They’re here! The foils arrived on Saturday morning just before I went over to Southampton. I still think the rudder is the sexiest out there! Thanks to Mike at Aardvark for delivering as promised! I went for the “unfinished” option to save some money and also to experiment with the control system linkages. I’m going to make a bladerider style pushrod/ flap connection by threading the 2mm control rod and then tapping an m4 barrel which will be inserted in to the flap and then covered over with carbon. We did this on Jonnie’s velociraptor foils and it worked well.
I will then be making a new bell crank from acetyl and add in a new type of joint for the pushrod (at least that’s the plan)
I am also going to be using Durepox for the first time to get that super smooth and rock hard finish. I wanted to go white but apparently there is a shortage in the UK so it’s standard grey for me.
So now it’s a lot of filling and sanding to remove pinholes in preparation for the spraying. Then it’s geometry time…
Comments
2.5mm pushrod is stiffer and gives you better response, made a big change to the control system when I did this back in my bladerider days…(change for the better)
Phil,
The 4mm barrels are pretty fragile and don’t give a lot of thread for the pushrod to hang onto. Aparently John Ilett uses a ball bearing now (6mm or there abouts) I had to replace a 4mm brass barrel with a 6mm stainless barrel due to breakage. It might be worthwhile considering.
The ninja flap is a bit smaller than the br so doesn’tt need to be quite as beefy.
I’ve got White durapox!
Thanks all, based on your comments, I’ll go M5 to be safe!
Cheers,
Phil