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Author Topic: Newbie fast electric Mono 1 build  (Read 12930 times)

PeachyPM

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Newbie fast electric Mono 1 build
« on: December 17, 2015, 07:11:12 pm »

“The First rule of FE club is; Nobody talks about FE club”
Well that’s how it sometimes can feel to outsiders, possibly because the competitive instinct of keeping the things that make your boat fast close to your chest!
But what I want to try to do is break down some barriers to a small part of our great hobby that I’ve only recently got involved in.
I got lucky, I met some FE chaps who race at my local club, one of them let me have a go with his Mini-mono and I was hooked. I bought a couple of second hand boats, re-furbished them with helpful advice and got racing.
Now I want to tackle my own build, but couldn’t find many topics or current advice on MBM and I wondered if this silence was a contributing factor to the apparent low numbers of FE racers in the UK, (compared to the rest of Europe, the Far East & the States)
I’m hoping to show with this build blog that most of us with some model making experience can build a boat capable of competing in at the very least, local championships if not quite hot enough for the Nationals or the World championship.
Please remember this is my first build and most of what I’m doing is based on very welcome advice from a very helpful FE community, but please, by all means chip in!
P.S. Re "the first rule"; the motor and prop in the photo’s won’t be the ones I’m racing with…but I will give ball park details to help with first timers who might want to get involved.
 
Here are some helpful links to clubs in almost the 4 corners of England, if any of our UK cousins know of a club championship in Scotland, Northern Ireland or Wales, please tell me.
 
In the North; http://www.ampdraggers.co.uk/
In the East; https://ostendospreys.wordpress.com/
In the South; http://www.electrafying.com/
In the West; http://www.swambc.webeden.co.uk/#/swarm-home/4581722394
 
 [size=0pt]For rules & boat classes; http://www.mpba-fes.org.uk/  & http://naviga.org/index.php/en/[/size]
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PeachyPM

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Re: NEWBIE FAST ELECTRIC MONO 1 BUILD
« Reply #1 on: December 17, 2015, 07:23:12 pm »

Ok, so enough bla!
First picky, is my newly bought Lindenau designed mono 1 hull, I’m not sure of its provenance as I bought it second hand but un-worked from a private individual I found via the FE community. It’s a bit rough around the edges/seem, but nothing I can’t handle…..
First job, fit the flood chamber….this should be down as much of the port side of the hull as is reasonable. The idea is that when the boat (and it will) flips, porpoises or dives under it will fill the chamber which in turn rolls the boat over enough for the prop to re-engage. As the boat moves off the water empties out of the step & transom and the boat gets back onto the plane.
Pic2 is a thin sheet of GRP marked & ready for cutting, that I will use to make the wall inside the hull;
Pic3 is the wall fettled and dry fitted
Pic4 Then glued in place
Pic5 You can use whatever adhesive or resin you wish, I prefer 2 part Acrylic from;
http://www.adhesivebrokers.co.uk/
 
 
They are a small & helpful company with massive amounts of experience selling to the modelmaking & film industry (I swear by their superglue as well)
Pic6 To seal this wall all the way down to the bow was proving tricky so my apprentice model maker was employed!
Pic7&8 Now to cut out the transom drain;
Pic9 Then the Step drain
Pic10 Now for some breather holes, these have 2 jobs, the first is to let air out & water in when the boat is upside down (air pockets will stop the boat self-righting) then to let air in to help the water evacuate as the boat moves off


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IKB

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Re: NEWBIE FAST ELECTRIC MONO 1 BUILD
« Reply #2 on: December 17, 2015, 09:21:21 pm »

Looks great mate, can't wait for it to terrorise... er, I mean, "grace" the club lake!  :}
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hydro-junkie

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Re: NEWBIE FAST ELECTRIC MONO 1 BUILD
« Reply #3 on: December 18, 2015, 10:06:35 am »

Looking good, i'll be following your posts with great interest over the coming weeks.
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Re: NEWBIE FAST ELECTRIC MONO 1 BUILD
« Reply #4 on: December 18, 2015, 10:35:47 am »

Hi Christopher

Are you going to be mounting your rudder on the flat section where you have put the three bolts in? 

