Ok, I also put this in the electric speed forum but it could also fit here as it basiclly a conversion of a model...Just bought this, When I was younger(Im 20 now) my dad and I would build small free-running boats for these motors, so when I found this I had to have it if it went cheap enough, and at a tad under 40 bucks on ebay I got it, The shop we got the motors from in the past ran out and never got more in. They work quite well and even though they are not anything super fast the pair of the on a 25 inch boat running off of one esc and one 6 cell pack should provide plenty of power for running on plane...I have included some pictures from the auction, may take a week or 2 to arrive...let me know what you all think...

Those are cute... They have about a half dozen of those in the local hobby store...
Almost picked up a couple just for the outboards.

Since the Milk carton boat races may be returning next year, after a five year haitus, I will have to consider one of these kits again for a quick impromtu RC milk carton boat.

Those are cute!!
I want one.

just curiouse, what are they selling the twin outboard version for in the hobby shop, hope I didnt overpay, it was 39.50 with the shipping to florida so It seemed like a decent price, and I have a whole box of micro servos and Im sure one will be able to swing the two small outboards without a problem


oh and theres another one for sale, just a motor, search mitsuwa

hey vertical. awesome deal ya got there. congrats dude... hey umm check the other forums eh... oh and happy new years to ya....
l8ter[8D]

nice to hear from you NITRO_VEEDRIVER, hopefully this thing gets here soon, I wanna see the hull in person and put it together

tha'tll be awesome.... i like the fact that it is dual outboards.... kinda neet. anyways i might be changing the forums of sbah to another place or try to figure out if i can just put them on website. not to hijack this post... awesome deal tho ......

yeah the duals sealed the deal, i needed it....

you still in florida? i kinda retired the vee for now until i get another engine for it....

in PA till tomorrow night, I was home for the holidays but I got another 6 months or so left

where did you get those? how big are the mercs? i'm trying to build a replica of the quad engined drug running boats in the beggining of the miami vice movie. i made lego outboards for now (non functional) and i'm running a nitro vee converted to electric with an hv maxx for power. real outboards would be so much cooler

I got it on ebay, its a company called mitsuwa, I can get an actual demension when I get them, but four would look about right on a nitro vee sized hull, maybe a little smaller hull, it wouldnt be killer fast though, unless you put upgraded motors in the units like I may do

The kit looks to be about 13-14" long. The bearings in the motor may be plastic on plastic shafts. Not sure how it would take to upgrading.

Next time I get by the hobby shop, I will see if they have any more on the shelf.

they are plastic to plastic, and the top of the shaft runs in a small brass bushing, if you keep them well greased they dont wear much at all, I put alot of excess power through the old one I had and it had no problems, even the motor held up..

Any updates on this Mitsuwa boat of yours?

I'm rather interested in this myself as I have a smaller and more simplified one that runs from the same Mercury outboard motor. It basically has a hull top and bottom, some styrofoam flotation sandwiched between the halves and a clear battery box. No small detail pieces save for a separately molded windscreen in smoke colored plastic. It motors around the pool nicely and is the delight of many small children. I believe it is called "Riviera". They don't seem to be in production anymore. []

This would be a great conversion to radio control, even if the motor alone were used on a bigger hull.

Finally, finally it is done...and run once, and now I need to replace the motors, I fried these small electrics, so they are getting replaced with 180 sized great planes motors, they will fit the outboards and will only slightly protrude from the top of the covers...fast, for its size OH YEAH!!!...needs trim tabs to keep the bow from hoping and it looks sweet, I lost the windshield so I made one that came out great...lemme know what you think of this thing now thats is all done...
-two channel futaba w/ micro servo
-Novak xrs ESC
-great planes 11.1volt 910mah li-po pack
I really like it, heres pictures...oh and the running shot was at about as low of throttle as you can go, I was driving and photographing...

Well, as the relative newcomer to this thread but no stranger to these boats, I think it's GREAT!

Great pics too as the pictures speak for themselves. I like how you have the servo right there in the stern with a very direct hookup. I was thinking of bellcranks and linkages leading to a mini servo mounted (and hidden) somewhere in the middle of the hull. Looks like you made it a whole lot easier.

What was the problem that resulted in the motors being fried?

