Wood Working

A way ahead of the UK in its thinking ~ understandable given its proximity ~ Germany not only builds drones in materials like plywood, but is building a distributed network of manufacturing sites to supply them in great numbers. The UK policy is importing its needs, which is of course the worst possible preparation for defence and the reason it had to import US assistance wholesale during WW2.

For the figures are astonishing. Between them Ukraine and Russia have deployed some four million drones during the course of the 'special military operation', which eclipses the number of aircraft deployed in WW2 by a very large margin. WW2 effectively gave us aeroplanes as we know them today, and the current conflict could be said to have done the same for drones.

Ukraine purchases as many as 10,000 drones per month from DJI to supplement the 100,000 that some of its factories already produce. Meanwhile Germany's Helsing HF-1 seen above is financed largely by the founder of Spotify, so many of you are involved in one way or another; the author of Linux via which you may be reading these words did point out that all technology conflates military use and entertainment.

The Russia's Molinya (inset) also features plywood and alloy tubing, and is available via Italy as a scale model that you can own for yourself for less than $100:

Neighbour's dog annoying? Take it out with a drone! (Munitions and goggles extra).

Not so SS-UAVe.

... as it appears.

In the video drones emerge from a mothership perpendicular to an airflow of several hundred knots, as gracefully as doves immune to physics emerging from a loft.

They probably figured nobody would notice?

And they won't.

Wood Works

Seen here at the Hovercraft Museum on the south coast of England, what eventually became of the wood-and-fabric radio-controlled model first tested by the inventor of the first practical type. One weighs 300 tons and could carry 400 passengers and 60 cars... can you guess which?

The overwhelming impression left by a visit to the museum is what can be achieved by inventors, hobbyists or companies with a little wood and alloy along with engines borrowed from elsewhere.

Development of this type of vehicle was funded effectively by the UK government, though the chances of it still funding individual enterprise of any sort are decidedly slim. The two types of uncrewed drones recently flaunted by the PM, for example, were developed by individuals in New Zealand and Portugal.

Within my own lifetime ~ in so far as any form of transport is concerned ~ we've gone from an imperial power supplying the means of locomotion to the wider world, to one being supplied by such powers elsewhere. Drones tho' do upend the game at least for a spell, during which people like you or I may steer things in one direction or another.

POC #36

There's an alternative template here that allows for a greater choice of airscrews, with a deeper keel and wider deck. See if you can spot which one, for now our work begins in earnest...

POC #35

The 20 x 6" propeller ~ a beautiful piece of German craftsmanship ~ is fitted using a single bolt in the form of the spinner. It's a fine looking vessel, Sir, and no mistake!

POC Flotation Test #2

The craft returned to the water after re-fitting the keel with a foam insert throughout. Unladen it provides a surplus of buoyancy that I've never liked the look of, it seemingly dead in the water.

This is solved however by adding a 2.50 kilo battery-pack that sets the waterline about level with the underside of the deck.

The answer going forward tho' is to provide for a keel that can be flooded to a variable extent in order to suit the battery-pack of choice, which will be essential for the POC as I want to run with the lightest pack and so flood the keel to suit the waterline that appears here on the right.

An advantage of the design is that this dead weight of ballast will be released once on the plane, whereupon water in the keel will simply drain away; sustaining the claim of this outline to be the most efficient high-speed craft ever, ever, ever (no backsies).

POC #34 (retrofit)

I've opened up the keel to add more foam by releasing the ski at the forward end and removing the silicone filet along with the two retaining bolts upon its underside; then afterward reversing the process. With the silicone or adhesive providing much of the support for the ski it's a good idea to set it level as seen here so that it sets overnight with the craft standing true.