She sat in the tub with some ballast for a good hour and a half-no leaks!! Not a drop. now I can go forward...after I figure out what paints I need to order.
Cash

Hi Ronald. To my knowledge, or at least in my experience, neither ca nor epoxy has any ill effects on styrene, as they don’t melt plastic together like plastic cement does. Now, if your talking about heat developing during curing, and that can be mitigated to a degree, depend on fillers used and how much one uses, and how much accelerator. The styrene used for the hull is pretty thick, so it would have to get very hot to affect it.
As far as the portholes go, I’ll do what I did on my Vosper, which has some portholes in the hull. I’ll glue in the portholes with plastic cement or canopy glue, then I’ll glue a piece of the thin clear plastic that covers say, one bank of portholes, wide enough to get a solid joint between the plastic and the hull, making sure to not get glue on the portholes proper. That way, even if one or more of the portholes came out of the hull, that hole will still have sealed plastic around it. I try to build for reliability. My methods my seem different, but they work for me. Only time I’ve had a problem is when I try ro get something finished for the weekend, and I have a cavalier “I’ll do that after the maiden” attitude. It’s bit me twice, no more.
Cash

Hi y’all. Nothing really interesting this week, as I spent my time going over the hull and making sure that the hull is as leakproof as I can make it. The hull was initially assembled with ca. I’ll use traditional plastic cement on smaller or non critical joints, but I feel more secure with ca. Once the hull was assembled, I recoated all joints. Then the fun began. The area just forward of the motor is covered with thin ca soaked fiberglass with a light epoxy coating over that. The joints under the tube and rudder bush are covered by the thin epoxy used to set those parts in place. I then used sheet plastic to build up a strip level with the middle side hull flange joints, then glued a strip over that to help spread the load. The whole flange from one side to the other was coated in filled epoxy. I used baking powder and thin ca to pack the bow joint, then coated that with filled epoxy. Lastly I covered the fwd hull seam with fiber glass, tacked down in the middle with thin ca, then coated with 30 minute epoxy squeegeed thru the glass and liberally coated with the remainder of the epoxy. I’m going to leak check the hull soon.
Cash

