WW2 because of the flight regime that exists for modern aeroplanes, not to mention the demand for aerodynamic andtechnical superiority, something that was unthinkable back in 1914. And lets not forget, those apparently rickety biplanes were going to war eleven years after the first official succesful powered flight of a heavier-than-air craft.

[RAF209_Benge]

Actually, alot of the planes of WW 1 were not as hand crafted as you make out...

Albatross, Fokker, Royal Aircraft, Nieuport, SPAD, and Sopwith were already mass producing parts for their planes. Especially wings, tails, and elevators.

SPAD and Pfalz were taking their boat hull jigs and turning out fuselages