Quote:
Originally Posted by skyl4rk
....Warning, the plexiglass tail seems somewhat dangerous to me, but if it were secured well enough, it should work.
|
I agree with your warning about the plexiglas being questionable...
We had 45 mph winds here today, and the foam/fiberglass held up fine, but I would NOT want to find out what a flimsy material would do in the same winds!!
The only way I can see making something this big and expansive, is to use a material with enough thickness to prevent buckling/bending/flopping in heavy winds.
If you study structural mechanics, you will quickly find out that thicker and/or stronger materials, are the only way to go for something this big.
Going from a 1" thick piece of foam to a 2" thick piece of foam, makes the bending moment four times stiffer just by doubling the thickness. That's not a typo; 4 times stiffer with 2 times the thickness.
Take a close look at Metro's tail extension with the cardboard. He employed the use of internal bulk heads to increase stiffness and stability of his design. If the cardboard could be sealed from the rain, it would definitely stand up to the abuse of these high winds we had today.
Jim.