Hi y’all. I haven’t posted the video yet, but the Patriot ran well, stayed dry, and pumped a lot of water, luckily I got her maiden done before the wind hit 22 or so gusting to 35. We had some drama but all turned out well.
So, I’ve said this before, I like to keep my bench busy…building is therapy for me, and my wife lets me have 6 or so hours on the weekends and unless I’m needed for something or there’s a family emergency, about 2-3 hours a week on average. I’m going to use a lot of that time over the course of the next 3-4 months I think. Maybe more. Let me explain. About 2 Christmases ago I was searching for something for my Christmas present. Now, sometimes I give my wife a list of things I would like to have and I am pretty good about budgeting money for gifts, food, donations, etc. Also…I’m intrinsically cheap. Blame my mom. That woman could stretch a penny clean around the house…and to her credit, I don’t remember ever going without anything I needed or wanted growing up. She and my dad drilled that into my head, which I promptly forgot the first few years of adulthood. Anyway, the budget was settled. Looking thru EBay I found a new in the box Revell Flower class corvette kit. I had read of several conversions that were done, all done differently, all ran and performed well…and it’s not the Tecnic kit, which isn’t cheap…if you can find one. It was an earlier kit after Revell bought the rights to the Matchbox kit…and the price was extremely reasonable. So I got it for Christmas and it’s been in my project stash for a couple of years. Now, she’s on the bench.
This kit is pretty nice, there’s tons of parts to her, over 1000. There are things I’ll have to address going forward, like making railing from brass wire instead of plastic, what to glue down vs what’s removable, but the first thing to do is build the stand. Now, the stand provided is fine for a display model, but just a little sketchy for an rc model. The for and aft rods that connect the ends are just plastic styrene rod. I had 2 hardwood dowels and a piece of 6mm cf tubing that would work. Later on I’ll build a proper stand and cut the dowel and tubing away to put back in the wood/brass/whatever stash. But for now, it works.
The hull is a 4 piece affair, you have fwd port and starboard halves, and aft port and starboard also. Now, I built 2 sides then assembled the hull, thinking about it now it might have been a good idea to build a fore and aft section then complete the hull, as I had some minor fiddly alignment issues, but was able to resolve them fairly easily. Once that was done I added the chine rails, then decided on internals.
Hers where you have to stop and think about what you’re going to do. The aft deck has a good sized opening, maybe 10x4 or so. Not huge, but workable if you plan things out. All my equipment , running gear,etc is built into this hull with that in mind, as I’m going to make the aft house removable for aces and battery changes. Looking at the instructions this looks like a good way to go. I may have to make a compromise how the foscle and bridge connect to this, but from what I can tell this will work.
I thought I had a Fineline stuffing box but I only had a standard box in my stash, so I had to carefully drill and ream the propshaft exit to fit the box. I added a greasing tube, then scuffed the tube and the inside of the hull, then glued it in place with copious amounts of epoxy mixed with microballoons. I heated the mixture with a heat gun till it got runny, and poured it in, around and under the tube, the heating makes the epoxy runny enough to get into nooks and crannies, but it also makes it fire off quicker so you gotta be quick.
I built the rudder next. Instead of making a rudder from brass, I opted to use the kit rudder and modify it into something useable. I had a Robbe rudder tube in my parts bin, but I was out of 3mm brass stock. Luckily I remembered that I had a short 3mm steel shaft that I wasn’t using for anything. It was bent at an angle, cut to fit into the rudder halves. The shaft was centered, the angle boxed in with wood strip, then filled epoxy was laid in both halves and clamped together. Works like a champ.
I used a piece of 1 inch thick balsa, drilled to fit the rudder tube. I glued a piece of 2 mm sheet on top to prevent splitting, sanded the bottom to reasonably match the hull contour, then once lined up epoxied into place.
I decided on a 650 KV Zippkits outrunner for power. This motor is wound for tugs and workboats, and it hauls my Taucher Wulf around with no issues whatsoever..bench running I’m pulling less than 1 amp at full chat. I made up a motor mount and once jigged up I tacked down with ca, double checked motor to shaft alignment then epoxied it down. I then made up a rudder servo mount from scraps and an electronics shelf just fwd of the motor. I’m still on the bench about the receiver placement there though, as it’s awful low in the hull, and 2.4 doesn’t like being surrounded by water. That might change.
That’s where she’s at now. Next up is reinforcing the hull joints, making a battery shelf then loading the hull up with ballast to the waterline and a leak check. Then..,the real fun begins.
Cash

She’s looking good Bill. Looked good in the pool too, from what I could tell of the “cough” short video…🤣
Seriously, I’m impressed, and a little jealous. I like the way you do these boats. You just figure it out and make it come to fruition. Good job!!
Cash

Chugalone, I use an ApexRC electronic switch if I'm just running one bank of lights. Its simple to set up. I use incand😍escents, so I wire one side of however many bulbs I'm using to either a male servo connector or JST connector, then the other side of the bulbs leads to the other side of the connector. That plugs into the female connector on the switch, either straight in or using a JST adapter, then plug the switch into whatever channel has the on off switch you want to use. 6 volt bulbs are getting hit with 4.8-6plus volts from the reciever. easy peasy

Chugalone, that FSi6 will work just fine for a scale or scale type boat. 2.4 gig is legal across the board for both air and ground operations..it looks to have 20 model memory, and some good mixing and curves, that's a very good budget 6 channel transmitter, and the recievers are inexpensive.
I use a Radiomaster 16s. its more expensive, but its operating system is OpenTX (now EdgeTX). what that means, for my uses, is that I can assign any channel to any switch, slider or stick. I have something like 60 model memory, and since it has a multi-module built in, I can bind and operate about 80-85 percent of the recievers out there, no matter the model or make. That means when someone is selling say, 3-4 Spektrum recievers for cheap because he or she is upgrading, I can use those..or most Futaba, FrSky, FlySky, Orange, Joysway, Orange, etc. Im cheap-this helps😁

