saleens7

yea, i do have stuffcoming, but it has an expected arrival date between, tomorrow and tuesday next week.I can take it, i need the stuff AGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!![:@]

oh, and the radio gear that i am getting is the same stuff as from the proboat .46 vortex airboat. Its not the trim i am worried about, i just hope it has servo reversing.

bign

dont worry bro, if it doesnt have servo reversing you can always to it manually. the leads on the servos have 3 wires usually a white red and black, it is possible to take the wires loose from the connection plug and reverse the servo by just switching the red and white wires. its pretty easy, all you really need to do this is a straight pin or a tooth pick. they may even have pre-made connectors that reverse the connection, im not sure on that, but it would be a good idea , lol.

saleens7

well, i am trying to make a foam cutter but cannot find a way to make an adjustable volt/amp one. I might just buy one, either that or just strap on AA batts untill the wire gets red, take one off and find the volts/amps im using and just buy a batt with that much.

playtime56

My Feedback: (1)

I use an old, old toy train transformer for my foam cutter. Picked it up for 2 bux over at the auction site. Just put a couple leads on it and turn it up 'til the wire starts to glow, then back off a bit and you're good to go. Best to ya !!!
Gordy

bign

thats a real good idea also

saleens7

well, im going to use a saudering iron to heat it instead.

Still waitin on the motor, esc, and prop coupler.[:@]

Cant seem to find insulation foam anywhere, i might even have to buy it online.

So far my progress is: none

bign

you cant find the foam at Home Depot or Lowes, they usually have atleast the pink foam in 4x8 sheets or the white foam in small 12x24 packs 5 or 6 per pack. i thinke both are around 1 inch thick

saleens7

no they dont, anyway my "new" hull will be coroplast with spray on foam filling the inside, with some cut outs to reduce weight and give the radio box some room. Sorry the project is taking so long, with school comes studying and homework, and with patrents that say NO!! comes, well, nothing.[&o]

anyway, i will look for a sign store this weekend for the coroplast and get the sray foam from lowes/home depot.

bign

your boat isnt goin to be that big right? how about one of those foam ice chests they have at convenience stores, they are only around 2-5 bucks and if you cut it right you can get 5 good sized squares off of it, and they are around 3/4 to 1 inch thick i think. just a suggestion, we gotta find you something to build this boat out of lol. matter of fact i saw one today for 10 bucks that had a lid on it that would work perfect for a hull.

crispyspa

For the foam cutter, you could use a cordless drill battery. I did.

bign

never thought of using a cordless drill batt, good idea !!

saleens7

my dad has a cordless drill>>battery included<<, just hope he lets me use it, he is very tempermental with his power tools. if it is those styrofoam coolers, no, i have used strofoam before and although it is very light and easy to get, it falls apart too easily. I will try to make a foam cutter tonight using the drill batt and guitar string.

saleens7

oh, i will also try to get some pics of my new stuff, but due to a very strange photo shop, i will heve to e-mail you the pics. You can PM me your emails if you want to see the motor, prop, esc, and coupler.

saleens7

would a 10x8 prop be too big for the motor, its all i have ( at the moment) that fitx the prop coupler??

saleens7

Well i got great news, I got a whole buch 'o' stuff from my LSH and will start building, hopefully today, but most likely tomorrow. This is because i still need to get the coroplast and have once more, redesigned the hull. What i am going to do is build a mold from wood, slightly larger than the hull dimensions, and fill it with limited expanding spray foam, then will trim it down, add some curves and smooth out the angles. Then will epoxy some coroplast on it and will have a hull. The good thing about how the hull is produced is that i can make more than one hull and it will be a solid peice of foam so no need for supports inside of it.

Mr Cajun Gator

Sorry about the delay in answering your questions. Aircraft plywood is a good choice (its a high grade of birch) The material I used was 1/16" model grade or aircraft grade(both the same thing) birch 3ply plywood. The 3600 battery that you have will work, as long as it is 7.2 volt you can run the 8.4volt but it would be harder on the ESC. With the parts that I listed the only thing that needs to be done, is making the connection from the ESC to the motor also connecting 2- .1uf capacitors. (stops the radio interferance) The ESC will then plug into the Rx The battery will plug into the ESC, which will back feed power to the Rx. The stearing servo will plug into the Rx. The stearing servo is connected to a linkage which is connected to one of the rudders, then there is another linkage connecting the 2 rudders together. 2-56 linkage will work fine 4-40 linkage will work better.
The main thing to worry about with the Electric airboat is weight.
The motor stand is built into the frame work of the hull, building any rc airboat I would recommend that the engine/motor stand be built into the hulls frame work.
If I missed any of your questions let me know, and I will try and get you a quicker answer.

saleens7

Mr Cajun Gator, you shure missed a lot of "progress", anyway, i already have the wood for the motor mount 1/4 lite ply. If the 3600 is too much, i have an 1800 lying around, and since the hull is going to be made out of that ultra lite hardening spray foam, this bost should scream. My rudder will be one big one, is 3" wide by 6" tall big enough? The engine mount will be sunk 1 inch into the hull (no framework, just a solid peice of foam) and epoxyed into place. I got some flex cable that is normally used to connet the carb to the servo in airplanes. i also got a fe nylon horns and hinges. I have all the stuff to get the boat going (Tx, Rx, Sx, are on their way in the mail) except i still have to fill the mold with foam and wait for it to dry. I will try to get a few pics an maybe a video, if i can get it to load.

