Windtunnel for your modelcars – FUN TECH LAB WINDSIBLE FEATURETTE
Aerotesting at its finest in smaller scale:
We already know it from the big players. In aviation, the automotive industry and even aerospace, windtunnels are the ideal way to test the aerodynamic efficiency of individual components or even an entire vehicle. In motorsport, such as Formula 1, teams have their own wind tunnels to test their cars. This process essentially determines how well the team can compete for the championsship. Such wind tunnels are extremely expensive to purchase and maintain. This makes it all the more practical when there is a company like Funtechlab that allows you to have your own wind tunnel in your living room at a much lower price than the original. Living room is a good keyword, because with this device you are not even tied to a specific location. So if you feel like it, you can just as easily take the device to a restaurant, provided there is a power socket at the dining table, and test the aerodynamic capabilities of your sandwich. But we're sticking with the 1:64 scale models, at least for now.
Test whatever you want?
As in our case, for example, we took the device into an architect's office and took the models out of the site manager's showcase to test their aerodynamic efficiency. Whether it's an excavator, a forklift truck or a BBQ grill master, anything that comes to mind can be tested. Provided it fits into the opening. The device for 1:64 scaled models itself is 349 mm long, of which the display area is around 100 mm x 90 mm x 50 mm in length, width and height. Depending on your requirements, you can pre-order the 1:64 version or the 1:24 and 1:18 versions. In October 2023, the idea of developing Fun Tech Lab's small wind tunnel was born. Fun-Tech-Lab's key member Steven first had this idea while studying at Cranfield University in the UK. Earlier this year, he met Axia from Politecnico di Torino in Italy and vehicle designer Jayden, who helped bring this idea closer to success. One of the members posted about it on Reddit and discovered that model car enthusiasts really liked it. In March 2024, the first demo version was published and lots of feedback was gathered from enthusiasts and the structure of the Windsible was optimized further. Particularly in their Discord group, the level of enthusiasm exceeded their expectations. The team combined the self-developed smoke devices with traditional wind tunnel structures, opening up more possibilities for achieving a desktop-level wind tunnel. This also affected the design of the appearance of the entire device and the necessary functional diagrams of the product as well as other features such as adjustable interrior lighting (you can switch it on or off) as well as dimmable smog light at the rear end of the product.
As you can clearly see in the image above, the finished product offers the option of making various settings via a display with a selector lever, such as wind flow, flow strength, information about the fill level and service life with the current amount of fog fluid, as well as the most important setting: The display of how strongly the wind flows according to the scale. As in the example above you can clearly see how the aerodynamics of a forklift work at 237 km/h. Oh and we can safely say that the people from the USA don't have to worry about: in addition to km/h, you can also change the speed from Km/h to mph. The product was tinkered with in April 2024 and the hardware in May. In June 2024, the campaign was launched via Kickstarter and by 31 December 2024, 1,315 supporters had contributed around HK$ 2,091,030 with a target amount of only around HK$ 78,000. This allowed mass production to start in August 2024 and be delivered gradually over the course of the year 2024 and ongoing.
All about striking marketing:
The well-organised marketing has made an important contribution to the popularity of Fun Tech Lab's Windsible. This includes, for example, marketing campaigns to supply well-known influencers, model car enthusiasts or vehicle lovers with a wider reach on social media with prototypes of the wind tunnel so that they can openly express their opinions. And this has been incredibly successful, as many short videos on Instagram, Tiktok and YouTube have been viewed and shared millions of times. Seeing the models we already know from Hot Wheels and the like in a wind tunnel, where the airflow flows impressively realistically over the car, is already very striking on the thumbnails. Fun Tech Lab is also very active and helpful on Instagram with questions and information about the product which is an important positive point to mention.
This tool is also very interesting for model car manufacturers, as they can benefit from the wide media reach of the windsible when their models are tested in the wind tunnel after release. This has the effect that target groups not only have questions about the wind tunnel but also about the model car itself. So it also made sense for us that we also have published numerous short videos on Tiktok, YouTube and Instagram with the usage of the Windsible windtunnel, with more to follow while some have already reached great viewing rates already. You can also find a longer video from us on YouTube, where we have presented and tested the Fun Tech Lab Windsible windtunnel in detail:
As simple as that?
People wonder exactly how this works and what is included in the price of the Windsible. In short: watch our video to find out more. In any case, each set comes with a bottle of Flog Fluid, which you can additionally reorder from Fun Tech Lab. Don't worry, the bottle is not particularly large, but it will last for many hundreds of minutes of testing time for the windtunnel. At the very beginning, after filling the fogger up to the 100% mark, we already had a fogging time of more than 200 minutes. It is important to clean the openings from time to time with the sticks provided and to use the cleaning cloth so that the airflow works consistently well. Incidentally, the fog fluid is harmless to the paintwork of the model cars, only the windows are immediately fogged all round. It is therefore advisable to clean the model car briefly at the end so that you can put it back in the collection or display case in a very clean state as it looked before the usage.
Must have or leave behind?
The tool doesn't just look impressive, it is impressive. Sure, it's a quite hefty price for such a device, but when you see how much work is behind it all, how much development time and energy has gone into this project, then you realise quickly what a special piece it is. And it's simply fun to test its aerodynamic efficiency, no matter where, no matter when, no matter what. So if you happen to have a 3D printer at home, then you know what to do for the rest of your life!
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Kevind Rendrahadi Sasmita Wibowo
collaborator too the night blue Koenigsegg One