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Xmod boat
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Tue, 08/05/2008 - 03:26
Couldn't figure out where else to stick this topic, so it'll go here. And yep, the title is right, I am building an Xmod boat.
I was in Radioshack the other day, and one of the assistant managers was about to throw away one of their display truck chassis. It was missing a few parts and a little worse for wear, but other than that the electronics were fine, so he just let me have it. Trying to figure out what to do with it, I had the idea of building a boat out of it. I haven't seen that done before (other then stupid people just driving their car into a pool), so I figured it would be an interesting challenge. I found a styrofoam block that was used a packing material, which could be carved down for the hull. And I convinced a butcher at the grocery store to give me a big stack of styrofoam meat trays I could cut up for detailing. After a little browsing around on the web, I thought of the design I wanted to model my boat after... one of the most famous, and yet least recognized boats in movie history: the ORCA.
So, on to the build. Here's the carved hull with the Xmod electronics installed. I modified the steering servo to move the rudder, and the batteries are two AA lithiums, to save on weight.
Using the meat trays, I cut them up an hot glued them together to form the shape and detailing of the boat.
Buoys added.
Top cockpit detail.
Added lettering and main mast.
Main mast finished, railing added, and other small details applied. You can also see the motor on the bottom of the boat. Yes, DC motors can run underwater, in case you didn't know. This method was much easier than trying to figure out a driveshaft.
The interior had to be removable to get to the battery compartment deep inside the hull, so it was all built as one piece.
The first layer of paint is applied. I airbrushed this layer (except for the red), but the rest of the boat will be hand painted.
Here's the crew; the three main characters from the movie. They are also carved out of little bits of the meat trays hot glued together.
I just finished the boat today. I wired lights in it and finished painting everything. It was night before I could take it out to the pool and test it, so here's a few pictures of it on the water.
I'll get some better pictures in the daylight tomorrow.
That is pure awesomeness!
Your craftsmanship is blowing my mind. Ears bleeding, face melting mind blown.
I can't get over what it's made of.
Incredible model making indeed.
I love to do scratch built stuff. I have a few model kits, but I always get bored with them. With work though, it's hard to find time to work on models for fun. This one took a little over two weeks of nights working on it.
Thanks for the tip on the servo. The potentiometer is actually on the bottom side, completely covered in hot glue to hold the servo in, so it is going to be incredibly difficult to cut it out to check it. The hot glue was also supposed to serve a dual purpose to seal it from water, but apparently that didn't happen. The whole boat is so sealed up and so small, nothing is going to be easy to get to.
That thing is so incredible it's insane. Do you do this sort of model building normally?
Check the wiring for the POT, sounds like it's shorting some where. And try die-electric (?) grease on the EP to help water proof it..
__________________
"None of you understand. I'm not locked up in here with you. You're locked up in here with me."
:)
Oh, and about the lights... they run off the same batteries as the boat, and in fact are tied into the board like lights on an Xmod would be. In order to make the roof removable so the interior could be taken out easier, I didn't want to run wires to it. Instead, I made three wire contacts on the top edge of the cabin, which touch similar contacts on the bottom edge of the roof. You can see the silver contacts better in this picture:
You can also see the servo in that picture, and the compartment the battery pack slides into. Besides looks, the wires running up the mast are functional too. Two of the wires provide power for the deck light on top of the mast, and another wire is actually the antenna.
Here's some more night shots with the lights:
And these are the best ones I could get of the interior:
I'd like to get a video of it up and running soon. I've got a underwater case for my camera too to get that "Jaws" perspective. 8) I have been using the salt-water pool at my apartment, and after the first test run, it seems to have gotten water in the servo/battery compartment. Salt water is more corrosive than regular, and the lithium batteries almost immediately started to rust. it also seems to have damaged the electronics somehow so that the rudder only steers right and more right. This boat is so small it is difficult to get it apart to see what the problem is and where the water is coming from. The hull is completely sealed and there is no prop shaft, so I'm assuming the prop is pushing water up through the rudder shaft. So, all that said, I need to find some time to fix it before I can do any kind of descent video for it.
In the meantime, here's some more pictures.
Here's some scale reference:
dude that thing is amazing, im impressed, there's so much detail in it i knew exactly what boat it was without reading any of the text first. amazing job on this one dude, i would vote for it for sure, now the real question is, how well does it run on the water?
side note: next project needs to be a scale shark that's bigger than the boat hahaha
Speechless...
From total scratch... little people...
__________________
"None of you understand. I'm not locked up in here with you. You're locked up in here with me."
:)
By god that is amazing. Nothing else to say bro, how long did you spend on it?
You've been MIA at GSR as well, you gotta show everyone this. ;)
Most awesome thing I have seen today. I'm gonna need a video of that thing moving in the water and more indepth of how it works.
How did you wire all the lights up? Are they running off the xmod board or do they have their own separate power supply?
I almost want to rip apart my xmod and do something like that now 8O
I've never seen anything done like that before. Great job :)
I knew I should have kept that model of the Titanic :lol:
If it did qualify, I would be handing over the prize right now. 8O
Blown, That is by far the most incredible scratch built RC I've ever seen. :wink: Truly a one of a kind that should be cherished, man.
I wish. All it has is the electronics, servo, and motor, if that counts as enough Xmod parts. Problem is, the rule that says it must be between 1/24-1/28 scale, and I think this counts as closer to 1/60.
Very impressive. Talk about a ground up project.
Does it have enough xmod parts to enter the buildoff? :D
Dude, that is insane! Nice work, +2.
Wow insane man! Absolutely insane - looks great!
Thats Is awesome =]
I'd never have been able to make some much detail...
8O 8O
Well done 8)
How long did it take from start to finish ?