Starting 1/8 scale T5 build, need critique of my proposed setup

[Speed810]

Nick....Good Luck with your maiden run! I'm sure it will go well.
One thing that I may suggest is to balance the boat on the bench first. It will at least get you close and tell you if you have a major weight/balance problem before you pack things up to go to the lake. Just use a dowel at about the 1 1/4" mark behind the back of the sponson.....should get ya close.

Also I'll have to agree with Leonard....Be careful in the raft and wear a life jacket. These boats are heavy and difficult enough to pick up out of the water from a regular 14' row boat let alone a wobbly rubber raft.....LOL

Hope everything is a success......Post some video when you get a chance..

Mike

[nichismo]

Thanks so much for the advice guys, really appreciate it.

Indeed I was concerned about the effectiveness of a cheap raft, I figured any of the running hardware could easily puncture it, especially being as cumbersome as these boats are to handle. I really wanted to just have it and the life vest as a last resort, I wanted to be extremely conservative with each run with battery life, but my lack of experience obviously gives me no idea of what my run times will be like.

I went pretty far with my charging setup though, and I ordered a pretty neat inverter for my car off Amazon, so I can go back to my car and plug the setup into my cigarette lighter, and be able to charge both packs from completely drained to a full charge in less than 10 minutes.

Im starting out with the 4035 on 8s, im just hoping with this initial setup I can get past the 50mph mark. Once I gain some confidence, ill swap in the 1527 and a 10s setup and see where that gets me :)

Ill be sure to post my final weight RTR and as much video coverage as possible ! thanks !

[nichismo]

well, unfortunately I havn't taken the T5 out for her maiden voyage yet, and im actually a tad bit further from that then I anticipated. Honestly I have everything to re-rig the hull and get it near RTR, but im just nervous and feel a tad bit overwhelmed with this mental checklist (so to speak) in my head of what needs to be completed in order for me to make that trip to the lake.

Obviously this being my first boat as mentioned a zillion times already, im still at a lost as to what exactly this "checklist" should consist of. I dont have enough connectors to do all the necessary soldering, as well as a few other minor supplies I need to order, so the testing will have to wait at least another few days minimum. Ill also most likely order 1 more prop, as I feel the 2 im starting with perhaps aren't very versatile.

On the positive side, I was able to get some more Klass kote on the rest of the remaining parts, so for now, the entire boat is just about 1 solid color and perhaps 85% ready for paint. Also, I came across a few pictures of the Miss Budweiser from 1996 in Detroit and Seattle, and was delighted to learn that the hull running in that period had close to all the modern features and aesthetics that todays crop of hydros do, MINUS the swim step! Choosing a livery had been something that I ignored for a while now and lost interest overall in, mainly due to the transom of my particular hull. Even with the extensive cosmetic mods I spent so much time doing and as happy with them as I am, I still was dissatisfied at how relatively improper my transom apparently was. Nearly all the boats seen today have a swim step and just overall unsymmetrical characteristics which are easily seen from the back of the boats, and even the ones that dont fit this bill, still had the afts of their rear shoes far different from mine. But when I came across these pictures, I couldnt believe it! and here I was wondering what Phil was doing with this part of the hull! now its pretty obvious.... haha

as always, really appreciate any help and insight anyone might have. The cowling and rear horizontal actually still have a fair amount of tiny pinholes and bad spots, as this was their first taste of primer, but they are coming along and will be near the finish of the rest of the hull in a day or two.

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[leonard feeback]

Hi Nic, when you go out to test for that first time connectors will be the least of your thoughts. All batteries should be ready to go, as in charged. Start with a small prop, your first day is to get the boat to run. Speed is not the goal, going forward and getting to take the boat home without motor,battery, and esc failure. That will make the day almost perfect. Try and find someone with 1/8th experience to go with you. Also you may need a pillow to put between your knees to keep them from knocking together. Had to put that in.

[nichismo]

lol so between x450, go for the 2 blade first rather than the 3? I was planning to run without the rear wings and canard at neutral, and have the strut just about level with the sponson pads.

