Welcome to my Robin Blog.

It was suggested to me that I start a Blog on my ultralight project the "Robin". I have been working on this project for 4 years. On one of my first days at Vought aircraft, a stress man and future friend named Kenny Andersen walked up to me and said, "Aren't you the Mark Calder that designed the Wren Ultralight" Why yes I am I said. "well what have you done lately?" That was the genesis of the Robin design. The first 2.5 have been spent in the design phase. Actual construction started 1.5 years ago and has actually progressed smoothly. There have been a number of changes from the onset, but for the most part it is following my original concept. I will eventually sell plans for the Robin and make available all molded parts, fittings and welded assemblies. The Robin is designed to FAA part 103 and as such requires no pilots license to fly, although I think its a good idea to actually learn how to fly!! The actual name "Robin" was my Daughter Jamie's idea, I asked her to name the design based on my "cute little bird" theme (Wren)



Every good aircraft design has a "Mission" in mind before the actual design is started. A good designer will refer back to this mission every time a design decision must be made. Good design after all is just a series of good design decisions. On my first Ultralight design the Wren, the mission was to design a high performance low powered aircraft. The reduction of drag was the prime concern. I had been flying powered Hang gliders prior to this and because of this experience, I placed a high priority on climb performance. While most designers chose bigger engines, I chose lower drag and high aspect ratio (low span loading) wings. The Wren could out climb conventional Ultralight with up to 65 hp. The Robin follows this philosophy, but tries to improve on the performance of the Wren. Ultralight are not built by "rich" people, they offer an inexpensive means to enjoy one of the greatest experiences of my life, low speed soaring and flying.



Design Concept



The cost of an aircraft is directly proportional to its weight. , if low drag can be achieved then lighter and cheaper engines can be used. The Robin expands on the design mission of the Wren by using a longer span (40') wing and using a low speed laminar flow airfoil, (Wortmann FX 170) The leading edge of the wing on the prototype is molded fiber glass. The spar has been placed at 33% of the wing chord because the chosen airfoil is laminar over the first 32%. The aft covering is light weight Dacron Fabric. The leading edge of this fabric is purposely pinked and placed at the 32% chord point to facilitate laminar transition and elimination of separation bubbles. The main difference between the original design of the Robin and the current final design is the elimination of the single mono wheel retractable landing gear. Part 103 does not allow for a retractable landing gear. Which is really unfortunate because I spent a long time designing a really neat mechanism!!

In the course of the 4 years I have worked on the Robin, the structural design concept has evolved radically. Originally I was going to draw on the design of the Wren and use essential the same construction concepts. The original design of the Wren was heavily influenced by my Friend Steve Wood's Sky Pup design. I lived in Wichita Kansas and worked at Cessna Aircraft along with Steve. I watched his progress on the Pup and was very impressed with his concepts. I adapted the concept of using Styrofoam sheeting as the shear panels for the fuselage and the wing ribs. I did not however use the foam for the shear webs of the wing as Steve did. I originally wanted to build the fuselage of the Robin in a similar manner. Weight and the desire to not use foam for the basic structure due to the danger of fuel leaking eventually drove me to a all wood fuselage design. The wings were designed to take advantage of the Graphlite carbon pultruded material pioneered for the experimental aircraft by Jim Marske. I was familiar with this product from my experience at Bell Helicopter where it was considered in the construction of the V-22 wing.









New Paint Schemes

My Friend Bill Dale came through in spades, he laid out a number of design possibilities. I have chosen the one shown in the header, but here were other possibilities. Unfortunately I have been traveling again and have not made as much progress as I would have liked.


















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Covering part 2 (R/H wing) additional pictures

This is just a quick update, I have the bottom surface of the wing covered. one area I discovered that could be a problem with bonded skin, is the aft portion of the lower surface of the main rib. There is a reverse curve or cusp at the Trailing edge. When the fabric is shrunk, there will be a tendency for this area to pull away.if it does, I will rib stitch the aft portion of every rib, but in the mean time I decided to add two cloth tapes on the inside of each rib. This should react the cleaving or pulling forces.

shear webs
the lower surface was added first, this allow for a overlap of the upper surface fabric such that the seam faces aft.

the lower fabric has only been partially shrunk @250 degrees. after the upper surface is on, both surfaces will be final shrunk to 300 degrees.










Fwd Fairing covered

The fwd fairing came out really nice.
I have some repair work to do on the L/H wing and then I will cover it. The Fuselage is last, everything else is covered.










  

R/H wing top view
 both upper and lower surfaces are covered. Cable exit doubler is shown in this view, Tomorrow I will rib stitch the lat 12" of the inboard 6 ribs. this is required because the curvature of the airfoil reverses and tension on the fabric could pull the fabric off.









 

 view looking down the wing. i'm very pleased how smooth the wing is after cover.
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