My Semi New Spartan

BRAND NEW SPARTAN, RAN OUT OF THE BOX A COUPLE TIMES AND WENT INTO THE GARAGE IMMEDIATELY FOR UPGRADES.

Well shes almost complete, just need to:

1. fill a couple holes left over from original part locations
2. adjust trim tabs so they match in pitch. could use a little advice on that one. the tabs dont continue flush with the bottom of the hull at the rear of the transom as you can see in the picture. they sit up like 1/4" from the bottom of the hull. does that matter?
3. zip strip and trim the tubing back so its nice and tidy inside
4. shave down the turn fin i started on some more so its like a knife, and repeat on the other turn fin
5. attach hull seal foam around the hatch

throw'er in the water and see if she still floats and goes!

sorry i didnt get any pictures of the boat during the install. Trimming down the pieces on the interior transom to get that dang rudder assembly and bolt block installed was a SERIOUS pain. ended up grinding down the tabs and pieces of plastic sticking out that were in the way with a dremmel.

Using a dremmel to grind down a knife edge on the turn fins as well.

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more pictures. i clearly need to remove the fin to finish the project or put a guard on the hull. i nicked it a couple times :(
nothing paint wont eventually cover tho.

you can see the nice edge im getting on the leading edge, and the difference from the stock in the second photo.


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Overall images

paint job to follow when i feel good with the tuning.
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anyone know a good way to keep the servo arm bushing in place in that new bracket hole? the bracket hole is oval shaped and the bushing just pops out from left to right movement of the rudder, exposing a nice hole in the transom

areas of concern in yellow circles. The trim tabs dont sit flush with bottom of hull; i see its pretty typical for the drive dog to sit of the stinger but is there a way to fix this to reduce drag? also i dont like how my bullet nut has a larger circumference than the prop center. anyone else have that problem?
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I would just re-position the tabs so they are flush with the hull bottom, take the bullet nut off and use a regular one that is self-locking, and put a teflon washer in between the drive dog and the strut. What's going on with those cooling tubes though? Do they actually go through the hatch?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TheShaddix

I would just re-position the tabs so they are flush with the hull bottom, take the bullet nut off and use a regular one that is self-locking, and put a teflon washer in between the drive dog and the strut. What's going on with those cooling tubes though? Do they actually go through the hatch?

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sure does. ive seen other installs where the tubes turn under the slash guard and i felt like those were two sharp bends that would reduce water flow. this setup is free flowing with soft bends. they are tight through the hatch so im not too concerned about water getting in. bonus, wont lose the hatch now :)

i just bought that bullet nut to fit stock shaft...... yeah its also not a lock nut, im concerned about it spinning off. id like the bullet nut on there to reduce drag.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TheShaddix

I would just re-position the tabs so they are flush with the hull bottom, take the bullet nut off and use a regular one that is self-locking, and put a teflon washer in between the drive dog and the strut. What's going on with those cooling tubes though? Do they actually go through the hatch?

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i dont think i can reposition them, they are attached in the stock holes. id have to drill new ones to shift the tabs down.

Im assuming i can use the same teflon washer between the transom and the stinger? same concept? this the teflon stuffing tub you are referring to as a washer? cut to size?

Look up on how they work on real boats and you'll see. It's the same as flaps on an airplane's wing. The way they are now they don't even touch the water, so they are useless. They have two functions: one is to extend the length of a boat so the rear rides higher and more stable, and the other is to control the pitch (raising or lowering the nose). If you don't want to drill new holes, then you can either just glue them to the hull or get new, larger tabs or add some cf plates underneath the existing tabs to level it off. But they have to be flush and that's the bottom line.

You don't need washers in between transom and stinger. The reason for a teflon washer at the drivedog is to avoid metal on metal contact if your collet is loose and the cable slides forward (happens often with crappy collets). If this happens and the driveline ceases, you will burn out your motor. With a washer it'll still spin and you'll notice the added friction as the speed will reduce. You can pick those up at lowes, they sell nylon washers though which are what I use. What you need in between transom and strut is to have your teflon tube extend all the way into the strut without a gap. Then you can put silicone in between to seal it completely. If there is a gap, water will get into the stuffing tube all the time because most of the sealing happens inside of the strut with grease and tight clearances.

The problem with your tubing going through the hatch is that it's just in the way all the time you remove the hatch. Since the tubing has to have a tight squeeze, it must be a chore to slide the hatch along them. But that's a personal choice.

