Villian Boat Project November 13, 2003
Posted by Shannon in : R/C Projects , trackbackOne day I was surfing the net, finding out about Tunnel Hulls. I stumbled upon the Precision Boats website, and it all started from there. Tim Fulton of precision boats had me convinced that it was best to stray away from the quick and easy ABS plastic Tunnel Hull kits out there, and get a “Real†boat. An all wood kit. At first, I was a little intimidated. It sounded like a lot of work. But if you want the best, the time invested would be worth it.
Since then, I have acquired the engine from eBay, but the option of buying the thunder tiger outboard was always out there, and me being the type who likes to “fix†things, I figured I would buy some used stuff. BAD IDEA! Don’t waste your time buying used stuff from eBay. You will save yourself serious cash in the end if you buy your engine new, I think. Thunder Tiger outboard all the way.
So I ended up buying the kit, and here’s the story on putting one together. To start with, I am the kid in school who never listened, so following instructions to the “T†was never my bag. This article will emphasize the most important points of assembling a Villain S1, and if you follow the included instructions as they are written, it is almost impossible to screw it up. If you want to rush through it, I can give you a few hints and help you get ready before you order it so you know what you need. Just be careful if you order it from Precision Boats, because if you order it from them, it will be on your doorstep before you got to the hobby store to buy your glue.
The first thing you need to consider is what kind of servos you are going to run in this boat. I went with HiTec and ended up buying an HS-81 servo for throttle, and the HS-605BB. These two are both the perfect size for the cutouts for the Villain’s radio tray. If you want to set up the radio box like Mike did, you are going to have to get a Hanger 9 pull pull wheel for your Futaba or JR servos (#3513, or #3510 respectively). If you want to run a HiTec (like me) you have to email Tim Fulton at Precision Boats Racing and ask him very nicely to machine one for you. If you don’t want to set up the radio box like Mike, it will probably cost you a few dollars more in parts, but it is easier, and Mike knows it too. Don’t get me wrong though, Mike’s setup is great, but you are going to need to get some brass tubing from K&S, and then the tubing cutter, then you need to find a way to cut the ¼â€x.016†flat stock without destroying it and you need to solder it all together. I had the guy at the hobby shop cut it for me, the tubing cutter I bought, and I’ve always had a soldering iron. I found it challenging to do it well enough to make it look pretty.
I am a total amateur at assembling wood boats. I glued a radio box for a Dumas Hotshot sprint 7.5 ten years ago, and that was all I knew. Here some general tips for the beginner:
CA glue (super glue) can be used to “tack†things in place. But I wouldn’t trust it where you need strength. Use epoxy to lock things down for strength.
Use slow cure epoxy, and the slower the better if you don’t know what you’re doing. I use 2 hour cure from the hobby store! The slow stuff soaks into the wood, and forms a super strong bond. I think I waste less of it, since I started using the slow stuff, because you have plenty of time before the consistency is too stiff to work with. The slower the cure, the looser the consistency. You can mix baking soda with the epoxy to thicken it up, too. Don’t heat epoxy. I put it in the microwave for a few seconds to speed up the drying, and it didn’t dry correctly: It gummed up, and wasted more time trying to fix it than the few minutes I thought I would save by heating it.
Now in general, the most important tools you are going to need are a set of 1-2-3 blocks, manufactured by Enco Tools (1-800-873-3626), a drill with 1/16, 3/16 bits and a drill and tap set: #29 bit with an 8-32 NC tap, a sanding block of 11â€x2†and 60 grit sandpaper. For the epoxy, you’re going to need mixing cups, acid brushes, and, if you really want to make things easy, get yourself some plastic syringes to squirt the epoxy into hard to reach places: you will be very glad you did. Don’t forget the razor blades to cut the laser cut parts out of the sheets, and get a small swiss file to sand off all the little nubs the plywood sheets leave behind. You will be using the file to help you balance your props anyways. While you are at the hobby store, I would pick up a piece of 1/8â€x1/8†basswood stick more than a foot long in case you mess up when you are making the radio box. Even still, you are going to need it to help you apply the sheeting if you did ok on the radio box.
In order to make sure the sponsons are straight, they are built separately while being clamped to aluminum channel or angle. Your going to need a four foot length of channel (1/8â€x1â€), or two aluminum angles. Grimracer uses small Quick Grip wood clamps, with a bunch of clothespins with the spring turned inside out. Look close at the pictures, and you’ll see them. I didn’t catch it until I started my second Villain. The sponsons are probably the most intimidating part of the kit for the beginner, and as long as you have a straight edge, an 11â€x2†sanding block with plenty of new 60 grit sandpaper, and CA glue, it’s a breeze.
