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[DJW]

Hey Paul


Yes, looking forward to trying those chisels..!  Got the passenger seat in:





I'm told chrome parts will be with me on Monday...  We shall see.


Best regards to all
David.

[Stuw]

Seats look great now with the red trim!

[ChrisF]

Their little planes are nice too!

Chris

[DJW]

Afternoon All


Seats now finalised.





Finally figured out how to get the edges looking acceptable.





And modified seats:














Happier with the result now.


Regards to all.
David.

[DJW]

Afternoon All


Chromed parts have arrived back, and I'm pleased (and relieved) with the results.





The wheel hub will now have a thread epoxied in to allow it to be attached to the dash.  Also some of the red faux leather added to the top semi circle and maybe some of the pale beige to the lower semicircle, I'm thinking to stitch it on to I can draw it tight.  That should leave the hub, arms and horn bar visible as chrome.


Stern showing the waterline 'fender' section, and the deck joint strip too. I need to sort through the 1.2mm SS screws, there's a bit of a range of sizes of the screw heads, I've countersunk thinking they'd all be the same...





And the bow, the Musetto is just sitting in place at the moment, I need to add some matt black paint to the bow to prevent the wood of the hull being visible between the louvres. Also I'm adding a brass pin that will insert into the Musetto and into the bow using epoxy, hoping to avoid the Musetto disappearing into a lake at some point...  Hard to capture in these pictures but the chrome does have great depth to it, and it's super high gloss.  Looking ahead, there is a visible difference between the kit supplied 'chrome' parts and the real chromed parts.  The 1/5th build will have all real Chrome.





And overall:





Looking the part in the sunshine..!


I need to add the Ski pole. I forgot that the chrome would add some thickness to the pole, what was a good fit, now doesn't fit at all... I need to ease the tube a shade to allow the pole to fit again.


Will be trying to get more done this week and get it ready for a run out at the weekend.


Best regards to all.
David.

[PRG]

The chrome parts look great as do the photos of the boat in the sun.  Great finish.

[DJW]

Morning Paul

Yes, pleased with the chroming.  Getting close now, here's a couple of shots of the Musetto now fixed in place:







And the Ski pole:



With its ski line:



The wheel is now finished too, faux leather stitched to give a more realistic feel:



And in place:



And in the hands of the driver..!




And an overview:




Gave the radio control a test yesterday, one dodgy LED connection on the dash, now fixed, otherwise all good.  Charging the LiPos then an outing to Bushey Park on Saturday I think.


Best regards to all.
David.

[PRG]

Looking really smart now.  The musto looks great, looking forward to seeing the boat on the water, it’s perfect sailing weather.

[derekwarner]

This is truely pretty classing David................................................ ......... Derek

[DJW]

Evening All


Thanks Paul and Derek, very kind words.


I did get some time on the water earlier, generally very pleased with how the boat looks and runs out on the water. Sunlight really makes the mahogany, varnish and chrome come alive.








I did make a change to the gearing, as a trial I've just reversed the pulleys, so it's now 2:3, so prop shafts are spinning faster than the motors. So its quite noticeably quicker, wthout needing full motor speed. And still only drawing 10 to 12 A on each motor at a very satisfactory scale full speed. The motors are overpowered for the boat I think, but the upside is not needing to make them max out. And so they  are noticeably quieter. That was always an aim. I've also added neoprene foam at the back of the bench seat to avoid motor sounds escaping the hull. All together the motor sounds are being contained well. At speed the loudest noise is the water being pushed away from the hull.


The hull rides very well and water is thrown out and down. I strongly recommend either the chine mod that I built in, or a similar approach. The cockpit remains dry. Water comes off the chine and separates from the hull cleanly. Handling from the rudders is good, differential steering on shafts only works well too. I didn't experiment today with reduced power to the inner shaft when turning at speed, but I will.








Driver and passenger stayed in place nicely just using magnets, the hull slices through chop with no drama.


