Starship Rigger

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Anyone using one of these? Someone linked me to one, not too keen about what electronics it comes with but 50+mph with a no brand ESC and motor is impressive for something so small.

I don't really know what is good and what isn't in the boat world when it comes to hulls so would like some advice here...



http://www.heathsrcmodels.co.uk/starship.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZJjA...layer_embedded

If I was to buy one what would be a good replacement for the motor and ESC, what kind of prop am I looking at?

If its not too great, are there any other small riggers out there which are good for a beginner?

Jacob

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No one?

[BakedMopar]

Kinda looks like the tenshock ones ( minicatracing-USA ).

[m4a1usr]

If its not too great, are there any other small riggers out there which are good for a beginner?

Jacob

Riggers are not your typical beginners hull to start driving with. If they truely are fast speed requires judgement. Something the typical beginner lacks. Stick with a Mono or more stable Cat until you get the basic driving skills/control burned into your brain.

John

[graill]

Riggers are not your typical beginners hull to start driving with. If they truely are fast speed requires judgement. Something the typical beginner lacks. Stick with a Mono or more stable Cat until you get the basic driving skills/control burned into your brain.

John

John brings up a spectacular point. Many years ago (many decades, mid 70's i think) i remember a young lad whom thought he could control a "simple" hi speed rig. To make a long story short, on my second ever run, my little rig ended out and up the bank nearly pasting some folks in the crowd at the park, its glofuel engine and prop whining away. Think that was the last time i ever ran that boat, my father and some of the folks on shore werent happy.

With what we have available today, it scares me sometimes to think about.

[sailr]

Be advised that Heaths RC Models is illegally using our brand names "Starship" and Micro Hydro and have 'bootlegged' our produced videos. We have requested they rename the boats to the Tenshock names, Mini Cat and Mini Y respectively and cease using our videos to sell products they are not buying from us. Such business practices would make me suspect of the dealer.

Anyone using one of these? Someone linked me to one, not too keen about what electronics it comes with but 50+mph with a no brand ESC and motor is impressive for something so small.

I don't really know what is good and what isn't in the boat world when it comes to hulls so would like some advice here...



http://www.heathsrcmodels.co.uk/starship.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZJjA...layer_embedded

If I was to buy one what would be a good replacement for the motor and ESC, what kind of prop am I looking at?

If its not too great, are there any other small riggers out there which are good for a beginner?

Jacob

[hide]

I was not aware of that. I'll steer clear of them then.

What kind of Cat would you recommend? I've never been a fan of monos.

[sailr]

Are you looking for a 'mini' type boat or something bigger?

I was not aware of that. I'll steer clear of them then.

What kind of Cat would you recommend? I've never been a fan of monos.

[hide]

I'd rather run a mini for now. I have lots of smaller battery packs, motors etc. so its cheaper for me to run them.

[Chop]

I have 2 MiniCat Racing boats, the Starship and the Micro Hydro. Both are very fun and great crowd pleaser's (I don't think people expect the speed that they have).

The only issues that I have had with them is the steering servo - the mount must be better glued, or reinforced with fiberglass because the servo broke loose on both of my boats.

[sailr]

Then please check our website. We have several mini boats including the Starship and Micro Hydro as well as the Velocity Series Mono and Cat and the Jollymotor Ready to Run. They all use sm all 3S lipo batteries.

www.minicatracingusa.com

Thanks!
Jim

I'd rather run a mini for now. I have lots of smaller battery packs, motors etc. so its cheaper for me to run them.

[sailr]

Agree about the servo mounting. I have complained to the factory about it but they stubbornly never improve it. It doesn't happen all the time and when it does it's a quick and simple fix with 5 minute epoxy.

I have 2 MiniCat Racing boats, the Starship and the Micro Hydro. Both are very fun and great crowd pleaser's (I don't think people expect the speed that they have).

The only issues that I have had with them is the steering servo - the mount must be better glued, or reinforced with fiberglass because the servo broke loose on both of my boats.

[hide]

Thanks Jim, like the look of all your boats. Will have to buy one in the Summer... its snowing right now here! Not an issue with the weak mounts, got access to lots of fibreglass and epoxy so if something does go wrong I can sort it :p

Which one of your boats would you recommend for a Neu 1105/4.5D? Thats if it would be applicable for one...

