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Mind if I dock here?


WrongWay

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Greetings all! I would like to share my latest project with you. It doesn't fly too well hence the off topic. :goodjob: This is the huge Italeri 1/35 Elco 80' PT boat. Not only do I plan to super detail this beast but I will also be converting it to R/C so I can terrorize my local paddle boat pond. :thumbsup: I have the massive Lion Roar PE set for it as well as a host of R/C goodies and detail bits. Major construction won't start until after I've finished my Hurricane but I would like to get a thread started so I can get begin work on the R/C installation. I hope you will be interested in this project.

 

Cheers,

Don

 

 

This will give you an idea of the size of this boat. Here is the hull sitting next to my 1/24 Trump Hurricane. The hull is 27" long.

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A few shots of some of the items included in the massive Lion Roar PE set. The Lion Roar set is amazing and includes this heavy aluminum plaque for display.

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Machinegun and canon barrels.

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This is the R/C gear I've selected. An Airtronics radio along with an LRP digital speed control with reverse and a Graupner gear driven boat drive line. I'm looking into getting a smaller brass prop so I can keep the drive to a more scale like size. There will need to be some sacrifices though such as slighty larger rudders and the larger center screw. Only the center screw will be functional. The outer static screws should hide most of the unscale like features of the center dirve.

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These rudders will need to be cut and ground into a more scale like size and shape. All three will be functional.

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No problem fitting all this gear into the big boat. I believe Italeri had R/C conversion in mind with this kit as the deck screws on.

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Edited by WrongWay
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YEAH Baby! Go for it!

I think you might want to reconsider mounting the outboard screws, as they'll probably get torn off the first time you go to full speed ahead.

 

And...where are the torpedo tubes? What's a PT without torpedo tubes?

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YEAH Baby! Go for it!

I think you might want to reconsider mounting the outboard screws, as they'll probably get torn off the first time you go to full speed ahead.

 

And...where are the torpedo tubes? What's a PT without torpedo tubes?

 

 

Good point on the outboard screws. I can just mount them for static display only and then remove them for some action. The torpedos on the late Elco models just rolled off the sides and had no actual tubes like the early models did.

 

Here is a pic of the actual boat I'll be building.

pt-596-3-1.jpg

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Smoke generator is aft, hidden by the 40mm. The box on the deck in front of the front torpedo contains rockets. The item that has the holes in it is the rocket launcher. It swings outboard into firing position. Which is it's current position. It swings inboard to be stowed.

 

Don,

Think about gluing a foam along the length of the hull, both sides and aft. If the hull cracks the foam will help it to remain on the surface. If not, it will deep six. Just a thought.

 

Sincerely,

Mark

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Smoke generator is aft, hidden by the 40mm. The box on the deck in front of the front torpedo contains rockets. The item that has the holes in it is the rocket launcher. It swings outboard into firing position. Which is it's current position. It swings inboard to be stowed.

 

Don,

Think about gluing a foam along the length of the hull, both sides and aft. If the hull cracks the foam will help it to remain on the surface. If not, it will deep six. Just a thought.

 

Sincerely,

Mark

 

 

I plan to add water tight compartments using balsa and plastic sheet. Weight will be another thing to watch out for as well so I'll be using very light materials. There will be much bathtub testing including the sink test. :speak_cool: After I get the R/C part completed I'll do some real world testing before I start building the superstructure.

 

Don

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Just a bit I did this morning.

 

All balsa and paper thin sheet plastic construction. All compartments will be sealed and foam filled except for the engine compartment and around the speed control.

 

IMG_2423.jpg

 

Engine mount. It's not completely mounted just yet as I still need to build in the rudder section.

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I decided to go with dogem37's suggestion to use foam. I had originally thought of having only the compartments but the foam weighs nothing so I decided to add it. I just hate sanding this stuff! What a mess it makes.

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Superstructure will be romovable for easy battery changes. It will be powered by one 7.2V 6 cell stick pack.

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Minimal filling will be required around the stern tube. The hull plastic is super thick and hard to cut on this model.

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All three rudders steer in unison using one servo. I used metal pushrod wire for the linkages. The unsused steering arms will be cut off. I have ordered some nice connectors and might add a smaller servo.

IMG_2431.jpg

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All three rudders steer in unison using one servo. I used metal pushrod wire for the linkages. The unsused steering arms will be cut off. I have ordered some nice connectors and might add a smaller servo.

IMG_2431.jpg

 

Looking good, you might want to rethink that rudder linkage though. The push rod geometry coming off the servo is going to give you differential rudders i.e. more one way then the other. It's best to have everything 90 degrees to each other. The easiest fix looks like it would be to use a 90 bell crank on the right rudder and have the servo push pull this. i.e. using the pic as a ref, the bell crank mounted to the right rudder making an "L" the push rod comes vertically down off the servo to push pull the bottom arm of the "L"

 

Ron

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ron is right on this i have a couple of rc myself i learned the hard why with my t-maxx :)

 

 

Although my main hobby is LSP's I have a lot of R/C experience. I managed a hobby shop for 5 years back in 80's, did R/C aircraft for about 10 years (still have them but don't fly much these days) and owned 1/3 of an R/C shop in Edmonton up until last fall.

 

Cheers

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