I grew up around boats so i completely understand the logic behind the trim tabs, which is why i raised the question. I have no problem drilling more holes to make them function properly. I asked because this is scale size and not completely the same as a real boat but very similar and didnt know if this was correct or not. As you stated, not. Off to fix them!

Ok so the nylon spacer keeps the flexcable from unraveling in a sense and ceasing in the stuffing tube, by keeping resistance on the drivedog if it were to start backing up into the stuff tube?

I knew i would have a little extra effort keeping the hatch open but it only takes a second to pull some of the tubing through to lay the hatch back.

One question on the turn fins tho. I see several of us using the teardrop shaped ones vs these bulky style that came with my boat. I feel that the larger the boat the bigger surface area may be require to help pull the boat into turns, and I didnt feel the teardrop shaped ones would do the trick. Which is why i left the stock ones and am shaving the leading edge and bottom down to a knife edge. What are your thoughts on that?

Rc boats and real boats are quite the same in terms of physics, the only difference in this case would be that a real boat would ride lower in the water due to its weight and less speed, and rely on the trim tabs more whereas an rc boat barely touches the water at speed, so the only time you actually use the trim tabs is in turns and while accelerating, they can help get the boat on plane faster. With this being said, you can also mount additional trim tabs closer to the drive strut to increase their effectiveness.

Not sure if it matters how wide the turn fins are since they cut the water straight on, plus this boat will turn great with any turn fins. I removed mine actually because I just wanted it to go fast in straight line and also got tired of the fins scratching everything around. Anything that goes through water will benefit from being sharpened, so what you want to do is a great idea. Also, you can sharpen the rudder a bit too as well as shorten it.

The teflon/nylon spacer or washer is there to prevent the drivedog from touching the strut directly, but it would also prevent the cable from going inside like you said, although I have never had that happen.

An update on the Spartan Mod. Trim tabs seem to have been the answer for the boat jumping out of the water. playing with battery placement next to reduce more of the bob at top speed. Boat has been sanded down and painted white temporarily until all mods are complete and i figure out how to get the idea of the paint job in my head on the boat. Then Red, hammered metal & white will be the new theme along with some of the decals from the stock pack & new theme stickers from Monojeff.

Here is a video of the boat with trim adjustments and all upgraded parts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chBJKaD-ArU

Here is the preliminary white paint job. Still need another coat and some sanding to smooth out the rough spots and drip lines from overspray. Overall, paint took really good to the hull!
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I do need to sand down some of the expoy'd hole fills you can see bulging a little, as well as where the drill jumped drilling holes for the trim tabs. the inside of the transom has so many protrusions from it it was hard to drill a straight line through without hitting one.

After much of a fight and mulitple layers of while base (becuase my 1000 grit sandpaper wetsand kept cutting through to base paint) i finally have an almost finished paint job. The RED is finally on, with the exception of a few blemishes which i will touch up with a paint brush, hammered metal stripe will be applied next with some red pin stripes along side.

This is my first paint job ever and i taped all the lines by hand. no stencil. so far, a much better looking spartan than the crappy graphic factory applied (and not centered at all)
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and one more
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I'm digging the paint job! Remember Clear coats are your friend. I put at least 3 coats of clear on my shockwave and it has help up beautifully.

Absolutely! Thats the last step after i get all the details and stickers applied. 3-5 coats to follow with a nice 2000 grit wetsand to make it like a mirror shine! Getting exciting now!

And thanks for the "thumbs up" on the design! Not quite finished yet!

I feel it's truly your "stamp" of personality on the boat. Learned a lot building the Shockwave, now I need to get moving on my other mono build.

Same here, i was not pleased with the stock "paint job" traxxas put on the boat. Not to mention when i ordered it, i ordered red and they sent me a blue one!! Bastard's red now and better looking than before IMO. Got to giggling when i was pulling the tape off the trim lines, pleased with my first attempt.

Your's turned out great by the way, have you made it to the water after all the work?

Well all, shes finished and ready for the first maiden voyage after months and months of painting......im so ready, shes no longer a "spartan!" at least from the crappy body graphics. I had the hardest time with the black windshield. The glossy black is not a fan of a layer of clear gloss on top. Since i used the hammered metal on the deck, i figured it kind of tied together and to be honest, i was NOT going to sand and paint another layer of black. Im happy with it overall, turned out really nice and not bad, i think, for my first model boat paint job, and first model boat.

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I think the lines you chose flow very well with the overall hull lines of the Spartan! Nice job making it your personal touch!

Thanks! Im happy with it. Since its been sitting for 7months, i hope she fires up without a problem. Greasing everything up tonight and going to test engine and components.