Tue Oct 16, 2001

1 hour

Pictured top right - I put on the new pulley and tensioned the belt.  I lowered the idler pulleys about 1/2" to bring the belt more inline with the engine sheave pulley and keep it away from brushing the engine mounts.

Pictured 2nd right - a view of the pulleys from the rear.  The pulleys are out of alignment.  I am going to have to bend the bar a bit.  This will require welding the nuts onto the ends of the bar so it doesn't try and twist when I tension it.

Pictured 3rd right - A view of the thrust prop drive from the rear.

Pictured 4th right - A view of the thrust drive and duct from the front.

Tue Oct 16, 2001

Cont...

Pictured top right - a view of the thrust prop pulley from the top.

Pictured 2nd right - another view of the drive assembly.

Pictured 3rd right - A view of the engine sheave splitting the drive to lift and thrust belts.   Lift belt foreground, thrust belt background.

Sun Oct 21, 2001

2 hours

Today I made 4 upper rudder mounting brackets and ground the hump off a p1-1 bushing.  I am thinking I will go with 4 rudders and a trim wing instead of 2 and a trim wing. 

Pictured top right - Here are the upper rudder mounts that attach to the bottom of the trim wing.  They are constructed out of 3/4" emt and 1"x1/8" angle aluminum.

Pictured 2nd right - A close up of the upper rudder mounts.

Pictured 3rd right - I ground the hump of the p1-1 bushing so it would fit onto the aluminum mounting hub.

Pictured 4th right - Another view of the hub/bushing.

Sat Oct 27, 2001

2 hours

Pictured top right - I measured and marked the holes for the trim wing support arms and cut out the holes on both sides of the thrust duct.

Pictured 2n right - I drilled a 15/16" hole in each of the trime wings (2x2x16") and shaped so it would fit in the slots.

Pictured 3rd right - I decided (at least for now) to have 4 rudders instead of two.  I shaped two supports for the additional rudders and positioned them to approx. where they will be positioned.

Pictured 4th right - Here is a close up of the left trim wing arm.

Pictured 5th right - This shows the left trim arm with the plug removed so the trim wing can be put in place. 

Sun Oct 28, 2001

3 hours

Pictured top right - I used 3/4" conduit to position both trim arms and check alignment.

Pictured 2nd right - A view of the right arm from inside the duct.

Pictured 3rd right - I used epoxy mixed with wood flour to bond the arms to the duct. I will fill with epoxy and glass bubbles then cover with 6 oz cloth.

Pictured 4th  right - I used 1/2" screws to hold the arms in the correct position.  I will remove them after the epoxy cures.

Pictured 5th right - A view showing the alignment of the arms.

Sun Oct 28, 2001

Cont...

Pictured top right - I gave the arms their first coat of fillet.

Pictured 2nd right - Here is another angle of the first fillet coat on the right trim wing arm.

Fri Nov 16, 2001

I have had quite a few emails asking for an update.  A number of you are wondering whats happened... Well I haven't done anything to the hovercraft but I have been giving my next steps a lot of thought.  I am thinking of completing the construction of the craft in 3 more phases which I will outline below.

Phase 1 - Build rudders and trim wing and assemble onto craft

Phase 2 - Build seat and control stick and wire electrical system

Phase 3 - Build body.   This is what I have been putting the most thought into.  I am really drawn to a Weber Starcruiser shaped body.  I think what I will probably do is build a hybrid design using Zoltans design for the front of the craft back o the "firewall" and the Webers design from the firewall back.   Now I realize all of the work I did shaping my hull top to be curved is probably going to be wasted. 

This weekend I will probably cut the templates for the rudders.  My friend wayne is going to cut them for me on his hot wire cutter.  Thats one tool I really wish I had.  The one I build previously really didn't get the wire hot enough. 

One thing that is really slowing me down is that I no longer have plans to go from.  I have followed the plans as much as I could up to this point.  The rest of the work that will take place on the craft will be of my own design (or copying the design or another craft that I find appealing).   

Mon Jan 7, 2002

Sat Mar 30, 2002

Sun May 16, 2004