Van's Air Force
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educate the masses
- Thread starter grover
- Start date
f1rocket
Well Known Member
F1 Rocket Lineage
I can't speak to the Harmon because I don't know all the history of that design, so I'll leave that to someone else to describe.
The F1 Rocket is a clean sheet design that no doubt can trace its lineage to the RV-4, but it's a completely different airframe. It is constructed differently and the parts are not interchangable to the RV-4 or Harmon. Mark Frederick worked with HPA International in the Czech Republic to tool and build the airframe. On early models, builders did put RV-4 and RV-8 tail feathers on Rocket fuselages, but not anymore. This kind of adds to the confusion. Most notable is that the fuselage does not curve inward at the base of the firewall and then back out again on the cowl like the Harmon. Also, many of the Harmon builders will use F1 parts from Mark, which even adds further to the confusion.
It's hard to describe all the differences but the fuselage is wider and longer, the firewall is wider than an RV-4 or -8. The airframe is beefed up to handle the additional weight and G-forces from the IO-540 powerplant. Skins are thickers and fuselage stingers are joggled rather than lapped. The average empty wieght of a F1 Rocket averages betweem 1100 and 1300 lbs. Gross is usually 2000 or 2100 lbs.
I'm leaving out tons of detail here, but these are the basics. BTW, it only comes as a TD, just the way God intended.
I can't speak to the Harmon because I don't know all the history of that design, so I'll leave that to someone else to describe.
The F1 Rocket is a clean sheet design that no doubt can trace its lineage to the RV-4, but it's a completely different airframe. It is constructed differently and the parts are not interchangable to the RV-4 or Harmon. Mark Frederick worked with HPA International in the Czech Republic to tool and build the airframe. On early models, builders did put RV-4 and RV-8 tail feathers on Rocket fuselages, but not anymore. This kind of adds to the confusion. Most notable is that the fuselage does not curve inward at the base of the firewall and then back out again on the cowl like the Harmon. Also, many of the Harmon builders will use F1 parts from Mark, which even adds further to the confusion.
It's hard to describe all the differences but the fuselage is wider and longer, the firewall is wider than an RV-4 or -8. The airframe is beefed up to handle the additional weight and G-forces from the IO-540 powerplant. Skins are thickers and fuselage stingers are joggled rather than lapped. The average empty wieght of a F1 Rocket averages betweem 1100 and 1300 lbs. Gross is usually 2000 or 2100 lbs.
I'm leaving out tons of detail here, but these are the basics. BTW, it only comes as a TD, just the way God intended.
Red Voodoo
Well Known Member
James, there's a pretty good synopsis here:
http://www.teamrocketaircraft.com/faq.html
Ben R.
RV-9A #90217
Center section
http://www.teamrocketaircraft.com/faq.html
Ben R.
RV-9A #90217
Center section
