I've rebuilt the airframe to slightly reduced dimensions and as a part of this effort had the skids turned up by one of the many engineering firms that thankfully still exist here in the northwest. This has been trial and error, and in fact a 10 gauge extrusion would have suited better then the 12, but we'll park that one for next time. It was in fact a further exercise in trial and error, the 6062 grade of aluminium not being disinclined to bending, but preferring to be annealed first, which was something that took me back to hardening and annealing in Engineering Workshop Theory and Practice (ETWP) back in my schooldays.
But driving back it occurs to me that drones don't actually need upturned skids, as nor generally do model helicopters. The principal reason for upturned skids on rotorcraft is to accommodate running landings, for instance during an autorotation following an engine failure ~ a generally practised manoeuvre in piloted airframes.
In contrast, the same level of failure in either drones or RC helicopters basically involves them dropping from the sky like a sack of potatoes, which doesn't require nearly the same finesse.
There are two reasons I shall continue to go to the bother of turning up my skids, however, and these are:
(a) because they look good, and...
(b) because they're useful for punting around on snow and ice.
As I see a market for these vehicles in and around winter sports arenas (for so long as they exist in a globally warmed environment world), reason (b) is not so implausible as you might imagine.
Length of those skids by the way?
80 inches.
