BudDriver13

Here are some pics of my custom Proboat 1/8 Miss Bud. I completely gutted the boat and replaced and/or upgraded every component. I recieved a lot of help from Norman Russell (also owns a 1/8 Miss Bud) on this forum who helped fabricate and create hand machined parts for the boat.

Attached here is the new turn fin with custom machined mounting bracket and also my new rudder. The stock rudder bracket was milled so I could install the rudder from Speedmaster.

BudDriver13

Here is the custom strut. The strut was first shimmed to help keep the front of the boat down. Doing this helped with the known bad center of gravity for the boat; leveling the boat as it runs instead of having the rear drag. Brass tubing (heat treated) replaces the teflon liner and runs all the way through the strut and is held with a custom ferrell. This is a much more efficient system in my opinion then the stock set-up. I now use a 1/4 cut-to-lengh Hughley flex cable which runs straight to the engine from the prop (custom cut SS 6717 pitched at 415). The strut was sharpened to cut through the water as well. A hand made strut bearing is also used with the strut for the drive shaft.

For those new Miss Elam and Lumar owners with a clutch and water pump. . . . loose it. It's too much added weight to the rear of the boat and not needed for a Hydro if you want this thing to move.

BudDriver13

The radio box was redone with 2 Z650 racing servos from JR with aluminum arms instead of plastic. These are direct replacements for the stock Z270s I had in there. One of these servors almost puts out as much torque as 3 of the Z270 servors. I use one for the rudder and one for the throttle, helping to lighten the rear a little.

I run a bell crank throttle system with push rod instead of the cable to the throttle. The push rod runs through the radio box and is helped guided with a small brass tube epoxied in place through the radio box. The inside of the brass tube has a teflon liner in to avoid metal to metal contact. I also added a Kwik Switch mount on the left of the radio box tray instead of having the switch mounted to the clear lexan cover to avoid water issues. The top of the radio box is lined with weather stripping to help keep it water tight when the lexan cover is tapped on.

BudDriver13

I next sent my stock engine to get fully modded by Ron Buck and he put a beast together for me. This thing screams! I use a BH Hanson flange, WTC header , 2in tuned pipe and a T-Mod polished cheater muffler. The pipe is held in place with a Buck Ring on the header.

To hold the tuned pipe in place at the rear, the stock mount was tossed. A new pipe mount was added to the rear of the boat with rubber mounts to minimize vibration.

The stock fuel tank was removed next and a new IV bag set-up was put in place with a new fuel tray to hold it in place.

BudDriver13

With the new WTC header, my cowel had to be cut. The front of the air intake was also cut out to help cool the engine and get more air to the carb. To give it that real intake look, I painted the inside of the cowl black (after a white primer).

Weather stripping was then added along the inside of the cowel and over the top edge of the front to help secure it in place.

BudDriver13

Few actual hull mods were made as I didn't want to take too much away from the looks of the boat.

To help counter-act the upswing of the front canard and also help keep the front of the boat down during full throttle, two clear airfoils have been added. Autobailers were added to the rear of the boat to help drain water out.

The bottem of the hull was then clay bar'ed to remove paint blemishes and uneven surfaces. The entire boat was then polished with two grades of high quality auto polish and then covered with a teflon based waxed to help keep is slick. Needless to say, the boat is extremely slippery just to hold!

Hydro Junkie

Very impressive, though I would have moved the radio boax to in front of the engine to reduce prop weight. When do we get to see either a video of running pics?

tazmaniaboats

hello buddriver
faboulous boat nicely done .just to want to ask you from where you bought the tuned pipe hardware ?

BudDriver13

Thanks Hydro Junkie and Tazmania.

Moving the radio box was on my "to do" list for the boat. After shimming the strut and running it with new added hardware, the boat handled completely different and leveled out. I 100% agree with you that it should be moved and it's a possible future mod I will make. For the time being, it runs strong, fast and flat without the rear sagging at all. I'll try and take some pics and a video of it so you can see what I mean.

Tazmania. . . . the tuned pipe hardware was hand built for me and my application and not available at any stores, etc. The stock set-up was just junk and kept breaking and there was no way I was going to even try that set-up with my modded engine and tuned pipe.

