Amphibious car?

[Buggington]

I took RM (wood working/ metal working) for a GCSE this year and my teacher asked us to start thinking about our final project. I've been thinking about doing an amphibious RC car for years (since I was 6) and thought this would be the perfect opportunity to try it. I've got 2 XTM Rages, one undergoing a conversion to brushless (not going well) and one currently just as a rolling chassis that I bought off my cousin for parts.

I don't want to do any major mods i.e. modding diff casings and the chassis to fit a prop. I thought the best thing to do would be to fit massive tyres that act as props instead.

I also wanted it to look as much like the normal thing as possible.

This is where I got the idea for the tyres. Does anyone know where I can get a set of 1/18 tyres like that? Would I have to make my own?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Dyt8C-yEGg[url]

 

[redgreen09]

Try a set of paddle tires on the rear for your props probably get you through water better then those tires..

 

[Buggington]

Great, thanks. Where do I find a set of them that will fit a 1/18 scale?

Bug.

 

[NitroRC4Life]

you can try to do something like this also dude! try to cut a hole in a wheel and fit a nozzle thing to pump the air into them and make sure you have some damn good tire glue!!! hhahahaah but i think this could work somehow!! haha

 

[Buggington]

Does that thing really work on the water? I want the car to drive on the water not just float. Also, my wheels are really small as I'm running 1/18 scale. What was the one in the video?

Bug

 

[NitroRC4Life]

the one in the vid is a 1/8th scale truck so thats a lot bigger than yours, and if i think that it would work, but the only way to find put is to try em' out! good luck

 

[redgreen09]

http://www.losi.com/tires/oneTen.aspx these are from losi.. http://cgi.ebay.com/LOSI-LOSB1154-S...Control_Parts_Accessories?hash=item3efa6f2106 Try these for front tires may act as rudders...

 

[rc-psycopath]

i think you should get the sand tires on losi.com because they look like they would work on water. i think that putting a float on the bottom like on an rc hovercraft.

 

[Buggington]

i think you should get the sand tires on losi.com because they look like they would work on water. i think that putting a float on the bottom like on an rc hovercraft.

Umm...sorry, that didn't make much sense. Can you try again? :\

Bug

 

[TheyDontWantMusic]

Umm...sorry, that didn't make much sense. Can you try again? :\

Bug

you really couldn't understand that? lol

 

[Justagamer76]

To break it down..I think he is suggesting using sand/mud paddle tires the set sold by Losi. Also Tyco RC use to or may still sell Hovercrafts. In othr words he was suggesting that maybe you could use a small flotation device to keep you truck afloat while using paddle tires to move it. maybe its just me but Thats what i got out of it.

Also it would be hard to seal a truck car or what ever to drive underwater. Even know things are so called sealed...you still have to worry about water pressure depending on how deep you go. My be sealed for mud puddles or snow driving but total submerged would probably be totally a whole diffent ball game and not cheap if you fry something.

 

[Buggington]

To break it down..I think he is suggesting using sand/mud paddle tires the set sold by Losi. Also Tyco RC use to or may still sell Hovercrafts. In othr words he was suggesting that maybe you could use a small flotation device to keep you truck afloat while using paddle tires to move it. maybe its just me but Thats what i got out of it.

Also it would be hard to seal a truck car or what ever to drive underwater. Even know things are so called sealed...you still have to worry about water pressure depending on how deep you go. My be sealed for mud puddles or snow driving but total submerged would probably be totally a whole diffent ball game and not cheap if you fry something.

Thanks for breaking it down. It's almost Friday - I'm allowed to be a bit thick!

Tyres

I think someone else has suggested sand/paddles - they seem to be the way to go. Annoyingly, I don't have my broadband set up yet (on mobile broadband - definitely a bad buy) so I can't surf around on you tube to see the results.

Waterproofing

I'm hoping that I shouldn't be submerging it completely! If I do, I've failed. Are you suggesting that most electronics are splash proof? I don't know how much water the tyres are going to kick up. I've got a whole term and a half (don't know what that is in the US) so I've got some time to be testing it.

