U-3 1/8 scale Hydroplane.

[785boats]

Hi Lambo.
The two side sections will be sheeted. Only the center section will be the hatch. I'm working on the side sections as we speak actually.

[785boats]

I have a day off work today. But of course the body clock still has me awake at the normal work time of 3:00am.
Needless to say, it was down to the workshop with a a good strong cup of coffee in hand.

The first step was to cut the top of the pod to suit the rear sponson bulkhead, & epoxy it on to the base.
I needed to tack in a few braces first to make sure the pod kept its shape. The sides just wanted to bow inwards.

The whole assembly was then tacked into place with some CA, & the framework & bottom sheeting was assembled each side of the pod.
After that, the top decks were cut to fit.

The pod & base plate was removed & all the spaces in the hull were filled with foam blocks & trimmed to shape. All except the forward section on the starboard side. I might cut the side out of the main stringer & place the ESC in there.

A pine block was also glued in that section at the deck level for the Safety Loop connectors that will be added later on.

A quick coat of resin on the underside of the decks & in the front sections of the hull, & the decks were glued on.

After a bit of sanding & shaping, I refitted the pod assembly temporarily to check for fit. But this time I added a bit of 8mm dowel through the pod & into the sponsons. I'm still waiting for the carbon fiber rod to arrive, then I'll be able to epoxy everything in place permanently, & add the ram wings to finish it off.

Braces in the pod so it kept its shape.

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Top glued on & the assembly in place for the framework & sheeting.

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Framework & bottom sheeting completed.

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Foam blocks & decks cut, shaped & pre-bent

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Decks fitted.

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[785boats]

More pics.
Pod assembly refitted with temporary dowel in place.

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The top view.

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At the transom.

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[Beaux]

That's a nice boat.

[785boats]

That it is Beaux.
I feel the main beauty of this version of the hull is that the side view is so low without that huge turbine snorkel up on top of the deck. Just the beautiful twin turbo Allison V12.
It just looks tough.



17157504_1614828441880577_6818475105196695973_o.jpg

[785boats]

Another 'rostered day off' today, so I permenantly epoxied the whole pod & baseplate to the hull this morning.

For the main spar supporting the front of the pod (and the ram wings), I was going to use some 6mm tube epoxied into an 8mm tube. But it seemed a bit too small once I had it in by hands.
So I had some 5mm rod that I glued into the 6mm tube. And then I epoxied the whole thing into a piece of 10mm aluminium tube that had a 1mm wall thickness. Now it is a solid rod.

Then I started on the hatch cover. A piece of 1/16" ply with the center cut out for the dummy motor. I will build a dropped floor in it for the motor to sit in.

The rear part of the pod, that I had previously cut off, was then shaped & glued onto the hatch.
To strengthen both pieces I glued a strip of 0.5mm ply around the inside of them.
Then on the inside of the rear piece i glued on some locating pins made from some 3/16" sq wood.

I had to sit the engine in place for a bit of a look. As you do.

The pod epoxied into the hull.

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The ply strips & locating pegs on the inside of the cowl pieces.

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Hatch locked in place.

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Engine & hatch sitting in place.

003.jpg

[785boats]

A successful morning , this morning.
I epoxied on the spar pieces. I always thought they were called the 'Ram Wings'. But apparently not.
The term 'Ram Wing'( so I just found out) refers to the whole body of the boat from the leading edges of the tub to the transom, between the sponsons & the air traps.
Anyhow, the spar covers were not long enough so I had to add a bit of wood to make them fit.

Then it was on to assembling the Canard wing.
A couple of timber blocks were shaped to fit inside the ends of the wing for the mounting bolts to have something solid to attach to.
Then a light piece of balsa was glued to the inside of one half of the wing, as were the wooden blocks. The balsa is for flotation should the wing get ripped off & broken.
The other half was then epoxied on to finish it off.

A couple of adjustable brackets were made up from some aluminium angle, & temporarily screwed to the wing. I will use nylon breakaway bolts in the final assembly.

Then the holes were drilled into the sponsons for mounting, & the wing was temporarily attached, just to make sure everything is straight, square & level.

