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[derekwarner]

That ..."green Triumph Dolomite 1850"  from memory was an attractive gloss version of Army Green......

Would give a visual appearance of a slightly smaller hull, maybe best with white contrasting trim surfaces?

Being Australian, Green & Gold are our National colours [Wattle]......but sometimes overdone......

Don't get me wrong, proud First Fleet Convict Patriot & love the Australian Olyimpic colours , but not for Airline staff or Burger Shop uniforms

Derek

[Stuw]

Hi Derek,


Your knowledge of green is broad ranging! The green that I used in 1994 wasn’t the Triumph green (possibly a Humbrol mini rattle can) and worked well with the yellow in my humble opinion. It was only for the stripe and arrow pattern.


I won’t be going green or yellow this time....


I quite liked it on my old Dolomite (it was an old car when I got it as my second car after my 72 Beetle). It had gold trim lines. I spent many hours keeping it on the road until filler needed to be replaced with metal and I gave up! That’s when you could tinker under the bonnet without any computers getting in the way!

[Stuw]

Productive weekend for once! Nothing bonded yet but made the meaty LIPO tray and ribs, servo and ESC tray for aft. Used some threaded brass inserts for the first time. Worked very well.

[zooma]

That looks like a good strong heavy duty piece of workmanship there Stuw.


I don't see much escaping without your express permission from that solid cluster of fittings! 


Absolutely perfect - good job - well done!

[Stuw]

Indeed! Might slow it down, but as long as it all stays in one “old” piece I will be happy. As it’s all removable bar the bracing ribs and supports, I can always lean down the thicknesses of ply! yes those are 12mm sections between the cells. All cut by my (sore) hands with a coping saw. Took a while but a good workout!


Due to my rudder being further aft, I have got just enough room to fit ESC and servo (yet to cut out the slot for it) together in the aft section.


I took some inspiration for My LIPO tray from yours Bob as it looks the part. I decided to taper the sides to allow a bit of airflow around the cells to help with cooling but I’m not sure if they will get warm as I’ve never used them before! I will add some smaller section end pieces to stop the cells moving fore and aft. I went for 3 knobs which will hold down a brace piece (not made yet). Of course I will no doubt discover that it’s easier to lose 3 little knurled knobs (they aren’t captive).

[zooma]

Indeed! Might slow it down, but as long as it all stays in one “old” piece I will be happy. As it’s all removable bar the bracing ribs and supports, I can always lean down the thicknesses of ply! yes those are 12mm sections between the cells. All cut by my (sore) hands with a coping saw. Took a while but a good workout!


Due to my rudder being further aft, I have got just enough room to fit ESC and servo (yet to cut out the slot for it) together in the aft section.


I took some inspiration for My LIPO tray from yours Bob as it looks the part. I decided to taper the sides to allow a bit of airflow around the cells to help with cooling but I’m not sure if they will get warm as I’ve never used them before! I will add some smaller section end pieces to stop the cells moving fore and aft. I went for 3 knobs which will hold down a brace piece (not made yet). Of course I will no doubt discover that it’s easier to lose 3 little knurled knobs (they aren’t captive).

Your heavyweight plywood parts probably don't weigh that much compared to the old ballast that you have now removed, and with the change to brushless and LiPo's the all up weight will probably be quite a bit less than it was with the ic engine, silencer, and fuel tank etc, and with more power it should be faster than it was before.

My LiPo trays have no built-in air flow feature but they seldom get warm in Rapier1 and I fit a small Velcro pad at each end of the cells to stop them moving about inside the boat.

I really like those red anodised RJX helicopter canopy fasteners, they are very lightweight and look the part too! My LiPo tray "strap" only has one central red anodised threaded fastener on it  - so it is only one third  as colourful as yours

Rapier1 has the ESC "mid-ships" so that I don't have to lengthen any of the wires to the motor or to the LiPo cells, but I may end-up moving it as I experiment with the weight distribution inside the hull, so that could change. My plan (at the moment) is to repeat this layout in the Javelin.........or get as close to it as is practically possible.

I have started to make a new rear hatch for the Javelin in the hope that I may be able to make one with a better fit than the one that came with the boat, but it will not be finished to the same level (with the professionally lacquered paintwork) that the previous owner applied to the hatches.

[Stuw]

Here are some pics of old versus new power. I still have the original I.C. motor with adapted water cooled head that I fashioned.


I was actually surprised to find the motor weighs a few grams less than my brushless. But it is a bit of a beast inrunner 1900kV! I imagine yours are lighter Bob?!

[zooma]

Thats interesting Stu - I think we all assume that our brushless motors will be lighter than our old glow engines - but that is not so in your case - even though you have included the water-cooled motor mount on the brushless motor but not the motor mount for the aero-glow engine (not so easy to do) - it won't make that much difference.

My marine engines had some fairly heavy flywheels on them (I think they were chrome plated brass?) and I would be surprised if they weighed less than the out-runner motor that I am currently using, but it just goes to show that things we assume to be the case need checking carefully as they may not be what we think they are.