Floating

This will be tricky. I want it to look as much like the original car as possible and to be able to use it on road (not very fast, just expecting it to be able to do walking pace - I'm doing the brushless conversion for speed ) I wonder if there are any small blow up bags that could be fixed to the sides somehow...that would be good.

I was thinking expanding foam, but I guess that wouldn't work inside the car as I want it to be able to float without having to submerge the electrics. Maybe I should put some of the Carbon Fibre parts on there to relieve some of the weight.

Weight

This car is quite heavy for a micro, but it's the only spare thing I have in my (pathetic) stable. I think the heaviest part of the whole car is the battery. Maybe I could get a smaller battery.

Buggington

 

[cwest3355]

Thanks for breaking it down. It's almost Friday - I'm allowed to be a bit thick!

Tyres

I think someone else has suggested sand/paddles - they seem to be the way to go. Annoyingly, I don't have my broadband set up yet (on mobile broadband - definitely a bad buy) so I can't surf around on you tube to see the results.

Waterproofing

I'm hoping that I shouldn't be submerging it completely! If I do, I've failed. Are you suggesting that most electronics are splash proof? I don't know how much water the tyres are going to kick up. I've got a whole term and a half (don't know what that is in the US) so I've got some time to be testing it.

Floating

This will be tricky. I want it to look as much like the original car as possible and to be able to use it on road (not very fast, just expecting it to be able to do walking pace - I'm doing the brushless conversion for speed ) I wonder if there are any small blow up bags that could be fixed to the sides somehow...that would be good.

I was thinking expanding foam, but I guess that wouldn't work inside the car as I want it to be able to float without having to submerge the electrics. Maybe I should put some of the Carbon Fibre parts on there to relieve some of the weight.

Weight

This car is quite heavy for a micro, but it's the only spare thing I have in my (pathetic) stable. I think the heaviest part of the whole car is the battery. Maybe I could get a smaller battery.

Buggington

YOU could probably take some foam and cut it out and mount it on the bottom to keep it afloat

 

[Buggington]

YOU could probably take some foam and cut it out and mount it on the bottom to keep it afloat

Good idea...didn't think of that.

When I'm off this stupid mobile 'broadband' I will be able to look around on YouTube to see how various shop-bought amphibious cars work.

Bug

 

[Buggington]

Yay! I'm now on broadband!

There don't seem to be any shop bought RC amphibious cars out there that do more than 1mph and don't have some form of hull.

Has anyone heard of anyone who has successfully done something like this or am i alone trying to do the impossible?

Buggington

 

[AKap64]

sounds like a fun project, my initial idea would be essentially build a box around all the internals and frame, but leaving room to put the body on over it looks stock, then to seal the suspension arms off, make a boot, like a shifter boot on a car, leave it loose enough so you maintain suspension travel and steering, expoy/glue the boot to the hull and then depending on the material used for the boot, rubber-band/zip-tie/glue it really tight around the hubs

 

[cwest3355]

I would take the under carrage of the car and trace it out on some thick but not too thick of foam and mount it on it then i would take some big blocks of foam to stabilize it and put them on the front bumper and on the back bumper

 

[Buggington]

sounds like a fun project, my initial idea would be essentially build a box around all the internals and frame, but leaving room to put the body on over it looks stock, then to seal the suspension arms off, make a boot, like a shifter boot on a car, leave it loose enough so you maintain suspension travel and steering, expoy/glue the boot to the hull and then depending on the material used for the boot, rubber-band/zip-tie/glue it really tight around the hubs

Thanks for the response, but that sounds a bit too complex - it's probably the route I would take if I were doing this on my own time, but I have to do all of the work in class as a controlled assessment so I only have a certain amount of time.

Thanks anyway

I would take the under carrage of the car and trace it out on some thick but not too thick of foam and mount it on it then i would take some big blocks of foam to stabilize it and put them on the front bumper and on the back bumper

That's exactly what I'm going to - I just need to work out how I'm going to attach foam to the bumpers.

 

[cwest3355]

try using a coat hanger or some flexible wire

 

[Buggington]

So do you reckon poking the wire through the foam at the bottom and bending it round to the front would work?