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Author Topic: 23cm cabin cruiser  (Read 12564 times)

Andy M

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23cm cabin cruiser
« on: July 28, 2019, 09:51:40 pm »

Hi, I based this little project on features from a few boats I like. Still a lot to do, not even decided on radio and motor setup yet, I might try the radio from one of my tiny race cars. Its motor has a gearbox and the transmitter has 5 selectable speed ranges, all fully proportional. My only worry is that I overload something and lose my car.
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Andy M

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Re: 23cm cabin cruiser
« Reply #1 on: July 28, 2019, 09:54:55 pm »

Another photo showing my mini vic smeed rorqual beside the cabin cruiser.
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Tug Fanatic

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Re: 23cm cabin cruiser
« Reply #2 on: July 29, 2019, 11:37:30 am »

Looking good.
Do you have experience of these small models?
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Andy M

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Re: 23cm cabin cruiser
« Reply #3 on: July 29, 2019, 12:05:06 pm »

Hi, the little cabin cruiser is the shortest rc model I have built so far, I have rc'd some plastic models before, revells 1/72 u boat, shell welder tanker and most recently a kgv battleship. The u boat was the hardest to fit all the gear in but managed it ok. I would like to use the radio and motor setup from one of my race cars, but choosing a suitable prop that wont burn anything out is my only worry. I have a small speedboat, shown in left of photo, converted from a £1 toy, it works well, planes nicely, but the motor heats up and slows down after only a few seconds at full speed, but will potter about at low throttle with no problems. The motor is definately not up to the job but will be replaced at some point with a more suitable one. I will conduct tank (bath) tests soon to see if my gear can cope with a prop rather than wheels. Worst comes to worst, the cabin cruiser is small enough to just be a display model.
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Fred Ellis

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Re: 23cm cabin cruiser
« Reply #4 on: July 29, 2019, 05:15:29 pm »

Hi Andy M


I just may have a small motor in my junk box that might do, were I used to work we used to get a lot of r/c car's and helicopters that did not work and most of the time it was just a wire broken off, but they all had to go into the scrap bin some just did not go in complete.


Will have a look Tuesday.


Fred
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That's all right, Mr Ryan. My Morse is so rusty, I could be sending him dimensions on Playmate of the Month.

Andy M

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Re: 23cm cabin cruiser
« Reply #5 on: July 29, 2019, 06:19:28 pm »

Hi Fred, thats very kind of you, but as I live in scotland, I cant just pop round and pick it up if you do find one. I do have some options for powering the cruiser that I will be exploring. I think my mini race car set up might cope. Andy
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Fred Ellis

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Re: 23cm cabin cruiser
« Reply #6 on: July 29, 2019, 06:40:09 pm »

Hi


I can always post it to you, it would be no trouble just say.


Fred
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That's all right, Mr Ryan. My Morse is so rusty, I could be sending him dimensions on Playmate of the Month.

Andy M

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Re: 23cm cabin cruiser
« Reply #7 on: July 29, 2019, 06:46:20 pm »

Thanks so much for the offer, will try my car set up setup and let you know how I get on. Andy

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Allnightin

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Re: 23cm cabin cruiser
« Reply #8 on: July 29, 2019, 09:10:23 pm »

I have converted a few small models to RC and where size and weight are critical I have used the Deltang  range several of which include an ESC on the Rx board and give a good performance with a 3.7V Lipo stick cell

http://www.micronradiocontrol.co.uk/rx_dt_land_v5.html

If you look in the relevant parts of the Micron website, they have a selection of micro geared motors and servos that would work in your model.  The Deans Marine 18mm diameter 3 bladed plastic  propeller works well with the geared motors from Micron and this sort of set up will get an Airfix Vosper MTB on the plane.   The one thing I did find is that the torque from the prop made some turns quite dramatic with the model heeling quite steeply.
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Andy M

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Re: 23cm cabin cruiser
« Reply #9 on: July 29, 2019, 11:01:31 pm »

Hi, thanks for the link, I had a look, bit beyond my finances at the moment, it was interesting to see the gearboxes, the car setup I have is 7mm motor, also runs on 3.7 lipo and comes with a proportional servo as well, all for under 20 quid. I am going to give it a go, will post my results on here.
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Allnightin

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Re: 23cm cabin cruiser
« Reply #10 on: July 30, 2019, 08:33:34 am »

Sounds like your car might offer an interesting opportunity for me!  Can you give more details on where you can get them nd do they need a dedicated transmitter or do they work on standard RC systems?
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redpmg

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Re: 23cm cabin cruiser
« Reply #11 on: July 30, 2019, 09:55:26 am »

