bent_wrench

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Hi everyone,

First some background, I am a new member to the site because I decided to get into RC boating. I have ran lots of nitro RC over the years but not too many serious boats. So a while back I decided to shop around and see if I could find a winter project to work on. I found an RTR that caught my eye, this Thunder Tiger Outlaw. The kit is either in pre-production, cancelled, or in limited production because they are impossible to find. Never-the-less I did find a hobby shop in the US that had one and $434.00 later here it is...

bent_wrench

My Feedback: (2)

I guess for the money its a good deal. Like most TT kits it is pretty well built, stright forward, not much BS. The finish is fantastic, it looks mean just sitting on the floor. It's powered by a new .46 marine engine which I am pretty sure is a PRO-46 airplane engine with a differnt crank and a marine head. I have had good luck with TT engines over the years so I am excited to see how well this one runs. Looks to me like they did thier homework on the exhaust. If not, I am sure an OS .46 could be installed if the the new TT motor is not up to par. The flex cable measres 3/16" and they use a clutch. The hull is pretty stiff, the layout is nothing out of the ordinary, but I do question the electronics included. I have no expereice with the ACE radios, so I'll have to try them out and see how the radio and servos perform. I have some Futaba gear I can put in if there are issues. I have run boats before but nothing like this. It's 43" long about 8 lbs or so, and it came with a Prather 230 prop. I'll have to read up some more to shave, sharpen, and ballance the prop. My dad used to do that on real race boats so he may have some insight on the more intricate details.

It is pretty much all froze up around here, I might get lucky and find a place to run enough to break in the engine and get a few shake down runs in. The river is open up here for a while yet, but running a new nitro boat on the Red River would be suicide, no actually running any boat RC or otherwise is probably suicide. I will have the winter to get some props ready, fix any build issues, or make improvements with the boat. That should mean I will have lots of questions to bug you all with. Like I said I am by no means an expert on boats.

So what do you all think? Have I got a winner, a project, or a POS?



I have no affiliation with any manufacturer or hobby shop... just an engineer and a nitro RC enthusiast

RaceCraftRC

I think you got a fun boat at a good price, TT quality is good but we never seem to see alot of them!

dicko

TTR are pretty reliable, I think that is a new release. ACE servos are used a lot here in 1/8th buggies & are a sturdy servo of choice for a quite a few. But they are the heavy dute metal cased servos. I'm not sure what's in your boat.

Could you take a pic of the bottom of the hull? I'm intrested to see what it looks like.

bent_wrench

My Feedback: (2)

Here hare are some pics of the hull. Not really a deep-V at all, it has a shallow draft to it.

bent_wrench

My Feedback: (2)

I have been reading through the engine manual for the .46 Marine and found a few interesting things out.

The bore and stroke are .858" x .787" respectively and it runs a compression ring on the piston. That is the same as the PRO-46 airplane engine. I looked up the specs on the plane engine and TT claims they have squeazed 6,000 more RPM and a full horse power more out of the marine version. 2.46 Hp seems a bit ambitious, but regardless of the hype any .46 nitro engine on 40% nitromethane fuel is gonna be tons of fun. Another intersting thing is that they reccomend breaking in the engine on oil and methanol only, no nitro. I have never heard that before.

I don't have a starter, I always used a chicken stick on the planes. I was thinking of making a pulley assembly with a one way bearing that would chuck in a cordless drill. Anyone try that before?

f16man

All you need is a sullivan airplane starter and battery, I just use my flight box at the pond works perfect for me.

jetpack

My Feedback: (1)

Webra recommends no nitro for break-in. OPS has engines that are no-nitro. Any euro engine usually is no to low nitro. If your looking for a small quantity of FAI fuel (no nitro) you can mix your own small batch by using HEET gas line anti-freeze (all methanol - no secret ingredients or water added) and castor oil. It is probably cheaper to buy Sig Grade AA Castor in the small bottle than finding it in the pharmacy. I've only seen large bottles of it there, and a lot higher in price than the pint bottle that Sig has.

The instructions should probably tell you how much oil content should be used, but normally 20% to 22% oil content is specified for break-in, all castor oil, no synthetic.

