Designing and Building a flying boat, wing in ground effect machine, Part 3 Ekranoplan plane

The exciting part for me at least is here, the building can now begin.
This is Piers' website, he has an interesting business.
www.airboatuk....
Also thanks to Piers for back up, filming and advice.

[@timcorso6337]

Love to see the helicopter project get underway again!🚁🚁🚁🚁

[@mitubachiflight]

It can be lifted with such short wings. I am fascinated by the ground effect! I wish you success！

[@Ben-Dixey]

Thank you 😊

[@martingarrish4082]

Great video, Ben. Your skills at building stuff never cease to amaze me. Like reliving the pioneering days of aviation. 👍

[@Ben-Dixey]

Thanks for all your technical help Martin, it's much appreciated 😊 I enjoy the building as much as the flying.

[@ultratorrent]

The bending die trick on the lathe was super slick and looked really good for a roughing pass, going to keep that one in mind.

[@ultratorrent]

on another note; hacksaw blade adapters for shapers?!?!! 🤯

[@Ben-Dixey]

Thanks, I was pleased with the outcome. It took a bit of filing to get the ridges down, I didn't spend enough time to get it super smooth but I'm pleased with the job it does after trying the new die.

[@Ben-Dixey]

@@ultratorrent Glad you noticed😊😊 , I made the hacksaw attachment for the elliot 10m and it works great. It feeds up via the shapers friction clutch, too much force applied and the clutch just slips.

[@HeliShed]

Bloody brilliant Ben. She bloody shifts for sure! Surely as well as brining the CoM forward, the wings will better serve 'under' the mass and not ontop of it? Thanks again, excellent progress - looking forward to the next!!

[@Ben-Dixey]

Thanks Heli Shed! The wings need to be as close to the water as possible for maximum ground effect. Increased lift up to the wing chord length above ground and reduced drag up to one wing span above ground. I think it will be flying higher than one chord above ground the majority of the time but not much higher. If that's what you were asking ? Similar with helicopter rotors I believe except you would never get to within one chord of a rotor blade to the ground. Well maybe you can flying inverted. 😆

[@jimmyjckjones]

Oh awesome! Love you work and thought process. Glad to see you trying a new vessel / craft !

[@Thecompanioncrate]

Glad to see the project moving forward.

[@quadtraxxx]

Never realised the DRO on the lathe would be that useful! Clever! I might have to 'help Dad' install his... Another great video Ben, look forwards to see this progress!

[@Ben-Dixey]

Thanks ! I think you should definitely help your Dad get the DRO installed or get Don to come and help 😁😁

[@fabiancurto6484]

Great project!!!! Love it

[@Ben-Dixey]

Thank you 😊

[@DktheWelder]

Good stuff, I thought you were going to try flying with the sheets. Looking forward to the build

[@Ben-Dixey]

😆 you're welcome to come and try it with the sheets. 👍😆

[@iandale]

Great to see you getting lessons, that will be invaluable. Take care, Ian PPL(A), PPL(H)

[@Ben-Dixey]

Thanks Ian 👍

[@gafrers]

Very interesting and great humor

[@rexcat180]

This is a neat project! Really makes me want to get into ultralights

[@SteveWrightNZ]

Good to see you back at it

[@watahyahknow]

wonder if you can safe weight and drag by using two canoes instead of the rubber dingy you can allso make the connecting frame part of the wingstructure so you have less overhang from the wingtip to the root , can allso make the pusher prop intoo a puller prop and mount it in front of the wings leading edge with should help the winndflow under the wing and might lower the takeoff speed and stabilize the plane in straight lines setting the engine and prop at a slight upward angle or even having the whole assembly hinge slightly might help in trimming the nose during flight or takeoff from wat i seen on russian acroplanes is that they have mose of the trust in front of the winges , think they allso have plates on the end of the wings catching the wind sliding down the leading edge and redirecting it under / over the wing aspecially when part of those plates are in the water sealing the part under the wing

[@hydroworldoutlook5769]

Awesome work as always! :)

[@Ben-Dixey]

Thank you 😊😊

[@EddieTheH]

Excellent!

[@BrilliantDesignOnline]

Nice engineering, but you have a Seair-ish trike frame, why not just get a trike wing? I have flown the Seair extensively and right down on the water dragging the rudder in the water, but with the added bonus of being able to fly at altitude like a microlight. The version I flew did not have wheels, but one time after an engine failure (spark plug lead fell off), I landed it dead stick in a grassy field with a passenger and a 'short' roll-out. I know that you are shooting for an Ekranoplan, but you have the excellent makings for a proper trike, which in my opinion, is one of the BEST flying machines. The solution for the pipe bending die using the DRO came out nice.

