E-Flite Timber Snow Skis

thingiverse

E-Flite Timber Snow Skis ==== Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nn0KLkLK3VE ### Summary The E-Flite Timber is a fantastic little STOL plane that comes equipped with big bush wheels and floats for flying off water. Many people use those floats for flying off snow as well, but I wanted skis. There are some options out there, but none of them meet all of my criteria: - Easy to print without supports - Stock fit and finish (no modification to the plane) - Allow for limited travel of the skis to handle rougher terrain - Able to print all 3 skis at once (on an 8x8 print bed such as i3 style) - Does not negatively affect flying characteristics - Lightweight These skis were made a little wider than many options, so that they could be shortened and still have tons of surface area. They also fit on the stock axle with the stock landing strut with no modification, and have limited travel to navigate the terrain. They include a loop to hook a rubber band to, keeping the tips up while flying and landing. ### Printing I printed these with .8mm nozzle at .2mm layer height, 20% infill, 2 shells top/bottom/sides. YMMV but this gave me a very strong part that was still plenty lightweight. ### Preparation Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_lS3e4qoLI I use warm water to soften the tip of the ski, and then shape the ski tip with the front of a frying pan. Dip the ski into the water so that the tip is in the water basically up to the rubber band arch. Place the ski "right side up" inside the frying pan, and slide the tip into the edge of the pan to shape the front of the ski. You will also want to shape the front of the rear ski slightly so that it doesn't catch on the snow. Do not bend the rear ski up much, or it will strike the empennage. The two holes go in front, and the grooves go down. ### Installation The fronts should be relatively self explanatory. Remove the stock lock nut, slide the wheels off, put the wheels somewhere safe, slide the ski on, and then secure with the lock nut. Attach a rubber band to the arch on the ski, and then secure the other end to the landing struts where they meet the fuselage. For the rear, remove the 3 screws holding the rear wheel on, remove the cover plate and wheel and place them in the same safe spot as the front wheels, and then use the stock screws to secure the rear ski where the cover plate used to be. The screws should be able to countersink down into the model.