Flite Test headquarters had a lot of snow recently, so we challenged ourselves to build snow-friendly vehicles that we could take out to the yard and have some fun.
Peter built a skirter hovercraft with a pusher motor. It has two layers of foam stacked on one another and a foam board skirt with a Hefty garbage bag taped to the bottom.
The foam board in the skirt is 17–18" wide with roughly 3" of skirt between the edge of the foam and the outer perimeter. The holes in the foam board allow the air to flow through the hovercraft, and the skirt enables the hovercraft to fly easily over uneven terrain.
Josh built a giant Snowball by drawing an airfoil into a conventional FT Nutball. The top center section provided the girth we needed to make a stronger connection to the tail and make the entire craft more durable.
The Snowball sits on large pontoons and uses the conventional motor mount from Peter's Circle Plane. The tail uses elevon mixing and a simple rudder to help with bank control.
We've also partnered with Adams Ready Board to develop water-resistant foam board that will be available in the Flite Test Store soon!
Let us know if you want to see more projects like these!
Click here to download the Hovercraft plans.
Click here for the PDF plans for the Monster Snowball
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I hope this link works. It is to the forum.Some folks have built some other SnoBall type snow boats that are simple and fun. Mine uses the swappable power pod and is a blast!
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It is awesome! Great job Peter!
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2. Yes, I NEED water resistant foamboard.
Don't forget to explain the electronics installed on the projects.
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We barely have snow here in Brazil (only on a couple of states down south, and no more than 1 cm or 2).
I'll build it on depron, so maybe I'll need to replace the foam prop Duct with some PVC pipe or something lighter.
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You could build a durable skirt out of an old windbreaker jacket. A nylon windbreaker can be bought at Goodwill real cheap. That would give you a skirt that you can take down a gravel road. With waterproof foam will we start seeing float-planes? I live on a lake it be nice to walk out the front yard dock and fly!
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It do add some weight, but look at 3M Micropure surgical tape. I use it to strengthen the hinges, tape it along the hinge area and have a very thin layer of clear paper glue spread all over the tape area.
Since a couple of my planes is made out of some old IKEA transport cardboard sheets, I have improved the wing edges, with the exposed corrugated inner board with the same method, also spraying the finished wings and body with Artist Fixative. Accidentally dropped a wing tip into water for a minute or so. Thought the wing was ruined, tip all mushy, but allowing it to dry for 24 h, it was not even water-stained.
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