02/07/2010
This plane was designed by students at the deHavilland Technical School during 1937. It was made entirely from wood, and was constructed “around” the engine. The aircraft came 9th in the 1937 Kings Cup Race.
It is an interesting aircraft in that it taught deHavilland how to build aircraft using balsa sandwiched between plywood – a technique that was later put to good use on the Mosquito.
The only reason for doing a model of this aircraft is that I like the way it looks. It also provide some challenges, in particular how to build light, as this aircraft is much smaller than any of the other aircraft I normally build.
Specifications
Crew: 1
Length: 15 ft 6 in (4.73 m)
Wingspan: 19 ft 8 in (6 m)
Empty weight: 928 lb (421 kg)
Gross weight: 1450 lb (616 kg)
Powerplant: 1 × de Havilland Gipsy Major II, 140 hp (104 kW)
Maximum speed: 230 mph (369 km/h)
Range: 500 miles (311 km)
Service ceiling: 21,000 ft (6,400 m)
Rate of climb: 1,350 ft/min (6.9 m/s)
I still have all data on my harddrive, so it’s only a matter of recreating the information on the website.
Hi Jesper.
From my experience in the DH Technical School (admittedly 20 years after the TK4 was designed) The apprentices would have been using materials that were already being used in the production areas.
For instance the DH88 Comet racer was built largely of wood, the company was also trying out various wood glues and types of laminated construction.
I do hope you are going to post a video of your finished model in flight.
I wish you good luck in your efforts.
John