If you include the silencer and the associated pipework, your two power-plants may end up weighing a little closer to each other, but we still have the LiPo cells to add to the electric power systems on-board weight - but we can deduct the weight of a fuel tank and the fuel.

Nitro fuel runs out as it get burnt, and if glow engines were not quite so messy (!) all of the fuel would disappear from the boat and we would end up with an empty tank with all the fuel weight gone, but in real life a small percentage of the fuel will be spat-out and it will start to swill about inside the boat (until soaking into any wood that it can penetrate) and eventually coat it in the oily goo that we have all experienced.

The more often the glow engine powered boat runs - (in theory) the heaver the hull will become - but even an old fuel soaked hull is not likely to be able to make-up for the weight difference of a LiPo pack compared to a tank of fuel, so perhaps electric power systems naturally weigh more than i.c. power-packs?

The balance of the hull changes as fuel is burnt in an ic powered boat and the few tank level goes down, but the balance of an electric powered boat will remain constant from the start of the run to the and of the run (as long as the LiPo packs don't shift during the run!) so we have some advantages when running an electric powered boat - including comparatively "clean power"..........and more of it!

[Stuw]

It may be that my Magnum GP 40 was on the lighter side anyway as it was for air rather than water and the starter wheel seems to be Aluminium?!


Anyway it looks like my setup will have similar masses in the front.


Having done so much (for me) over the weekend, I couldn’t resist a bit more destruction! I decided to open up bulkhead B2 to get a window on the forward internal state of the hull. It looks ok up there. I shall add a 4mm thick face to it possibly leaving a hole to allow ballast / access if needed. I’ll see what happens. B2 doesn’t touch the skin very much hence my intent to add my own version aft of it to add some structural support here. Don’t know if it was my poor original construction?


Having cut the hole in B2 and turned it over I found the stamp and a pencil annotation J B2 (possibly referencing its for the Javelin?).

[zooma]

Did you whittle that out with your knife Stuw?    

I saw the top picture first and thought you were going to have a pair of brown curtains across the opening

Chopping a hatch in that front bulkhead is something I have always been tempted to do in my restoration projects - mainly because I have no idea what could be lurking inside those hidden voids!

Keep up the good work................

[zooma]

I have made a bit more progress on my Javelin restoration.

The underside has had its first coat of red gloss paint on it and its small "fruit box style" stand also received a coat of the same red paint.

The original front and rear hatch covers were beautifully painted in yellow and look like they have been clear epoxy coated - a beautiful finish that I could never hope to match, but I pulled the decals off and abraded the surface ready for a colour change when I noticed that they did not fit in the way that I would like them to, so I have started to make a new rear hatch cover and will no doubt make a new front cover too, but I have this original pair that I can use when I am testing the hull if my replacements are not ready in time (or if I don't make a very good job of them!).

I think I will be fitting the motor, LiPo tray, rear steering servo mount and ESC tray next so I can continue to fit-out the boat as I get some paint on the outside.

[Stuw]

Good progress Bob! My hatches didn’t fit well enough either so I will be making new ones although I took the original ones apart. I may just need a new skin on top as the bases are ok. Reuse the original good quality plywood.


I will try to get back to mine later in the week/weekend. Once I get my second motor brace cut down I can start to sort out the alignment and go from there. Need to remove paint from the sides and a bit more off the top. Oh yes and get the strakes on! And rudder and cooling input and outputs. Basically I’ve got LOADS to get on with...still. 

[Stuw]

Did you whittle that out with your knife Stuw?    

I saw the top picture first and thought you were going to have a pair of brown curtains across the opening

Chopping a hatch in that front bulkhead is something I have always been tempted to do in my restoration projects - mainly because I have no idea what could be lurking inside those hidden voids!

Keep up the good work................

I resorted to powered multi tool which worked well after I had drilled a couple of messy holes in it for an initial look. I discovered that I’d sealed some polystyrene loose in there!

[zooma]

I resorted to powered multi tool which worked well after I had drilled a couple of messy holes in it for an initial look. I discovered that I’d sealed some polystyrene loose in there!

Multi-tools are really handy bits of kit...........its a shame that my Makita is so chunky and heavy - the mains lead is thicker than the power cable that connects our home to the national grid!


When we were digging-out the drive to replace the worn tarmac, we actually dug-up the main power supply cable to our house - and the lead on the Makita multi-tool was genuinely thicker!

A small rechargeable version would be very useful and could easily become a very well used power tool.

[zooma]

This was a duplicated copy of the pervious comment that has been made by mistake (not sure how) but I am off to the shed now to make a start on a replacement rear  hatch cover.

[Stuw]

It was a tight squeeze getting my cordless Bosch 10.8 Li in there. I only managed it as I was able to push it horizontally through bulkhead B3 as that had a nice large opening already from when the fuel tank resided in the midsection and the floor above it wasn’t removable.


Useful tool for some hard to access DIY but very noisy for what it does!

