Wow, thanks for all of the kind words gents!
For a while there I thought I might just have to jump ship and go with an easier design for those pods. Something like a box. I almost gave up a week ago. It is still way more complicated than I would like, but I am at least happy with the way it turned out. It definitely needs a few tweaks, mostly in the way of alignment tabs and slots, but the foundation is there.
With that said, I am officially over the hill...
Thrust test is done!
some pics of the final product with a little better lighting as well
Score A+
VERY negligible loss of thrust. Just shy of 640 grams. She sounds good too! The EDF's being buried under that much foam really deadens the high pitch whine and all you are left with is the suction and exhaust air. If I had to guess just by suction feel of the intakes and submerged inlets, I would say that the sublets are supplying 75% of the airflow to the fans. I am toying with the idea of shrinking the sublets, but I do not want to starve the fans either. Especially if someone wants to throw more watts at it. Or I could leave the sublets and try a less complicated wing spar as well.
I will have to ponder for a bit.
...oh, and i forgot to mention, hot glue and aluminum do not mix...
...at all.
The EDF housings acted as heat sinks and sucked the heat out of the glue in literally a second or two. They are heavy as well. In hind sight I think choosing these fans were a bad idea. They seem to be built well, and run great, but the watts to weight ratio is not the greatest. I am still planning on these for the maiden, but I am going to search around for something a little better. Hopefully something still some what modest though. I would like to stick with the 3 cell 2200mAh and total amp draw under 60amps for both. I don't want to lock people into exotic expensive batteries.
These ALMOST work, if they were a tad bit lighter.
Again, thanks for the kind words all, I do appreciate it.