The Happy Hunter

[Caledonia]

Looking forward to this one Andy, you certainly will have your hands full. Cheers Derk

 

[Sky Raider]

Thamks Derek. Hope it turns out as good as yours did.

Cheers

Andy

 

[Sky Raider]

Time has come to make a proper start on this thing, and the first order is to cut out the hull properly. The thing i hate about vaccume formed parts are the cutting out. The precision of the cut line is never precise and do you cut on the line or just to it. I have learnt that it is best to cut to the line, if you need to you can always sand down to the joints after. Better to take off than to try to fill in.

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When doing this its best not to get carried away with the Dremel Saw blade. I cut as close as i was comfetable and then sanded a little closer with the Dremel sand drum and then finished of with the old Permagrit tools.

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Result before final finishing

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Looks a bit rough i know but with a little work and slow progress the result is great

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There are a couple of areas that are required to leave at least 1.5mm over for now. These are the 2 little nibs on the sides and the complete stearn rear wall. Always pays to read through the instructions twice before starting each section so that nothing is overlooked.

Cheers

Andy

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[Sky Raider]

Next part of the build is to shape and insert the rudder support that is glued into place using CA.

The Tools

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This complete its time to do a little cutting and drilling, 3mm x 51mm slots are required to take the rudders and props assembley. 3mm isnt a lot of width and using a dremel is the only way but got to make sure that these are spot on and no marging for slips. As this is below the water line i need to make everything a tight fit.

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With these cut and drilled we need to cut out the bow thruster. For this i used the cone cutter to open up the hole as much as i dared and then sanded to the line using the dremel drum sander.

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With all of this cut out using extreme care no to make any errors i decided to call it a night and get back to my shakey self lol. Phew it was like performing open heart surgery.

Cheers

Andy

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[Fenlander]

Scaring me and I am no where near it lol. Great start Andy, not the stage to go wrong is it!!!!!!!!

 

[Sky Raider]

Scaring me and I am no where near it lol. Great start Andy, not the stage to go wrong is it!!!!!!!!

Thanks Graham. It is a little nerve racking i must admit. Errors above the waterline can be made right but a load of slack here would be a nightmare. The thing that i feared most was the dremel running away and cutting along the hull and there was also the fear of hitting the hull with the dremel while your trying to juggle with it in one hand and a running dremel in the other. A few near misses i can tell you. :shoot:

Cheers

Andy

 

[Sky Raider]

Tonight session includes the dry fitting of the props etc. even though last nights precision work was spot on i still needed to do some sanding and trimming.

Here is the layout that includes the Brass Props as an optional extra. Thought this would give a better look to the model.

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Next was to pop out the parts and glue together the Speed Controller tray.

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While the CA is cureing i started the dry fit of the shafts and props. This was the fiddley bit trying to get the props to spin without binding so thats where the sanding and trimming came in to make sure everything lined up correctly. This took a little time to get right and needs to be perfect so as not to load the motors when running.

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As this was a slow process i didnt progress much and have a lot more to do on this section as yet. This will come tomorrow.

Cheers

Andy

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[treyzx10r]

Andy just catching up with this thread ,and I'm drawn in already! Looking forward to the next update!

 

[CDW]

well there's been a few sharp intakes of breath this end when you've explained what "could" go wrong .....

Looking good so far though and it's coming together at a decent rate (in as much as i think anyway) .... might have to have an intermission so i can get some more popcorn ... it seems to be dissappearing at a rapid rate ... then again i am sitting next to Ron

 

[Sky Raider]

Thanks guys. Tonights installation was to install the drive motors. Firstly, locate the motor mounting plate and side supports and dry assemble.

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Next was a little wiring and soldering. Had to check that the motors were counter rotating so a little heat shrink was applied to the right motor, i didnt want to unsolder the leads again as you can see it would have upset the 100 micro-fahrahd and 45 micro-fahrad capacitors that also had to be fitted.

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Next was to fit the motors dry into the hull and check the alignment. Still a tricky little job but its hard now to tell if there is any binding as the motors themself had a little juddery resistance.

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These will be uncoupled and slid back as i still have to drill a 3mm hole in the tubes and solder on the lubricating upright tubes, to do this i have to remove the shafts again. This will be tomorrows project.

Cheers

Andy

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[mossiepilot]

That's looking great Andy. Cracking work with the Dremal, rather you than me !

I'll pull up a bean bag, a can of beer and watch along.

Tony.

 

[Sky Raider]

Thanks Tony. Find a space and come and join the gang. This one is only just getting started, there are a lot of better things to come. Wait till we get to wiring the sound unit and all those LEDs

Cheers

Andy

 

[treyzx10r]

Tidy looking motor instal Andy. I've always been curious how you keep the shafts spinning free yet maintain a leak free seal were they go through the hull?

 

[Sky Raider]

Thanks Trey. When we get it to a point that it runs free enough at best ill show you how they,( notice i said thay and not we lol this is my first boat) actualy do it. If i get it right haha.

Cheers

Andy

 

[treyzx10r]

Cool Andy looking forward to seeing how 'they' do it. Although with your mad skills its as good as done for sure!

 

[geegad]

Coming on a treat buddy were do you keep all your builds when there done. Bud have you got another house to store them in

 

[Caledonia]

Good grief you'll have it finished for Christmas at this rate, putting us all to shame - great work by the way. Cheers Derek

 

[Sky Raider]

Coming on a treat buddy were do you keep all your builds when there done. Bud have you got another house to store them in

Im fast running out of room mate. The P47 is stashed away in a big box under a bench. The B25 is in the model shop hanging up awaiting sale. The SE5a will stand proud taking up a valuable bench space but it has every right to be there. God knows where these next three boats are going to go. Need to extend the workshop soon.

Cheers

Andy

 

[Sky Raider]

Good grief you'll have it finished for Christmas at this rate, putting us all to shame - great work by the way. Cheers Derek

Thanks Derek. I fear this will run for a few more months yet.

Andy

 

[Sky Raider]

You can recall i wasnt happy about the alignment of the shafts not being free enough. I decided to remove the straight linkages from the motors to the shafts and replaced them with union joints. This has made a world of difference and i cant understand why Robbe didnt include these in the pack.

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Next job was to remove the drive shaft tubes and insert lube tubes into the shaft for both lubricating and water sealing. A 3mm hole is drilled into the shaft 20mm from the drive end and a swaged tube is filed to fit and then solderd to the shaft.

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Once these are fitted back into the hull its time to fit the twin rudders in place.

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Now this part is for Trey. Here is the answer to glueing, filling and water sealing Trey. Apparantly this is the best stuff to use ive been advised. As you can see it is a 2 part adhesive and it dries like a resin and is ideal for this material as it will flex with the hull if necessary. I still have a little more to apply and its best to complete inside the hull first and then apply a filling smear on the outside afterwards.

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And here is an overview of the lube tubes and adhesive so far.

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Cheers

Andy

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