Taiyo Edge Radio Controlled Hovercraft

I recently obtained a Taiyo Edge Radio Controlled Hovercraft and this is a fun little toy. Hovercrafts work by using forced air to inflate a rubber skirt underneath the vehicle, This cushion of air lifts up the vehicle and allows it to ride over pavement, dirt, mud, swamps, and even water - it works best over smooth surfaces - heck, you could probably run it across your kitchen tile. Rear facing propellers provide power and steering. Note that these are different than air boats, which actually float on a water ... and often have slick surfaces for possible land travel - check out brother Kurt in the Budweiser Airboat and his CZ7 Zodiac Boat.

For those interested in history, hovercrafts were invented after WWII and among other uses, carried people and cars across the English Channel for 30 years until the opening of the Channel tunnel. The largest ones weighed over 250 tons and almost 200 feet long, carried 400+ people and 60 cars and had a top speed of almost 100 MPH. The Taiyo Edge Radio Controlled Hovercraft is a bit smaller/slower than that as can be seen in the pictures below ... but it's perhaps a bit more fun! ;-)

So after charging the batteries, we took it for a spin in the neighborhood pool - it actually worked pretty darn good ... but it took some damage! First, something went wierd with the the left prop and it jammed ... and then BROKE - net result was that we lost half of our power ... so we were now overbalanced and the boat just keeps turning to the left - DOOOOP! ;-)

Next problem was I figured it was easier to run it while in the pool ... so I took the wireless radio-controller with me into the pool. No problem so far as I could keep it above my head and dry ... but then Dirk wanted a shot ... I thought he was holding on to me ... but you need a second hand to control it as can be seen in the pictures below ... so as soon as he did that, he sank ... along with the RC hovercraft controller - didn't work too well after that - DOUBLE DOOOPPPP! ;-)

Good news is after drying out the controller, it works again ... and when I called Taiyo Edge, they said they would send me a replacement prop since I think this was actually some sort of flaw as it was scraping against the wire screen from the get-go ... I got it a week later ... and now I am ready to send it up against a 70' wave! BTW, we had fun a few years back with a radio-controlled motorcycle and one of these days maybe I'll write about that saga, but here is one picture of "Ricky" doing some jumps with Myke and Kris. We trashed is pretty good (running through the mud didn't help either) ... but at least we didn't drop him off the roof as we did with The Incredible Hulk!

Kyle, Alek, and Dirk with the Radio Controlled Hovercraft

Hovercraft



Kyle ready to take it for a spin

Dirk takes control of the RC Hovercraft
RC Hovercraft Kyle Hovercraft



Women and Childen fleeing from the RC Hovercraft!

Hovercraft Scary



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