pete haywood
Heliman
Location: Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
| Howdy Mark,
I wanted to be able to take off and land on water plus 'spool down' so that I could retrieve the heli from a speed boat. Well I definitely didn't want my Observer getting wet so keeping it sitting high and dry with plenty of stability was essential.
pete's el cheapo all purpose floats
1.
Take two pieces of white paper approx. 1 metre long and wide enough to create two tubes, each with a diameter of 120mm and tape the full length.
2.
Grab a couple of spray cans of 'expander foam' from the hardware ( for sealing cracks and gaps ) and after blocking one end of the paper tube you have made, fill with the 'expander foam' and leave to set. Once hard you can cut and file/sand the ends to suit. Grab some heat shrink film for covering planes from the hobby shop while your down town and cover. You'll want to imbed and glue a 'stringer' into the top of each float before you cover - so you can attach a spare set of landing gear. ( a stringer is that piece of wood that is down the centre of a surfboard to stop it snapping if you get dumped)
They're a little heavy but work fine.
( instead of making the tubes round I made them 'egg shaped' for more stability on the water but round would work fine )
pete's more expensive floats ( am making at the moment )
1.
Same as above with the expander foam but after you have shaped the floats, cover with carbon fibre and resin. Leave one end open and remove all the expander foam before capping the open end with a pre made end unit. Make an extra tube just long enough to create two ends for this purpose.
2.
Attach a spare set of landing gear into the floats with some more carbon fibre and resin.
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