1/10 Spirit of australia.

[Richie the shipwright]

Hi everyone. Just thought id share a bit of "christmas spirit" with you all. Here are a few pics of one of my current projects, Ken Warbys Spirit of australia at 1/10 scale (860mm). As much as id love to put a jet in it, I will be using brushless power and prop drive. Been doing a build thread on another forum, but id like to share the process with as many people as i can. Im new to brushless/lipo power systems as ive been away from the hobby for a decade, but prior to that i only ever built and ran electric boats ( good old days! 540motors& nicads Woo-hoo!). My work as a shipwright has also taught me a trick or two. This boat is scratch built from a combination of balsa / ply / foam / glass / carbon / kevlar. I am building from a line drawing supplied on forum by marker ( thanks heaps mark!!) Been a fun build so far, the transition at rear from square deckline to round transom was a challenge to get right. The hatch will be foam/ glass. When it comes to powering this one up i will be seeking some expert advice. (Is there a doctor in the house???) Hope you like the pictures, ill post some progress photos later. Hope you all have a really nice christmas!

[nata2run]

This looks really cool, subscribed!! In SA to by the way...

[785boats]

Hi Richie. And Merry Christmas to ya.
Very nice work.
I've always loved this boat & being an Aussie, I've always wanted to build one. But I could never track down any decent drawings.
Any chance of a link to the drawings or a contact for 'Marker'?
I've got to finish off Donald Campbell's Bluebird first. But you've inspired me on this one again.

[egneg]

Hi Richie, good to see you here. I am the one that hooked you up with Doc. Hopefully he will be along shortly.

[srislash]

Cool idea Richie,I of course had to go on a little web-surf research mission after seeing this.Made for an entertaining morning.
Sure you don't want to go turbine(JET-CAT)? Hehe

[nata2run]

Wonder if a powerfull EDF could work?.

[Richie the shipwright]

Thanks people, Ive always admired Warbys achievment. He built this in his backyard and stuck it right up the speed record.. BIG BALLS!!! If your interested in what hes up to now, check out warbymotorsport.com. lots of pics of the spirit, warbys second boat "aussie spirit" (my next scratchbuild) and a NEW BOAT.... Spirit of australia 2! Ken and his son are building it now here in australia. Blowering dam has water in it too apparently. kens son will be driving the new boat, trying to keep the record in the family. There are a few other challengers building boats now too, this record assult is going to heat up a bit real soon. Dunno where marker got the plan, but he saved me a lot of time drawing thats for sure. heres the lines i worked from, bear in mind this is not a build plan tho! i drew out my station frames from the plan, but then removed 3mm from all edges to allow for hull thickness. me know if you need any help. 1/8 scale would be cool.
the biggest challenge i can see with this project is getting Kens beard right. How the hell am i going to scale that down!!?? Dont get me started on the jet path man!! $$$$$$$$$..... Fanta pants gillard and her smarmy little sidekick swanny stuffed that idea for a while!!! I Did see a k-7 a few years ago with a jet in it tho..... That was cool! later speedfreaks...

[srislash]

Gotchya...

[785boats]

Thanks for the line drawings. They look easy enough to work from. I've built models from less than that. And yes, it would have to be 1/8 scale.
All the best.
Paul.

[drwayne]

Hi Richie, glad you've made an introduction , welcome aboard !.

To others : I enjoyed an impromptu roadside meeting with Richie earlier this year.. he presented some his scale hydro builds. exquisite !

Ken Warby : my childhood idol !
Hazzah ! He and I share birthdays ( although he has 30? more candles )

I saw an 1/8 'Spirit of Australia' in ~2000 ..powered by OS91DF .. an impressive build, woefully underpowered... like a swamp boat
Your 1/10 would need 450lb thrust to be true scale !

See you around !
DocW

[Richie the shipwright]

D,oh!!!! Everyone will want one now....... cheer doc. Heres a few more pics. (one with my loyal assistant) Shaping/ glassing hatch cover. Normally id make a mould, this is what i call the sacraficial foam method. Shaped foam (and a bit of car bog!) using cardboard templates then glassed the air intake area. Once that was dry it was taped on top of wet glass and the balsa hatchtop. When that cures ill finish shapng the foam, then glass over the lot and hollow it out carefully from the bottom. Now comes the fun bit.....STOP!! (girlfriend cheers!!) Im goin fishin! Hope you all have a relaxing xmas break...... or break from xmas... More soon... (big fish photos i hope)

[drwayne]

[Richie the shipwright]

I suppose youre gonna tell me youre the guy in the skiboat? *!***!***!***!**..... how would ya feel....??? Got that footage, thanks for posting it.

[drwayne]

I suppose youre gonna tell me youre the guy in the skiboat? *!***!***!***!**..... how would ya feel....??? Got that footage, thanks for posting it.

chuckle, nope. that's not me ! ..
Shared the video for those wondering what you're building !

aint you supposed to be in VH fishing ?

[Richie the shipwright]

Nah leave tomorra..... besides im having too much fun here!! :-) Got busy in shed again...... more pics. one has my 1/16ish u-99 in the background waiting patiently for her front control flaps.(on a 3rd channel.) heeeeeere fishyfishyfishyfishy.....