Sizing floats for different aircraft

[ericr]

A noble effort- too many WHIF float planes slap the excess Frog spitfire floats on a much heavier aircraft   

Calculating displacement is the key, but I'm afraid math is involved. 

A simplier rule of thumb might work with the rule of thumb for float length is twin floats should be 75% of fuselage length.  Single float- 100% of fuselage length.

75% is a good looking rule of thum I guess ; in my many floatplanizations, I sometimes tries 2/3 but it was smallish.

By the way I had two tries at the F-82 : one twin float, and the other asymmetric, inspired by Tophe!

[kitnut617]

That Aeroclub set is good for any number of 1/72 conversions. Not big enough for 1/48th unless its a Cessna 150.

The displacement calculator says one 40' float would be good enough but its using a rectangular box for the calculations. I'm guesstimating that half that is lost due to the tapered front and rear of the float. So two 40' should work. At least it will look decent.

Thanks for all the help. I hope its useful for others that maybe interested.

Um! the F-82's max TOW is also around 25,000 lb --- so something like the Dakota floats is what you need -- which you can buy in resin as I've seen them recently

[Librarian]

In the world I'm currently planning/working on I needed a floatplane that could land on and take off in very shallow water (Mangroves, estuary swamps etc).  I used a wide 1/72nd Catalina hull for a 1/48th single seat attack plane was for this reason, with two powerful engines and a high lift wing for as short as possible take off. No knowledge behind this, it just seemed logical....so my question is would the larger and wider float be better for these sorts of operations?

[kerick]

Sounds plausible.

[sandiego89]

so my question is would the larger and wider float be better for these sorts of operations?

Yes, larger and wider would help, as would a flatter bottom.  A PBY shape hull is good in this regard.  A deeper V would extend into the water more.  Don't go silly big as huge floats will be harder to break from the water surface and have weight and drag penalties. 

[Librarian]

Many thanks. That's put my mind at rest .

[Dizzyfugu]

Float size is a tricky job - not only because of a realistic buoyancy, but also for proportions. You can easily ruin the look if the floats simply don't match in size, realized that with my Provost conversion. Wanted to use floats from the Matchbox Norseman, but these were too big - had to cut and re-arrange them. What actually helped was to simply take measure of fuselage/float length measures of a benchmark aircraft and calculate the same ration for the intended conversion. Certainly not exact, but I found this a pragmatic number for float size judgement and modification?