Restoring a Villain IV

[xlandguy]

Bought this boat from a member here through the classifieds. What a mess this thing is/was. A whole lot more issues than were mentioned, thats for sure. Holes burned by a battery, cracks in the transom, missing parts, cheap workmanship. Get this, the ESC was connected using those cheap blue automotive crimp-on connectors. What are those good for, 1/2 amp? lol.
Here are some before and after pictures, not done by any means, but getting along. Sort of a prototype windscreen, first one, next one will be much better I hope.

[h2o 1]

Wow!!! now thats a transformation!!! Good job bro! that looks like a totally different boat. Very nice!

[xlandguy]

Thank you, couple more pictures:
In this one it shows the where I cut out the battery seperators, and patched holes with a plate, epoxied in with LocTite Marine Epoxy, good stuff.




Small plate epoxied onto the transom where the crack was. Seems a good fix.

[Make-a-Wake]

Love it!! I'm up to five Villains now as I cant seem to find the discipline to stop building these classic, scale, pretty boats. I have three single drive brushless, one completely stock(never even powered up in its whole life) and a dual brushless...........they are very fun.

You gonna leave the brushed motors? I recognize the boat from someone on here.................

Once again, very nice!!

[SFC K]

Nice job on that. It does not even look like the same boat. I love the paint scheme!

[xlandguy]

Thanks alot, first time doing this. The pics look pretty good, not HD and bad lighting, lol. It is NOT a quality finish like you see on a "store bought" hull. I used Krylon plastic, and Krylon clear coat. I have some nice graphics coming, lettering mostly to finish it off. Then I start rebuilding the business end of the boat.

[tlandauer]

Fantastic!

[NorCalZ71]

Looking good. I have 2 of these hulls. An almost stock EX and a single drive brushless IV which is gonna get rebuilt again soon. I love watching villain builds. They just look good!.

Sent from my T-Mobile G2

[galant2door]

That is sick .! I am kinda spewing though because I did buy this boat, paid and all and got refunded as the shipping to Oz was just crazy. Well done on the great job, I just hope one day I can find one locally so I can restore also, but I don't like my chances

[xlandguy]

Some nice quality decals from Ebay. I love these kind where only the actual letter/picture is transfered to the surface of your model. Just about ready for a test run with this thing.
Will be running stock props at first.

[SFC K]

Those decals look really nice on there. Let us know how she runs!

[Make-a-Wake]

Are you gonna clear over the decals?.............or did you already?

[NorCalZ71]

If u have any custom vinyl work u want I can cut it for u.

Sent from my T-Mobile G2

[xlandguy]

I did spray some clear, 3 coats. Should do more.

If u have any custom vinyl work u want I can cut it for u.

Good to know, thanks.

After I get this boat fixed up as nicely as I can I may just re-sell it. First though, I have to make sure it runs well and doesnt take on water, or worse.

[Make-a-Wake]

Looks awesome with the new graphics..........well done. You may enjoy just running it every now and then aside from being your rescue boat. Is it a 7.2 Villain IV setup or a 14.4 EX?

[xlandguy]

EX setup. Havent run it yet. Wierd clicking noise from one of the motors, so I opened it up, besides being dirty as dirty can be, one of the magnets was no longer attached to the can, and it was clanking around in there when the motor cranked. So, I epoxied it back in place, I hope it works ok, never did that before. It's been a long time since I worked on a brushed motor, but it's coming back to me. RC10 days!

[LarrysDrifter]

Its looks great. Tons better than before. Now that you have fixed it right and made it nice, if you do ever sell it, you can take pride knowing that youre selling a good, well built boat thats done right and done the best you can. I too have bought a junk hull that was advertised from a member here as being nice and immaculate. It was literally junk. Needless to say, it ended up in a dumpster. Good job on yours, and ALWAYS be leary of buying used hulls from anywhere online. I learned my lesson after buying a handfull of used hulls. Ill only by new from now on. The dissapointment and hassle isnt worth it to me. Other parts, yes, but hulls...no way, unless its from a well known member here that I know can build something right.

[xlandguy]

I am coming right along now that I have recieved all my parts orders. One dissapointment is that the Boca bearings I bought do not fit, to big. I wonder if the differing versions of the Villain had changes in the size of the driveshafts? Oh well, 8 bucks I'm out on that one, not bad. I havent been able to find a cover for the electronics box yet, but that's no biggie unless I flip and submerge the electronics.



So, I took it across the road to the lake. How much fun is this boat? Wow. Like my Traxxas Summit, I really have fun going slow and maneuvering. And this thing is maneuverable! And, with the brushed motors I can "crawl" along ever so slowly with it and turn on a dime even at very low speed. This will be good for a rescue craft for my Motley Crew I do think. I only ran it with one 2s lipo. I am not sure if the ESC can handle 4s or not. I have another thread asking if anyone has info on my esc.




Taking on small amount of water, no prob if it was in the bilge, but it's in the radio box bilge. Maybe the servo rod boot, one is ripped. Don't thing the cooling system is leaking. Might also be coming from the top, rear of hatch does not have rubber seal yet, and this boat throws some water.

[SFC K]

Looks good sitting on the water! I have the same problem with mine for water leaking in. I think it is because the rear of these hulls sits so low in the water and when you stop the water just runs right it. I don't get a lot of water in mine but it's enough to steer me away from running lipos in it. I shot a video last weekend with mine with the carbon fiber turn fins on it and it still will spin out but not as bad without.

I'm with you on the speed and maneuvering of these boats! I almost like driving this better than my Impulse. LOL I alos sued it a couple times to rescue my buddies Airboats. It worked great!

http://youtu.be/PkeRBNMqcMw

[xlandguy]

Video of the Villain running at small local pond. Very manueverable and alot of fun. have to do something about the porpoising if I want to pick up the speed.