ML Boatworks 1/8th Scale 171 Extreme Build Miss Elam

[Agitator]

i USUALLY RUN THESE rx PACKS-http://www.offshoreelectrics.com/proddetail.php?prod=emp-hp-fg305-0850-2s Looks like OSE is temp. OOS. Small and lightweight.

[Speed810]

Good Morning All!!

Well just wanted to let folks know that I'm still working on this boat, but most of it has been little things...wiring, making cooling lines and some light finish sanding on the cowl. Other than that no major progression as I am still waiting on 2 major parts from RC Boat Co. The dummy turbine motor and the rear vertical wing braces kit. The dummy turbine seems to be the problem as these are all hand made. As soon as these are in I can mount these parts, get the final balance done, top sheets glued in place and start the finishing process, but for now I'm at a stand still.

I did decide to use the time building a make shift paint booth. Used some 1" PVC for a 6X10 booth with a door, installed a 20" fan and ducting to vent to the outside, installed filters for the return air, used metal clothes hangers to use as parts hangers and just used plastic sheet to cover the whole unit. Actually worked out pretty nice. Nice thing is it will come apart in 3 sections that I can store in the crawl space under the house....LOL It certainly takes up some room in the garage/shop.

I'll keep things up to date as things start to progress again.

Thanks

Mike

[don ferrette]

Mike I have an extra dummy turbine that I no longer need, interested?

[Speed810]

Don,

Sent ya an email..

Mike

[785boats]

Mike.
The dismantable paint booth sounds great. I trust the patents are pending.

I hate all those fiddly bits of the build that take a lot of time & don't seem to show much progress on the build. All absolutely necessary though.

It's all looking good though.

Cheers.
Paul.

[Speed810]

Morning Paul...

Good to hear from ya.... At least we know your still kicking over there...
The paint booth turned out pretty good. Cheap too!....:) Got the fan and filters in yesterday and everything works really well. I'll post a few pictures later this evening. All I need is something to paint....HAHAHA

Looks like Don has come thru again.....I gave Steve at RC Boat Co. one last chance to call his buddy to see if he was close to being done on my dummy turbine. If not I'm going to pick the used one from Don. F. Its in excellent shape and not to much cutting done on it. So it would work out fine. Just need to cover it ina different color fabric....LOL.

Well take care....

Mike

[Speed810]

Last parts finally arrived

Finally received the parts I was waiting on last Friday.

The Wing strut assemble from RC Boat Co. is installed. Pretty easy install...cut the strut rod to length, drill and tap the end for the 4-40 threaded rod. Drilled the steel strap out to 4-40 and installed with a 4-40 nylon machine screw.

I was waiting on the dummy motor from RC Boat Co., but Don Ferette made me a deal I couldn't pass up. The motor looks great Don and with a little extra cutting it will fit perfectly. The picture shows it with the red blanket, but I stop over at Hobby Lobby today and assembled a blanket in blue. Drying as we speak....LOL

I may cut the front of the motor can back some more in order to give a little easier access to tape seal the electronics hatch.

So with those parts installed it on with final balancing, top sheeting installed and on to final exterior epoxy sealing.

More to come soon!!


Mike

[Agitator]

That is looking good! One thing I did on my turbine, since I left quite a bit of the 'can', was found some Krylon X-Metal paint, and gave the can forward of the blanket a little color. I have a black blanket, but got blue polyester ribbon for the straps.

005.jpg

[Speed810]

Looks nice Agitator.....Like the color....that should match almost perfect with the new blanket I made up last night....:)

I was almost thinking of using some Krylon engine brown kind of metallic that I had used on some scale dummy tubro-prop exhasut stacks on one of my aircraft. Not sure yet though...LOL Choices, Choices!!.....

Later man!

[Speed810]

Finally on the Final Leg.

Finally on the final leg of this build.

Sponson weight was added and epoxied in place. Used some No#12 lead shoot that allowed the shot to go completely to the nose of the sponson. Filled the rest of the sponson nose with foam.

Finished installing the top sheets last night. Took the pick after the first sheet was completed, but the other side is drying right now....LOL Will have some finish fill work and sanding today. Hoping to have the epoxy coating start tonight and final sanding and prep work tomorrow. Then its on to the painting process.

I'll keep the process updated with photo's as I progress.

Mike

[785boats]

She's getting there .

[Speed810]

Painting has started!

Well finally finished the epoxy sealing process and sanding. After some final prep work this weekend in between the gardening work.........LOL I finally got to the painting stage today. The primer took a bit longer than expected with some flaws that appear real good with the first primer coat. They were mainly small pit holes in the fiberglass. So I had to re-fill those along with some small areas on the hull. Sanded those out and put a second coat on everything.

Not sure why, but I kept getting a rough kind of sand paper effect in some areas, so I had to re-sand the whole hull and wing/canopy pieces. Not sure if that is caused by to much air pressure or not enough fluid flow.?? Any ideas from the painters would be helpful...:) Running an HVLP detail gun with a 1.0mm tip on 40PSI at the gun.

In any case after sanding the finish looks great and I'll be ready for the white color coats and then a coat of interim clear. After scuffing the clear I can then tape for the orange and also apply the graphics to the wing sections. After the orange is complete the hull and canopy get another interim clear coat and then the rest of the graphics added. Everything then will get 2-3 coats of high gloss clear.

Quite the process, but worth it in the end. I'm still shooting to race it at the Michigan Cup after some testing runs.....:)

So any of you painting experts that have any advise, I'm ready to hear your tip and ideas.

MikePaint Booth 1.JPGPaint Booth 2.JPGPrimer 1.JPGPrimer 2.JPGPrimer 3.JPG

[Agitator]

You are using HOK primer aren't you? I think too small a tip-should be 1.5-1.7 and about 20-25 psi. Sounds like you're bridging the scratches rather than filling in. I use a 2.0 for primer-but I use PPG / Deltron epoxy primer and about 20 psi. Are you using any reducer or just the primer and catalyst?

primer = 2.0
color = 1.5
clear = 1.7

[Speed810]

Hey Agitator....Yep using HOK primer. Used it as a sealer mix 4-1-1. Don was suggesting just sticking with the detail gun and 1.0 tip so that's what I did. The gun data indicated that the gun should be set at 40PSI so that's what I did....Ummmm Maybe I should be dialing that down??

What do you mean by bridging the scratches?

[Agitator]

If the primer is going on on the dry side(too much PSI) it won't flow to fill in sand scratches and such. 40PSI is what I use on my standard spray gun, HVLP uses much less pressure and higher volume of materials being applied, so the nozzle should be larger to allow more volume with less pressure. Too much pressure + small tip means the primer is partially dry when it hits the boat. the 1.0 tip would be ok for color, but should still use less psi. Primer is a much heavier medium than color so requires a larger tip to apply. So when you sprayed your first coat, it did not completely fill the scratches and it probably raised them more on the re- coat. Looks like it came out real good though.