Hi Shipmates,
After many years I finally found one at a good price £20 plus £10 p&p on good old Ebay.
I have a load of hardware sitting around, motors rudders etc. So I decided to play about with this boat.
Generally it is considered a waste of time and money to do anything with these boats.
So I don't expect any 'Likes' on this project, its a bit of a daft thing to do.
Information about 32in long twin stepped catamaran hull, beam 9.25 inches, thin ABS plastic.
First stage.
Unpack and check, strip out all of the hardware, generally unscrew components, most difficult thing was removing the propeller shafts.
Second stage wash hull with warm soapy water (in the Bath) and remove stickers.
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I cannot wait to see what you do with this one. I have a different NQD cheappie in my shed that I am going to do a similar thing with, but I haven't started on it yet. To be honest I have just had fun with it just as it is. But I will get around to it one day.
Hi BOATSHED,
A few years ago I modified another NQD with limited success, the hull shape was poor, as the underside of the hull was curved up at the stern and it really didn't plan well. but it was my first venture with twin brushless.
Hi Shipmates,
After removing stickers and cleaning inside and out, foamed front of hull for strength and flotation.
I will need to trim the foam back once fully cured with a blade, may create a wooden former to tidy across the end of the foam.
Regards Roy
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After removing stickers and cleaning inside and out, foamed front of hull for strength and flotation.
I will need to trim the foam back once fully cured with a blade, may create a wooden former to tidy across the end of the foam.
Hi Shipmates,
Later this evening I inverted the hull and used a hot glue gun to make a better seal of the two halves deck and hull.
Note. This glue will solidify quickly it will not run into the hull, later I hope to fill the joining tray with a liquid resin.
Regards
Roy
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Later this evening I inverted the hull and used a hot glue gun to make a better seal of the two halves deck and hull.
Note. This glue will solidify quickly it will not run into the hull, later I hope to fill the joining tray with a liquid resin.
Hi Shipmates,
Cut away excess foam, (pic 1).
Then decided to foam the hatch, as this foam stuff doesn't last long in the tin once used for the first time.
As usual foam always expands more than you expect.
It looks like a Hover craft! (pic 3)
The catamaran type have a tendency to over lift at the bow, the faster you go air can lift it until it does a backward summersault landing upside down.
This happen to someone at the club and he lost his hatch for some reason! and the hatch lid sank to the bottom of the lake.
So hopefully mine will not do that.
PS These catamaran type racing boats are fair weather craft and can go fast , they are not the best in windy and choppy waters, they appear to skid round corners which is great in calm conditions, in rough water it could be exciting and disastrous at the same time.
Regards
Roy
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Cut away excess foam, (pic 1).
Then decided to foam the hatch, as this foam stuff doesn't last long in the tin once used for the first time.
As usual foam always expands more than you expect.
It looks like a Hover craft! (pic 3)
The catamaran type have a tendency to over lift at the bow, the faster you go air can lift it until it does a backward summersault landing upside down.
This happen to someone at the club and he lost his hatch for some reason! and the hatch lid sank to the bottom of the lake.
So hopefully mine will not do that.
PS These catamaran type racing boats are fair weather craft and can go fast , they are not the best in windy and choppy waters, they appear to skid round corners which is great in calm conditions, in rough water it could be exciting and disastrous at the same time.
Excellent solution Roy (CB90).Good boy.
If the volume of the expanded foam exceeds the submerged volume of your motorboat you can rest assured that it will not sink.
Finished foaming the hatch, and the hatch still fits, once the foam distorted the plastic on another NDQ boat.
I then created a template of the transom, and cut out a forma to reinforce the stern and add the original plastic reinforcement as well via two screws in the stern.
Regards
Roy
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Finished foaming the hatch, and the hatch still fits, once the foam distorted the plastic on another NDQ boat.
I then created a template of the transom, and cut out a forma to reinforce the stern and add the original plastic reinforcement as well via two screws in the stern.
Hi Shipmates,
And now for something completely different.
I had a brain wave and thought I would add water cooling to a couple of cheap brushless ESCs that have been in my bits and bobs box. along with some spares for my FT011.
In my computer box I had some heat transfer tape from a NVME SSD.
So my ESCs had an internal heat sink, that was covered with heat shrink (black rubber material) I cut a rectangle out of it to expose the internal heat sink, then cut the thermal tape / putty to size and added the water cooling unit.