The first step in the kit is to glue and mount the transom. The center section is wood over Styrofoam (WOF), with slots cut in it to accommodate the transom and radio box. Nothing complicated here. Notice how I trimmed out the bottom of the transom where the bottom meets the center section. It helps to make things look a bit neater. Measure the distance the tabs stick out after the glue is dry, and write it down somewhere in case you break them off by mistake. I broke one, and I went through a heck of a time with that.
This picture shows how I cut out a notch, where glue or paint would otherwise tend to collect. I suggest you measure the motor box tabs in case you break them.
Then you move onto the radio box, starting by punching out the laser cut parts, then measure out where the servo tray rails go according to what servos you’re using. If you don’t follow these instructions, your servo horn will stick out of the top of the radio box cover, or the rails will be too low for the servo to mount to. Follow the instructions! I painted the inside walls of the box with Top Flite Lustrekote white primer before I glued it together. It’s fuelproof, and my old Hotshot rotted away from the nitro because I didn’t paint it like I was supposed to. At this point, you can go ahead and start the radio box setup of your choosing. It’s a lot easier to work on it now before you permanently attach the box to the hull.
Radio box parts, completely prepped for assembly.
If you are going to do the box like Mike Z. did, the only tips I can think of is when you are first making the individual pieces for the steering, throttle cable and on/off switch tubes, drill the holes like you are supposed to; and try to force the brass tubing through the holes just enough so that they stay in place while you solder the parts. I wasn’t so lucky, so I put the parts onto the radio box like they were going to be mounted, and I used the radio box as a jig to hold the parts in place while I soldered.
Next, glue the basswood sticks that cover up the Styrofoam ends of the front and rear of the center section, and shape them. (You could have done this as soon as you finished gluing the transom in, if you’re really impatient.)
When you are done with that, you glue the completed box into the slot of the center section with epoxy. Now your center section just needs sponsons.
The cowl is my only complaint about the building process. There are laser cut cowl doublers that glue to the included Hotshot Sprint 7.5 cowl, and there are lines drawn with a black pen on the cowl to show you where to cut. But when you are done cutting, it didn’t match up with the contour of the center section. Get out your sandpaper and your favorite 8-track (mine is Black Sabbath, Master of Reality). You’re gonna be busy for awhile. Note: Christina, my partner in crime and a new modeler, worked on the cowl for a week. She sanded it to fit the center section perfect, but she neglected to notice that she made the back of the cowl an inch shorter. The lesson learned here is to keep checking your progress repeatedly when you are sanding something to make sure you don’t go too far. But anything can be fixed. A little epoxy, a little sanding, voila! Good as new. When I did the center section, I sanded the cowl to fit the center section without the doublers, then I glued the doublers on, and sanded them to match the plastic. It acted as a little insurance in case I really messed it up. Don’t forget to drill and tap the transom so the cowl can be attached.
Picture of overly sanded cowl. Not a problem, when you are da man
Moving on to the next step, the sponsons. I sanded the nubs off the sponson formers, but left the rest of the laser cut burned edges alone. There was a method to my madness. I found a little shortcut for drawing the lines. Check out the photo. With all these lines on the keelson, things can get confusing. I drew tiny X’s where the sponson formers were to be glued, so that the X’s were covered up when I finished.
This shows my suggestion for a small shortcut–measuring out both keelsons at the same time.
Notice the tiny X’s in this pic, next to the lines drawn on the keelson. Those X’s should be covered up by the sponson formers.
THE FOLLOWING IS AN IMPORTANT STEP THAT MUST NOT BE OVERLOOKED: Before you start gluing the top and bottom sheets, you need to glue a few of short pieces of basswood sticks to the inside edges of the top and bottom sheeting. Grim says the bottom sheeting, but I say both. If you don’t, what’s going to happen is that while you have the sheeting taped in place (to be held down during gluing), the tape is going to pull the sheet off of one side, and you’ll be scrambling to figure out a way to stop this before the epoxy dries. I can’t stress this enough: Glue the basswood sticks to the inside edges of the top and bottom sheetings! They are temporary; so don’t glue them too tightly. And if you don’t line up those sticks to where to sponson formers are, you will warp the keelson. MAKE SURE YOU LINE UP THE STICKS SO THEIR CENTERS ARE MATCHED UP TO THE SPONSON FORMERS!
The first piece of sheeting you will apply is the non trip: this forms the outermost lower edge (wet side) of the sponson. Grim says to sand the area flat with 60 grit and an 11â€x2†block, then glue. This is why I left the edges of the formers burnt. Sand it down, sand and sand and sand, until those burnt edges are gone. When they are gone, that is your clue as to when you can glue the sheet on. Don’t worry, it’s a lot harder to sand too far, compared to not sanding far enough, which will leave gaps in the back of your sponsons. It probably wouldn’t hurt to change your sandpaper if you think it’s getting weak, because it’s really easy to lose your concentration of making sure it’s square when it’s taking forever. Stay focused on keeping your sanding block square with the outer stringer, ensuring you don’t round off the stringer. Don’t forget to compare the two sponsons so you don’t sand one more than the other.