I'm just about to mount the rudder and was not sure if i should mount it there as it is very close to the center line of the hull

Thanks
Steve
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PeachyPM

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Re: NEWBIE FAST ELECTRIC MONO 1 BUILD
« Reply #5 on: December 18, 2015, 10:51:49 am »

Hello Steve,
Yes that's where I've been advised to place it, I must admit I also thought it was a bit close - jury's out on that one, once I've placed my shaft I'll mount my intended prop and have a think about it, perhaps I'll have to space the rudder blade out a bit, couple of posts down the line me thinks!  :embarrassed:
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PeachyPM

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Re: NEWBIE FAST ELECTRIC MONO 1 BUILD
« Reply #6 on: December 18, 2015, 01:38:14 pm »

 :-)) Thanks IKB & Hydro-monkey for joining in! :-))


From now on I will be pretty much “just” bolting kit on, so at this stage I want to tidy up the hull.
So first off, a good de-grease with panel wipe, prep clean or even white spirit. Tip… do this with the hull reasonably warm as the Gel coat has waxes in (otherwise it would be tacky to the touch just like normal lay-up resin) and any wax that has leached to the surface needs removing, I then “cut” the whole hull with 800 grit wet & dry.
Next step is to make good the transom, rails and sheer lines, (apologies if I have the terminology wrong) these need to be nice and sharp, this helps the boat leave the “grip” or “suction” of the water allowing it to get up out of the water and onto the plane.
I use car body filler, it’s perfect for the job and designed to bond well to fiberglass.
After this a quick whiff over with white primer, just to see how she’s doing. Don’t go too thick, it’s just to help you see how tidy your work is.
 
Pic1. Tidied-up step drain
Pic2. Sharpened up transom
Pic3. Whilst working on the hull I want to make the hatch fit better (actually I mean fit!)
Pic4. So first I made some masking tape templates as a rough cutting guide
Pic5. Then it’s a case of trim, try, trim, try, trim etc etc ………
Pic6. At this stage I’m happy with the fit, but the GRP still needs its “memory” to be changed, so I will be heating this up till it is very floppy and then taping it in place to cool down.
 
In the North; http://www.ampdraggers.co.uk/
In the East; https://ostendospreys.wordpress.com/
In the South; http://www.electrafying.com/ & http://shpowerboats.co.uk/
In the West; http://www.swambc.webeden.co.uk/#/swarm-home/4581722394
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PeachyPM

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Re: NEWBIE FAST ELECTRIC MONO 1 BUILD
« Reply #7 on: December 18, 2015, 06:06:22 pm »

Now for some bolt-on items, the rudder bracket and turn fin bracket. you can buy these, but I wanted to make mine so they would fit the odd shaped Lindenau hull and look a little more bespoke (and if I can’t make my boat go fast yet, the least I can do is make it look good) I’m going to make mine from pre-preged carbon fibre sheet, there are plenty of places on the tinter web that you can buy this from, but take my advice, don’t buy the cheap stuff it will fail! If you are on a tight budget, you can make these parts out of strips of aluminium, it’s only a few grams heavier and you might have to bend it back into shape after a prang but at least it won’t just shatter like the cheap carbon fibre does.
http://www.easycomposites.co.uk/ is a reputable company with whole range of kits and tools plus plenty of advice.
I first made some cardboard templates, and then transferred them onto the sheet, you can cut CF with pretty much anything but the range of tools from perma-grit are by far the best, everything else gets worn down very quickly. Always cut near but not on the line as CF will always have a fluffy fibre edge after cutting, this is easily removed with sanding and although messy, actually sands really well.
Two things to consider;
 
  • If you use a band saw or any wood cutting saw, don’t use your extraction as CF will spark when cut and you don’t want to suck those sparks into your sawdust bag!
  • Watch out for the CF dust, it conducts electricity and will ruin the motor in your dremmel, also keep it away from your boats motor!
Pic1. Small jigsaw is perfect for this sort of  work
Pic2. Finished CF rudder bracket & fin mount
 
Now for the turn fin which I will fabricate out of aluminium.
This will be mounted on the starboard side of the hull and is shaped for right hand turns as this boat will mainly be turning right! The idea is this gives something for the rudder to work against don’t ask me about the shaping, I’m just copying what you can commercially buy!
 
Pic3&4. Shows my initial sketch spray-mounted on to the ali & the fin rough cut out ready for final finishing.
Pic5. The finished mountings in place with a bought water pick-up rudder and my turn fin.
The reason for the one bolt in the turn fin is so it will allow the fin to pivot at this point if it ever strikes an object, the bottom bolt in the rudder bracket will be replaced during racing with a sacrificial M4 plastic bolt, which will shear & allow the rudder to pivot in the same way. Without the ability to “get out of the way” a lot of unnecessary damage can befall your boat with snapped brackets, wrecked rudders and even holes ripped out of your hull!
 
Pic6. As we found out earlier with the flood chamber, the insides of these hulls can be quite difficult to access, even before they are full of hardware, so after bolting these items on I encapsulated the nylock nuts in acrylic adhesive, sorry about the mess, it looks untidy but works brilliantly.
 
