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I have built a few of Vics plans and found them very easy to construct. He does build them a bit heavy an underpowered but.....they are solid and safe.......Starlet, Hydro bat, Scudder And currently got the Zing Ray under construction. The Starlet is a dream to sail. Hydro bat very fast and very responsive to water rudder input. A favourite with the grand kids. Scudder looks quite weird but it lives up to its name. Grandkids love this as well. Another water rudder model. If these are used in really weedy lakes the rudder will pick up some trailers so i have fitted a 3mm rod running from mid keel to lower rudder pivot point. The weeds simply slide off. The Zing Ray is a shovelnose hydroplane still under construction. The biggest source of quite a bit of discussion is the conversion from ic to electric. Using a base of 3.5cc produces 400w or about 1000grams of thrust, these models seem to work ok. And yes i am a Vic Smeedfan 🤓
Hi Martin The starlet is the only one of vics sail boats that i have built, but if she is any indication of his otjer designs she will handle a good blow and stay dry
Hello from Australia I built it years ago and converted it to a Skidoo. Went like the clappers. Build it out of Balsa not plywood as the plywood makes it a bit heavy and you need a gutsy motor to push it along. Regards Sid
Hi Guys If you use Hobbyking 3648-1450kv 35mm brushless on a 4S 5800mah Lipo, 100Amp ESC and a 2 blade 40mm prop it will go like the clappers !!! You would have to make it from plywood to take 1600Watts(about 2HP @ 21,000 rpm(unloaded)!!! Canabus
Speranza is a lovely boat and handles nicely but don't undepower it. Vic's Pond Skater is a good flyer and can be converted to leccy and rc. I put a half circle of piano wire across the tips of the front float as a buffer in case of striking an obstacle. My motive power Was 1.5 diesel a prop cut down from a heavy nylon 9" one so just clears the hull/frame . Free running was loads of fun. Air rudder not water. If it is sluggish and won't plane increase the downthrust. The opposite of what you might expect. Regards John Pond Skater can be found on Web Google Vic Smeed Model boat plans. BTW an original thread can be found on here with the title Scudder👍
I find in web not one photo of a model. She is nearly 1 meter long and become 2x brushless from me Speranza is a scale model of a fast motor yacht from Renato "Sonny " Levi
Hi Dampfgerd, Hast du nie vom 'Classic British understatement' gehört. So ein Ausdrucksweise in Englisch ist eigentlich höchste Lob! Ich weiß, Englisch ist schwierig! Aber mindestens bei uns ist DAS Mädchen immer noch weiblich 😁 Alles Gute, Grüß aus München, Doug
Young at heart - slightly older in other places 😉 Cheers Doug
28th Jul 2018 10:56
