How to get your tanks to Europe

[Woz]

Looks great. Good way for sneaking them past customs.

[BigPanzer]

thats a great looking landing craft!

During my model boating days I found that a vital bit of equipment was a short fishing rod with an old tennis ball on the end of the line. If you cast it so that the line falls over the model then with luck it will catch on the superstructure somewhere and you can wind your model back in.

Peter

[971wright]

Hi Glad to see you got it back ,You may want to think about fitting bigger motors with high torque ,so it may over come prop fouling its a problem all model boats have to deal with.

regards pete

[Miggers]

Whadda corker Oz .

I've always fancied doing an RC LCM III after finding out one of my uncles commanded
one on D-Day.
Even bought an Airfix one to scale up and get the shapes from.

Mark

[oztruck]

Miggers: Go for it, build one they are a lot of fun, but they do take up a lot of room.

971wright: It is fitted out with 2 x 12volt motors from rechargeable drills and they are fitted with 2.5/1 gear reduction boxes and the power is supplied by a 12 volt motor cycle battery. Any bigger and I would need a masters ticket to run it.

BigPanzer: Picked up a fold-able expandable fishing tackle with the lot last week, I will be ready next time for any thing (I hope)

Thank guys for all of the help and encouragement

[BREL]

Oztruck
A great build and a great video too
glad to here that you recovered the LT ok and it was only weeds and stuff that stopped the motors and rudder from working.

[tankmad]

Great build but I would have loved to see your face when it went wrong your heart must have been in your mouth still all ends well mabe a slight modification will make it better like a wire mesh box round the props or something.
Stevie

[BigPanzer]

Hi,

Good luck next time out with it! Just remember to cast the line over it, don't hit it!

If you think you might be getting weed round the props, try reversing it - it might work. The more power you put into the props the tighter the stuff gets caught. (Depending on the type of weed)

Two other comments I could make on your construction - waterproofing. I always used to put my sensitive electronics into a waterproof box mounted quite high up in the hull. Speed controllers can't be put in a box because they get hot, but if you don't mind invalidating the warranty they can be opened and the pcb's sprayed with waterproof laquer.

Your enemy is not only flooding, it's also condensation, so after you have run it, store it with the top off somewhere warm if you can. You will find your wiring will last longer that way.

If you get very unlucky and it does get waterlogged, will it still float? I used to cram every available part of my boats with bubble wrap (including the top, which might come off) and it has saved me a lot of money in the past!


I'm not being negative, I'm just trying to give you a bit of security!

Peter

[oztruck]

Thanks Peter for the advice. There are 3 sections in the hull, all sealed, water tight and separate from each other. The bulk heads go all the way to the top unlike the "Titanic's". The front section is FULL of styrofoam, the second section has the 2 motors, reduction boxes and drive shafts. The 3rd section is the section under the superstructure and I have put all the electronics a good 30cm above the waterline.
After the last outing (its first) and when I got back home I opened all the sections and looked for any sign of water, I found about a 1/2 a drop on the shaft for the port rudder just above the seal.
When I was building it I was always thinking WHAT IF so I think I went a bit overboard with the waterproofing.