Leeon Davis wanted his own airplane, but he didn’t want to spend a large amount of money to achieve his goal. He looked to see what was available, then decided to design his own.
Drawing on his professional metal-working experience and skills, Leeon designed an easy-to-build, two-place airplane that only required simple aluminum cutting and bending. The design had to transport two adults and some baggage. Leeon used the Clark Y airfoil to ensure plenty of lift out of the smallish wing.
The Davis DA-2A square, boxy outlines could not be easier for the homebuilder. Leeon’s design employs a simple box fuselage. The cockpit section is framed with lightweight, square steel tubing.
All of the formers, frames, and other parts are short enough to be bent up on a small brake, and then riveted together. The airplane has constant-chord wings and V-tail, and the side engine cowling cheeks are simple curves.
I’ve always admired the simplicity of Leeon’s design and vowed that someday I’d build a FF Scale model. I searched online and turned up a pair of Davis DA-2A peanut plans by Lloyd V. Hunt and William McCombs respectively. These plans were helpful in visualizing the airframe for a larger model. A Google search turned up a number of Davis DA-2A photos. I tracked down a three-view from a 1971 issue of Air Trails magazine.
H.G. Frautschy, executive director of the Experimental Aircraft Association’s (EAA) Vintage Aircraft Association, provided me with EAA Archive photos. The full-scale DA-2A photo in this article is courtesy of the EAA Archive.
Before I get into the aspects of how I designed and built this interesting airplane, I opted to use old-fashioned rubber for power; however, there are lightweight RC and electric power systems that would fly this airplane. Had I chosen RC electric, I would have left the V-tail feathers fixed and used aileron controls.
The pictures should give you the general idea of this build. The entire article can be seen online at www.ModelAviation.com/DA-2A or in the digital edition.
Edition: Model Aviation - 2014/07
Page Numbers: 31,32,33,34,35
Edition: Model Aviation - 2014/07
Page Numbers: 31,32,33,34,35
Leeon Davis wanted his own airplane, but he didn’t want to spend a large amount of money to achieve his goal. He looked to see what was available, then decided to design his own.
Drawing on his professional metal-working experience and skills, Leeon designed an easy-to-build, two-place airplane that only required simple aluminum cutting and bending. The design had to transport two adults and some baggage. Leeon used the Clark Y airfoil to ensure plenty of lift out of the smallish wing.
The Davis DA-2A square, boxy outlines could not be easier for the homebuilder. Leeon’s design employs a simple box fuselage. The cockpit section is framed with lightweight, square steel tubing.
All of the formers, frames, and other parts are short enough to be bent up on a small brake, and then riveted together. The airplane has constant-chord wings and V-tail, and the side engine cowling cheeks are simple curves.
I’ve always admired the simplicity of Leeon’s design and vowed that someday I’d build a FF Scale model. I searched online and turned up a pair of Davis DA-2A peanut plans by Lloyd V. Hunt and William McCombs respectively. These plans were helpful in visualizing the airframe for a larger model. A Google search turned up a number of Davis DA-2A photos. I tracked down a three-view from a 1971 issue of Air Trails magazine.
H.G. Frautschy, executive director of the Experimental Aircraft Association’s (EAA) Vintage Aircraft Association, provided me with EAA Archive photos. The full-scale DA-2A photo in this article is courtesy of the EAA Archive.
Before I get into the aspects of how I designed and built this interesting airplane, I opted to use old-fashioned rubber for power; however, there are lightweight RC and electric power systems that would fly this airplane. Had I chosen RC electric, I would have left the V-tail feathers fixed and used aileron controls.
The pictures should give you the general idea of this build. The entire article can be seen online at www.ModelAviation.com/DA-2A or in the digital edition.
Edition: Model Aviation - 2014/07
Page Numbers: 31,32,33,34,35
Leeon Davis wanted his own airplane, but he didn’t want to spend a large amount of money to achieve his goal. He looked to see what was available, then decided to design his own.
Drawing on his professional metal-working experience and skills, Leeon designed an easy-to-build, two-place airplane that only required simple aluminum cutting and bending. The design had to transport two adults and some baggage. Leeon used the Clark Y airfoil to ensure plenty of lift out of the smallish wing.
The Davis DA-2A square, boxy outlines could not be easier for the homebuilder. Leeon’s design employs a simple box fuselage. The cockpit section is framed with lightweight, square steel tubing.
All of the formers, frames, and other parts are short enough to be bent up on a small brake, and then riveted together. The airplane has constant-chord wings and V-tail, and the side engine cowling cheeks are simple curves.