The motors are made to take about 3 volts each if you wire it and power it by the diagrams for the free running model...so the 5.5 from the li-po wired in series was more plus the amps would have been way higher...I thought about hiding the steering servo but I wanted it to be simple...I am replacing the motors with some 180's, Ill post a pic of the ones below...they use them in small electric planes and I have used them before...they work real well and handle alot more power, they will protrude through the motor cases slightly but I think It will still look ok...and they were cheap...I have upgraded to better steering links also and also greased the gears in the lower units to prevent burning those up...hopefully some more people will comment...anyone else have a plastic model conversion they are running? I'd like to see them

Heres the next installment of this build/frankenstien little boat...I believe I have made a monster, the 180's are in, some 14 gauge orion snakewire. and now they are wired in parallel, it has way way more power, just a test in the tub tonight(already dark) I'll run it tomorrow evening and report, it may need a higher capacity pack to increase run times and also balance the boat a bit better...maybe a something like a 1320mah or something...Im gonna go easy on the throttle as not to fry these motors...maybe a 1320mah 2cell instead...

What an effort. You really shoe-horned those motors into the outboard motor housings. Certainly is a Frankenstein monster, especially with those massive wires coming out the top. [sm=tongue_smile.gif]

Can't wait to see some action pics and learn about your performance results.

On a similar note, I just unwrapped a package that came in; a Mitsuwa Family Cruiser albeit with one Mercury outboard. Nice boat and has probably the same lower hull as yours but a taller superstructure. Would like to keep the motor stock and try for an RC conversion similar to yours in the near future. Perhaps some kind of voltage regulator can keep the power from a larger battery pack in the right range for long term operation...

For anyone else interested in these boats, which I initially thought were out of production, I've found a U.S. distributor with a fairly comprehensive lineup: http://www.bluefincorp.com/products....d=108&m_id=108

Aside from that, they are found on ebay quite frequently it seems.

-Harq

nice....well Ill say now, two outboards with my setup was one to many, it hopped badley once on plane and the one motor threw a prop and it slowed down alot and then swamped and sank...I Retrieved it...NO DAMAGE!!!!....other then the prop missing, even the li-po was fine...I have converted over to just one motor, sealed the electronics and will run it again tomorrow...its balanced way better and I believe it will work really well now, I can even reverse without swamping it now...should still be very fast...I couldnt get over half throttle cause of the hoping, so if it doesnt hop I'd geuss for 15-20mph...which is plenty fast with this thing...

single motor worked better, it ran good, the boat still hopped and then the motor had some driveline problems, I am trying a whole new idea for this hull, testing tomorrow, and I may use the other motor and fab up a small 180 sized flexshaft outboard for it and maybe something like a 10 inch long wooded crackerbox hull for it...thatd be kinda cool

well the project came to an untimely end today...I moved the motor inboard and added a rudder...surface drive...but it wouldnt plane...so i gave it a shove and throttled up and it planed but then torque rolled all the way over and sank in about 5 foot deep murky water with a deep mud bottom...i went int o find it but couldnt...this sucks...so I'll just work on my 1/4 scale airboat which is in need of a more powerful weedwackeer engine, runs but is hard to keep moving fast...and I have a wooden steam tug I neew to finish and get running properly...thats only the second loss in 4 years of running...both were ones that capsized and sank...oh well...

Shocking news. Boat suffered a quick death to be sure. []

Kind of sounds like you were overstressing this little boat anyway. I mean the outboards themselves are hardly precision items. When I operate mine, the prop has a noticeable wobble when it's spinning. How did you move the motor inboard? Was it still an outboard when you didi this or did you convert to an inboard config? Puzzled...

You might still be able to recover your boat. If you recall what direction it was going when it submerged. The motor probably ran for quite some time while it was underwater so it probably cruised in the same direction it was going until it hit bottom or the motor conked out.

With that said, I am still intrigued by these little outboard model boats. The last of a dying breed because if you search the auction sites, you will find a plethora of outboard motor and boat combinations from the 50's-60's. Only a few hobby-grade outboads are available these days. Graupner comes to mind.

Yeah I had a graupner speedline 480 outboard, it flew, there are a pair of graupners online right now, I may see what they go for...I have a new orion 25turn motor that should fit in it...maybe build a flat bottom ski boat, nothing like running a flat bottom