With regard to the construction of the engine support, I decided to combine this with the support of the rudders and the duct itself. This has several advantages.
#1: The whole setup is firmer and can not move with respect to each other.
#2: I can build it entirely beside the hovercraft and can assemble it as a whole unit. It will be built it in a way that I can also dismantle the components separately for maintenance, once the whole thing is on the craft.
#3: I can still reposition the whole unit some inches if that would improve the flying properties. Remember, this is a unique craft and was never tested before.
#4: If I ever built a new craft, I can transplant the unit, and save a lot of work.
After I had discussed this idea with someone, he told me that the Aussies had this setup in racing. They had a complete spare "drive Unit" and were able to exchanges this between the heats when necessary.
Top: thrust engine on floor, spare engine on stand. You can put the exhaust on 180° ,Clever Japs.
Engine mount half way done.
Almost ready, still have to cut some pieces off
99.9% done just reroute the exhaust and fire her up!!!
I made a starter mount from a piece of angle-steel.
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These two pics are half way.
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The pics up here are the starter motor support I made out of one piece of angle steel and some old bolts.
The lower starter motor bolt is welded to the inside of the bracket, the upper is in the same hole as the original bolt would go.
A small bolt at the bottom is to fix the bracket to the engine, using a original (smaller) hole.
This is the coupling I'm using. It's made of aluminum. The inner part has 16 rubber replaceable parts. And I only had to drill a few holes in the outer part to fit the original clutch assembly bolt holes. So no thread tapping and it runs like a charm.
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Like I mentioned on top here, I will have one structure on the back of my craft supporting the whole drive train, duct, engine, exhaust and rudders including the elevator. This whole unit will be supported with a dozen rubber blocks. Up till now I made this:
Top: Here is the front duct support in place
Above left: Bottom duct support Above right: Adjustable inner radial duct support
Above left: (one of two) Front adjustable duct support Above right: Top rudder/elevator support support
Above left: Bottom rudder pivot point Above right: Top rudder pivot point
The Lift Engine Frame
I decided to make a more or less "tripod" frame instead of the four legged ones, that are often used.
This is because in theory it should be stronger and lighter, but . . . . . . if I use 25% less steel, it should be 25% less strong ! What to do? I opted for one leg in the form of a triangle, this gives a lot of rigidity in the whole structure. There go's the theory, still four legs !!
I wanted to have the hard points for the frame lower than on top of the hull, just for the sake of the beauty of it all. Doing this I saved some steel and therefore weight. I did gain some I think, three instead of four hard points and shorter legs. The pics will tell the rest
The bare frame Here it's in the lift duct, note the hard points.
This is how it looks from the fishes point of view And here a birds eye view at it while its lowered!
These are the hard points for the lift engine, real hard wood that will last my time.
Now what ??
The wind screen !! Yes after watching a lot of small cars I selected a windscreen. I wanted a whole piece of glass in front of me, not split. So the choice was made and a scrap yard visit enriched me with a Suzuki Alto wind screen.
The glass, Suzuki Alto, (the black sides is tape) Must make a groove to support the screen.
Taking size with seat and cushion Here the wind screen frame + lift engine nice and low
The screen is smaller than the frame so I still had to make filler pieces on the sides and top.
The conduit is light but strong. I made it this way to be sure it would not snap off if it was used as human support during a plough in.
FAN GUARDS
Well, let's start with one ! Sometimes I have the feeling that I must be a bit creative with the building of bits and pieces.
LIFT DUCT FAN GUARD
Now the easiest thing to do is get some chicken wire and stick that on there with some zip ties. I decided to be a bit more creative and use something nostalgic.
Since I live in a real old city, which go’s back to the 9th century. I thought that the Municipal coat of arms would be a nice thing to make in wire and put up front.
But as always it was not easy to get it the way I wanted. After some trial and error I cut out some of the feathers and rearranged the distances between some of the lines. That left me with the black and white drawing.
A good friend of mine (Yvette Andriessen) has this little machine that projects images from plane paper.
She made me a board with the drawing in real live size. I bended the board (hard to see) to fit the curve in my "hood"
From here it’s cutting and bending the stainless wire till it fits the drawing. Than grabbing the electric welder and look what emerges from the deep,
The Levitator, A two headed eagle
My seats, I have 4 now My hover-helmet
Isn't this a cool steering thing or what!!!
This flight control is sponsored by AKF B.V. in Naarden The Netherlands and originally made for the Fokker-50 airplane. Now I only have to get it working on my craft!?!?
More to come