Im confused as what I need to do with my LifePo reciever battery? how does this connect to the reciever? Also, should I run in parallel or series the first time around?

also, does the servo need programming of some sort or is that just done with the transmitter?

im also worried about scuffing the hull when i tighten all the running hardware down.... lol

could you maybe give me like a small checklist of supplies ill probably need? like I have this stuff so far:

-charging setup
-grease/oil for shaft
-temperature gun
-hatch seal tape
-rescue method and life vest

[leonard feeback]

Be sure to seal where the strut comes thru the bottom. Paper towels will be needed. Run batteries in series, plus to minus, plus to minus, end result will be 28 to 30 volts. The last connection on the battery is done after the radio and receiver are turned on, if not done this way your motor could start up and the prop can ruin a fun day at the lake. Plug servo into receiver slot and adjust for left and right throw for desired amount. You can plug your rec battery into bat slot on rec, or use an on/off switch between bat and rec. Receiver and radio should be on before batteries for motor are plugged in, batteries for motor should also be unplugged before rec/radio are turned off. SAFTY!!

[nichismo]

thanks for all the info Leonard, extremely helpful

unfortunately however, I have bad news. My girlfriend and I got into a spat and when I wasn't home, she foolishly decided to throw my cowling against the garage door, breaking the cockpit entirely and cracking the backside of the air scoop. The actual air scoop portion of the cowl, and basically everything behind the cockpit will be fine, but the cockpit is toast and I need a one. The real crappy thing about it, is that ive been trying to get into contact with Phil for months now, ive called him multiple times, sent emails, sent messages on facebook and intlwaters, commented on photos and statuses hes uploaded, and I have yet to hear anything from him whatsoever, aside from 1 unrelated comment he made on one of my photos.

i suppose I still could drive the boat but I really dont want to in that form, just seems a bit silly.

so I guess until I figure this out, im sort of stuck. I guess ill take whats left of the cockpit and use it as a reference to making a new one. I was thinking I could take some high density foam that a generous member here on OSE gave me, and form a shape as close as possible to the original cockpit. Then coat it in epoxy and sand again, maybe spray some release film of some sort of wrap it in wax paper, and then just start fiberglassing over it until its sufficiently thick... thoughts?

[bozo586]

fix the boat and get rid of the girl---she's going to be trouble!

[nichismo]

Thankfully I spoke to Phil on facebook finally, and a new cockpit and windshield are in the makes.

Im going to be sure to do a much better job with this one as well, as the last one had been pretty "makeshift" to say the least haha.

I really like what Don Ferrette did here with his Smokin Joes build. He took a piece of cardboard, wrapped tightly with wax paper, and then started laying down fiberglass and epoxy around the edges, and then after it had cured mostly, he used a dremel to trim the inside edges, and then removed the cardboard to reveal a nice sturdy support liner for the driver setup. Real nifty!

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[nichismo]

According to USPS tracking, my new cockpit will be here tomorrow, and im going to get crackin on it ASAP once im off work that evening. Ive already removed the cockpit from the current cowling and filled most of the imperfections and such with some glazing putty. Going to be a little bit of a bummer to have to remake the dowel and magnet piece for the nose of the cockpit, but it will be more robust and precise than the one I had before. Im aiming to finally get the maiden voyage underway hopefully on Saturday, even though its supposed to rain....

I took a few pictures of a mock up of all the components mostly installed. Im going to craft a support for the rear end of the NEU 1527 motor, and it will also serve as a wall of protecting the cables and such from the spinning outrunner. I still need to solder new connectors onto everything, ive just been having a little trouble deciding which ones exactly I should use, or if I can just use the same type of connectors for everything. I also thought id snap a couple pictures of the turn fin almost setup.

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[JMSCARD]

Use ose 5.5's on the batts and 8mm on your motor and stick with that for all your boats present and future... If you get into stupid high amp draw saw type setups you would want 8mm on batts but for anything short of that 5.5's will be perfect and everyone uses them and it will make your life easier.... 8mm plugs grab tightly and can be a pain on things you disconnect often like batts sometimes whereas as 5.5's are easy to work with.. On motor side you won't be removing those often at all obviously so use the 8mm...

