Building my first 1/8 scale . 2008 U1 Miss Elam Plus

[Paul Cooper]

Hello all New to the forum here . Spent the last couple of weeks on here reading . So I jumped into the rabbit hole. I Picked up the SG121H (T6)hull kit from RC Boat Company . Just received the hull today looks awesome . And boy do I have a lot of work ahead of me.

Hopefully you guys won't mind a lot of questions . Here are a few pics of the hull and parts that I have picked up so far. The Hull with the Zelos together was for size comparison for another forum I belong to.

Parts So far

NEU 1527 1.5Y 850KV with 8mm shaft
Swordfish Pro+ II 240A esc
40 X 70 Water Jacket
HRC 1527 Hydro Motor Mount.
Accu-tech HTFARC-100 Turn fin
Accu-tech SRS-100 Rudder assembly
Couple of Rev Lectric 4S 5000 70c batteries that I will wire up in series for 8s to start with.

Still need to Buy the strut assembly Accu-tech ASSA-100, Accu-Tech is out of them right now so I have to wait. I may call Rattle Snake RC and see what they can recommend for me, then I'll be able to order the stuffing tube and flex shaft.

I've also notices it's hard to find parts right now . Thinking because of the covid 19 crap right now.

 

[Jeff Barnes]

You can't go wrong with Rattlesnake rc. Jeff

 

[Paul Cooper]

Thanks Jeff . I'll have to see what I can find there. I keep hearing Bill Brant is the man to talk to.

 

[Jeff Barnes]

Give him a call he will set you up with the right stuff Jeff

 

[Samuel Hagan JR]

If you change your mind and want to sell the rc boat company hull let me know.

 

[Paul Cooper]

Sorry Sam no chance of that.

Jeff- I spent about a half hour on the phone with Bill . Awesome guy. Spent a bunch of money LOL Probably still need to order more things but I think I'm pretty good now to get started on this . Thanks again for your help.

 

[Jeff Barnes]

Lots of great guys on IW with lots of great ideas have fun with you build stay safe Jeff

 

[Paul Cooper]

So made a little headway on the boat this weekend. Last weekend I mounted the turn fin. And then during the week I fiber glassed the holes I drilled in the transom from mounting the rudder on the starboard side. Mounted the rudder on the port side now and installed the water inlets along with the strut assembly.

So looking for suggestions . The 2 drain holes measure 6.8mm dia. Any Ideas what I should use to plug them.

 

[Hydro Junkie]

Radio box tape works well, I use it to cover the drains on my 2000 Elam.
Just a heads up. When you're ready for paint, the 2000 boat has PPG Coca Cola White and House of Color Fluorescent Orange, yours will probably be the same. BTW, did you order the wing, canard and tails? They weren't in your picture so I was curious

 

[Paul Cooper]

And the next question. Looking for suggestions on ESC , motor and battery placement. This picture is what I'm thinking. I'll need to cut a few holes for the batteries and the servo.

Or would it be better to mount the batteries and receiver in the receiver box up front if they fit and mount the esc in the motor compartment ?

 

[Mike Cathey]

I don't know much about electrics but I do see guys using Velcro on the batteries so they can shift them fore and aft to adjust the CG

 

[Don Ferrette]

On the FE scales I build the batteries go all the way up front and I turn the entire inside into one big radio box to keep everything dry.

 

[Paul Cooper]

Actually that is a possibility. I would need to cut open the bulkhead between the radio box area and the engine bay. No matter what I need to block off the radio box area anyways because it's open to the sponson areas of the boat . If I open that up it might make it easier to seal off the openings to water proof the radio box area . Plus then I can move the motor back towards the transom and shorten the flex shaft a bit.

 

[Don Ferrette]

The Esquire in the one pic I posted was a carbon fiber hull and I built a radio box "coffin" to fit everything into then secured it to hull (it was removable if needed). I like mounting the ESC directly over the motor to save space, hence the "hump" in the box lid.

 

[Don Ferrette]

If you cut out the radio box bulkhead and use the "coffin" method you won't have to mess with sealing up the rest of the hull (just stuff it full of pool noodles for flotation).

 

[RaceMechaniX]

A general trend I recommend for electric three point hydro's is to try and maintain a similar front sponson weight relative to a nitro boat. Most FE boats will weight more than a nitro counterpart and I try to avoid an overly heavy nose. The extra tail weight does not hurt an FE for launch characteristics and it's easier to tighten up a loose running hull than to loosen a tight one.

Don't be afraid to move the motor aft so the speed controller and batteries sit ahead of the motor. The tidiest set-ups are having the ESC on top of the motor, directly beside the motor or directly in front on top of the batteries. I recommend avoiding remote mounted ESC's were long length of wires are required. For example having the ESC in the nose of the hull and batteries and motor further back.

One downside of moving the motor further aft is the sharper bend radius of the stuffing tube. Do your best to ensure a smooth single bend from motor collet to strut. Avoid a S-bend if possible as this will have higher friction compared to a single bend. Driveline efficiency is key for a competitive FE set-up so make sure it smooth as possible.

 

[brad nichols]

Be careful when you start removing bulkheads as you will start to loose strength and stiffness in the hull.

Brad

 

[Paul Cooper]

You guys are awesome. I really appreciate all of the advise. I do have a HRC motor mount to use if I want. The hull has wood motor mounts glassed in for nitro which narrow up a little so that the HRC motor mount doesn't fit well if I push it back towards the bulk head. I would have to grind a bunch of glass and wood out to make it fit where the motor is located in the pictures above.

Not sure but I think I would need the top part of the bulk head for mounting my cowling. That's going to be another issue when I get to it . The deck has a gentle curve to it. the cowl not so much. LOL

I did trim down the wing supports and pressed in some pemserts so that I will be able to mount the rear wing . I'll need to apply some epoxy to make sure they don't come out.

 

[Hydro Junkie]

Just a head's up. You may have to cut back those inserts. The tails are only so thick when assembled and, if the inserts are too long, it will damage the tails. What you have to remember is that the tails will have serious side loads and vibration between turning and the boat reacting to the water conditions. Since they are light weight parts, they are actually very fragile

 

[Don Ferrette]

Paul your rear tabs for the verticals are fine, just use nylon screws to attach (I actually run mine higher than that now).