[SteamboatPhil]

Good  (I and I do mean good---ie no well know German shop outlets ) Flexidrive for Dremel  multi tools is a must in my humble opinion, brilliant piece of kit 

[tonyH]

3" brush in the bodyshop.........!

[zooma]

The pandemic and the various lock-downs and self-isolating periods has made changes to our lifestyle for all of us, and one of them has been the need to have the supermarket shopping delivered each week.

........and this in turn has meant that the opportunity to pick-up the occasional fruit box (to use as a temporary support for any new build or restoration project) has not been so easy to acquire.

The solution is to use the well tried and tested design of the classic fruit box shape and (more or less) copy it.

To be honest I have been making "fruit box" shaped stands for my model boats ever since I started making them back in the early 1960s as I find this simple basic shape to be very practical and ideal for my needs.

The low shape is easy to transport in the car, stable when supporting a powerboat, and also allows some "oddments" (such as a small tool or spare props etc) to be carried under the boat inside the stand - and this can reduce the number of trips from the car to the waters edge.

I have made a lot of these fruit box style of stands over the years (one for every boat) and I have usually been able to make them from scrap or re-claimed wood so the cost is as high as the skill needed to made them!

[canabus]

Hello Tony and Zooma


The boat is looking great and is going to be a beast on the water .


The boat stand is about the same style that I use, but I use 19mm door stoppers.


I change to 4mm stick on strips for the vee sections because I had to replace the sanding pad on my sander.


I had a lot for pieces left over and do not require nine spare pads as I only replaced the first pad after 30 years !!!


Canabus

[Stuw]

Original 1990s fruitbox back in the day. I shall make a proper wooden stand for the Javelin this time...


That’s when the paint scheme was newly applied.

[tonyH]

A better lid.......possibly in the pink?

[zooma]

The pictures show the rear hatch cover being made.  I clamped the formers to the bulkheads in the boat as the glue holding them to the base plate was drying.(picture 3).

The Javelins angled rear deck gave the front former quite a steep angle away from the usual 90 degrees so I thought the easiest/best way to get this right would be to let the joint dry whilst it was clamped in situ. I used masking tape as a "hinge" to hold the parts together until they were set.

After the joints had dried, I cut a centre spar and a pair of sides to fit and help keep the angled front former in place.(picture 1).

A one piece 1.5mm plywood skin was cut to shape and formed over this structure to make the cover and this was held in place to dry with as many small clamps as I could find until the aliphatic glue had set.(not pictured).

Also shown is the start of a new front hatch cover.(picture 2).  The front and rear formers are already glued in place on the baseplate and I will make a central spar and some sides for it tonight so I can glue a ply skin over it as soon as they are secure.

The hull has also gained its first layer of undercoat to the deck and hull sides - the underside has already had its first coat of red gloss following two coats of pink undercoat.

[Stuw]

Nice work Bob. 


I’ve had some progress this afternoon, but it was a case of two steps forward.....


I’ve managed to sort out the motor mount and rough alignment with the propeller shaft ready for bonding in. I had purchased a rigid coupling to help align before switching to the flexible one. However my fixed coupling isn’t straight! Ie holes at each end aren’t centred, so it’s of no use at all 


I am eyeballing it instead     Connected all the electrics up and got my son to pull the trigger whilst I held motor and prop tube in place. Wow it’s going to be fast! I think....


On the down side my Javelin took a tumble and landed nose first on the carpet! Broken off the rubbing strip!     Any good ideas on how to fix this effectively?


I’m thinking I’ll need to remove a reasonable section and replace it. A bit annoying as the strip was in good shape!


Never mind... shouldn’t have propped it up where I did.  Little voice in my head said it wasn’t the best idea!

[zooma]

Your motor plate and mounting system make mine look positively puny  - really heavy section and well executed.

Regarding the rubbing strip damage at the bows - I have had the same problem to fix on my Javelin and Rapier2 - they both came with similar damage and is also the sort of typical damage that you may experience in the future if you get to use your Javelin every week and suffer a similar bump.

Cutting the broken length of wood back to a solid piece at 90 degrees, but also at an angle (going inwards) will double the surface area for the bond joint rather than having a straight butt joint.

If you are using aliphatic for this, the water content also helps the wood to comply with the slight bending and again the angled joint gives a more secure anchor for this stage of the operation,

If you pre-drill the position for your brass nails (using a drill smaller than the nail shaft) it will help to prevent any splitting towards either end of the wood as the nail will help to keep the new wood in place as the glue dries.

Chop off the head of the nails when they are about  3/4's  in and then drive the shaft in flat to the surface.  The end of the shaft may well clinch over slightly and this will also help to retain it.  If you leave the nails heads on, they have a nasty habit of creeping back out in future years and becoming an eyesore.

 Sadly most of the s/h boats that I have to work on came with brass nail heads that have not been chopped off during construction   

If the rest of the rubbing strip is dodgy - pull it all off and replace it with a fresh 1/8"  x  1/4" hardwood strip.  (I use obechie because it is easy to work with).