Kmot

My Feedback: (24)

This is a really nice looking model. I hope it's as nice as the promo pictures! And I hope it arrives without damage!

http://www.midwestproducts.com/PT109.htm

pompebled

Hi Tom,

That's a very nice looking boat indeed!

I have two remarks:
1) replace the butt-ugly antenna with a 0,8mm (1/16") spring steel one, so it does not damage the scale appearence so much,
2) it looks rather slow on the video, my 110 cm stepped M.A.S. (semi scale, single 700 neodym motor) is much faster (un-scale like if need be), I'd go for two 7 cell packs instead of 6cell, from the beginning, and watercool the motors.

Let us know when it has arrived and you've run it.

Regards, Jan.

Kmot

My Feedback: (24)

Hi Jan, I agree a big butt ugly antenna sticking up out of almost any model is a disaster for the aesthetics! I was wondering about laying down the antenna internally and not having anything sticking out? But your suggestion sounds good. There is also a very small loaded antenna I have been meaning to try out, called the Black Panther or something like that.

I am going to try for scale speeds. I do not like scale models that look like they are doing 200 mph on the water, lol! I leave that for the FE boats.

Did you ever see my PT boat tribute movie?

http://www.rcpics.net/view_single.php?medid=18621

pompebled

You might even go down to 0,3 mm spring steel, my son has one on his Mono 1 and his mini roundnose and has been warned several times during races, that his aerial was missing...., you can't see it when the boat is moving.

Downloaded the video; nice work! Love the way you slowed the vid down and the B&W section, makes it look very authentic (but for the aerial...)!

Regards, Jan.

Tachikaze

I think that the speed shown on the video is more than adequate. Once the boat is up and planning, then it is pretty much doing what it was designed to do. Any faster is what we in combat modeling call " Cozart Speed". You do not want to be accused of traveling that fast.[:'(]

pompebled

Please explain "Cozart speed".

I don't do battle, other than on the racing oval....

Regards, Jan.

Kmot

My Feedback: (24)

Just received the model. Minor shipping damage occured but it is easily repairable. Turns out, the antenna in question is part of the scale model and not an r/c antenna. The actual r/c antenna is attached completely hidden inside the hull.

The model is large. A pleasant surprise. The paint work and detail work is first class. Except for one thing that they should have done different. The vents on the deck are glossy white stickers! They should have at leat made them black. I will have to go over them with flat black paint because they look totally out of continuity.

Kmot

My Feedback: (24)

.

Tachikaze

" Cozart Speed" is speed that is far in excess of scale speed. Some will have an extra switch on their transmitter that will boast the voltage on their speed control to increase the speed of the boat. This " Cozart Speed" switch is activated when one needs to remove one self from an unfriendly enviroment during combat. It is considered unfair and is against the rules of combat.[:@]

pompebled

Ah, I see, thanks for explaining.

Where does the term "Cozart" originates?

Regards, Jan.

Kmot

My Feedback: (24)

OK, I installed the radio today and set it into the swimming pool. With the rudder throw adjusted as per the manual, it has extremely sluggish steering. I could not execute a 180* turn in my pool, which is 20' wide! There is an adjustment due on that one.

The power, which I could only test briefly, seems very adequate for scale running. Reverse throttle stops it on a dime, which is handy in a concrete swimming pool with walls! It also sent a lot of water up the stuffing boxes into the hull.

It didn't come with provisions for water cooling but I think I will be adding it in the future.

Tonight I started some 'detailing'. Got the camoflage laid down.

pompebled

Hi Tom,

That looks good!

I assume you had not filled the stuffing boxes with thin grease on your testrun?

On submerged drives, I always solder a piece of brass pipe onto the stuffing box, to be able to grease the shaft every once and a while, using a silicon tube and a syringe.

How are you gonna make out your boat on the water, once it's been camouflaged......? lol.

Regards, Jan.

Kmot

My Feedback: (24)

Hi Jan, well guess what? There are already oiling tubes soldered into the stuffing tubes and they are packed with grease from the factory! However, I think the grease is the wrong type. It appears to be hard and doesn't seem like it would flow unless it was heated.

So I am going to remove the prop shafts and add some Prather grease to everything and melt the factory junk out of the oilers so I can lube them each run.

The camoflage is there to fool the ducks at the pond! lol...

pompebled

What material is the hull made off?

If it's somewhat heat resistant, you could save yourself the trouble of removing the propshafts (stuffing tubes).

Run the propshaft on land (one at the time), while running, put in new grease with a syringe, so there's some pressure on the "old "grease.
In my experience, the drive train will get warm within half a minute due to the friction of the propshaft on/in the grease.
If it's hot enough and you keep the pressure on with the syringe, part of the old grease will spill out the bearings (put some paper tissue under it).
Let it cool down and the stuffingbox should be watertight.

