RC hovercraft

[mike9009]

Evening all,

Request for help. My 8 year old has some birthday money which he is wanting to buy a RC hovercraft.

We live in Ryde ( with its hover terminal) and I used to race formula 3 hovercraft in the nationals back in the day.

He does not really want a self build kit, so something off-the-shelf. Reviews are extremely mixed and there doesn't seem to be much around. He is willing to spend up to about £120.

Any recommendations???

TIA

Mike

[AndyAudi]

As a kid I wanted one but was advised against it by the model shop, we had a lake near the house & they said they were only good in water that was flat calm & I’d be better with a boat.

[mcdjl]

I had one of these a few years back. https://www.ebay.com/itm/2-Hovercrafts-Team-Edge-F...

To be honest it struggled on much more than a tiled floor and while it moved across water in not sure it really hovered.
I'm interested in the convertible drone ones though....

[Nevinski]

I had one of those a few years ago as well and it was rotten on anything other than dead smooth floor. And very uncontrollable even then. I have a real hovercraft so wanted a model to go with it but was disappointed.

On water the problem tends to be that the fans don't have enough power so it becomes a glorified boat rather than anything that hovers.

Something like the orange craft in this vid is more like it, but these are scratch built.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6J-4FlXtLk

[GliderRider]

A word with Palaform would probably be a good idea, they make quite a range of kits:

https://modelhovercraft.co.uk/

[The jiffle king]

I had one as a kid along with a rough rider. car I would have been 9-12 years old when I used it and honestly it was a nightmare to drive. I don't recall the make but it had 2 motors, 1 for the skirt and 1 for the drive. Steering was using a servo and like a hovercraft it takes a while to kick in. Great fun but not easy to drive and I only ever really used mine on short grass ..... although at the local park it really could fly along