PHIL THOMAS 82U55

[missbudpilot55]

My boating partner, Larry Hutchens just recieved his Phil Thomas 82U55 1/8th scale. All I can say is "WOW", this is one of the nicest epoxy glass hulls I have ever seen. This one has all of the others I have bought in the past from other vendors beat hands down. I'm sure that there are others out there that are as nice and of equal quality but to date this is the nicest I have seen. I know where my next 1/8th scale is coming from.

 

[Rich Jones]

My boating partner, Larry Hutchens just recieved his Phil Thomas 82U55 1/8th scale. All I can say is "WOW", this is one of the nicest epoxy glass hulls I have ever seen. This one has all of the others I have bought in the past from other vendors beat hands down. I'm sure that there are others out there that are as nice and of equal quality but to date this is the nicest I have seen. I know where my next 1/8th scale is coming from.

Yes, Phil does great work. I got the T-5 Bud hull and am doing the Master Tire w/ it. Everything has gone very smoothly so far. His instructions are good and you basically just drill and cut where he tells you to. I'm used to building mostly from scratch, so this has been pretty refreshing. The U55 hull is great in that it makes a ton of boats, similar to the 82 Atlas Van Lines Hull.

Rich

 

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My boating partner, Larry Hutchens just recieved his Phil Thomas 82U55 1/8th scale. All I can say is "WOW", this is one of the nicest epoxy glass hulls I have ever seen. This one has all of the others I have bought in the past from other vendors beat hands down. I'm sure that there are others out there that are as nice and of equal quality but to date this is the nicest I have seen. I know where my next 1/8th scale is coming from.

Here Here, I agree.

 

[P THOMAS]

Yes, Phil does great work. I got the T-5 Bud hull and am doing the Master Tire w/ it. Everything has gone very smoothly so far. His instructions are good and you basically just drill and cut where he tells you to. I'm used to building mostly from scratch, so this has been pretty refreshing. The U55 hull is great in that it makes a ton of boats, similar to the 82 Atlas Van Lines Hull.

Rich

THANKS glad to hear you like the 82U55 and the T5 Bud boats.

I like to do a good job on the lay up and make a strong but light weight hull. Using the epoxy layup makes a good hull that will not stress crack, only thing some dont like is the time it takes to get one ready for paint. All epoxy parts will have some pin holes and small air bubbles, I try to keep that to a minimum and have wrote up a method to finish the parts easily.

Rich the u55 does make a few different boats some with rear wing and some with out.

The Atlas hull is a different boat hull, mainly the difference is the deck, the 82 u55 has a drop down center in the deck and the Atlas and the Newton 108 style have a smooth deck line across the width.

I am working on a new scale kit for the Atlas Van Lines and with some small changes in the hull I plan on making the Newton 108 style boats.

Thanks again PHIL T

 

[Brian Blazer]

I have had a couple of Phils boats I won at races. The quality is unbelievable. I have tried to make epoxy parts without vac bagging and I can't even come close to his quality. Next time I see you at the races, we will have to chat about processes.

Brian

 

[Rich Jones]

Sorry Phil, didn't mean the Atlas hull was the same hull as the U-55. Just that both hulls make several boats. Thanks for the detail though.

 

[Buddy Benedict]

Rich, I see that you are going to make the U3 from a T5 hull. Are you going to cut off the cockpit and center it in the bullnose? The T5 has an offset and the U3 is centered in the bullnose. To make it right the cockpit needs to be in the center of the bullnose.

Buddy Benedict

 

[Don Ferrette]

Rich, I see that you are going to make the U3 from a T5 hull. Are you going to cut off the cockpit and center it in the bullnose? The T5 has an offset and the U3 is centered in the bullnose. To make it right the cockpit needs to be in the center of the bullnose.

Buddy Benedict

If Rich is running IMPBA then based on the current IMPBA rules he can build the boat without moving the cockpit & still be well within the 10% beam variation allowance-

Engine and Boat Specifications

1. All boats to be modeled after Unlimited hydroplanes from past or present.

2. All boats to be built to a scale of 1 1/2" to 1'0" (1/8 scale) plus or minus 10% of the

beam and 5% of the length.

Now from an asthetics standpoint moving the cockpit is up to Rich but to race it he is not required to move it. B)

 

[Rich Jones]

Rich, I see that you are going to make the U3 from a T5 hull. Are you going to cut off the cockpit and center it in the bullnose? The T5 has an offset and the U3 is centered in the bullnose. To make it right the cockpit needs to be in the center of the bullnose.

Buddy Benedict

If Rich is running IMPBA then based on the current IMPBA rules he can build the boat without moving the cockpit & still be well within the 10% beam variation allowance-

Engine and Boat Specifications

1. All boats to be modeled after Unlimited hydroplanes from past or present.

2. All boats to be built to a scale of 1 1/2" to 1'0" (1/8 scale) plus or minus 10% of the

beam and 5% of the length.

