well got the new grate installed, was pretty easy, made out of control linkage rod. z-bend the front bars, in the "scoop" drill 4 holes and slide the rods in and done! took me under an hour to complete.

I like the Z bend idea! Nicely done.

Fire, there MIGHT be another contender for desktop there..aint sure yet..

T, the fins are for the kmb, so, it turns harder without spinnin..dont want spin outs on that boat..

Scub, aint no twigs bendin THAT lol..

You can see that boat has seen a few rocks on the bottom..

I was snivelin to Steve about the weather here, this is where he happened to be when he got the email..lol..

Life is tough there, livin on the beach..

Fire - more amazin' pics. Better than most of us could do with professional stuff, let alone on a cellphone.

Scub - just the way Oz Steve does it. As Chi says, no twig will break that. Even one the size of Greece as he once put it.

Chi - I approve of your choice of desktop. I thought you might have had a pic of your current wife or GF on there. Then I realised that would mean changing it too often
Take no notice - I'm just jealous.

Originally Posted by madbugger

Fire - more amazin' pics. Better than most of us could do with professional stuff, let alone on a cellphone.

Well really most of the credit goes to mother nature there, I just happened to be in the right place at the right time with a nifty electronic gadget that takes decent photos.

Originally Posted by Firehawk989

Well really most of the credit goes to mother nature there

Too modest.
Do you happen to know the name of the mountain in the centre of IMAG0647.jpg. Just wanted to find it on GoogleEarth to see where you'd been.

Fire, my $700 nikon aint takin as good a pics..now, I admit a bunch of pilot error, tho, but still... You gotta eye for the shot.

Got ALL my stuff done !!

Lookit how much better the NQD looks with the bar..

Didn't want to jack the thread. But here's finally my first run with my BlackJack. I was grinding the whole time and afterward. Never had a toy like this!
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...4#post23908020

Thread is about the PEOPLE, not the subject..and GREAT people here..

No jackin to it..

Originally Posted by madbugger

Scub - just the way Oz Steve does it. As Chi says, no twig will break that. Even one the size of Greece as he once put it.

Haha, im still worried about small gravel. i used to run a screen it worked great at stopping everything, even ran the boat over weeds ect.

Chi- how well does the water pickup work on the kmb unit? are you going to try one of the other nozzles and try making a rudder for more steering control. i know its mostly for low speed but it may help.

hmm, i found this in a google search... wonder the size looks absolutely awesome!
http://wuxitianke.en.made-in-china.c...ps-ZLB16-.html

my bad... thats for a much larger boat....

Originally Posted by ScubaruSteve

my bad... thats for a much larger boat....

Yes. I think 50Kw of power is more than even Chi would think of putting in a 410mm model. Or any model. But it's an easy mistake to make - although it's intended for full-size boats it does look as if it's made of injection moulded plastic in those pics.
I agree, the new grate may not be the ultimate answer over gravel, weed etc. of which, like you, I have my share. I've got screen on both my present boats but when I get round to finishing my Steve boat (which has the same modded NQD drive as Chi's) it has this type of grate. So far I've only run it in the bath, and I made a particular point of getting rid of all the gravel, weed, twigs, toy ducks etc. in the bathtub first.
Of course, Chi's main focus is lake running where twigs and the like are the problem, so it will be interesting to know how it fares in rock crawling situations. To be fair Oz Steve uses his in streams so I guess it should be OK.

Originally Posted by chidago

Got ALL my stuff done !!

Is there some rule about the angle to mount the turn fins on a conventional hull. I know the ones on hydros are normally mounted straight up and down but that's because of their hull form. In any case, they only turn one way and they corner level. I've no idea about boats meant to turn either way and heel into turns. Is there a way to calculate it or it is a case of 'suck it and see' and using your experience.

If you cut yourself mounting them, its as well you painted the boat red. At least the blood won't show