Model Boat Mayhem

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length.
Pages: [1] 2 3   Go Down

Author Topic: Aeroflyte kit bash :)  (Read 24254 times)

steamboatbob

  • Guest
Aeroflyte kit bash :)
« on: September 02, 2009, 11:24:50 am »

Hi All

I thaught you guys might like to know what i am up to so here goes

I found a couple of micro speed boat kits in a local hobby store and being very close to fathers day i had to get a couple one for my dad and one for me :)

and at a grand cost of $40 AUD there was no talk back from the missus either which is a huge bonus

the kits are from an aussie company called Aeroflyte and the two kits are made entirely of balsa and is a very quick build using drawing pins. The first kit is called the Sabre and the second is called the Dictator

More to come soon

Logged

steamboatbob

  • Guest
Re: Aeroflyte kit bash :)
« Reply #1 on: September 06, 2009, 11:27:30 am »

OK here are a few piccies to get you guys the taste of what I'm doing

this is the box it comes in not very loud and proud in the shop actually it was kind of hidden and looking very sad and lonely so i thought i would give it a nice home and the price of $22 AUD was very reasonable





Here is the powerplant not very impressive as you can see sitting next to the speed 400, but after testing on the bench it was pulling more revs than the speed 400 and had a low current draw i think it was about 5 amps at 6 volts and stall was around 9 amps which made me very happy :)

Logged

dodgy geezer

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3,948
  • Location: London
Re: Aeroflyte kit bash :)
« Reply #2 on: September 07, 2009, 09:57:14 am »

These look very like the kind of kits that are lacking in the UK. Small, cheap and easy to build for kids. Surely someone has thought of importing them to us? 
Logged

steamboatbob

  • Guest
Re: Aeroflyte kit bash :)
« Reply #3 on: September 07, 2009, 10:36:51 am »

I'm really surprised that not many people know about these kits as the only thing that is required as an additional cost for the kit to run is 2 "C" cells. Mind you there is no radio control and it only goes in a straight line but with a little modeling ingenuity they would be added very simply.

i already made one up for my father in law but did not take any pictures of that one but that will come in time when i resin them both up

and here is mine atm as you can see as it is a balsa kit putting it together is a very quick process using push pins and some tightbond 3

Logged

dodgy geezer

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3,948
  • Location: London
Re: Aeroflyte kit bash :)
« Reply #4 on: September 08, 2009, 12:51:53 am »

I just went round to my local model shop. He showed me two of these kits which had just come in - he said they were new imports and he felt there was going to be a resurgance of interest amongst kids over here.

The kits were the same as yours, but marketed under the name 'Pacific Balsa'. They are very comprehensive, with prop, motor, glue and dope all included. So the £20 price tag is not completely unreasonable...
Logged

Bill D203

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1,959
  • not long now!!
  • Location: Sunny Stevenage
Re: Aeroflyte kit bash :)
« Reply #5 on: September 08, 2009, 06:04:18 pm »

Fantastic !
Where can I get one from in the UK. Did someone say it comes with the motor and running gear ?
Tell me more.
Logged
Roll On Mayday. Im off for a pint.   How Much!!!   WHEN do you need it!     No dear!    Yes dear??   Wot Now???  soon to be EX Chairman SMBC

dodgy geezer

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3,948
  • Location: London
Re: Aeroflyte kit bash :)
« Reply #6 on: September 08, 2009, 06:40:13 pm »

I know Moor Models - http://www.moormodels.co.uk/ has a couple in - give them a ring, but note that they are under the Pacific Balsa name.

Alternatively, design one yourself as an eezebilt and put the plans up on the eezebilt site  - http://modelboats.hobbby-site.com

They look as if they might go quite fast - here is a video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DatgIaDO57s
Logged

Bill D203

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1,959
  • not long now!!
  • Location: Sunny Stevenage
Re: Aeroflyte kit bash :)
« Reply #7 on: September 08, 2009, 11:30:44 pm »

I know Moor Models - http://www.moormodels.co.uk/ has a couple in - give them a ring, but note that they are under the Pacific Balsa name.

Alternatively, design one yourself as an eezebilt and put the plans up on the eezebilt site  - http://modelboats.hobbby-site.com

They look as if they might go quite fast - here is a video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DatgIaDO57s
"They look as if they might go quite fast boats. "   He he he . Have a look at my pic. the hydro plane under my arm dose around 60mph.  I think i can handel one of these boats. Cheers for the info.
Logged
Roll On Mayday. Im off for a pint.   How Much!!!   WHEN do you need it!     No dear!    Yes dear??   Wot Now???  soon to be EX Chairman SMBC

dodgy geezer

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3,948
  • Location: London
Re: Aeroflyte kit bash :)
« Reply #8 on: September 09, 2009, 09:45:57 am »

Umm, I think we might be talking at cross purposes here.