Now from an asthetics standpoint moving the cockpit is up to Rich but to race it he is not required to move it. B)

The difference is not enough for me to justify tearing up the hull. I've looked at several pictures, etc... and in most cases, unless you're standing directly over the boats, you cannot tell the difference. I would not arbitrarily use the 10% rule to justify something that was not otherwise scale normally but in this case, this will not make or break a race. On the race course and on the beach, this boat will look like the real thing which is the whole idea. Thanks for your thoughts Buddy, but I'm gonna stick w/ the hull as is. And Don, thank you for chiming in w/ the 10% rule, I was about to have a heart siezure.

 

[Don Ferrette]

.... And Don, thank you for chiming in w/ the 10% rule, I was about to have a heart siezure.

No problem Rich. I look at it this way, while I myself may be a stickler for detail, I would rather see a real nicely done up boat with something asthetically minor like this than some of the bastardizations I've seen that people put in the water. The 10% rule is there for good reason & one example is offset centers, the real boats run counterclockwise & offset to the right. We run clockwise & are better off with the offset to the left (when looking at front of boat). Not to mention if we didn't have the 5/10 rule (5% length & 10% beam) we'd have a bunch of crappy running boats as what's good for a full size may not be good for a model reduced to exact scale & vice versa.

 

[P THOMAS]

Yes that U3 is centered not offset, I think I mentioned that to Rich. Like he says it isnt too noticeable.

Tony Roades out in California did a U3 like that and I nor he was aware of that detail at the time.

The Llumar or Elam work ok also with that hull, Oberto too with a bit of nose work.

PHIL T

 

[Buddy Benedict]

Just an FYI for you guys. The U3 team got their molds from off the T6 Bud not the T5. And its not a direct copy. The deck angles are different along with the nontrips and sponson bottoms(but that doesn't make any differance under IMPBA rules). As far as being noticeable I personaly think its very noticeable. There is over an inch difference in the width of the bullnose on each side of the cockpit. I own the plug that Phil used to make his boat and when I get time the plan is to cut the sponsons off and center the cockpit to make the U3 correctly.

Buddy

 

[Don Ferrette]

Just an FYI for you guys. The U3 team got their molds from off the T6 Bud not the T5. And its not a direct copy. The deck angles are different along with the nontrips and sponson bottoms(but that doesn't make any differance under IMPBA rules). As far as being noticeable I personaly think its very noticeable. There is over an inch difference in the width of the bullnose on each side of the cockpit. I own the plug that Phil used to make his boat and when I get time the plan is to cut the sponsons off and center the cockpit to make the U3 correctly.

Buddy

I can relate to you wanting to do it right, most guys would not have done all the corrections I did to my Smokin' Joe's, some nobody would notice without me pointing it out, but that's me. That's great that you are in a position to do that, more power to you but Rich isn't as fortunate as you are by having the plug. The point is he can run his boat just as it is & conform to current IMPBA rules (and perhaps most others). As I said, if Rich builds a nice U-3 & that it's only flaw then he's still world's ahead of some of the total BS I've seem people pass off as scale model that are allowed to run. <_<

 

[P THOMAS]

Buddy is in the know about the U3 as he is a local Evansville guy.

That wood boat you have is half bondo on the front left corner, it was a mess cause it had been up on the rocks and all four corners damaged, but I managed to get the sponsons alignment back ok. When is this U3 project to be done? Sounds like a good one to do for you.

Here are some pictures of the U3

https://www.intlwaters.com/gallery/displayimage...album=325&pos=6

https://www.intlwaters.com/gallery/displayimage...album=325&pos=8

PHIL

 

[Rich Jones]

That definately sounds like a great project to tackle in the future. I think Roger is offering a set of plans for the Vacationville. I would assume they are correct. Might be something I do some other time. I have too much invested right now, and not enough time to make the changes for this year. Possibly over the winter next year. Thanks for the tips Buddy.

Rich

 

[Buddy Benedict]

Phil, The U3 is going to be a next winter project. I an currently building a 1980 Pay-N-Pak and I hope its done by the Internats. I only live 3 miles from the U3 shop and with the motor work being done and some hull changes I do believe the U3 will be the boat to beat this year.

Buddy

 

[Don Ferrette]

I only live 3 miles from the U3 shop and .............

Now that has got to be rather cool. B)

 

[[email protected]]

Buddy, can you get and post some cock pit and engine photo's of the U-3? I'd love some and I'm sure there's a lot of guys here who'd love them as well.

Rod

 

[Rich Jones]

Yeah, that'd be awesome!

 

[Mike McKnight]

It's funny that Phil brought up Tony Rhodes' Vacationville.... I was in San Diego when Tony ran it at the Muncey and guess who happened to be the Concourse judge? Bill Fritz! For those who don't know Bill is/was on the U3 team and he was looking at Tony's boat and noticed the offset as well and kiddingly gave Tony a little grief for it as well. Tony did a great job on that boat as well. I remember telling Rich about it when he ordered the graphics for the boat and told him not too worry too much about it.

By the way Rich your stuff is done except for one decal. I got a really good pic of the Gold Cup graphic on the top cockpit hatch and I'm making it from scratch while you're waiting on that fake motor.