"Soaring Stuff" 1/6 P-Limited Crackerbox Build.

[Hydromaniac]

I have been swamped with getting the racing season going and doing things with the nats as well as trying to get caught up with builds. I finally made some time to get the Crackerbox rolling once again. The hull build is finished so its time to add running gear, paint and details. So here we go.I decided to build much of the hardware but there is a ton of stuff that can be purchased and used, The install is pretty much the same process. I built a drop in motor mount from 1 inch extruded aluminum angle I cut the angle and drilled it to fit the bolt pattern of the motor Then set a 10 degree wedge block at the motor location and installed the mount to the block in the hulls bottom. I set the mount 12 inches from the transome. You can use any of the adjustable mounts that will fit in the bottom of the hull as well. Next I installed the stuffing tube to the keel center making sure in was centered with the motor shaft and keel center. I used 1/4 inch brass tubing, for the below transome prop I needed to make a slight "J" bend in the tube were the tube exhits the hull bottom.Here are some pics.

[Hydromaniac]

Next its time to install the under the transome strut, I made the strut form brass sheet and tubing and silver soldered it together. You can use an Octura or most any struts and mounts here, once again the process in about the same. I first located the transome and keel center and mounted the strut mounting bracket inside the hull on the the transome at that location. I then cut a small slit in the keel hull bottom were the strut will enter the hull. Now I use a perfectly straight rod and align the strut with the stuffing tub and adjust alignment as needed and now glue the stuffing tube in place. Here are some pics of the install.

[Hydromaniac]

I made a rudder from some things I had around but any after market rudder that is 3-3 1/2 inches long will work. With the prop at the transome I needed to set the rudder on center on the transome to allow for prop clearance, I first set the servo mount inside the hull at my chosen location then making sure my servo push rod was straight I drilled through the transome and mounted the rudder keeping the assembly very straight and lined up with all steering assembly. Here are a couple of pics.

[Hydromaniac]

Now I need to finish the hatch I added some balsa pieces to the cockpit front and then sanded them to contour and shape.

[Hydromaniac]

I have built a double shark fin skegg from 2 pieces of 1/16 brass sheet about 1 inch long and shaped them to the desired skegg shape and added a strip 1/4 inch wide brass to the tops of the skeggs and silver soldered them together. I then made a slit in the hull under the motor and slipped the skegg in place making sure it was straight and in line with the strut and stuffing tube. I then water sealed the remaing inside hull center and added a pair of battery bunks and esc pod the the hull floor.

[Hydromaniac]

The hull, running gear and all hardware part of the build is finished and time to start getting ready to paint. I filled all seams, minor imperfections and joints on the out side of the hull and hatch with 2 part automotive body glazing putty then sanded them as well as the entire hull smooth with 220 grit sand paper, dry sanding, I cleaned all dust from the hull and wiped it clean with a tack cloth and applied 2 coats of water proof polycrylic sealer then sanded this with 220 grit dry as well. I the cleaned the hull with soap and water and tacked wiped it clean and applied 3 coats of high fill sandable primer and allowed this to dry overnight, and sanded the primer with 320 grit sand paper wet and reapplied 3 coats of primer to the hull and hatch

[Hydromaniac]

Its time for final check to make sure everyhing fits and is correct. I made a couple of drivers and have fitted them as well as the motor tub. Here is the hull and detail layout, Next I will get final paint prep finished and paint applied, I am going to do a sray can paint job that will rival most body shop jobs and will give some tips on how to go about getting a really nice paint job using spray cans. Stay tuned!!!

[ace028]

WOW, looking great!!! Waiting for more pics!!! What color/ scheme are you going to go with?

[Hydromaniac]

WOW, looking great!!! Waiting for more pics!!! What color/ scheme are you going to go with?

Thank You!! Not really sure just yet, but thinking something very American, Red, White and Blue? Stars and stripes? Better decide soon as its just about ready for paint. LOL

[JimClark]

Are the drivers from Eddie? What about the V-8?

[peells]

Great job!!! nice tight fitting hatch

[Hydromaniac]

Are the drivers from Eddie? What about the V-8?