I'm waiting on some threaded inserts to arrive to screw & glue into the sponsons to take the 4mm mounting bolts. A tip borrowed from Tom G on his Budweiser T-6 thread. Thanks Tom.

The spar covers added.
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The wing assembled & the adjustable brackets completed.
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Temporarily fitted to the hull.
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Full up adjustment.
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Full down adjustment.
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[Coug90]

This is one of my favorite unlimiteds. Love the piston power. I am actually building this boat in 1:10 scale right now and I'm about where you are in the build. I scratch built it from plans I drew and it's primarily wood over foam construction, without bulkheads and stringers. I've been building boats this way from the beginning and it's worked well for me. On this build I laid fiberglass decking down over the foam, but the whole center section is decked with 1/32" plywood, like the rest of the boat. My U3 will be the 2016-17 Griggs Presents Miss Ace Hardware. I'm very excited to get more work done on it. Super nice building job on your 1:8 scale project. It's looking great and I love your attention to scale detail. I hope I can do the boat justice too. Thanks for posting the thread. Happy Building Brother!!

[785boats]

Thanks Mitch.
Yes, a beautiful boat.
A 1/10 scale is cool. I take it that you are building it for 1/10 scale racing to mix it up with the turbine looking hulls.

Could you post a few pics here please, showing the foam construction. Sounds interesting.

I too am setting it up in the Ace Hardware livery.
Mike at Thunderboat Graphics is doing all the graphics for me. He would do them in 1/10. Or do you make your own, like all the other scale items you make?

PS. I'm never happier than when I'm building a boat.

[Coug90]

I only took a few pics during the build, but I'll try and post some of them soon. There is a build sequence of photos I posted years ago of my Mr. Pringles boat that shows the foam construction much better. I'll see if I can find a link for you if you haven't seen it. Mike is also doing the graphics for my boat. They're on their way. He does really good work and happened to be finishing up the set when I contacted him about this build. I've got the hull and wings all fitted and hoping to get the motor, driveline and rudder servo set up when I get back on Sunday. Then I can tear it all down, do some final prep work and shoot primer on the boat. The turbo Allison will be built and fitted soon too. Building is a lot of fun for me too. It may be the most fun part of this hobby, but I enjoy the competition and kinship in our club too.

[Coug90]

Oh, I remembered that the Pringles build photo gallery was posted on Rum Runner's forum. You may have to go there to view it.

[785boats]

Thanks for the info.
I'll look into the gallery.

Yes the mateship & racing at the club is a great part of the hobby too.
I'm just packing up the wagon for another day of racing now actually. 5 classes with 3 races in each class.
Our club also has an extra 'Shootout' race in a pre selected class at each meeting. Today's is the EB 6s mono class.
Top 5 point scorers through the day in that class are entered. It's usually a cracker of a race. There's a couple of different rules for it.
Instant disqualification for hitting or cutting a buoy.
Contestants choose their lane before the race starts. Highest point scorer from the day has first choice, next highest has second choice etc.
It all adds a bit more fun for the day.
Must go, or I'll be late.
Cheers.

[785boats]

Been back on night shift & overtime lately so not much energy for boat building.

I've only managed to put the false floor in the cowling & cut the base of the dummy motor to the desired angle.
I might have to cut a hole in the floor & allow the rear end of real motor to fit up inside the crank case of the dummy motor yet. But I'll fit the real motor first to see how much needs to be cut out. hopefully none, depending on the final angle required.

Then a couple of timber pieces were shaped & fitted to the sides of the section of dropped deck at the transom. One for the side of the center tub, & one for under the fin.

Nothing very exciting really but a few fiddly little jobs out of the way.

The floor of the hatch.
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Motor base cut & sitting in position.
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timber filler at the center tub.
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Timber filler under the starboard fin.
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[Tetefroid]

Hello. I got this similar kit from ML boatworks, and it came with 5 pieces of wood labeled "Jig". I have no idea how that goes together or what it is for. Any help would be great. Thanks.

[785boats]

Sorry mate. I can't help you there. Mine didn't have a jig with it, & I've never seen one.
Hopefully someone will sign on with an answer soon.