Would there be any interest V2.0 ??

[Dr. Jet]

That is what I like about the mini classes, in average race water you can get to the hulls limits, whereas the bigger classes are power limited unless the water is unusually big, so you have to do more driving.

A self-righting mini in the rough is a LOT of fun without a lot of hassle.

The little Gecko is self-righting and is absolutely hilarious to drive. With our chosen power system it is right on the verge of being insanely overpowered and there's a whole lot of "Hey watch THIS!" when we run them. We can do airplane-submarine-airplane-submarine maneuvers with ease.

[Dr. Jet]

You guys nailed it. Must have a small sheltered or calm day to race mini.

I still have the molds and the mold machine set up. I have one sheet of plastic. If any one wants one I have several singles at the shop . If the particular design is out of stock I will need to build a waiting list to take any orders. Pricing is still on web site though I do not list the drop sponson shovel. But it is for sale.

I really wish it were worth my while to drive all the way up there. I'd love to produce the Minis and fine-tune the molds to Jet standards. Your offer was more than reasonable. If you have any customer interest in the Mini Turbine Hydro, I can have internal formers cut, or I can send you the drawings so that you can have them cut. I may want to modify them slightly as the sponsons are not a perfect mirror image of each other. They are a few thousandths different in a couple of dimensions. It may be intentional, I'd have to sit down and talk for a few hours before making that call.

I spent a lot of time blueprinting the sponsons of my Micro Turbine Hydro. It is an absolute joy to drive and it hauls a$$ on 2S.

[Dr. Jet]

In Conclusion

OK boys and girls, here’s where I’m at if there’s any interest: I have four professionally done and 100% complete 1:20 scale Atlas hydroplane kits, ready to ship. These are beyond cool if you have the building skills. I have the prototype laser-cut wood for the 1:20 ‘68 Short Circuit, although the cutting doesn’t really meet my standards of perfection. I’m not really that thrilled to start it because of the less than ideal cutting, but I’ll build it nonetheless. It will just require more fiddling and the parts won’t have the tight fit I expect. I am currently populating the production kits for the Short Circuit and have most of the necessary parts on order. I have enough wood to cut four kits on hand, and will use the same laser guy as I did for the Atlas, since his work is much more precise. I am toying with the idea of designing yet another 1:20 scale round-nose boat from the late ‘50s~early ‘60s (the identity of which shall remain secret for a while), but I think that may be a fruitless idea, and as such, it will probably go onto the back burner for the time being.

I have the drawings for the 449 mm outrigger finished and I’m ready to cut a couple plus enough additional 1/16” ply parts to fill out the remainder of a 12" x 24" plywood sheet. I plan to build one and only one for myself as a prototype. The additional parts will go into storage as I have no plans to purchase and cut the materials necessary to complete any additional kits at this time. I have the drawings for the 16” twin-motor cat, and the drawings for the 16” single-motor cat finished and saved (see the thread on those boats elsewhere on this forum). A prototype single cat is seaworthy and I hope to take videos soon. Currently, I have no plans for production runs on either of them.

The 1:20 semi-scale kits are 100% complete, just add glue, finishing materials, receiver, and battery. My original plans were to produce the 16” cats as “short kits”, including only the 1/16” ply framework parts plus a listing of hardware that would bolt up to the mounting holes provided. As for the outrigger, I planned to include at a minimum, the threaded aluminum rods that serve as the turn fin mounts since many don’t have the machine tools to make them. I had thought about including turn fins, but they would have to be water-jet cut and the guy I use for that type of work has a minimum order which would mean I’d have to make (and sell) a WHOLE LOT of kits to make it worthwhile (the fins alone would cost $130 to produce a minimum order of them).

So for now I’m done. I have a cool fleet of boats with a few more “mass produced” composite production models in the works. I will archive all my wooden-hull design work for now. It looks like there will only be four each of the Atlas and Short Circuit kits ever released to the public. You should grab one for nothing more than the collector’s value. I’m an old guy and my days are numbered……Who knows what they’ll be worth when I’m gone? The unnamed hull next in line most likely will never be built, although I may finish up the drawing enough to at least have every part needed finalized. You folks have no idea how many hours go into making a PREFECT set of drawings. Maybe I’ll build one this winter, because I think 1:20 scale is so cool.

If there were ever any future interest in any of these designs, it would have to be worth my while to resurrect and produce them again. There’s a lot of running around, coordinating, ordering, waiting, and flaky third parties to deal with in order to produce a quality final product. Feel free to drop me a line if you want something and I’ll let you know whether or not it’s feasible.

[TonyRomano]

Anything kit or custom built is interesting.

I am moving to a place with all kinds of small lakes and ponds, plus marsh and ocean! Rivers!


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[RandyatBBY]

I have Polystyrene back in stock now and take orders for the micros.

http://www.bbyracing.com/elecmicrohulls.htm

[Dr. Jet]

Anything kit or custom built is interesting.

I am moving to a place with all kinds of small lakes and ponds, plus marsh and ocean! Rivers!


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One of Randy's little boats would be perfect. The Mini Scat Cat makes a great platform for a mini-twin, especially since there's a greater selection of counter-rotating props available. The cat can handle a bit rougher water than the hydro and would be my recommendation. But don't run anything in the ocean. Salt water is hard on metals AND electronics.

Randy made the Mini Scat Cat with fairly tall sides to accommodate the motor/battery systems that were available back then. Now that 450-class helicopter motors are so readily available, it doesn't need to be that tall. I "chopped" mine by 3/8" and stuck the motors in the sponsons. I think it really helped the looks.

Here's the thread on it: https://forums.offshoreelectrics.com...micro+scat+cat

[TonyRomano]

Sweet


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[Dr. Jet]

Sweet


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I think you should buy a Mini Scat Cat hull kit from Randy and post a build thread on it here. Randy and I can give you a ton of suggestions on how to build it into a winner.