Building the Thunder  
View related threads: (in this forum | in all forums)

Tower Hobbies
Enter up to 4 keywords or Tower stock numbers
Logged in as Guest



Users viewing this topic: none
  Printable Version
       

All Forums >> RC Boats >> RC Boats General Discussion >> Building the Thunder
Page: [1] 2 3   next >   >>  

Login
Message << Older Topic   Newer Topic >>
Building the Thunder - 4/22/2003 10:09:44 PM   
norbique



Posts: 107
Joined: 2/11/2003
From: Somewhere in Europa, HUNGARY
Status: offline 		Hi there!

A couple of weeks ago I posted a thread on Ezonemag about my latest work on this wooden boat, and just after coming here and seeing how much more traffic is going on RCU I decided to post my thread here also.

I wanted to post a thread on my latest works but never really had the time to do it.

I started building this electric race boat many years ago, before my Modeling club in town died. Than I took my tools and all other things home. I also took this boat home and put it on the top of the wardrobe in my room. It was sitting there for years and slowly getting covered with dust.

I don't know why but one day about a month ago I remembered it and took it off the wardrobe, blew the dust off and decided to finish it before the dust finishes it off.
As I found out the moisture in my room did some "great" job. As the boat is made of wood, the plywood absorbed the moisture and became beautifully wavy... something I have to correct for sure.

One other thing gave me motivation to continue working on this great boat was the following link: - http://www.vandamwoodcraft.com - that I found by chance. I am totally amazed of the beauty of these boats made by the Van Dam Wood Craft team. Simply the best crafted boats I have ever seen.

Here's a picture I took of the Thunder - that's the name of this quite simple, but great designed boat. The design was made by a friend of mine. He designed some other boats as well.

Next I'll post some pictures showing the process of building.

Attachments
Click to see fullsize image.
Click for fullsize
       Post #: 1

Planking - 4/22/2003 10:12:05 PM   
norbique



Posts: 107
Joined: 2/11/2003
From: Somewhere in Europa, HUNGARY
Status: offline 		After I've discovered VanDamWoodCraft I've spent a lot of time looking at their web page, browsing the Production Photos section. I liked the way they are planking their Real-Life boats and decided to adopt the procedure with minor changes of course. I don't really need 3-4 layers of covering for the model boats, but this technique seemed to help me correct those wavy areas what the moisture created.

I used 1mm balsa wood to cut 20mm wide and 110mm long sheets and glued these sheets in 60 degrees on the original "wavy" sheeting. I used CA glue as it creates a non elastic bond -good for flattening weaves- and bonds in just a few seconds. After gluing I cut then sanded off the excess parts.

Attachments
Click to see fullsize image.
Click for fullsize


< Message edited by norbique -- Apr 22 2003 5:28PM >

(in reply to norbique)
       Post #: 2

Strengthening the boat - 4/22/2003 10:13:12 PM   
norbique



Posts: 107
Joined: 2/11/2003
From: Somewhere in Europa, HUNGARY
Status: offline 		On the plan there were only 3 of these spacers drawn, but I decided to add 4 extra to make the boat more rigid.

The spacers are 3mm X 4mm balsa wood glued into the small gaps made in the plywood ribs.

Attachments
Click to see fullsize image.
Click for fullsize

(in reply to norbique)
       Post #: 3

all the 7 spacers in plac - 4/22/2003 10:14:02 PM   
norbique



Posts: 107
Joined: 2/11/2003
From: Somewhere in Europa, HUNGARY
Status: offline 		Another pic showing all the spacers glued in place.

Attachments
Click to see fullsize image.
Click for fullsize

(in reply to norbique)
       Post #: 4

The nose - 4/22/2003 10:15:35 PM   
norbique



Posts: 107
Joined: 2/11/2003
From: Somewhere in Europa, HUNGARY
Status: offline 		My next step was making the nose.
I was wondering about carving the nose out of one piece of pine wood as I did at my previous boat. But decided to make make it from balsa. I am using balsa wherever possible to make the boat as light as possible.

As I don't have as thick balsa as I needed, I glued some 3mm and 1mm balsa sheets together in 90 degrees correlating with each other. Like a 10 layer balsa plywood. I glued the balsa with CA glue to speed up the process.

After this was done I glued this balsa ply wood to the last (first counting form the front) rib of the boat with 30 min epoxy.

When the epoxy dried, I used a blade to cut off, carve most of the excess areas of the nose part. Than sanded the rest until the right form was achieved.

Attachments
Click to see fullsize image.
Click for fullsize

(in reply to norbique)
       Post #: 5

Before planking - 4/22/2003 10:17:20 PM   
norbique



Posts: 107
Joined: 2/11/2003
From: Somewhere in Europa, HUNGARY
Status: offline 		Here's how the boat looks now. I am trying to figure out where to place a service door on the top planking just over the gearbox for servicing. I have to design that before I can do the planking.

I haven't decided what gear ratio will I use.
The Prototype of the boat -made by the designer- uses 2:1 ratio with the Graupner Speed 500 Race 7,2V electric motor and 8 1800mAh NiCd Batteries and a 32mm 2 bladed racing carbon propeller.
This setup gives quite good speed -not measured- and about 13-15 minutes runtime. But the batteries get quite hot. Probably of the too high Amp draw. Maybe a slightly bigger gear ratio will help with this.

If anyone has a suggestion please write.

