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I’ve had a few enquiries about drawings or plans for this boat, and the answer is that there are none. It wasn’t drawn or planned at any stage.
I’m interested in a particular airboat project, which is on-going but is being done when it fits. A twin engine affair you can see some stuff on in my videos. The final boat was always to be made using glass over foam, but I’ve never done it. So the point of this little craft was to get to know what can be done with a hand shaped foam core from insulating material.
It was never intended to be finished and run. The only design consideration was to include shapes, and materials, I’d find on the final twin engined model. Carbon fibre was always on the cards and this was the first time I’d worked it from the inside out, coupled with new things to me like compression moulds such as was used on the wing once I’d decided to run it. So from the start I just made the shapes using a little foam I had and ‘designed’ it in the hands at it where.
As time went by and I had a small boat now it seemed too good an opportunity to pass up to see if the thing would actually work. With no provision for radio gear I opted to fit it on the underside with a taped cover allowing the cavity to be hollowed out without trashing the topsides. I figured that many electrics use taped covers in very wet and aggressive conditions, so maybe it could stand light immersion. As it turned out it’s been no problem, but it’s not something I’ll do again simply for impact risk.
I’d fitted engine fixing beams and a carbon stiffener to the rear deck to check out the strength of such an arrangement. So all that remained was to make up an engine pylon for a really old Thunder Tiger in aluminium and sort some steerage out.
A turn fin was made for the left sponson first off, but that was soon replaced with a trim tab following initial trials where torque roll showed itself. The rudder, turn fin, trim tab assemblies are all custom, and the engine cowling is a shampoo bottle. The fuel tank is suspended and remote filled, and a remote glow plug setup made the inverted engine thing no problem.
The wing is adjustable, but I set it to a perceived neutral position and have not moved it. The end plates are shaped to make it look like downforce is being applied.
The most enjoyable bit for me is always the painting. All of the graphics on this boat are paint, no decals, everything through airbrush masking film. 2 pack finishes are tough and it still looks the same today.
The model is still fully functional and is brought out every now and then. It likes millpond conditions so chances are few, but I’m happy with it being in the den on a shelf most times :-)
So this video is a string of stills I took for the sake of reporting the progress on a Forum. There are gaps, but it’s mostly there. If you stick it out well done, and thanks for watching :-)
