Wooden GEV toy

[Unistrut]

To answer questions:

1 - The top turret should be fine, his Battlewagon has a turret built similarly and it's been holding strong for almost a year.

https://i.imgur.com/5cUCntz.jpg

2 - It weighs 274g.

3 - It took a couple of hours - I work in a theater, so I have access to power tools - mostly I used a band saw and a belt sander, but the turbine pods were mortised with the help of a drill press. The wood was basically all scraps from scenery.

I measured the mini from set #1 to get an idea of the proportions. Then decided how long I wanted the finished model to be to get my scale. Then all the other measurements were multiplied by that scale.

The cockpit, rear fan housing and skirt are three separate chunks of wood. The cockpit and fan housing were cut to size on the band saw and the angles for the cockpit windows were sanded on the belt sander.

The skirt was made by making a bunch of V-shaped cuts with the band saw and then rounding the edges with the belt sander.

The turbine pods were sections of dowel with the front and back sanded down. Then I cut two mortises at 90* angles to each other and cut 1/4" ply to make the upright and cross fin using the band saw. The sponsons were cut from half round we had laying around. Then it was all glued together.

The turret is all dowel scraps - there's a hole drilled through the middle and a drywall screw set through it. I think it's a 2 1/2" so it probably won't come out any time soon. There's a washer underneath it to help it rotate smoothly.

I may sneak off with it and cut some slots in the bottom so I can mount wheels, but I ran out of time that day. The boy still seems to like it though.

[ColBosch]

I love it. It'll last a lifetime, I bet.

[brionl]

You've got the hovercraft, now all you need are some eels!

http://www.omniglot.com/language/phrases/hovercraft.htm

[Steve Jackson]

That page is brilliant; I am nominating it for an Illuminated Site of the Week.

[ColBosch]

I was scrolling down the page, subvocalizing what I thought they'd sound like, until I hit Scots, and I about lost it.

[J. Durr]

How did they find the Sumerian word for hovercraft.

Also, we'll need some sort of scenario or future history tale about a GEV full of irradiated eels.

[TheAmishStig]

Originally Posted by J. Durr

How did they find the Sumerian word for hovercraft.

Also, we'll need some sort of scenario or future history tale about a GEV full of irradiated eels.

And for Steve Jackson to goad Sam Jackson into recording "I am so [redacted] sick of these [redacted] eels on this [redacted] GEV!" for us.

[wolf90]

Originally Posted by TheAmishStig

And for Steve Jackson to goad Sam Jackson into recording "I am so [redacted] sick of these [redacted] eels on this [redacted] GEV!" for us.

We really need a "thumbs up" feature on the forums!

D.

[J. Durr]

Originally Posted by wolf90

We really need a "thumbs up" feature on the forums!

D.

+1


..........

[CON_Troll]

This is ten kinds of awesome! I really dig the job you did on the skirt. Well done sir!

I haven't seen anything quite this cool since that motorized LEGO OGRE some years back.