Mr.
Gary had some ideas about how a plane should look. Or fly. Or perhaps roll.
To his creative mind we owe this remarkable example of early aviation
design.
And before you say anything, yes, it did fly. The
machine represented here was based on the only photo –badly retouched- I got
of this series of planes, which run from about 1910 to 1913.
Some of the attempts achieved sustained flight, although it is not
clear which version achieved what. The Net had some written information
available, most noticeable a press article which stated the span (or is it
diameter?) as 20’ and how the Totowa,
New Jersey
dwellers were amused by the flights of this adventurous machine.
http://www.100megsfree4.com/farshores/n02njfd.htm
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images below to see larger images
Now, mind
you, 1910 was only 7 years after the Wright’s first powered flight. At
the time I guess it seemed a good idea to get your own arrow and target
together airborne. Or perhaps the configuration had more
to do with an apartment building-like airplane: First floor (where the
pilot was) would be command and control; second floor (power plant)
engineering; third floor (gas tank) supplies; fourth floor recreational
area (for the pigeons and hens that is).
Alternate original
engineering requires equally alternate model building techniques. In this
case the images illustrate the approach. Needless to say I had to start up
by drawing my own 2-view. It ain’t pretty, as my good friend
modeler-musician extraordinaire Vance Gilbert would say, but it did the
job.
And
here comes the boring part that you can gladly skip (like “I glued this to
that, etc.”):
Once the basic structure –made with styrene sheet and fine rigid
wire- was completed a Harrriman engine was scratched, together with the
accessories (radiator, gas tank, wood propeller from popsicle stick, engine
beams/tailboom). Then the four (photoetched + solder tires) spoke wheels and the
tail feathers were dealt with. The basic pilot position was taken care of with a
few more scratched parts and an Aeroclub bucket metal seat. The flying surfaces
were painted before final assembly and then some rigging finalized the model.
In the beginnings, when the airplane configuration was still in its
ever-changing, Proteus-like form, the Hoople must have been a sight to behold.
And still it is today.
Gabriel Stern
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images below to see larger images
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