This is a beautiful idea. I like the intimacy of the photo: the "life goes on" all around...the kids looking over the fence, the laundry on the line, the person next door working in the yard. Daily life, daily work, the routine of getting by. And then the remembering, working on the plane and trying to remember what the aircraft looked like when the soul was young and see it again. This is beautiful.

Matt

Backyard flier wings.
The heavy black lines are the wingspan and trailing edge for the backyard flier.(which is slightly large than the Curtiss Racer airplane,flown by Lincoln Beachey)
This airplane will be of my own design and built using the knowledge of the era.
I am using the Wright bros wings plan and jig which will be modified for my purposes.The ribs will be placed at the intervals shown and the trailing edge cut back upon completion. The wingtips are square.The wood as supplied is of super quality, thank goodness,as the wing jig and ribs are the only parts I am using.

Hi Matt!
from the time I first saw that photo I knew that I just had to do a diorama of something similar but I wanted a WW1 based theme.Cheers! John.

Nice idea Stephen!

Modifying the Wright wing.
Using the same plans and jig,I am modifying the Wright's wings width and length to look more like the Curtiss Racer.The length is easy as I just stop building at the closest rib position but for the width I used the same jig and repositioned the trailing edge using a blackened brass rod super glued to the rib.After removing the wing from the jig, the old trailing edge portion will be simply cut off.Remember this is my backyard version of the racer so artistic license rules.This airplane is only meant to be a another prop for the storyline,my version of the racer using the knowledge of the day.No rules and regs which suits me just fine.
To give you an idea of just how lax things were in those days ,the story of how the Custiss Pusher became "headless" is a wonderful example.It seems that one day Lincoln Beachey was to give a live flying exhibition before a large ,all ready gathered crowd.Somehow the head assembly got damaged and had to be removed.Not wanting to disappoint the crowd and the promoter by having to return the gate fees,Beachey decided to fly anyway.He found that the airplane actually flew better like this and so was born the "headless" pusher.

The world's first "hot" airplane.
This airplane is probably aviation's first attempt to build a "hot" airplane.Clip wing,large engine,large control surfaces and built expressly as a racer to fly faster at low levels.Building a similar airplane to the racer, I really get an idea of how far they were trying to push the envelope all in one foul swoop.This airplane was probably the first to be built with speed in mind.The forerunner of all that was to come later and which still continues to this day.Guys working and re-working their airplanes to get the last ounce of speed out of them.
The backyard flier also represents all the EAA guys to come later.Those who create and build their own backyard or basement fliers to this very day.I know because I was one of them.
Just imagine in those early days of adding and subtracting,modifying and re-modifying and then "taking her up" to see if it works! A day when every pilot was a test pilot.

Beautiful idea, John, but I think you are right to base it in the US. Apart from the width of an English terraced house, the "netty" as it was known in the North East was usually at the bottom of the yard, for sanitary reasons. Having a 7ft high brick outhouse (and often a coalhouse as well) at the end of the yard would make it difficult to get the aircraft out of the yard, but it would make an interesting detail on the model. British builders would look for farm building or other shelter as our weather would wreck any wooden structure left outside. However, a small business with the first house of a row next door could be the answer, a small garage or 1 man engineering or blacksmith shop would work and give some scope for detail. The little lad holding his father's hand could have a Snipe or Spad model in his other hand. If you did try an English diorama, I live in an area with a lot of early 20th century houses, photos are easy to get

Thanks Andrew for this information .

The Impossible Dream.
Of course for every success there were many failures.Probably none of these early fliers ever got off the ground in their backyard machines but their hearts were in the right place.
Where would we be without the dreamers? especially in those early years.

Please note:If anyone has any pictures of other backyard fliers, please let me know where I could find them.

The not so impossible dream!
Speaking about dreams,in the 60's this was my impossible dream,to restore a 1929 Travel Air 4000.By 1965 this is where we(my dad and me and our friend Al Pow) were at after a few years of on and off restoration attempts.The rest of this basket case was scrapped and everything from here on in was scratchbuilt.We were lucky in that the basic tubing of the fuselage was in great shape and it gave us a place to start.
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Upper and lower wings woodwork is now finished and temporarily in a jig.Next step will be to prepare the wings for the strut and wire fittings.There are no internal drag and anti-drag wing wires required and no dihedral.The large inter-wing ailerons will have to be built and provided for with fittings etc....
Fortunately during this era the Wright's were involved in a lot of litigation about their wing warping patent ,I say fortunately as it forced others to think beyond this end of the road concept of longitudinal control. However, unfortunately it did have a somewhat negative effect of slowing down aeronautical progress in North America for awhile.

Yes it is 1/16th scale! the clothes pegs are of the miniature variety,not your standard peg.
The distance between the wings has been established and everything squared up.The vertical strut positions were located and coffee stir sticks set in place where the struts will go.The wing tips will be square and the outboard struts will be flush with the last rib.The center section area is five ribs wide while the middle and outboard sections are four each.
I have left myself lots of room to work inside the jig as I anticipate lots of "I wish that I had thought of that before" moments.The jig also affords great protection for the delicate wing structure and probably will be used until just before completion of the model.

John,

Excellent story and your composition of the elements looks to be a real winner. I will be following this with great pleasure.

Regards, Dwayne

Strut fittings.
The strut is shaped to a streamlined cross section and then the ends were rounded.I slipped a short piece of aluminum tubing over the rounded ends.I prepared the wing leading edge with a small piece sticky backed metal. I tried various types and finally came across a sticker from my EAA membership which was just the right thickness and could be cut to the required size.(#1 rule for dioramists,never,ever throw anything out) The copper part was from the Jenny leftovers and the eyebolt behind was obtained from a fishhook with the hook part cut off.The completed fitting will be painted black.

Scratchbuilding is a lot of fun but the thing that you have to really be prepared for is repetition.As an example,it is lots of fun to build that first fitting ,trying out this and that, but by the time your finished making 24 of the same thing it can get a little dull.It is not the type of work for those who constantly need to be doing something new.Self imposed quality control is very important, the first example must be as good as the last.
I find that for the creative stuff I have to set aside some uninterrupted time for this.No music,tv or other distractions.Progress can be slow but time really flies while you are in this mode.
For repetitive work,(#2 thru 24 for example) I find just the opposite is true.I kind of go into automatic mode and enjoy the distractions.The key to quality work I think is to put your best work in each and every detail while holding on to your excitement for seeing the finished piece in mind.