Scrapheap Diary 2005, The Anoraks - "Man Powered Flight"

Anoraks Scrapheap 2005 "Grand Final" Diary

"Man Powered Flight"

Exactly a year to the day, and on Geoffs son Dylan’s first birthday, it was Scrapheap time again. We had made the short journey down to Hampshire and were resting in the hotel bar when the experts arrived. We recognised Bill, the star of the best Scrapheap ever, as soon as he walked in the door, we put two and two together and decided we were building a flying machine of some sort. That's when we got worried, are we expected to go up up and away in something we had knocked up from scrap?

New Clean Covered Buld Area.

Day One

So we all lined up in front of the new Scrapheap clock at a ridiculously early hour of the morning and Robert told us our challenge "To build human powered aircraft" oh dear, light and fiddly engineering rather than the big and heavy we are used to. Still on the bright side we were not going to have to fly in it ourselves!

Rob & Lisa Give Us The Bad News

The diagrams that Bill drew looked very scary, though he explained every detail so I think it's safe to say we had a good understanding of what he wanted, the build was going to have to be light, very light with a target weight of only 40 Kilos, the worst bit was it was all going to be ally, no welding.

Nice & Simple Plan!

Marc and Lyndon set off onto the heap with a long shopping list. The new Scrapheap is much better then the old one, the build areas are inside for a start so even though it was well over 30 degrees outside, the build area was relatively cool. Marc and Lyndon however were really suffering when they were out on the heap. The biggest problem they had to overcome was it was all new, they had no idea of the general layout so they had to find their way about before they could even think about getting down to scavenging.

A simpler Plan That Looks A Bit Like A Plane

After what seemed like ages they started to bring stuff back, sadly though the Power Lifters were way ahead of the game, they knew every inch of the heap by now and were reportedly bringing loads of stuff back that we needed! Still all was not lost as we managed to bag a few bits they wanted for later bargaining.

The most important part of the build was going to be the wings, the build area was nine meters across so that defined how long our wings would be, Bill and Geoff made a start, the first job was to bond together some alloy tube to create the main "spine" of the wing, to this we were going to fit 20 polystyrene ribs to support the covering material and give the wing it's aerodynamic shape. Some plastic pipe was bonded to the front and covered in corrugated cardboard to make a firm leading edge. Carbon fibre tape dipped in resin at the rear for strength. The whole lot was then covered in plastic film. Sounds simple enough but it took up ¾'s of the build time!

Wing Structure

While Bill and Geoff were making the wings Marc and Lyndon started about making the brackets that were going to hold the airframe together, this was after some bargaining with the other team to get some of the bits we needed, after the deals were done we at last has a complete set of parts and could start about building our kit.

By the end of day one we had the basic structure of the wings made and most of the brackets built, it didn't look like much sitting on the floor after a long days build but it was a good start.

Wings a Little Nearer Being Finished.

Day Two

The glue on the wings had gone off over night so we could set about covering them, as the wings filled the build area and were very, very fragile we needed to get them done before we could start on the fuselage, so that we did and by lunchtime we had two completed wings sitting on the ramp outside, they looked fantastic and only weighed 10 kilos each so we were all pleased we were on target for weight.

Trying Frame For Size

So we had half a day to build the airframe, with the brackets made it all came together very quickly, a old 10 gear bike was cut up and used to sleeve the ally tubes to make a recumbent cycling position and some lengths of carbon fibre box were used to make the main airframe, the tail was just some polystyrene sheet reinforced with carbon fibre tape.

Finished (Well Almost)

By the end of the build we had a kit of parts ready to put together in tinker time, well we hoped they would fit together!

Tinker Time

It all came together rather easily in the end, the biggest problem was the ache in the arms as we had to hold the wings up while the support ropes were all tied and locked, this process seemed to take ages as the wings needed to be perfectly aligned and though 10 kilos does not sound like much it is when you are holding it at arms length on tip toes for so long!

Loading Onto Artic

Test Day

Storms were forecast for test day, so we had to make the most of the weather. The conditions looked good so we started to move the "Michele", named in honour of Lyndon's sister who had suddenly passed away just before we started filming, out to the runway, sadly the runway was a mile away from the hanger and we had to carry her!

"Michele" Emrges

By the time we got to the end of the runway the skys were very dark and the thunder had started, as we were in the middle of a open field holding a large metal object. The decision was taken to delay the flight, it would be far too dangerous. So we carried "Michele" back to the hanger, this proved to be a problem, even with ten or so people holding her down she really wanted to fly ! It was touch and go but we got her back without too much damage, well nothing that a bit of tape would not fix!

So we waited, and we waited, nothing to do but hang about in a hanger probably the most boring airport lounge in the world, eventually the skies cleared and the storm had passed, so off once more to the runway.

Michele Trying To Fly….

It was getting late in the day and there was no wind, nothing, calm and flat, not the conditions we wanted, we all got set up for the first flight. The plan was the Anoraks would pull the "Michele" into the air while Bill pedalled, the first pull was a disaster, the rope broke and all three of us ended up on the floor, probably looked very funny and as I type I know that it's going to be shown over and over again but nothing too badly hurt but our dignity.

Michele's Undercarriage ….

The second pull was more successful, not sure if we got any lift but if we didn't it was very close, by the third pull we were all tired and rather deflated, all we had achieved was to drag it along the ground.

Michele's Kingpost Arrangement….

The Power Lifters didn't fair much better but they did get a inch or so off the ground, so that was that, the Anoraks had lost, by a inch. If the wind had of been a bit stronger I'm sure the story would be very different, we knew "Michele" wanted to fly after all it took ten of us to keep her on the ground earlier in the day!

Michele's Chain & Gearing Arrangement….

So that it that, our reign as Scrapheap Champions was short lived, all we can do is wish the Power Lifters all the best for 2006 and who knows, the Anoraks may appear again in Scrappy Races, we would love to try for the Chaos Crews crown.

Hope You all enjoyed it as much as We did!

Team Anorak