Hi Ronald-the water monitors work, and work well. I've built 3 boats with operating monitors..my Robbe/Krick Neptun, my Dolly, and now the Patriot. All three pull water from a pickup in the bottom of the hull. I've never ran a filter, nor do I see a need for one, as I've never had a blockage that I can remember, and in my opinion an inline filter could be another point of failure...bad filter, leaks, etc. I like keeping my systems as simple as possible, but also as easy as possible to service.
The water tank idea isn't bad, but then again, you have to watch out for leaks, you will have to fill it every time you want to have the monitors in operation, and your ballast will constantly change due to water being drawn from the tank.
Cash

Hi y’all. I spent the last few hours at the bench finishing up the Patriot. I was able to tack some tiny pins and glue them to the upper part of the funnel, then glued the funnel and drilled for some small eye screws, then use thread to simulate guywires. I didn’t want to use the supplied decal “portholes” as, like the decal windows I thought they looked awful. I have a small stash of Graupner portholes with a separate window you glue in, so I painted the porthole frame, the glazing is black to match the windows, and installed them. I then added a pinstripe waterline. Once the pinstripes adhesive cures a few days I’ll shoot it with semigloss, and that’s that. Have to give her a name. She’s ballasted a little light but looked good in the tub, I might have to add 4 more ounces or so. I also swapped out the kits brass prop for a slight smaller Graupner 3 blazer with a little less pitch. Hopefully she’ll splash this weekend.
Cash

Hi y’all. I’m very close to having the Patriot seaworthy. I have the lights built up and installed, just need to wire in the bulbs and light switch, and decide if I want to add a second switch and add a search light.
The kit came with cast metal lights not designed to be operable, and it also was missing one from the sealed bag of parts. What I came up with was a small lamp for the aft nav light, and for the port and starboard lamp I used 2 Caldercraft side lamps that needed just a little mod and the addition of a sideboard to look the part-lenses are clear, but I have a small supply of 6 volt green, red and clear bulbs so that’s that.
I built the railings mostly to plan..everything was looking good till I realized I had cut the fwd railing a but too short, and I used the kit template. Usually I use a template and cut oversized, but not THIS time. So, I ended up cutting away the curved part at the bow. The railings are made up of split pins and brass wire, I drilled my holes, then assembled on the deck, tacking the pins with ca.Then I pulled the assemblies and reinstalled. The safety chain was painted red and I used small brass pins from my stash of parts and fittings to make stays that looped over the ends of the rails. Glued on with the pin upright, I then ran the pin through the end links of the cut chain, glued in place, cut the excess pin and touched with a brush. The upper deck railing was done in the same manner.
This morning I worked on the pumps and electrics. The monitors have a press in barbed fitting for the hose to attach to, and you’re warned NOT to glue them to the monitor, I suspect so you can disconnect when you pull the cabin. However, there’s no way to get your hands under that forward monitor to connect. So, I used a piece of and old 540 motor water cooling coil, uncoiled then rebent to my liking. It was a perfect fit in the forward monitor. I glued in the barb on the aft monitor, will disconnect at the tee.
I’m using a single 2200 mah pack for both motor and pump power, and using the same type of pump that I used in my Dolly and Neptun. It’s rated for up to 12 volts, I’m powering the pump with a 20 amp Turnigy aircraft esc. The red wire of the receiver lead is pulled out and safetied so I won’t have 2 BECs thrying to feed the receiver. I tested her on the bench with a bowl of water feeding the pickup. The streams hit the top of the garage door!!😁
I have a bit more to do, and since I’m not running 2 7.2 nimh packs I’ll have to add probably a pound and a half of ballast. Might be able to splash her this Sunday if all goes well.
Cash

I'll second the 16BL30, as it's a fine esc. You CAN program it without the program card using the set button, but that's almost as bad as the "happy transmitter dance" we were subjected to about 15 or so years ago.😮

Hi y’all…hmm. Ronald, I’m building “mostly” to the Midwest plans. As far as I know the Patriot was not a scale model of any existing prototype, and I thought the original stack was ugly, so I changed it. I think she looks better. I DO have a couple of scale boats in my stash…one’s gonna be…interesting 😎
Doug…shhh…don’t let on you know my secrets…all this stuff is a secret!! Y’know, “sleeping wid da fishes” secret. The whole fireboat thing is a ruse, we’re gonna pump rum out of the monitors😁
Cash