I’ve always admired the simplicity of Leeon’s design and vowed that someday I’d build a FF Scale model. I searched online and turned up a pair of Davis DA-2A peanut plans by Lloyd V. Hunt and William McCombs respectively. These plans were helpful in visualizing the airframe for a larger model. A Google search turned up a number of Davis DA-2A photos. I tracked down a three-view from a 1971 issue of Air Trails magazine.
H.G. Frautschy, executive director of the Experimental Aircraft Association’s (EAA) Vintage Aircraft Association, provided me with EAA Archive photos. The full-scale DA-2A photo in this article is courtesy of the EAA Archive.
Before I get into the aspects of how I designed and built this interesting airplane, I opted to use old-fashioned rubber for power; however, there are lightweight RC and electric power systems that would fly this airplane. Had I chosen RC electric, I would have left the V-tail feathers fixed and used aileron controls.
The pictures should give you the general idea of this build. The entire article can be seen online at www.ModelAviation.com/DA-2A or in the digital edition.
Edition: Model Aviation - 2014/07
Page Numbers: 31,32,33,34,35
Leeon Davis wanted his own airplane, but he didn’t want to spend a large amount of money to achieve his goal. He looked to see what was available, then decided to design his own.
Drawing on his professional metal-working experience and skills, Leeon designed an easy-to-build, two-place airplane that only required simple aluminum cutting and bending. The design had to transport two adults and some baggage. Leeon used the Clark Y airfoil to ensure plenty of lift out of the smallish wing.
The Davis DA-2A square, boxy outlines could not be easier for the homebuilder. Leeon’s design employs a simple box fuselage. The cockpit section is framed with lightweight, square steel tubing.
All of the formers, frames, and other parts are short enough to be bent up on a small brake, and then riveted together. The airplane has constant-chord wings and V-tail, and the side engine cowling cheeks are simple curves.
I’ve always admired the simplicity of Leeon’s design and vowed that someday I’d build a FF Scale model. I searched online and turned up a pair of Davis DA-2A peanut plans by Lloyd V. Hunt and William McCombs respectively. These plans were helpful in visualizing the airframe for a larger model. A Google search turned up a number of Davis DA-2A photos. I tracked down a three-view from a 1971 issue of Air Trails magazine.
H.G. Frautschy, executive director of the Experimental Aircraft Association’s (EAA) Vintage Aircraft Association, provided me with EAA Archive photos. The full-scale DA-2A photo in this article is courtesy of the EAA Archive.
Before I get into the aspects of how I designed and built this interesting airplane, I opted to use old-fashioned rubber for power; however, there are lightweight RC and electric power systems that would fly this airplane. Had I chosen RC electric, I would have left the V-tail feathers fixed and used aileron controls.
The pictures should give you the general idea of this build. The entire article can be seen online at www.ModelAviation.com/DA-2A or in the digital edition.
Edition: Model Aviation - 2014/07
Page Numbers: 31,32,33,34,35
Leeon Davis wanted his own airplane, but he didn’t want to spend a large amount of money to achieve his goal. He looked to see what was available, then decided to design his own.
Drawing on his professional metal-working experience and skills, Leeon designed an easy-to-build, two-place airplane that only required simple aluminum cutting and bending. The design had to transport two adults and some baggage. Leeon used the Clark Y airfoil to ensure plenty of lift out of the smallish wing.
The Davis DA-2A square, boxy outlines could not be easier for the homebuilder. Leeon’s design employs a simple box fuselage. The cockpit section is framed with lightweight, square steel tubing.
All of the formers, frames, and other parts are short enough to be bent up on a small brake, and then riveted together. The airplane has constant-chord wings and V-tail, and the side engine cowling cheeks are simple curves.
I’ve always admired the simplicity of Leeon’s design and vowed that someday I’d build a FF Scale model. I searched online and turned up a pair of Davis DA-2A peanut plans by Lloyd V. Hunt and William McCombs respectively. These plans were helpful in visualizing the airframe for a larger model. A Google search turned up a number of Davis DA-2A photos. I tracked down a three-view from a 1971 issue of Air Trails magazine.
H.G. Frautschy, executive director of the Experimental Aircraft Association’s (EAA) Vintage Aircraft Association, provided me with EAA Archive photos. The full-scale DA-2A photo in this article is courtesy of the EAA Archive.
Before I get into the aspects of how I designed and built this interesting airplane, I opted to use old-fashioned rubber for power; however, there are lightweight RC and electric power systems that would fly this airplane. Had I chosen RC electric, I would have left the V-tail feathers fixed and used aileron controls.
The pictures should give you the general idea of this build. The entire article can be seen online at www.ModelAviation.com/DA-2A or in the digital edition.
