Lauterbach GP Special.

[RayR]

Paul,

I was browsing Chris Denslow's photo site this morning and ran across some photos of the Miss U.S. that was at the Madison race this year.

[olwarbirds]

Thats nice, Paul you did a really good job making yours look like the original. Frederick is certainly in for a thrill ride no doubt... DJ

[785boats]

Thanks for the pic Ray.
I just noticed that the flying horses are facing backwards in that picture. The only pic I could find showing them, was from before the renovation, & it showed them facing forward. So that's how I put mine on. Oh well.
It certainly gives me a good 3D angle of the windscreen. That will make it easier to to get the shape right.

It's close enough for me, DJ.
But the kit & cowling are for a GP boat not an Unlimited boat. So there are a few things slightly out of proportion. But that's cool. I knew it at the start of the project.
Yes. Frederick is almost as excited as I am. The maiden run will be on Sunday.
Cheers.

[tlandauer]

Your build is even more impressive now that I have seen Ray's picture!

[785boats]

Thanks Tim
But there are much more finer detailed hydros out there on this forum.

I just weighed the boat complete with batteries (and Freddy) & total weight is only 6kg, or 13lb & 4oz in American speak. Surprisingly light for an 1/8 scale I feel. But that's great.

But here's some pics of Freddy raring to go. Caught him in it again this morning making engine noises & swinging the wheel from side to side. He's excited.

[olwarbirds]

thats great ! I am looking forward to seeing some vid...ya know my brother downunder that xmas is coming and I dont have a 1/8th hydro "YET" .... Paul, a few unique differences make it more yours anyways.. DJ

[785boats]

I just had a disturbing image of you sitting on Santas' knee asking for a model boat for Christmas.

[olwarbirds]

yeah ! your having images of me is whats disturbing Thought you might like to see a pic of my Miss Cadillac
still working out the running gear. It use to be a brushed system and when I converted it to brushless it has become a real handful to control, its due to the solid shaft, submerged prop scale setup...

[785boats]

That's a sweet looking boat DJ.

[olwarbirds]

Tks Paul, I really do have a serious weakness for the looks of older racing boats...to me alot of them have lines that resemble something that you would of seen on buck rogers. If you know who that is, it was a really corny space show. Those guys racing these open cockpit style boats were really putting their arses on the line. I know for a fact id do it

[785boats]

I know exactly what you mean.
We're lucky enough to have a father & son in our club that used to race the the real ones around the country & against each other. The stories they tell.

[785boats]

Well she finally got wet yesterday.
Faster than I thought it would be, & handled pretty well for straight off the workbench.
Started with a conservative Prather s230. It was a bit small & was chopping a lot in the corners. But good up the straights.
Temps were fine on the Motor & ESC but the batteries were a bit warmish but acceptable.
Really surprised at how well the straight Turn fin works. I've only ever run hooked fins until now.
There was some water in the hull & it was found to be one of the fittings on the water jacket. Fixed that for the next run.
The only negative of the first run was that I ripped some paint off with the tape. I'm no painter.

The second run was in some rougher water. But Freddies' driving skills handled it pretty well. Scared himself a couple of times though.
I Fitted a Prather s235 for that run.
I started going over to the far side of the lake after a couple of laps into the calmer water so I could open her up a bit more.

I must say, I was pretty happy at the end of the day, And I'd like to thank everyone for their help & encouragement with this build.
And thanks to Trev & Pete for the videos.

[785boats]

The second video.

[olwarbirds]

Paul, nicely done my friend. I would be very pleased too for the first day test runs.. Nice save about half way through 2nd vid...hope I can get mine to run that nicely...it handles rough water very well... DJ

[785boats]

Thanks pal.
Yes, it handles pretty well. I had heaps of confidence in it after just a couple of laps. The rough was fun but we sometimes have to race in rougher water than that too.
Plenty of room for improvement yet though. The packs are only 2 x 4s for 8s1p & there was still about 43% left in them after that second run, even with the longer laps. So it will handle a bit more prop yet.
The ESC is a Seaking 130A HV, with a couple of extra caps, & it doesn't get hot. But I will have to be careful not to push it too hard.