swappable hovercraft

Badgerhopper

Junior Member
Hi everyone, new to this forum as well as the diy aspect of the hobby. built my first plane not to long ago. It was the FT flyer. Super easy to build and fly even for a first time flyer. We live on a very tight budget so just coming up with enough money for the one model was tough so i wanted to see what else i could do with the swappable pod. Since the plane was alittle intimidating for my 8 year old son i decided to take the spare foam i had and build a hovercraft that he could play with but since i dont have the funds to buy all new electronics (motor, esc, receiver) i decided to attempt to use the power pod off the ft flyer to power the hovercraft. has anyone else done anything like this?

so far it doesnt have a rudder yet so all it does is hover and move forward but id love to hear if anyone else has tried this or if there are any other vehicles people have used the swappable power pod for besides planes.
 

Badgerhopper

Junior Member
Heres pics of it so far. Still a work in progress. Waiting on servo and control linkage.

20150419_164646.jpg 20150419_164652.jpg 20150419_164658.jpg 20150419_164706.jpg
 

Badgerhopper

Junior Member
i have video of it moving 5 feet across my kitchen floor but ill actually upload one when the whole thing is done and functioning properly, i think the flitetest guys should make a speed build set for a swappable hovercraft like this. i bet it would be a success.
 
i agree, they could do a simple swapable series of ground vehicles designed for the powerpods. much like the FT flyer/delta/nutball, they could do a hovercraft/airboat/fancar??
 

mad_milchmann

New member
Great Idea :D

but wouldn't the long part of the powerpod be in the way of the rudder?
maybe you should turn it around? you just would have to modify the mount a little bit... and turn around the prop of course.

You could simply move the horizontal piece of foamboard in the prop cage more to the front and support it from the deck with BBQ skewers or some foambaord.
 
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Badgerhopper

Junior Member
I thought long and hard about turning the pod around and having it act like a pusher but i only have the regular propellers and i didnt want to have to order more. also i thought about the rudder situation and the bottem half of them i am going to cut out to fit around the pod. since the propulsion part of the duct is only the top half the pod doesnt get in the way too much. but ill post more pics as i progress with the project.
 
You don't need different props to push, especially when it's something as simple as this, and efficiency isn't important. Just reverse two of the brushless motor leads to change the rotation direction and flip the prop over so the numbers face forward. My brother and I made some flat-bottomed boats to run on the snow this winter, and we did this with great success.
 

Badgerhopper

Junior Member
Heres the finished hovercraft. First time doing anything like this so it couldve come out better but it works so it makes me very happy. let me know what you think.

 

mesolost

Junior Member
Nice! Only thing missing is a kitty to chase! :D

LMFAO! I was just thinking that too! "Now if only you had a cat to terrorize with that." ^_^

Personally I think if it's turning that well then leave the pod hang out the back. The rear weighted design should allow the overly light front end to run up and over smaller obstacles and possibly even let you run it through the grass. =D If you plan on running over stuff I'd make a foam angle bracket thing in the shape of a bent open L. (take the top of the L and bend it open by 45 more degrees \_ ) Then glue/tape that to the inside lip of the rear most part of the tarp. That'll keep the "trailing edge" of the tarp from catching on things, I hope. =p Very very nice idea for inflating the air bag though. "Props" to you for that one. ^_^
 

Badgerhopper

Junior Member
im not sure what you mean for the brace for the tarp. and yes it is very tail heavy, thats why i put the battery all the way to the front to balance it out. works great on smooth surface but i doubt i could get it to work on grass. doesnt even work on my gravel driveway.
 

Badgerhopper

Junior Member
im not sure how i would make a lip like that out of foam when the whole skirt inflates and deflates. but for a first attempt i think it works just fine.
 

RustyMustard

Junior Member
Right on, it's always good to see someone doing a hovercraft.

They're so much fun, but the area of the hobby seems to be dead.

Over the past month or two i've experimented with lots of different hovercraft.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-oTpiiwjVA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggUEN9DX3-k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScBnI9GSmf4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uB8HxbQ9Xv4

Those are a few, and yesterday i posted how-to video for building a hozvercraft, either skirted or skirtless. I built skirtless but the craft will easily accept a skirt and perform well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocuYTigFA4o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyNpMlUtmFY

The skirtless craft are especially cool, they don't touch the ground at all.

For real performance, you want to do a double hull and have the air exit all around the perimeter of the craft.

A double hull is easy, watch the video, you could do the same thing with dollar foam.