I am rather new to the sport of rc racing and like to mess around with me friends on the water, unfortunatly i have the one of the worst boats ever (A mariner (very small w/ no onwater sailtrimming… u get the idea)
Anyway i feel it is time to build my own boat, im on a low budget and cant really find a good material that is easy to shape, nor any plans for half decent easy to build boats for hulls (i already have a rig and spinaker system planned out( gonna blow my friend out of the water when i get it built i hope [:-bonc01] )
I thought you guys might have some helpful hints am i right?
Somewhere on the AMYA website is a set of plans for a USOM. I believe it is a PDF file with drawings for the Minstral. A pretty nice design I hear, it is a forerunner of the ODOM. www.amya.org
Thanks for the tip Kris, looks like a pretty good hull
But i am wondering what all you other homebuilders out there use or even what you probuilders use (cept molds)
Is balsa wood and fiberglass really good supplys for durability and weight?
One more thing where can u find CHEAP recievers/servos?
Balsa and glass is actually a pretty decent material. Its best to glass in and out, but at very least it must be waterproofed inside. You can also build a hull, glass and fiar it, then use if as a male mold. The results are not perfect, but not too bad if care is taken.
The best deal I have found on servos and rx’s is www.servocity.com. Great prices and free shipping.
If you are like me and have a ton of extra servos you might also check out Tower Hobbies. They have a 2 channel tx and rx (no servos or other stuff) for $27. Hard to beat! Having said that, I have one of the Hitec Laser 4 I use for sailing. I paid $124. It is a great radio and a heck of a deal. It comes with a couple of servos, nicads and charger. The ONLY regret I have is not buying the 6 channel instead.
A suggestion from someone who used the balsa strip over frame construction shown on the AMYA site. When they say to use very sharp sandpaper and sand very lightly,pay attention. If you push too hard (hardly at all)the balsa between the frame deflects and doesn’t cut while the balsa over the frames cuts very well. What you end up with is a smooth hull with a very noticable dip where each frame was. It took about a half pound of bondo and 3 days of sanding to true it up. On my first hull I used 1/8 x 3/8 Pacific Red Cedar strips that I ripped from a two by four. While the end result was a little heavy it was a lot more forgiving in the building.
For what it’s worth
Don
Sanding is not the best solution, getting ?flat-spots? it?s easier than you think and you spot most of them when it?s too late. On my last two balsa hulls (out of a total of 4 sofar) I used a small wood plane with a nice sharp blade. I found that you have a much better control, on the job quality (especially in the glued aria of the plank) and you have a better control on the amount of material you remove. I use sand paper, the finest I can find, to finish the job before fiberglasing the hull.
For my next project I?m thinking to get an electric model plane, I?ve seen one in the Tower Hobbies catalog, no idea how it will work, but in the description they say it?s ideal for balsa.
(P.S. two of those hulls are Mistrals, great boat to begin and to build, I definitely recommend the reading the construction guide, it?s extremely useful and a great tool for the class.)
Gio
here is an old idea that might be helpfull. I build IOM , each bulkhead is 10 cm apart. with a sanding block that is 25 cm or the size of the paper, i cant get between the bulkheads to create a low spot. I have done this for the last 5 IOM,s that i have built. once you get the sanding done, you can do the fibreglassing and then use the palm sander. i did mistral and it was a good boat to learn on, but you could try nimbus from bantock for a fast IOM. nibus was a fast boat in the right hands
good luck
