hkbii

Howdy gents. Well the white stuff is getting deep and the lakes are good and frozen and as soon as the wind stops it will be time to go flying. So I thought I'd share with you all how I make my skis. I make them as long as the cord of the wing. I use 3/8 " balsa and 1/8" lt,ply a 1/4" dowl and a pice of an old news papper tube. Heres a drawing. hkbii.

hkbii

Now I make a templet and trace it onto the wood and cut them out on the band saw.

hkbii

Now I glue the light ply onto the balsa core and then tack them together with a glue stick and then sand them as one piece.

hkbii

Now I cut out the ski and mark the center. Then I mark the center of the brace. Now I drill the holes in the ski . then line them up and drill the holes in the brace. Now I drill a 1/4" hole in the brace useing the frist hole as the mark.

hkbii

well they timed me out and I lost the last post. I do some mor later. hkbii.

OzMo

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Hi hkbii
Is the yellow stuf 2mil coro? Here is a plan for coro skiis (might be a little heavy as is for 1/2A) any one can save 'em.[8D]
I like the lighter wood method you are doing. These plans are fine for .40 and such but would have to be "lightened "up for 1/2A.

hkbii

Howdy gents. OzmoThe skis that Im makeing right now are for zip. Zip is a .074 to .10 size plane. and this set is for powerd snow. I have a smaller set for hard show and ice. I use the same techniquefor the smaller ones only I dont use a full side of light ply, only a small block at the axle and torke rod points. The yellow plastic is from an old news paper tube, the kind that you find at the end of the driveways. I dont Know what its made from but its about a 1/16th thick and it stays soft at -20 deg. On the .049 planes (Rattel) I used the side of a Folgers plastic coffee can. The plastic from the coffee can has a tecture to it the does not slide esealy on the snow but it works good, I can stop with the eng still running. Heres some pics of Rattle's skis. hkbii.

hkbii

Howdy gents, It is the concept that I am trying to share. The skis can be made to fit what ever size plane that you fly. I have found that even thou the skis may bee a little heaver than wheels the plane flys faster with the skis and I dont miss out on a grate day of flying. Up here we have snow allmost six mounths of the year and I cant go that long with out a flight. And its so much fun to be the frist one out on a new snow fall, I like to draw things in the snow so it keeps the rust off of my left thumb. Heres s shot of Rattel on skis. hkbii.

hkbii

Howdy gents, now its time to work with some metal. When I made up the landing gear I soldered pice of brass tube to the joint.

hkbii

Now I take a pice of spring steel and bend it 90 deg so that it comes out about a 1/4" lower than the axle. Now put it in the tube and point it to the front of the plane. Mark it just be for the point where the ski will start to bend. This bend will be at an angle to the frist one so it will go throu the ski level.

hkbii

Now drill the hole for the axle and put the ski on the axle. Now mark where the tork rod will go throu the ski and then dill the ski. I found that it is easyer to mak the hole fit the rod than trying to bend the rod to fit the hole.

hkbii

Now I set the plane on the skis and set them so that the plane sets with the tail off the ground. The skis should be at 0 deg to the horzonal stab. With the tail in the air the rudder is very effective and with some up elevator the tail wheel will dig into the snow and give you brakes. I set the camber so that the skis sit on the insid eage, this helps in the turns. Now I'll take it apart and cover the wood. then reassemble and secure it with wheel collers. I hope that this will help you get throu the winter. And I'd like to wish all of you a happy new year.

hkbii

With the tail in the air. hkbii.

build light

"On the .049 planes (Rattel) I used the side of a Folgers plastic coffee can. The plastic from the coffee can has a tecture to it the does not slide esealy on the snow but it works good"

That is because you should use the inside of the container as the side facing the snow!
I bet that a 2 liter bottle could do as well.