Hydro Junkie

Sounds good to me. I'll stay tuned for the shots and video

bad_boy2085

Many Thanks..Glad to hear things worked out well..With your many additional improvements.
Glad to be of service.
Very Nice job,
Looking fordward to vid's

BudDriver13

Thanks again for answering all my questions, etc. over the last few weeks. I learned a lot talking to you from building this which was the most important thing. I can't wait to post pictures and a video. . . . she runs awesome. . . .

Now on to build the 1/6 Budweiser from Roger Newton plans! This one will be all carbon fiber and electric to complete the Budweiser boats I own!

P.S. The IV bag rocks!! I'm so glad you talked me out of getting another tank!

Hydro Junkie

Why would you want to go carbon fiber? You're looking at making a plug, followed by a mold, followed by more plugs and more molds BEFORE you even start laying up the hull. Can we say $2500 before all is said and done[X(]

BudDriver13

The hull will be built in Germany. No way I would try this myself or I would end up broke and a boat that looks more like a volkswagon bug with wings. I will have to paint it and put together the hardware plans, etc which I have planned out. It will be an on-going project I hope to finish by next spring/summer as time and budget allows and if the boat makes it to the states in one piece!

xxxboatworks

Did you add any weight in the sponsons of the Bud boat?

BudDriver13

No additional weight was added to the sponsons. With the shimmed strut lifting the rear out of the water and the air foils added to help with down force of the front canard. . . the boat runs pretty flat right now. I did plan on adding weight but wanted to run it without first to see how it handled and it works so far.

BudDriver13

Thought I would post this link, but here is a video of Norman's 1/8 Miss Bud running with the shimmed strut and hardware upgrades. In my opinion, Norman had one of the best set-ups so I turned to him for help with his experience on the boat. Mine runs somewhat similar to this and I thought I would share this from a post Norman had on this forum until I get some videos and pics up of mine.

http://media.putfile.com/bud-boat

47steve

What angle did you use for the new airfiol on the front? Also, do you have a link to where you purchased the rudder hardware? I'm rebuilding a 1/8 Bud, also.
-Steve

BUDMAN27

Thanks for all the info Buddriver. I only wish my 1/8 th Bud Boat would go half as fast as that. []

BudDriver13

Hi Steve, the front airfoils are actually adjustable so I can change the level of attack depending on wind conditions, etc. to help keep the front down. The rudder is a Speedmaster that you can pick up from www.rossisales.com direct or www.rocketcityracing.com. When you order, make sure you specify you need a right control arm or they will send you a left arm for rudders mounted starboard. I am using the stock bracket from the boat that was milled to fit the new rudder. You will either have to do the same or retrofit a new bracket to the boat for this rudder.

BudMan (nice name!), there are plenty of simple mods you can make to help that boat move. Start with shimming that strut to help lift the rear of that boat up a little and try saving as much weight from the rear as possible. You should see a little better improvement with handling and speed just from that.

bad_boy2085

It was not the best of conditions the day I made the video. Its a lot faster than that.
Can hardly wait to see yours on the water doing what it's made to do.
Norm

47steve

Thanks for the information. I was looking at the airfoils and was thinking of doing exactly the same thing. My experience with aircraft would lead me to angle them down, however. I would think that the positive angle that you have them at (or maybe I'm looking at them wrong) would create a lot of positive lift. I'm new to Hydro's, so bear with me please! What I had thought about was installing a couple of horizontal hinges linked to a gyro that would give a stable attitude. Maybe too complex, but it would be self-adjusting being you don't always drive the same direction in relation to the wind. Just somehting I've thought about at least. I'll try it out on my wood hydro that I'm going to start building here in a few days.

Also, was it the 141 or 143 rudder that you installed?

Thanks again for all of your help,
Steve

BudDriver13

Hi Steve,

The reason I added the airfoils was to test the front canard as I was actually going to cut if off and hook up a gyro to it. After experimeting with the airfoils, I was content and it works great counter-balancing the canard angle and it saved me from cutting up the hull and possibly screwing something up. Let me know how the airfoil/gyro system works on your wood hydro.

The 141 and 143 set-up use the same dual pick-up rudder, just have different lengths on the mounting braket. If you mill your bracket like I did, all you need is the rudder with control arm and not the mounting bracket. You can call and special order these.

Orange Blast

Thanks for all the awesome pictures and heads up info! Nice job. A+
By the way, where did the "Born on Date" decal come from ?


Jimmy D.

RCMagic

Could you post or send information on how you made the airfoils, I will like to try them on my Bud.

Thanks,