PS. Thinking about naming her the “Revenge”. I have my reasons…🤣

Looking the part Bill. Think she’s gonna be a keeper when you’re done with her. You going to replicat the mast and railing on the top of the cabin?
Cash

Hi y’all. It’s been a bit since the last update..wanted to have a bit more done then sanding and sealing.
So, after I got the superstructure built up. I, er…sealed and sanded it.😂 Then I turned my attention to the bulwarks, which are made from basswood strip about an eighth inch thick and about 3/8 inch wide. Got those in place then more sanding. Once I primered her, I could see almost all of my blemishes, filled/fixed those, then proceeded to paint. While I was waiting for the deck to dry I built up the fire monitors, and painted those fire engine red. I also decided not to build up the kit funnel, as I just didn’t like it. The kit comes with a cardboard tube that you cut a section off to build a drum for the fire hose, and there’s quite a bit left. I used that, some plastic strip and rod to make a funnel and pipe.
Once the paint was done I added the rub rail. Now, at this point I usually go over the boat and touch up anything that I didn’t catch while she’s was in primer. Also, at this point you’re supposed to add the decal “windows”. They’re ugly. Not using them. Nope. I thought about cutting holes in the sides for glazing from the interior, but that would have been much easier BEFORE the cabin was assembled and painted, and being that the cabin is made from 1/8th lite ply I just didn’t think it would look good. I then remembered I had some tinted windows left over from my Graupner Taucher Wulf and Crabbe Ton to tug builds, as I used clear glazing on both.
What I came up was to cut the windows to size, then glue 1/16 square plastic strip to the side edges of the windows, so I would have a frame. These windows are tinted very dark, almost like a limo tint. They also have protective film on both sides. I left the film on, used thick ca (sparingly) to glue the frame sides on, then peeled of the film and cleaned up where necessary. I then glued the cabin windows in place. I then made up 2 doors from plastic sheet and rod, primered and painted, made windows for each, then cut “handles” from sections of old school Robbe 10mm wide brass ladder material.
That’s where she is now. I need to do some touch up in places, mount the funnel, then build up the lights and plumb the monitors, then ballast and leak check.
Cash

Never had Jetex but I had a bottle rocket powered free flight glider….it hit a tree…🤣

All kidding aside Jump, before you decide to pull the trigger on this, do some searches on RCG and Google, and this site too, on EDF hydroplanes. You also might look at the aircraft EDF section too, to give you ideas. Does the kit list any specs on the EDF diameter or power? THAT would be helpful.
Cash

little voice in your ear.............DO IT!!! GIVE THE GUY SOME MONEY!!!😂

Extension looks good Bill. I agree, it has to please your eye, and perform to your expectations.

Cash

Hi y’all. Had some time to do some work on the Patriot today. I started with the fantail. The fantail and hatch are built up of a couple of die cut parts, som scrap, and the whole thing is glued to the stern with the center plug used as the hatch for rudder access. I thought that it was overly complicated for what it is. So I deviated from the “Bokk of Instructions!!” yet again. I used the top part with die cut plug as my bottom, the used a piece of scrap plastic from a Dumas kit that was the same thickness, around 1/8th inch.Dumas called it extruded pvc or some such, I think it’s brand name is Sintra. Anyway, I cut the plastic to match the kit piece, then cut a piece from that, leaving a tapered perimeter from the leading edge all the way around the outside edge. I loosened the die cut plug from the die cut part then reinstalled it dry. I glued the perimeter piece lined up with the die cut kit part, put thick ca on top of the plug, then added the remainder. Looks okay, easier to do. I have a slight gap where me and my old jigsaw didn’t agree, but in reality I’m going to fill the gap anyway and paint over it, knowing I can remove it if repairs to the linkage are needed.
I then built up the superstructure from the kit supplied die cut parts, nothing earth shattering here, parts fit was pretty decent, some parts needed a clean up with a sanding block, and the fwd pilothouse “windows” needed a bevel on the fwd edge to fit as per the instructions.
I’m at the point now where I need to do the bulwarks, then a lot of sanding, sanding sealer, more sanding, then it’s fill and prime time.
Cash

