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I've been away from the sport for a while, but I never lost my interest in the micros. Because of the way I house my boats when not in use, they don’t suffer much deterioration from long-term storage. I decided to get them up and running with modern radios and batteries recently, and I’ve been quite successful. I finished a couple of partially completed projects (the BBY Micro Hydro and the BBY Micro Scat Cat) and have a couple more “projects” that I may get to sometime in the future. 
I, like most of you, have that constant desire to always be building SOMETHING, and I’ve been wondering what that next something might be.
Years ago, I built several of Garry Finlay's 1/16 scale designs. Many of his designs have been up-scaled to 1/13, 1/12, and even 1/10 scale. Garry's hulls always performed flawlessly. They were a hoot to drive, and they were FAST. I always liked his Atlas Van Lines hull; I thought it was the perfect mix of performance and elegance. I have his plans for the 1/16 scale Atlas in a *.pdf format and as an AutoCAD block drawing. I can't use the existing AutoCAD block for laser-cutting because of the way the block is comprised, but with a LOT of work, I could trace it at 1/20 scale with polylines and get it into a suitable format for laser cutting. This would make a 17.4" hull length. Alternatively, I could print his existing *.pdf plans at a reduced size to get an accurate 1/20 scale drawing for scratch-building.
So here's the thought that has been going through my mind: How many people would be interested in building a 1/20 scale boat from an all-wood kit? If there is sufficient interest, I would produce an AutoCAD drawing based on Garry's reduced plans and modified to the appropriate material sizes and drive geometry, then have a bunch of kits laser cut. Garry will get full credit for the design; I would just be shrinking it to 1/20 scale.
Yeah, you can get an Aquacraft GP-1 that closely resembles this hull for a hundred bucks (with a radio!!), but it’s just another mass-produced toy. How many people are willing to spend a bit more than that, plus the time and effort to build something that looks a thousand times better and meets SSSH rules (2S and under 18")? I’m guessing several will.
Santee Sport Scale Hydro rules have changed over the years. It used to be 2S (previously 6 NiMh), with a maximum hull length of 18”. It has to look like a hydroplane, so ‘riggers are out. Lastly, we spec’d out a certain really cheap motor. That motor is no longer available, although there are many on the market that are “close”, so we simply eliminated the motor requirement. Yeah, you can put a pricey, high-tech, high-power motor in there, but you’ll lose runtime, gain weight, and seriously over-power these little hulls. These aren’t SAW boats; they’re tight-circuit oval boats. Put too much power in there and you’ll spend a lot of time upside-down.
I think the best motors for our 2S setups with these little hulls are the 28mm outrunner helicopter motors in the 3000 to 4000 Kv range. We chose 2S to keep weight and costs down. Helicopter motors often have built-in fan-cooling, thereby eliminating the need for plumbing in an already tight hull, and the outrunners have the torque required to spin a relatively large (32mm max.) prop. Current draw for these little motors is low with our preferred 29mm props, so even a 30-amp controller without any additional cooling works just fine.
So who’s up for it?
Here are some links for parts that will work and will be the basis for my driveline revisions:
Collet Coupler:
Shaft:
Strut:
Rudder:
Motor: It’s your choice here. See a few examples:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Green-14-8V...cAAOSw9eVXVpHH or https://www.ebay.com/itm/047-KV3600-...UAAOSwaNBUeV8I or https://www.ebay.com/itm/Tarot-450MX...sAAOSw7z1Z7waT
I, like most of you, have that constant desire to always be building SOMETHING, and I’ve been wondering what that next something might be.
Years ago, I built several of Garry Finlay's 1/16 scale designs. Many of his designs have been up-scaled to 1/13, 1/12, and even 1/10 scale. Garry's hulls always performed flawlessly. They were a hoot to drive, and they were FAST. I always liked his Atlas Van Lines hull; I thought it was the perfect mix of performance and elegance. I have his plans for the 1/16 scale Atlas in a *.pdf format and as an AutoCAD block drawing. I can't use the existing AutoCAD block for laser-cutting because of the way the block is comprised, but with a LOT of work, I could trace it at 1/20 scale with polylines and get it into a suitable format for laser cutting. This would make a 17.4" hull length. Alternatively, I could print his existing *.pdf plans at a reduced size to get an accurate 1/20 scale drawing for scratch-building.So here's the thought that has been going through my mind: How many people would be interested in building a 1/20 scale boat from an all-wood kit? If there is sufficient interest, I would produce an AutoCAD drawing based on Garry's reduced plans and modified to the appropriate material sizes and drive geometry, then have a bunch of kits laser cut. Garry will get full credit for the design; I would just be shrinking it to 1/20 scale.
Yeah, you can get an Aquacraft GP-1 that closely resembles this hull for a hundred bucks (with a radio!!), but it’s just another mass-produced toy. How many people are willing to spend a bit more than that, plus the time and effort to build something that looks a thousand times better and meets SSSH rules (2S and under 18")? I’m guessing several will.
Santee Sport Scale Hydro rules have changed over the years. It used to be 2S (previously 6 NiMh), with a maximum hull length of 18”. It has to look like a hydroplane, so ‘riggers are out. Lastly, we spec’d out a certain really cheap motor. That motor is no longer available, although there are many on the market that are “close”, so we simply eliminated the motor requirement. Yeah, you can put a pricey, high-tech, high-power motor in there, but you’ll lose runtime, gain weight, and seriously over-power these little hulls. These aren’t SAW boats; they’re tight-circuit oval boats. Put too much power in there and you’ll spend a lot of time upside-down.
I think the best motors for our 2S setups with these little hulls are the 28mm outrunner helicopter motors in the 3000 to 4000 Kv range. We chose 2S to keep weight and costs down. Helicopter motors often have built-in fan-cooling, thereby eliminating the need for plumbing in an already tight hull, and the outrunners have the torque required to spin a relatively large (32mm max.) prop. Current draw for these little motors is low with our preferred 29mm props, so even a 30-amp controller without any additional cooling works just fine.
So who’s up for it?
Here are some links for parts that will work and will be the basis for my driveline revisions:
Collet Coupler:
Shaft:
Strut:
Rudder:
Motor: It’s your choice here. See a few examples:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Green-14-8V...cAAOSw9eVXVpHH or https://www.ebay.com/itm/047-KV3600-...UAAOSwaNBUeV8I or https://www.ebay.com/itm/Tarot-450MX...sAAOSw7z1Z7waT
It's not cheap, but I designed in a lot of features such as precise-fitting parts, wing and fin pin locations, lightening holes, a motor mount, and a servo mount, that would be hard to duplicate with simple hand tools. Maybe I can get a break if I make more than one.
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