Nick please do yourself a major favor and make certain you get those batt wires and balance plugs far from that out runner and either zip tie them away from the motor or devise a way so there is no possible way for them to touch that spinning out runner... You have no idea how quick that spinning motor will eat through your silicone wire wrapping and it will be a very bad maiden trust me on this... Been there done that... And mine I thought were well away from motor... But when the boats on the water those wires may shift... So do something to devise a way so there is no possible way for anything to touch the spinning can of that motor, the pics showing your wires by that motor scare me just looking at them!! (outrunners run hotter by nature and can take it, but the hot spinning motor could cost you lots of $ of they touch those wires and burn your boat down)....

Anyway all else looks great, have fun and be safe... Take your time... Don't bring your girlfriend with you so she's spatting in your ear hooking up the batts... Like someone else said speed will come with tuning the boat... First thing is making sure she's running fine at lower speeds and is within the limits of all components... 

What ESC are you using will it fit on top of batts? Then you could flip the packs so the batt wires come out of the front right and close to plug in on ESC... the motor plugs can go direct from motor to ESC that sits on top of beside packs and use a servo extension to extend your ESC signal wire back to your receiver if your ESC signal wire is to short to reach... Tape or zip tie your signal wire up along the Inside of hull back to the receiver... Just my first thought looking at your pics don't know if your cowl will clear your ESC sitting atop your packs...

[nichismo]

oh ya I probably should have been clearer in my last post, when I was talking about making an extra support for the NEU motor, I also was going to build a couple extra walls on each side, basically extend the existing motor mount supports to run all the way to where the carbon floor ends, and have it span as high as possible to give sufficient protection from the motor. Main reason i hadn't done so yet was just because I hadn't test fit the NEU yet because I was concerned before that it would maybe be too long and the batteries would have been in the way, but thankfully it fits (barely lol).

I already have some 6mm OSE connectors, and ill be ordering the 5.5 and 8mm sized ones before I start soldering anything then, I would have thought just the opposite of what you told me! thanks for the information, very helpful :) Back when I first started this thread in March, I noticed that you were the first person to reply, and I didn't fully comprehend what you had told me at the time... I really wished I would have listened more carefully! I ended up buying that behemoth Leopard motor and 3 different mounts for it before scrapping all that and buying the 4035 you suggested.... D'oh!! its nice to know someone here has experience with this exact motor in hydros, have you ran a 10s setup with it? Im also a little concerned about how to properly program my ESC.

Speaking of which, in the pictures the ESC (wasn't sure if its noticeable, its sort of hidden) is mounted on the right side in the hole of the tub wall. Its a Castle Hydra Ice HV200, with the added cap bank. For most of the build, I had planned to somehow mount it on top of the motor like most guys have, but once I went with the 4035 and couldn't really locate a suitable mount to do so, I just decided to do it this way. As you can see in the picture, I wanted to make the sub hatch as simple as possible as im not very experienced with wood lol, so theres only added headroom for the motor area. I suppose I could build another hatch cover but it would be very close on whether it would have enough headroom as the lowest part of the cowling would be right above that area.

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[Speed810]

Morning Nic.....

Sorry to hear about the S.O. taking out your cockpit. Been there!! Now there is a lock on the shop door....LOL

Looks like you have been getting lots of great information from everyone and its all spot on. I have been using the OSE 8mm plugs on everything when it comes to the larger scale motors for 1/8 scale and my Q-sport boat. batteries included. Just seems to run a lot cooler with the larger plugs. Made up some charging pigtail connectors so I can swap out other connectors easily for charging other batteries with 5.5mm or 6mm plugs.

This is basically my checklist before heading to the water if it helps at all.
Chargers
Extra parts...drive lines, props, prop nuts, bolts/nuts and screws, grease/oil, zip ties, spare electrical plugs, wire, soldering iron
Paper Towels
Sealant
Sealing Tape
Tools....Allen Sets, screw drivers, small wrenchs, needle nose, Dia cutters, calipers or an accurate measuring device for re-setting the strut....etc
Transmitter
Boots or Waders

Good Luck....Hope to see some video soon!....:)

Mike

PS: Just started my Q-sport boat (ML Boatworks GSX380) Thread just started.....

