sp400 sized plans/sites/what prop? etc etc - Page 2

MrBungle · Sep 19, 2002, 03:12 PM

Hi guys,

Ive bought one of the kits that I mentioned in my last post.
Its built and covered but the canopy needs painting and I need to sort out positions for all the gear and some type of drive shaft.

I will post some construction pictures soon, it is a real nice looking boat, you will want one!

I'm unfortunatelly unable to provide the plans as this is a kit and I don't think the manufacturer would be very happy with me

. But if there's some interest I might be able to send kits to those that would like one, depending on postage etc etc.
The kits aren't perfect(made for kids), some things provided need to be thrown away and done differently, but Its not dificult to build.

Anyway, pictures as soon as I use up this roll of film and get it developed.

'Till then....
Simon

MrBungle · Oct 16, 2002, 09:45 AM

Hmmmm.
I dunno if anyone is even reading this thread anymore, but I'm gonna post anyway.
The film got developed, a PhotoCD burnt, but I soon discovered that my Pentax SLR is now faulty, half of the photo's are unusable, the remainder only have half an image, the whole right side of each frame on the negative never got exposed. So I now have a whole bunch of half pictures.

Anyway, I managed to salvage a couple of pics, some of them a little dark on the right side. None of the pics of the finished model came out, D'OH!, so I'll have to shoot another roll when I figure whats gone wrong with my camera (seems to be the shutter).
I forgot to use my blue filter with some of these, so images are a little red due to incandescent lighting. Tried to correct in Photoshop, but colours are a bit off.

Left: Centre section (body) with 6v speed400 and 7cell pack of 600AE's. The bit on the nose thats been sheeted is full of polystyrene foam. At this stage the body had quite a bit of strength to it, but it could be easily twisted. Found an easy fix that served a double purpose. More later.
Right: The pontoons ready to have some foam fillings and then bottom skins fitted. The bottom skins supplied with the kit had no chance of ever fitting, too small, so I cut another pair out of 1/16" balsa, but then there was the problem of the compound curve of the underside. Some head scratching later and I just cut a slit about 3" long into the balsa sheet, glued the sheeting on one side of the slit, pressed the other side down and cut some more away from the slit to mate up with the original cut, removing a thin wedge of balsa, worked great.

Trial fit of pontoons onto centre section to make sure everything is lining up.
Notice the dowels, one running across the inside bottom of the transom, and the other about midway in the second boxed section from the front. These aren't part of the kit, but I figured I would add them for some more strength as there is very little contact area between the body and the pontoons, didnt want to risk them coming off at speed. They run the full width of the pontoons and add little weight. They also eliminate, with the help of the pontoons, the majority of that twist that could be exerted on the body. Note also the foam in the aft section of the pontoon, there is also some filling between the first former and the tip of the pontoon. Hopefully there is enough foam to stop her hitting the bottom if I get a puncture

Even if she only floats somewhere under the surface, its better than diving.

Left: Its a little hard to see here, but There is a canopy there and its being trial fitted, lots of fun.
Right: Covering! more fun. And the only photo that I remembered to use the blue filter, white whites!
Okay covering, Problem here was that the pontoons needed covering before they were glued to the body, but the dowels needed epoxying AS the pontoon sides were glued on which meant that the side sheeting had to stay off, which meant that I couldnt cover the pontoons ... hmmmm.
Dunno if you can see but there are some 1/4" x 1/4" basla strips between the pontoons and the body, the bottom surface of these were covered first, then the insides of the pontoons were covered, except where the 1/4" balsa strip was to be glued.
The balsa strips were glued to the pontoons and then the top covering for the pontoons was applied so as to cover the balsa strip too, seamlessly. The top covering was only ironed on about half way to the sides, to allow the side sheeting to be fitted and then sanded and doped and sanded and doped and sanded. The body was covered, except for another area for the 1/4" strip. The pontoons were now glued to the body, the doweles were epoxied and the side sheeting was glued on. The top covering was finished, the bottom got covered and then the sides got covered. Fun
BTW, all surfaces that were to be covered got 2 coatings of dope with sanding before and after each coat. Smoooooth! and hopefully watertight. Time will tell.

Fully covered (except for the wing) and the last good photo I have. The covering is white all over, not yellow as it appears here and the black background was a mistake.

Done after this Photo:
The wing is covered and in place, the canopy and parts of the hull are painted, discovered I'm no painter

And the little guy in the cockpit is painted, I'm actually proud of my painting effort with him, tho I tried to get as close to flesh tone skin as possible for his face. Someone said to me to exagerate the colour and it will look more realistic, I said 'nah' and kept matching the paint colour to the skin on my arm.
Well, I goofed up, he is just a tad palefaced, but I guess I would be too if I was doing a scale speed of around 300k's an hour across water!
BTW these photo's don't do the finished model justice, It looks good, even with my dodgy painting.