[questtek]

I can highly recommend the carbon fiber Starship.....I bought several of them overseas. ALthough I have a number of 1 meter long Aeromarine Cats and Canards, and several Mean Machines..... it is the carbon Starship that tops the list. The stock boat is lightening fast. I was at a FE Race meet recently and got the advice from the FE record holders. I made some mods...like adding a MUCH bigger brushless and putting in a data logging ESC. The key factor was sponson mods for the much more powerful motor......taking the advice from the pro's the boat is beyond my current capability in speed. This is one great design and VERY convenient to run. Think about it, you can carry several in one hand to the lake!

[sailr]

Assuming the Neu 1105 is a 20mm diameter motor, it will work in both the Starship and the Micro Hydro but you will have a handful! The boats will be so fast you will probably have to add a lot of weight to just keep them on the water!

Thanks Jim, like the look of all your boats. Will have to buy one in the Summer... its snowing right now here! Not an issue with the weak mounts, got access to lots of fibreglass and epoxy so if something does go wrong I can sort it :p

Which one of your boats would you recommend for a Neu 1105/4.5D? Thats if it would be applicable for one...

[hide]

Its a 28mm motor But I have a few 20mm motors around.

[questtek]

Attached are some pics of one of my Carbon Fiber starships that I put a 2848 Brushless inside. I use a 3S LiPo about 2250 mAhr capacity. The motor is rated at 3800 KV and is water cooled. I have modified a Castle 80 Amp ESC for water cooling and installed the receiver in the orange balloon. I have 5 different props that I am experimenting with for this rig.

The second pic shows the modified front sponsons. This was done for straight line speed as recommended by some of the hot FE SAW recorder holder guys. The sponsons are balsa but have a strip of thin, lightweight plastic cutting board material bonded to the bottom with extended trailing edge. I think this height is a bit too much and will experiment with cutting it down a bit. Additional weight was added to the front and it varies depending on water conditions.

There is still lots of trimming to do but the boat is fully instrumented with an Eagle Tree so I can monitor performance as I change things. This is a great toy to experiment with.

[sailr]

How did you fit the 28mm motor? The diameter with cooling jacket would be too big to fit into the existing motor mount?

[sailr]

WHY do you want to change the motor? We sell a 4200KV motor you can use that is a direct fit. Check out website! The Tenshock motors are excellent and are setting the world on fire in Europe.

Its a 28mm motor But I have a few 20mm motors around.

[hide]

Ah I wasn't aware that it was a Tenshock motor. Well I'm very happy with that since they are great motors.

[sundog]

How much faster does it go with the modded sponsons?

[questtek]

How much faster does it go with the modded sponsons?

Good question but I have not dialed it in enough to go full throttle and find out. I believe the sponsons are a bit too high and need to be cut down about 1/4" inch. It has a bit too much bow lift now. This mod was recommended to me so that there would be more air under the hull when using a newer, more powerful motor. Now, at 2/3 throttle it is uncontrollably fast. (These SAW record holders really know their stuff!)

The stock motor for the carbon fiber and I also believe fiberglass Tenshock Starship is their TS-N1025. This is a great little motor with a 22 mm dia and a 40 mm length weighing in at 70 grams. It can handle up to 18 A continuous and 30A for short bursts. The stock KV is around 3200 and was mentioned in a few previous postes you get a "hop-up" motor that was identical in size but runs at 4200KV. (TS-N1025*13)

I actually put in a much larger motor, in fact the weight is double at 153 grams with water cooling jacket. It is 28mm dia (33mm with jacket) and 48 mm long. It will handle 40 A continuous and over 60A in bursts. (This is why I use a water cooled Castle 80A ESC). The KV is about 3900.

It was a bit of a job getting this larger motor in as you can imagine, BUT, it can be made to fit. In fact you can even get a larger one in with a few more mods however the extra weight becomes more of a problem.

The sponsons are made from balsa and do provide additional flotation to counter-balance the additional 83 grams of weight for my larger brushless inrunner.

