ronlund
Senior Heliman
Location: Corpus Christi, TX
| I wouldn't put the covering on. The blade's claim to fame is their light weight and it would practically double the weight. This makes for more centrifugal force when they're spinning, which makes it harder for the pitch to change quickly.
I've run NHP tail blades for a long time and I'm hard on them. We shoot a lot of autos and it isn't uncommon to tick the tail blades on a pebble or weed. What's nice about the NHPs is that they work good even if they're split and the foam is missing! It doesn't look too great, but they work fine. The NHPs on my Freya were 105s. Now they measure 99mm. The ends are really ragged and the trailing edge is split up about 2 inches. Most of the foam is gone from the end...but they still work great.
If you want them to look good, you can take a sheet of balsa wing skin, put some thick CA on the foam and push the blade into the balsa, then color the end with a magic marker. Coat it with a LITTLE thin CA.
Ron |
