Fanboy
Apr 04, 2005, 12:47 PM
After many years lurking in the forums I thought it was time to register and contribute something myself. :)
Here's a few pics and details of an unconventional hovercraft I built about 6 1/2 years ago:
Striking from a hidden base in South-East England, etc.
One evening, whilst my better-half was out of the country on business, I dug out the old design I'd done for a Snowspeeder flying under ground effect. Realising that you'd need to build it as a true hovercraft (boo), out come the Art of Empire, the old AMT/Ertl plastic kit and the Star Wars Chronicles. Liberal quantities of whisky and orange later and I have a set of roughly 1/10th scale plans and a foamcore shell. Morning after was not pleasant.
I'd like to point out that this speeder was more a proof-of-concept tech demo than a proper prototype. So it's quite crap, as it was built from stuff I had lying around in the house. The RC kit is old Futaba Challenger 35MHz gear (not for ground use), the fan unit is a Morley*, powered by a random 540-size truck motor (timing waaaay out). Servos are standard S418s. The scale was derived from the requirement of fitting the fan within the form at somewhere between the extremes of center of thrust and center of gravity.
The main construction materials are 5mm foamcore, 0.8mm aluminium tube and various sizes of carbon fibre pultrusions and tubing. Liberal quantities of Zap were used to hold it together. The main guns are spring-loaded to reduce crash damage.
The cooling vanes are used for steering - deflection is about 25 deg. from neutral and sufficient to turn the craft on the spot. Fan efflux can be diverted in varying degrees to both drive and lift. The semi-rigid skirt, not shown in the photos, raises the speeder up off the ground by about 15mm, at a neutral AOA.
Operation is noisy and slow, but much more fun than the last man-capable hovercraft I worked on.
I reckon it's possible to tweak this design into a nice little craft. The only really tricky bit is the requirement for an in-scale tapered skirt. Alternatively, the cheap prebuilt toy hovercraft now on the market could provide that component.
I still have all the templates and formers needed to cut and assemble the foamcore shell. If there is any interest I can scan and make available. :D
One day I might even complete this one...
*The fan unit is supposedly one of the prototype Morley ducted fans, given to me by a chap who had a glider which Jim Morley landed a little too aggressively.
Here's a few pics and details of an unconventional hovercraft I built about 6 1/2 years ago:
Striking from a hidden base in South-East England, etc.
One evening, whilst my better-half was out of the country on business, I dug out the old design I'd done for a Snowspeeder flying under ground effect. Realising that you'd need to build it as a true hovercraft (boo), out come the Art of Empire, the old AMT/Ertl plastic kit and the Star Wars Chronicles. Liberal quantities of whisky and orange later and I have a set of roughly 1/10th scale plans and a foamcore shell. Morning after was not pleasant.
I'd like to point out that this speeder was more a proof-of-concept tech demo than a proper prototype. So it's quite crap, as it was built from stuff I had lying around in the house. The RC kit is old Futaba Challenger 35MHz gear (not for ground use), the fan unit is a Morley*, powered by a random 540-size truck motor (timing waaaay out). Servos are standard S418s. The scale was derived from the requirement of fitting the fan within the form at somewhere between the extremes of center of thrust and center of gravity.
The main construction materials are 5mm foamcore, 0.8mm aluminium tube and various sizes of carbon fibre pultrusions and tubing. Liberal quantities of Zap were used to hold it together. The main guns are spring-loaded to reduce crash damage.
The cooling vanes are used for steering - deflection is about 25 deg. from neutral and sufficient to turn the craft on the spot. Fan efflux can be diverted in varying degrees to both drive and lift. The semi-rigid skirt, not shown in the photos, raises the speeder up off the ground by about 15mm, at a neutral AOA.
Operation is noisy and slow, but much more fun than the last man-capable hovercraft I worked on.
I reckon it's possible to tweak this design into a nice little craft. The only really tricky bit is the requirement for an in-scale tapered skirt. Alternatively, the cheap prebuilt toy hovercraft now on the market could provide that component.
I still have all the templates and formers needed to cut and assemble the foamcore shell. If there is any interest I can scan and make available. :D
One day I might even complete this one...
*The fan unit is supposedly one of the prototype Morley ducted fans, given to me by a chap who had a glider which Jim Morley landed a little too aggressively.