Hi!! So...this morning I took the PT to my local test pond, conveniently located on our Church’s property. I looks as if I have the ballast about right, although with a 7 cell pack she rides a bit too bow high, but perfect on a 6 cell. Turns sharply to port, not quite so much to starboard, you have to be a little more careful with rudder and power than to port...but, quite acceptable😀 However, I could only do tests close in for a short period of time as I lost all range about 70 feet from the bank...and to make matters worse, the wind took her under the fountain 😱. She stayed dry enough for me to walk around the pond and picker back up in range and “walk” her back. I decided I had enough, upon inspection the receiver was relatively dry in spit if the fountain bath. I concluded that I was just going to try another receiver, as I uninstalled the rx I tugged on the antenna slightly and it came right out!! I’ve concluded that I had a sketchy intermittent signal the whole time. The receiver in question is a FlySky GR3C bound to a Radiomaster 16S multi-protocol transmitter. I’ve had no problems with another of these receivers mounted in my PBR. Anyway, I have other receivers to use, but I found a waterproof version of the same receiver for 14.00 shipped from Amazon, so that’s what’s going back in the PT. I will get that installed and do a proper range check and another pond test, once I’m satisfied with the range I can finalize my trim, but in spite of all the drama Saturday I fell that I have made progress in that regard. I’ll update as soon as I can.
Thanks for all the help and comments, especially concerning PT boats turning radius both full size and scale. It’s been a big help👍
Cash

Oh..forgot to add that I can throw the rudder side to side, and she’ll rock side to side never changing course. Think I’m too light...( the boat, not me🤣)

Hi y’all. I’ve been a bit busy with inventory so I’ll keep this brief. I maidened the Higgins this past Sunday, ran into 2 issues. One, she was way too light, which resulted in a hard to handle and trim boat. She weighed in at 4 pounds 2 ounces, thought I could run her at that weight but she was squirrelly, would turn to port okay, but right was shaky, and at one point instead of turning right she dug her bow in and and continued straight with a 40 degree list🤔. What little water that got in the hull was from one of those escapades, and that she’d light on another problem. I had the receiver in the right rear corner of the hull, but low, as I wanted to make sure the servo wiring wouldn’t be fouled by the rudder tiller. Sure enough, when she rolled hard right that tablespoon of water would collect there and get the receiver just wet enough to be intermittent. By the time I would get pushed in the receiver would dry out enough to regain control. My buddy Fred used his Vacuboat Vacutow and pushed me in 3 times!! I thinks he’s sending me a bill for salvage🤣🤣 Anyway, I’ve made a few changes in the servo/esc leads routing, moved the rx higher up in the hull and sprayed it down with corrosionX. I’ve also ballasted her to 5 pounds. We’ll see how she does.
Cash

Hi y’all. Paints done, guns are up and radios installed. She’s ready to run as is. I have a few more details to do but I’m going to wait till the maidens done and I have her sorted out. Might be this coming Sunday, or the next. She’s at 4 pounds 2 ounces, a little light but I’ll take some extra ballast with me.
Cash

Just a quick pic of the paint scheme on my PT. I started with a flat olive green and flat green, but they were a little too close in shade, so I took the flat green, added a bit of bright green and yellow, and shot some of the camo in that. I’ll add some black and details next.

Hi y’all. The winter storm we had apparently put our dealership behind, so it has been decreed from on high that we are working Sunday😠 sine the dealership was without power the first of the week, I did my best to keep the house, the girls and the cats warm. My wife agreed that today was a “daddy” day, so I took advantage and got some more done on the PT.
The aft Oerlikon gun is built up from metal castings and brass wire and tube. Only real spot that was really challenging was soldering on the shoulder supports so that they lined up. There’s supposed to be a cast metal crank handle for the gun, but my kit had 2 ships wheels, so I modified one into a crank. I added 2 screws to help hold the assembly in place on the hatch, got the holes a little too close to the base so the scre heads wouldn’t sit quite flush, so I Coates them with a little thick ca...I’ll add a little filler later and call it a rough weld😂
I also soldered up the aft guard that sits just fwd of the gun, and built up the ammo boxes using legos instead of the pine blocks that comes in the kit...just because I could.😀
A couple of stanchions, the smoke generator and a few cleats and she’s ready for paint!!
Cash

Got a bit more done before the storm hit. I did the vents and gas caps, the fwd vents are used as is, the rearwar are lengthened with a bit of plastic tube and supported by a dowel glued inside..it extends from the tube about 1/4 inch and is glued into holes drilled in the deck. I did a dry fit of the cabin and torpedoes to see how she’s going to look.rear gun and few other details and it’s time for paint!!

Hi y’all. It’s been a bit, but I’m still plugging away. Between work, life and the weather I’ve been a bit too tired to do much, and as of now we are looking at 3-8 inches of snow, freezing drizzle and lows tomorrow in the single digits...which means my little ceramic space heater is doing good to take the edge off the chill in the garage. However, I’ve been able to make and install the hatches on the PT. These are simple parts made up of 1 and 2 mm abs and pvc sheet, handles are brass wire and the hinges are cut and sanded 1x4 mm strip abs. I have them built up and installed. I also built up a floor for radio and battery install.
Cash

🤕I had a bit of time this morning so I did More work on the torpedo tubes. I’ll keep it short, but I added the mounts, clamps and details, and started the manifolds, and got 1 tube assembled. The aft of the tube has a plate to which 8 pieces of plastic rod are glued to. These are cut to 1/4 inch, I found it stair to cut a little long and trim in situ after the glue had dried hard. I think I may have found another error, however. There is a wood “clamp” that is glued to the tube and mount, it wraps over the tube. The plans and instructions call for it to be glued to the aft mount. In the RCGroups build log, I noticed the builder glued it to the front mount as this makes it easier to mount the manifold. I had already mounted the clamps as per the plans and instructions, so it is what it is. I did relive a spot on the clamp so the manifold would sit on the tube properly.
Cash

So...today was my birthday..I turned 60. I’m officially older than dirt. I splurged a bit, had saved up a bit and bought a new kit and radio, plus took the day off. I went out this morning, paid my property taxes👎😭, went to the grocery store, and then about 11 am set about to build the torpedo tubes. The tubes are built up from hardwood dowels that are just shy of an inch in diameter, some sticky back paper, die cut parts and assorted smaller bits. The first thing done is to shorten the dowels to the proper length. Then, the sticky back paper is cut in varying widths for the tube straps, then the mounts are built. Not really that hard just slow tedious work. I got all 4 tubes cut and strapped, and built all 8 mounts and called it a day. There’s a bit more to do, plus there’s 4 thin ply parts that wrap over the top of the tubes. It’s suggested to soak them in water and then wrap around the tube, or something similar and let dry overnight, that way theyll be formed to fit. I used the cut off from the tube body and used zip ties to secure them as they dry? I then shut down my shop, and made myself a dinner of “Spamen”, a James May recipe from his book “Oh Cook”. I substituted Panko crumbs for the crushed cornflakes, made the spam, ramen, and tossed the ramen with stir fried bok choy and onions. It was good!!
Cash