Robert

hkbii

Howdy gents. Heres the finnished skis. I hope to try them out soon.hkbii

Mr. Mugen

Man do those look sharp! I really like the 2 wire method. I bet it has plenty of spring to it yet always returns to home position. Nicely done! Will be making a set just like that soon. Needed a good idea like that to get me motivated. Been using the same ole same ole dubro's and just don't care for them. Thanks for taking the time to show us this way. I just built 3 ski's for a land vehicle I made using wood and wish I had come across this thread when trying to come up with something to get them to spring back to home position. Here is what I ended up doing. Not the prettiest but it works great.

Thanks again,
Kevin

Remby

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hkbii;
Very cool!

Have you ever tried to use skis on a trike gear? I have interest in this, but have not seen it done. What do you think?

My dad years ago built a kit motorbike from Heathkit called a "Bonnie-Bike", and a option for the kit that he had was a ski on the front wheel. I guess if a motorbike can use a ski up front, a trike gear plane could work.

Let me know what you think.

Mr. Mugen

I use ski's on my trike gear 40 trainer. Only problem I had was the first time I used them. I didn't tighten the collar enough that holds the spring so the ski went upward and into the prop. After that incident I tighten them each flight. They work well.

Kevin

hkbii

Howdy gents. I have not tried a trike. If I get a plane that has a trike set up the frist thing I do is pull the gear off and set it up as a tail drager. That being said I think that if you used the same setup on the nose it should work, I would think about putting a skage (down ward fin) on the front ski. I like the way that the tail wheel acts as a brake. On hard snow and ice the plane will not sit still even at an idle. when I frist tried the torke rod set up I put a two inch long pice of fule tubeing on the landing gear strut and then pushed the toke rod up in to it. I was conserned about rf interference ( two like metals touching) so I whent with the brass tube. Would you like to see a thread about converting a trike to a tail drager? I have a tower 40 tranier in the shop that I am setting up for a new student and I want him to learn on a tail wheel. Hkbii.

Remby

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hkbii;
In my case the conversion to tail wheel would not be good as it is a sort of stand off scale 1/2a. For this one it's trike gear on skis or bust, perhaps both. I needed some info on what you were posting, as you add to it it will be followed by me.

As far as idle goes, I do not use them.

1/2a in the genuine pure form.

hkbii

Howdy gents, Well now you got me thinking. I think I will make a set of skis for the trainer and find out how it would work on a nose gear. I think the ski should be a bit wider to carry the weight of the plane foward of the maines. Mr Mugen Is your nose ski wider or longer than the maines? There have been times that I have flown when the temps where below 0 and I have found that any thing with an oil seal will eventuality fail or slow down to the point that it is ineficient. but I like the shocks on yours. Heres a tip, rubber bands DO NOT work in the cold. I now use nylon bolts to hold the wing on. Remby do you fly any thing but 1/2A? hkbii.

digital_trucker

Nice skis, I'm thinking I'll make a set for the schoolgirl bipe I'm finishing up..turned into a trike setup. The thing about rubber bands is to put 'em on inside your nice warm house before you go out to the field (handy that 1/2A jobs can fit inside a car ready to go.

hkbii

Howdy gents.d-t Im gald you like the skis. I hope yours turn out nice. putting rubber bands on is not the prob, its the high G turns. They will strech out but they dont pull back. When you hear a cluncking sound and the plane will not stay in trim the wing is not seated. I have landed an picked up the plane to find that the wing is two inches away from the fuse. I see that the north east is now getting the cold front that sat on us for nearly two weeks. look out its a bad one. We went from -28 to +48 in three days. now all that snow and ice is melting. If the blasted wind would just slow down I could take Zip out for her maiden.With the snow gone off the lakes I'm thinking about a set of skates. Hkbii.

Remby

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"Remby do you fly any thing but 1/2A? hkbii."

Many years ago flew larger models a few times, but nothing but 1/2a for the last 25+ years. Started years ago with control line, but all of them were 1/2a class as well. Have flown only one electric powered model.

rc doc

Hi,
Ski's work on trike gear. I have a set made of alumium and one made from Plywood. I sold two pair at the last swap meet. The skis are longer and wider than yours. I prefer conventional gear to trike gear even tho it took me 20 years to learn how to taxi a model with it. My nose skis have a skeg in the midline to help steer.
John Smith