Got this one off ebay, had to use a little artistic licence with the paint scheme as club has several members with same scheme, so didnt want to look the same. The one thing I could not get over was how many parts were left over from the revell kit. Have a 380 motor in it with a msoniks 15 amp esc, could not get over how much ballast was needed to get her to sit in water true, but got there in the end. Now working on making homemade smoke generator to go in funnel, first tests great using nichrome wire and 6v battery, just have to make housing to go in funnel. Have tested parker black ink mixed in smoker fluid and effect looks fantastic.
hI grandadave, if you are talking about the prop going forwards and backwards, then it is the speed controller that handles that. I just put a mtroniks 15amp esc in it and that handles the forwards and backwards no problem. After that it is sorting out the transmitter or just get a cheapy car one off ebay as they have forwards and backwards on them. regards steve
Brian Clewes has now taken his new scratch built boat on its maiden voyage. The day was fine, if cold, but the wind was just right for the event. The auxiliary motor was used to keep the vessel moving when the wind dropped but she did sail with the little wind present and responded well to the helm. This is Brian's third large scratch built yacht, he is really becoming quite an expert. Also makes his own sails and fittings.
I finally got round to trying the Rapier with the lipos I bought recently. My good friend 'Kalamunda' was on hand to drive whilst I took the video. We noticed a marked Improvement in performance- a much greater 'urgency' with the lipos delivering what the motors asked. Short of going up a prop size I think this will be about it with this boat. Thanks to the chaps on here who have encouraged me into Lipos and given help with various matters- not sure what all the worry was now- famous last words!
This will be one of our last days at Crealy in Exeter as the management have decided to terminate our use of the water- so we will be looking for alternatives from January.
I use a little "plug in" voltage alarm on my lipo's. it simply plugs in to the balance charge plug connector. so give you an initial volt test,usually with a few bleeps and a set of green lights, then as the batteries drain, the led's turn red and an alert buzzer goes of as they approach low volt limit, which is set on these alarms at 3.2v, so no damage done to the batteries.
Its a quick search on ebay, loads of sellers, cost around £2.50 each.
very useful bit of kit poolside as you can check all your lipo batteries, even after being used and left to stand, the batteries do recover a bit and possibly ready again for a further shortened run time too.
Those are the alarms I intend to use but they seem to be taking a while to come. They are so cheap I intend to install them in the boat with velcro and extension leads on the balance connectors. The lipos certainly give a weight saving too.
The 48 inch Sterling Corvette. The company went under long ago. Finding the kit complete in the box is so very difficult. One of the most gorgeous private boat kits ever. I attempted to build it twice in my life. The first time Vietnam got in the way. Later a move from New York to Los Angeles got in the way. I found this completed boat and bought it from the owner. I hope to find the kit some day and build my own FINALLY and do as good a job as this builder.
Pretty cool Gregg. Imaging floundering in the sea after your boat capsized/sank, what a welcome site this would be especially as darkness approaches.
Good atmospheric shots, clearly taken by someone skilled in photograpy! 😀
A freind from a photographic club has kindly forwarded these pics to me. Well, you know what its like when you are at the controls, there is never anyone around to take any decent pics, but think these are superb, especially when considering it was going almost flat out at the time, and plenty of "air" under the forward hull, right up the tha last "step" in the hull at the stern.
11.1v lipo, 3000kv motor and standard 3 blade 32mm plastic prop.
I found after some "trial" that the ORIGINAL plastic prop suited the motor better.
I did try a specialist one from prop shop and it actually ran slower, albeit same diameter, but with bigger pitch.
Ok, thanks for that info. I have hot shot tunnel hull and a 47 insane v-hull. I'm big on the fuel driven, nitro or gas. I've been exsperamenting with perpellor size and I've come to the conclusion that I need to get a GPS or other type of tracking device to determine if their is some tpye significant change happening with the performance. I'm just starting this hobby , so is there any recommend reading you would suggest or general knowledge site I could look on for beginners. Thanks in advance for any more help you can provide.
Finally managed to get a fellow club member to take some video for me.
This is a hobby King Tunnel hull boat, running a brushless motor and 11.1v 3 cell.
The weather was a bit windy, hence the rough sound, the water too was slightly choppy, any worse and I would of not run the boat, too risky flipping the hull over !
The boat itself was yet another ebay "rescue" item, sold by "cash converters", all I say it was a great pity the previous owner could not afford to keep it, its a fantastic piece of kit, and so, so much fun to handle. he also did a superb job of applying a different set of decals and repainting it, so thmbs up to this guy, hope that some day he finds this site and the video clip.
Your boat is still being appreciated and being run "as it should be - full throttle"
Its an exciting "ride", full throttle is not for the faint hearted [ha ha]. its a total difference to my normal sailing modes, as Im more used to "scale sailing", so being let loose occaisionally can be fun too. I think everyone should have one, a fast boat that is, purely just for the adrenaline rush you get.
Some of our club members [including myself] giving our boats a run on the club pool just after dark.
Boats included are : Fishing boats, trawler, Tug, Lifeboat, sports cruiser and patrol boat.
Appologies for the background noise, but thats the traffic on the M6 toll.
