Villain rebuild

[excotec]

The boat that got me involved with this hobby was a Traxxas Villain IV I bought used off a fellow Soldier many years ago. I learned allot from that boat and had many, many great days with it. Somewhere through the years it was misplaced in one of the several moves. I never gave it much thought as I only paid twenty bucks for it and more than got my money for it.

I got to thinking it would be neat to get another one to have and show my wife what has really cost her all the money over the years so I place a add in the wanted section and found one for a good price. The gentleman is a plane flyer and just bough the boat to play around with. He never done anything with it and decided to get rid of it. Whoever the original owner was had painted it, not a very good job.

The first point of business was to remove everything from the hull. They had installed an automatic oilier and the only thing it was doing was putting silicone on the inside of the hull and not the shafts. Once I had it stripped my next point of order was to prep it for a fresh coat of paint. I ran into some problems there but got some help in another thread so I am on my way now. I hope to have this done in a week or so. The nearest hobby shop is an hour away in Munich so will have to resort to the local hardware store and model train shop for most of the things I may need.

[Fladder]

Looks great!!! I hope that, when you're finished, she'll give you as much pleasure as you remember :)

[Kmot]

Nice job, looking really good!

[excotec]

No new updates really. As I mentioned the nearest hobby store is a hour away so I used the local Obi (Home depot type store) to purchase some white paint for my base coat as I "thought" (keep reading) I was out of paint. German paint is different from what we have in the states and requires a different method to put it on. The paint is really thin and water like when it comes out of the can. I sprayed the first mist coat on and everything was fine. When I applied a wet coat it started out perfect. I thought for sure I was working on a master piece. Half way down the hull the paint just turned into a water fall and ran all the way from the keel down to the water line. It almost looked like it was in slow motion. I just put the can of paint down and walked away.

Today I left work at three in the hopes of going to the toy store here in town and hopefully get some model paint since they do sell static models. No luck, they have the airbrush, airbrush thinner and the compressed air but no paint. Only the small cans of paint but nothing I could use in a airbrush.

We stubled across a new model train store here the other day so I thought I would give them a try. Drove over there only to discover they are only open half a day during the week. Frustrated a drove back to teh house and made myself an adult beverage to sit and enjoy.

I then had the idea to look on the internet for revell airbrush paint ( I think it is only available in Europe) and find the nearest dealer they have listed on the web. If close enough I could have the wife run there on her way home from work. It is not listed on the revell.com site so thought maybe I had the wrong brand. I went to look in my paint box for a half empty jar to make sure. I ended up finding three brand new jars of gloss white paint!

Since I was really frustrated with myself and the fact that I was now on number two of my tasty beverages I decided today was just not the day to hook up the airbrush and even attempt painting. Maybe I will get some work done this weekend.

[excotec]

Now that paint issues have been resolved I am back on track. I gave it one last sanding and have now got it back to a nice white. Once the paint dries in a day or two I will add the blue and then be done painting the hull. I had the cockpit sitting in a bag covered with oven cleaner for a vew days and 90% of the paint came right off. I will spay it down again tonight and hopefully that will take care of the rest.

[excotec]

Progress is slow but it is moving. I got the rest of the cockpit area cleaned up and a coat of primer on it. Getting ready to shoot the white on. The blue and black was put on the hull. All that is left for that is a coat of wax.

[excotec]

Done. Now I can start on the electronics. That will be tomorrow as it is bed time here. Work sure does come early in the morning if I stay up to late.

For reference I attached a before shot

[Boatfox]

That looks unbelievably better. Keep up the good work.

[excotec]

Thanks. It has been fun doing it. I am not sure if I can save the windshield or not. The paint that was used on it is very hard to get off. I may end up searching the local office supply for a clear folder of some sort to cut a new one out.

The original one I had did not have any water cooling and this one does. I am hoping KMOT will read this and snap me a picture of how his is routed, mainly the exhaust setup.

I am also thinking about some type of pinstripng down the side. Just need to look arround for ideas.

[Boatfox]

This was some graduated automotive pinstriping I had found....I can take a pic of my water cooling tonight and post if you want. Simple intake scoop and wrap around the motor and spit out the side. You can buy aluminum tube to wrap around the motor yourself..no need to spend $$$ on pre-made stuff.
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=895150

[tim slocum]

Excotec,I had a Villian some years ago and it was fun,however I found I wanted more speed and runtime.I understand that now theres a new and improved Villian EX.It runs on 14.4v instead of the 7.2v the old Villian ran on.I've read the reviews and it sounds like a lot of fun.Maybe you could find some info online,and convert yours to 14.4v??I dont think it would be very difficult,just changing some wiring to the batteries,better esc.,and a pair of better motors.Good luck with your project.

[excotec]

Tim,
Already got all the parts you described. Looking forward to getting this one wet

[excotec]

Boatfox,
Please do. I am mostly interested in how you get the water back out. I have two octura water intakes that was already installed in the bottom.

[Boatfox]

As promised....Here are the major layout, intake scoop, "exhaust" outlet. It is actually very similar to what Kmot has done recently with his 47'MLB, just smaller.
This was a robbe kit that was obviously kit bashed and made into something wonderful. I run a smallish prop because I'm not out to set records...just blast by the old timers... :D I think the boat runs 20-25 depending if I have 6, 7, or 8 cells in. I usually get 25 minutes run time, and the batteries get hot before the motor or ESC. I also don't have but a few coils around the motor. You may need to take 5-6 coils and solder a few 3/8" pieces right onto the motor tabs to take the heat off. I'll see if I can find a pick of that setup. Sorry about the paint on the shaft...last time out I think a turtle came up in front and I bumped it...Turtle was fine....

[Boatfox]

Heres the rest of the boat too...sorry not trying to sidetrack your thread....

[Boatfox]

Check out this thread and scroll down to see the Major water cooled motor setup.
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=553488&highlight=water+cooling

[excotec]

Thanks for the pics. It gives me some good ideas. Really impressive how you routed the waterlines to keep them out of the way.

[excotec]

The problem I am looking at is the double walled hull of the villain. Curios as to where they put the water outlet.