Jump…JUMP! Dang it man that Scout’s looking good! I think you’re going to be pleased with her as well you should. You’ve done an exemplary job on her.
I feel your pain on ballast. The job you did with the tiles is ingenious, btw. I use either weight from leg weights, they’re either metal ingots or small 1 lb sand bags, small enough for a medium-up sized boat. The other is bb’s in bottles…pill, vape, etc. I make ballast bombs and then secure them when I’m happy with the way the boats sitting..oh, use Crosman, not Daisy. Cheaper😀
Again, the Scouts is great!! You got skills hoss..looking forward to her maiden.
Cash

Hi y’all. Got a bit more done this week and today. I got the motor mount glued in after my couplers arrived. I’m not deviating a lot under decks from the stock build….but I just don’t like using rubber tube to couple the motor to the shaft, which is what is called for in this kit. So, going forward I had to make a decision on what motor and coupler to use. I have a box full of brushed motors, mostly stock open end bell and some modifieds for rc cars, a few silver can 540 and 550 motors, etc…all of them save 2 I deemed too “hot” for this boat. The 2 I had to choose from are an 80 turn crawler motor, and an old Graupner SOLAR Speed 600. The Graupner motor was used in a drive system for the old Solar-UHU rc motor glider, the kit came with solar cells in the wings to charge the battery in flight extending the flight time. Kit was sold from 93-98 or so. I decided on the crawler motor, if it turns out to be too slow, I can run a 3 cell lipo vs a 2 cell.
I’m using the kit supplied stuffing box. It’s not the best. Midewest liked to use a stuffing box that was essentially tapered down to 4 mm I.D at each end. It works fine, but I have doubts about its longevity, but I didn’t have a good Caldercraft fineline unit in my stash, so I went ahead and used the kit unit. However, I was able to silver solder a greasing tube to the stuffing box, so I’ll keep it well lubed.
Once I decided on the motor, I had to decide on the coupler. I went with one made by Actobotics. These are solid steel, uses bigger grubscrews, and most importantly..no run-out. They’re sold thru places like Servo City and robot supply stores, and are my favorite couplers. Amazon has some that look similar, anodized red, but the quality as far as run out goes varies wildly. I had to modify the motor mount to get the right angle for a slip fit, and move it further aft to make a good connection.
I went ahead and used the kit supplied white metal tiller, it glues to the rudder shaft. I then installed the rudder servo and made sure everything worked ,and after installing the water pickup for the fire monitors, I installed the deck.
Before installing the deck you have to glue in 1/8th balsa deck supports inside the hull, flush with the flange. Once that’s done and sanded the deck can be installed. I used filled epoxy except for the center as that’s the lowest part of the curve of the hull, so after laying in my 15 minute epoxy I used thick ca for that spot to get the deck down tight at that area, after the clamps came off I Dremeled and sanded the flange down, I still need a bit more work to get that joint flush.
That’s where I’m at now, hopefully I can get more done tomorrow.
Cash

Might try EBay Pete, that’s where I found mine. They pop up from time to time. Midwest did a lot of rc boats, some with plastic hulls, some all wood. They also had a decent range of static models, to which I have heard a rumor that Model Expo is bringing that line back.
Cash

