traxxas villan build

[j.m.]

The 4mm shaft Steve sells will serve this purpose. The shaft is very stiff (being stainless and all), and will work great as a surface drive hanging about 3" out the back. If the angle is kept very low and the center of the prop is level with the bottom of the hull, it will do just perfect.

This design is very similar to how European hulls are layed out.

The flex coupler will allow the shaft to be VERY low in the bottom of the hull. The villain likes a bit of a downward prop angle anyways. It's one less thing to adjust as well.

The shaft will certainly need to be supported inside the hull, in at least two places. The 1/16 ply 20psinow has could easily be fashioned into 1/8" thick shaft supports. With the transom doubler this will be very sturdy.

Jon

[Dragonturbo3]

What kind of epoxy do you use? I would like to fiberglass the bottom of an old MRC Tritoncat but I thought the epoxy gets hot when drying and could melt the ABS.

Your villain build is great by the way, makes me jealous I sold mine.

[Mono~Junkie]

I've never had epoxy get hot enough to melt abs,.

unless your are putting so much hardner in it that its smoking in the mixing cup, or having a 6 inch puddle of resin.

The longer the cure time, the least chance of any chemical heat.

[20psinow]

well guys the tonight's gole is to sand down the cuts i made and make them look perfict! and hear are some of the new parts that i have 1/16 bearch plywood 6"x12" and i know everyone is going to tell me that the air plane radio is not ment for what i going to do with it but the reciver is tiny and light!! so this weekend just going to be prep work for every thing and order the motor and mount drive line, then get some glass and reson.. you know what would be sweet if i could some how fab a way to use the 6ch and make adjustable trim tabs?!?!?!?

[j.m.]

I hope you didn't go and buy that radio... It is illegal per the FCC to use a 72Mhz system for a surface vehicle. If the radio is 27Mhz, it's legal, but watch out; a TON of lower quality RC vehicles use that frequency so always do a range check before you run.

For this purpose, general hobbypoxy (Your LHS should have it with their name on it, the epoxy comes from Bob Smith Industries) works great. The 30 minute type will give a long enough cure time to mix thoroughly and work with fiberglass. The bottle for the 30 minute stuff is yellow in color and very viscous. (You cannot work anything other than the 30 minute epoxy into fiberglass, it's too thick.)

For the rectangular section on the upper portion of the transom, it looks to be set back... Is it? If so, definitely put an extra layer of ply there so the layer of plywood most forward will be a continuous piece. Glass this in, and your transom will never have any problems.

Jon

[20psinow]

no no the 6ch radio is what i have laying around.. i had that from a plane from about 1year ago... i have a 2ch it the traxxas tq3.. i could just go buy another cristle to mach up to the traxxas?

[j.m.]

If the radio is a 72Mhz radio, no Xtal will change it to 75 Mhz. I'd just use the Traxxas Tx. Those have worked very well IME.

Yeah, looks like one layer of the 1/16" ply will make the upper rectangle even with the bottom. Then do two more layers over the whole thing.

[20psinow]

ok would you also use the factory reciver? i have that to same xtal... so it works but im going to start on getting the edge pritey then cut the wood up some time this weekend.. depends on how hung over i am tomarrow hehe long day at work but i will post pics as i go..

[j.m.]

If it's one of the 4 ch. mini Rx's, then definitely. Those things are AMAZING.

I do still have a few of the older style shoebox size Rx's from WAY back in the day that still work though...

Whatever you decide on, range check first. And try to see if you can't get a failsafe, that's a lot better than having your time and money slam into something at close to 40mph.

About the hangover, DEFINITELY make a template first. Epoxy pretty much won't come undone.

Jon

[20psinow]

well guys got some stuff today.... 3 packs of nitrile gloves, fiberglass resin, fiberglass, sand paper 80girt/150girt, sanding block, and 2 loctite marine epoxy (50min set) but i still need some more things that im going to get next weekend (cleaning stuff)..

[j.m.]

AWESOME!!

Good job on the nitrile gloves, I think I forgot to mention those...

Did you get any of wifey's credit cards?? You know... the ones for Kohls n such...

They aren't necessary, they just help to work with the thickened epoxy.

[20psinow]

no cards, no wife, just just me! i need to find some ster sticks and i have lots of cups to use... but thinking of getting some razor blades form work and use them to smooth out the epoxy, when type of cleaner should i get? alc 99% the stuff you find in the store or the stuff the the hardware store in a big tin can?

[j.m.]

just the cheap stuff in the tin can from the hardware store.

Works fine for removing oil residue.

Ideally you would use a very thin and flexible something or other with rounded corners. You can just keep resusing it by wiping the epoxy off.

[6S HYDRO]

Unless you have alot of freq. Police around dont worry about using the plane radio, they work great and have awesome range.

[j.m.]

Yeah, okay. I will have to admit I have used a plane radio for a boat as well, just make sure your not messing anybody else up.

[20psinow]

well no police around me lol just on the lake every now and then... but really what i read is what im going to use.. it all in the past from what people have done that work best is what im going to do.. tonight just drinken so not much getting done so tomarrow is a new day hope to get the expoy on tomarrow when i go and pick up the cleaner and then sand down time.. gonna do this build right this time thinking of paint right now.. (green black, and dule white) my work colors... but the fiber glass has to come first and going to cut the wood tomarrow or early next week..

