VOT , remote control boats

SimonAH

Every Sunday the old duffers meet up at the boating lake down the road and AH Minor would like to participate. Anyone into this stuff? I need suggestions for a kit with, say, a £100 budget ceiling as I don't want to chuck away cash if it's a five minute wonder.

Yukirin

I had boats all through my teenage years, I doubt much has changed in 15 years. Are you talking wind power, speed, replicas or just anything that floats? Pretty sure model zone would be the main chain "Evans" style shop to go to if you cant find an indie near by.

Your most basic set up is a 2 channel radio system, same as you would use for a rc car, forwards, backwards/brake for the motor and left right for rudder. If you want to do sailing you'll need more channels to control the sails independently.
The Rc handset will need to have the ability to change the crystal to change frequency (unless there is a modern way or doing it instead of manually changing) these are colour coded and each user needs his own frequency so he doesnt interfere with other boats.
Handsets will have features like trim, adjustable neutral points and range depending on price point. My 2 channel Handset was £80.
Power source for the boat-for anything other than speed go electric. Electric boats can still go fast, but are much easier to maintain and dont set fire like ic engines.
Oh, always take a heavy weight tied to lots of string with you. When you get a mechanical in the middle of the lake-and it will happen- you can sling it over the boat and pull it back in instead of going swimming.


*edit
forget modelzone, hardly anything there. See if there is a nice indie near by.

EKE_38BPM

I know its obvious, but ebay is your friend. I picked up a RC aeroplane and all of the gear for less than £150.

That was about two years ago and I still haven't flown it yet!
Edit:
Crystals have gone the way of VHS. Its all digital now and you don't have to worry about someone else on your frequency as they automatically seek the strongest free frequency and change if the one you are on is in use. In theory anyway (I still haven't used my RC stuff, remember!)

Yukirin

EKE_38BPM wrote:

I know its obvious, but ebay is your friend. I picked up a RC aeroplane and all of the gear for less than £150.

That was about two years ago and I still haven't flown it yet!
Edit:
Crystals have gone the way of VHS. Its all digital now and you don't have to worry about someone else on your frequency as they automatically seek the strongest free frequency and change if the one you are on is in use. In theory anyway (I still haven't used my RC stuff, remember!)

makes sense. Carrying around a handful of crystals was a p.i.t.a. but you've now lost the social side of having to speak to everyone when you turn up on the lake to find out what band each person was on

Rigga

Avoid the rc boats they sell at Maplins! Rubbish. Get one from a proper modelshop. £100 should get you a half decent one.

SimonAH

Thanks guys! Any makes that are reputable?

Twostage

I remember looking into this a few years ago. There were some boats where the speed of them was absolutely amazing. I'll see if I can dig out some links.

Twostage

Not what I was looking for but how about this :-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Dj9Zq9B ... ata_player

That would give the duffers something to think about

Yukirin

dont know about brands, only had 3 shop bought boats and one was a nikko, was total poo and died getting sucked into a weir (sp?). My dad and I (mostly my dad) used to get plans out of magazines and build our own. We could complete a build in a couple of weeks then just have to paint and decorate. Flagship of the fleet was a home built 4ft 1940's motor torpedo boat. Also had a couple of millionaire style modern yachts, a tug, fishing trawler, a single hull and a twin hull speed boat. The twin hull was a shop kit, I upgraded the motor and put a bigger prop on, battery lasted about 7 mins down from 15 but it pretty much jumped out the water and straight into a hydroplane as soon as it started going. The old boys didnt like it much though

EKE_38BPM

From my days of looking into RC stuff, check out this for info on digital RC gear.
For an engine, may I suggest this. This selection may have been subject to budget creep.

Koncordski

Yukirin wrote:

dont know about brands, only had 3 shop bought boats and one was a nikko, was total poo and died getting sucked into a weir (sp?). My dad and I (mostly my dad) used to get plans out of magazines and build our own. We could complete a build in a couple of weeks then just have to paint and decorate. Flagship of the fleet was a home built 4ft 1940's motor torpedo boat. Also had a couple of millionaire style modern yachts, a tug, fishing trawler, a single hull and a twin hull speed boat. The twin hull was a shop kit, I upgraded the motor and put a bigger prop on, battery lasted about 7 mins down from 15 but it pretty much jumped out the water and straight into a hydroplane as soon as it started going. The old boys didnt like it much though

I loved model boats and cars etc. The cars i built myself as they were fairly easy to screw together kits (tamiya) but the boats I built with dad. Loved it, good father son activity aswell. The plans in the magazines are pretty good and all the parts are available on ebay. You'll get very familiar with universal joints, blade pitch and brass tube! I think a bought model with simple 2 chan transmitter is best to get you on the water straight away. You can build one together as you go along, i loved toys like meccano, lego etc...anything you can build was fun.

t.m.h.n.e.t

EKE_38BPM wrote:

I know its obvious, but ebay is your friend. I picked up a RC aeroplane and all of the gear for less than £150.

That was about two years ago and I still haven't flown it yet!
Edit:
Crystals have gone the way of VHS. Its all digital now and you don't have to worry about someone else on your frequency as they automatically seek the strongest free frequency and change if the one you are on is in use. In theory anyway (I still haven't used my RC stuff, remember!)

Yep the 2.4GHZ system is called spectrum. Once the receiver in the model is paired with the transmitter module it really is switch on and go.

When I was racing electric 1/10th scale changing crystals was a pain in the ass, luckily most clubs use a peg board so if there is no peg you don't turn anything on.

As for particular models I never really kept up with the RC boat scene enough but if you want to do a bit more research into RTR (ready to run) kits and post links, I'll try to guide you as much as I can with limited knowledge of that section.