I'm seeing about 30m of mixed throttle runtime on the 3000mwh LiPos. I think that's a reasonable balance.


I'm a bit concerned that the ESCs are still running a bit hot. Had a reading of 70c...  I've already added a fan, but suspect my sealing of the hull to keep sounds down is having the unwanted effect of keeping the heat in too...  So next is to add a water cooled heatsink to the aluminium box that houses the ESCs. That should keep them cooler...


Slight list to port, on reflection the gyro is set to port, as is the receiver the water pump, plus the chromed brass steering wheel. Maybe together they're enough to offset the hull. It's only visible to the critical eye at rest...  I'm thinking to move Maybe one of the lipos, or just add some lead. We'll see.
Now able to just enjoy running the boat which is great and what other all been about after all.  2.5 years to get to this point...


Once cooling is nailed, the skier is the next task...


Very best regards to all.
David.

[PRG]

Looking superb on the water, agree on the chine, it’s one of the things I would advise on reflection.  Now it’s looking so good enjoy the fun of sailing and don’t sink it!

[ChrisF]

David

Wonderful build and performs as it should as well. What more could you ask!

Looking at the earlier photo of the stern I was thinking how level it was sitting. Then you mention that it is listing slightly! Looking back at the photo again, it is just a touch, but just that, a touch!

Looking forward to seeing how the skier performs.

Chris

[Mark T]

Fantastic attention to detail and quite frankly an absolutely beautiful build 


If ever you want your passengers to look lifelike - drop them into your local Games workshop and pay them to paint them.  The results are amazing and so realistic!

[DJW]

Morning All

Thanks for the kind comments, does feel like a bit of a milestone.  I like the Games Workshop idea Mark, I'd been looking at various videos online about painting scale figures and most are from the wargaming fraternity. The results they can achieve are extraordinary..!  I did get a lead from UKMike re figures for the planned 1/5 build for https://tailoredpilots.com/ I spoke with the site owner, he did do some figure work for another Riva project a few years ago so I'll see about that a little closer to the time.

I've been covering progress and thoughts to date re the 1/10 skier on a separate thread https://www.modelboatmayhem.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,64973.0.html


But I'll be putting updates here from now as its really part of the main build from here on. Current state of play is:






Skis have had the fins attached and are getting a couple of coats of primer.  Ski 'boots' are built and hinge freely on the skier. I'll probably lock them for initial testing. These hinged boots are 3D printed and have allowed me to do away with the original plan of keeping the skis aligned with piano wire as seen on the original thread. Skier is emerging from surgery with legs an arms getting particular attention to give her a more suitable / stable skier stance... I'm using milliput for the legs and lighter balsa filler for the upper torso to keep CoG as low as possible, she's hollow and sealed. Original arms were useless for my purpose so new ones are 3D printed and joined to the torso with 2mm carbon rods and epoxy.  Not sure yet how to approach the hands, maybe a wire frame to attach to the handle, then sculpt hands from filler, we'll see.



Aim will be to get the skier to look as though the main (white braided) ski line is being used when in action.  But the reality will be the correct tension, stabilising and eventually steering will be done with almost invisible fishing line... 

We shall see...
David.

[DJW]

More progress with the Skis and Skier...











I think the Ski's are pretty much ready to test, just sealed at the moment, I'll see if they work before finishing them...


I've been looking at how the skier will connect to the handle.  It needs to be secure, but I'd like detachable too just to keep options open going forward. First approach is piano wire formed and inserted into the arms.  If it works I can then add some foam or 3D printed hands to hide the wire.  Wire will be epoxied into the arms.











The handle does indeed clip in and is retained.  This approach also allows the control lines to use the piano wire as a snag free (I hope) guide...











Posting the intent and documenting progress here helps me to keep the momentum going, and I hope it's entertaining..! 


Best regards to all.
David.

[PRG]

Certainly interesting.  Hope it pays off!

