Liddle Technology

This site was last updated on February 15, 2008.

Lee Liddle has evolved a new approach to construction over the past few years. This series of pictures from Mike Willcox shows Mike and Pat building a new fleet of planes based on Liddle's approach (presumably with various Willcox refinements).

They begin by buying a couple of 2x4's at the local Home Depot. This gives them enough raw material to make spars, nose blocks, and center sections for 50 planes.

Cutting spars.

Sanding spars.

Here's the Shop Vac, after all that sanding. Besides the vacuum cleaner, the primary tools are the band saw and belt sander.

Here's enough parts for about 60 planes. On the left, spars. In the middle, nose blocks. On the right, fuselages.

Here's how the center section fits together.

The nose block is 8 inches long (5 inches outboard, 3 inches inboard). The forward bolt for the motor mount goes through the nose block.

They slice off the front end of the block, about 2 inches back from the leading edge. That is, they almost slice it off, stopping about 2 inches from the edge, which holds the block together while it's being hot wired.

After the spar slot is cut in the wings, they cut the airfoil using one template, with a single pivot point about 5 feet away to get the taper.

The foam is glued in place use 3M 77.

Ready to cover.

Mike paints the covering (Seal-Lamin) first, then applies it with an ordinary household iron.