1903 Wright Flyer — Handmade Display Model, 1:10 Scale

The Wright Flyer at 1:10 — substantial enough to show the wing bracing and chain drive properly, without needing the ceiling space of our eight-foot version.

Handcrafted with twin pusher propellers, forward canard elevator, rear rudder and skid undercarriage.

Details

• 1:10 scale
• Handcrafted construction with applied detail
• Twin pusher propellers and chain drive
• Forward canard elevator and rear rudder
• Skid undercarriage and full wing bracing
• Ready to display

The aircraft

Look at the propellers. The Wrights realised a propeller is a rotating wing, not a screw pushing through air like a boat's — an insight nobody else had properly grasped. Working from their own wind tunnel data, they carved propellers that were around 82 percent efficient on the first attempt. Marine engineers of the day were achieving well under half that.

The chains driving them ran through tubes, and one was deliberately crossed so the propellers turned in opposite directions, cancelling out the torque that would otherwise have rolled the aircraft.