Hi all,

I haven’t updated the thread in a while, but the Aurora is now in its final stages. I’ll be posting some updated build photos in the next few posts.

Back to the NG retract

Earlier I mentioned that the raised tank bottom plate—used as both the tank floor and nose retract mount—ended up bringing an extra benefit. This became clear when I started working on the nose retract steering linkage.

While trial-fitting the retract (mounted at one corner of the plate), I worked out the best position for the NG steering servo. In the end, mounting the servo sideways turned out to be the best solution, with the servo arm aligned directly with the retract steering arm.

I also had to swap out the steering arm that came with the retract for a much shorter one, to avoid it touching the belly pan wall.

With the servo mounted this way, I was able to get a perfectly straight pushrod—no bends or kinks at all, which is always nice.

Another bonus: since I used a mini servo, when the strut is fully retracted it sits just above the servo case with no interference. You can see this in the photos below.

The NG strut rests flush to the steering servo






[size=13px]Next up was the engine cooling air intake. I tried to match the size and shape as closely as possible to the plans and to reference photos of the Aurora I found online.[/size]

For the pipe tunnel, since I had already installed a carbon fiber plate as the tank floor, I decided to line the wing portion of the tunnel with a 0.2 mm carbon fiber sheet. It’s almost as thin as covering film, so the weight penalty is negligible, and it gives a clean look while also adding fuel-proofing.




The remaining work on the pipe tunnel included the exhaust outlet, cooling air exit openings, and the pipe exit cooling duct.









To maintain consistency with the carbon fiber finish, I made a two-angled CF deflector plate. I cut it to match the lower fuselage profile, glued it in place with rubber-toughened CA, and then reinforced it with some fiberglass cloth.












You can see how the finished pipe tunnel turned out in the photos.