[nichismo]

Im just about to finish up the cowling config hopefully today, ill take some pictures before and after i spray the last bit of primer. Phil was awesome with the lay up and used a generous amount of carbon fiber, so its very stiff and durable this time.

Im also starting to wonder if i should just put a light basecoat of white paint over the primer, as i just feel like the boat is a little exposed in its current state.... But maybe im just being paranoid, as i do actually get nervous just lifting the darn thing!

That reminds me as well, when it comes to the livery, if i indeed want to go with, say, the 1996 Miss Bud, can i just use Klass Kote´s red? Or do i need to get an exact certain paint ordered or even specially mixed for me? Im feeling like it would probably be best to just take it to an auto body shop or something

[nichismo]

Gosh I cant believe its been 2 months since I last posted in this thread!! and to think how long its been overall since I first created it back in March, unfortunately im not necessarily providing the ideal update that would be more indicative of the amount of progression (or in this case, potential and now lack thereof....) I could have made all things considered. That being said however.....

I am still real excited, ive got some pics I wanted to share before I FINALLY take her out for the maiden voyage.... as in I am literally walking out the door after I finish this post!! I was really wracking my brain for weeks on end now trying to get this underway, but my overall entire life that has never experienced any sort of RC boat driving had my confidence in the gutter and my anxiety through the roof! Despite not having a physical, tangible checklist of what I needed to get done/acquire, I felt like it was a constant mentality of trying to make sure I have crossed all my T's and dotted all my I's. lol...... Not to mention a rescue method was extremely difficult for me to finally conjure, on top of the weather being fickle as ever.

I should also mention this is actually my third attempt/trip to the lake, as the previous two were to put it simply, "growing pangs" and thus subsequently prevented my actual first successful session. But thats obviously part of the learning, and without going too much into detail, I actually had quite a bit fun despite the overall inconvenience... Perhaps ill elaborate on that later Best of all, those two failures actually completely removed all doubt and anxiety I had before, and everything after was as crystal clear as day as to what I needed to do to have a successful trip hereafter. I know that the third time will be the charm

Sadly I couldnt get anyone to accompany me to the lake this time so I dont think ill be able to get a video, but ill do my best with my phone to try and setup an "autonomous" method of recording haha. If I dont get the chance, im sure that when I do eventually get the video, it will probably be a couple, as im sure ill be eager to give the 10s setup a go :)

Cosmetically ive ran into some major issues and thus shes very far from actual completion and any races. I could seriously use some hands on, physical aid in this department, as I have no idea what im doing and theres just too much freakin information on this subject out there!

Oh and one last thing I wanted to mention, I was VERY pleasantly suprised to learn that the boat weighed in at just a smidgen under 15lbs as of right now before hitting the water. Since I wont be running the rear wing set on this first trip, that weight doesnt include those pieces obviously. But I was going to be VERY happy if the boat came in anywhere under 20lbs when its all said and done, looks like ill easily clear that and then some! I only needed to add 8oz of lead to the tips of the sponsons, 4 in each. Tearing out the floor was by far the best choice I made for this project in my opinion, the belly pan turned out far better than i anticipated just upon seeing it after primer, and this was 3x more validated to me when I went to balance the boat in light of adding weight.


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1. I ran out of silicone tubing so I had to use brass for that last run from the ESC to the motor mount, lol. I didnt do a very good job with the interior aesthetics so to speak, but I made sure to try and keep resistance to a minimum and keep the cables out of harms way.
2. Just got the canard set to neutral for now.
3. Lucky enough to have the ideal setup in this department.... Mr. Tyndall rules!
4. Very rigid carbon fiber pushrod setup courtesy of the OSE member most responsible for helping me get this project on its feet (hope you are having a good holiday season)
5. It seems cramped, but oddly the ESC is right at home here, and the cap bank is neatly tucked to the left side of the motor mount. I certainly would have preferred an ESC plate on top of the motor like ive seen alot, but next time :)