Held them together with some pegs and used my hot glue gun to seal them together, and also the wire ends in an attempt to make the whole thing water resistant.
Need to fill the bolt holes in the heat sink with hot glue.
Regards Roy
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I had a brain wave and thought I would add water cooling to a couple of cheap brushless ESCs that have been in my bits and bobs box. along with some spares for my FT011.
In my computer box I had some heat transfer tape from a NVME SSD.
So my ESCs had an internal heat sink, that was covered with heat shrink (black rubber material) I cut a rectangle out of it to expose the internal heat sink, then cut the thermal tape / putty to size and added the water cooling unit.
Held them together with some pegs and used my hot glue gun to seal them together, and also the wire ends in an attempt to make the whole thing water resistant.
Need to fill the bolt holes in the heat sink with hot glue.
Hi Shipmates,
Some bits of hardware old and new,
New 2 flexi shafts (CW & CCW) and rudders also a large servo arm.
Old motors (2860- 2730kv) and water cooling jackets and 20kg servo.
(The rudders from my bit box where a bit too short and only had one water outlet).
OMG I'm a compulsive hardware buyer (All because my parents didn't bye me mecchano, I had LEGO instead).
Regards
Roy
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Hi Shipmates.
I have been on Holiday, when I return I found that the foam had distorted part of the bow and now I have a lot of work to sort it out.
Putting that out my mind I continued by fitting the motors with their mounts, then used epoxy resin to strengthen the join of the hull and deck.
Next cut away the rear to accommodate the twin rudders, and added pads to the transom to mount them.
Then covered the mounting screws for the motors mounts with 0.4 mm ply. This will give a flatter and squarer surface underneath when finished.
That's it so far!
Regards Roy
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I don't know what type of foam you have been using. Some will exert pressure and distort where it is applied. Looks like this is what you have. (My first model boat has an extremely high cambered deck with splits do to me using this type of foam.)
Your hull looks to be vacuum formed ABS (basically styrene). The first thing I would do is remove the foam wherever is has caused distortion. Next re-check the hull. If distortion still exists, you will have to reform the hull. You will probably need to build a jig to force the hull back into shape you want then carefully apply heat (heat gun). (This is how the hull was made in the first place.)
Remove from jig. If did not go all the way back to normal you might need to over compensate holding the hull to allow some "spring back" and try heating again.
Tip: "Window and Door foam" does not exert pressure. Prevents windows and doors from distorting.
Thanks Lew and Alessandro,
Your both right about it being dangerous stuff, I think you should use small amounts at a time let it expand and dry about 3 days then do a bit more.
The stuff I used was called straw.
Hi Shipmates,
After nearly 4 weeks after foaming I drilled the distorted area, and liquid foam appeared. (shows what pressure it had created, warmed the hull and let excess escape).
Added prop shafts (epoxy) and rudders (4 bolts each).
More filling and sanding to square up the hulls underside, curved edges will slow the boat.
Regards Roy
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After nearly 4 weeks after foaming I drilled the distorted area, and liquid foam appeared. (shows what pressure it had created, warmed the hull and let excess escape).
Added prop shafts (epoxy) and rudders (4 bolts each).
More filling and sanding to square up the hulls underside, curved edges will slow the boat.
Thanks for the tip, funny I did that on my Watercat M12 (Jurmo Class) landing craft, because of problems with foam but I forgot why, and was impatient, cost me more time in the long run.
Hi Shipmates,
Added some reinforcement to the sides (oak strip) and added cooling fins to motor water cooler jacket which is also glued to the oak strip.
Another reinforcement that cannot be seen is in the humps ether side of the hatch area, which where very flimsy.
Also added a carbon fibre battery tray.
Regards
Roy
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Your right about the weight factor, but this hull is very thin and it would flex, I am only putting in one battery and hopefully one servo, but I decided I wanted two motors in the rails (lower COG) rather than one bigger motor in the middle.
The two rudders are for control, these will not give max speed, but will hopefully keep the bow down, as these tunnel boat have a tendency to flip and the pond I will use it on is small, so control is important.
Picture shows normal mods, keeping things simple, but note major reinforcement to set drive shaft and motor to the middle, Shaft in this position will increase drag and the larger 36mm diameter motor will raise the COG.
A few years ago I modified another NQD with limited success, the hull shape was poor, as the underside of the hull was curved up at the stern and it really didn't plan well. but it was my first venture with twin brushless.
https://model-boats.com/blogs/39797
Regards Roy