These boats are about a foot long. They usually do not carry enough energy to go faster than a crawl. The video shows a re-engined Sabre, which looks as if it could just about manage to get up onto the plane, given a bit of a run up. That was what I meant by 'fast'.

They are intended for young children. I don't think anyone will have any difficulty handling them. Of course, if you were to put in a rocket...:)
Logged

steamboatbob

  • Guest
Re: Aeroflyte kit bash :)
« Reply #9 on: September 09, 2009, 11:10:55 am »

i think rockets are a bit extreme if you watched that you tube vid but brushless could be a viable alternative but a piano wire drive system would be necessary and then that would mean money. I do hope to get this boat running at a decent enough pace not hair raising but a decent pace all the same.
I know it wont get anywhare near my slomo in speed that at least does 60MPH +++.

I honestly want to see if all the rumors are true and show some people that you dont have to kill you wallet just to have a little fun and i hope i get mine fast enough so it has to be used in a lake and not just a pool or at the edge of the lake shunned by all the people who have spent hundeds of dollars on a boat that lasts 5 mins O0

now i have spent the following on this model
$22 on the kit
$20 on the motor it is an e-sky brushed helicopter motor EK1-0006 for a tail rotor of helicopters
$ 5 on the propshaft
$12 on the couplings and rudder
and the rest battery and RC TX/Rx I have salvaged from other stuff around the house

yes you do get a motor with the kit but it is rated at 3V and i killed it when i tested it on 7.2

So overall i Have spent and incredible amount of $59.00 AUD or around 30.00 GBP 


Logged

dodgy geezer

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3,948
  • Location: London
Re: Aeroflyte kit bash :)
« Reply #10 on: September 10, 2009, 12:12:59 am »


I honestly want to see if all the rumors are true and show some people that you dont have to kill you wallet just to have a little fun and i hope i get mine fast enough so it has to be used in a lake and not just a pool or at the edge of the lake shunned by all the people who have spent hundeds of dollars on a boat that lasts 5 mins O0

now i have spent the following on this model
$22 on the kit
$20 on the motor it is an e-sky brushed helicopter motor EK1-0006 for a tail rotor of helicopters
$ 5 on the propshaft
$12 on the couplings and rudder
and the rest battery and RC TX/Rx I have salvaged from other stuff around the house

yes you do get a motor with the kit but it is rated at 3V and i killed it when i tested it on 7.2

So overall i Have spent and incredible amount of $59.00 AUD or around 30.00 GBP 



More power to your elbow! That's what I'm trying to do on the eezebilt site, but I'm looking at a lower spend! Using the Terrier as an example, I can get one boat out of a 3ft x 4" sheet of 1/16" - that's 85p. Add a motor at 75p, a prop and shaft at £2.20, that's £3.80, or about 7.25 AUD. Of course, glue and paint put the price up...

I reckon that the Terrier would plane with LiPos, but not with NiCads - they are heavy and the boat is only 10 3/4" long. What batteries are you using? And what couplings? - I find it very difficult to source a cheap coupling which will take a fair bit of power...
Logged

brodjack

  • Guest
Re: Aeroflyte kit bash :)
« Reply #11 on: September 10, 2009, 01:17:58 am »

I just went round to my local model shop. He showed me two of these kits which had just come in - he said they were new imports and he felt there was going to be a resurgance of interest amongst kids over here.

The kits were the same as yours, but marketed under the name 'Pacific Balsa'. They are very comprehensive, with prop, motor, glue and dope all included. So the £20 price tag is not completely unreasonable...

Kids making toy models,please! kids are into xboxs and mobile phones nowadays.Gone are the days when you and me used to be impressed with boats and plane models.
If my son has a few fast boats,which he has,i have to build them for him,he just laughs at the those little slow wooden kits.
Times have changed i'm afraid.Right or wrong, its the way it is...
Brod..
 
Logged

dodgy geezer

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3,948
  • Location: London
Re: Aeroflyte kit bash :)
« Reply #12 on: September 10, 2009, 02:09:22 am »

....Gone are the days when you and me used to be impressed with boats and plane models.
If my son has a few fast boats,which he has,i have to build them for him,he just laughs at the those little slow wooden kits.
Times have changed i'm afraid.Right or wrong, its the way it is...
Brod..
 