 
In the North; http://www.ampdraggers.co.uk/
In the East; https://ostendospreys.wordpress.com/
In the South; http://www.electrafying.com/ & http://shpowerboats.co.uk/
In the West; http://www.swambc.webeden.co.uk/#/swarm-home/4581722394
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IKB

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Re: NEWBIE FAST ELECTRIC MONO 1 BUILD
« Reply #8 on: December 20, 2015, 11:41:31 pm »

Very nice work mate, liking the carbon fibre    :-))
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PeachyPM

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Re: NEWBIE FAST ELECTRIC MONO 1 BUILD
« Reply #9 on: December 21, 2015, 11:53:23 am »

Cheers Alex, at least someone noticed!  :-))


The next item I need to turn my attention to is the steering.  First the servo, there are of course a number of ways to mount the servo, the choice of which is mainly personal preference so here’s mine; I wanted to mount my servo in the same plane or aspect as my rudder arm/tiller, but this boat has a vee hull which doesn’t lend itself readily to mounting a servo square, either up-right or on its side.
 
Pic1. So I made a carbon fibre mount (first making mock-ups out of cardboard) this was glued in place then a commercially bought Ali servo mount bolted to this.
Pic2. I positioned this with the centre of the servo horn directly in line with the rudder, and as near to the transom as possible but still allowing access to the bolts securing the servo.
Pic3. Shows a stub of 10mm dia Ali tube which has been glued in place with acrylic adhesive that allows the linkage free movement through the transom, kept waterproof with a rubber billows style grommet. This will be secured in place by a small cable tie after the hull has been painted.
Pic4. Now for the prop shaft, the one I bought was over-long for this hull and needed cutting down, otherwise the motor would have ended up too far up the bow and I would have had problems balancing the boat & maintenance access to the motor itself. I sourced the correct diameter Ali tube to support the CF main shaft from a supplier on e-bay and bought a 100mm length only for a few pounds, and proceeded to the heart stopping surgery of cutting quite an expensive piece of hardware in half!
I removed 90mm of carbon shaft, cleaned up the ends and then bonded the whole thing back together. This operation isn’t for the faint hearted and I won’t be planning on repeating the same procurement mistake again!
I mounted my shaft approximately 5mm starboard from the centreline of the hull, this offset is to counteract the torque of the motor. One important thing to note, the shaft needs to be offset parallel with the centreline which means the motor mount needs off setting as well.
Now for the battery mount
Pic5. Some people like to Velcro their batteries down, which can be perfectly acceptable but if the Velcro adhesive is softened by water or shaft lubricant/WD40, there is a chance they can be thrown lose just when you don’t want them to be! A lose pack 280g of cells can make a mess of your set-up!
I’ve made mine from a piece of Ali L shaped angle bonded in place and added a Velcro strap to secure the cells.
And now for the cooling system which is a very important part of the boat.
The build-up of heat can wreck the motor, the ESC and Lipo cells. (you really don’t want a catastrophic failure of a large pack of lipo cells in a little GRP boat).
Pic6. Shows the start of the water’s journey from the rudder pick-up through the transom (via a bonded Ali tube)
Pic7. Then it connects to the side of the battery mount (not essential but at £50 a pack – why not help keep them cool?)
Pic8. Then it will join a water cooled ESC (on its way from HK at the mo)
Pic9. Then on to the motor mount. I’ve chosen a water cooled mount instead of a water cooled jacket that surrounds the brushless in-runner because I want to get the angle on the prop shaft to the bottom of the hull as small as possible. This sort of mount allows me to get the motor right down in the bottom of the hull. It’s not as efficient cooling wise so I will be adding a snap-on set of cooling fins to the top of the motor to help.
Pic10. Shows the final run of tube which is attached to an exit nipple out of the side of the hull (above the water line of course)
 
In the North; http://www.ampdraggers.co.uk/
In the East; https://ostendospreys.wordpress.com/
In the South; http://www.electrafying.com/ & http://shpowerboats.co.uk/
In the West; http://www.swambc.webeden.co.uk/#/swarm-home/4581722394
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PeachyPM

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PeachyPM

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Re: NEWBIE FAST ELECTRIC MONO 1 BUILD
« Reply #11 on: December 21, 2015, 06:14:14 pm »

So I’m about ready for final prep for paint, and I thought this would be a good opportunity for the Imperial pit crew to put his X-box down and pick up some tools!
My boy did a great job striping the Lindenau down, he even wanted to do it! Bonus :-))
 
