"The Gecko" aka Miss Geico

[ScottSpanker]

Just finished polishing the clearcoat on the new paint. Time to get busy. She's gonna be a twin. I've had this one in the works for about 3 years and have had the parts and hardware for over 2 years. I'm also planning on machining some pretty cool stuff for her too. Oh, and this was my first crack at a professional paint job. What a learning curve. Lots of mistakes.

[meangenesracing]

Just finished polishing the clearcoat on the new paint. Time to get busy. She's gonna be a twin. I've had this one in the works for about 3 years and have had the parts and hardware for over 2 years. I'm also planning on machining some pretty cool stuff for her too. Oh, and this was my first crack at a professional paint job. What a learning curve. Lots of mistakes.

I like the gold. What kind of paint did you use and do you have the paint code?

[larryrose11]

Great work. Painting well is not easy

[ScottSpanker]

Thanks guys. Createx auto air. Candy pigment yellow shot over metallic gold. Hotrod sparkle white mixed 50/50 intercoat clear shot over whole boat. Summit high solids clear coat. Mini hvlp touch up gun with 1.2 nozzle.

[fweasel]

That paint job will not be hard to spot out on the water. Nice work.

[ScottSpanker]

164888164889 Starting the build. I weave plain. A little on the wet side but layed down pretty nice.

[ScottSpanker]

164901164902 The hatch. Again a lil on the wet side but got it to form to the lip pretty well.

[ScottSpanker]

164935164936 sponson stringers. Carbon kevlar. Got it layed out, now I'll throw it on the mill. I still need to cut the middle one for the bow.

[fweasel]

Those templates are my least favorite part of reinforcing a hull. Depending on the room and access, they can be a real pain to make.

[ScottSpanker]

How right you are. Such a necessity in a high speed setup, and such a pain to fabricate and install.

[ScottSpanker]

164942164943 The process of cutting the design and the finished product. I gotta be honest, this was my first time carving up carbon kevlar and it will probably be my last. The kevlar doesn't leave a nice finish like carbon fiber. I had the material so i decided to use it. Good enough for stringers.

[ScottSpanker]

165801 Stringer's mounted.

[ScottSpanker]

165802165803165804 Roughing out the motor mounts and getting dialed in.

[ScottSpanker]

165805165806 Strut time!

[fweasel]

Coming along. It's going to look mean once those drives are mounted.

[ScottSpanker]

165807165808 Had a lil bit of a problem with one of my water jackets fitting. It was a thousandth under the motor. The other one fit fine however was a bit different in design with the same part#. Weird. Had to bore it out quite a bit. I'm not into the interference fit.

[ScottSpanker]

Thanks. I'm getting to those pictures as we speak. I've been procrastinating posting the progress. I have a bunch more.

[ScottSpanker]

165809165810165811165812 Mocking up the motors, struts are on!

[ScottSpanker]

165813165814165815 Motor mounts in, stuffing tubes in.

[ScottSpanker]

165816165817165818165819 Machine time! Transom mounted strut braces or clamps, whatever u want to call them.

[ScottSpanker]

I'll post more later. The clamps are still unfinished in these pictures, but u get the idea! :rockon2:

[fweasel]

Oh, such wonderful tools

[ScottSpanker]

Oh, such wonderful tools
Yeeesss! I love em!

[ScottSpanker]

165842165843 Putting the final touches on the clamp.

[ScottSpanker]

165844165845165846 Clamps finished up. Preparing to drill and install T or blind nuts.

[ScottSpanker]

165847165848165849 Rudder bracket just finished.

[ScottSpanker]

165912165913165914165915 Cutting and chamfering the struts. All mounted up. Not too bad if i do say so myself. Almost ready for powder coat.

[NativePaul]

Wow!

I've never seen so much time effort and skills put into modifying an RTR before, it looks like you have done a proper job there.

I really hope it holds up with all the reinforcing you have done, but don't forget to fill it with flotation of some sort, so the worst doesn't happen if a bit you cant reach with reinforcement gives way.

[ScottSpanker]

Wow!

I've never seen so much time effort and skills put into modifying an RTR before, it looks like you have done a proper job there.