Regards, Jan.

EMR

Have you tryed the boat on open water yet?

Kmot

My Feedback: (24)

No, not yet.

Kmot

My Feedback: (24)

First impressions aside....

I am finally at the point I feel I need to say something about this particular Midwest product. It is nothing like I had expected it to be, quality wise.

I bought the Midwest ARR Coast Guard lifeboat and it is a jewel. Superbly built; finished; scale fittings; and just total quality. The opposite is true of the Midwest PT boat.

First off, the fittings on this boat look like they were made by school children. They are not scale, but instead stand waaaay-off scale. They are really just ridiculously bad. The guns are not even close to scale and are made out of wood sticks. The barrel on the rear Oerlikan was even still rectangular! I had to sand it round! THe .50 cal guns are again, totally inaccurate.

The life preservers are 1/16 sheet just cut into profiles of life preservers. The deck vents were merely glossy stickers, on top of flat paint yet! The instrument panel is a glossy sticker, not even close to scale, and in the wrong place. The steering wheel is inaccurate. The searchlight is inaccurate. The compressed air bottles on the torpedo tubes are just wood dowels that were turned down in one spot. Still look like dowels...

Inside, the prop shafts were not lubed and are also carbon steel. They rusted after running the boat in my pool for 5 minutes. One motor would not even turn over when I tried to power it up a few days later. The rudders also had no lube on the shafts. Not to mention the hardware and linkage is about as cheap as possible. The props are plastic, and molded with a built in wobble. The wood formers inside the boat have not been sealed with varnish. The motors to stuffing tubes are grossly misaligned. This, on a $509 dollar model. In contrast, the Coast Guard model is $400 and easily 10 times the quality.

If I had never bought the Coast Guard boat, and bought the PT boat I would never buy another Midwest ARR again. But since I did buy the Coast Guard boat, I expected other Midwest ARR boats to be of equal quality. Unfortunately, that is not the case.

I strongly recommend against buying the Midwest ARR PT boat.

P-51B

My Feedback: (5)

Good to know. So the Dumas 48" fiberglass hull is the way to go for a Pt-109 huh?

subsinker

My Feedback: (61)

Too bad about the Midwest boat. I had high hopes....... As for the Dumas kit, that hull leaves one important detail out. The profile on about the first 8-10 inches at the top slopes down. (slopes down at the bow ) The real Alcos did not do that. I have no idea why Dumas would have done it that way. To properly get the scale outline you have to cut the top of the bow and build up about 3/8" to make the hull level at the deckline. Other than that (and that is a nit-picky item) it is a great kit. I built the PT-596 from the kit and along with Franks Mosquito boat hobbies conversion it turned out to be a great taildragger. I do have picures of it in my gallery.

Anyway, hears to hoping they improve the quality of the Midwest PT.

Best regards,
Pete

cat5752

My Feedback: (1)

I have a Lindberg PT-109 kit that I have been very happy with. They are just about impossible to find now. I paid 100 for the kit, and another 50 for the drop in RC kit that Lindberg used to offer. It looks very scale in the water, and if I wire the motors right, I use counter-rotating props to deal with engine torque in the hard turns. I have Dumas' PT boat, and for how much money you pay for that, plus the 2-300 of accessories "to complete" the boat, I think it is a bad deal as well. Just my 2 cents.

Kmot

My Feedback: (24)

I changed the props over to Raeboesch brass and installed acetate windows in the superstructure. I'm still waiting for the scale guns from HR Products to arrive. In the meantime I got some time in open water. Even though the prop shafts and rudder shafts are heavily greased I still got a few ounces of water in the hull. What can I do to fix that?

vett

My Feedback: (37)

I have always used mech speed cont. what is a good esc to use with this pt boat?

Kmot

My Feedback: (24)

Well, the motors are really low power types so they do not draw many amps. I am using an XTM car speedo I had lying around. It is rated for a 15 turn car motor. I also installed a cooling fan and extra heat sinks.

I think the Mtronics line, available from Hobby People, would be a good and inexpensive choice for a reversing esc. Mtronics are waterproof and can be water cooled. But I think any mid range car type esc would do the job.

subsinker

My Feedback: (61)

FYI:

Midwest recommends a couple of speed controls for this boat. I installed a Novak Rooster and it seems to work just fine. I posted a couple of pictures of the boat in my gallery so check them out if you wish.

Pete

Kmot

My Feedback: (24)

subsinker: I like the lighting you installed. What is a Danforth anchor? Here is a pic of my HR Oerlikon: