I love the James-Bondy-look of the boat. And the dark windows help with this sinister image! The functional and constructional aspects also sound like Q had a hand at the design. What a refreshing alternative to a vac-formed plastic model off the shelf - nothing against those; they also have their worshippers.
Ian

Thanks jumpugly! She turned out far better than expected and still lots to do which i'll be continuing tomorrow. Have you ever seen a spinning radar powered by a 180 size motor linked to a 12" long flexshaft? No me either though thats the plan 🤞

HH!!!! Now that is a very BadAss looking ship!!! Excellent work and adjustable ballast to boot! Gotta love it! Cheers!

Thanks Ian

Yes a small scale rc helicopter will do the trick. I already fly larger nitro helicopters so that will help.

The plan is to take off from deck with a camera filming it from the stern.

I'll then land by the side of the pond and attach two small strips of metal to the skids. The helipad has magnets under it so when I line up and touch the deck when landing it will grab it to stop it slipping off when the main rotors are spoiling down.

All that I wrote is the plan 😂. Either way it'll be filmed and either way it'll be posted

Well done. Now we are looking to add "flying machines" to our models. That will be a new challenge. Looking forward to checking out videos when you complete.

Yes only for the bow tank and then on the way back down emptied that and started filling the stern tank. Today was the first time on any water and glad to say no additional ballast to get her sitting right. I had carefully positioned everything in the hull for perfect balance. My new favourite boat 😊

In the video during the sail up wind, the vessel was taking on ballast?

Hi Ronald the maximum capacity of both tanks is 1 litre. During the video going into the wind I ran them till the first tank was full in the bow. I have two breather outlets on the side and once the first tank is full it'll sputter some water out there to let me know. The second will do the same thing when full. The hull will drop up to an inch deeper in the stern and an inch and a half in the bow.

How much water intake was added to the ballast during this maiden test by the onboard pumps?

A perfect though breezy day for a maiden. Viper shares the same hull as the Iron Executioner though is built from carbon fibre PLA and coated in epoxy resin.

She has working ballast tanks and pumps allowing adjustment of hull depth in the water to help on windy days like today.

Powered by twin 545 brushed motors running through Caldercraft ball raced shafts and spinning 5 blade 40mm props.

Independent 80amp esc's and an independent rudder connected to a gyro.

2 fixed stability and tracking fins.

Next will be lighting along with the helipad being fitted and an rc helicopter (MD500) to sit on the stern.

Power is supplied by a 3s 5200mah 80c lipo though today through in a 3s 2250mah for the maiden.

Has ample power and at full throttle pulls 18amp respectively from both sides.

Cuts through the chop like its not there and very well mannered.

Took 3 weeks from design to the maiden though was literally 3 weeks of up to 16 hours per day working on her alongside her sister ship.

Now time to get soldering and get the lighting sorted