Mini Sky Transportation

I am thinking of getting a decent sized (1 to 1.5 foot by 1 to 1.5 foot) drone. I thought of ideas of what to attach to it and I came across a few small cars I have for my mini city. There are ferry boats that transport cars, so why not a flying ferry? I will be going through the steps of the design process of how I did this. Also look through the pics, I added some comments in their so you can tell what is going on.

Supplies

•Scissors
•Hot Glue
•Lots Of Paper
•Writing Utensil
•Thin Cardboard
•Paint (Optional)
•Small Cars For It
•The Drone

Step 1: Ask

The problem is that my small little people want to travel from place to place (aka across the house) in their cars, but that would take a lot of fuel to do that. Also if you want to get across the Grand Canyon in real life or something like that, this would work. So I am making the tiny people a sky ferry. The criteria is that the drone has to carry at least 4 small cars and the cars can’t fall off in mid flight. The constraints are that the drone can’t carry that much weight (at least 16 grams is the weight of the design) and it has to be normal materials and not a weird item that you wouldn’t find in a house (Ex: cardboard, tooth pics, hot glue, paint, obviously the drone, and many others).

Step 2: Imagine

The first idea I had was a small flat board with short walls and the ferry was hooked to the drone by string. The second idea is the same but with a few supports on it to hold the drone up when it landed and also added some landing legs so it doesn’t have to hover over a cliff like the first one had to.

Step 3: Plan

Now it is time to draw out a scale model of the ferry. You should have a few cars to draw around. Make a rectangle on the paper as big as you would like it to be, then draw a smaller rectangle inside for the control room (cars should be able to fit on either side of the control room and still be in the bigger rectangle, if you don’t know what i am talking about, look at the pics). Also at an 8th of an inch in away from the corner on the long edges, draw a line coming out (this is where the string goes). After that is done you will have to start drawing the ramp. The ramp will be a length of two small cars and the width will be twice the height of the walls (for me it is .5 in) and center it in the middle of the short side on the outside rectangle. Now draw a long line down the middle of that rectangle (You can look at the pics for a better understanding).

Step 4: Prototype

This portion of “Prototype” is just going to be gathering materials that are needed. Get some thin cardboard from a cereal box or other thin cardboard. Draw your design onto the cardboard and cut it out. You should have a few different cardboard parts for it.

Step 5: Prototype Part 2

For this step in “Prototype” you will be gluing the parts together and assembling. Heat up the hot glue gun and glue the pieces together. For the ramp, glue the cardboard pieces to a piece of paper so they can fold up. Now glue the ramp on and finish gluing. Now the landing legs, you can use some furniture things that prevent them from scratching the floor or any other items. Hook the legs on and then you can move onto the next step, which is a bonus idea that is optional.

Step 6: Bonus Idea

This step is completely optional. Here you will make a advertising piece on the bottom. I had this idea when I was cutting the cardboard out of a old Vanilla Wafer box. This can be a painting on the bottom or a replaceable paper on it to share the word of a business. (WARNING: If your drone is not that strong you may not want to do this. It may add more weight to it and make the drone crash).

Step 7: Test

Tie the string onto the drone and you are ready for takeoff. I can’t do this step now because I don’t have a drone yet, but if you have an idea of a 1 to 1.5 foot squared drone under $150 that preferably has a camera that can lift at least 16g grams, please post it in the chat. Sorry, but I want a great drone for the price I am willing to spend.

Step 8: Back to Plan

Don't be upset if the item doesn't work. Come back to the plan and here are some problems you may encounter. Use your brain to figure out and solve the problems that you encounter. To heavy: get rid of access weight (Furniture in control room, extra supports). Cars fall off: hook them down (You can use Velcro, hooks, magnets). To little flight time: get more batteries for drone.

Step 9: Fix Prototype

Fix the previous model you made with what you found out in the last step.

Step 10: Test Another Time

I still can't do this without a drone, but if you want to share an idea of what drone I can get and use for this, look back at step 7 "Test."

Step 11: Share With World

This is exactly what it sounds like, share your item with the world.