Sound card for a boat?
 

Hi all! Im pretty new in this part of the forum. I mean, I usually write on the Rc Tanks section. Im not new in the RC world but Im completelly new at the wet side of RC, lol.

So, I just saw a 1/18 scale vietnam boat, and I might buy it, but it would be great to be able to play Jimmi Hendrix, Stones or Wager music while sailing around the pond. So, is that possible? I have no idea about rc boat electronics or soundcards, but with the tanks I can play whathever sound I want. So if somebody could tell me if it is possible in the boats too, would be great.

Thanks!


EDIT: Of course I also would like to have some motor and machine gun sounds!

Here's a link for sounds. As far as playing music you've got a lot of options from CD players to cell phones.
http://www.mackproductsrc.com/Sound.htm

Master Blaster, Action Electronics Noisy Thing, Mtronics, probably lots more from googling "model sound module"
For single sound effects, combine a switcher with an audio greeting card module. These range in capacity from 10 seconds to around 2 minutes. The two minutes might be enough for Wagners Ride of the Valkyries, or enough of it. Cheap MP3 players can store hours of sound. Use something like Audacity + Lame to create the files.
Apart from the Master Blaster, all need an amplifier and speaker.

Hi, Thanks for your replys. Yep, I know I could play sounds with a Mp3, but in my tanks, the tank board I use lets me play up to 220 sounds with no lenght limit, and I am also able to select what I want to play, and how loud I want it from my radio transmitter. Also I can make my own engine, machine gun sounds... Even I put my own voice in some sound files. Im afraid I can not do that with a mp3...

So I wonder if there is something similar for boats. All the boat cards I found are very limited in sounds.

So why not use the tank board with appropriate sound files?
Just heard a track on the car radio - Animals - Paint it black. Should be right in period and fit in well with Hendrix.

Lol, yeah, paint it black would be one of the songs in my boat.

I considered to put the rc tank board inside the boat, but the hull is too small, and Im a bit afraid of that board working next to water

This is not my best video but you can have an small idea of what the board does:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBKf6UAHbg0&t=316s

Currently there are a few sound handling projects on various model boating boards. Most are using something like an Arduino to do the controlling and playback. Somewhat above and beyond my interests, but a few years ago my club was showing at the Haydock Park event and the next stand was a 1:72 HMS Warspite with a pretty full set of sound effects. And they were LOUD. But it was a huge and heavy model, well able to carry all that was needed.
Points to bear in mind are that boat sounds will be at a greater distance, and more distant sounds need more speaker (and amplifier). Either larger diameter, or more travel, which means a bigger, and heavier, magnet. This speaker size and weight can limit your choices on a performance boat. Boats is the modeling discipline where not only does it have to look right, it has to be the correct weight as well. And distributed correctly.

You are right. The room wont be enought and I even did not think about the weight. This is the boat I wanted to buy:

<br> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPCeT3_lKcw I might stick with it as it is... Keeping my Sherman playing the sounds at the background, lol.

The Master Blaster punches above its weight regarding sound output, and might be worth a closer look if you limit yourself to sounds that would be heard at a distance.
I had a "Whoop whoop" effect in my Revel Snowberry using an early ISD IC and a microswitch. It was quite audible over 50 yards. This was useful because the camo scheme really works, and part of my walk around the lake involved passing behind some trees having "parked" the boat. Having walked behind the trees, finding where the thing had drifted to was eased a lot by setting the siren off and hearing where the noise came from before restarting. The 2" speaker could handle QF gun sounds quite well.
Sounds are always a bit of a compromise on a scale boat, because the model boat is a model in a full size world. An example is a scale steam whistle. A proper engineering whizz in my club made one for his live steamer, and was puzzled why he couldn't hear it. His dog went crazy when he let it off, though. "Ye cannae break the laws o' physics, Captain" Montgomery Scott. Not just the volume was affected - the frequency was scaled as well.

hey rad id think you could use an IBU in the 1/18th boat ?

I think rich in the tank section has one ...

Hi, sorry for the delay answering. I had some IBUs for tanks but I sold them some time ago, I switched to the ASPs (see post number 6) But you made me remember that there are IBU boards made for boats so that might be an option. Thanks!