I built a hovercraft.....out of meat trays.....ugly sunbeeet

[artmonster]

OK, here is my first attempt at a hover craft....

It works great! just is ugly ugly ugly.

I had a buch of old Zagi Fixx components around that i used for the power system.....finally had a use for the stuff.

350Mah Nimh battery pack, GWS geared IPS drive motor, A cheap 2 channel AM TX & RX, the Zagi Fixx 5a ESC, the white graupner Zagi prop, 1 HS55 servo for the rudder, and a bunch of meat trays, epoxy and strapping tape.......

anyway, Im proud,, it moves along nicely.

Now onto bigger and better things.

[Kmot]

LOL, but that is very clever! ;)

What have you been saving meat trays for? Besides, hovercraft, of course!

[artmonster]

I am an RC packrat.......you never know what you can use.

Meat trays are essentially Depron foam, so they are great for building stuff.

I use them oprimarily for making winglets for my slope combat flying wings ( they are cheap, lightweight and easily replacable when broken during flying ).

they also can be quick and easy undercamber wings if you like.

so with a family of six, I have a nice source of building foam.

we also have a baby, so formula cans and baby food jars are plentiful for organizing. ( you cant tell by looking at the pictures of my workbench though ):rolleyes:

My wife thinks Im crazy sometimes..........I pick up ordinary junk, and everyday things pondering what they can be used for in RC......LOL.....

[pete stainton]

it looks intresting but how do you get the lift? it is suprising just what can be recycled i to look at all throw away bits and bobs to see if theres another life in it.
regards
Biggles

[artmonster]

lift is from the motor prop blowing into the yellow duct at the rear of the craft and forcing air to the base.

[pete stainton]

right i think that i just may try one of my own :) just the thing to skid around the car park whilst her in doors gets the shopping :cool:
will it do water and dry land how much clearance do you get
sorry about all the Questions :o
regards
Biggles

[artmonster]

no water or bumps for this one, not enough power, and no flexable skirt.....

but on the garage floor it zooms along nicely.

I very very loosely based it upon the attached design, and modified it to what materials I had on hand ( eg. no EDF unit, my own power train and resized to the trays I had ):

Hope it helps.

[pete stainton]

thank you for the drawing it's a good place to start from
i would like to see your next ( mk2) when its done :D
regards
biggles

[artmonster]

I have my sights set on the Griffon 2000TDX next. ;)

http://www.model-hovercraft.com/

[BartMan]

Nice Little Indoor craft! I tried one with a seperate lift fan once, and the torque from the lift fan just made it spin on the floor. I'm just going to have to try a single fan unit, I'll put it in line with my other gotta make list.

[Kmot]

I'm totally unfamiliar with building with foam. :o

But not with saving "recyclables" for other uses. Example: the foam containers that mushrooms come in. About 5" square. My wife loves mushies so we always have a supply and I discovered they make perfect "parts trays" while working on projects and stack easily to boot. Another: yogurt cups/lids. Make excellent 540 motor storage containers. One more: medicine containers. I have a few 'scrips and have used the plastic containers for storing straight pins; used Xacto blades; micro screws, etc.

[BackYardFlying]

Here's mine

I'm using a small Johnson 250 motor and a 4 X 2.5 prop.

See the video.

[Boatfox]

LOL..angry sounding little fella isn't it. Quite stout for the hits its taking too.