Hi Allnightin,what motor/gearbox did you use for the Airfix MTB . Have prop shop scale  props to fit and some slightly smaller ones . Was wondering if i could use my sons scrapped mini helicopter motors for a twin prop setup. Presume you used a single motor ?
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Allnightin

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Re: 23cm cabin cruiser
« Reply #12 on: July 30, 2019, 11:06:31 am »

The conversion of the Airfix kit was in March 2017 Model Boats magazine if you can get your hands on a copy but the following is a list of the RC and motor etc:

Deans Marine 18 mm 3 blade plastic propeller 22 – L   
               
Deltang Rx60 DSM2 16V 4 Channel Rx with Bi-Directional ESC  (Rx60-3-W) custom wired by Micron for UM type battery connection, 2mm pin to match motor lead and Molex 1.25mm socket for servo (lead lengths and channel programming can be discussed with Micron)                     
HK 1.7g Micro digital servo 0990702                        

Parkzone P-51 motor/gearbox PKZ3624      (motor is 8.5mm coreless type)                  

Hyperion G3 240mAh single cell 3.7V LiPo UM connector            

I haven't tried mini helicopter motors in a boat so can't really say about use in the MTB - what diameter are  they?
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malcolmfrary

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Re: 23cm cabin cruiser
« Reply #13 on: July 30, 2019, 01:55:00 pm »

Lots of good sound advice for doing boats this size here - http://eezebilt.tk/

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"With the right tool, you can break anything" - Garfield

Andy M

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Re: 23cm cabin cruiser
« Reply #14 on: July 31, 2019, 01:13:39 pm »

Hi, I have been there before, and added to my list of boats to build. I spent a while last night and today finishing the radio and motor installation, I will post photos later. I have still to paint it all and add detailing but the radio and motor work perfectly. I hadnt left much space in front of the propshaft but I got around that with some lateral thinking. And some more car and helicopter parts. I think the setup will cope with the small prop, weight at the moment is only a few grams heavier than the donor car was. Still to add paint, windows and detailing but looking promising so far. Andy.
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Andy M

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Re: 23cm cabin cruiser
« Reply #15 on: July 31, 2019, 01:20:21 pm »

The radio I am using is from the capri shown in a photo above, I had a spare gearbox that will live in the boat, the radio section can go back in capri when required. I am going to get some connectors for easy swapping. It will do fine just now. The capri is too fast for my track even on minimum speed range, it got a quadcopter motor upgrade which was actually a bit much, wheelspinning too easily, still fun though if you keep it smooth.
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Andy M

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Re: 23cm cabin cruiser
« Reply #16 on: July 31, 2019, 01:28:27 pm »

I forgot to answer allnightin's questions from earlier, I was actually going to do a kind of how to feature showing how to convert it to a racing car, and also now, its usefulness as a boat system. They come with their own transmitter and have a range which is nearly out of sight for a 5 inch approx. car. Probably much further but I thought that was plenty for test purposes. I will try and get some photos on later.
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redpmg

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Re: 23cm cabin cruiser
« Reply #17 on: July 31, 2019, 05:05:10 pm »

"I haven't tried mini helicopter motors in a boat so can't really say about use in the MTB - what diameter are  they?"
Hi Allnightin,

these particular motors are 8mm diameter  - look to be about 20mm long - gearing at least 10 to 1 - very difficult to count the number of teeth - Might be better for the Revell Sun tug .........

Thanks for the other information - would have to source from UK - bit difficult
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Allnightin

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Re: 23cm cabin cruiser
« Reply #18 on: July 31, 2019, 08:19:47 pm »

I was actually going to do a kind of how to feature showing how to convert it to a racing car, and also now, its usefulness as a boat system.

That would be really useful and I look forward to seeing it.

Vosper MTB is single prop
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Andy M

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Re: 23cm cabin cruiser
« Reply #19 on: July 31, 2019, 11:41:29 pm »

Here are some photos of the car internals mounted in the boat. As I was not sure how long the stuff would be in there, I used hot glue for fixing stuff in place. Heated on end of a kebab stick, it is quick, can be moved a bit before it sets and copes with odd shapes well, and picks off easily if you change your mind. Anyway, I used gears from another donor car, which turned the direction of the motor to what was required for my prop, and also shortened my drivetrain. I show the gearbox of my capri, beside the hot glue encased one in the boat, to show its actual shape.
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Andy M

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Re: 23cm cabin cruiser
« Reply #20 on: August 01, 2019, 12:00:06 am »

