Matts CF Fightercat Daytona Build

[Mattwarner]

Ok Guys,

Time to get this started!

Having lurked on here for a while i decided to bite the bullet and build my first proper FE boat, ive previously had a couple of Kyosho RTR's so this is all new to me.

I decided to go for a single drive rather than a twin following some advice and especially as this is my first build so i opted for a Leopard 4082 1600kv to run on 6s.

First off ordered the hull from Astec models as iam in the UK, the rest of the parts i managed to get together from Ben at Fightercat, Astec and Ebay.

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[Mattwarner]

Having read up and again asked for some advice I decided to reinforce the hull with some carbon fibre cloth and Z-poxy finishing resin.

I was a little bit anxious around doing this but I took my time, made up a paper template and using masking tape made it easy to cut and stopped the cloth from falling apart.

I am really pleased with the results.

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[Mattwarner]

I let it dry for a few hours and resisted the temptation to touch it and leave finger prints in the resin!

I then mocked up a template for the strudder. I ready Hydrojerrys build loads of times and noticed he used brass tubing on the transom and figured this made a lot of sense so did the same thing.

as I am in the UK 4mm brass tubing did the trick although i was lazy and fed the allen key fastenings from the inside out as its much easier than trying to get a washer and nut on the small amount of thread.

Its probably 0.5mm off on one size but thats just me being really picky and theres not much I can do other than re-fill the holes and start again and i would probably end up making a worse job second time around, as it is the rudder looks perfectly straight so I am happy.

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[Mattwarner]

One with the strudder on.

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[Gimp]

Looking good Matt. This will be a nice n clean build

[Mattwarner]

Thanks, been keeping an eye on your build too gimp, has it been painted yet?

Ive posted in the other section as Ive come to a halt with the motor mount as it wont fit the motor and until ive sorted this theres not much else I can do

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[Gimp]

Thanks, been keeping an eye on your build too gimp, has it been painted yet?

Nope, it should be delivered today. Painting wont be until Christmas time probably.

[Checkmateguy01]

Looking good Matt!!! Looks like you are well on your way!! I asked Tuqueman about re-enforcing the bottom on mine, since it's fiberglass he told me it's not really nescisary so i'm not gonna worry about it. Have a paint job in mind yet?

[Mattwarner]

Iam keeping mine carbon apart from a few stickers, next one will be a fibreglass as i fancy something bright!

[HYDROJERRY]

Very nice Matt,, glad to see you went my way on the tubes threw the rear but dont forget to fill around them with epoxy, well you probly did, i learned all that from Tiqueman,, he no's his cats!!! Gotta love the look of the carbon, we'll be watchin !!

[Gimp]

i learned all that from Tiqueman

Seems to be a pattern here... Maybe we should give Scott a new screen name, Yoda lol.

Matt, what type of stickers/decals are you thinking?

[CornelP]

The motor you have is one of the early ones designed for car use. The new boat motors from Leopard have the wires going out through the back plate.
The only thing you can do is get a shorter cooling can and modify the back support of the motor: cut the top half of it, this way it will hold part of the weight...

[Mattwarner]

The motor you have is one of the early ones designed for car use. The new boat motors from Leopard have the wires going out through the back plate.
The only thing you can do is get a shorter cooling can and modify the back support of the motor: cut the top half of it, this way it will hold part of the weight...

Yeah I didn't realise they did two versions but can't find the boat one here in the UK, I think I am going to order a shorter cooling jacket and drill some new holes for the tail support, does the angle matter much as there won't be any adjustment on the rear but I guess you bend the stuffing tube to match the angle right?

Gimp I am using Fightercats stickers as I really like em

[CornelP]

Correct, just try to have the smallest bend possible... If Alan does not have a motor in stock, I usually use:

http://www.rc-raceboats.de/shop/index.php?seo_c=lng%2Fen%2F&seo=milled-parts-from-cfk

Jan has also an excellent customer service, highly recommended. Astec and RC-Raceboats are my favorite European sources.

[Mattwarner]

Ok, ive ordered a shorter water jacket and re-drilled some holes so now the tail ring fits although ive only got adjustment on the front.

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Then epoxied the transom and mixed in some carbon fibre cuttings so it should be rock solid (I hadnt forgotten Hydro!)

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Applied another coat of resin as i want it all glass smooth and used a long handled brush to get the resin coated up as front as far as i could

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and finally whilst i was waiting for everything to dry got my stickers on!

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