The drivers are my own, The HEMI is the top half of a Revell 1/6 scale model engine kit.

[Hydromaniac]

Great job!!! nice tight fitting hatch

Thank You!

[Hydromaniac]

Its just about time to paint the Crakerbox, I have a couple of ideas going thru my head so I'll just kind of wing it as I go. After the hull has been primed for the second time I applied a "Guide Coat" to the hull. For those who don't know what a guide coat is , I sprayed a very light Mist of Laquer rattle can spray paint to the entire hull and hatch. Use a very contrasting color and just a Very light mist, I used dark red over the grey primer. What this does is while sanding the primer is it makes flaws and other imperfections highly visable. If needed, be you can reprime and sand the hull until you are happy with it. Once the guide coat has dried in about 15 minutes I block sanded the hull and hatch with 400 grit sandpaper wet. Once I was happy with it I washed the parts with soap and water and dried the hull. As I said I plan to use spray cans for this one just to give you some information on how to get a nice job. I am going to use "Duplicolor" can spray paints that are carried by most Auto Parts stores. The Problem with spray cans is it is hard to paint large areas and get a smooth even job. So I am going to paint the boat in 2 sections. I will paint the bottom first. I masked around the entire hull at the bottom, Use good quality Automotive paint grade masking tape as the solvents in the paint will attack the cheaper ones and leave behind a gummy residue that is a pain to get off. Next I cleaned the area to be painted with grease and wax remover. If you don't want to by a quart can of it, in a pinch I have also used Rubbing Alcohol and it seemed to work fine. Next I cleaned the hull bottom with a tack cloth to remove any dust. I am going to use white in the paint scheme and I like to use as a white base coat for other colors I am painting the bottom of the hull White. For the white I am using Duplcolor "Truck, Van & SUV" paints as these are Laquer based so if I have a problem or am not happy with the base coat I can sand it and respray in about an hour. Now I sprayed 2 full wet coats of white to the bottom waiting about 5 minutes between coats and left to dry for about an hour.

[Hydromaniac]

Once the bottom has dried I again cleaned the hull bottom with a tack cloth and applied 2 full wet coats of Acrylic Enamel clear to the bottom waiting about 10 minutes between coats. This is left to dry overnight. Here are the pics with and with out clear coats. As you can tell by the refections the 2nd and 3rd pics are with the clear applied.

[Hydromaniac]

Once the bottom has dried I took a piece of 1000 grit sand paper and and lightly sanded the tape edge that is left from painting the bottom first, I lightly sanded it, knocking down the sharp edge being careful not to sand any of the fresh paint of the very bottom. Now I outlined masked and masked off the freshly painted bottom, I the cleaned and tacked the exposed area of the top and sides of the hull as well as the hatch and applied 2-3 full wet coats of the same White to the the hull and hatch. and let dry. The hull in now ready for the main colors and graphic design work. I printed some Name, number and star patterns on the computer using waterproof ink and printable vinyl that I will work in to the design patterns. I am going to use the stars as paint sheilds only.

[Hydromaniac]

Now that white is totally dry I wet sanded the deck, sides and hatch with 1000 grit sand paper I went quite easy making sure to not sand through the white paint. This sanding creates a smooth finish by leveling the paints surface removing any dust, orange peal or possible runs as well as increasing adhiesion. I cleaned the hull with soap and water and applied the stars I had made and added the graphic panel and stripe areas with masking tape I aways wipe the hull down with grease and wax remover and tack clean before spraying the next color, I then applied 2 full coats of Bright Red Truck. Van & SUV Laquer to the white exposed areas.

[Hydromaniac]

I allowed the Red to dry for 2 hours and repeated the color sanding with 1000 grit sandpaper wet. I have not removed any masing tape I build one color after the other, Now I added Auto Grade Fisket paper to the deck and laid out my final design drawing it on the Frisket and cutting the design out with an x-acto,Once the design was cut out, I masked all exposed areas of the hull that were to be left red. The problem with spray can paints is You have no control over the amount of paint that comes out or the size of the spray pattern, so it best to over mask and cover everything that may risk getting overspray on it. I now cleaned the exposed design area with grease and wax remover, tacked clean and spray the Duplicolor Perfect Match laquer Dark Pearl Blue. Once this had dried I removed the masking from the design area.

