[TC20] 8824 Hovercraft

[howitzer]

After much deliberation I have decided not to create the Town set I originally planned for the contest (6388), as it would have required significant change to the scaling and that would've created issues in implementing the looks. However, I wanted to make a set which I have owned, and with the Technic sets of the studful times, there weren't much choice. 8865 and 8868 have been remade into studless many times before so I wouldn't want to make those for the contest. Of the the other sets I've owned, 854, 8842, 8810 and 8825 weren't particularly interesting so the only one that is left is the 8824, which was the first and for a long time the only real hovercraft, and while it isn't a very big set, it's very nice one with the first usage of a clutch gear.

The hardest part to make, I think, will be the skirt of the hovercraft. The original one used rubber bumpers which didn't see much use elsewhere, and rebuilding those into studless Technic will be a challenge. I don't have much of ribbed hoses and those don't give the right feel anyway, so I'm going to use panels, beams and connectors in my attempt. The stickers I will skip, and I'll try to think some other way to replicate the blue accent colouring of the original.

Here's what little progress I have made so far:

[howitzer]

Couple of progress photos:

 

I decided to add controls to the cockpit, as modern sets in this scale (and even smaller) generally have those and the original emptiness in front of the seat just didn't seem right. I also had to use DBG connectors for the windshield as I don't own enough of the correct parts in LBG but I think this minor divergence from the original colour scheme is acceptable. The front wheels I positioned a bit further forward, as I couldn't find a way to fit them near their location in the original. The scale matches the original quite closely, it's going to be 1 stud wider (at 15 studs) and maybe 2 studs longer (at 24 studs) at the skirt.

[howitzer]

The project has advanced quite a bit, to almost complete stage:

The mechanism is faithful to the original, which I think was quite a clever and took advantage of the new idler gears. I chose different gears but beyond that it works exactly like the original.

The rear fins are somehow problematic, as there aren't much of thin Technic parts suitable for this kind of thing. The flex axles capture the shape well enough but are really flimsy so I might have to think something else. Beyond that, the rear section aesthetics might need some additional work, and the numerous exposed holes of the liftarms on top aren't exactly eye-candy either so I might have to think of some ways to cover them up. The original had also exposed studs around the mechanism and minimally built rear section but my aim is of course to create a modern interpretation of an old set, which means using panels and other parts for finishing touches as much as possible.

 

Thoughts?

[Lukes_Brick_Studio]

This looks really good, well done. It instantly reminds me to 8824, the only thing I would change is the small "window" at the front, so I would change those dark bluish gray parts to light bluish gray ones.

Edited May 30, 2021 by Lukes_Brick_Studio

[howitzer]

34 minutes ago, Lukes_Brick_Studio said:

This looks really good, well done. It instantly reminds me to 8824, the only thing I would change is the small "window" at the front, so I would change those dark bluish gray parts to light bluish gray ones.

Thanks!

Yeah, LBG would be better in the windscreen-thingy but unfortunately I don't have them so I had to settle for DBG. Maybe I'll bricklink me some of those LBG ones, they might come handy elsewhere too...

[2GodBDGlory]

I like the use of the 28T differential gear as an idler! I've done this myself, but haven't seen anyone else do it until now.

It looks like a well-built model overall!

[Thirdwigg]

I love this set. As I child, I kept this one built longer than any of my others, so this build brings me back to a great time. I look forward to see what you can do to it.

I like the look of the flex hose and connector for the rear tail, but I wonder if there is another interpretation. Can you use the hose as a fan shield, and try some 21 and 22 panels for the vertical stabilizers?

Also, while the windshield is a great modern interpretation, it was the one design of the original set that seemed inconsistent with the rest of the set. I wonder if there is another fairing idea you can try?

[howitzer]

10 hours ago, 2GodBDGlory said:

I like the use of the 28T differential gear as an idler! I've done this myself, but haven't seen anyone else do it until now.

It looks like a well-built model overall!

Thanks! I didn't want to use the old crown gear that mates with the 16T gears in the original so I needed a double bevel that is also an idler gear and the 28T differential seemed like a logical choice as I happened to have one of those available.

4 hours ago, Thirdwigg said:

I love this set. As I child, I kept this one built longer than any of my others, so this build brings me back to a great time. I look forward to see what you can do to it.

