Model Airplanes

Today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Chrysler/Maser TC has a tenuous connection to hijacker D.B. Cooper. More importantly it has the rare Cosworth/Maserati twin-cam head. Maybe that, and not the famous airplane robbery will make it worth its asking.

Miserable. Awful when new. Slower than sunburned sloth sex. Dull as ever-lovin’ dishwater. These were some of the themes that arose out of the comments for yesterday’s 1976 Ford Maverick Four-Door. Some of you even averred that it would be overpriced at free.

It’s quite surprising then that it actually drove away—albeit likely very slowly—with a 60-percent Nice Price win. I guess when it comes to Mavericks, nobody’s going to tell them what to do.

Lee Iacocca was a bit of a maverick, and so were a number of his friends. liked to work with his friends. That led to partnerships with such notables as Carroll Shelby and Alejandro de Tomaso, the latter even sharing Iacocca’s Italian heritage.

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It was while at Ford that Iacocca funded Shelby’s vision of the Corvette-killing Cobra, and it was also there where he first met industrialist de Tomaso.

Both Shelby and de Tomaso followed Iacocca to Chrysler after the latter’s unceremonious canning from Ford, and there they continued to crank out special models, many of which have become historically noteworthy.

One of the most… well, notorious

Article source: http://jalopnik.com/for-12-000-could-this-1990-chrysler-tc-by-maserati-hi-1796256179

Boeing offered new details on its potential middle of the market plane at the Paris Air Show – and they could be promising for Wichita’s Spirit AeroSystems.

Mike Delaney, Boeing vice president of airplane development, said in a presentation at the show on Tuesday that the new plane’s fuselage design may break from the traditional circular structure to one that is shaped closer to an ellipse.

Such a design would allow for the plane to be a wide body with two aisles versus a single aisle found in the out-of-production 757, Boeing’s last middle-market airplane.

But the design wouldn’t allow for as much cargo space in the bottom of the plane compared with contemporary Boeing fuselages.

Boeing hasn’t yet committed to building such an airplane, but talk of it has been robust in the past six months and “was a persistent topic of conversation” on Day 2 of the show, Vertical Research Partners analyst Robert Stallard wrote in an e-mail Tuesday afternoon.

“There is already an expectation that Boeing will try and get this plane into service and to full rate faster than has traditionally been seen in the industry,” Stallard wrote.

The one detail from Delaney’s briefing that is relevant to Spirit is how Boeing plans to construct its fuselage. Boeing will use composites to fashion the new plane’s fuselage, Delaney said, and that’s an area where Spirit – already a supplier of structures on every Boeing airplane model – has a great deal of expertise.

Spirit manufactures the composite forward fuselage section of

Article source: http://www.kansas.com/news/business/aviation/article157334144.html

Several exhibitors at the international event are displaying new materials, which manufacturers are using to cut costs. British company Sigma Components is one example, using a thermoplastic composite – material which is melted before cooling and hardening – to create ultra-lightweight but durable plane parts.

Chief executive Mark Johnson demonstrates with two pipes: one made of steel, one braided thermoplastic. The two pieces are exactly the same size, but the thermoplastic is half the weight. Despite the reduction, the plastic tube is just as strong, says Johnson.

“Clearly everyone wants to lower costs, but with the pressures on OEMs they also want them lighter,” says Johnson to Professional Engineering. “Everyone focuses on wings and fins, but not many people focus on some of the smaller components like tubes. They are always spending time on the big stuff… but if you make savings on small things, and a lot of them, it makes a big difference.”

Using thermoplastic pieces in an engine could save 10kg, says Johnson. For a whole plane, 100kg could be saved – enough to take on another passenger. “If we do that on all of the components, just imagine the savings,” says Johnson. “It is the power of many.”

Sigma also uses traditional materials in non-traditional ways, such as 3D printing metal alloys. Johnson shows the difference with two nuts of the same diameter, but one has been 3D printed. It is far lighter, using less material – and therefore costing less money – but has been intelligently engineered and

Article source: http://www.imeche.org/news/news-article/new-materials-and-3d-printing-making-lighter-cheaper-planes