After break-in, you can start to drop the castor percent or switch to a castor/synthetic blend to help with the mess. I have seen some fuels with 3% castor and the rest synthetic, but with boats I would stay higher than that.

dicko

The hull looks similar to many others out there, it should be competitive once set up right.

bent_wrench

My Feedback: (2)

I may just be in luck, there a good size lake not too far away that is ice free. If I get a few things done tonight I may be able to get a few runs in tomorrow. Its gonna be a nice day too the high is 29º tomorrow. Its a balmy 8º right now. You gotta love ND. And yeah I realize its a crappy time of year to pick up a boat, but it was good find. If I can get the engine broken in and a couple a tanks of fuel through at speed I can figure out if there are any big impromevemnts that "need" to get done.

evlwevl

My Feedback: (6)

I spoke of this boat back in the spring when I saw it at the RCX show in Pomona. I haven't heard a word about it since. I was really impressed with what I saw and was waiting for it to be released to the public and so there it is. It is a hot looking boat to say the least, and I'm sure you have a winner. I was looking forward to hearing about this one till I could save up for it. I've got other boats on my wish list now, but that is one I'd like to have eventually. Please let us know how it performs.

anthony_marquart

A ringed marine engine is not a performance oriented engine. It looks like a very nice hull with decent hardware. If you want to see what the hull is capable of you should put a real 45 or 67 in it.

bent_wrench

My Feedback: (2)

Well I its a beautiful day outside and I had everything ready to go on the boat, electronic set-up, prop sharp and ballanced, outdrive and rudder double checked and ready to run. But not all is well, it just won't start. I have given up now for the day, here is a summary of what went down this afternoon.

I got a starter form the HS yesterday, but found out it had no where near enough tourqe to turn the engine over, so I exchnged it today for the biggest one they had. ( Hobbico 180) That still didn't solve the probelm. Though better, the starter cannot turn the engine over with the glow plug tightened down, I had to losten the glow plug a 1/4 turn to try start it. I have tryed differnt fuels, glow plugs, and messed with the needle settings. I can get the engine to bark but it won't go. If I tighten the glow plug I can't turn it over, in fact the compression on this engine is so insaine I can't even turn it over by hand. So to get it to go I am going to have to make a bench stand and rig up some type of roto-start setup. I have never had such a stubborn engine before, this has more compression than a .90 I used to have. Is that normal for a marine engine? I realize its brand new and going to be tight, but this is abnormally stiff. Anyone else break in marine engines on a test stand? Any onther good advice?

Mr.Freeze

It's pretty common to have to losen your glow plug to releave some compression, so don't worry about that. after it's running lightly snug with the glow ignitor then snug it the rest of the way with a glow wrench it will loosen up some after it's broken in. the other thing is get it spinning then give it a tug to tighten the belt kinda of like jolting it if you know what I mean. hope it helps

Dan S

try like Freeze said, that's what I do and if its still not enough you may have to go with 24v instead of 12.

also make sure your spinning the engine the proper direction (it happens).

Dan.

jetpack

My Feedback: (1)

I would try and get it to pop off with just a prime before adding anything from the needle. You might have it set too rich, and it's pulling too much fuel into the cylinder as you're trying to start it, and hydro-locking or close to it.

bent_wrench

My Feedback: (2)

Ive tried to get to pop off but it just wont. I've had it just about bone dry to very rich and it just won't go. I spent nearly 3 hours today trying to get it to run. I need to get the motor out of the boat and in a more controlled environment. Something just isn't adding up here... its almost like the port is out of time or something. At any rate it so combersome between the starter, the glow plug heater, and the remote that its hard to get conditons right for the glow engine to run.

dicko

Also try heating the head up before you start it, if it's that tight it will help expand the cylinder a bit & free it up a little. You could do this at home and run a tank through before you go to the lake to start running it in, just make sure you keep an eye onthe temperature & don't overheat it.

jetpack

My Feedback: (1)

This might sound like a dumb question, but are you sure the glow plug is glowing orange-red? If you're using straight methanol and oil to break it in, you should switch to a hot plug. Cold plugs don't like to fire with no-nitro fuel, even with the glow heater on.

High nitro fuels almost refuse to pop when the temps get low outside and usually reserved for the other end of the scale when there is lots of heat and humidity in the air.

