drdoom

My Feedback: (9)

I bought an Expresscraft osprey hull 11 years ago, I still have it I ran it Sunday it is tough as nails. Zenoah 26PUM. Marine Specialties hardware. Tons of red anodized upgrades. Inc Pipe. It has a couple places that the Gel Coat has chipped. I need some patch.

expresscraft

normally you will need to just touch the chipped area with a dremal to expose fresh glass. after that a dap or how ever much is needed of white gel coat. I like to tape off the chipped area, put in my gel coat then put another layer of tape on over that. let dry over night then sand it off tape and all. be careful not to go through the original gel coat.once the tape is gone blend in with wet 600 grit then hit with a buffer. you should be able to get it very very close.concentrate your sanding on the patched area and leave the excess tape on till finished to protect the surrounding gel coat.

drdoom

My Feedback: (9)

Their is a couple places that it has bare cloth showing... 5 years ago I fixed a couple places where air bubles under the cloth let go and rendered big gap in the hatch.
I pretty familiar with this stuff. 20 years ago I helped Jet Model Products lay up parts. I also Made a mold set for the Cessna T-37 tweetybird.

lever02

Ok guys, let's talk about hardware for the Phantom..What's the general consensus on this? Other thoughts on needed hardware are welcome. Looking for bullet proof stuff.
http://www.arrowshark.com/SR512.php or this http://shop.redlinemotors.us/Speedma...er-RLPM-GS.htm

expresscraft

It is always possible with any fiberglass part that there can be air left somewhere, We try hard not to let that happen, I was posting a way to fix it for anyone's benefit that might be reading this thread.There are other ways to do it as well this is just a simple why that gives pretty good results.

expresscraft

Lever02 you can not go wrong with speed master,more to value then just price,other companies come and go. speed master has been around for a long time which means easy accessible replacement parts.I have had some customers send arrowshark parts to me and they are beautiful,But the material they use feels like you could easily pull the threads out by simply overtightning a bolt with a allen wrench.Maybe this has been fixed.and of course I am not a expert on all there parts.old #6 outdrives and electric starters needed work though.

SS RC Boats

Speedmaster is very good,strong hardware. But go to them directly or Gizmo when you decide to purchase.

lever02

Sounds good, will call them next week, how's this rudder look?

drdoom

My Feedback: (9)

Expresscraft models are as close to perfection as anything You are going to find. So nice I didn't
paint it. I just ordered a Graphic package and stuck it on. It's bulletproof.

expresscraft

Thanks drdoom,just keep in mind that the osprey is a shoe box fit boat where the deck overlaps the hull and has a finished seem,this is how most model boats are made and they are ready to go like he said,Bur we have boats like the phantom/Apache. MTI's ,race vee,thunderbolt ect that have a ground off over hang leaving no seam,These boats need some filling and sanding but it still a small job,this was the inside joke and why lisa wanted her nails pictured as she builds this phantom.she has a hard time hearing guys complain about a little seam work....
lever02 here is a picture of the speed master hard ware used on the GTX. the out lets are really velocity stacks made by great planes #GPMG2100.You can get them from tower hobbies.

well I tried to take it from our web page but its not letting me break up the page, anyways go to expresscraft.com click on GTX and it is the white boat showing the speedmaster hardware

SS RC Boats

Thats the rudder I use on all my monos including my GTX and customers monos.

drdoom

My Feedback: (9)

A couple cell shots of the Ospree, I graphed it like My Boat a Baja .38 Special. It got a lot of attention at the LOTO.

expresscraft

Do not see much of the marine specialties hardware any more, Ok so we lost a few days from my air compressor crashing but we are back in go mode now that my new parts are here. anyways so here is something a little different then most boats, we have a deck ring mold that gets waxed up and clamped into place, then in the corners at the top of the deck we put is a good fillet of aerosils and resin putty, that is then covered with 1 layer of 1 1/2oz matt strip, this builds a nice ledge for the deck to mount to, we let this dry for a few hours then remove the clamps and ring mold to begin finishing the hull.As you can see this is a very strong and secure way to mount the deck.

lever02

Would that be a Phantom?

expresscraft

Its getting laid up right now.she just put the putty in the strakes,and the ring mold has been removed your hatch and the MTI's hatch are done.

lever02

Yay! Getting there, Speedmaster is getting me a laundry list of driveline parts together. Just sent Hanson an email requesting an exhaust solution for the K600s.

expresscraft

Hull is almost done.

expresscraft

so the hull has sat a day and is ready to get taken out of the mold, we clean up the edge made by the ring mold, make our wood parts and sand them. then we use putty to bond transom in place, you work the transom back and forth insuring good contact, then simply wipe away the access. we use a 5" block to to keep the rails straight while they dry using putty to hold them in place, later we will put in the 2" rail tape and they will be in securely.

lever02

Coming along nicely! Ross with Full Throttle Racing has gotten me an extensive list of parts and pieces. Amazing how much goes into one of these boats.

expresscraft

I put longer rails in your boat in case you do in fact go with the inline

lever02

Longer rails are good...Still set on the RCMK K600S. Ordered parts last night, should be here next week. Thanks Ross!

expresscraft

So the rails are glassed in place as well as all wood parts have a good coat of resin on them, Now we put putty on the ledge built with the ring mold and float the deck into place.Then we remove the excess putty and put on the external ring for clamping the deck in place, The deck is bigger then the hull and will be trimmed down once all is dry.

expresscraft

we taped off the hull and sanded the deck down, blew the hatch out of the mold and here you go, one of the best values in model boating. A hand made 70" carbon fiber great running boat hull,will ship tomorrow. hope you enjoyed this build. i will just keep adding info about expresscraft and what we do this will be a good thread for our boat owners to say what they think good or bad.

lever02

Wow, looks good. Cotman, you started all this! I was just minding my own business and stumbled on this thread...Look what you got me into! Tom, excited about the build, lots of support from here and behind the scenes. Pics and such coming soon...

lever02

Hey Tom, am I to look for a Fedex truck? Maybe first of next week?