I can still mount my EagleTree system in the hull to monitor performance as things change...but it is a squeeze and all the planets have to be aligned to do it! Will keep the forum posted on my "tweaking" process.

[REBAR]

Attached are some pics of one of my Carbon Fiber starships that I put a 2848 Brushless inside. I use a 3S LiPo about 2250 mAhr capacity. The motor is rated at 3800 KV and is water cooled. I have modified a Castle 80 Amp ESC for water cooling and installed the receiver in the orange balloon. I have 5 different props that I am experimenting with for this rig.

The second pic shows the modified front sponsons. This was done for straight line speed as recommended by some of the hot FE SAW recorder holder guys. The sponsons are balsa but have a strip of thin, lightweight plastic cutting board material bonded to the bottom with extended trailing edge. I think this height is a bit too much and will experiment with cutting it down a bit. Additional weight was added to the front and it varies depending on water conditions.

There is still lots of trimming to do but the boat is fully instrumented with an Eagle Tree so I can monitor performance as I change things. This is a great toy to experiment with.

What is the aoa on the trailing edge?
Looks like the angle of attack on the sponsons have allot of rocker. Interesting..

[sundog]

If it's the motor I'm thinking of http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/s...WaterCooled%29 it is a good motor. The one we chose for racing the ABC Jet Ski's. We're running 5000mah 2s lipo's and the run times are exhausting. Will be trying half that size battery to save weight.

[questtek]

If it's the motor I'm thinking of http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/s...WaterCooled%29 it is a good motor. The one we chose for racing the ABC Jet Ski's. We're running 5000mah 2s lipo's and the run times are exhausting. Will be trying half that size battery to save weight.

That is exactly the motor. I have had lots of success with it but found it to be very reliable. For the price it is hard to beat. In the Starship the largest battery I can fit in is about 2250 mAhr. I still get good run times. Larger battery than that I will have to tow the bigger LiPo is a trailer behind the Starship!

[questtek]

If it's the motor I'm thinking of http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/s...WaterCooled%29 it is a good motor. The one we chose for racing the ABC Jet Ski's. We're running 5000mah 2s lipo's and the run times are exhausting. Will be trying half that size battery to save weight.

That is exactly the motor. I have had lots of success with it and found it to be very reliable. For the price it is hard to beat. In the Starship the largest battery I can fit in is about 2250 mAhr. I still get good run times. Larger battery than that I will have to tow the bigger LiPo is a trailer behind the Starship!

[questtek]

What is the aoa on the trailing edge?
Looks like the angle of attack on the sponsons have allot of rocker. Interesting..

I will try to send along some pics. Most interesting is the extended section of "cutting board" material on the bottom. It has a satin finish, like a light hull sanding with 400 grit. The extended tab of this material appears to act as a type of "shock absorber" for small waves. I painted these balsa sponson extensions white so I could observe their position at speed. The boat actually seems to "flutter" on the back tab of the cutting board material extension on the sponson. This is just my guess based on observation but I welcome any recommendations or suggestions.

[CaptPJB]

Lost my Starship today was romping along when it suddenly took a dive and did not come up. In hindsight should have brought it in as the motor was gliching which is what I think started the dive Anyway was using no name hatch tape............Boat is gone I suspect that "loose" bits of tape at speed caused tape to peal and that let the water in.

Anyway thought I would warn other Starship drivers it was an expensive lesson for me.

( boy it was a fast one though!!)

Peter

[sailr]

Sorry to hear about your Starship!!

Remember to ALWAYS put flotation in any boat! I always use swimming pool noodles and cut up pieces I can fit/glue into the hull and under the hatch.

[CaptPJB]

Sorry to hear about your Starship!!

Remember to ALWAYS put flotation in any boat! I always use swimming pool noodles and cut up pieces I can fit/glue into the hull and under the hatch.

Yes I use the same thing pool noodle on my other boats but as you are aware there is not much spare room in a Starship to put anything in.

In hindsight probably could have jammed some on top of the battery once it was in and connected that is about the only place. Not much room there but it might have been enough to save it. Problem really i think was the hatch tape being el cheapo and I should have quit when I noticed the motor cutting in and out.

As they say hindsight is 20/20 just wanted to post to warn other Starship users as it was an expensive mistake on my part.

Peter