I was sidelined by a cold this week so we pushed plans back a bit, but this one's almost done. Here's a look (mid-production) at the sliding lipo mount system I did today.
Ok, time for some updates.
I planned on running this boat on Father's day, but I decided to be sick for the last two weeks instead and as a result didn't have a lot of motivation. I spent some time and finished up the rest of it this weekend. I'll post a few pics of the process. Sorry I didn't take more but as most know who follow my builds, once I get going I find it hard to stop and take pics/notes.
Here is some small hardware. Just standard water outlets and antenna mount from TFL, very similar to what you could buy from OSE and other retailers. They're cheap and work well but in this case I didn't want the shiny silver so I texture coated them flat black.
A special release film was sprayed with adhesive and used to line the front of the boat. This was done before pouring two-part urethane foam into the hull. Any foam used can shrink in time, and will typically suck down the top deck. With the release film it allows the foam to shrink without distorting the hull
I'll get some good pics of this once I take it to the lake. For anyone who hasn't seen my recent mystic 114 builds, I have two identical 114s that look like this (these are the two fastest 114s in existence!)
My 185 shares the same paint job as well. I must say though, they look much better in person than they do in these pics
EDIT:
Here's a pic of my 114 that gives an idea of what these boats look like out in the open. This one is just much larger, of course:
Last edited by keithbradley; 06-23-2014, 12:25 AM.
Along with the black antenna mount and water outlets, the rudder blade is also black (as shown earlier in this thread). With the set of custom black props, it has a very intimidating look.
Aside from the fact that in this pic I only had a 6s pack in the boat for testing instead of the 12s 16,000mah or 14s 5,500mah I will be normally running, this is everything. Water lines, wiring, rx, etc. are all in place and ready to go. This is essentially "ready to run". I prefer a clean look without clutter and I think I accomplished that here. Many builds ago I recall showing a boat to my wife to get her opinion and her response was "Is that it? It looks like it doesn't have all the stuff in it". Bless her heart...she doesn't know a lot about boats but her response made me smile. I know everyone has their own style and preferences, but for me I think boats themselves are art and there should never be a single thing that catches the eye. I try to make my builds look like one complete entity, where everything just looks like it belongs together.
For me, the coolest thing about this build is that every carbon part you see in this boat started out on my roll(s) of carbon fiber fabric. From the honeycomb inlay, to the servo mount, front deck support, motor mounts, ESC mounts, stuffing tube supports, sliding lipo trays...all of this was created from fabric in raw form. There were also no computer controlled devises used to do anything here. Everything inside was built, laminated, filed, drilled, machined, or coated, by hand. I'm not intending to claim that this is any BETTER than just purchasing CNC parts off the shelf, but it does take on a completely different personality for me when parts are hand-crafted. I've done over 100 builds to date, and it never gets old. Finishing a boat like this ALWAYS feels good, whether it's for myself or a customer.
I plan on adding a flat black logo on the carbon fiber servo mount surface and I'll add a pic when I get to it. Other than that, this one is finished. I welcome any feedback, questions, or comments...please let me know what you think!
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