[Stuw]

If I could have created such a great looking boat, I would have stopped there! Your waterski plan is coming along well by the look of it but it is well outside my comfort zone 

[DJW]

Morning Both


Well it may work, or may just be that I'll know where my comfort zone ends. We shall see.  Would you believe it if I said that initially the Aquarama build was undertaken just because I needed a suitable boat to allow building of the skier, and I got a bit carried away...


 


Best regards
David.

[ChrisF]

What's your excuse for the bigger Riva!   


Chris

[DJW]

Hey Chris


Well.  If I look at how much I've spent on all the tools, materials and whatever for the 1/10th, its frightening, but it was over a couple of years. Now know how the Riva goes together and have the tools for it... And I know what I did wrong with the 1/10th.  So, I thought why not try it again, bigger and better...  I think a 1.7m Riva sounds just the ticket..!!


(They were the excuses I came up with for my wife, seemed to work...)
David.

[DJW]

First water test for the skier. She floats..!  Slight list to stbd, but that can be trimmed out.





That's looking good to me, a good start position and whatever way she enters the water. That's how she comes to rest.





To me that's the weighting about right.


I may get a harness together to get her behind the boat as next stage. To see if she can ski in a straight line.


Best regards
David.

[DJW]

Afternoon All


Modest progress with the skier. I've had it connected up with the ski line and established what kind of bridle is going to be needed to pull from the feet and the arms, rather than just the arms. Also given thought to how the skis will behave when skier is being pulled up out of the water. There's a period when the bridle won't be under tension, so the skis will need to find the correct start position on their own... So I've made a change to the bindings. Offset the hinge as shown in the pic below the new stbd binding is on the left, old centerline version on the right.





Port binding will have opposite offset, so should form a stable dihedral of sorts, I'm hoping. I'll also be restricting the angles that the feet can hinge in the bindings as not much movement will be needed I think.


In other news. This is a custom heatsink to help pull heat away from the ESCs. It fits on the aluminium case top and will have the two cold water feeds going through it. Heatsink compound to give good thermal contact and two bolts holding it in place. 60x25x6mm in size. The case was getting hot, so doing its job and acting as a heatsink. I need the water cooling plate to draw some of this heat away.





Will get it fitted, plumbed in and post the results.


Best regards to all.
David.

[DJW]

Installed...














Hope to get the boat out on Saturday.


Best regards
David.

[DJW]

Afternoon All


Little bit of work on the Skier today.  Used some Milliput to add some 'hands' over the ski handle, will need some filing down and finishing once dry.  Also added some milliput to the feet too, again to be filed down and shaped once hard so as to restrict the angle the skis can move.





On another matter, I use a SkyRC T200 charger for the Aquaramas LiPos, its 240V / 12V input, has two charging output channels and charges pretty much any type of battery, really pleased with it:





I've been meaning to build a solution to be able to use the charger via it's 12V input for use when out and about and finally got around to it.  This uses an old Pelicase and a couple of 12V 14Ah lead acid batteries in parallel:





A couple of fuses in the circuit, a switch, an XT-60 port and a display unit found on Amazon


https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08D3SMMFN














I might add a USB charging output too just to make it a bit more generally useful.


Should be good to charge my pair of 3S 3000mAh Lipos 3 to 4 times I reckon, will be testing that over the weekend.  I'm a bit conservative about charging rates, I usually charge at 1C, so 3.0A for these Lipos (6A draw for the pair) and can take 50 minutes.  Apparently these Turnigy Graphene Lipos will support a 5C charge rate, that's 15A...  Not planning on that, but from these lead Acid batteries I may try 2C, that would be a 12A draw for the two lead acid batteries, and charge the lipos in about 20 / 25 minutes.  Anyone already do something similar..?  Any flaws in the plan..?


Best regards to all.
David.

[Stuw]

I’m feeling seriously inadequate. First your boat turns out so well. Then you add the skier to the mix. And now this electrical wizardry to keep you by the lake for more than a few minutes. In awe