Light is faster than sound. That explains why some people appear bright until they open their mouths!

Rudder Servo. Having sorted the rudder, I created a very simple mount for the servo and connected it to the rudder by a rod linkage. I have fitted a pair of electronic speed controllers after debating whether to fit one and have the motors turn together or singly. (I’ve bought a pair of Viper ESC at 15 amps. That’s the rating of the existing all in one receiver/controller.) I created a  simple plywood platform. TIP: You need to keep the rudder linkage high as it passes through the transom or it will take in water when you reverse.

The Viper speed controllers are clumsy. I built a temporary platform, wired the two motors to a junction block, connected each speed controller to the block, purchased a double pole single switch and wired the two on off switches from the controllers so I can turn off the power on a single switch. Its functional for now though I’d prefer it to be tidier. TIP: Keep the platform low enough to ensure the yellow cover plate will close.

Water Cooling. This style of twin motors really get hot - they’ll burn your fingers - so I decided  to added water cooling.  Lowering the temperature might extend the life of the motors but will make the batteries last longer at the pond. This involved cutting the black two trays so that there is space for the copper coil AND the two halves of the tray support the motor without having to figure out how to align the motor and shaft. A simple light alloy bracket was made to fit over the motor and hold it down. It screws onto the existing motor mount. The copper pipe is wrapped  around the motors to form the  coil  (I believe you can buy these coils ready formed) and then connected them in series to an in-feed scoop at the back of the hull and feeding it out the side of the model. The result was magic and the motors run much cooler. Tip: If you can find a cooling scoop that fits behind the transom it would create less friction on the hull. I might do this later

Improve performance - With the motors removed I noticed that one props is free’r running than the other. To investigate this I removed the circlip shown at the motor end and slipped the prop out. I fixed this by lightly sanding the shaft. The next check I discovered was to ensure the shaft had some lateral movement (in/out).  I loosened this up by removing the propeller nut (note, one is reverse thread) and loosened the castle nut directly behind the propeller. Trial and error gets this so there is just a slight movement in the prop.

At the pond I had real trouble because the boat ran slower than before and one prop shaft kept tightening so there was no slack along the shaft. Loosening the nut and the castle nut at the propeller, I managed to lose the left hand thread 3mm brass nut at the pond...aghhhhhhh!!

Sticking shaft and lost nut - no one sells a 3mm left hand thread nuts, the prop shaft is smaller than standard ones and has a custom coupling so not easy to replace or sort. A mechanical engineer helped me to set about drilling a 1mm hole through the prop and shaft to pin it with a brass pin. Having first used locktite on the inner castle nut and set the shaft with free play (the shaft can be pushed in/out with just a small amount of play so it won’t cause friction), I pinned the propeller and shaft with a brass  modellers pin and it works a real treat. Now it races around the pond like it did when it was new!!

Slow motors - this was caused because I hadn’t used high rating wire of 15 amps, so the wire wouldn’t take the current rating of the motors, this I quickly replaced with 15 amp wiring between the motor and the terminal block that connects to the electronic speed controller. At the pond I found another issue with one motor running slow. This time I discovered that the motor was pressing real hard against the ciclip at the top end of the shaft (it stops the shaft sliding out of the boat). Moving the motor back so that the universal coupling has some slack, sorted this problem.

Though this seems a lot of work and effort, I really like this boat. It has such good performance and is fairly quiet compared to other high speed boats I am familiar with. I have looked at several of these types of boats and considered buying a second to race with my father in-law. Though I paid £59, I have seen them reduced to £42. Buy one and have some fun and if it needs another radio then consider this option.

I bought the Spektrum, but even a second hand crystal radio and receiver from ebay is going to be better than the original one. I’ve emailed the factory to point this out. Maybe they’ll improve it in the future.

Radio controlled model boats (Made in China) Here’s a series of them that have all been made in the same factory

Contact email: newqida@newqida.com, www.newqida.com.

2nd May 2009

Sold in Maplins in white

Your R/C boat stops in the middle of the pond for no apparent reason and you are left waiting for the wind to blow it to the side, sound familiar? If you are lucky someone else with a boat can push you to the side. The reason for this is the radio is most likely being swamped by another radio (Like when you have your listening radio on and someone close by with a big transmitter interferes). These budget radio and boat complete kit have little separation between channels. When another model turns up at the pond it can easily interfere with your radio. Get the other guy to turn off the radio so you can get to the side or wait till he’s gone. There’s no doubting that the all in one kits are great value for money but its a compromise. Faced with this problem I decided to fit a new radio. These larger models are all made in the same factory (See below). This one draws admiring glances and I think it is well worth a refit which is what this article is about. I also found I could improve its performance. With surface props it really soaks the footpath as you speed away from the edge of the pond. Maybe I can get some other like minded people to buy this style at the Basingstoke pond and do some elementary racing? I’m now interested to see if I could buy a slightly larger hull only and fit it out with twin or even triple motors with surface props. If anyone knows of a good hull at around 48” or so I’d be very interested?

Installing new R/C Radio Gear

Model Boat - Cyclone. This is the model that got me interested once again in model boating and lead to the winter build of the Fairy Huntsman. It really is a great model boat and we have a lot of fun using it. It has one major problem - that I suspect affects a number of budget Chinese fully assembled radio controlled model boats - and that is that the quality of the radio is not so good. It’s great at the pond when you are on your own, but if another boat turns up then the radio gets swamped and you lose control (this has always been a total loss of control - shut down - rather than it speeding off into the distance)

I still enjoy this boat and so have decided to change the radio. The boat shop said it was a waste of time, but frankly, building any model boat kit is really expensive and the cost of this refit amounts to a rudder, servo and a single or twin speed controllers.

I spent time trying to figure out how to do this and talked to several modellers. A key issue is that the current model has a dual control function to power the motors and steer the boat. It has no rudder control or reverse and only has one speed - full on. When you steer it shuts down one motor. The conclusion was to add a rudder but if I installed this in the hull it would be forward of the surface mount props. As luck would have it I found that if I removed the existing rudder (it allows trim adjustment) I could drill out a piece of plastic and the rudder shaft fits perfectly in position on an rear boom that really doesn’t look out of place. (See picture)

Model Boat Kit, Cyclone, twin motor R/C model boat - refitting of the radio gear and improving performance (due mostly to manufacturing issues)