"Ideas for quick and dirty hoverskirts?" Topic

Howdy all,

In the past I have converted conventional vehicles to hovercraft by hand sculpting the skirts on over where the wheels or tracks originally fit to the vehicle model. This works nicely, especially when I stopped using epoxy putty and started using DAS modelling clay, but it is time consuming, difficult to regulate and sometimes unreliable.

I am curious if anyone has come up with other methods and materials for adding hoverskirts to vehicles that do not orignally have them?

Thanks,

-Eli
leadpeople.blogspot.com

Have you tried Apoxiesculpt which is a type of epoxy putty with a long work life, no "memory" to speak of, and it works much like DAS does, only it hardens rock hard, can be milled, sanded or painted. It works great – just remember to keep some water handy.

Check out Aves Studios product line – they have some great stuff for sculpting. I've used three different products and all of them work great!

Blue foam,shapped by hot wire (some have nifty shapes you can use), then with filler over it (bondo or whatever). Can be pretty fast and easy, and the filler makes it a bit more durable.

In 6mm, a vinyl-coated wire length can be bent around the base of a tank to make a fairly good skirt . . . hopefully, this might help you.

I should not that my preferred scale is 15mm but these are good ideas so far.

@Jovian – The materials you mentioned are generally available and come in at about what price point?

@Darby – Cool idea, though is this any quicker than using straight putty?

Thanks,

-Eli

In a pinch I have used Sculpey III. This is fine for metal vehicles, but not so great for plastics!

Once I cured the Sculpey, I covered it with an even coat of superglue to help harden the surface. This was almost ten years ago, and I still have the two tanks I converted in this way. They have held up well.

Jason

I have heard tale of folks using weather stripping for this. Can anyone confirm this or know of any such materials that would work?

-Eli

I have some 1" plastic A-V tubing (for gathering up and making neat the wire spaghetti that generally is necessary for component systems) that is reasonably flexible. I plan on using it as a skirt to convert a 1/48 Merkava to a sci-fi heavy tank.

Rob

Go to the super market. Many of the pre cooked and convience item are ( donoughts come to mind and pastry strudel) have nice courgated packing and the are curved and cornered many shapes .

Rubber O-rings might work for 6mm.

I've made them using DAS and Crayola air-dry clay. For 28mm, you can find flexible ribbed rubber or plastic tubing in the electrical aisle of most DITY stores that's meant for housing multiple cables. I'm tempted to pick some up and try it out.

I have made skirts from thick MDF (10-12mm), use a pencil to mark around the base of the vehicle, cut out with a jigsaw and sand to a rounded profile. A few swipes with a fine v-cut file puts some vertical lines on there as if it is made of bonded panels and hey presto – just bung your main structure on top.

Food packaging comes to mind – many types have curved edges that are suitable for hovercraft skirts. Plus, you get bonus points for recycling.

I've heard of people using the weather stripping, or better: door threshold "silencer" strips (rubber bumper strip), as it has a curved profile, but it'd be too small for 15mm. I've hear horror stories of trying to miter the corners and keep them glues together…

Blue foam is very quick if you're handy with the hot-wire. As for the quickness of the filling… well, that goes back to how handy you are with the hotwire and if you're diveting it up!

I also used Sculpey. Just cut to fit. I then scored it. Put in the oven and glue to the vehicle. Pretty simple.

Thanks,

John

Here is a link to their product lines – they usually come in under $20 USD for a kit – and they are bit kits and last forever virtually. I've had one kit for 5 years and it still works awesome.

link

The 1/4 oz comes in at $8.50 USD plus shipping.

link

Same price break points here – both products are excellent to work with and work much like clay, including using water to smooth them or make them more workable until they harden. Overall an excellent product and they have great customer service too!

What's the difference between the Apoxie Clay and the Apoxie Sculpt?

They appear to be very similar, except the 1 lb. tub of the clay is more expensive.

Good question. I would like to know more.

-Eli

I have had some success using flexible soda straws (i.e. the ones with the corrugated section that bends to make drinking easier). Use one straw per corner, cut one end to fit the side dimension of the vehicle the other end about a ½ to ¾ of an inch. Slit the short end so that it can be inserted into the dimensioned end of the next piece. Repeat 4 times bending the flexible section to form a corner, then glue to the vehicle hull.

I also glue a small block of wood to the bottom of the vehicle so that the skirts are not quite resting on the vehicles base or game board. If the block is cut on a very slight angle it makes the vehicle look like it is moving.

For some reason, the thread title made me envision a risque school girl anime show. Ahem. Carry on.

Apoxieclay is a bit different in texture in that it actually works, looks, and feels like clay, whereas the Apoxiesculpt is a bit stickier, adheres well to surfaces, and acts more like some of the other epoxy putties like ProCreate and Kneadatite only without the memory and it hardens much harder like the "brown stuff" two part putty.

Think of it as ApoxieClay is like Super Sculpy without the need for an oven-cure or cooking – it just hardens to a sandable, drillable, surface.

ApoxieSculpt is more like a combination of Brown Stuff and ProCreate putties, it works much like a putty, it is sticky (use water to keep it from sticking), it has no "memory" and it cures very, very hard, but can be drilled, sanded, etc.

They are very unique products similar to others, yet unlike them at the same time. Until you work with them, you won't know. They are fun to work with.

Thanks for the info there, Jovian1. I will have to pick some up.

-Eli