I like the look of the flex hose and connector for the rear tail, but I wonder if there is another interpretation. Can you use the hose as a fan shield, and try some 21 and 22 panels for the vertical stabilizers?

Also, while the windshield is a great modern interpretation, it was the one design of the original set that seemed inconsistent with the rest of the set. I wonder if there is another fairing idea you can try?

I already built another version of the rear stabilizers, which is better but I'm still not sure if I'll keep it or not. The rear doesn't have too many connection points which wouldn't either get in the way of the fan or make ugly connector-tumours on the outside of the skirt, so I'll have to think about it.

Yeah, the original windshield was probably a compromise caused by the available parts of the time, so I'm not sure I'll keep my interpretation because it's faithful to the original but on the other hand it's also possible to do much better with modern parts.

I made an order to B&P to get some of the new 71682 panels for additional decoration but they promised delivery times of something like 5-7 weeks so I'm not sure if my order will make it in time for this contest. We'll see.

[suffocation]

Looks really good! And the two idler gears fit in just perfectly, giving the set that extra pop.

[howitzer]

6 hours ago, suffocation said:

Looks really good! And the two idler gears fit in just perfectly, giving the set that extra pop.

Yep, I like how they repeat the colours of the accents and the seat, giving the set just enough additional colourfulness.

---

As there is considerable amount of empty space between the seat and the steering/propeller mechanism, I thought I'd try to cram in a two-cylinder fake engine. Not sure if I'm able to do it (I decided that it must not affect the location of the propeller or the seat and still allow the steering to work with maximal steering angle) and also I'm not sure if it's within the spirit of the contest. Here's a photo:

I feel that if this was an official set, they wouldn't just have this big empty space inside so a fake engine would be logical addition but on the other hand, it was previously stated that adding functions just for the sake of adding them isn't within the spirit of the contest, so I'm unsure if this is a good idea. On the other hand, the model is only slightly larger than the original and couldn't easily be made smaller either (maybe the length could be reduced a bit with another short panel on the side instead of the current short+long and by switching to 16T idler gears, but that doesn't feel right) and I'm not going to expand it just to add the new function so I feel the fake engine would add significant value to the model. I also like the challenge of making it work so I'm going to build it for now, and see how it goes, maybe taking the engine away before submitting my entry if it doesn't feel right after all.

[Erik Leppen]

I would say that adding functions is completely within the spirit of the contest. Also, the spirit of the contests is to have fun, and it looks like you'r having fun designing this one.

I like it, in any case, and I think the engine is a nice addition. If you can get it to be visible on the end model, I'd say it won't look out of place at all.

I like what you have going so far, also bodywork-wise. Maybe for the rear wings you can use 5x7x2 panels on the side with the tiny 5x2x1 panels vertically on the back and. Also I think the part behind the seat should have a bit more paneling and slightly less beam-work. For the rest I lreallty like it, nice work on the black skirt, looks very smooth.

[howitzer]

3 hours ago, Erik Leppen said:

I would say that adding functions is completely within the spirit of the contest. Also, the spirit of the contests is to have fun, and it looks like you'r having fun designing this one.

I like it, in any case, and I think the engine is a nice addition. If you can get it to be visible on the end model, I'd say it won't look out of place at all.

I like what you have going so far, also bodywork-wise. Maybe for the rear wings you can use 5x7x2 panels on the side with the tiny 5x2x1 panels vertically on the back and. Also I think the part behind the seat should have a bit more paneling and slightly less beam-work. For the rest I lreallty like it, nice work on the black skirt, looks very smooth.

Yep, I'm having the most fun for a long time. It's nice to design something relatively small and simple for a change, as I generally have the tendency to try building large and complex things, which then end up unfinished because it's hard to apply fixes or change plans with them.

Anyway, I'll try to find a way to make the fake engine work without compromising the exterior and then concentrate on finishing touches. Your suggestion with the panels for the rear wings definitely deserves a try and I'll have to see also about the paneling behind the seat if there's some improvements I can make. Hopefully the B&P order will come in time so I can try the new panels out also.

[2GodBDGlory]

I suppose the question about whether that would be within the spirit of the contest comes down to interpretations of the statement quoted from memory as: "Don't add functions because more is better." It is a tough line to draw, but a piston engine isn't too unreasonable at any rate!

