Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Foam, Foam, Everywhere

Most people freak when they hear me talking about building a Styrofoam airplane. I typically get responses like "Are you talking about a real airplane?" When I reply, I'll typically get responses like "I wouldn't get in an airplane made of Styrofoam." I even had one guy who told me that I'm sixteen years old, with no flying experience, no building experience, and certainly no airplane building experience and because of those ridiculous reasons I'm building a flying coffin. It's hard not to laugh at these poorly informed people. It's really discouraging the way mainstream media like FOX and CNN spins everything in a way that keeps them making money and the people entertained. Where's the responsibility?

I've noticed that If I use the term "high density foam," people don't ask questions. That's why I don't use the term. Keeping people excited and a tad bit shocked of the pure magic of the Skypup is what I like doing.

Anyways, all of the above is just a rant. What I really came here to talk about is that I finally got myself blue dow Styrofoam! The Skypup mainly consists of that stuff, so therefore, having access to this stuff is major progress. I've been searching around for several months thinking that it was safest to purchase the foam in the thicknesses called out in the plans. Boy was I wrong. I've found that it's actually perfectly safe to get thick sheets, then splice it down into smaller sheets when needed. In most aspects, it's more convenient since there's less surface area to get damaged in storage.

I called a 50 mile radius from my house, looking for foam in the 3/4 inch thickness. In the end, the place where I purchased my foam wasn't even two miles away! I ended up purchasing the thickest stuff that Dow makes for my desired sheet size (2x8). Oh the joys of being properly informed!

I just saved a lot of money from switching my foam thickness to four inches! I'm a happy man!


(Pictures to come!)

1 comment:

Dactyl Flyer said...

Awesome Love Pteradactyls . Anyone making these today, I flew an Ascender back in 1981 and 82. Only way to fly! Darrel, upstatetech@gmail.com