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Glue ailerons to control horns 
Glue in battery tray - Install propeller - Buy & install wing screws & spinner - wing screws acquired, spinner out of stockDevise a way to more securely attach the rudder to the vertical stab - after second glance, rudder is secure enough for the time being, will revisit after first flightCover the skis in tape -
Week 3 Reflection
Overview
This week in UAS I became the fourth owner of a Turbo Timber Evolution. It was pretty beat up and needs a lot of work in order to bring it up to my standards for what an aircraft should be. Some of the work I have already done involved strengthening the right horizontal stabilizer, replacing the Spektrum receiver with an ELRS one, and taking note of items that need to be purchased in order to make it airworthy again.
The big project I did for the aircraft was build custom skis for it so it can be flown off the snow and ice that is currently covering the ground. One of my friends recently replaced the side panels on their Onewheel, and gave me the old ones so I could use them for my skis. They ended up becoming the foundation for my skis, and along with some scavenged parts around the lab I use, turned into a set of skis that I can be proud to say that I created.
The Build
Tools used:
Forming the Ski Shape
I started off by removing the sticky glue so I could better heat and mold the skis to the desired shape. I used a heat gun to heat up the skis to the point that they were malleable and then I bent them into shape. I used pliers to hold them during this process as the plastic got too hold to hold with my bare hands. The overall goal with the bending was twofold. I firstly wanted to create the classic upward bend on skis so that they do not dig into the snow during normal operations. Secondly, the tabs on the side were not fully upright, and I wanted to use the tabs to join two pieces together, so I bent the tabs until they were vertical to ensure that then bottom of the skis would remain flat once joined together. One thing to note during this process was the risk of toxic fume inhalation. Next time I do this I would wear a mask and have a fan close by to blow the fumes away.
Assembling the Ski Base
The next step in the process was to attach the ski section to one another. I decided to use screws and nuts to hold the sections together via the raised tab. To do this, I drilled out three equidistant (eyeballed) holes on one of the sections using a drill press and used a sharpie to transfer the holes to the other three pieces, ensure they all lined up properly.
To join the sections together, I used three nuts and bolts per ski, with washers to ensure a tighter grip.
Axle Mount
The next step was to design a way to mount the skis to the aircraft. I removed the tires and was left with an axle that was perfect for mounting the skis to. I found a box of 3D-printed parts that I thought would work for creating an adaptor. I used a bandsaw to cut one in half, leaving me with two mirrored sides. I sanded down the prints to remove the loose plastic and create a smooth surface for mounting hardware to.
I used the bandsaw to drill a hole for the axle as well as a bracer to prevent the skis from dipping too far forward and dig into the snow on landing.
I also drilled a vertical hole so I could mount it to the bottom of the ski for vertical security. I replaced one of the screws
I then drilled two additional holes to mount the part to the skis. One was horizontal and lined up with the existing ski mounting hardware that I could piggyback off of, and the other was a vertical hole through the print and ski to prevent the part from rotating without the ski.
Final Thoughts
I am very proud of how these skis turned out. I still have some upgrades I want to make to them before flying it for the first time, notably bending the skis some more as well as wrapping them in tape to create a flat bottom so snow does not pile up in between the gaps. Perhaps applying a hydrophobic coating would be good too. With better access to materials I would make the adaptors out of wood and the skis out of a single piece of plastic so everything is more durable, but other than that I think they turned out fantastic. This is the kind of build quality and forethought that I am looking to bring forward into my future projects. Considering my previous set of skis for another aircraft were made of foamboard, this is a huge improvement. The performance of the skis are still unknown, but I have left room for upgrades and improvements in case I deem them necessary after flight testing.
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