Who wants to build a semi-scale all-wood micro hydro?

[Norwest]

Time to move on

[Norwest]

/////

[Dr. Jet]

Kit Updates

Some parts I have ordered for the Atlas are coming on a slow boat from China. Literally!

I have some of the wood already, I should have the rest soon.

I may be able to put a couple more Atlas kits together with less lag time. I ordered additional materials.

Laser-cutting on the shovelnose prototypes should be happening this weekend.

[Dr. Jet]

Endless Opportunities

Allison V-1710 and Rolls Royce Merlin in 1:20 scale.......

[Dr. Jet]

Clarificaton

The kit will include all materials necessary to build some "Semi-Scale" stacks. The cowl is made by stacking pieces of 1/4" balsa together and sanding to shape. In that stack is a 1/4" notch in the middle where a piece with the oval exhaust opening in the cowl will fit. Short pieces of 3/16" styrene tube will get glued into holes in a piece of 1/16" ply and the tube ends will be sanded to length and beveled, similar to the prototype. This will fit into the oval hole in the side of the cowl and Voilà!.... Semi-scale stacks.

[Dr. Jet]

OK, I have everything to make the kits 100% complete on order, down to stainless steel socket-head wood screws for the servo (the Phillips screws that come with the servo are at an awkward angle and somewhat difficult to tighten fully). I have some hard plastic 27x40 props I'll be including although a balanced and sharpened Octura prop should give better results. Still haven't had cooperating weather for testing and more rain is predicted.

Now, it's just a waiting game for everything to arrive. The primer on the prototype is hardening and I'll be starting the sanding and painting soon.

[Dr. Jet]

All the wood has arrived!

I'll be heading to the laser guy next week......

Here's the list of stuff I'm waiting on. Yeah, you could build it without these bits, but I want the kits 100% complete.

SS Screws and washers for servos
CF rods (for fins and wing)
Turn fins
Struts and rudders
DVD Envelopes (the kits include a CD with photos)
Motors (2 of 4)
ESC (2 of 4)
3/32” Brass tube
Basswood strips
Servo connectors

UPDATE: I checked the tracking on the turn fin and strut/rudder and it could be up to 30 days for them to arrive.

[Dr. Jet]

How to make a small fortune in the model boat industry.....

It’s easy; just start with a LARGE fortune…….

Jeeze, this is a thankless task. What with the amazing lack of interest, the SLOW shipping of parts, and the occasional clueless, unmitigated FLAKE "customer"; I wonder why I subject myself this abuse.

I’ve developed a really high-quality and 100% complete kit (just add your battery, connectors, receiver, paint and glue). Granted, it is wood parts that you have to glue together and paint, but it’s a top quality product, and the final results are impressive. The “I gotta have it now” generation wouldn’t understand the satisfaction of actually BUILDING something that is uber-cool, and far better than the disposable plastic Shinola that comes from China.

I have countless hours of CAD work into getting everything perfect on this project. When I was designing large Public Works projects in CAD (that had to be perfect), I was being paid BIG money (a handsome 6-figure salary with benefits, thank you very much). I’m losing time and money BIG-TIME on this endeavor. I suppose it is a labor of love though.

I have over a thousand dollars and countless hours of CAD work into the two prototypes and the first four kits. It would be nice if I only lost a couple hundred dollars in the process.

Then there’s the shovelnose. The prototypes should be cheaper to build and I have less time in the drawings. I won’t make any kits of those until I have enough commitments to do a minimum run of 4.

In the meantime, I’ll be the only guy on the planet with a stupid-fast 1:20 scale model of Chuck Thompson’s 1958 “Short Circuit”. I’ll have enough parts to do the 1958 “Hawaii Kai III” too.

Where's Trent when you need him?.......

[JimClark]

Too bad to only good place to run around here is no longer allowing RC

[Dr. Jet]

Too bad the only good place to run around here is no longer allowing RC

Any 50' x 100' pond will make an adequate race course for these little boats.

[Dr. Jet]

Puttin' on come color...

So I'm at the point where I can add some color. I was concerned with the long, stick-on strip graphics, masking the appropriate areas off, and how everything would work. While not 100% perfect, the results were more than satisfactory. When all this has a chance to set up for a few days, I'll mask off the other side and the center section.

My plan is to paint the cowl after I'm done with a few more details, then epoxy it to the hatch cover. I'll weight the hatch down while the epoxy is curing, which should give some additional longitudinal curvature to the hatch cover.

[Dr. Jet]

While the paint is drying on the other sponson, I have time to think about the next project: the shovelnose. I'm looking forward to building it. With the lower parts count and simpler shape it will be quick to build. Painting and detailing should be far easier. Only 1 paint mask is required (for the U-99 number on the sponson) and I have CAD files to cut those on a vinyl cutting machine. All the remaining graphics are black lettering so I can easily print them on waterslide decal paper.

I did discover one interesting thing from the information that Jim Clark was kind enough to provide: Unlike the Garry Finlay plans, the Short Circuit (plus the Hawaii Kai III and other hulls of that period) had a triangular-shaped air dam under the nose. I may add that to this upcoming build to help reduce the possibilities of blow-overs.

[Dr. Jet]

Makin' Progress

Here's where I'm at before the wine brought everything to a screeching halt. The wineglass does give some perspective on the size of this little guy though.

[Dr. Jet]

More.....

[Dr. Jet]

Well, I'm at a bit of an impasse right now. I need some additional graphics to finish each part before I can start the final clear coat process. (NOTE: I did fix the crooked "A" on the right fin before everything dried). I can't shoot the blue paint on the cowl until I have some additional graphics and the special part I ordered to make the windscreen (you're gonna like this one and I'll include it in the kits).