Attachments
Click to see fullsize image.
Click for fullsize

(in reply to norbique)
       Post #: 6

Stander - 4/22/2003 10:18:39 PM   
norbique



Posts: 107
Joined: 2/11/2003
From: Somewhere in Europa, HUNGARY
Status: offline 		Unfortunately I can't post pictures about the process how I glued the ply wood 'cause I didn't have the camera at hand that time.
I used 2 layers of 0.8mm Mahogany and put 2mm balsa between them. Glued the layers with 20 minute epoxy and put some weight on it and let it cure.

After the gluing was done I've cut the pieces with a small saw (sorry don't know the English name).

Here's how it looks like:

Attachments
Click to see fullsize image.
Click for fullsize

(in reply to norbique)
       Post #: 7

The boat on the stander - 4/22/2003 10:19:20 PM   
norbique



Posts: 107
Joined: 2/11/2003
From: Somewhere in Europa, HUNGARY
Status: offline 		The boat on the stander

Attachments
Click to see fullsize image.
Click for fullsize

(in reply to norbique)
       Post #: 8

Planking - 4/22/2003 10:20:18 PM   
norbique



Posts: 107
Joined: 2/11/2003
From: Somewhere in Europa, HUNGARY
Status: offline 		I finished the planking of one side of the bottom of the boat, than measured it's weight again. Before planking it weighted about 190 grams. Now about 200.

Here's how it looks like now:

Attachments
Click to see fullsize image.
Click for fullsize

(in reply to norbique)
       Post #: 9

Building the Thunder - 4/22/2003 11:41:24 PM   
Doubledog



Posts: 1540
Joined: 3/12/2003
From: Hohenfels, Germany , AE, USA
Status: offline 		Thats the type of stuff I like to see.

Thank you very much for taking time to document your project & share it.

Motor: I'm pushing
BRUSHLESS

BRUSHLESS


(just messing with you)

(in reply to norbique)
       Post #: 10

Motor - 4/23/2003 12:09:17 AM   
norbique



Posts: 107
Joined: 2/11/2003
From: Somewhere in Europa, HUNGARY
Status: offline 		Dear PHCM,

The Prototype of this boat made by it's designer a friend of mine used a Graupner SPEED 500 RACE 7,2V motor (the one with 21200 RPM @ 7,2V) with a 2:1 Gear reduction. Powered with one pack of 9,6V 1800mAh NiCd battery pack. The prop was a 2 bladed 32,5mm carbon racing propeller.

I plan to use the same motor but a bit higher gear ratio 2,5:1 as the original setup was a bit hard for the 500 motor to drive.
Of course these are just thoughts yet. I am not an expert nor have much experience, so If anyone has suggestions I would really appreciate it.
I have seen brushless setups and they are a the REAL THING for sure, but would not go into brushless as a brushless setup Motor + ESC are well over my budget.
The ESC I will use in this boat is a home made gadget I made a few years ago. I used it in another boat (the one on my avatar) with success. If someone is interested you can find the ESC construction details on the following page: http://toryu.netfirms.com/sc/

(in reply to norbique)
       Post #: 11

Building the Thunder - 4/23/2003 11:14:26 AM   
Doubledog



Posts: 1540
Joined: 3/12/2003
From: Hohenfels, Germany , AE, USA
Status: offline 		I notice it says you're in the Hungarian Plain...

I was in Taszar for a couple of months recently. Lots of snow & cold as could be but a fun assignment none the less. My wife & I have a friend that lives there also, so we're considering a small vacation this summer. Problem is, our baby is due in July but we still would like to see the country in the Summer. We hear its beautiful.

Getting back to the subject.
You built your own speed control? Thats good stuff. I understand what you mean about brushless being a little pricey. I'm going to buy a ROAR motor for my Blast & see how she does in the next week or so.

Check out this forum. These guys are the cream of the crop for fast electrics. Good folks also.

http://www.rumrunnerracing.com/

Just under the skull & cross bones, there's the forums.

< Message edited by PHCM -- Apr 23 2003 6:20AM >

(in reply to norbique)
       Post #: 12

Building the Thunder - 4/23/2003 8:45:26 PM   
norbique



Posts: 107
Joined: 2/11/2003
From: Somewhere in Europa, HUNGARY
Status: offline 		Hello PHCM,

Where have you been exactly on the Tisza?
You're welcome here anytime and If you come and visit here this summer you coul maybe bring one of your boats and we could make a small racing on the Tisza

Congrats on the baby, I wish you and your wife all the best!

Thanks for the link I submitted the tread there also. But it's the last place, I will not post it anywhere else . It's posted at 3 places already.
I'll add some more pics to the thread this weekend hopefully.

(in reply to norbique)
       Post #: 13

Building the Thunder - 4/24/2003 12:16:18 AM   
Doubledog



Posts: 1540
Joined: 3/12/2003
From: Hohenfels, Germany , AE, USA
Status: offline 		Thank you for the offer. However, I don't think it would be right for me to run in such company as yourself. It seems as though it might be next year before we get to do any real travel but it would be a pleasure to meet you & see your rig

Getting off the subject of boats, do these guys look familiar? While visiting down town Taszar there was a fest taking place & I took a few photos.

We'll talk again.
Jamie

Attachments
Click to see fullsize image.
Click for fullsize

(in reply to norbique)
       Post #: 14

Building the Thunder - 4/24/2003 12:17:14 AM   
Doubledog



Posts: 1540
Joined: 3/12/2003
From: Hohenfels, Germany , AE, USA
Status: offline 		One more

Attachments
Click to see fullsize image.
Click for fullsize

(in reply to norbique)
       Post #: 15

Building the Thunder - 4/24/2003 12:26:50 AM   
norbique