[6S HYDRO]

Yeah but they arent frequency police- i dont believe they actually exist

[20psinow]

hey J.M. would it be out of the qustion if id just fiber glass the back of the boat? insted of useing the ply.. i could still use the ply to support the stuffing tube at the front/back or will i still need the ply in the back due to the fact that im not using a strut... im gonna have to cut the wood out and cut in 2 there is an angle that the wood is going to bend in the center so all in all can i get away with the fiber glass on the back and support the tube front and back (with ply) and maybe glass/epoxy the far rear of the tube?

[20psinow]

well having the day off today i got to epoxy some stuff on the boat and ripped out the foam and cut to a smaller peace that fits nicey in the niose.. by the end of the week i should have my wood cut out i made some temps so will see how them work out... need to do some sanding tomarrow when the epoxy is cured its ez to smooth out..

[bwells]

I've been watching your thread and I'm very interested in J.M.'s ideas. The combination stuffing tube/stinger is cool and he appears to be keeping you under budget. I noticed he has not been on for a few days and I see your dilemma on the ply to transom. Post 36 pic 3 shows the concave transom very well. I'm assuming you will need turn fins but they would need to be mounted up through the 2 flat portions on each side which would need to have ply also. Would it be possible to cut these long toward the bow to at least shim that flush with the center? The upper rectangle appears to be straight so I would use that as the starting point. I noticed in one of your pics some bass wood. By using some differing thickness strips epoxied upright as shims to give you a flat surface for the ply across the transom could be a possibility. This may not work if you plan on trim tabs though. Just some thoughts and hopefully J.M. chimes in soon. Looking good so far.

[bwells]

After sleeping on it, the shim idea seems a bit cheesy and time consuming. What about laminating multiple layers of thin bass wood to the transom and clamping them to the existing curve. The only thing bolted appears to be the rudder and it may be to the rectangular area and some trim tabs maybe. At least the thing would be rigid. Good luck.

[20psinow]

After sleeping on it, the shim idea seems a bit cheesy and time consuming. What about laminating multiple layers of thin bass wood to the transom and clamping them to the existing curve. The only thing bolted appears to be the rudder and it may be to the rectangular area and some trim tabs maybe. At least the thing would be rigid. Good luck.

well looking at the (ply) it being only 1/16 is able to flex i just need to get some clamps on there to hold it in place wile the epoxy cures. the rudder will be bolted to the flat on top and i dont know if i should extend it out behind the deck to get clean water flow over the rudder.. still dont have hardware yet but i will order it as soon as the glassing gets done.. i have thought about useing turn fins but dont know it i will really need them being that im a big wussy and will slow way down to turn but the trim tabs would be nice.. the water it will run on is choppy most of the time 3" to 7" but i for see my self swiming a lot this summer because i will get cocky with the go triger.. tomorrow maybe to night going to sand the hull and prep for glassing and hope to have it all knock out this weekend and ready for the good stuff... and by the way this is the first build i have ever done out side of plaine stuff even then they were ARF's..

[j.m.]

Hold off on mounting the rudder, you want the tip even with the drive dog.
Sounds good to me for the ply.

[bwells]

If your plan is to follow the curve on the triangle, I have been thinking off and on all day about how to jive the rectangle into the bottom part and kept coming up with the same idea. It seems to me ( I am a newbie also) that this would be important so you can use ply that would encompass both the rectangle and the triangle as one surface. Is the triangle sloped rearward as opposed to the face of the rectangle? Please say NO, Please say NO!

[20psinow]

well just thought id share some pics... sanded the epoxy (that some hard stuff by the way) and started to cut the ply for the back of the boat.. only have one peace so far but going to cut more off them tonight or tomorrow..

[j.m.]

Your hull is looking GREAT!!

Now for those holes... Once the ply is in place, you can just fill them from the outside with thickened epoxy, and paint if you really feel it's necessary.

Jon

[steveo]

http://www.lousfastrc.com/

this is some good info look for the p-offshore read the whole story and watch the vids

i pretty much did the same thing to my villian but, i made the rear transom flat and use some inline mono hardware ose sold a few years back. i used a 700 motor and 12 cells

[20psinow]

http://www.lousfastrc.com/

this is some good info look for the p-offshore read the whole story and watch the vids

i pretty much did the same thing to my villian but, i made the rear transom flat and use some inline mono hardware ose sold a few years back. i used a 700 motor and 12 cells

looks like you did a lot of work..

[20psinow]

well i got the rest of the ply cut only going to 2 on top and 2 on bottom.. then ill go back and fill in some of the cracks and then go on the back and epoxy the holes up.. going to repaint the hole boat but dont know the theam yet but theres some pics of the ply and what is should look like in the boat (there not mounted yet)

[bwells]

I used some wax paper placed over the holes and held in place with packaging tape from the outside of the transom. After the epoxy dried from glueing in the wood, I removed the tape and the holes were filled with no sanding needed. Just a thought. Looks good!