Well, it's his shop. If he wants to put money into stocking them I assume he believes they will sell....
Logged

kiwi

  • Guest
Re: Aeroflyte kit bash :)
« Reply #13 on: September 10, 2009, 07:17:51 am »

Hi,
There are still get up and go kids out there who "want to build something themselves", so best of luck to those shops stocking the smaller easily build starter kits.
You get my vote DG
cheers
kiwi
Logged

steamboatbob

  • Guest
Re: Aeroflyte kit bash :)
« Reply #14 on: September 10, 2009, 11:50:57 am »

with the couplers i am going to try the good red flexible couplings first and then if that doesn't work i will get a straight coupler machined for me a local bloke over here does them for me for a 12 pack of beer per coupler which ends up in a good drinking arvo :)

with the batteries i have a huge range from a local hobby swap meet that was held, and making them up was easy enough

and as you can see this is just a small range the two blue ones are a 8.4V 600 Mah and only 130 grams the big nimh 7.2 is a 400mah but weighs 420 grams but size would be a big factor there and the big lipo i dont think i want warp speed in this little "xxxxx" its a 14.4 V 5000 mah with a 30 C discharge rate and there is my split pack of 4.2V packs which are a home made job but i am not sure atm what to put in i might even make up another pack of 12 AA batteries 2 lots of 6 in parallel so effectively two 7.2 volt packs.

Logged

dodgy geezer

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3,948
  • Location: London
Re: Aeroflyte kit bash :)
« Reply #15 on: September 10, 2009, 09:22:46 pm »

with the couplers i am going to try the good red flexible couplings first and then if that doesn't work i will get a straight coupler machined for me a local bloke over here does them for me for a 12 pack of beer per coupler which ends up in a good drinking arvo :)


I'd be interested to see the design of his coupler. Do you just mean a straight tube with two grub screws...?

i might even make up another pack of 12 AA batteries 2 lots of 6 in parallel so effectively two 7.2 volt packs.


These boats are 14" long, aren't they? Won't 12 AAs be too heavy for them? But it will be impressive if you can manage it...
Logged

steamboatbob

  • Guest
Re: Aeroflyte kit bash :)
« Reply #16 on: September 20, 2009, 02:02:29 pm »

unfortunately camera is down atm due to a child mishap but the hull is completely together proptube andmotor installed and im waiting on the weather to fine up a bit so I can get to put a couple of coats of resin on the hulls as i have some West system resin lying around from my last build of my Slomoshun

talk to ya soon

Bob
Logged

steamboatbob

  • Guest
Re: Aeroflyte kit bash :)
« Reply #17 on: October 25, 2009, 01:59:56 pm »

Finally i got some time this weekend and some good weather to do some resin work both hulls got the underside done the tunnel hull got blown off the table to my dissapointment landing in a nice pile of dirt  <:( but all is well and good im just happy that summer is here and that also means that its building time  :D

the one on the top is mine and the one underneath is my father in laws  and a few more coats of resin and a lick of paint should see these little screamers in the water  O0



Logged

steamboatbob

  • Guest
Re: Aeroflyte kit bash :)
« Reply #18 on: March 05, 2010, 10:50:38 pm »

damn i forgot about this build until last week

OK time for an update of what I have done besides lots of cursing.

I got a 7.2 volt sub C battery from my local hobby store and a few other bits  i had lying around i might have to get a lighter receiver unit as the one i have in there is fairly heavy the previous motor i had, did not go the distance, and on a trip to Melbourne i picked up 6 micro servos (HS-55) for $40 so i put one of them in to do the turning thing. The Esc was a cheapie from ebay i think i paid $30 AUD for 2, they are rated at 30 Amps so it should do the job

and here it is atm i will have to make up a cover for it as i did not give myself enough room last time and have gone with a standard red coupler just balanced it a little by using the good ole black texter trick when the motor was running and filed away the waste material

and here she is atm ready for a test run in the water i hope to get something done in the way of a movie today

:)


Logged

steamboatbob

  • Guest
Re: Aeroflyte kit bash :)
« Reply #19 on: March 07, 2010, 01:53:27 am »

well after a good laugh when i put it in the water and WoW it flies i put it in the old mans pool and i could not get up to top speed as the pool was not long enough but i came across a major problem, being that the servo had almost no throw and the turning circle was less than desired so out comes my little spares boxes and a bit of glue. the only problem with micro servos is that they don't fit regular servo arms but i have a solution here is a photo of the upgraded one next to an original one

it is a fairly easy job all it required was a pair of sidecutters to cut off the arm sections off the micro servo and then sanded the little hub round and it was a very tight press fit for a normal servo arm over the top with a spot of super glue and bobs your uncle you have a little more throw on your micro servo



but i still need to make a body cowling yet as water comes in over the back like you would not believe and except that it is a watertight as a babys butt
Logged

steamboatbob

  • Guest
Re: Aeroflyte kit bash :)
« Reply #20 on: March 27, 2010, 10:02:25 am »

well all is good at the moment with this one and she fairly mooves along very close to the speed of a club 500 with a 400 motor but weight is the punisher so things need to be lightened again and also does anyone know where to get a decent prop with a M2 thread for speedboats