Mr Cajun Gator

Sounds like you have it going your way. Are the batteries 7.2V or 8.4V go with the one that has less weight. I can not tell if your rudder size is a good one or not, I only run dual rudder set ups.

saleens7

the batt is a 7.2 v, but it is a really bad one. It came with my high wind (DONT EVER BUY THIS BOAT). How big are your dual rudder setups? i should just double the surface area of my rudder. I think it is big enough though.

martno1fan

hi i think i have something you might be interested in,i came upon this step by step building guide a cpl of years ago .she looks like a sweet boat take a look and let us know when you start the build[link]http://www.rckingdom.co.uk/main/projects/project5/project5.html[/link] take alook at the vids too!!just checked the vids not working now[&o].might be a nice project for your motor though.its lighter than corroplast which can get quite heavy as in pounds rather than ounces lol.for electric id stick with balsa you will get far more speed than with corro.also varnish and paint work well as a sealant.no need to make the thing too heavy by glassing or even epoxying.oh by the way insulation foam sheets (white foam) make great airboats just cut and sand and epoxy over,but id stay away from foam for electrics as once again its heavy compaired to balsa.theres a good reason we use balsa for building planes! yep its light!!!.

saleens7

martno1fan, You shure balsa is lighter than corplast?? Besides, im not using corplast, im using a hard drying spray foam. If that doesent work out i might look into balsa, but i still think its too heavy.

saleens7

i also noticed a retractable knife, does balsa cut that easily, or was it used for cutting the .5mm wood??

martno1fan

im 100% sure balsa is lighter than corro mate and yes balsa cuts dead easy.its not strong though but very light and as your building for electric it shouldnt be a problem, if you want to strengthen it a bit just epoxy the hull to protect it a bit.spad planes are way heavier than balsa planes ,ive built both but where the corro comes into its own is strength but in my opinion the performance you will get from corro compaired to balsa will be much slower because of the extra weight.foam is also heavier than balsa ,weigh it a solid foam block will weigh in at a lot more than a balsa hull for the same size hull.why do you think they build planes from balsa? ok they also build from foam but not the same foam your looking at and your talking about a soilid block of foam not thin sheets as in planes!!.also the stuff your talking of using will have air holes all over it when it comes out of the mould im sure.why not save your time and go with balsa .you will get a much better result im sure.ive used corro ,foam and balsa for building.if your going nitro yep corro or foam is best for an air boat.
for lightness balsa wins hands down,have you actually seen balsa wood up close? you cant get anything lighter to be honest.can i just add that if you want to go with foam just use foam block even white insulation foam board is good, just cut and sand to shape then epoxy over the whole thing why mess arround with spray foam?seems pointless to me to be honest.also your talking about using corro and foam? why? i used corro over a foam block for a nitro engine and this thing is quite heavy ,you will need a light boat for that motor trust me.balsa sheet over ply frames is very light i built a sail boat from balsa planks i cut from 1/8 balsa sheets its 34 inches long using a retractable knife and the hull only weighed arround a pound with a plywood deck and a thin glass coating.[img][/img] heres a cpl of pics of her!!the great thing about balsa is the finnish it sands so smooth to any shape you like and it paints great too.you should give it a try.

saleens7

Yes, i ahve seen balsa up close. Nice sail boat, i will try to make a balsa hull, but my parents dont just up and take me to the hobby shop, i have to wait before they are willing to take me. what thickness should the bottom and sides of the hull be? 1/8 inch is a little thick, and even an extra ounce is too much weight. I see that 5mm balsa was used, would this be too thin? i might as well get some more lite ply for the supports and deck. also, would sinking the motor mount into supports that go down into the hull be good or would just epoxying it to a sturdy part of the deck be better?

it seems you have convinced me to use balsa.

bign

i do agree that Balsa is liter than coro (not by much) but i have one question, what about when you crash ? ( lord knows we all do , lol) i think in the long run coro would be alot more durable than balsa , if you use balsa and you crash it your goin to have much more damage than if you used coro. I would suggest Coro or Foam for the first build, just my opinion but i would save the Balsa for the second or third build after you get some experience building under your belt. which ever you decide the most important thing is that you HAVE FUN WITH IT,