I really hope it holds up with all the reinforcing you have done, but don't forget to fill it with flotation of some sort, so the worst doesn't happen if a bit you cant reach with reinforcement gives way.

Thank you much Paul. It's true that once upon a time she was a RTR, but now i think she no longer knows the meaning. Hehehe! I had a lot of hours into truing the bottom when i originally put her out of commission. The plan was to bring her back as a twin. I really tried to put my best for forward on this one. As for the flotation i use loctite expanding foam in the sponson tips and bow. It also helps with structure. Then I'll fill the rest with pool noodle foam.

[ScottSpanker]

166217166218 Got the water pick ups cur, bent, and soldered.

[ScottSpanker]

166219166220166221166222 Moving right along. Servo mount, carbon posts with nylon inserts. Just finished the dress up washers.

[ScottSpanker]

166223166224166225166226166227 Just finished the servo mount , carbon posts with nylon inserts. Spun up some dress washers too. Couldn't have done it without the help of Taylor, "Big Mister".

[fweasel]

The orange epoxy is a nice touch. Did you make your own brass barbs for the water pick-ups? If so, how did you make the cone pieces? I ended up just soldering on a small section of brass tube one size larger to give the hose something to bite on.

[ScottSpanker]

No i didn't, but that's not a bad idea. Nor is the way you're doing them. That works too. I think i could cut my own tho, using the rotary table and like a 60° dremel burr, or something of that nature. I had purchased these from OSE. Quick and dirty! Thanks for the compliment. I dumped a lil createx in the g flex. Makes it a little stringy and a tad thicker too especially with micro fibers in it.

[ScottSpanker]

I'd love to share some of my recent progress, but for some reason every time i upload it says "upload failed". Any suggestions?

[ScottSpanker]

166492

[ScottSpanker]

Alright! I'm back to posting pictures. A little more of my progress, and some more handy work on the mill.

[ScottSpanker]

166508166509166510I got the linkage close. A little more tweaking and I'll have it. What a long drawn out process fabricating the servo horn, clevis, and pins out of stainless steel socket heads.

[Mike W]

Your machine work is gorgeous. What machine tools are you using? I'd love to have a small lathe/mill someday.

[ScottSpanker]

Your machine work is gorgeous. What machine tools are you using? I'd love to have a small lathe/mill someday.

Thank u so much Mike. I use a lot of 3 flute small diameter end mills 1/8",3/16",1/4", serrated flutes for roughing. Drill point 2 flute end mills 90?and 82? for chamfering, spotting and fine finish. I'll post some pictures of some of my favorites later.

[Alfa Spirit]

Cool KBB style small cat.

[ScottSpanker]

Cool KBB style small cat.

I'll take that as a huge compliment, thank you. I learned a lot watching his builds. It's a shame his forum doesn't exist anymore.

[ScottSpanker]

166690166691166692A little more progress. Esc mount painted and ready for clear coat. I quick look at half the power plant. We're sneaking up on it. Won't be long now.

[ScottSpanker]

166739166740166739166741 Moving right along. Carbon posts for esc mount are in. Got the mount all cleared up. The carbon really comes to life under some high solids clear.

[ScottSpanker]

166746166747166748 Power plants hooked up!

[ScottSpanker]

166798 The race gas arrived today straight from Singapore!

[fweasel]

Nice. I always got pretty quick shipping direct from Revo.

[ScottSpanker]

166867166868166869 Got all the soldering done. That was a lot of work. Gonna start routing wires and start plumbing.

[ScottSpanker]

166956 I'm not the only one dreaming of finishing this thing. Sometimes he even helps! :banana:

[Rayhynes]

Hay man if you don?t mind where did you get the outdrive made and your rudder

[ScottSpanker]

Hay man if you don?t mind where did you get the outdrive made and your rudder

I machined the strut standoffs, rudder standoff, and rudder on my benchtop mill. There should be pictures of all this being made except the rudder, i forgot to snap some pictures of it. Struts are OSE 3/16" cut down and turned the bevel using my rotary table. Should be some pictures of this as well.