Tweet
Hi guys,
This is a bit of a long term project, sorry it's not completed yet but I'm sure you will get the idea.
I really like the look of hydro drag boats, especially the large exposed V8, it just screams raw power. I have a micro hydro and thought it would be fun to make a new hatch which could represent one of these drag boats.
Firstly I traced around the outline of the stock hatch onto several layers of 0.020" thick styrene plastic. These were glued and laminated together along with an internal backbone made of balsa to form the front to rear curve of the boat.
Then it was time to make the canopy. I played around with different sizes till I found what looked right, and drew templates of the bulkheads onto cardboard. I then temporarily stuck these bulkheads onto the hatch to ensure the look and curves of the canopy was right. When happy, I then used these cardboard templates to cut out proper bulkheads made from 0.040" styrene. Sorry I do not have any photos of these early stages.
I then glued these bulkheads into position on the hatch. The tighter the curves were, the closer i had bulkheads.
IMG_3072.JPG
IMG_3073.JPG
The spaces between the bulkheads were then filled with scraps of balsa glued in. These were then cut and sanded to match the bulkheads. A good trick is to colour the edge of the bulkhead with a black texta. When sanding the balsa down, soon as you sand the texta off you know the balsa has leveled out with the bulkhead.
IMG_3074.JPG
IMG_3075.JPG
This is a bit of a long term project, sorry it's not completed yet but I'm sure you will get the idea.
I really like the look of hydro drag boats, especially the large exposed V8, it just screams raw power. I have a micro hydro and thought it would be fun to make a new hatch which could represent one of these drag boats.
Firstly I traced around the outline of the stock hatch onto several layers of 0.020" thick styrene plastic. These were glued and laminated together along with an internal backbone made of balsa to form the front to rear curve of the boat.
Then it was time to make the canopy. I played around with different sizes till I found what looked right, and drew templates of the bulkheads onto cardboard. I then temporarily stuck these bulkheads onto the hatch to ensure the look and curves of the canopy was right. When happy, I then used these cardboard templates to cut out proper bulkheads made from 0.040" styrene. Sorry I do not have any photos of these early stages.
I then glued these bulkheads into position on the hatch. The tighter the curves were, the closer i had bulkheads.
IMG_3072.JPG
IMG_3073.JPG
The spaces between the bulkheads were then filled with scraps of balsa glued in. These were then cut and sanded to match the bulkheads. A good trick is to colour the edge of the bulkhead with a black texta. When sanding the balsa down, soon as you sand the texta off you know the balsa has leveled out with the bulkhead.
IMG_3074.JPG
IMG_3075.JPG
Comment