Hello all,

got a present today. A Robbe WINDSTAR sail boat. ( Don't know if this is good or bad )

I know nothing about sailboats, I am flying rc airplanes and helis , I have some rc cars and a Kyosho nitro viper speed boat.

I know that sailing and sailboats are a compleet different story.

Could someone give me some info about this model ? Is it good for a beginner , Is it difficult to set it up ?

Also please advise where I can find some info on how r/c sailboats work. (some links if possible ).

Any help will be appreciated.

Thank you all.

Thanos.

well i dotn hace one. but its a sailboat man. how hard can it be.

Just be careful folowing the instructions when assembling. When rigging, things to look for are mast, rudder and fin parrallel when viewed fore and aft, and the sails should have straight front edges and other edges SLIGHTLY bowed. When the sails are pulled in, the front one should be a little slacker than the rear one, this lets you turn across the wind, important.
Standing rigging should be tight, running rigging free and loose.
It takes about ten minutes to learn to sail, then about ten years to learn to do it properly, but there is a huge amount of fun on the way and people will wonder about the silly grin that you will gain. RC yachting is also dangerously addictive.

mfr02
thank you very much. I will give it a try. Will start putting this thing together next weekend.

Thank's again

Thanos.

I'm an R/C nut. I have planes, cars and Nito tunnels and I tell you what, you find a freind with a sailboat and you will have a ball competing. I just stated sailing this year and had as much fun with these boats as I do going 40 mph.
If you don't have a freind to sail with, find a club, you will be happy you did!

Here is a construction article: http://duck.sbmyc.com/images/Robbe%20article%20pg1.jpg
You're fortunate that the Windstar was designed to fit the International One Metre class, probably the most commonly sailed class in Europe, so there's a good chance that you might get an opportunity to sail in company.
You might want to try upgrading to alternative suits of sails (light/megium/high winds) etc. at a later date. If so http://www.housemartinsails.co.uk/ would be a good place to start.

@Martin: The building link only shows one page, is that all there is?

The Windstar was Robbe's attempt to pruduce a competative IOM, but as so often, the marketing people had a say in it and the boat was rather 'downgraded' to keep the price as low as possible...

When just introduced, the boat had to be tweeked quite a lot by the pilots to be competative and she did well for a while.

The last ten years there has been no Windstar in any (European) IOM regatta, as far as I know, the newer designs are so much quicker, she simply can't keep up.

It's a very nice beginners boat, once you've tasted blood, you'll want more!

Regards, Jan.

Whoops, there is a second page. The original link is http://duck.sbmyc.com/kit_ioms.html and both pages are shown on the right of the page.
It is still (in its unpigmented form) class legal and, as you say, a good beginner's boat.
yet another link:
http://www.iom-nordic.org/index.php?...=255&Itemid=46 c
confirming Jan's view that it was spoilt by the marketing department.

Thank you all for your help.

I have one more question about painting.

What kind of paint do I have to use to paint this boat ?

Do I have to sand it first , do I have to use primer , which is the easiest way to do it ?

Thanks again.

Thanos.

Hi Thanos,

The hull is Polyester and doesn't need to painted.
If yo want some other colour than plain white, degrease the hull, sand it lightly, use a primer and paint, suitable for polyester.

Regards, Jan.

Are there any model paints out their just for this specific job ? Like the ones I am using for model cars to paint lexan or the ones that I use in model airplanes to paint cowls ?

The "Halfords" mentioned in the article is a UK chain store selling car accessories. There is probably something similar to the aerosol spray paints in Greece.

Thank you all.

Regards,


Thanos.