I have now fibre glassed the rear duct panels with two layers of glass on the inside seams and one layer on the outside seams. I have also cut the hole in the duct where the splitter plate will go. The splitter plate is currently still left off cause i have to dream up some idea for the air diverter panels
The following photo’s are shots of what i have been staring at for the last few hours in the hope that a convincing plan for making air diverter panels will just jump out at me.
Just when i think i have a efficient way to do it , i then think of some other reason not to, such as .. will having the panels sitting in the position I’m thinking about make the air flow or bounce ?, will it block off to many holes at the rear ? etc etc *shrug* i’m not sure cause this is my first hovercraft and haven’t been down this track before. I also am taking into account that i need to be able to add steering cables later on so got to watch i leave space to do that.
Like all good things it sometimes takes alot of time , and here i am cutting up cardboard and paper as templates to give me a better visual for what i’m thinking. it may look somewhat tidy at the moment but i can tell you that there is cardboard templates covering my floor at the moment hehe.
Just placed the splitter plate in position here to get a visual on the whole setup. To me the air will take great pleasure in going out those back holes as soon as it can if i don’t do something about blocking them off and re diverting the air towards the front of the craft.
The above shots are of the rudders i will be fitting. I have 2 of them that will be fitted approximately 150mm either side of the center line of the duct. They are made from Fiberglass and are a aero foil shape to get better steering performance
