Woodstuff 30 Tunnel Build

[Chilli]

I can't wait to see the gas tunnels run. I was hoping you were going to run one.

I just got Kris's flex shafts in the mail today. Very nice quality. They I think both Kris's and Hyperformance shaft will work well, but I would rate Kris's flex slightly better in quality over the Hyperformance units. This is based soley on th quality of the squared ends. Kris's flex does fit the Hyperformance flex shaft couplers well "slighly snug".

I did shoot a email to David at Hyperformance and immediately recieved a response. He admitted he relied on another's measurements and did not have a OS lower in his possession. He does have one now and said a replacement mount will be on it's way to everyone that has recieved the short or long version.



I'm calling this build finished. Although over the winter I will do some nicer paint, decals and maybe some soldered fittings on the ends of the steering cables. We'll see how she runs against the nitro's this weekend.

[Doug Smock]

Nice work sir!!

Mike your tunnel looks fantastic!!!
I can't wait to blow passed it with my old, tired, piece of crap.

See ya Friday,
Smock

[F1 madness]

Very nice,an awesome looking tunnel,good luck for the weekend and hope she runs aswell as she looks

[Kris Flynn]

Could one of you please let me know what the hieght of the hyper adaptor is? also the over all length of the coupler, also maybe just maybe the depth of the 5mm hole your shaft goes into? How about the diameter of the outside :)

I know what mine are, just checking to see if people who have a hyper coupler will be able to use it in my adaptor...

Sorry Chilli if I am barging in on your thread, just though since you are all talking about it, it will be easier to get an answer :)

Cheers
Kris

[HOTWATER]

Mike your tunnel looks fantastic!!!
I can't wait to blow passed it with my old, tired, piece of crap.

See ya Friday,
Smock

LOL!!...Doug, the way you build boats, your P.O.C. would probably look like a dream to us!!! ...Just watch out for the "ARMY boat"... That man is a worker!!!

-Kent

[Doug Smock]

Seriously Kent I slamed that boat together last minute when I got all the paint off of a HTB I was working on (needs some body work) and realized I would never have it done in time for a race last year.
The old Stewart hull ran good enough that I never went back to the HTB. Maybe this winter.
I noticed Kentley Porter entered in O/B Tunnel. We are all in trouble!! That guy could set a record with a 2X4 if there was a class for it.

[HOTWATER]

this must belong to Kentley....

[Insaniac]

A little more progress this week. I recieved a very nice aluminum OS motor adapter and coupler from Hyperformance. The motor mount is probably a little taller than it has to be for the UL1 motor, but is probably just right for a longer shafted Neu. I mounted the reciever which is a dual antenna Futaba 603FS. I taped the antenna wire vertically on the opposite side of the box so I should have good reception without the antenna being mounted externally. Last thing to do is solder bullets to the ESC. As you can see I made the radio box nice and tall so the esc can sit on top of the battery. I also have plenty of room to move the battery fore and aft for CG adjustment. It looks like I will probably have to upgrade the servo to a metal gear model.

I'm curious if you guys running the P-limited set ups use 4mm bullets (not the stock ones) or 5.5's on the motor connections???

Are those 5.5mm bullets?

[Chilli]

Yep. Since I didnt get a response to my question, I decided to play it safe. I use 5.5's on all my other boats so what the heck.

I got the boat wet for the first time this weekend. I learned a few things real quick. First off, the term "start slowly" is totally different on a tunnel than it is on my other FE's. Second, you have to drive a tunnel. Not just point it in the right direction. One of my buds described it as like learning to drive a truck in the dirt. You have to learn when to lay off the gas to get it to turn and when to get back on it to get around the turn as quickly as possible. The first time I put the boat in the water. I was all over the place. The boat was either hooking bad or not turning. Some of it was the set up, but most of it was me. I talked to Mike Luszcz and he suggested strut angle adjustment which I did. He then showed me how to drive a tunnel. The hook was better (mostly when he was driving), but I was still not comfortable enough to drive it in a heat race. I decided to race it anyway, but just to do some laps while staying out of everyones way. I got a little too close to a guy in the first heat so I just pulled into the infield. I talked to Mr Smock who took the time to take a look at the boat. He pushed the batteries up a few inches and told me to give it a shot. I did it and it made a world of difference. The next heat the boat turned much nicer with only a hint of a hook due to my lousy throttle management. I built a little more confidence with every heat. The final heat I felt confident enought to actually race her instead of just running laps but unfortunately I blew over on the second lap. The bow came up when the wind picked up a bit on the back stretch. By the time I realized it, it was too late. I still had a smile on my face. The boat not the easiest to drive in the corners,but it is fast in the straights. With some driving practice and a little fine tuning this boat is going to be a blast to drive in the next year. My prop choice was limited. I started with a 642 and the controller was a little too warm for my liking. I dropped down in pitch to a 442 and she ran much cooler with no noticable loss in speed. I'll try the 42x55 when I get a little spare cash.

Thanks to all that helped out this weekend!
Tunnels are fun!

[Insaniac]

Welcome to the world of tunnel boat racing!
I have had great performance overall (per Mike's suggestion) with the 42x55 prop. Give it a try...

[F1 madness]

Glad you got it wet,shame about the blow over but iv had a couple and luckily enough landed up the right way and just carried on,once you get the hang of it youll never want to drive any other boat,i love the F1s as your almost always on the limit with especialy in the windier conditions,in these conditions i always reduce the strut angle slighty to help reduce the risk of a blow over.
rgds F1

[Chuck E Cheese]

i use the hyper adaptor on a lawless with flynn k&b shafts and a OS with flynn's adaptor with no problem....

[Chilli]

Hopefully Hyper will get the motor mount for the OS squared away. I'll let you guys know when I recieve the replacement they said they were going to send. The Hyper flex and coupler worked great all weekend. I also have some of Kris's flex shafts on standby.

What do you guy do to the motor for preventive maintenance after a day of racing?

[Chuck E Cheese]

rinse with fresh water. corrosion block soak the motor and bearings. remove the flex shaft and store properlly. i just squirt the corrosion block in the end of the motor till it overflows and let it soak. this is the best stuff (west marine carries it). also spray the connectors and leave plenty in the motor till the next time you run it. cables also need to be clean as they seize up easy... other than that just charge the batteries!

[Chilli]

Thanks Chuck.

I know my eye bolts and crimps were killing Hotwater so I ran over to the hobby shop and got some Sullivan Pull-Pull gear and Great Planes steel clevis's. Soldering the 440 adapters to the cable was no harder than doing a 5.5 bullet. Pehaps easier. I must admit it looks cleaner. These pics are for you Kent.

I dont know if this is something you tunnel gurus do, but I turned up the exponential throttle on my transmitter so I would have finer control toward the full throttle setting. I figure there would be less chance of me dropping the nose too quickly going into a turn with this setting. I'll test it out next weekend.