Micro Hydro Turn fin angle advice sorted

[tlandauer]

I recently acquired a mint conditioned Tenshock Micro Hydro here from the F/S Forum. This Hydro in stock form doesn't have a turn fin. I have a DF Vortex 16 RTR that has a turn fin. It is a straight fin without the customery inward bend. It is mounted in a canted way so it is parallel with the outside of the starboard sponson. See pic. 1
Should I do the same to mount like the DF Vortex 16 ( Pic. 2) or perpendicular to the floor of the boat? (Pic. 3)
Pic.1 96203
Pic.2 96204
Pic.3 96205
:confused2: :noidea:

[h2o 1]

Turn fin should be parallel to the inside sponson. Sweetaccord has great info on that boat in his album, check it out.

[tlandauer]

Turn fin should be parallel to the inside sponson. Sweetaccord has great info on that boat in his album, check it out.
Thanks, will check it out. Always thought the DF was a bit eccentric but as you can see the blade is straight w/o curving inward---maybe that's the reason how DF mounted theirs?!
Funny thing is that the Vortex 16 runs very well, more stable than the Tenshock although I think the latter has more potential.

[Heaving Earth]

The turn fins should be like pic 3.

[tlandauer]

The turn fins should be like pic 3.
Thanks!

[bracka69]

Hey Tim, where did you get the turn fin from for the Micro? Looking one for mine now also.

[tlandauer]

I bought here @ OSE, I got both versions so I can see which fits better. http://www.offshoreelectrics.com/proddetail.php?prod=ose-80042 http://www.offshoreelectrics.com/proddetail.php?prod=ose-80040
I find the smaller " round" one a bit too small for the boat but the bracket is a better fit than the one that comes with the blade that you see from my picture. I used the smaller bracket in the picture and the blade mounts in the middle of the bracket where as the other one is a "L" shaped bracket and the foot print is just a tiny bit too big for the sponson.
They are really light and the quality is real good for $6.00, at least that is what I think.

[bracka69]

Thanks Tim. Let me know which works best for ya.
Joshua

[tlandauer]

Thanks Tim. Let me know which works best for ya.
Joshua
Will do, I also ordered one from Minicat, just want to compare, I figured all this money are " investment " well spent, lol...
I do like Minicat's fins as theirs is made with CF. Also the blue hardware matches, of more importance is the foot print is smaller, that area in the back of the sponson is not 100% flat and those bigger brackets don't mount completly flush. I have a feeling that I may end up using their bracket and the OSE blade. :noidea:

[h2o 1]

Tim when you receive ur Minicat fin could you please tell me the length of the fin? I ordered two a few weeks ago and i received two different size fins.One is 30mm long,the other 41mm long.:confused2:

[tlandauer]

Tim when you receive ur Minicat fin could you please tell me the length of the fin? I ordered two a few weeks ago and i received two different size fins.One is 30mm long,the other 41mm long.:confused2:
Will do, I also ordered two since I have a Starship Outrigger, wonder which size I got!:noidea:

[tlandauer]

Tim when you receive ur Minicat fin could you please tell me the length of the fin? I ordered two a few weeks ago and i received two different size fins.One is 30mm long,the other 41mm long.:confused2:
Turn fins just arrived, both measured ar 41mm. Still can't decide which bracket to use, the blue one has a narrower dimension but is taller, some filing will be required so nothing sticks out of the rear end of the right sponson. :noidea:
This is turning out to be more than just a Friday afternoon quicky... :frusty:

[h2o 1]

Thanks Tim, theres not much to work with on these things for sure.Im positive the end result will be well worth ur efforts. That is one sweet little hydro you got there! I'll keep my eye on this thread as it will be a learning process for me too. Thanks again, Mark

[tlandauer]

Thanks Tim, theres not much to work with on these things for sure.Im positive the end result will be well worth ur efforts. That is one sweet little hydro you got there! I'll keep my eye on this thread as it will be a learning process for me too. Thanks again, Mark
Thanks Mark for your encouragement.
It really was more complicated than necessary. Anyway, I went to Radio Shack and got FG Prepunched Perfboard , cut out the doubler and filled with epoxy mixed with West System Adhesive Filler. The inside of that area is not flat so the epoxy mixture is thick and won't run and needs to fill up whatever gap there might be behind the doubler.
Drilling was another story, the short drill bit can't allow good perpendicular drilling so after I made pilot holes was able to enlarge with a long needle file attached to my drill.
9639996400964019640296403
BTW, I decided to use the OSE turn fin, it is the small curved one. I like the Minicat hardware but there is only one bolt to secure the bracket and since the surface is not flat, there is no way that it will stay put unless one uses epoxy to glue it in addition to the provided bolt.
I damaged the straight fin , I will order another one and do some comparision between the two.

[Gary]

I did the same thing and filled in the inside of the hull so the bracket had something to bite on to. I just put a new ESC that has reverse in it and more timing and has made it faster and easyer to manage if she needs to back up for some reason. Fun little boat.

[tlandauer]

Ran it and with the turn fin ( small/curved one that OSE sells) installed I noticed LEFT turn ( counter-clockwise) is noticeable better. Strange, with the turn fin on starboard, it should help for right turns. I know scale hydro club races like Classic Thunder and ERCU only turn left. lol...
The little hydro runs best on glass-smooth water as expected. My DF Vortex 16 does seem to be a more stable hydro, in the end, size does matter!
Having said that, the over all quality of this Tenshock is superior to the DF RTR vesion.
Will report back once the larger straight fin arrives.

[tlandauer]

I ran again and for now with the above: http://www.offshoreelectrics.com/proddetail.php?prod=ose-80042 ( Small curved) blade, boat runs better than the straight one : http://www.offshoreelectrics.com/proddetail.php?prod=ose-80040, the extra length of the blade is not helping. I realized I need to make the Minicat CF blade narrower on the top in order to use the OSE bracket, so didn't have a chance to try. When I said left turn is better, I don't mean the boat turns left better than right, it turns more stably when goint CW , it is unfazed by even medium chops. Think about it: the tip of the blade bends inward and when turning left, it is like a shovel wedged under water, the hydro is planted. Right turn is not the same. Straight line is pretty good, I def. enjoy running this little hydro.

[Gary]

Now mine was the other way around. Just took off the small curved one and put on the straight fin and turning is much better. The boat did not like the smaller one a all but then again hull is a little heaver than stock with some modificaions and bigger ESC. It is a blast to run and cheap too !!! Have fun with yours !