ML BOATWORKS GSX 380 Q-Sport Build

[785boats]

I thought you might be inspired by that. Your dear wife might like those pics too, if she loves that boat so much.
Yes. It is an ML Boatworks kit.
Unfortunately he didn't do a build thread on it. Sorry.

[785boats]

Mike.
Here's a bit more inspiration for you.
We had another round of 1/8 scale racing on the weekend & here's Johns' Bud in its first race. The other boats have had a year of racing & tuning behind them already, so for the first race it showed that it is a good boat to drive. And I think he was being a bit conservative with it too. It only had a single test session, 2 weeks ago, before this race

[cybercrxt]

That was one of my kits? I would guess the 108 kit maybe? Looks like a lot of fun!

[785boats]

That was one of my kits? I would guess the 108 kit maybe? Looks like a lot of fun!

You are spot on there Mike. It's the 108. If you go back to post #59 you will see some nice photos of it.
And yes it is a lot of fun. I managed to take top honours for the day with your Lauterbach kit of the Miss America IV U-36.

[Speed810]

Paul....
That is really impressive....and that boat looks great on the water. I think those 1/8 scales in the video have got a bit more speed than my Miss Elam that's for sure. At least it looks like it. Didn't really have the opportunity to be around the guys at the club much for testing and tuning. Hoping I get the chance this summer and see if I can get some good speed and performance out of her. It needs something, otherwise those other 1/8 scales are going to blow me out of the water. But maybe with a 20lb boat I can't expect much more...idk.

Be really interesting to get some specifics on John's setup.....motor, ESC, batteries, prop info, approx. weight. Also info on the canopy parts, mock motor etc. Did John do all the main art work via painting or are those graphic inlays...like the gold etc. If they were all painted that is amazing work....This painting thing is an art that's for sure. But I'm learning...LOL Will have to do some major inquisitions on how he did that work.

Mike...How is that 108 kit to build? We talking about Jigs etc. in order to build a nice straight boat? Dang...Looks like I'll have the 108 and the 310 to plan on this fall....LOL The 380 is still in prime only....still waiting on Jeff to send out the 380 graphics. If he doesn't send them out by today for the weekend I'll be looking for something else real quick this week so I can get this project done this weekend for the race coming up on the 24th of this month.

You guys take care....and talk soon.

Mike

[Speed810]

You are spot on there Mike. It's the 108. If you go back to post #59 you will see some nice photos of it.
And yes it is a lot of fun. I managed to take top honours for the day with your Lauterbach kit of the Miss America IV U-36.

Congrats Paul on the Miss America U-36 honors...:)

[cybercrxt]

Mike, its a strong kit, the 108 I mean.. and tons of room inside. I used it as a base for the Squire Shop I built...just extended the transom an 1 1/2" if I remember right. Here are some frame pics. I have different versions of this kit too..one is a version with quarter round at the front like my sport hydros and 3/32" ply. The one show below I think was the mild version. Mike

[cybercrxt]

The Squire shop build I did. and here is a link to all 72 pics. Mike









I have molds for that canopy as well...

[785boats]

Paul....
That is really impressive....and that boat looks great on the water. I think those 1/8 scales in the video have got a bit more speed than my Miss Elam that's for sure. At least it looks like it. Didn't really have the opportunity to be around the guys at the club much for testing and tuning. Hoping I get the chance this summer and see if I can get some good speed and performance out of her. It needs something, otherwise those other 1/8 scales are going to blow me out of the water. But maybe with a 20lb boat I can't expect much more...idk.

Be really interesting to get some specifics on John's setup.....motor, ESC, batteries, prop info, approx. weight. Also info on the canopy parts, mock motor etc. Did John do all the main art work via painting or are those graphic inlays...like the gold etc. If they were all painted that is amazing work....This painting thing is an art that's for sure. But I'm learning...LOL Will have to do some major inquisitions on how he did that work.

Mike...How is that 108 kit to build? We talking about Jigs etc. in order to build a nice straight boat? Dang...Looks like I'll have the 108 and the 310 to plan on this fall....LOL The 380 is still in prime only....still waiting on Jeff to send out the 380 graphics. If he doesn't send them out by today for the weekend I'll be looking for something else real quick this week so I can get this project done this weekend for the race coming up on the 24th of this month.

You guys take care....and talk soon.

Mike

Mike.
I'll tell you what I remember about Johns' Budweiser.
Motor is a TP Power 4060, 1030kv I think. Running on 8s1p spinning an X450 prop.
ESC is a Swordfish 240A HV
Both John & a friend of his painted the hull

Graphics are from Thunderboat Graphics.

http://www.thunderboatgraphics.com/

Dummy engine from Classic Hydros.

http://www.classichydros.com/#!/Hydroplane-Engine-Kits/c/4761303/offset=0&sort=normal

But Hydroscale Creations also sell a resin engine kit.

http://www.hydroscalecreations.com/MiscItems/MiscItems.htm

Cowling from R/C Boat Company.

http://www.rcboatcompany.com/Cowlings.html

But Mike at ML Boatworks also makes a variety of cowlings, so check with him too.