In the North; http://www.ampdraggers.co.uk/
In the East; https://ostendospreys.wordpress.com/
In the South; http://www.electrafying.com/ & http://shpowerboats.co.uk/
In the West; http://www.swambc.webeden.co.uk/#/swarm-home/4581722394
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Bridkid

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Re: NEWBIE FAST ELECTRIC MONO 1 BUILD
« Reply #12 on: December 21, 2015, 08:16:01 pm »

Hi Chris. You seem to be making a cracking job of the build, keep going and let me know when sea trials are going to be held. (I could really do with some of the acrylic glue)  :-)
Ian.
 8)
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PeachyPM

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Re: NEWBIE FAST ELECTRIC MONO 1 BUILD
« Reply #13 on: December 21, 2015, 08:38:10 pm »

 thanks for the vote of confidence Ian, I've got plenty of the acrylic goo!
Sea trials will probably be next year as I'm waiting for a motor coupler & ESC & there is if course Christmas to deal with, sorry I meant enjoy!
When she hits the water perhaps you can video it for me?
Chris  :-))
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IKB

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Re: NEWBIE FAST ELECTRIC MONO 1 BUILD
« Reply #14 on: December 22, 2015, 12:52:06 am »

Looking awesome Chris, very nice Brass alignment tool you have there  ;)
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Bridkid

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Re: NEWBIE FAST ELECTRIC MONO 1 BUILD
« Reply #15 on: December 22, 2015, 08:59:02 am »

I'm charging up the video camera now!  8)
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PeachyPM

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Re: NEWBIE FAST ELECTRIC MONO 1 BUILD
« Reply #16 on: December 22, 2015, 09:39:45 am »

 :-)) Cheers Ian :-))


A couple of cracks & dents have appeared during the build, so a quick fill & make-good with some car body filler was required first, then a coat of white primer. Then I give the bottom of the hull a coat of matt lacquer, the lacquer is to give a nice easy clean and tough finish and the matt because I like the contrast with the top of the boat which will be finished in gloss. This will be left to dry then masked off so that the top surface will have its final coat, application of stickers and then a final finish of clear gloss lacquer.
 
In the North; http://www.ampdraggers.co.uk/
In the East; https://ostendospreys.wordpress.com/
In the South; http://www.electrafying.com/ & http://shpowerboats.co.uk/
In the West; http://www.swambc.webeden.co.uk/#/swarm-home/4581722394
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IKB

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Re: NEWBIE FAST ELECTRIC MONO 1 BUILD
« Reply #17 on: December 24, 2015, 02:19:31 pm »

Looking good mate, looking forward to seeing the video of the trials
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PeachyPM

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Re: NEWBIE FAST ELECTRIC MONO 1 BUILD
« Reply #18 on: December 24, 2015, 03:15:05 pm »

Cheers chum, and thank you again for the brass motor mount tool, it worked perfectly, just the job whilst I wait for my ETTI coupler to arrive.
Photos of finished paint job to follow!  :}
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PeachyPM

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Re: NEWBIE FAST ELECTRIC MONO 1 BUILD
« Reply #19 on: December 24, 2015, 04:05:15 pm »

Ok so here's some photos of my build fully painted and with all her bits bolted on, she still needs the ESC fitting and the motor coupler and I'll post some interior photos when they arrive. In the new year I'll do some test runs and hopefully have a video to post too! Until the  Merry Christmas, the boat yard is closed! :}
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Bridkid

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Re: NEWBIE FAST ELECTRIC MONO 1 BUILD
« Reply #20 on: December 24, 2015, 06:40:42 pm »

Excellent!  :-))
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IKB

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Re: NEWBIE FAST ELECTRIC MONO 1 BUILD
« Reply #21 on: December 24, 2015, 06:49:49 pm »

Looks almost professional!   ;) {-)
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PeachyPM

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Re: NEWBIE FAST ELECTRIC MONO 1 BUILD
« Reply #22 on: December 24, 2015, 07:53:29 pm »

 :-))thanks guys :-))
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PeachyPM

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Re: NEWBIE FAST ELECTRIC MONO 1 BUILD
« Reply #23 on: December 29, 2015, 06:53:15 pm »

Ok gents, all the turkey has gone and the mince pies too! So let's crack on with the build...
The ESC has turned up & so has the motor connector and the motor cooling clip on fin thingy. So below are some photos of all the kit fitted in place.
Next job will be self righting tests in the bath.
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IKB

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Re: NEWBIE FAST ELECTRIC MONO 1 BUILD
« Reply #24 on: December 29, 2015, 10:17:24 pm »

Looks good mate, look forward to testing
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