"Soaring Stuff" 1/6 P-Limited Crackerbox Build.

[blizard05]

Man,that's as old as me,was it a cup racer or a every day runabout?? If you like wooden boats,like I do get yourself a coppy of "Classic American Runabouts"wood boats 1915-1965 by Philip B Ballantyne Larry

[Hydromaniac]

Man,that's as old as me,was it a cup racer or a every day runabout?? If you like wooden boats,like I do get yourself a coppy of "Classic American Runabouts"wood boats 1915-1965 by Philip B Ballantyne Larry

I love Classic Wood Boats, I'm pretty sure it was patterned after a cup racer it is a step hydroplane, Thats a great book another is "Cutwater" by Robert Bruce Duncan, tons of great pictures

[Hydromaniac]

It was also Numbered F-83 "Miss Effingham" of Seattle

[blizard05]

Great find. Would be nice to have a vintage racing class 1920+1930 limited power, cup racers However, some of you would doze off during the race.

[Hydromaniac]

Just about ready to start.

As I said I had a project that had to be finished so that did not allow me the trime to get going on the Crackerbox. Here is the finished 1937 Hacker Triple Cockpit "Miss Effingham", It is powered by 2 Astroflight 40 /7 turn motors and 2 Victory ESC's The motors run in to a gear box turning a single drive shaft, also 4x 12 cell 6000 mah NiMh packs 2 12 cell packs in parellel to each esc. I tested her yesterday and it is much faster then I would have thought and is very stable. I am pleased with the finished product. Here are some pics of her ready for delivery.

[Hydromaniac]

1937 Hackercraft

A few more pics!

[Hydromaniac]

1937 Hackercraft Continued.

The last pics.

[sailr]

That is absolutely stunning! I wish I had to patience and the bank account to build like that!

[Hydromaniac]

Getting Back On track.

I had a couple of projects that needed to get some progress done, One has been finished and the second is at the slow drying phase. So I am going to begin on the "Soaring Stuff" Cracker box. Taylor has done a very nice job getting everything correct on the parts. The first thing I did was to check the parts inventory supplied and read all the directions. We have everything needed to build a P-limited crackerbox hull. The first thing is to get the building board ready to build the hull. Taylor has supplied the anchor blocks in the kit that will need to be placed on a very straight, flat building board. The instuctions recomend a shelf type board that you can get at most home improvement centers, you can also use any straight flat 1X that is the correct width as well. You will also need your building supplies. Here is a list of what I prefer to use.

X-acto knife and a supply of #11 blades
X-Acto type Razor Saw
Sanding Blocks long and hand size
Sandpaper. 80, 120, 180 grits. (Finer grits are used in the paint process)
Dremmel tool with sanding and shaping heads
30 minute epoxy
Thin CA
Medium CA
Small Block or hand plane
Straight edge or T-square
90 Degree square
Clamps
Masking Tape
I think that will get us the hull built. Time to get the building jig ready and start the Cracker box. Here is a photo of the kit inventory. I also received a very nice set of stand end plates that I think are optional, you can ask Taylor when you order your kit.

[Hydromaniac]

That is absolutely stunning! I wish I had to patience and the bank account to build like that!

Thank You, the owner was very pleased with it when he picked it up. He even made a special trip just to pick up the boat.

[blizard05]

This boat is on my (must have) list. I have built 1/10- 1/8 and 1/4 scale C boxes. Could you post a hardware list? thanks Larry

[Hydromaniac]

This boat is on my (must have) list. I have built 1/10- 1/8 and 1/4 scale C boxes. Could you post a hardware list? thanks Larry

I sure will as soon as I get the parts here.

[Hydromaniac]

Getting Started

Time to get to building our Crackerbox. The first thing you want to do is read the directions and get fimiliar with the parts placement. Next is to locate all of the parts make sure they are presant, Now I sanded the parts to remove any left behind fuzz from the cutting process of the parts, I then test fit the correct pieces into thier matching notches clean and sand as needed to get a good fit that is snug but not overly tight, as you don't want to have to force the parts in place and risk breaking something. Now I have finished the building board jig as per the instuctions, I had a very nice 1 X 10 on hand that I had milled at a local cabinet shop, it is very straight and perfectly flat so this is what I used for the jig. I glued the blocks in place and left it to dry over night. Now I'll do a dry run of the basic hull parts, I started at the transome following the directions I clamped all of the pieces together on the jig, small spring clamps and masking tape are perfect to do this. Check for fit and alignment now before gluing if you need to adjust things it is easier at this time rather then after gluing the parts in place. I found the support notch on the center keel did not quite come back far enough to meet at bulkhead #3 so I added 3/16 inch shims to the jig blocks to move bulkheads 1 & 2 back towards the transome this allowed everything to line up almost perfectly. Everythig has been located, fit and alignment is good. Here are some photos.

[Hydromaniac]

A little progress.

Once every thing was clamped and fit together I decided to do a few things that I think will be a plus once finished. I removed a little of the wood from the bulkhead centers. This is not at all needed to complete the crackerbox. I did this to shave a little weight and to make COG adjustments and electronic placement easier. I reclamped the parts to the jig and began building the forward keel spine support. I aligned one of the doublers to the center section of the support marked it then glued and clamped it together. Once dry, I added the second doubler to the opposite side of the center section allowing it to dry. When dry, I sanded the assembly to the correct shape and also so sanded the bottom edges to the same angle as the bulkhead bottoms. Checking fit and shape with the bulkhead placement. I sanded the nose area of the spine to a point shape.

[Hydromaniac]

Building

Once I had the keel brace in place I could see a possible problem I may encounter with the motor mount I plan to use, The rear keel spine may sit to high for my mount as It could cause me a problem. The supplied rear spine support will work fine but I want to do some testing with an outrunner and the mount needs to sit very low in the hull I could have removed some of the support later but thought best to plan ahead a bit. I decided to make a laydown rear keel support section from 2 pieces of 1/8 X 1/2 spruce. this means that bulkheads 4,5 and the transome needed to be modifyed to accept the change, I filled the precut spine notches of those parts with 1/8 spruce and reenforce them with 1/8 plywood glued to the bulkheads between the center 2 batton notches, I then cut new slots to accept the new spruce supports. I then trimmed the forward keel spine leaving it 1/2 inch to the rear of bulkhead #3.