Darin's TFL HOBBY 34" Carbon Cheetah Build

[flraptor07]

Those are BEEFY Stingers! Nice!

Thanks for sharing.

No problem Darin, these are the stingers I used (for future reference) and like I said I had to modify the mounting pads to fit the Cheetah. http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-16-aluminu...item2343fd681d They are adjustable length too, which I thought was a pretty cool feature..

[ray schrauwen]

How did you locate the position of the mounts? It's easy with epoxy alone but, a bit harder with the cloth.

[Darin Jordan]

How did you locate the position of the mounts? It's easy with epoxy alone but, a bit harder with the cloth.

if you look at the earlier pics, I mounted the pads to the servo tray, then put JB Weld to do the initial locating.

Once that was set up, I made some squares out of 5.5oz carbon with a 1.5oz veil cloth Super 77d to it (holds the fibers together ).

I cut an x into the center of each square, put a light coat of Super77 on the veil cloth side then fitted them over each post.

One in place I laminated with epoxy using a small acid brush.

[Darin Jordan]

Just a very LITTLE bit more progress... Made an aluminum transom doubler to support the rudder mounting. It's 1/8" thick Aluminum. I Will drill and tap it next, which will allow me to eliminate using nuts on the inside. Doing the same with the sponson transom doublers for the struts.

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[ray schrauwen]

Thank you Darin, sorry I missed it earlier.

[ray schrauwen]

What are those gray lines coming out of the aluminum, both the strut mounts on pg 1 and the rudder mount on pg2 ??

[Darin Jordan]

What are those gray lines coming out of the aluminum, both the strut mounts on pg 1 and the rudder mount on pg2 ??

Spring Clamps to hold the aluminum plate against the transom... :)

[ron1950]

darin is there a tool you don't have?

[ray schrauwen]

Those are nice. Cool tools.

[Darin Jordan]

I'm about ready to epoxy in the motor mounts and stuffing tubes...

Having a little trepidation regarding putting the motors back so far and being able to get the mounting screws in and out. Not much room for a wrench back there...

Considering machining the tops of the mounts off so I can slot the two mounting holes, allowing me to pre-thread the screws and just slide the motors down in place...

Hmmmmm..... Need to think on that one a bit more.

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[kfxguy]

I'm about ready to epoxy in the motor mounts and stuffing tubes...

Having a little trepidation regarding putting the motors back so far and being able to get the mounting screws in and out. Not much room for a wrench back there...

Considering machining the tops of the mounts off so I can slot the two mounting holes, allowing me to pre-thread the screws and just slide the motors down in place...

Hmmmmm..... Need to think on that one a bit more.

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What if you slot the mounting holes and then at one end of the slot you still a hole big enough to where when you loosen the screws, twist the motor in the slot and the screws fit out of the other end of the slot where the big hole is drilled.

[Darin Jordan]

Made my decision... I HATE working on boats that are difficult to maintain, and trying to swap motors at a race with slotted mounts just isn't my thing, so I spent a short amount of time last night with my Mill and took care of this! Modified the mounts to shorten them and slot the holes. Motors slide right in and out now.

Have the motors positioned and the stuffing tubes now tacked in place. Once the epoxy sets, I'll epoxy the mounts down permanently, and then will laminate them in place.

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[ray schrauwen]

That's a tight fit, no wonder you modded the mounts. Looks great.

[Darin Jordan]

That's a tight fit, no wonder you modded the mounts. Looks great.

Yeah... Trying to mount the motors so far back is always a challenge. But... it lends to a wider variety of configuration opportunities. Lots of room for bigger motors, battery configs, etc.

I think if I can mount the packs down in the sponsons, handling should be better...

[ray schrauwen]

In hindsight I wish I had chopped down the mounts I installed that are the same as yours in my race boats. Darn... I'm just going with single drive for my FG Cheetah. Better get some work done now too instead of rambling....