To do:
Some way to secure the canopy. It fits in a track and its a nice tight fit, but hardly secure.
Well I have no idea what to use as a shaft, and no idea what to do for a rudder.
I'm thinking maybe some flexi nylon tubing and a bass guitar string to fit, but I dunno yet.
As for the rudder I'm thinking a small peice of 1/16" ply and aaaargh I dunno. I did beef up the transom expecting to end up having to bolt something on there.
Any Idea's anyone? I dont think theres anything available commercialy for boats this size is there?

If anyone is interested in one of these kits, let me know, they are around 10 to 15 $US for the kit, freight cost unknown but easy enough to figure out.

Back to the planes for now,
Simon

martin richards · Oct 17, 2002, 01:37 PM

Some of us just browse and enjoy model talk. Your photo problems sound like you're using too fast a shutter speed for your flash. I bet there are no problems uxing it without flash, and I bet your Pentax is neraring old age (shutter runs horizontally)

MrBungle · Oct 18, 2002, 01:47 PM

No flash. Standard 100Watt incandescant bulb.
The above were 1/60th and 1/125 exposures with ASA 400 film.
The previous roll was fine, not even a hint of any problems. I'm trying to remember if I accidentally knocked the camera against something.
Yeah its getting old, unfortunatelly I had to buy an old camera because I needed a FULLY manual one.
I do a lot of time-lapse photography(anywhere from 5min to several hour exposures) and the newer camera's chew through the batteries holding the shutter open. The only thing the battery operates on mine is the light meter, and I can turn that off when I do the time-lapse stuff.

martin richards · Oct 18, 2002, 06:28 PM

Threw a wobbly a while back and may take up something in two dimensions eg boats instead of three. My last attempt at boats was an old Vic Smeed shallow "V" design with an ED racer 2.5 cc diesel Let us know how things go. Prop's with flex shafts, offset rudder, pontoons, how things change.
I'd still reckon from what you said you've got a shutter problem.

Sep 19, 2002, 03:12 PM	#16
MrBungle rebmeM roineS Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Rockingham, Perth - Western Australia Posts: 611	Hi guys, Ive bought one of the kits that I mentioned in my last post. Its built and covered but the canopy needs painting and I need to sort out positions for all the gear and some type of drive shaft. I will post some construction pictures soon, it is a real nice looking boat, you will want one! I'm unfortunatelly unable to provide the plans as this is a kit and I don't think the manufacturer would be very happy with me . But if there's some interest I might be able to send kits to those that would like one, depending on postage etc etc. The kits aren't perfect(made for kids), some things provided need to be thrown away and done differently, but Its not dificult to build. Anyway, pictures as soon as I use up this roll of film and get it developed. 'Till then.... Simon Last edited by MrBungle; Sep 19, 2002 at 03:18 PM.