[howitzer]

I rebuilt the mechanism to fit in the fake engine and it was surprisingly easy. Then I had to redo most of the structural work around it and I added some paneling, and now I'm not sure if it's better than earlier or not. Some photos:

The rear wheel choice may seem odd, but I needed a wheel that is smaller but only slightly smaller than the front wheels, and those very old solid rubber balloon tyres are the only thing I have that fits the size criteria. The original 8824 included one of these as a steering knob.

As you can see, the fake engine isn't really visible so I'm not sure if there's much point in it, unless I open the paneling so that it could be seen while playing with it. On the other hand, many official models include fake engines which are not at all visible either, so maybe it's not a problem that it's hidden.

[syclone]

The panelled look is better than just stacked liftarms imho. In regards of the fake engine, maybe you could move the #1 and #2 panels 2 studs backwards (onto thye other axle hole of the connector on top) and add some sort of grille to be able to see the pistons move?

Also, if the panel version is kept, this bionicle wing piece might be perfect for front of the tail fins:

Great remake so far! 

Edited June 4, 2021 by syclone

[howitzer]

1 hour ago, syclone said:

The panelled look is better than just stacked liftarms imho. In regards of the fake engine, maybe you could move the #1 and #2 panels 2 studs backwards (onto thye other axle hole of the connector on top) and add some sort of grille to be able to see the pistons move?

Also, if the panel version is kept, this bionicle wing piece might be perfect for front of the tail fins:

<snip>

Great remake so far! 

Thanks!

The panels can be moved only 1 stud backwards at most, or the propeller will strike at them, unless I limit the steering angle more. I would also have to move the engine blocks higher up or they won't really be visible. It's a good suggestion though, I will have to think about this.

Unfortunately I don't have the fin part, and I don't think I'm prepared to buy those just for this model... also I think the tail fins should be connected at the tips so I'm still thinking about other solutions.

[howitzer]

The project sat unfinished for a long time but today I think I am finished with it. Here's how it looks now:

And with the original (which I rebuilt specifically for this photo):

Some things of note:

- I decided to keep the original design of the windshield-thing, as changing it to something like curvy flex-axle-windshield would detract from the original design too much.

- The propeller is the same part as in the original but in black, as there is simply no other propeller in the correct scale. It has never been released in any other colours than dark gray, black and brown, and the last black release was in 2008. So old-ish part but the best one available.

- There's a 2 cylinder fake engine inside, though you can't see much of it. The original didn't have anything similar but I wanted to do something with the empty space behind the seat, and it's always nice to have functions.

- I'm still not entirely satisfied with the tail, but I couldn't come up with anything better either. Everything seems to be either too flimsy or too bulky.

- I added several aesthetic things, like the paneling around the engine and the tail lights, as having such things seems to be important nowdays, as opposed to the less aesthetically detailed style of the old days.

Some more photos:

And another comparison with the old and new hovercrafts in one photo:

[GerritvdG]

Wow, I like it, also the tail. One tiny detail, the green and red light are exchanged. Green is for starboard (right), red for port (left).

Edited July 21, 2021 by GerritvdG

[howitzer]

17 hours ago, GerritvdG said:

Wow, I like it, also the tail. One tiny detail, the green and red light are exchanged. Green is for starboard (right), red for port (left).

Thanks!

Yeah, I mixed the lights up for some reason and didn't notice before taking the photos. Maybe I'll just mirror the photos because it's annoying to take new ones 

[Seasider]

Just seen this thread after seeing your post in the entry thread. Can you switch the red and green lights it’s just doing my engineering OCD in as they’re the wrong way round. All water and air craft have red on the left / port and green in the right / starboard.

Other than that issue it’s a great model you’ve made

[SaperPL]

Amazing little build - that's what this contest should be about - small and medium sized builds :)

I hope some video is in the works.

[amorti]

I really like this, the more so because I had this one as a child.

Proportions are great. The mudguard and skirt panels are spot on, yet it really retains the feel of the original.

I really like how you've used the new gear off the differential as a clutch gear. Very clever.

Would have liked to see some bevel frames, not that they'll be necessary but on general principle, as they're part of modern building.

Can you use an 8L axle with stop down to the steering pivot? The half bush at the top feels like it could ping off.

I don't love the white soft axles, but I guess it's a 7L and there's no white axles that length. Imagine it in the standard/modern colour of yellow 

Edited July 27, 2021 by amorti