Hi everybody. I’m 95 percent done with the Patrol boat, it needs a few more railings and some small details, but she’s in the “runner” category now. I like to keep a project on my bench, so I decided to build something not too challenging, but interesting none the less. With tha in mind I decided on a kit I found on EBay, a Midwest Patriot Fireboat. This is one of Midwest’s easier to build offerings, plastic hull, wooden superstructure, nothing earth shattering. This kit was almost NIB, with the exception of the hull flange being cut off at the very tip of the bow, and that’s coming off anyway during building, so no harm done. The kit comes with 2 working fire monitors, and a lightly used old SonicTronics pump was included, although I don’t know if I’m using that pump for the monitors or one I’ve used in my Dolly and my Neptun. I’ll cross that bridge later..so here we go!!
The first thing to do is build the stand. Midewest used a lot of lite ply for their aircraft kits, and some of their boats used the same materials for internal structure…it’s also used to build the stand. Once I got that built I added some 5 mm thick basswood to strengthen the stand, then gave it 2 coats of clear. I then started on the internal structure. You basically build a double decker structure that’s glued into the hull when done, the motor mount, radio tray, rudder tube support and stuffing Stude support are all part of it, as is the battery tray. It went together easily. This kit is die cut, and I’ve never had a Midwest kit, aircraft or boat, that the die cutting was less than good. Midwest does some “different” things in regards to their boat internals, but the quality is there.
Once I had that built up I installed it and drilled for the water pick up tube and the rudder tube. I got the rudder tube installed, and installed the skeg and rudder. I’m using the supplied white metal rudder, but I’m going to deviate from the kit and use a proper tiller instead of the glue on white metal supplied in the kit.
I then drilled and laid in the stuffing box. I. Using the kit supplied tube, only thing I did different was to add an oiling tube that I silver soldered in place. Then I made up, but have not installed the motor mount, that will be glued in along with the tube, after my 1/8 to 4mm couplers come in. Once they get her in can make sure the tube and motor are lined up before I glue them in place.
More to come..
Cash

Hi y’all. The Patrol boat has seen the water twice since my last posting, and she performed admirably, better than I expected. Good speed on a 40mm sub surface racing style prop, runs for a good long while, probably and hour or so of putting around, cruising and some high speed passes. I still have to finish up a few details and lettering, but I’ll get to that a little later. I installed the back door and some hand railing, and that’s where she’s at for now. When I get done editing the vids of the last 2 outings I’ll post a clip of her in the water.
Ash

Jump, yer a freaking artist. She’s looking very nice. You did a good job below decks too!! You’ll have fun with this one.
Cash

Hi y’all. Got a bit more done yesterday and a little this evening. I bought a smoke color tint in the synthetic lacquer range from Tamiya, sprayed some clear plastic sheet with it and once dry cut out and installed the windows. After that I installed the roof. Before I finished yesterday I took some legos, a few plastic bits, and a “jet nozzle” fitting that was unused from my Deans Marine PBR I built a few years ago. I used the nozzle after I. It it down a bit as the support for the Lego “housing”, used sheet plastic and bits to make a radar, and the aft part of the housing holds up the aft nav light…it’s a dummy, no bulb installed. I’ve made a conscious decision to keep her simple. This was supposed to be a refurb and slight modification using the original hull and deck….it got a little out of hand, so she’s got a light bar and siren, that’s enough. Anyway, I used some thin styrene rod and tubing to make twin antennas, and I made up the cabin door.I used some styrene rod to simulate simple hinges, and looking through my stash o’ fittings I found some tiny white metal cleats, probably from the PBR build. I cut the cleat off, cleaned it up, then glued it base down with the pegs sticking up, and glued a short length of styrene rod to the pegs. Door Handle!!
That’s where I’m at right now, I need to figure out a few more details, and come up with lettering. Almost there!!
Cash

Really want to see her on the water..nice find!

Hi y’all. I finally had time to do a little on the Patrol boat this morning, been busy getting another car..Focus ST, six speed, 225 hp and arrest me red. 65900 miles and in almost perfect shape. Now the Abarth is in the shop getting everything I can think of and afford done, then I’ll have her cleaned up and present her to Grace. It’s more fun, and less stressful to buy a car when you want to, not when you have to.
Anyway, I got most of the main paintwork done this morning, still needs a touch up here and there. I also added a rubrail using the remainder of the vacuum line I split down the middle when I built my Aeronaut Pilot. She’s starting to take shape now, lights and details on the cabin are next, clear coat, windows and the remainder of deck details.
Cash

Thanks Boatshed, I’ll give that a try 👍

Hi y’all. I found some old school nav lights I got in a trade some years ago. I’m pretty sure they’re 3 volt bulbs, my idea is to put 6 volts in them as that’s what I like to use. I’ll be damned if I can’t figure out how to access the bulb. I’ve tried gently to turn, twist and cajole the lens housing off to no avail. Any idea how to get the forward housing off, IF it comes off? Any suggestions appreciated.