45" Dumas Scarab

[Ken_NJ]

I don't think I'll be sharpening a lot of props. Went to a smaller lake than what is in the video. This lake was big enough for scale boats, not for this one, at least this section of the lake. Could not open it up, only going in small ovals, and not fast. Considering how fast this boat does go, I say it is way beyond my expectations. I don't think I need to go any faster. Very happy with what I have so far. It seems once the boat gets on plane the cavitation goes away, just a struggle getting there. And tonight the boat was losing the signal and stopping like at the other lake, so I'll have to try making the antennae into a whip out the deck. Going to move the batteries forward for the next run and see what happens.

[Ken_NJ]

Was rummaging around the shop to see what I can come up with to cover the male bullet connector on the batteries. Had some styrene tubing, wrong size. Came up with this. My connectors are 5.5mm. I have a small lathe, drilled a 7/32" hole in the end of a dowel, 1/2" deep, flipped the dowel and drilled the other end. Cut off the ends at 3/4". Slides over the bullet connector perfectly, nice and snug, and non-conductive. Less chance of a battery short. Can do the same thing with a drill. They wear out, make some more, and it's cheap.

[flraptor07]

Ken, Ya might even think about getting into this century and get a 2.4ghz Radio

[Ken_NJ]

Was in the plan, but Shawn made an offer, a generous offer. It works, but cannot pinpoint what the problem is unless I change something.

I watched the whole video Shawn... interesting end. Boat come out OK?

And I think Steve is sending me a program box and USB linker to try connecting again to the ESC.

[Ken_NJ]

Minor update on the program box issue. Steve sent another, did not work. Tried the USB linker and the Hifei software, could not connect to the ESC. Went back and forth with Michelle at Hifei. She had me use another Hifei upgrade program to update the firmware on the ESC, the update worked. The program boxes now work and the Hifei software now works. So the problem was something to do with the firmware in the ESC. Did a quick look at the default settings, the LV cell cutoff was 2.5. Will change that for sure.

[flraptor07]

I'm glad you got it straightened out Ken, it had me baffled cause I knew you were doing everything right and it still wouldn't work. People can say what they want about Swordfish (Hifei) but their customer service and products have been great for me.

[srislash]

Geez, eh, glad a solution was reached. There is a couple now on here in regards to Hifei.

Taking her out this weekend Ken?

[Ken_NJ]

If someone is having a problem, try and get hold of someone at Hifei. Michelle was a huge help. Looks like the thread view count is now working, have over 2,100 views, nice.

Have not done much lately, in a building lull now. I'd like to get that 52mm prop. I saw what I could online about balancing, not something I have the patience for. Does anyone do the balancing? For a fee? Or maybe I should just buy one already balanced like I think Shawn suggested.

From this point on it's all in the details. Was working on the seating in the cockpit. Tried scribing lines in some pine, two coats of polyester resin, some sanding and sprayed with something I had around. This is just scrap to see if it works. Its not the full seat of course. I could probably make better scribing lines.

What do you think? Look like bolsters? I don't have a plan B for this.

[srislash]

Doing an OSE order soon here Ken, shall I put a 52 on it? My LHS may even have one. I can call them Tuesday.

[srislash]

Hey there Ken, I just had a thought about your cavitation. Since this is a submerged setup I wonder if a set of those dolphin fins that they put on 1:1 boats would help. Saw a pair on an O/B yesterday and it struck me.

[Ken_NJ]

Looks like I'd have to fashion something.

Found this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-8La_bT3D0

[srislash]

Well Ken, I had some little drivers show up in our package today. I was hoping they would be a useful scale, NOT!! They are these guys http://www.offshoreelectrics.com/pro...prod=ose-80845 and I would give them maybe 1/16 scale. So this led me on a hunt and I found this site http://www.modelairplanenews.com/blo...your-rc-plane/
There are some guys available if you hunt through the various companies sites, especially if you feel 1/9th scale could be right.

[Ken_NJ]

I looked at the OSE ones early on, did not think they would work. We had someone in our club that was an art teacher. He always encouraged us to add figures to our scale models. Unfortunately he left us in 2012. I think I am going to finally give it a go and make up my own figures, hoping they come out respectable.

[srislash]

Clothing would most likely be toughest. Had my mom stitch up a flame shirt for my scale truck driver. WWE Sawn Micheals.

[Make-a-Wake]

Hey Ken, gotta love the old Scarab Hulls. Mine's an '84 model, dragged it around for 20 years before I finall built it. Great work, keep it up, you gonna add and interior and drivers?

My drivers, Ken and Barbie are 1/6 scale which turns this into a 23' skiboat scalewise, so I made it look that way. Full interior and a padded sundeck when Barbie is in the mood for showin' off. Wanted to keep it fairly scale so I run a Leopard 4082 1000kv on 6s2p with 10,000 mah and a stinger and full hardware. The x450 nudges her close to 40 mph which is still way too fast scale wise but a nice speed for my only "scale" type boat.

1st vid shows close-ups then a run

2nd vid is filmed from my friends ski boat and a camera on the Scarab.

still pics at bottom of post