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AIR CAR
HERE ARE SOME ACTUAL LETTERS FROM AIR CAR CUSTOMERS
(All letters are on file in our office.)
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Dear Dave,
This is how my interest in aviation and the Air Car project started: I’ve never been able to place my finger on the date that the feelings first started, but sometime during my younger years, I began to experience a deep desire to fly. I’d often daydream about building something - anything - that could fly.
I’d been receiving Boy’s Life magazine for years and I’d always noticed the ad for building "your own hovercraft" in the back of the magazine. My ideas were always bigger than my pocketbook (they still are!) yet the asking price for the plans seemed to be realistic. One day I finally bit the bullet and with some birthday money I ordered the plans.
I really got excited when the plans arrived. The concept was really simple and easy! I already had a vacuum cleaner motor that I had scavenged and getting the rest of the parts was simple.Since I couldn’t wait, I walked down to a lumber company that was a few blocks down the road. After I purchased a 4X8 piece of plywood I had to figure a way to bring it back home. I guess desire knows no limits, because I carried that piece of wood on my back - all the way home - on a VERY windy day. It must have been an interesting sight to see!
That weekend my father helped me cut two big circles (plan #3) out of the piece of plywood. After gluing all the pieces together I went to work on the skirt. I ended up using a cheap shower curtain, a little bit of rope, some masking tape, and a whole bunch of scissors work to finish the skirt. In the end, it didn’t take too long at all.
The vacuum cleaner engine installed easily - just a couple of bolts to hold it in place. After a very short period of building - it was ready to fly.
The first flight was amazing to me. After the cord was plugged in the Air Car lifted me right off the ground! A gentle push and away you went! There was almost no friction to stop you, so I came up with a slight modification. I attached a string to the skirt and when I wanted to stop, I just pulled on the string, lifting the skirt up. This removed the trapped air, allowing the craft to fall onto the casters underneath the hovercraft, coming to a gentle stop.
There is no doubt the hovercraft was a local hit - it became front page news in the local newspaper, complete with a picture. The regional television station came out and interviewed me and put me on the air, complete with some video of the hovercraft in action.
These days I’ve moved on to bigger and better things - a B-52 in the United States Air Force - but I still have that hovercraft sitting in my parent’s basement.
Since then I’ve been contacted by a young man who wanted to build a similar hovercraft himself. He used a leaf blower a propulsion rather than a vacuum cleaner motor. The project was such a success that he spent the afternoon giving rides to everybody at his school’s science fair.
If you are looking for a project with a distinct flair or "cool factor", this is it! The Air Car project is simple, cheap and easy to build, yet will amaze you when it is finished!
Regards,
Jim Noetzel
Venton, Louisiana
MORE LETTERS:
Gentlemen,
Please send me plans for the Air Car. I once constructed the car for a science project and won first place. Now I am going to attempt to build another one as a summer project with a group of daycare children.
Thanks,
Tim Resegar
New Braunfels, Texas
...............................................................................................................Dear Sirs,
I would like to thank you for making the plans of the Air Car available. Thanks to your plans for the Air Car I won 2nd. Place in the school science fair and honorable mention in the city science fair. I’m a 13 year old boy who enjoyed working on the Air Car. Thank you again and I hope you keep sharing your wonderful inventions with the public. Thank you
Sincerely,
Felix Chavez
El Paso, Texas
...............................................................................................................Gentlemen,
In regards to a recent letter to you about the bottom skirts for spacecraft #2: I have followed your suggestions and followed the construction very carefully of the entire craft. Be advised it works wonderfully and the kids think it is great.
Thanking you for your service,
R.F. Schroeder
Cleveland, Ohio
...............................................................................................................Dear Mr. Ross:
Greetings. I just wanted to drop you a line regarding your AIR CAR project. My son and I just finished constructing our Air Car and it was terrific! I had a bit of trouble with one of the skirts but feel that it is probably not wide enough and is not creating enough of an "envelope" for holding the air. Anyway, he took it into school as part of a science fair project and it was a smash hit!
Besides just getting it to work, it was tremendously rewarding to work with my son and show him the various tools needed, etc.
I was wondering if you have any additional designs or crafts or inventions that you have come up with? If so, please let me know. Perhaps there's another David Ross project my son and I could work on together?
Thanks again for the wonderful plans and instructions.
Cordially,
Mark Young
Woodland Hills, California
...............................................................................................................Dear Sirs:
I thank you for your plans of the hovercraft you sent me. It enabled me to win first prize at my school's science fair. I was wondering if you had a list of other great projects I can use. If you could send me those, it would be greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Eric de Bruin
Lompoc, California
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