Off topic: hovercraft construction

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Off topic: hovercraft construction

Postby Bryan Cotton » Sun Dec 18, 2016 10:17 am

Off topic: hovercraft construction. Should be noted though that I am using most of my heavy hangar stuff for clamping. Toolboxes, bucking bars, rivet sets, tire chains, the spare compressor, the Aerovee and the Waiex are all helping out here.
Image

Another view. Spare resin on the plywood for waterproofing.
Image

Could not figure out how to get the Saturn over there.
Bryan Cotton
Poplar Grove, IL C77
Waiex 191 N191YX
Taildragger, Aerovee, acro ailerons
dual sticks with sport trainer controls
Prebuilt spars and machined angle kit
Year 2 flying and approaching 200 hours December 23
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Bryan Cotton
 
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Re: Off topic: hovercraft construction

Postby rizzz » Sun Dec 18, 2016 8:26 pm

You could always make an extra set of wings to go with it as well:
http://www.toxel.com/tech/2010/03/06/co ... overcraft/
Michael
Sonex #145 from scratch (mostly)
Taildragger, 2.4L VW engine, AeroInjector, Prince 54x48 P-Tip
VH-MND, CofA issued 2nd of November 2015
First flight 7th of November 2015
Phase I Completed, 11th of February 2016
http://www.mykitlog.com/rizzz/
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Re: Off topic: hovercraft construction

Postby Bryan Cotton » Sat Feb 25, 2017 6:51 pm

Bryan Cotton
Poplar Grove, IL C77
Waiex 191 N191YX
Taildragger, Aerovee, acro ailerons
dual sticks with sport trainer controls
Prebuilt spars and machined angle kit
Year 2 flying and approaching 200 hours December 23
User avatar
Bryan Cotton
 
Posts: 4954
Joined: Mon Jul 01, 2013 9:54 pm
Location: C77

Re: Off topic: hovercraft construction

Postby Bryan Cotton » Sun Mar 19, 2017 5:09 pm

Making tooling to form the lift duct:
https://youtu.be/EscXJ-3W230

And, a picture of the finished product.
Image

I'd really like to get Matthew building the Waiex, but he does not have the interest. He has not been into working at the hangar lately so I was glad when I was able to get him back over. The circles are screwed together while spaced apart by other boards. Thin plywood is wrapped around to make a tube. The bottom of the tube glues into the hull. An inlet is glassed onto the top.

Any project with kids is good, as long as they are working with their hands! And their brains too.
Bryan Cotton
Poplar Grove, IL C77
Waiex 191 N191YX
Taildragger, Aerovee, acro ailerons
dual sticks with sport trainer controls
Prebuilt spars and machined angle kit
Year 2 flying and approaching 200 hours December 23
User avatar
Bryan Cotton
 
Posts: 4954
Joined: Mon Jul 01, 2013 9:54 pm
Location: C77

Re: Off topic: hovercraft construction

Postby Bryan Cotton » Sat Apr 22, 2017 5:29 pm

We had to buy bendy plywood to form the duct. It is drying right now.
Image
Bryan Cotton
Poplar Grove, IL C77
Waiex 191 N191YX
Taildragger, Aerovee, acro ailerons
dual sticks with sport trainer controls
Prebuilt spars and machined angle kit
Year 2 flying and approaching 200 hours December 23
User avatar
Bryan Cotton
 
Posts: 4954
Joined: Mon Jul 01, 2013 9:54 pm
Location: C77

Re: Off topic: hovercraft construction

Postby andrewp » Sun Apr 23, 2017 7:53 pm

That is awesome. We just completed a season of science Olympiad (not the same thing, but run with me here) where one of the events was hovercraft ;-)

Like you said, any reason to do stuff with your kids is a great thing.

AP
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Re: Off topic: hovercraft construction

Postby Bryan Cotton » Sun Apr 23, 2017 9:32 pm

Thanks for the encouragement! Adam is big into Science Olympiad. His event is a car that has to go a specified distance. Plus there are points for speed and straightness. His all mechanical car has beat the computer girls and boys a few times. He is headed to State Championships​ next week.
Bryan Cotton
Poplar Grove, IL C77
Waiex 191 N191YX
Taildragger, Aerovee, acro ailerons
dual sticks with sport trainer controls
Prebuilt spars and machined angle kit
Year 2 flying and approaching 200 hours December 23
User avatar
Bryan Cotton
 
Posts: 4954
Joined: Mon Jul 01, 2013 9:54 pm
Location: C77

Re: Off topic: hovercraft construction

Postby andrewp » Sun Apr 23, 2017 10:54 pm

Boy is this off-topic, but my large child just competed the state NC comp as an FPOW in Hovercraft and Amazing Mech (NC only on that one I think). Fantastic experience and a very happy result on the day, but we couldn't take the whole team - the school missed the cut by a few points (a long story that would make this even more irrelevant).

All the best to your boy in the state comp and congratulations to him and his school for making state (a great achievement by itself). May he come back festooned with medals!

Cheers,

Andrew
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Re: Off topic: hovercraft construction

Postby Bryan Cotton » Mon Apr 24, 2017 6:46 am

Andrew,
Very cool on your kid's accomplishments. No worries about off topic- this thread is in the off topic area and I put off topic in the title. We are safe here. We build more than airplanes on this site. We are building our Sonex community. That is why we have this area I believe.
Bryan Cotton
Poplar Grove, IL C77
Waiex 191 N191YX
Taildragger, Aerovee, acro ailerons
dual sticks with sport trainer controls
Prebuilt spars and machined angle kit
Year 2 flying and approaching 200 hours December 23
User avatar
Bryan Cotton
 
Posts: 4954
Joined: Mon Jul 01, 2013 9:54 pm
Location: C77

Re: Off topic: hovercraft construction

Postby Bryan Cotton » Fri Jun 30, 2017 8:35 pm

Besides the Saturn we continue to work the hovercraft.
Image

Image
Bryan Cotton
Poplar Grove, IL C77
Waiex 191 N191YX
Taildragger, Aerovee, acro ailerons
dual sticks with sport trainer controls
Prebuilt spars and machined angle kit
Year 2 flying and approaching 200 hours December 23
User avatar
Bryan Cotton
 
Posts: 4954
Joined: Mon Jul 01, 2013 9:54 pm
Location: C77

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