FT Cruiser converted to hovercraft

[Jhornbeck]

FT Explorer converted to hovercraft

Hi all,

I thought I'd share an idea that I had. Since lots of the planes in the builds are modular, what other uses have you found for them? Here is a video of an FT Explorer that my son and I converted into an airsled for the snow and a hovercraft.

https://youtu.be/qAQvZIfkV7o

 

[JimCR120]

John,
Looks like fun. Chickens seemed to enjoy it too.

If you would, please introduce yourself to the forum with some general details about yourself and your interests in the hobby.

Welcome to the forum.
—Jim

 

[PsyBorg]

Ohhh that one chicken was eye ballin you something fierce. I think I would have had to give it some exercise and wear it down a bit. I think it looked more fun with the green sled under it but that part did take up more of the video. Looks like your son did pretty good with it too. Does he have a lot of time on the sticks with various RC things?

 

[Jhornbeck]

About me

So a little about me. I live on the seacoast area of NH and have been playing with RC flying things for about 7 years. I started on a Cox Sky Ranger. Had a great time but got frustrated with the short flight times. so I moved on to gliders. I built a free flight glider out of rigid insulation foam and it worked great so I added a couple servos and control surfaces and it failed miserably. I was hooked.

Then built my mountain models dl-50 which is definitely my favorite glider that I have. And once I found flite test, I have been playing with foam board gliders ever since. I don't have a very large budget so these are perfect. I found quads last year and started flying FPV about 3 months later. Now I'm switching over my frame and should have a build video once done. I'm a noob when it comes to electronics so I hope it all works and doesn't send up magic smoke signals! Feel free to check out my drone photography website at www.seacoastaerialsolutions.com also!

Jonathan

 

[Jhornbeck]

Psyborg,

Hahaha that chicken is interested in everything. Her name is Maggie and was one of the first ones we got about 4 years ago. She knows not to mess with my stuff

Yeah the sled was lots of fun, but because I was just using packing take, the snow kept getting it wet and having it come off. It was much faster as a hovercraft. I think if I build it again, I'll add a spoiler to the front to keep the nose down. I could never really open it up because it would just flip over, as you saw.

My son did great! He has only flown the FT Explorer a couple times, but since this was just two channels he was much more comfortable with it. Since he helped me build the Explorer, he was always so scared to crash it. I keep telling him, everyone crashes and that's why it's a pusher made from foam.

Anyone else use the pieces of the FT planes for other projects?

 

[JimCR120]

So a little about me. I live on the seacoast area of NH and have been playing with RC flying things for about 7 years. I started on a Cox Sky Ranger. Had a great time but got frustrated with the short flight times. so I moved on to gliders. I built a free flight glider out of rigid insulation foam and it worked great so I added a couple servos and control surfaces and it failed miserably. I was hooked.

Then built my mountain models dl-50 which is definitely my favorite glider that I have. And once I found flite test, I have been playing with foam board gliders ever since. I don't have a very large budget so these are perfect. I found quads last year and started flying FPV about 3 months later. Now I'm switching over my frame and should have a build video once done. I'm a noob when it comes to electronics so I hope it all works and doesn't send up magic smoke signals!

Jonathan

NH? That's just down the coast from ME. Glad you're doing this hobby with your son. It makes all the difference. My youngest is grown and overseas so I miss my favorite flying buddy.

I hear you on the budget note. I've since been developing my dream hangar list that I'm working toward so as to attempt to control and cap spending. Foam helps alot.

Any liklihood of seeing you in Ohio for Flite Fest this July?

 

[Jhornbeck]

Yeah we're practically neighbors . Wish I could make it to flitefest. Too much going on this year, but I'd love to go at some point.

 

[PsyBorg]

hehe don't we all. It just gets bigger and better every time they do it. I need to start tracking down the stuff that is coming out of FFW now and get thru most of that before FFE starts. I am really surprised that we haven't seen any official FT Vlogs from it though...