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[funtimefrankie]

I've just removed a tiny motor and gearbox from a broken toy R/C plane.
It seems to run quite well on one AA cell, or even a hearing aid battery
Any ideas as to what I could put it in...Airfix kit sort of thing.

What's the smallest RC boat you've made?????

[barriew]

This is mine - 18 x 8 cm. Its from a French Magazine - I have the plans if you are interested.

Barrie

[tigertiger]

I have an RTR jet ski that is about 7 cm.

[Wiggy]

Hi F.frankie,

 You could always try the Revell 'Lucky' kit. 21cm x 6cm with a 4 ch. HiTech receiver. Only using 2 channels but the receiver is nice and small so fits easy.

Paul.

[Ghost in the shell]

does this count, yes its a sub though

70mm x 25mm

graupner's mr lobster

yes its an RTR but its bloody small

[victorian]

Here's one of the picket boats from HMS "Mars". It's 6 3/4" long.



The boat uses the Deans Marine vac forming and is powered by 2 pager motors with home made props. Radio is from a toy called x-sub and power is a single AAA lithium primary cell.

The main problems with this design are weight (brass funnels and white metal ventilators a poor choice!) and the fact that the 40Mhz radio is non-selective. This means that it is swamped by any other 40Mhz radio regardless of channel.

However it has independent ahead/astern motor control (fixed rudder) with a full ahead 'boost' button and performs very well within a 20ft range provided there are no ducks on the water to swamp it! The single battery design is brilliant with a 1.5v source matched to the motors and a voltage doubler providing 3v to the radio. Battery life is not known but is at least an hour of standby with occasional maneouvres.

The radio selectivity is less of a problem now that the 'mother ship' is on 2.4Ghz but it does limit the venues where it can be demonstrated. All the tiny Chinese RC toys seems to use a similar passive front end (ie not superhet) and of course all the 'conventional' radios are far too big for this type of model. Even the specialised sets used in indoor flyers are problematic because they need 5v and don't provide bi-directional control for two motors (aircraft only go forward!).

[BobF]

Hi Wiggy and a Merry Christmas.

I have one of those Revel tugs, intending to do as you have done, but my thumbs are too big, so it just sits there as a cute static.
I did manage to convert the Lindberg American tug, and it goes really well. I added 5mm to the free board though, and it is sealed completely except for the top deck.
My most successful tug though at 12 inches, is Thomas the twelve inch tug from a free plan, but at the much larger scale, it was a simple build.
I can't believe it's not met with the same success at the fun level, as the Springer.

Bob

[explorer750]

If you want some tiny motors then try using the ones from those 2 channel helicopter, picco z, also there is a tiny lipo battery in there as well.
Best of all they are really fun to fly.