[@martingarrish4082]

Idea behind this project is to avoid having to certify the aircraft. So by keeping the wing in surface effect then it doesn't fly high enough to be an aircraft. UK Civil Aviation Authority is becoming more progressive since the divorce with the European Aviation Safety Agency, CAP 482 for example, but in general regulations are still more restrictive in Europe than US. Do you know what regulations Seair design to? I gather FAA Part 103 is for single seaters. I assume aircraft still has to be inspected and signed off before flight and it needs an annual inspection even if uncertified.

[@Ben-Dixey]

Interesting. 👍 This boat is actually a Polaris am fib, I have the flex wing for it, it's not serviceable so would need a new one. The trike frame will be removed so that it can be put back as the fib it is and I might purchase a new flex wing for it. For me i think the fun is low to the ground, I enjoy the flying in the c42 but low flying is where the excitement seems to be. Who knows after building and flying this as a WIGE vehicle I might decide to fly it as the flex wing fib. Nice to hear from someone who's actually flown one of these things and enjoyed it so much.

[@RandomKSandom]

I'm guessing that I'm missing something here, but a top speed of 30-32 MP/H with two people on board, and a target take-off speed of 30 MP/H feels like a small margin of error to me. Especially considering the extra drag of the stuff that is yet to be added. On the flip side, if wheels are still on,; that will be causing a huge amount of drag, so could drastically change the performance of the boat. (To the degree that it could well make up for the extra drag of the wings, and then some.) Is that take-off speed assuming one person? Basically, this comment is one big pile of "I don't know". But I'm curious to hear your thoughts, and see you progress. I really want to see you succeed.

[@Ben-Dixey]

Hi and thanks for the comment. Yes you're concerns are justified, if I went for a wing loading of 20kg/m2 then there would be absolutely no doubt that the boat would reach the required take off speed. That is the wing loading of the polaris Fib. The Flex wing on the Fib i don't believe will be as efficient as the wings I build but also my wings will have increased lift and reduced drag due to being in ground effect. I think having the wings this low to the water should allow me to get airborne with a wing loading of 29kg/m2 but it's a bit of an approximation and I could be wrong. I could just build wings that give me a 20kg/m2 loading but I wan't the wings a small as possible for transport reasons. The decision is open to debate as the wing size hasn't been finalized at this stage. The wheels were well out of the water during testing, the drag I'm hoping that will reduce in favor of reaching T/O speed is the drag in the water as the boat lifts up. At 25mph for instance the water drag could be reduced by 50%. (guessing)

[@RandomKSandom]

@@Ben-Dixey Nice. I need to learn a bit more about this. I can't wait to see your next installment.

[@f4ucorsair153]

Hey, I see you are from the UK. One question, did you use 6061 Aluminium to build the microlight aircraft wings? Its incredibly hard to source in Europe. PS: :The microlight looks eerily similar to the Affordaplane. The one I started to build some years ago, and got stuck after building the fuselage due to the inability to source 6061 AL.

[@Ben-Dixey]

Hi, yes I can get 6061 tube from an aircraft material supplier. I'm not using that because of the extra cost of buying certified material. I'm using 6063 which is lower in strength but I think will be ok. I didn't want to waste the more expensive material on a prototype. 6082 is another grade I can get which has the same strength as 6061 but it's supplied by non aircraft suppliers. Yes the affordaplane build on KZbin I've taken lots of info from. Shame your project was stopped because of material availability.

[@chippyjohn1]

Was that you filming at 3:05, MD500. Did you have a sit inside? A flat hulled boat will give you more speed, although landing will be harder on the backside. 3:38 looks like an AW101 anti submarine helicopter. You should have rolled out your chopper and asked them if they needed any help, hehe. All the best Ben.

[@Ben-Dixey]

Hi John. Yes it was me filming, it was a small airday at dunkeswell airfield. I didn't sit in the MD500 but had a good look. I wonder if they would have been interested to see my coaxial. Perhaps I'll offer to bring it next time. I didn't know what the military helicopter was 👍 Have you made more progress with yours?

