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[Bogey]

Hi all. My first post here, and while I am learning a lot, I am surprised that I haven't found any mention of the donor boat Ive been looking at, or if it has been done before.
I'm not new to static modeling, but this would be my first attempt at an r/c boat.
I recently had to buy a 1/35 Italari Vosper. This will be the largest kit I have ever built, so I thought it would be great to r/c it.
Now my budget is very limited, so my idea was to simply use a second maplin ep race boat as a donor and transfer all the running gear across. Im not expecting blistering performance, but it looks like it should achieve scale speed, and for around half the price of sourcing the parts individually.
Im sure you all know the vosper kit, but here is a link to the maplin donor boat.
http://www.maplin.co.uk/twin-propeller-ep-r-c-racing-boat-46910
Twin 380 motors, with, I think its called tank steering. If this is a problem, would it not be possible to have both motors on one channel, and rig servo steering on the other.
Any thoughts and advice would be greatly appreciated.   

 
 

[RAAArtyGunner]

Bogey,

Now that is a practical economic solution,  definetly lateral thinking.

[Tug-Kenny RIP]

Hi Bogey and welcome to Mayhem.

Nowt wrong with your idea. In fact it's our way of thinking.  Yes, putting the motors on one channel is the way to go. You might need two speed controllers if the Amps don't come up to the mark,  but we can help, should you have any enquiries.   

Cheers

[grasshopper]

Hi Bogey,
Good idea, but there are a few points to bear in mind, and I stand to be corrected - but based on the fact I bought a similar electric 'race' boat for the hull and not the electronics.

The installed radio set is not band specific ( a scatter bander) and can interfere with other RC sets on the same band (if like mine 27Mhz AM.)
There's no provision for adding a steering servo so you're stuck with the tank steering
The supplied propellors aren't suitable for fully submerged use, they're surface drive prop's so you might be best served changing to something a little smaller in diameter and reduced in pitch.

If you haven't bought your ep boat from maplins yet - I think all the electronics I took out of mine are still in a box somewhere in my garage - I fitted mine with a Z drive and 2.4Ghz, never even used the originally installed gear....would you like me to check ?

[Spook]

Hi and welcome. 

Re your question about the motors. I run one of my boats (Model Slipway Sentinel) with two motors on the same speed controller and another (Model Slipway Trent Lifeboat) with two motors on separate speed controllers and both run beautifully.

If you're running on one speed controller you may want to use a more beefy one. I use Viper Marine 20s for all my boats but a 25 might be a better bet for running 2 motors on a single ESC. As long as you ensure that, if you're running on 2 speed controllers, the motors and speed controllers are identical, you should be OK. Just use a 'Y' lead from your receiver to each speed controller and you can run them on the same r/c channel. Simples!

cheers,
Spook

[dougal99]

Your donor boat does not use conventional radio gear which may be difficult to transfer to another boat. Club members who had one or similar all fitted conventional gear.  I think you would be better going the conventianal route. At least you would have something that worked or, if not, recourse to the seller.

[Bogey]

Thank for all the replies. Very usefull information from every one. Especially grasshopper. I hadent realized there would be problems with transmitter, or that they were surface drive props, although I had intended changing them to something like a standard MTB prop. If you would like to pm me about the spare electronic gear I would still like to experiment with it. If we can come to a mutual arrangement over price and postage etc.
It would let me get some hands on experience, until I can afford to upgrade to a more pro setup.
Thanks everyone, Bogey.

[grasshopper]

No worries Bogey, we're all here to help......

As soon as I've shifted the contents of our study out of the garage (decorators are in!)  I'll take a look for those bits...

[Martin (Admin)]

Hi Bogey,  (... how's Lauren? )

I have a couple of the Maplin boats, the radio quality and range ......
 Also, you can't substitute one motor channel for a ( rudder ) servo. 

[Bogey]

Hi Martin. Im sorry, I dont think I know Lauren.
Im this Bogey.