This is the wood kit from a member on the forum, thought I would share the build. Nothing special on this ship, a convoy that will go into harm's way. Hull was built with balsa blocks for water channeling, everything sealed with West Systems Epoxy. Time to work on internals, decided to keep it simple and just go with a dog-bone setup to the single shaft. Using 90 degree aluminum angle, drilled the three holes and then cut slots with the bandsaw. Still need to clean it up, but you get the idea. Placement of the motor mount, will epoxy and screw this to the bottom of the boat. No fear that if it spends 30+ minutes on the bottom, that everything will not fall apart.
The original prop shaft was just two stacked tubes, I wanted a fitting that would let me get grease into the tube. Added bushings as well. The old shaft is at the top of the picture. Assembled the shaft, soldered the fitting.
Drilled and tapped the inserts to the hull, installed the motor mount. Time to fill the voids and support the end of the shaft. Using this very lightweight putty. Smoothed with a finger, now to let it dry and then paint.
Hmm, how heavy is that putty? Maybe compared to a similar volume of balsa? Looks like it might be nice for waterchanneling in odd shaped areas where conventionally we'd use bits of balsa and pour in epoxy with microballons to fill.
you would not believe how lightweight it is. I think it was less than $25, order some and give it a try.
Shore Hardness of 50D according to the product info: http://www.smooth-on.com/tb/files/FREE_FORM_TB.pdf Not bad if it floats
Work continues, this time on adding the rudder Cut up the original sealed hatch, now removed a lot of material to make it easier to access Used fiberglass 90 degree angle to hold the servo Creating the rudder out of fiberglass. Put the bend in the shaft to give it strength and stop it from spinning Epoxied and ready for sanding to shape
Rudder sanded (rough for now). Mounted in a tube with olite bushings and collar with stainless steel set screw. Gear on top, stainless steel set screw as well (no rusting and cursing when trying to remove it) Coated all the foam with West System Epoxy and micro balloons for help with sanding
Lou, something I started doing with setscrews (where it doesn't need to be super-balanced), is to replace them with short 4/40 allen screws. It lets you use a larger allen wrench that is less likely to get stripped out. not sure if that'll help in your application but I thought I'd throw it out there.
Servo mounted, main gear on Cover in place, doesn't have to be too pretty as it will be covered up and blue... Now starting the WTC (water tight cylinder), borrowed this tech from the submarine guys. Top left is the mold for the end cap, top right is the lexan tubing that will be cut to length. Bottom left is a cap out of the mold, used too much release agent hence the lumpy look, but that will get sanded flush. Bottom right is the o-ring from McMaster-Carr
Installed threaded inserts to hold down the deck, now happy with pond side maintenace and losing those little screws. So, switched over to magnets - easier and a breeze to get to the inside. Having an issue getting the pictures off my phone, will upload when I can.
Got number 48 magnets, these are very strong. Used fiberglass board to make a cradle and these were attached to the underside of the deck. Didn't want them pulling free... Drilled holes in the deck except for the bottom fiberglass board, this made a hole that the magnet and a lot of west system went into. They will be sanded flush. Now on to electrical.
Wiring up the end cap, will epoxy all the connections (made an indentation to hold it) Going to use this speed controller, perfect for a convoy ship driving a single 550 at 30 seconds. Running the servo wire to the rudder and ESC. The red tabs are the magnets installed under the deck
Question for the group. I know single color is easy, but should I go with a disruptive pattern so it at least looks cool on day one?
I kind of have the same question? Just boats in general.... Can we do whatever pattern up to the waterline? Gotta have the waterline for scoring and balance purposes.
