Howard DGA-15 Construction

OBIO

Retired SOH Admin
I am looking at a future skin job of Paul Clawson's Howard DGA-15. I have found enough reference shots of the fuselage to know that the forward part is metal clad, the aft back to the tail is cloth covered and the tail section is metal clad with cloth covered rudder. However, I have not found a good picture of the top and bottom of the wing to tell if those are metal or cloth covered....from most of the shots, they appear to be metal clad with cloth covered control surfaces...but I am not 100% sure on that. Does anyone know for sure.

OBIO
 
I am glad to hear this OBIO. I just had the itch to fly Mr. Clawson's model yesterday. He done a really great job on exterior model. And today I had thought about asking if anyone had done any paints for this model and more specifically to ask if there is a way to cover up the apparent light that seems to make some of the surfaces glow, which got me to wondering if a photo real paint would do it. But I'm no painter nor a model maker. But I was thinking just yesterday someone ought to dress this very nice model up. And I do very much like the one paint that came with Mr. Clawsons model.

On the wing coverings I could be wrong but I believe the Howard DGA 15 had wooden spars, wooden builtup ribs, plywood covering on the forward portion of the wings and then all of the wing wrapped in doped fabric, much the same as the gull wing Stinson, Beech staggerwing.
 
Working on the Howard, I am finding that there is a lot of the dreaded "shared texure mapping"...which is the curse of skinners world wide. The upper and lower fuselage surfaces, inner wheel spats and landing struts all share the same little rectagle of texture...so adding detail to those areas is out of the question. Not sure if there is any shared texture mapping for the control surfaces as I have not touched those areas yet.

Fuselage sides now have more detailed panel lines, the leather seats have been reopholstered and the wood paneling on the inside of the cabin has been swapped out for some nicer hi-res wood imaging. Engine texture has been replaced with a nicer one.

With the wings being cloth wrapped wood, there will be no panel lines on them...that makes that part of the repaints very fast in deed.

OBIO
 
Wish you well with your efforts OBIO. The DGA 15 is a very classic design and fast too. Mr. Clawson's model also has very good flight characteristics with it and his exterior modeling captured the design very well. Hope to see your work.
 
OBIO,
The wings on the Howard DGA-15 are a built up Wood Construction, as are the flaps and Ailerons. They are
sheeted with a 1/16" Mohogany Plywood. The only aluminum on the wings are at the strut attach points and
the Wing Root Fairings. The Top of the cabin has a aluminum panel from the windscreen to about midroot of
the wing. From about Mid Root on, is fabric over wood stringers. The wood wings are covered with fabric after
sheeting and then doped and sanded smooth, but that is mainly for sealing and for a smooth surface.
My Family has owned the Same Howard since 1953. If you send me your email address, I'll dig out some
pictures and email them to you.
 
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