Sunday, September 20, 2009

Springtime

Ah Spring! A time for new thoughts and hence new projects. Here's what I've been working on lately - two new projects. Firstly a new plane (well new for me) actually it's a fairly second hand plane that Ralph gave me. It's a sloper/sailplane made from vacuum-bagged fibreglass over blue foam cores and has a fibreglass fuselage.



As you can see it's a bit shabby and has had crash repairs. It's now called a Redblack to reflect its colours. I'm strengthening the wing by adding a drag spar and also adding two more servos for flaps. This should help to land a bit slower and hence make it flyable around the Mount with it's rocky landing zones. Well that's the theory - we'll see how it goes.

The other project is a spinoff from the Redblack which needs servo covers to protect the servo horns under the wing. Ralph helped me to make up some alloy ones using his jig, but I have also built a vacuum box and tried to make some covers from vacuum formed plastics. The jury is still out on whether this will work, but until I get more suitable plastic sheets, here's the pics of what I've made so far and the box.