UH18 hoverwing build diary: Team hover

Team hover

Daisy and I started to make the former template for the thrust duct this weekend.

We are using half inch sterling board; three sheets of sterling board are required to make the former.

First you are best to build a decent bench or table to work from, it makes life so much easier when you work in a comfortable and safe working environment.

The boards were cut to size and joined together using 4x2 timber and wood screws. I made mine to a 65" square in order to cut out the circle that forms the inside diameter of the duct which is 60 1/4 inches.

It is essential that you have a good all round skills base for building a hoverwing.

To cut out the 60 1/4 inch circle I made a jig for the router. I made it adjustable so that I could start off big then work my way down to the 60 1/4 inches required. This is a good way to tackle this job as it is easy to make a mistake, and if you do, you could end up cutting the circles too small - and that's expensive and time consuming. Always a good idea to think it through and get it right the first time.

We are starting the build by building all the component parts first, such as thrust duct, lift duct,rudders, tails, fins, engine frame etc.

The reason for this is that our workshop is too small. If we build the hull first there would be no room left to build the other components.

Our spare room at home will become a temporary storage space for hoverwing parts. Luckily Daisy is very understanding!