Year in Review – Prototypes

The Delrin aero basebar skids that I made for my U2 are working out great. I had been using the Wills Wing aero basebar wheels for a short time on my U2 and found them to be well made but was annoyed that the design allows the base bar to rest on the ground when the glider is tilted back on its keel during setup. The base bar was getting scratched up and it made it harder to keep the pit pins and side wire attachment points clean and free of grit. That--combined with the fact that I didn’t feel the 4” wheels were big enough to be at all useful unless I was landing on a flat putting green--led me to experiment with the skids. I’ve been flying with the skids for an entire season now and I like them a lot. They are probably not going to slide any better than 4” wheels would roll on tough terrain, but they keep my base bar out of the dirt, cause very little drag, and were inexpensive and easy to make.

These custom Delrin wheels Albrecht Buchner had made are quite nice too; I may have to try to make a pair for my next project.

The other prototype I made this year, with help and inspiration from my friend Scobie, was a simple lightweight instrument pod. It’s made out of PETG plastic. You can buy the plastic in sheets of various thicknesses that then can be heated and formed over a mold. (This is the same material 2 liter soda bottles are made of.) This pod was easy to make and has proven to be very durable. This is version 2.0, which has a space in the front for an airspeed indicator.