[Hydromaniac]

I allowed the paints that have been applied to dry for about 2 hours and once again lightly wet sanded all of the design area with 1000 grit paper to lessen the ridge that has been left by the masking. A light sanding reduces the high edges that are left behind. Now I applied the Name, Numbers and stripe detail to the design area.

[ace028]

That is looking sweet!!!

[peells]

That is looking real nice, are you going to shoot some automotive grade clear over the whole thing?

[Hydromaniac]

That is looking real nice, are you going to shoot some automotive grade clear over the whole thing?

I am going to clear it, but will be using spray can clear, I am going to use Duplicolor Acrylic Enamel clear, It is auto grade just old technology, I think you'll be suprised how I do it and the results. I'm showing how to get a great paint job with a spray can. Clear goes on Tommorrow!!

[peells]

Well you are doing great so far!!

[Hydromaniac]

Before spraying the clear coats, I finished the motor tub detail, I sprayed the insides of the tub black and also added the aluminum flashing and rivet details, I then cleaned and tacked the hull and hatch and sprayed 3 full wet coats of Acylic enamel clear to the hull and hatch I allowed about 10 minutes between coats and left to dry. I allowed this to dry for about 1 hour (IF YOU ALLOW THE CLEAR TO DRY FOR MORE THEN 4 HOURS BEFORE COLOR SANDING YOU CAN NOT RESPRAY CLEAR AS IT WILL WRINKLE) and color sanded the Hull and hatch with 1500 grit sandpaper wet. Once I was finished sanding I cleaned the hull with Windex and tacked clean and resprayed 2 full wet coats of clear allowing 5-10 minutes between coats and let dry!

[Hydromaniac]

Here is the hull with all the color and clear coats applied. It turned out very nice for a spray can Job, The cost about $30. if I had used high qualty base coat clear coat body shop products the material cost would have been over $150.00 Not bad for a few bucks and a bit of work.

[peells]

Try going to your local body shop supplier and see if they have any open quarts, the place I frequent sells that stuff really cheap I got a 1/2 qt of PPG clear for $10.00 and it will spray like four boats. But that deal isn't always available, and I buy color from Kustom Color (TCP) on eBay, about 10.00 for 4oz of paint (barely enough for 1 boat),
Any way Kudos on the low cost High quality Paint job, The work is the same no mater what you use and I was hoping you had no problems with the old spray bombs and it appears you did not. Most excelent! You get an A+++++++

[Hydromaniac]

Try going to your local body shop supplier and see if they have any open quarts, the place I frequent sells that stuff really cheap I got a 1/2 qt of PPG clear for $10.00 and it will spray like four boats. But that deal isn't always available, and I buy color from Kustom Color (TCP) on eBay, about 10.00 for 4oz of paint (barely enough for 1 boat),
Any way Kudos on the low cost High quality Paint job, The work is the same no mater what you use and I was hoping you had no problems with the old spray bombs and it appears you did not. Most excelent! You get an A+++++++

Thank you, I always have a lot of body shop quality custom stuff around, mostly House of Color, Auto Air and PPG, I always have something around If I need to paint a boat, I hear so many times that you don't get nice paint jobs from a spray cans that my idea was to show that with a little work and decent qualty spray cans it is possible, kind of for the guys who may not have spray equipment or for a good job on a racer that does not need be a a concourse winner. And I had no problems other than a very small sag on the transome that will be behind the rudder and not seen lol.Thanks again.

[Hydromaniac]

I have finished all the paint and detail work, The HEMI is installed into the hatch and the drivers are done and installed in to the finished cockpit. I'm goint to try and get the running gear in to the hull today. Here are a few shots of the progress. The hull has turned out very nice, its really a great kit, I think if you like to build, it's well worth the low cost and quite versatile. I'll be ordering another soon.

[Rumdog]

Wow! Too cool!

[ace028]

Looks great, can't wait for more pics and vids! Love the detail!