Thanks for the congrats on the U-36. But the last race was handed to me when Darryl had trouble with the cowling & then flipped. But I'll take a win any way I can. The water was a bit choppy for a shovel running against a couple of pickles.

[Speed810]

Hey Paul....
Your boat actually looked like it handled the rough water pretty well out there. A little bouncing around, but it stayed pretty stable. OF course like you said, sometimes you just take the win anyway you can...lol Happens with the real unlimited too!...lol

Thank so much for all the information on the Miss Bud. I'm still scratching my head trying to figure out the paint sequence on the hull and how the curves where painted....LOL If you ever talk to John maybe he wouldn't mind divulging his technique....LOL

[785boats]

Yeah. She's a good ol' boat. I ran a smaller prop for that last heat & it kept her a bit more settled than the previous two heats.
I'll probably see John this weekend, I'll ask him to email me over a spiel on the painting process, & I'll send it over to you. John doesn't get on these forums much, apart from a bit of reading. He should though. He has a lot to offer. DO YOU HEAR ME JOHN!!!

I've got to say, I'm loving the look of the 'Squire Shop' Mike. Mainly because of the motor being behind the driver. Might search for some other boats that used that hull & Motor configuration. A more obscure or less famous one.

Cheers.
Paul.

[Speed810]

Painting the 380 Today.....Not a good day!

Well the painting did not go as planned today......

Finally received my graphics yesterday, so started to prep for painting today. The primer was all sanded with 600 and wiped down with a tack cloth. Hung the parts in the booth so painting could begin today. Made sure my compressor was working properly and got out the bit bigger HVLP gun with a 1.4 type to spray the clear. The emerald green is HOK that I purchased in a spray can. The clear is a urethane HOK USC01 with a catalyst and slow reducer. Cut out all the graphics for the hull and canopy.

So started with the green and everything turned out great...[spray can] Really love the color. Applied the graphics and all went well.

Then prepared to shoot the clear after about 2 hours dry time. Mixed everything up and did a test shoot on test paper. Fan and product feed looked good so started to shoot the boat. Started getting splatters of clear so turned down the feed still to much....I almost had it down to about 2 turns out to get a nice mist. Then I notice all sorts of running starting and dripping......
Well this clearing is all screwed up now. And to make things even worse the canopy parts that were setting on a box with a paper covering fell off the box and you guessed it....it had some clear over spray on it and picked up a bunch of crap off the floor in the booth.....UHG!!!!!

So I guess I'll have to wait for the clear to dry 24 hours and go back and do a lot of sanding with 800 wet being carful not to go thur to the color, but to level everything out. Then re-shoot the clear again. The canopy might be a little tuffer. Was planning on lightly sanding those areas that got chipped up and then scuff the rest with a maroon pad. Then very carefully re-spray some green to cover those areas being careful to not over spray the graphics. Then shoot the clear.

So have lots of work to do!! Appreciate anyone's experience and other ideas that I may look at doing to take care of this. Gun setup or my corrective actions to take care of the problem. Anything at all would be great....

So included some pics just so you could see the color. really hard to see the runs and all from the pictures, but they are there.

Thanks Guys!!

Mike

[Speed810]

Painting complete

With a lot of sanding and paint touchup on the edges finished with the last 2 coats of clear coat. Still not one of my best efforts due to a couple of bad planning moves on my part. Even after all the sanding still have some areas that did not finish the way I wanted. Everything went great through the paint work until I got to the clear coating process. On both my Pearl and the GSX380 I had problems.

What did I learn....Really need to move slow on the final clear coat process. Thin/medium coats are best making sure the coats are being put on evenly with plenty of overlap. Double check your gun settings making sure the pattern is a nice even oval with a good mist of clear...no spitting and splattering....means the fluid flow is set to hi. The second try went much better and I'm still happy with the result even with my initial goof up.

I love the emerald pearl green with the silver graphics....

Not going to have ready for race day this weekend, but it doesn't t look like they are running that class anyway. Still have some electronics to complete and props to sharpen and balance.

Beautiful boat to build....Cudo's to Mike on another great design...:)

[785boats]

Looks damn fine from here mate.
Love the colour.

[rat350r]

Speed810

I just finished my GSX380 and put it in the water for the first time this past weekend. I am using the Leopard 5698 and an X457 prop. I attempted to use a Hobby Wing "SeaKing" 180 v3 Amp ESC just because I have a couple of them. Well the boat would only make about half a lap at speed before the ESC would shut down due to thermal overload. I am interested in how you made out with the Swordfish 240A ESC and how the wiring was done.

Anyone with useful comments is welcome to chime in Thanks in advance for your advice.