Sky HawK
Feb 16, 2006, 10:40 PM
So I bought this ZigZag Racer in Cali for about $50 at a Hobby Shop, and it was great fun right out of the box! Super quick, tightest turning radius I've ever seen. But a tragedy struck one day while wave jumping on the lake, and it got a little more wet than it was intended for (full text book submarine dives are fun, but not recommended! [:D])
But after that, it sat on my shelf for about a year, but last night a re-awoke the little beast with some new internals.
First off, I yanked out all the stock stuff, which was super easy and took 5 minutes of unscrewing and a little razor blade work to break the seal around the stock ESC/RX/Servo assembly. The I mounted up an AON 4900Kv Thrust series Brushless motor with a little double sticky (stock one was like this too!) and the stock motor clamp that holds it down firmly. I also replace the stock rubber shaft coupler with some clear tubing, and used a 12tooth pinion on the motor, so those teeth are dug in and not slipping at all.
So, the hardest part was done, I decided to mount a servo and work out the steering. Using the stock horn on the rudder, and made a little steering rod with Z Bends on each end to link the servo horn to the rudder horn. I used a Hitec Hs-80MG with an aluminum horn and hotlgued it into place where the bulky 6-cell battery used to sit, but against the far right side. Provides excellent steering throw, I can turn the rudder almost sideways!
Then came the part of installing the ESC and RX, and I came up with a clever way to keep them pretty darn dry. I cut a rectangular piece out of the inner upper deck, right where the stock elecs were, just big enough for one of those Maxtec motor boxes wih a lid to fit. With the Mini Rage ESC and Chrome RX in the box, I drilled holes where the 3 motor wires needed to pass through the box, where the two battery wires pass through and one hole for the servo wires and antenna wire to pass through. I sealed them up with silicon, and dropped the box down into the rectangular hole. I cut the stock motor cover thingy to fit and rescrewed it down in the hull, over the motor and driveshaft.
The last little mod I did was put a very short body post in the hole in the nose, so it passes through the shell of the ZigZag and can be secured with a body pin. The back portion is still only held down and straight by a rubber band, just as it was stock.
So there you have it! I tested it in the bath tub with a 2-cell Lithium Polymer batter and it is weighted pretty good, lighter than stock, and bottom heavy, which is good in the event of rollovers as it self rights itself still. All I can say is WOW! Talk about acceleration! I can't wait to test in my aunt's pond down in the valley, I'm so happy the preliminary test went ok as far as floatation, steering and it just plain working.
Check out the pics, if anyone wants to try this also, it was actually very easy modification work!
The HawK
But after that, it sat on my shelf for about a year, but last night a re-awoke the little beast with some new internals.
First off, I yanked out all the stock stuff, which was super easy and took 5 minutes of unscrewing and a little razor blade work to break the seal around the stock ESC/RX/Servo assembly. The I mounted up an AON 4900Kv Thrust series Brushless motor with a little double sticky (stock one was like this too!) and the stock motor clamp that holds it down firmly. I also replace the stock rubber shaft coupler with some clear tubing, and used a 12tooth pinion on the motor, so those teeth are dug in and not slipping at all.
So, the hardest part was done, I decided to mount a servo and work out the steering. Using the stock horn on the rudder, and made a little steering rod with Z Bends on each end to link the servo horn to the rudder horn. I used a Hitec Hs-80MG with an aluminum horn and hotlgued it into place where the bulky 6-cell battery used to sit, but against the far right side. Provides excellent steering throw, I can turn the rudder almost sideways!
Then came the part of installing the ESC and RX, and I came up with a clever way to keep them pretty darn dry. I cut a rectangular piece out of the inner upper deck, right where the stock elecs were, just big enough for one of those Maxtec motor boxes wih a lid to fit. With the Mini Rage ESC and Chrome RX in the box, I drilled holes where the 3 motor wires needed to pass through the box, where the two battery wires pass through and one hole for the servo wires and antenna wire to pass through. I sealed them up with silicon, and dropped the box down into the rectangular hole. I cut the stock motor cover thingy to fit and rescrewed it down in the hull, over the motor and driveshaft.
The last little mod I did was put a very short body post in the hole in the nose, so it passes through the shell of the ZigZag and can be secured with a body pin. The back portion is still only held down and straight by a rubber band, just as it was stock.
So there you have it! I tested it in the bath tub with a 2-cell Lithium Polymer batter and it is weighted pretty good, lighter than stock, and bottom heavy, which is good in the event of rollovers as it self rights itself still. All I can say is WOW! Talk about acceleration! I can't wait to test in my aunt's pond down in the valley, I'm so happy the preliminary test went ok as far as floatation, steering and it just plain working.
Check out the pics, if anyone wants to try this also, it was actually very easy modification work!
The HawK