Who wants to build a semi-scale all-wood micro hydro?

[Dr. Jet]

Thanks, Jim.

[Dr. Jet]

Taking My Time....

So the cowl shown in the photo above had a couple of days to dry. I shot some clear on it and the pink deck portion immediately crinkled up BIG TIME! The yellow portion did OK, but it had a couple more days to dry.

So I sanded all the pink back down, and I'm waiting a few more days to shoot the color back on it. Then, I'll wait at least a week (maybe more) before attempting to shoot the clear coat again.

What a PITA.....

In the meantime, I'm adding some color to the hull, but again, I'm waiting a LOOOONG time between coats.

[Dr. Jet]

Some Color On The Hull

Well, I've shot some color on the hull. Now, I have to let it dry for a week or so, then wet sand some scratches and imperfections out of the deck. After that, I'll shoot a final yellow coat on the entire hull, and let it dry for a week or more. Then, I'll put the U-99 stencil on the deck and shoot the masked-off deck with pink. When dry to the touch, I'll remove the stencil and let it dry for another week. Then I'll put the black outline decal on the U-99 and let it dry for a few days (photo of my 1/16 scale Short Circuit).

Only THEN will I attempt to shoot clear on it, and in fact I may wait a while longer.

It may be done by September....

[Dr. Jet]

When is "Good Enough" good enough?

I'm a bit of a perfectionist. As I'm sanding the hull, I see minor imperfections and say to myself: "I can shoot another coat and sand that out." I keep using higher and higher power eye-wear and see things that normal human beings won't see from a couple of feet away. I could continue that routine for the next couple of months getting it 100% perfect, but I have to remember this is a prototype and not a "showboat" or a world-class racer. So with that in mind, I may start masking off the deck for the U-numbers and start getting ready to shoot some pink on it.

Maybe I can shoot some clear on the cowl now without wrinkling the pink.

[Dr. Jet]

Gettin' Close......

You don't want to know ALL the issues I'm having, but here's one: When removing the U-number mask, some of the underlying yellow paint came with it. No biggie though, I can spray some yellow into a container and use a brush to fill in the chips. I have to wait at least a week to shoot the clear so I'm in good shape.

Other than that, it's starting to look like Chuck's boat...

[Dr. Jet]

I'm going to start shooting some clear tomorrow.

[Dr. Jet]

The Future

Well, things are rapidly coming to a close. The Short Circuit may be ready to run by this weekend, although that will really be pushing the paint drying schedule (I shot the first coat of clear this morning). The Atlas needs a minor paint touch-up and final assembly to finish it out. The Atlas prototype is currently running and I may do some cartoon-ish paint scheme on it, just to have it fully finished. I’m thinking maybe a Batman theme or a James Bond theme to go with the Auric Enterprises scheme on my Micro Scat Cat (Auric Enterprises was Goldfinger’s phony front business for his illegal gold smuggling operation).

I’ve received a lot of views and comments on the 1/20 scale models, but little interest in actually building one, which is a shame. I’ve followed some of the other threads regarding FE, one of which is this: https://forums.offshoreelectrics.com...-in-the-future 1/20 scale solves a lot of issues brought up in that discussion. It’s cheap enough for newcomers to build something competitive for a couple hundred dollars. It’s easy to over-power the 1/20 scale models with cheap Chinese motors and 2S batteries so there really doesn’t need to be a rule limitation. The hull does that for you: Run a Neu 1112 on 3S and you no longer have a boat; you have an uncontrollable aerobatic airplane. 1/20 scale also lends itself to spec racing like the LSH of days past. Everybody runs the same motor and battery. The 1/10 scale guys do that same thing.

1/20 scale will never REPLACE the bigger boats, but it would make a great ADDITION.

With all that said, there’s always Secret Project X⁴…….

[Dr. Jet]

Video of the very first run of the Short Circuit Shovelnose. There was a lot of grass in the lake and I wound up towing a lot of it around.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUECqAqElt0

[Diegoboy]

Nice run! It looks great.

[Dr. Jet]

Nice run! It looks great.

Some fine-tuning with props and strut angles and I think it will be a winner. That was with a cut-down X427 on 2S. I think I could use a bit more pitch though. There's a lot of grasses in the lake and dragging them along really slows things down.....

[Dr. Jet]

Why there hasn't been much activity here.......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-gf5FqXHCg

[Diegoboy]

Is that you in the cockpit?

[Dr. Jet]

Is that you in the cockpit?

That would be me.........

See my avatar.

[Diegoboy]

Very cool! Too scary for my taste though

[properchopper]

Fall of 1971 [Eeek]- Wurtsboro Airport upstate New York

All I can remember is that when the towline drops off the silence is mesmerizing......

glider20190701_115308_resized.jpg