Our club is planning some indoor activities for a not too distant date. I was trying to think of some ideas to give the guys a little challenge. Most are flying Vapors or Embers.

I got out SU and started hacking up an aircraft carrier and came up with this... In order to get the size big enough to be able to land a Vapor on, I have to use up the whole 4x8 sheet of FFF, so it will be necessary to tape on a 3 or 4" extension to allow the rollers to grab the foam for the full length of the boat.

I have not cut this out yet. It is hot off the drawing board. I would like to motorize it with some wheels so that it travels slowly in a forward motion. Does not have to be radio controlled or fancy, just something simple. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Feel free to grab the plans and add to it. The conning tower is very crude. Someone might like to embellish it?

Anyway, I could not find any plans on RCgroups, but a lot of threads asking about them, so this might be a good little project that others could enjoy too.

It takes 3 sheets of FFF as of the moment.

Did not tab and slot the hull to fitting in the deck nor add tab and slots to align the hull pieces, so this is another area that could use some improvement.

Consider this a work in progress. If you would care to chip in and make some improvements please do.

 

Since this is for indoor stuff you probably don't even need wheels on it, just attach a string to it and have a slow turning motor just pull it accross the floor.

 

Yep, that could work. Maybe even have someone pulling the string by hand.

I noticed some errors in my su file. I am going to go ahead and tab and slot the hull pieces and fix the errors I spotted.

 

Well, here is version 3. After taking the model and trying to make a 3D rendering, I discovered the tabbing was pretty badly done!

I think this one should fit up much better, but I still have not cut it out as I need to make another run to Lowes for another bundle of FFF. Attached files carrier.skp (268 KB)Â carrier1.skp (157.4 KB)Â

 

update... There is a bug in version 922 of the phlatscript which prevents cutting out sheet1. I went back to version 918 to produce the cut file for it.

The conning tower did not come out well. Kinda thought it was going to be a headache but that can be redone later.

Everything else came out good. Not sure, but maybe the slots in the rear top section may need to be moved forward a quarter inch. It is hard to tell without actually gluing the parts together.

Anyway, I have enough to build the prototype.

I am attaching the gcode since you will have problems with the first sheet.

It uses the standard 1/8" bit. Attached files 1.cnc (2.3 KB)Â 2.cnc (5.2 KB)Â 3.cnc (9.1 KB)Â

 

Well, got her glued up today. the bottom hull panel is 1/4" too long. Hacked it with my Xacto knife and it fit up perfectly.

While it looks big while carrying it under my arm, time will tell whether it is big enough for a Vapor to land on. Will be good practice for the little BNF Helicopter for sure, but is probably going to take a pretty good pilot to set it down on the carrier.

Anyway, it will be fun to watch em try.

Will probably paint it up and finish the conning tower (or not) and video it at the event that it was built for. Attached files

 

The conning tower needs 1/4" added to its length to mate up correctly when folded and the hull needed 1/4 removed from the stern end in case anyone decides to cut one out.

I do not glue the top or the conning tower in place. That way we can lay the deck on the floor and practice without risk of crashing and then once everyone has had a shot at a practice session, move the deck to the hull and place the conning tower (or not) on the deck for more of a challenge.

I added a second level to the conning tower, painted the whole thing grey using a new airbrush from Harbor Freight which Crash mentioned during a chat session a week or so ago.

The airbrush (92126-5VGA $14.99 Adjustable Detail Spray Gun) is nice! Shipping came to $6.99 for a total of $21.98 to my door.

It made quick work of painting something this size. I would be struggling still with my other airbrush.

Still keeping an eye out for something simple to motorize it. Would want it to be very slow of course. Attached files

 

Flash,

Maybe something like this motor would be good to power your carrier? It's 6.8 RPM at 12VDC for only $12.95:

http://www.mpja.com/prodinfo.asp?number=15870+MD

 

Good find. That just might work. Could put a single wheel in the rear so that it only sticks out a quarter inch or so. Hooked up to a 3 cell LIPO would work well. Might be able to offset the wheel to one side to get it to go in a circle.

Tomorrow will be its first test at our weekly indoor flyin. It may be a bit of a challenge just to land on it while it is not moving.

 

COOL

 

Nicely done Flash. The idea of adding a motor with a high RPM will enhance the speed along with it's performance. I am going to prepare such a wonderful craft for my kid today.

 

Hmm nice man... It will speedup the motor and performance. I am also planning to go out for boating with my friends