ORIGINAL: k_sonn

Now that the move is completed and I'm settled into the new workshop I thought it was time to show what I've been working on. I'm glassing and detailing my buddies 80 inch BVM F-86. While waiting for the glass to dry I started converting my Sky Master using a BVM EVF fan. The first thing I needed to do was remove the existing ducting. I got the replacement ducting from a friend. When trying to get the ducting in the fuse I found I couldn't get it past the nose gear formers. I wanted to re-enforce the gear formers with a layer of carbon fiber away so I knocked them out. I placed the front section of the ducting in the fuse and centered against the intake lip. There was a gap at the top corners where the ducting wasn't as wide as the intake opening so I laid tape in that area, then I tape laid tape all around the ducting to hold it in place. Next, I mixed some epoxy and milled fiber glass and poured it inside the fuse around the ducting and stood the fuse on its nose. Once the epoxy had cured, the tape was removed. The epoxy fixed the ducting in place and filled the gaps. I used filler to make a smooth trasition from the intake lip to the ducting (Photo 1). The next step was to reinstall the nose gear formers (Photo 2). After that, the rear section of the ducting was attached. It was about eight inches too long (Photo 3). Measurements were taken to get it to mate to the front of the fan and the extra length was cut off. The opening that mated to the fan was too small so the duct was split open down the seam. The front part of the duct was temporarily reattached to itself with ca. The rear of the duct was opened to the size needed to mate to the fan and a wood former was inserted in the rear opening to hold the duct open at the correct diameter. The wedge shaped opening of the ducting where it had been split was glassed over. When the glass had dried, filler was used inside the duct to give it a smooth finish and the duct was primed and painted. The fan was installed and run up (Photo 4, Photo 5, Photo 6 & Photo 7). I am very pleased to see the fan run with very little ducting loss. It is running at 5400 watts which is the same power seen on the BVM Electra. With winter setting in, it looks like I will have to wait until Spring to fly it.

Kirk