My Ekranoplan

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Zathros

I started this model after making one from Russia (http://www.jt-museum.narod.ru/water.htm) the link supplied by Mike Hinrichs. Billy Leliveld built one and so did I. I wished to remodel the "plane" by there is a question about the legitimacy of that. This model is based on the link provided by Mr. Leliveld. http://mkmagazin.almanacwhf.ru/mk_ot...ekranoplan.htm

Here is the paper prototype of the Hull. I am using boxes to provide stability between the formers to : 1st)Facilitate easier construction. 2nd) To provide a more sturdy model. This is going to be a toy that my 6 (soon to be 7) year old son can play with. I hope this isn't considered cross posting as my recent inquiries lead me to believe this was a better place for "member designed models". I will post my updates here from now on, as well as the eventual release of the model, if that is O.K.

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Thanks Billy, my friends call me John!! I find the pictures hard to come by so I would gladly take any you do find. I love these aircraft/boats. I would like to make a small one someday (real). I have a small machine shop and about 80 Hrs. solo time in a Piper Warrior. The problem I have is that I have a Spinal Cord injury which makes fabrication hard. I worked for Sikorsky Aircraft for 9 years and understand aircraft fabrication but the execution of my knowledge is difficult. My damned back!!!
 
I am working on the wings and fuselage, I had to rebuild my 4000 Watt generator this week so the model has been on hold. I have modeled the tail section but have not printed it out yet. I want to finish the wings first. It is a little sloppy but it is just the prototype (He He He!!)..This Ekranoplan is actually ESKA-2, a two seat version of Eska-1. Slightly different lines but basically the same. I have to rework the Windshield as it is a little too laid back.

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Added the wings W/O the top skins, and the Rudder. Still crude though.

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Looking Gooood!!

Hey Zathros. This is looking really good. Gotta sign off, I'm drooling all over my keyboard. Keep 'em coming!
 
That craft at coroflot.com looks cool but with the front to back stability problems inherent in ekranoplans it makes me wonder if they ever did more than look at pictures. I think one could get in trouble really fast with that. An ultralight ekranoplan with the person on the bottom would give a pendulum effect and might have a little more inherent stability. Thanks for your comments on my models. I was wondering if you would be interested in having one when I get the first test plans modeled? I was wondering Mike Hinrichs if you would want one also.
 
It would be a privilege and an honour..
And I also think that the guy on the single person ekranoplan is very good with his cadcam program, but not very practical, but I think ekranoplan are still underestimated in there capabilities ..
cheers Billy
 
Zanthros,

Great work. You're doing design that I'd love to take on but can't right now. Those links to the skimmer are interesting. Good concept but not practical as drawn. I think it needs the pilot to be covered both for safety and aerodynamics. I think that recomment is better than supine for the pilot as well. Maybe that's just because recumbent usually works better for human powered vehicals.
I also think that ekranoplans are underutalized. We use computer systems to make unstable fighterplanes work. Seems they could work with ekranoplans.

--Lizzie
 
@lizzienwell, I agree, if an F-14 could be made to fly then an Ekranoplan would be really easy. From what I have read the different requirements for wing in ground effect as opposed to free flight are the problem, if the ekranoplan gets out of ground effect then, along with pilot induced error, you get out of sync control inputs which cause the instability (there obviously is a lot more to it). You really need to keep an eye on the horizon in one of these. I played with ground effect in a Piper Warrior a few time just to get the feel of it. Your still floating around 50 mph even though the plane stalls at 65 mph. It feels "mushy". I imagine with the right control surfaces enginered for the task the ship would feel tighter. The Russians have all of this figured out already. @lizzienwell, I would be happy to digitize anything you have and would be willing to sign any non-disclosure protection that you need.
 
Zathos,

From my rather ignorant perspective it looks like the Russians solved the stability problem with shear size. I understand there are two problems with stability. One is that the craft needs to return to the correct distance above the surface after going over something like a wave. The other is the problem of hitting a wave and pitchpoling or what a kayaker calls an endo. In a kayak people deliberately endo the craft. So my thought is to design it to endo and survive. That's why I got into warpable wings. I was thinking of how to turn it rightside up after an endo rather than initially of variable wing geometery.
Sea birds fly in the ground-effect all the time without problems with stability.

I'm thinking of how to make light ekranoplans sea-worthy in the open ocean.(Workable ekranoplans are already commecially available and in use but they are limited to lakes and protected seaways. They would be useful for fisheries enforcement, park service patrols, and maintenance of tsunami sensor stations. Right now tsunami sensor stations are expensive due to battery replacement. A big ship has to go out to change the battery. If Oceanographic folks had seaworthy ekranoplans they could get out to change batteries and do maintenance more quickly and so at a lower cost.

We also need amphibious aircraft to replace the aging Otters for mail, deliveries, and passenger service on the Pacific Rim.

I think it is more of an economic and political problem than one of engineering. Funding of research or maritime rural access just aren't high on the priority list. Heaven forbid that we should use F-14 technology to deliver groceries.

keep the pictures comeing. I'm all eyes.

--Lizzie
 
Actually that isn't correct. The later Ekranoplans the Russians built like the Volga class and the Aquaglide 5 are rather small. They carry 4 to 6 people. The Russians have solved the problem thru mathematics and by attrition. They were able to build because of the Soviet systems system of allocating funds. This web page link below is indicative of some of their recent endeavors. Any pilot in a low wing aircraft knows of ground effect. The idea would be to make a craft that takes advantage of the Ekranoplans inherent stability, (when worked out) it's load carrying advantages and an airplanes flight characteristics. The main advantage of an Ekranoplan is it's load carrying capabilities. If that isn't utilized then why bother. A small aircraft would be more efficient. When I view the models you have shown my first though was "that could carry 5 or 6 people".

http://www.att-nn.com/ENGL/gall_amph.htm
http://www.att-nn.com/ENGL/links.htm

With the privatization of industry in Russia it is cold hard cash that keeps Ekranoplans for flourishing. F-14 avionics would not be an overkill, that is what I mean, the "electronic" technology. I pointed out the F-14 because of it's inability to recover from spins and all the work on the computer systems to prevent pilots from entering those situations. It would be good to turn the "swords" into "plowshares". To make a Ekranoplan seaworthy in a variety of situations is easy, just increase the wingspan. Many Ekranoplans can get out of ground effect. They suffer in their efficiency of fuel consumption by doing so. The latter Russian ones not being in that class.
 
Update

I have started a new model. Here are some cockpit details and framework/bulkhead pics. I changed color to yellow so I wouldn't mix up parts from other prototypes. This is definitely taking longer than I thought. I cannot find any detailed interior works or photos that show how the wing is connected to the body so I will have to extrapolate these from the pics I have and use some common sense (the latter in short supply).

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