Simon's 4S Balsa Rigger

[Simon.O.]

Before I say anything else, I must give publicly a HUGE thank you to Paddy, without his help this would not have happened. He sent me dozens of photos of his Xzess-3 Mr Krabbs. and a whole pile of dimensions.
He also sent me at his own cost a 7XL and a couple of 4S packs complete with a balance charger. This was at no cost to me.
Paddy is the man who made this possible for me.

Here is the beginings of it.
I put a basic tub on top of my 2S rigger for a size comparison.
There are a few shots of the tub so far, the hardware and the sponson spines curing under a lot of lead.

[Simon.O.]

The sponson spines under lead and THE PLANS !!!!

[Ub Hauled]

Looking good Simon!.. keep 'em coming...

Paddy, you da man!

[Meniscus]

Looks good Simon! I'd make an extra set of sponsons though...

It could come in handy later to trade for other parts/items or repair when you catch an edge at 80+ mph!

[Xzessperated]

It is good to see the build under way Simon. I wish H&M had used something strong to bolt the hardware on like you have. The transom and the sponson that carries the turn fin both need to be strong on riggers.

I will be surprised if you do not get to see 60mph with that 7xl. Andy had it doing a little over 65mph in his old Xzess 2 (now mine). If you do not get 60mph I have a plan B that will make it happen.

Watching with a great deal of interest.

Paddy

EDIT. Simon this is just an after thought hence the edit. Some flotation in as many areas as you can might be a good idea before you put the top on. I used pool noodles cut to shape in Mr.Krabs. I hate the idea of losing motor, esc and battery all in one blow over.

[Meniscus]

...Simon this is just an after thought hence the edit. Some flotation in as many areas as you can might be a good idea before you put the top on. I used pool noodles cut to shape in Mr.Krabs. I hate the idea of losing motor, esc and battery all in one blow over.

Great point! I've had a few people laugh at all of the flotation I've put in my boats. My thought is, if there's space, it gets flotation. If there isn't space, I make space for extra flotation. LOL!

It's never a bad thing! => granted you're not running fans to cool motor or ESC.

[j.m.]

OOO!! More homemade hardware!! :D Look at the.. and how he did... and oh, whats..??

Amazing job. :)

Been working on a homemade stinger strut for a while now... Just need a lathe to finish it up. Trying to get this one to work with SS bearings and a bit of carbon for extra speed.

[tylerm]

Was gonna comment before i left for school this morning Simon, but the i looked at the clock
It look blimin awsome, except for that funny blue thing on your propshaft?
When its done, you'll have to make the trip over the bridge and come to a club day, i have a few props that should go well on it
Looking foward to more updates,
Tyler.

[Simon.O.]

Tyler,
I will come south soon, to Hakanoa. I want to get the balsa fleet lipo'd up and then come down for a few speed runs when the timing gear is up.
That blue thing is the finest,fastest ........o.k it is a pos that was put on there to mock up the whole thing.

J.M
Lathes are good, hand tools and skills rule. Design it and make it your way with what you have, it is not hard.
PM me if you want a little help with hardware making tips.

Paddyand Ben
I will take your advice and stuff all spare space with pool noodle, sinking this one is out of the question.

The build idea
I am very grateful to Paddy for his input into this project.
My plan is to build a rigger that is similar to the H&M Xzess-3.
I have taken the key measurements being the sponson width, spacing, AoA, and tub size. From here I have drawn (envisaged) a hull.
The plan is to get to 100km/h or 60mph. When it looks close I will take it south and have it timed.
I have so many ideas at the moment that writing them will cloud a good build thead.

[tylerm]

yea mate, only way to settle it is with the poles and watches

[Simon.O.]

A progress report. This will be a slow build compared to my others as I have a lot of domestic duties around the place for the family.

The sponsons are coming on well and will look similar to the Xzess-3 ones.
Here is a mock up of what I have so far. I put this together to see the size of it.
This will really suck up some shelf space.
The black thing on the motor (7XL) is the Carbon can that will become the water jacket, I need to find some good O-rings for it and then fit the in and out tubes that will produce a flow around the motor.

[Xzessperated]

Simon,
Your build is looking good. It is quite close in looks to Mr. Krabs.
I weighed Mr. Krabs today and he is 2.408 kg when ready to rock n' roll. I thought that might help to let you know how your build is going for weight.

[tylerm]

Looking good simon. I really like it.
Two things
1) i believe seal imports is the place for o-rings. Thats if you cant find anything closer to home.
2) you may want to rethink the deans plugs? i have some 5.5mm bullets here you can have if you want them.
Club day tomorrow at wattle downs, make the trip if you feel it. Hoping for good weather.

Tyler.

[andym]

Simon listen to Tyler on the deans plug, 6mm is the way to go. You will melt the solder off those deans plugs, This is such a beutiful build that when it is up and running, and I am sure it will run just fine I think you should team up with a lazer cutter and start making kits for sale to me! I think you have fixed the design floors in the xs3 by making your own.
Anything you need donated just ask Paddy and myself, I have six of Paddy's props in the shed if you want them, he wont mind!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Xzessperated]

You should feel very proud of this build Simon.