[@toolzshed]

Whoa cool

[@amrinwello6620]

Good job👍👍👍👍

[@Andrew_Fernie]

My want of a DRO on the lathe just increased by at leat 50%

[@Ben-Dixey]

😆 you won't regret buying one. Mine are from M-DRO, think you can get 10% off if you phone and ask, mine are low profile magnetic scales. They have been faultless. You can spend more money on a Newall or mitutoyo or much less money on a Chinese made one. M-DRO are mid range.

[@miniphase]

Watching with interest..... 1:34 did the sh1t hit the fan?

[@Ben-Dixey]

😆 good observation!

[@Kebekwoodcraft7375]

Nice can the wings have some adjustments front to back using the mast for braces 😬 😊

[@Ben-Dixey]

Adjustment would be sensible to have, Kester haynes had mass adjustment instead to play with, move the engine or seat arrangements.

[@TheOddVideoChannel]

Is it an idea to use a canard configuration rather than a tail-plane? Seems like an easier/lighter construction given the configuration of the other stuff o your boat. Also, a tail needs to be higher as your boat is quite low above the water.

[@Ben-Dixey]

Good question. I suppose the main reason for not considering a canard is because I haven't seen many examples. After reading a bit it seems that they are less stable in a stall recovery. They also reduce the angle of attack of the main wing by deflecting air downwards, this means higher T/O and landing speeds. They are apparently more efficient than a tail at higher speeds and it can be a lighter design overall. Perhaps more discussion is needed on this.

[@TheOddVideoChannel]

@@Ben-Dixey As far as I understand, a canard design can be 'unstallable' if done correctly, it is why they are so popular in most of the Rutan designs for example. With regard to the reduction of the apparent angle of attack, and reduction of lift, of the main wing I agree. However, I can also see the canard itself generating lift (it can have an asymmetric wing profile). Perhaps this overcomes the lift reduction.

[@Philthebaronofmiami-yt3qu]

interesting

[@TROUROCKS]

the rubber ducky is too heavy ..too draggy .. and a nightmare to attach anything to .. maybe just maybe keep the hard bottom

[@Ben-Dixey]

It's not perfect I agree, could always be changed for a lighter more efficient design at a later date. The framework will be bolted to the boat and could easily be removed /changed.

[@proto_life]

no wonder there was a flight simulator mod XD

[@scottaumann7585]

do you post on FB also ? thx

[@Ben-Dixey]

Hi. no I haven't been posting on any other platform.

[@fboomerang]

Did you contact Rudy Heeman about your design? Y'all have a lot in common! kzbin.info/www/bejne/pnbQZqeipLVji9k

[@Ben-Dixey]

Hi, no I haven't, I get the impression he's moved on but I could be wrong. Worth a try 👍

[@fboomerang]

@@Ben-Dixey He's moved on but has all the experience you and I need. I just bought a houseboat 10 miles from town and I need a solution. Also I'm a Tesla Staff engineer so I have lots of EV toys at my disposal. LET'S DO THIS! kzbin.info/www/bejne/fpvRkoWpfZeEpMk

[@wokekkk]

Give a bored englishman time and random stuff a he will come up with some truly werid stuff

[@DumfriesDik]

Great to see this project is well underway. Where do you get your ideas and inspiration from? All the best.

[@Ben-Dixey]

Thanks for watching, I get my ideas mainly from other people, everything I've done on this channel has been done and largely proved before. The ekranoplan was invented decades ago but still very few people have even heard of it. I would love to come up with something completely new but that's easier said than done, maybe one day something will come along. There are true inventors out there, like youtube.com/@amazingdiyprojects?si=R-rywSilVVY-74qa. He's someone I really look up to. KZbin is a super resource but there are also people working on all sorts of flying machines globally that don't publicise it. I met one recently and was astounded by what he's made.

[@okgo8315]

@ben........amazingdiyprojects is a bloody genius, incredible inventive mind.✌️🇬🇧

[@Ben-Dixey]

@@okgo8315 completely agree, he hasn't posted lately, hope he's ok. We need him.

[@okgo8315]

@@Ben-Dixey ....we certainly do need him...... just as we need you too ✌️🇬🇧

[@hakology]

idk if you're subbed to rctestflight ... but he's made a lot of small scale ground effect vehicles and has posted loads of good data / info

[@Ben-Dixey]

Thanks, yes I have been watching some of them but need to watch more. They are fantastic videos. I've also came across this channel youtube.com/@onewingspanabove?si=FRhlQuThDfqECVtu Paul has great knowledge.