Oct 16, 2002, 09:45 AM	#17
MrBungle rebmeM roineS Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Rockingham, Perth - Western Australia Posts: 611	Hmmmm. I dunno if anyone is even reading this thread anymore, but I'm gonna post anyway. The film got developed, a PhotoCD burnt, but I soon discovered that my Pentax SLR is now faulty, half of the photo's are unusable, the remainder only have half an image, the whole right side of each frame on the negative never got exposed. So I now have a whole bunch of half pictures. Anyway, I managed to salvage a couple of pics, some of them a little dark on the right side. None of the pics of the finished model came out, D'OH!, so I'll have to shoot another roll when I figure whats gone wrong with my camera (seems to be the shutter). I forgot to use my blue filter with some of these, so images are a little red due to incandescent lighting. Tried to correct in Photoshop, but colours are a bit off. Left: Centre section (body) with 6v speed400 and 7cell pack of 600AE's. The bit on the nose thats been sheeted is full of polystyrene foam. At this stage the body had quite a bit of strength to it, but it could be easily twisted. Found an easy fix that served a double purpose. More later. Right: The pontoons ready to have some foam fillings and then bottom skins fitted. The bottom skins supplied with the kit had no chance of ever fitting, too small, so I cut another pair out of 1/16" balsa, but then there was the problem of the compound curve of the underside. Some head scratching later and I just cut a slit about 3" long into the balsa sheet, glued the sheeting on one side of the slit, pressed the other side down and cut some more away from the slit to mate up with the original cut, removing a thin wedge of balsa, worked great. Trial fit of pontoons onto centre section to make sure everything is lining up. Notice the dowels, one running across the inside bottom of the transom, and the other about midway in the second boxed section from the front. These aren't part of the kit, but I figured I would add them for some more strength as there is very little contact area between the body and the pontoons, didnt want to risk them coming off at speed. They run the full width of the pontoons and add little weight. They also eliminate, with the help of the pontoons, the majority of that twist that could be exerted on the body. Note also the foam in the aft section of the pontoon, there is also some filling between the first former and the tip of the pontoon. Hopefully there is enough foam to stop her hitting the bottom if I get a puncture Even if she only floats somewhere under the surface, its better than diving. Left: Its a little hard to see here, but There is a canopy there and its being trial fitted, lots of fun. Right: Covering! more fun. And the only photo that I remembered to use the blue filter, white whites! Okay covering, Problem here was that the pontoons needed covering before they were glued to the body, but the dowels needed epoxying AS the pontoon sides were glued on which meant that the side sheeting had to stay off, which meant that I couldnt cover the pontoons ... hmmmm. Dunno if you can see but there are some 1/4" x 1/4" basla strips between the pontoons and the body, the bottom surface of these were covered first, then the insides of the pontoons were covered, except where the 1/4" balsa strip was to be glued. The balsa strips were glued to the pontoons and then the top covering for the pontoons was applied so as to cover the balsa strip too, seamlessly. The top covering was only ironed on about half way to the sides, to allow the side sheeting to be fitted and then sanded and doped and sanded and doped and sanded. The body was covered, except for another area for the 1/4" strip. The pontoons were now glued to the body, the doweles were epoxied and the side sheeting was glued on. The top covering was finished, the bottom got covered and then the sides got covered. Fun BTW, all surfaces that were to be covered got 2 coatings of dope with sanding before and after each coat. Smoooooth! and hopefully watertight. Time will tell. Fully covered (except for the wing) and the last good photo I have. The covering is white all over, not yellow as it appears here and the black background was a mistake. Done after this Photo: The wing is covered and in place, the canopy and parts of the hull are painted, discovered I'm no painter And the little guy in the cockpit is painted, I'm actually proud of my painting effort with him, tho I tried to get as close to flesh tone skin as possible for his face. Someone said to me to exagerate the colour and it will look more realistic, I said 'nah' and kept matching the paint colour to the skin on my arm. Well, I goofed up, he is just a tad palefaced, but I guess I would be too if I was doing a scale speed of around 300k's an hour across water! BTW these photo's don't do the finished model justice, It looks good, even with my dodgy painting. To do: Some way to secure the canopy. It fits in a track and its a nice tight fit, but hardly secure. Well I have no idea what to use as a shaft, and no idea what to do for a rudder. I'm thinking maybe some flexi nylon tubing and a bass guitar string to fit, but I dunno yet. As for the rudder I'm thinking a small peice of 1/16" ply and aaaargh I dunno. I did beef up the transom expecting to end up having to bolt something on there. Any Idea's anyone? I dont think theres anything available commercialy for boats this size is there? If anyone is interested in one of these kits, let me know, they are around 10 to 15 $US for the kit, freight cost unknown but easy enough to figure out. Back to the planes for now, Simon Last edited by MrBungle; Jul 28, 2007 at 06:18 AM.

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Oct 17, 2002, 01:37 PM	#18
martin richards Useful Idiot Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Asturias, Spain Posts: 2,664	Some of us just browse and enjoy model talk. Your photo problems sound like you're using too fast a shutter speed for your flash. I bet there are no problems uxing it without flash, and I bet your Pentax is neraring old age (shutter runs horizontally)

Oct 18, 2002, 01:47 PM	#19
MrBungle rebmeM roineS Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Rockingham, Perth - Western Australia Posts: 611	No flash. Standard 100Watt incandescant bulb. The above were 1/60th and 1/125 exposures with ASA 400 film. The previous roll was fine, not even a hint of any problems. I'm trying to remember if I accidentally knocked the camera against something. Yeah its getting old, unfortunatelly I had to buy an old camera because I needed a FULLY manual one. I do a lot of time-lapse photography(anywhere from 5min to several hour exposures) and the newer camera's chew through the batteries holding the shutter open. The only thing the battery operates on mine is the light meter, and I can turn that off when I do the time-lapse stuff.

Oct 18, 2002, 06:28 PM	#20
martin richards Useful Idiot Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Asturias, Spain Posts: 2,664	Threw a wobbly a while back and may take up something in two dimensions eg boats instead of three. My last attempt at boats was an old Vic Smeed shallow "V" design with an ED racer 2.5 cc diesel Let us know how things go. Prop's with flex shafts, offset rudder, pontoons, how things change. I'd still reckon from what you said you've got a shutter problem.