Here is the car I used for both my mini race cars and the cabin cruiser. It is a Wltoys L939. It has proportional throttle on each of 5 speed levels, selected by a switch on top, going up one speed each time it is pressed or you can have full power allthe time if you select it on switch under power switch. As standard, the cars are fast and roll over easily, once converted to race car, I have never seen one roll over. On my track, we can really only use the first speed range, any more and they wheelspin everywhere. Using them on the first setting and at racing speed, we get about 20 mins, I have regularly had 24 minute runs. All this from a 100mah  3.7v battery!  The transmitter has a charging plug for the car, under a flap on the bottom.  One final thing on the transmitter,  it has a knob for steering adjustment.  I have seen some adverts that say L939, but are actually its non proportional, bang bang steering brother, the L929, its transmitter does not have the adjustment knob. If you buy one and it doesnt have the knob, its the wrong one. I know because my friend and I bought one each at the same time, not noticing. Ah well. Anyway back to the car. Removing the body reveals four screws to remove, 2 on bumper first, then servo cover. My phone maxed out on memory so I will put next set of stripdown photos on tomorrow.
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Andy M

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Re: 23cm cabin cruiser
« Reply #21 on: August 01, 2019, 04:37:07 pm »

As promised, here are the rest of the car stripdown photos. Next is to remove 2 screws at the back of the radio cover, and one under where the servo sat. I have shown a picture of the steering centering spring, although the car servo is proportional, it still has this spring, to assist centering maybe, dont know. This spring leaps out when you are not looking and loses itself, also be ready to lift off the 2 rear suspension springs as well. The battery is stuck to underside of radio board, 3.7v 100mah, I will report on battery life as a boat in due course. There is a charging socket, accomplished with usb or transmitter, usb charger comes with the car, and a set of cones for practice driving, they are between £15-20 and have provided me with some of the best rc car fun I have had. I am confident it will work well in my little cruiser. I have put on a photo of it with its new engine cover (steering servo cover) still a lot to do but got first 2 coats of paint on my hull yesterday and today. Hopefully have all my paint and detailing done by next week, our local river is too wild just now anyway after flash floods yesterday.
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Andy M

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Re: 23cm cabin cruiser
« Reply #22 on: August 09, 2019, 06:00:45 pm »

Progress so far. 3 coats yellow enamel on the hull, leftover from my full size boat projects, 2 coats matt varnish on topsides and unsure about adding more yellow, or a different colour? Or none. I find that sometimes the hardest bit of a project is choosing a colour scheme to suit the model unless it is a scale ship/boat/vessel where the colour scheme is a definate. I stumbled into difficulties with this as well, when vessels had different colour schemes throughout their careers.
Anyway, back to the little cruiser, I tested it earlier in the bath, floats pretty much on the chine line, its pretty light. Next was to try motor, speed one, moves ok, quite slow though, next speed, slightly better, tried next speeds till I got to speed 5 (which with the original wltoys l939 is about 15mph) it was slower than I had hoped but still what I would call brisk, certainly not at planing speed but not too far away, maybe a prop fettle, its a bit basic looking. I restricted myself a bit for prop choice by making the propshaft angle as shallow as I could get with that prop. Could always fabricate a nice brass x type racing prop at some point. Will try it in open water soon. I would say that overall, the car motor, battery,receiver board, transmitter and servo are amazing value as a radio for small boat projects. I imagine it would power a battleship or similar of about 24 inches. I think it would go fast in my next project, an even smaller build. The cruiser is pretty wide really. Something narrower should be faster. I would say that this setup is the cheapest way of radio controlling a model boat.
I might manage to design a smaller boat to use this gear, it looked lost in even the 23cm cruiser. A smaller one is next.
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Andy M

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Re: 23cm cabin cruiser
« Reply #23 on: August 12, 2019, 04:05:51 pm »

A small update on the cruiser, I heated the blades and gave them more pitch, this has made a noticeable difference, I also reduced the height of the rudder, it extended to 12 mm or so below the prop, causing more drag than it needs to. I have still to see what difference this makes, probably more than adjusting the prop, all helps tho. Will report back after testing, our local river is close to bursting its banks so not good for a 9 inch boat.
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DaveM

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Re: 23cm cabin cruiser
« Reply #24 on: August 12, 2019, 05:19:47 pm »

I would say that this setup is the cheapest way of radio controlling a model boat.

Nope. Grandson #4 (age 6) has it cracked. It's £Nil. How?
  • Tell your Mum that you'd like your own boat so that you can go sailing with Grandad.
  • Mum tells Grandad.
  • Graupner Pollux 2 + Planet 2+2 radio + MTroniks 10A Micro ESC immediately purchased from Gradad's hobby fund...
It's easy when you've got eyes as wide as saucers and a smile that would melt a heart of granite.
Dave M


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