Post by Jef on Feb 11, 2014 19:56:48 GMT
Wanted to be able to fit fairings to the ailerons on the Mistral, but wanted to be able to see the linkages before every launch, while on the flight line in competitions.
Had a brainwave... Make my own transparent aileron fairings.
First I made a male mold from pine, 2 minutes on MS Paint, 20 minutes of planing and sanding. Then it had to be mounted in a deck (to provide the flanges for sticking it to the underside of the wing).
Tried using a 2 litre coke bottle to provide the materials, but it was too thick to work easily, and I ended up using some thin thermoplastic sheet (packaging from last year's Christmas Cracker box lid).
Twenty minutes of heating and pulling and pushing the sheet with a ruler, while wearing some high quality oven gloves, and with my wife aiming a modified hair drier at the work-pieces, et voila!
If doing it again, I would make the plug (male mold) 2mm shorter. That'll be another minute on the sander then!
Had a brainwave... Make my own transparent aileron fairings.
First I made a male mold from pine, 2 minutes on MS Paint, 20 minutes of planing and sanding. Then it had to be mounted in a deck (to provide the flanges for sticking it to the underside of the wing).
Tried using a 2 litre coke bottle to provide the materials, but it was too thick to work easily, and I ended up using some thin thermoplastic sheet (packaging from last year's Christmas Cracker box lid).
Twenty minutes of heating and pulling and pushing the sheet with a ruler, while wearing some high quality oven gloves, and with my wife aiming a modified hair drier at the work-pieces, et voila!
If doing it again, I would make the plug (male mold) 2mm shorter. That'll be another minute on the sander then!
