RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

tomhugill wrote: ↑Wed Jan 03, 2024 10:06 am Need more details, how long, heavy? Planing hull, displacement hull, etc etc. Original question is a wee bit vague. Also a link to the boat would be great. There are some.statix boats that float but are unsuitable to RC.

Will do.

I need to dig up the proper link, and I’m out of my office just now. However, in the short term, one source is Cottage Industrry; they claim that their 1/96 ironclads csn be built for RC, and I have at least seen their Palmetto State used to that effect.

The other model both a chum and I were looking at is here, offered at Loyalhanna Dockyard. He asked about this in another RC forum; the kit claims to be RC ready. He was essentially advised that Monitors “weren’t seaworthy” which wasn’t what he was asking about in this first place… which I suspect put him off just a tad. For a military historian, it was the equivalent of pointing out that water is, in fact, wet. Of note, anyway, kit has a built in prop shaft for a mechanical screw.

Finally, a number of Trumpeter kits (most of their carriers, in fact) can be accessorized with after market kits for RC, but those essentially seem to be shafts and props, occasionally upgraded with a motor, so I’m honestly not sure what else would be needed, quite literally being a landlubber in that respect as far as RC goes!

As Tom says a bit more information. Most boats just require a simple inexpensive two channel radio for speed control and steering. A cheap ESC and servo and a low power motor. More if you want to add working features. For a monitor or iron clad twin 380 or 390 would be adequate, that is what I have used on boats up to 300mm. Boats need less power that people think. It is always useful to be a bit over powered and you are dealing with 1:1 weather and other people sailing their boats.

What sort of information do you need? Just want to make sure I'm communicating correctly. Here's the kit I've been looking at most recently. This example is 30", and has a prop shaft cast into the hull.

https://www.loyalhannadockyard.com/SPDLMONITOR.htm

760mm hull, shallow draft, slow moving. A 380 or 400 motor. Something like this.
https://www.hobbies.co.uk/torpedo-500-e ... -5v-to-15v
With a 20-25mm diameter propeller. Would be perfectly adequate.

Meter rat wrote: ↑Sat Jan 06, 2024 10:24 am 760mm hull, shallow draft, slow moving. A 380 or 400 motor. Something like this.
https://www.hobbies.co.uk/torpedo-500-e ... -5v-to-15v
With a 20-25mm diameter propeller. Would be perfectly adequate.

Hugely helpful, Master Rat. Thank you.

You’re welcome. Nearly ordered one for myself. I thought it was $25 when I first looked. Just looked again and someone has stuck a five in front of the 25. Very nice looking kit, I would try to pack as much buoyant material in as I could.

Meter rat wrote: ↑Sun Jan 07, 2024 9:07 am You’re welcome. Nearly ordered one for myself. I thought it was $25 when I first looked. Just looked again and someone has stuck a five in front of the 25. Very nice looking kit, I would try to pack as much buoyant material in as I could.

It's gone up quite a bit since I found it, myself. I believe that it's gone up nearly $200. Why, I haven't a clue.

Buoyant materials would include foam, I'd guess?

I just used polystyrene recycled from packaging. Just cut it with an old bread knife.

Meter rat wrote: ↑Tue Jan 09, 2024 7:17 pm I just used polystyrene recycled from packaging. Just cut it with an old bread knife.

Fantastic. Thank you!

Just a note on the propellers. They should be sized based on the shaft speed. It's probably not as critical on a model, but on RHIBs if you get it wrong the props can just spin in a cavitation bubble until they break - forward motion isn't included! I don't know the design rules, but have colleagues who spend an awful lot of time (computer) modelling these things!