Motors these days(assuming you want electric) tend to be brushless systems which require little maintenance and batteries have shifted to Lipo's which require specific charging and discharging methods.

ps: Did some digging. http://www.apexmodels.com/gbu0-prodshow/321000220.html - Requires battery and charger

mudcow007

boats are ghay - this is a fact i know

planes are where the cool kids play im in the process of setting up a FPV (first person video) basically camera stuck to the front of a plane sending the video back to you so you can fly from goggles/ screen

you can even have gps set up so it knows where it is an can fly back if you lose your connection to the plane and osd (on screen display) so it shows current speed, distance, location, compass back to home its quite scary actually

bails87

So mudcow's got his own UAV, basically?

mudcow007

yep!

to get serious distance (50+ miles) though you need crazy tx/ rx's and licenses, a couple of miles is very doable though

fpv on youtube (turn sound off)

NGale

How old is AH Junior?? if he's at least 10, you could get him into the local Junior section of the Sea Cadets where he will be able to play with real boats and it will cost you less!

aeon

nothing constructive to add, but i love the fact that there are little scenes with their own technical language and social codes and whatnot. right now there's probably a boatradar thread where people are asking what's the best roadbike for £150, and reminiscing about downtube shifters.

gtvlusso

I had R/C planes as a kid.

The radio gear is usually the expensive bit. The kits were about £50 for an 'Acro-wot' stunt plane, then you needed a glow engine made by 'OS' - not cheap and then fuel and stuff.

This is something I may do again in retirement, I quite enjoy a bit of engineering with some fun mixed in.

I did have an R/C sailing boat in the loft, I will try and dig it out for you.....see if we still have it, yours if we do!

mudcow007

gtvlusso wrote:

I had R/C planes as a kid.

The radio gear is usually the expensive bit. The kits were about £50 for an 'Acro-wot' stunt plane, then you needed a glow engine made by 'OS' - not cheap and then fuel and stuff.

This is something I may do again in retirement, I quite enjoy a bit of engineering with some fun mixed in.

I did have an R/C sailing boat in the loft, I will try and dig it out for you.....see if we still have it, yours if we do!

ahh the days of glow fuel. you don't really see fuel planes any more except for the giant class of planes, its all brush less motors now

an gone are the days where everything was built out of balsa an doped tissue. its mostly foam now an fibreglass or for the deeper pocketed amongst us carbon fibre

gtvlusso

mudcow007 wrote:

gtvlusso wrote:

I had R/C planes as a kid.

The radio gear is usually the expensive bit. The kits were about £50 for an 'Acro-wot' stunt plane, then you needed a glow engine made by 'OS' - not cheap and then fuel and stuff.

This is something I may do again in retirement, I quite enjoy a bit of engineering with some fun mixed in.

I did have an R/C sailing boat in the loft, I will try and dig it out for you.....see if we still have it, yours if we do!

ahh the days of glow fuel. you don't really see fuel planes any more except for the giant class of planes, its all brush less motors now

an gone are the days where everything was built out of balsa an doped tissue. its mostly foam now an fibreglass or for the deeper pocketed amongst us carbon fibre

They were noisy little engines, I seem to remember spending a fortune on a 2 cylinder OS engine - the most powerful one I could buy for the airframe - the plane was so fast and agile and I was useless at controlling it.

mudcow007

gtvlusso wrote:

mudcow007 wrote:

gtvlusso wrote:

I had R/C planes as a kid.

The radio gear is usually the expensive bit. The kits were about £50 for an 'Acro-wot' stunt plane, then you needed a glow engine made by 'OS' - not cheap and then fuel and stuff.

This is something I may do again in retirement, I quite enjoy a bit of engineering with some fun mixed in.

I did have an R/C sailing boat in the loft, I will try and dig it out for you.....see if we still have it, yours if we do!

ahh the days of glow fuel. you don't really see fuel planes any more except for the giant class of planes, its all brush less motors now

an gone are the days where everything was built out of balsa an doped tissue. its mostly foam now an fibreglass or for the deeper pocketed amongst us carbon fibre

They were noisy little engines, I seem to remember spending a fortune on a 2 cylinder OS engine - the most powerful one I could buy for the airframe - the plane was so fast and agile and I was useless at controlling it.

engines have moved on a bit now you can get proper radial engines not cheap mind (this isnt the biggest one either scary price they sound gorgeous though clicky

have you seen the jet engines you can get now?! them things are scary fast

i like nice an slow an docile planes that what you can limit damage when it decides to fly nose first into the floor

wgwarburton

NGale wrote:

How old is AH Junior?? if he's at least 10, you could get him into the local Junior section of the Sea Cadets where he will be able to play with real boats and it will cost you less!

Yeah, +1, or check out your local sailing club- at my club (which probably isn't much use to you since it's in the northern half of the UK generally) we start kids from 8 or younger in Optimists. It's great for building self-confidence, a world of fun and a skill they can take forward for the rest of their days...
Why sail models when you can do it for real*?

Cheers,
W.

*Apart from the getting cold & wet, the cost of the gear, storing the boat etc, of course...

wgwarburton

Sorry, double post.

tailwindhome

So VOT is Very Off Topic then?

Not an attempt at a pantomine German accent as I first read it.

ben@31

Twostage wrote:

Not what I was looking for but how about this :-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Dj9Zq9B ... ata_player

That would give the duffers something to think about

Touche!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DH5Z7IW81p0

You can run but you can't hide from this beast.

mudcow007

did a bit of flying last night

heres a grab from an earlier attempt at a recorded flight - im flying waaaaaaaay higher than this now an have a higher resolution camera