The AME Dassel and the early days of F3B

[Red]

Red, that's cool! You found some more info on the Karo As. It looks like 3700 of the sailplane were made. I'm pretty sure they were distributed in the USA. There's sure to be someone somewhere with one gathering dust in their workshop that you can snag. The hard part is finding the someone! However, comparing the Karo As to the Pfeil and saying that they are related and inspired by Werner Sitar?? Hmmm ...a lot of people said that back then!

I had never stumbled across zhype.com. The guy REALLY likes Multiplex products! He has write-ups on the Flamingo, the Alpina among others. These were enormously popular back then. I tried to build a Flamingo with built-up wings when I was in Belgium. So much work for a mediocre end product! I quickly remembered how much better vacuum bagging over foam cores was for wings!

Funny story, reached out to a another buddy who happens to have Sam's actual Karo As in his collection! What are the chances? Anyway, offered it to me next time I go up North, so I'll make that happen. Still on the hunt for a kit though. If you happen to spring for a Weber Dassel, let me know, maybe we can have twins. I love the vinatage stuff too.

 

[OribaSJ88]

Funny story, reached out to a another buddy who happens to have Sam's actual Karo As in his collection! What are the chances? Anyway, offered it to me next time I go up North, so I'll make that happen. Still on the hunt for a kit though. If you happen to spring for a Weber Dassel, let me know, maybe we can have twins. I love the vinatage stuff too.

That’s awesome. You found that someone who just happened to have one gathering dust in his workshop . You’re much further along on your quest than I am. I’ll let you know if I can find a way to acquire a couple of Dassels from Weberschock Dev. Fingers crossed

 

[OribaSJ88]

A while back I created a solid model of the Dassel using Fusion 360 and the photos and info I could find. The only aspects that I'm fairly sure about are the wings and the stabs because there are actual dimensioned sketches available. The rest is a best guess based on photo and I'm sure the nose is a little off, besides the lack of "pointiness". It was an interesting exercise and helped me improve my modeling ability in Fusion if nothing else.

I've been making my own 3D printed slope designs for a few years now. I've iterated to a formula that assembles easily, has good accuracy and is "relatively robust" (it's still fragile compared to composites). That said, I don't see a Dassel, as big as it is, being a good candidate for printing. Even if I could make it strong enough, and that's a big if, it would be very heavy, although it wouldn't be a huge issue on the slope. And, to pay proper homage to the original it needs to be molded

As a bit of a digression, I've seen some people post some really impressive work using 3D-printed molds for entire models. It's not CNC quality, but seems pretty good for making a few models which is all I've ever made from molds I made decades ago. I'd love to try it one of these days when I have a better workshop.

Yeah, I admit I'm a fan...others might say a little obsessed . Ollie