Mini-review of Graupner Phantom from HL

[Andy W]

A had an old, junky Nikko R/C "race" boat. Slow (walking speed, even on 8 cells!), unreliable (probably because I ran it on 8 cells!), no range, etc. etc.

A 9yr old friend of the family played with it on our lake, and his parents agreed to buy him one if he got straight A's in school. He did. They came to me.

After talking to Larry at HL in depth, he recommended the Phantom - http://www.hobby-lobby.com/phantom.htm
I bought the boat, Hitec Lynx radio system, and the Hitec 340 charger. For power, I selected the 3000mAh NiMH 7.2V pack from RadioShack - something they could buy more of locally if necessary.

The boat went together in less than an hour - and this is my first boat, so I was surprised. I had to seal up the hull a little to ensure it didn't take on water (covered in instructions). Fiddling with the mechanical speed control was also fun, but once you've done one, another would be a breeze! All you need to do is glue on fake exhaust pipes, drop in radio equipment, and you're set. The Rx in the Lynx set has BEC, so you cut the battery pack off the supplied wiring harness, and solder the wires to the point on the speed control where the power leads come in from the main battery.

Took it out to the same lake for a brief test-run before turning it over to the new owner, and I was impressed - takes off like a rocket, very quick but not so fast that a young kid would have trouble keeping up. I liked it so much, I may end up getting one for myself, just for kicks!

No point posting a pic - the one on the HL site looks exactly like mine - that's how it comes in the box.

If you've not tried one of these, give it a go - it's a hoot!
..a

[Andrew Gilchrist]

Andy

sounds like you had fun

The Phantom is a good beginner hull. When you line up for one have a look a round there are some very high performance hulls out there which will handle "all you can give them"

The BEC from the power pack does not seem to work well in a boat - a seperate pack doesnt affect performance as a much as a plane.

However because of the higher current drain of a baot dropping off the plane, when the cells get low everything switches of quite suddenly - and usually the speed control stays on and steering is lost

- that can be anything from amusing to catastrophic

Might be idea to ensure the kid is tutored in bringing it in as the cells show signs of dumping - winter water is sheer agony! :-)

[GVFD29]

Had a over heating problem which sorta caused a little bit of smoking on the water. Heat resistor was an issue so I made a change, I bought a Jeti 45 ESC from Hobby Lobby. This would get rid of a lot of weight. It would remove the Reciever Battery (4 AA), 1 servo, the burnt heat resistor, and that pesky 3 speed with reverse thingy. Pretty nice set up, nice speed with an modified 8.4v 1600mAh Lithium polymer battery. Overall, light and fast. I am now looking at the Hobby Lobby Volvo B-24 boat.

[Mike A]

What sort of duration did you get using the lithium cells? I'm about to buy my son a boat for his birthday and have been looking at the Kyosho blue streak with IC Engine as I don't want to have to buy half a dozen set of nicads. But I'd prefer to get electric if possible. What is the cell configuration? I'm new to this but have been following the long tread relating to FMA lithiums and still don't fully understand what's required!

Thanks
Mike

[GVFD29]

The Lithium battery runs OK right now, I get about a 10 to 13 min run time. I currently am running the motor beyond it's reccomended limits. I am running a NiCD 9.6v battery. Much more speed but it also gets a little hotter. B.T.W., The battery I WAS experimenting with was a Cordless telephone battery (Lithium). I could'nt believe the size battery they put into my phone. Thats Radio Shack for you. Cya.

[Fitz Walker]

Andy,

I think you would be more happy with this: http://www.hobby-lobby.com/elecvee.htm

It is a little more building, but better performance as it is a geared surface drive and kicks up a great rooster tail.

I have an old Graupner Portifino that uses two of these drives: :cool:

I haven't driven it in years, but I've been thinking of taking it out of mothballs at my parent's house and upgrading it to 21st century equipment. Better motors, 2600 NiMh (8-cells, yeah!) packs, better speed controller. should get 15 of high-speed fun now.

[Ryan502]

hey guys,this is the 9 year old he was talking about,i am now 12 and i love my boat,i would request it to anyone who need a new boat,its great for beginers and more advanced racers,because it has speed control,the only problem i ever had was i would try to get it to stop but it wouldnt so it crashed but sense it is so tough,it didnt leave a scratch.andy made it so the boat would turn off auto matticly when i turned off my remote,now it is great and can take harsh waves!Good fun!

[Bigmaxy]

That's excellent Ryan

It's great to hear that the boat is still going strong after these years, show's it must have been a good choice right from the start. :)

[Ryan502]

its ryan again, im now 13. i just took my boat out this morning at my pool to see how it was running.i had taken it to the lake a while back and i thought that sense the battery was so old it wasnt holding charge.my charger would charge it for 15 minutes and then say it was done.when i drove it, it would last for 30 seconds.2 days ago i figured out it was my charger.i have a nice airsoft gun and it came with a charger and also a battery adapter. i used that charger instead. the battery was fine the whole time. i was really happy to find that out this morning. The boat still rune great. for christmas im wanting a nitro rc.Prefferably a truggy.i want a nitro rustler,but its 325$i know i can get some one to get it for me cheaper, but its still alot of money. I really like the hpi firestorm 10T. Its only 2wd but its cheaper and has a good speed. Any sugestions on a good nitro?