Also make sure you're spinning the engine in the right direction also. Those banana plugs are tricky sometimes. I run into that problem when I run my outboard and my inboard on the same day...they each turn a different direction, and yes, engines will run backwards. Quite poorly, but still will fire up.

bent_wrench

My Feedback: (2)

I drilled a hole in the cap of a 20oz pop so I can run a piece of tubing to the head and keep it form over heating. Its gonna be a while berfore I can get time to work on the project again. I'll post the setup when I get it done.

As far as fuel and plugs I've tried 10% and 20% nitro, i added a bit more castor to help with breakin, but when it wouldn't start I used just straight fuel. The fuel is new. For plugs I used mild OS #8 plug (that TT reccomended) and tryed a hotter OS A3 (all new) with no results. I put the #8 in my savage, filled it with the same fuel, used the same glow plug heater and it started up in 3 pulls and ran like a top. So I am a bit baffled.

bent_wrench

My Feedback: (2)

Spring Update...

Hi everyone,

Well the water is now liquid again up here and I am about ot take the boat out for a spin. Since my troubles last fall I have discovered that it takes 24 volts to start this boat. This is still a very hard to find kit and not a lot of people are running them, I don't know why really. This is a very cool boat.

I will report back with the results

bent_wrench

My Feedback: (2)

Well after a really annoying problem I did have a good run with the boat. My failsafe failed. Irony, right? Everytime I got the boat started and in the water it would die. I tried needle settings, and glow plugs, and finally just as it was getting dark I discoved the failsafe would glitch randomly and kill the engine... After I removed the failsafe I got to have some fun.

The boat was running rich, and was about 3/4 throttle on 20% nitro fuel. Even then this thing was quick. Mabey 25 to 30mph in some light chop form the wind blowing. What really surprised me was how agile this boat is, and stable. It is easy to drive, goes fast, and sounds freakin AWESOME! I will start leaning it out the motor and tuning the trims, there is an awful lot more potential. Another member on this site go his near 40mph with a prop change. Very Cool.

There is NO WAY to start this boat on 12 volts. My heavy duty Hobbico starter wouldn't even budge the pulley unless the glow plug was loose. However with the golw plug lose I couldn't keep it running long enough to tighten it down. The starter would get hot, and it just wasn't working. So I picked up another motorcycle battery and wired them for 24volts. That is really the way to go, starter spins the motor over with no problem and since it actually spins fast enough is dosen't get hot. The engine in this thing is a beast to start, but when you get it to go it's well worth all the trouble.

jetpack

My Feedback: (1)

I was wondering how that exhaust would sound. I really like the way the exhaust is built with a cooling flange header and its own pipe.

Good to hear your using a failsafe, too bad it held you up. I would try and find out if that can be fixed.

That motor might loosen up on the starter after awhile for you when it gets broken in more maybe.

Great to hear you say its worth all the trouble once your out running!

You're already thinking of different props. How is the tuning comming with the trim?

bent_wrench

My Feedback: (2)

Ran it again to day with my brother. I put a little positive trim on the tabs, and that really woke it up. The other member on this site posted doing the same. I leaned it up a little and got it running at full throttle. WOW this thing moves! Seriously quick, maybe near 40mph. The prop is a bit steep though, it cavitates if you gun the engine, you need to ease on the throttle. It is fun to stop on the gas becase the boat will slowly gain speed and then take off like a rocket when the prop bites. There was more wind today so there was some good waves for a boat htis size and it can handle rough water very well. I did capsize it once in very spectacular feat of areobatics. It got too much air and the wind lifted the noze, it looked just a crash from one of those "And They Walked Away" vidoes but in small scale. The boat filled full of water and the wind blew it back to us in about 5 minutes. I dumped the water out, but since I was quick to close the throttle the engine stayed dry, the radio box also stayed dry. And most importantly it floats when full of water.

I ran about three tanks of fuel through it today and the boat is very reliable, except if you flip it over . The manuverabilty and stability is great. I was also happy to see my prop works well and that the driveline runs very smooth. Service is no big deal either.

I did have one issue however. The hatch cover dosen't fit quite right and one pin has cracked loose. This was not from my crash, but form installing and removing it. The pins seem to torqe on the mounting holes when the magnets pull it down. The cover stays on just fine, but this is not acceptable from a kit of this quality. I sent a RMA in to ACE hobbies to see if they will send me a new cover. I think for the cost and quality of this kit that is not an unreasonable request.

srt10

My Feedback: (20)

glad to hear your having fun with this boat..