Lesher Pintail - FINISHED!

[PR19_Kit]

The Pintail's done and dusted. 

Here it is in all its blue painted glory.



From the rear you can see the jet exhaust, just aft of the tail surfaces.



From the top view it's obvious how basic an aeroplane it is, but very clever for all that.



And here you can see the intakes for the tiny jet engine, normally hidden under the wings.



This is that insane landing gear, of which the main gear legs retract forward into the fuselage, and the gear doors open and then close over the wheels. Very advanced for a 'home' built aircraft. It wasn't actually built at Ed Lesher's home though, see the back story at the end.



And finally just to show how STUPIDLY small it is, it's posed with a Scale Reference Glue Pot. (No Scale Reference Cat was available, and anyway he'd have probably eaten the model, figuring something that small HAD to be edible!)




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The Pintail's backstory.
-------------------------

After Prof. Ed Lesher had broken the seven FAI Class C1a records in his own designed Teal aircraft in the late 60s and early 70s, he continued his Professorship at Michigan State University, lecturing in all aspects of aeronautics. For the Structures classes he had his students build another Teal airframe, from his original drawings and marked out loft points that were still on the floor of the University's main Aeronautics Workshop. His idea was to structurally test the second Teal airframe to demonstrate the methods used by the industry to determine the strength of aircraft structures, and this is what his class actually did.

However, the results of the tests were astonishing, in that the second Teal's airframe was considerably stronger, and showed much higher fatigue factors that they'd originally thought possible. As the second airframe hadn't been stressed anywhere near as much as had been anticipated, it occurred to Prof. Lesher that he could fly the second Teal, but that would prove nothing as the first Teal airframe was by now quite well known after his record breaking flights.

Prof. Lesher decided that his class would break new ground by converting the new Teal into a jet, and modified the airframe to take a Safran TRS-18 Micro-turbo engine in place of the Continental 0-200A-A piston engine fitted to the original Teal. The intakes for the jet were enlarged from the cooling air intakes used for the piston engine, and the jetpipe followed the same path as the lengthy prop-shaft used on the original Teal, exiting just aft of the tail surfaces.

Thus assembled the new aircraft, named the Lesher Pintail, another type of duck, took to the skies in April 1975, and although quite successful the Pintail was never fully flight tested and remained a test and evaluation specimen at the University. After Prof. Lesher's death in 1998, both the original Teal, and the Pintail were donated to the EAA, and both aircraft are on show at the Airventure Museum in Oshkosh, WI. to this day.

[frank2056]

It looks good! That's a tiny cockpit! I guess you don't sit in this plane, but wear it?

[Rick Lowe]

It looks good! That's a tiny cockpit! I guess you don't sit in this plane, but wear it?

Even moreso than the Spit, I suspect... 

Nice job, Kit. 
Now don't display it against a blue tablecloth, or you'll lose it... 

[McColm]

Well done 

[zenrat]

Ummmmmm, what scale is that?

[scooter]

Ummmmmm, what scale is that?

1/72.  And I'd have left it sitting in the collection to gather dust.  But that's just me

[zenrat]

Hells bells!

Good job Kit.   

[PR19_Kit]

Hells bells!

Good job Kit.   

Yeah, it's SMALL! And thanks. 

I'll pose it against the B-51 Master later on, it looks SO silly!

[NARSES2]

Come out well Kit, mind you I can't believe just how small it is 

[Dizzyfugu]

OMG, it's even tinier than I imagined!    Paint over the canopy and you get a neat drone!

[kerick]

I was going to say that! It does look like a drone. Maybe the Prof was ahead of his time?
You should see the tiny 1:72nd Pitts Special I have.

[Charlie_c67]

Ummm, how does one land or take off without ripping off that tail?!

[PR19_Kit]

Ummm, how does one land or take off without ripping off that tail?!

Dunno, but he did, numerous times. Presumably the same way as a B-47 and B-52 do it, just go faster and faster until the whole shemozzle lifts off.

The true aviation fans will recall this well known 'Scale Reference' shot, the Stits Sky Baby posed alongside a C;54 Skymaster.



In similar vein, here's the Pintail alongside my B-51 Master.



And to re-enforce its tininess, here it is on my Scale Reference Hand!

[George the Cat]

Both models are excellent Kit.

[frank2056]

The Pintail's wingspan looks like it's just a tad wider than the B-51's horizontal stabilizer.