any composite material specialist over here?
i'm currently building a small aircraft, nothing too fancy, just for the lulz
i can't chose between aluminum 7075 t6 and carbon fiber.
on one side, i'm used to aluminum, structure, rivets, etc…
the aircraft will flex, and expand and shrink with heat, like any regular aircraft.
i'm pretty familiar with its physical property.
the downside it will require many part and internal structures the aircraft will be heavy, over 550kg (1200lb) with full fuel tank. (not counting my ass in)
on the other hand there is carbon fiber, ridiculously strong and light.
no internal structure but in order to have any weight and structural strength advantage over the aluminum built i need to cut down the parts the the bare minimum.
which means, i'll have to make the hull in a single piece of carbon fiber if i want it to be strong enough to sustain 5G.
as you can see in the pic, this is gonna be tricky.
its 6 meters (~20ft) long, i'll have to build a mold that can be removed trough the canopy opening also an oven to fit it there.
the aircraft should weight around 450kg using CB
pic related is what the carbon fiber hull should look like.