MTFCA Forum

I thought I had seen some plans for the woodwork for a speedster body that would then be covered with aircraft type fabric. Does anyone know if those plans are still available?

I can't find my copy at the moment but the book "The Model T Ford in Speed & Sport" had discussion and plans for building a T speedster including those with fabric coverings. Some vendors have them and they can be found online. The plans were quite small and poor reproductions making them nice for concepts but severely lacking in detail. Might be a bit of a start anyway. When I built my speedster body, I started with a pretty complete chassis with engine and steering column and radiator so I could work out dimensions for reasonably comfortable seating with good access and reasonable steering wheel positioning. Having the radiator in place simplified defining the lines of body to establish the look you desire.

baltrusch wrote: ↑

Mon Sep 04, 2023 7:03 pm

I thought I had seen some plans for the woodwork for a speedster body that would then be covered with aircraft type fabric. Does anyone know if those plans are still available?

I have plans for the M&M speedster (Modern Mechanics Magazine) see my avatar the rear was fabric. --
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I mocked up the plan to scale only to find out the side support widths were much to wide. But Its a good reference

walber wrote: ↑

Mon Sep 04, 2023 8:15 pm

I can't find my copy at the moment but the book "The Model T Ford in Speed & Sport" had discussion and plans for building a T speedster including those with fabric coverings. Some vendors have them and they can be found online. The plans were quite small and poor reproductions making them nice for concepts but severely lacking in detail. Might be a bit of a start anyway. When I built my speedster body, I started with a pretty complete chassis with engine and steering column and radiator so I could work out dimensions for reasonably comfortable seating with good access and reasonable steering wheel positioning. Having the radiator in place simplified defining the lines of body to establish the look you desire.

The "Fast Ford Handbook" by the same author has similar plans as well. Apparently, there was an article in "Vintage Ford" around 2007-9 that had plans and directions in it too, but I don't know what issue.

v/r,
jason

Kurt has an interesting idea. I've wondered about using fabric to cover a speedster body. My airplane is steel tube with the shape produced by dacron fabric shrunk over a frame of wooden bulkheads (1/4 inch aircraft plywood) and spruce T-head stringers run longitudinally, glued at each bulkhead. The whole airplane only weighs around 800 lbs empty. You'd want to treat the fabric using one of the processes approved for aircraft. It has survived speeds far higher than a speedster would ever make.

The Museum of speed in Lincoln, NE has one of these speedsters that was built back in the day. Wicked cool! They were restoring the chassis but not sure of their intentions with the body. If you were to submit a request for information while letting them know you were looking to build one, I’m sure they would flood you with pictures and information.

My dad built a stick and cloth boat tail T speedster back about 30+ years ago. Was modeled closer to a 30’s British car tho. It held up really well, but was built upon a shortened TT frame. The stick and cloth portion of the car couldn’t have weighed more than 100 lbs

Early aircraft used organic materials such as cotton and cellulose nitrate dope; modern fabric-covered designs usually use synthetic materials such as Dacron and butyrate dope for adhesive. Modern methods are often used in the restoration of older types that were originally covered using traditional methods. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_fabric_covering

Oldav8tor wrote: ↑

Sat Sep 23, 2023 7:21 pm

Kurt has an interesting idea. I've wondered about using fabric to cover a speedster body. My airplane is steel tube with the shape produced by dacron fabric shrunk over a frame of wooden bulkheads (1/4 inch aircraft plywood) and spruce T-head stringers run longitudinally, glued at each bulkhead. The whole airplane only weighs around 800 lbs empty. You'd want to treat the fabric using one of the processes approved for aircraft. It has survived speeds far higher than a speedster would ever make.

Something else to consider while it may survive the speed, a simple pebble isn't encountered in the air

As for body construction for a vintage automobile circa 1922 this may be of interest:
https://www.google.com/books/edition/Th ... frontcover


Principals of Automobile Body Design. K. Forbes.

Chad,
My fabric covered aircraft has survived impacts with large bugs at 100 mph and that was a direct impact on a forward facing surface. It has also had mud thrown on it by wheels when landing. You can't dent fabric The multi-step sealing and painting process makes for a durable surface - mine is still good after 38 years.

In WWII the control surfaces of most fighters and bombers were fabric covered.

Oldav8tor wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 24, 2023 8:26 pm

In WWII the control surfaces of most fighters and bombers were fabric covered.

I saw this recently and got to wondering… does the fabric take a bullet hole better than an aluminum skin…? Or were they just rationing materials?

My dads speedster has a few stretched spots from taking road debris and general hangar rash over the years, but never a hole.

A bullet hole in fabric was easier to patch than aluminum. Just glue a patch on the hole. The control surfaces were also much lighter in weight. Since all control surfaces have to be mass-balanced forward of the hinge line to prevent flutter, the fabric covered surfaces did not require as much to balance them.

I have about 80 hours as copilot of a WWII B-25 bomber and I have to tell you that even though the control surfaces were lighter weight, the control forces on that plane were heavy! No power assist back in those days. From the photo you can see the control surfaces were pretty large. Trim tabs were used (and are today) to help relieve some of the forces.

BTW - on a B-25 in a dive the fabric could be subjected to speeds in excess of 250 mph and it held up fine. Imagine the force of hitting a rain drop at more than 200 mph!

Dirigibles had doped fabric skins and they survived (most) storms.

If anyone is interested in the plans for this body, I have a full set of plans in very good detail. I charge $25.00 for full set postpaid to your door. Tom

This speedster was made by a forum member many years back from muslin fabric and airplane dope.