Then I FLIPPED THEM OVER, and mounted it back into the jig. Now you are able to see gaps if you don’t clamp it down all the way before you glue it. Make sure you put a dab of epoxy on the balsa tip blocks before you clamp the sheeting down with Mom’s clothespins. Now use your plastic syringe and squirt away.
The neat way to glue the sheeting on. Here I am gluing the “non-tripâ€.
After the glue dries, you are to sand off the plywood hanging off the outer edge. Sand and sand and sand and sand. If you don’t go far enough, it’s going to look like crap. Sand so far as that you start taking off a little material from the outer stringer.
Excessive use of clothespins? I think not. If you sanded far enough, there not be a gap where the sheeting meets the last former, as in this pic. Notice the inside out clothespin in the upper corner of the pic. Cheap and effective wood clamps.
Two more pieces of sheeting, and a little more sanding and you will be done.
The top and bottom sheets are very simple, since those sticks you glued on are going to prevent you from screwing it up. Just follow the instructions in the manual, and you can’t go wrong. As for the bottom sheet, the one that makes contact with the water, it’s important that the last 11 inches are flat. Sanding them perfect will not guarantee they will be straight, you have to tape them properly also. Make sure you tape the last 11 inches tightly, so the tape pulls the wood flush against the keelson. Leave no gaps in the last 11 inches, whatsoever.
Here, I finished sanding the tops of the sponsons to accommodate the top sheeting. Can you tell me what’s wrong with this picture?
What’s wrong is that I didn’t glue the short sticks to be centered with the sponson formers. I warped the keelson. But anything can be fixed when you are da man.
I just threw this in because Grimracer’s instruction manual lacks a close up of the sponson tips. Here, I am about to sand off the protruding ends of the sheeting to make it pretty.
The final step is to glue the sponsons to the center section. I stacked post it notes until I got the right height for the front of the center section, and weighed down the center section with the 1 2 3 blocks. Jerry D put three rubber bands on. I ran into a problem with that, because the rubber band at the middle of my center section had different tensions at the bottom of the hull compared to the top, and it glued the sponson so that it was twisted. If I were to do it again, I would use only two rubber bands to hold the sponsons in place. That third rubber band also created a lot of tension that fought against me while I carefully applied glue and wrestled to remove the wood blocks (which give you a space to work with when dabbing the glue on.)
After that your Villain S1 just needs fillets around the radio box, transom and sponsons. Then you paint it. My only advice on paint: There are many types of paint out there. Make sure you use the same type, but even better yet, I’m staying with the same brand. Initially, I soaked an old lint free cloth with epoxy and wiped it thinly over the entire hull to fill in the wood grains. I sanded it with 320 grit sandpaper, and since I was going with solid colors, I applied a heavy coat of primer, which I sanded down until I knew I was close to sanding it completely off. That helped hide the wood grains and imperfections so the final coat would look like glass. I went to a graphics shop for those dudes who like to dress up their Honda Civics and told them how I wanted my boat to look, and they made me stickers that gave my boat the finishing touches. Even my cowl’s window is a black sticker I cut out to match. Clear coat makes it gleam nicely.
You are one lucky dog. You have one of the fastest model Tunnel Hulls in the world. Congratulations on a job well done. After you’re done, you have to post a picture of your Villain on International Waters for everyone to see. Have FUN!!
More Photos:
Here is the pain you will have to endure when you warp the keelson, by not gluing the basswood sticks centered with the sponson formers… Just more time, nothing permanent. I filled it in with epoxy, then sanded it flat.
Your last step is to glue the individual sponsons onto the center section with epoxy glue. The rubber bands in the pic hold the sponsons tightly to the center section while the epoxy dries.
Here is an alternate idea for the radio box for a 3rd channel which can control fuel mixture.
Here is a close up of my radio box, and the custom machined servo wheel crafted by www.Precisionboatsracing.com. They machine the parts the same day, and the combination of the servo wheel and servo combination was still cheaper than a JR or Futaba servo and servo wheel.
The motor mount is also a precisionboatsracing product, and so is the steering control arm where the steering cables are hooked up to. The previous day I broked the skeg off of the bottom of the engine because I hit something in the water.
Fuel tank : 11oz. Hayes tank, and this idea on how to mount it was my own.
This method works a lot better than super glue.
And here is the finished product. The graphics were made by www.3ggrafix.com. Give them a call, if you ever need custom graphics and you live in the Buffalo area.
And this is the part of the boat everyone is trying to catch up to. We are talking 40mph runs on a regular basis, and that is if you don’t know what you’re doing. And it carves like it is on RAILS!
Do a search on google for Precision Boats Racing and they can also get you started. Have FuN!
Jeff Torgalski
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