Logged

steamboatbob

  • Guest
Re: Aeroflyte kit bash :)
« Reply #21 on: April 11, 2010, 02:25:01 am »

OH well i think i have gotten the micro bug

this disease is prevalent in men and women that want to try something different and fast and cheap
diagnosis larger hulls in your workshop tend to dissapear and smaller ones seem to appear from nowere, hours are spent on the internet finding very small, fast and light motors and esc's
well you get the picture.

i managed to give the boat a major overhaul and throw everything in that was fast  :D

the strut system from my Slomo it was lying there looking for a new home anyways
i found a 540 can Tamiya motor i think its an rx but i do know it is a hopped up version. a 50 amp esc a very small and light battery
 and a bucket load of madness and this little puppy will go like the clappers.
I took it down to the lake and lo and behold its a bit heavy in the nose and the other problem being is that the prop i had was way oversized. this has now been remedied by an order to astec models for a Graupner 480 bb Race motor and a small 40Amp plane esc with a 60amp burst and a look around my workshop/study for a smaller prop and lo and behold i found a x430 steel prop which has been balanced nicely. I have worked out with new motor and esc i will drop close to 250 grams of weight and as the whole boat weighs only 600 grams it will make a massive difference

here is the link to the slow version with too much weight
http://www.youtube.com/user/MrSteamboatbob#p/a/u/0/L1Gqo7LZEDg
Logged

steamboatbob

  • Guest
Re: Aeroflyte kit bash :)
« Reply #22 on: April 24, 2010, 01:06:57 am »

well here she is this morning after hacking and tuning



i have changed the following on it

-Graupner 480 BB Race Motor
-cut out a lot of useless balsa at the rear of the boat as to get the weight further back
- overall weight atm is 550 grams with battery

-the following is what is to be changed on it
-Lipo Battery 7.4v reduced weight by 10 grams
-schultze slim 40 be Esc reduces the weight by 120 grams from the proboat thing i have atm
-wiring to be changed to handle more current I just have too many connectors in atm that are not that good
-when all this gear arrives the weight will be a lot more evenly distributed towards the rear so ballance will be better

so overall weight will be 420 grams im sure i could get even less weight with a different drive system but that is just too expensive to do atm
Logged

steamboatbob

  • Guest
Re: Aeroflyte kit bash :)
« Reply #23 on: April 25, 2010, 01:21:02 am »

ok it flies

But here is the big thing i wanted to say atm

Price

at the moment this is what i have spent to get it to this stage I shall get a video for you guys soon to show you the difference before i get my upgrades done
-Hull                     -20
-Motor                  -50
-Battery                -30 (I Got Ripped Off)
-Esc                     -20
-Driveline              -80 (this includes strut, rudder, flex shaft, Propeller OcturaX430, Coupler)
-Radio Gear           -Free
-Total                   -$200 AUD


With upgrades to go really fast
-Hull                            -20
-Motor                         -50
-Lipo Battery                -15
-Schulze Esc 40Amp      -60
-Driveline                     -80
-Radio                         -Nothing

Total                          -$225 AUD

Now you could go the whole hog and go brushless but i don't see the point but I must say this the upgrades i Put in were just to see how far i could go with it My post on this thread on the 6 March when i tested it in my dads pool it is fast dont get me wrong but a few hints for the unwary

- if you are using a straight shaft make sure you put it as close to the hull as possible for some reason i had my prop sitting 10mm under the hull and it wanted to push the nose of the boat into the water and caused a lot of flooding into the hull
- Get as many leightweight items as you can too much weight in this beast kills it a sub C stick pack works fine with a speed 400 motor and i had 10 mins of fun with all my upgrades atm using my 1200mah sub c stick pack.
- the heavier hardware needs to be at the rear of the boat or else the nose will dive in and it will try to act like a submarine
- I never bothered with cowl locks hatch tape did the trick for me
- make sure you fibreglass or epoxy resin the hull thoroughly I allready have places where i seem to have gone a little light on with the resin and have had to repair it.

Other than that This kit is a blast and i would entirely put my full support behind it
Logged

steamboatbob

  • Guest
Re: Aeroflyte kit bash :)
« Reply #24 on: May 03, 2010, 12:34:02 pm »

And here she is with all new bits and bobs

and a total weight of 490 grams

Logged
Pages: [1] 2 3   Go Up
 

Page created in 0.1 seconds with 22 queries.