The Happy Hunter

[Guest]

Looking forward to this. I was going to buy one before it was pulled by the makers. Its a great kit and I am sure that you will bring your whole game when you get started on her.

Ian M

Ill hold no punches on this one Ian. Im here to enjoy and entertain. Hope you all will like it.

Cheers

Andy

[Guest]

Just love the diversity on this forum. Looking forward to seeing this come together.

Glad you are with me on this one Graham. Its been a while since ive seen you around until the last few days. Ive always admired your work and your input. I do feel sometimes that im a fish out of water on here due to the scale difference.

Cheers

Andy

[Guest]

just shift over a little bit ....... I've got popcorn and coffee come on then Andy .... let the show begin

No fighting you lot. You will all find your names on the back of the seats. Ive reserved them all for my pals.

Andy

[papa 695]

I'm glad you have started this Andy and i would like a full blow by blow build please. I have this to do [ATTACH]53460.vB[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]53461.vB[/ATTACH]

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[Guest]

Thats what you call a kit Papa. Lets get to is mate.

Cheers

Andy

[Guest]

Looking forward to this one Andy, you certainly will have your hands full. Cheers Derk

[Guest]

Thamks Derek. Hope it turns out as good as yours did.

Cheers

Andy

[Guest]

Time has come to make a proper start on this thing, and the first order is to cut out the hull properly. The thing i hate about vaccume formed parts are the cutting out. The precision of the cut line is never precise and do you cut on the line or just to it. I have learnt that it is best to cut to the line, if you need to you can always sand down to the joints after. Better to take off than to try to fill in.

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When doing this its best not to get carried away with the Dremel Saw blade. I cut as close as i was comfetable and then sanded a little closer with the Dremel sand drum and then finished of with the old Permagrit tools.

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Result before final finishing

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Looks a bit rough i know but with a little work and slow progress the result is great

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There are a couple of areas that are required to leave at least 1.5mm over for now. These are the 2 little nibs on the sides and the complete stearn rear wall. Always pays to read through the instructions twice before starting each section so that nothing is overlooked.

Cheers

Andy

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[Guest]

Next part of the build is to shape and insert the rudder support that is glued into place using CA.

The Tools

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This complete its time to do a little cutting and drilling, 3mm x 51mm slots are required to take the rudders and props assembley. 3mm isnt a lot of width and using a dremel is the only way but got to make sure that these are spot on and no marging for slips. As this is below the water line i need to make everything a tight fit.

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With these cut and drilled we need to cut out the bow thruster. For this i used the cone cutter to open up the hole as much as i dared and then sanded to the line using the dremel drum sander.

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With all of this cut out using extreme care no to make any errors i decided to call it a night and get back to my shakey self lol. Phew it was like performing open heart surgery.

Cheers

Andy

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[Guest]

Scaring me and I am no where near it lol. Great start Andy, not the stage to go wrong is it!!!!!!!!

[Guest]

Scaring me and I am no where near it lol. Great start Andy, not the stage to go wrong is it!!!!!!!!

Thanks Graham. It is a little nerve racking i must admit. Errors above the waterline can be made right but a load of slack here would be a nightmare. The thing that i feared most was the dremel running away and cutting along the hull and there was also the fear of hitting the hull with the dremel while your trying to juggle with it in one hand and a running dremel in the other. A few near misses i can tell you. :shoot:

Cheers

Andy

[Guest]

Tonight session includes the dry fitting of the props etc. even though last nights precision work was spot on i still needed to do some sanding and trimming.

Here is the layout that includes the Brass Props as an optional extra. Thought this would give a better look to the model.

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Next was to pop out the parts and glue together the Speed Controller tray.

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While the CA is cureing i started the dry fit of the shafts and props. This was the fiddley bit trying to get the props to spin without binding so thats where the sanding and trimming came in to make sure everything lined up correctly. This took a little time to get right and needs to be perfect so as not to load the motors when running.

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As this was a slow process i didnt progress much and have a lot more to do on this section as yet. This will come tomorrow.

Cheers

Andy

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[Guest]

Andy just catching up with this thread ,and I'm drawn in already! Looking forward to the next update!

[Guest]

well there's been a few sharp intakes of breath this end when you've explained what "could" go wrong .....

Looking good so far though and it's coming together at a decent rate (in as much as i think anyway) .... might have to have an intermission so i can get some more popcorn ... it seems to be dissappearing at a rapid rate ... then again i am sitting next to Ron

[Guest]

Thanks guys. Tonights installation was to install the drive motors. Firstly, locate the motor mounting plate and side supports and dry assemble.

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Next was a little wiring and soldering. Had to check that the motors were counter rotating so a little heat shrink was applied to the right motor, i didnt want to unsolder the leads again as you can see it would have upset the 100 micro-fahrahd and 45 micro-fahrad capacitors that also had to be fitted.

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Next was to fit the motors dry into the hull and check the alignment. Still a tricky little job but its hard now to tell if there is any binding as the motors themself had a little juddery resistance.

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These will be uncoupled and slid back as i still have to drill a 3mm hole in the tubes and solder on the lubricating upright tubes, to do this i have to remove the shafts again. This will be tomorrows project.

Cheers

Andy

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