mini thunder miss budweiser!

Here she is. I put the T-400 hop-up motor in, smoothed out the sponson pads, and made a bigger skid fin at work out of .050 aluminum. The skid fin is now a full inch below the sponson. I used automotive base/clear coat for the paint job, and model paints for the driver/engine details. I paint cars for a living, so it was just leftover paint that would have been thrown out anyway. Time=1.5 hours. Cost=FREE!

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...s/P1010649.jpg

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...s/P1010650.jpg

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...s/P1010651.jpg

:rockon2:

Very Nice looking

Thanks! Where in Washington are you, Jim?

Seattle

I'm Kent.....the land of big hair and Camaros!.....and hillbillies! :laugh:

Where on the east hill? What did you use for to shoot the paint? Is it PPG?

Yep, east hill. Yep, PPG deltron dbc base and deltron velocity clear. Prep was light grey scotch brite and Bulldog adhesion promoter......we use that to make paint stick to new bumper covers for cars...works like a charm!

Very nice!!
May i ask what was the point in making the fin larger? and how did you come up with the size you made?
THANKS

From what I've seen on youtube, this boat does not turn well with a faster motor and the stock skid fin. The stock fin is .5 inch below the sponson, and the one I made is 1 inch. I figured a little more couldn't hurt.....HOWEVER, this boat has not seen water yet! :laugh: It'll have her maiden voyage this weekend.

My dad used to race RC hydros, but I was too young and he croaked before I really wanted to even get in to it.....the skid fin thing is something he prolly woulda said to make bigga!

I traced the stock fin on a piece of .050 aluminum, and lengthened it by .75 inch so I would not have to drill new holes in the hull, then shaped and sharpened it a bit for aqua-dynamics... but wuddoo I know?.... ;>}

Don't know why you want it deeper as i said in a post when i first got mine it actually can flip right over on its top it grabs the water so much.

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Originally Posted by SweetZ28

Don't know why you want it deeper as i said in a post when i first got mine it actually can flip right over on its top it grabs the water so much.

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Sure, if you drive the mini thunder like a deepvee or a cat. These are meant for large oval courses with a gentle sweeping right turn. Have you ever seen a real hydro driver crank the steering all the way left as fast as he can at the end of a straight at full throttle? NO! The boat would flip over ending his weekend.

I played with mini bud all weekend at the pond at our family vacation home. She did well... never flipped over, no water inside, and turned nicely on the oval course I layed out with small balloons on weighted strings. She didn't seem fast enough to justify the bigger skid fin I made, even with the T-400 motor installed. 10 minute run times at full throttle the whole time, but the motor did get pretty hot so the water cooling is a joke.

Is this boat even worth putting a brushless setup in? I'm looking for a top speed of about 15 mph. Could somebody recommend a BL motor and esc that would achieve this goal? I'm thinking any faster than 15 mph and the boat would be undrivable as the stern bobs up and down at full speed leading me to believe the prop angle is wrong. So again, is this boat worthy of a BL setup, or should I look at getting an Elam or a UL-1? TIA

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Originally Posted by SPISHAK

I played with mini bud all weekend at the pond at our family vacation home. She did well... never flipped over, no water inside, and turned nicely on the oval course I layed out with small balloons on weighted strings. She didn't seem fast enough to justify the bigger skid fin I made, even with the T-400 motor installed. 10 minute run times at full throttle the whole time, but the motor did get pretty hot so the water cooling is a joke.

Is this boat even worth putting a brushless setup in? I'm looking for a top speed of about 15 mph. Could somebody recommend a BL motor and esc that would achieve this goal? I'm thinking any faster than 15 mph and the boat would be undrivable as the stern bobs up and down at full speed leading me to believe the prop angle is wrong. So again, is this boat worthy of a BL setup, or should I look at getting an Elam or a UL-1? TIA

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I don't think so I only ran mine a few times and i am not liking it that much and probably going to sell it...I think it's not made right like you said somethings wrong with it any faster than stock and it's not fun to drive and bounces up and down and won't get on plane.

I'm installing the Mini GP1 brushless system in mine with sponson mods and using the small turn fins from Aquacraft as a skid fin. We will see what happens