No, but here's what would happen if you tried:

Carbon fiber is very strong for its volume, so if you go and calculate the amount you need to make a strong fuselage ignoring the local strength you need to keep the sides from caving in, you come up with "not much".  Then you make your fuselage, and as soon as you pick it up the sides under your thumbs go "bworp*" and cave in.  To see this effect, pick up an empty pop can and squeeze gently.

So you make the sides with two or three layers: either one layer of CF with enough balsa inside to prevent the "bworp", or CF, balsa or foam, then CF, with each CF layer being half of what you used in the "bworp" example.  Result: a fuselage that is strong in all ways**, light, and insanely more difficult to build than just using balsa.

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Martin_%28cartoonist%29

** when you squeeze it it will go "fleen", but silently because it is not moving.

No, but here's what would happen if you tried:

Carbon fiber is very strong for its volume, so if you go and calculate the amount you need to make a strong fuselage ignoring the local strength you need to keep the sides from caving in, you come up with "not much".  Then you make your fuselage, and as soon as you pick it up the sides under your thumbs go "bworp*" and cave in.  To see this effect, pick up an empty pop can and squeeze gently.

So you make the sides with two or three layers: either one layer of CF with enough balsa inside to prevent the "bworp", or CF, balsa or foam, then CF, with each CF layer being half of what you used in the "bworp" example.  Result: a fuselage that is strong in all ways**, light, and insanely more difficult to build than just using balsa.

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Martin_%28cartoonist%29

** when you squeeze it it will go "fleen", but silently because it is not moving.

and you can use types of foam for the laminate too. The CF fuse is very heavy if you only use CF

Randy

It's not the carbon fiber that is heavy,  it is the resin that gets heavy.

Looking at the edges that are visible in those pictures, it looks like he's doing a 2- or 3-layer layup, although not with either the balsa or the foam that I was babbling about.  I wish he (or Howard Rush, or someone else who's done more than building car parts from fiberglass) was here to comment on what was done, since he's actually done this.

I love that fuselage... wa$ wondering how much it would co$t to have one of those made

Marcus

Send a private message to Jose Modesto.

Derek

Has anyone tried building a fuselage out of carbon fiber(no balsa sandwich, straight CF). How many layers did you use? What type of weave pattern and how thick/heavy was the fabric?

I ask a little more:
1 _ Type of fabric in g/sq.in.  or g/m2 and where we can buy it
2 -  Type of epoxy system resin
3 - Type of mold and use of vacuum
4 - Cure with or without hot in a oven

I should place this great book in the Classifides.

Loaded with information on Compisite methods of building.

Charles