ive wanted somethign small to travel or rather something i could build while traveling and then take with me. Im currently in Doha Qatar and the windy days here convinced me that a sailboat is the answer to my needs
Because i like small i choose the Razor 3 and scaled it to 55% giving the follwoing specs:
Length overall 180mm (7in)
beam 56mm (2,2 in)
Displacement 75g (2,65oz) and the ballast weight minimum 35g scaled from the original model.
Initially i thougth i`d put a parkzone “brick” in it but later decieded that i would have to go for more powerful servos. I now have in there:
2 x Esky 4g Servos
AR6100 DSM2 RX (very large but teh only thing avialable)
a LOSI micro NiCD 150mAh 4 cell akku
The Boat is built from 0,6mm ply (also the only thing available that was suitable) and a bit of balsa.
The Keel is a 1oz fishing weight , slightly too small as per the specs but i think it is adequate.
Finding space inside for teh RC installation was a bit tricky but it works. The biggest issue i have is that i need to plug teh akku into the RX directly and teh access for that is a bit tight even with small needle nose pliers.
The rig was built exactly to scale.
I madenend it today on teh compound pool and am happy to report that it works sailing perfectly well, i can`t say much abut performance as the winds there where somewhat confused and gusty but controllability is great and it´s pretty fast (comparatively) and little leeway. i hope to have time tomorrow to sial her at one of the tide pools where there is steady wind and no obstacles
Brilliant idea and work.
The truly go/take anywhere/everywhere model.
It is always a challenge to scale something down compared to making it bigger.
If you have done it successfully, well done.
Sailed her again today, unfortunately only the pool available again as there was way too much wind at sea… she is behaving nicely, one thing i found i needed to fix was that my rig was too front heavy which caused some odd behavior, like heel left, boom swings right. This was cured by a bit of soldering wire wrapped around the end of the boom.
quick video… please excuse teh camera handling and the ship sailing, both doesn`t work very well together http://vimeo.com/20429151
Looking good, how does she sail down wind? does it tend to turn in to a submarine?
I sail a big Razor 3, and in the gusts, mine tries to play submarine downwind.
Looking good, and as always i admire your works…
Scott
there is a short sequence on the video where i had a bit of a steady wind for a short while and sailed downwind… she does want to submarine the bow thats for sure… there is not much reserve buoyancy up front, and mine is even deeper in the water than the larger one (kind of like sailing your razor with 600g ;)) but i guess thats something we`ll have to live with in most small sailboats
oh and thanks for the praise, but there isn`t really much praiseworthy with it and if then Bills great templates! they were fitting together perfectly !
But it is indeed quite an achievement. Now you need to find some other enthusiasts to race against, which wil happen if enough people see your boat sailing.
The cool thing is that other than using smaller rc gear i didnt do anything differently than you would by building a normal size footy :) With a slightly smaller receiver like a AR6300 Nanolite itss even easier. The Losi micro car battery is quite good too so one doesn`t need a regulator or using a 2S Lipo.
As in regard to rig, i guess there is no lighter than the McRig!
Bill, i guess there are not many meatbombers out there i did build a lot of small planes before i started with small boats
just had another sail at the pool, and while still being very gusty at least teh direction was reasonably stable. Had a great time, beating up pool and sailing down several times windward performance is good, tho i had sometimes a hard time knowing just how high one can point up without pinching.
made a new sail too, with a better leading edge (not so wide stiff fold area). the only thing missing was buoys and race opponents
So is the pool long enough for a half size internet course? You could clock some times as a challenge for others to build their own half Footy and test their times against your benchmark!
haha now that would be something the only problem is the wind here… it´s too changeable i`m in the lee of a building… but i guess some more suitable place can be found
Just measured teh pool with google maps and i get 54ft along the axis i used for making laps now so one can use 50ft/length or 100ft/lap. The wind was not exactly along this axis but rather 30° off… so there was no pure upwind leg and no pure downwind leg…
The fastest lap (up-down) was 1`36" but averge was around 2’10" and some where substantially longer … 4’+ due to weird winds
This thing is hauling at times on a reach, but beating i have a hard time not to pinch. i can definitely not get 45° on the wind, but rather somewhere around 50° closest. for some of teh gusts i was WAAAY overpowered and i think i should make a B-rig does one just cut off the foot of this sail to make a smaller rig or does one have to change the rake angle too ?
So i built a 1/2 scale internet course from 2 pill boxes and the extra fishing weight i had left
With the windward marker about 1ft from the edge of the pool the leeward marker trailed out and stabilized also only 1ft from the edge due to the wind angle
I started upwind and completed 5 laps in 10’23"
I hope that i`ll find some place with more even winds soon
did another video today this time winds were a bit less unpredictable, albeit still very gusty. In the gusts she was way overpowered. i could later run downwind bringing her before the wind then seeting in until she no longer submarined too badly the wobbly sailing is attributed to the filming with the other hand but overall performance is great!
sailing perfectly well, i can`t say much abut performance as the winds there where somewhat confused and gusty but controllability is great and it´s pretty fast (comparatively) and little leeway. i hope to have time tomorrow to sial her at one of the tide pools where there is steady wind and no obstacles 
and if then Bills great templates! they were fitting together perfectly !