This will never fly!

[Frank v B]

A couple of years ago John Werner of the club gave me a Hobby King Phantom sailboat hull.  It had a winch and rudder servo but no keel, fin, rudder, sails or mast.

From a couple of photos and statistics from the website I calculated... or guessed at:
- the fin depth and keel profile
- the keel weight (1.3 kg of shot)
- rudder shape and depth
- mast height (55" above the deck) and boom length (15")

First problem- how to cast the keel and come out at a target weight.  A light came on.  I used a slip form.  The same way they built the CN Tower.  Bought a Dollar Store paint bottle and cut off the top, emptied the contents, coated the inside with vaseline and mixed shot in with 5 minute epoxy and poured it into the bottle.  Let it cure overnight.

Cut out the bottom of the bottle and pushed the lead halfway out of the other end of the bottle.  Put it on a weigh scale and added lead and epoxy mix until the weight read exactly 1.3 kgs and let it set overnight.  The bottle mold slipped right off after it cured.  Clamped it to the plywood fin, added a balsa nose and tail cone and.... done!  The middle photo shows the keel with the black shot and the balsa tail and nose cone.

Used a 48" carbon rod as a mast and spliced in a piece to extend it to 55".  Glued an aluminum tube to the bottom 5" of the mast to act as a mast step and a re-inforcement for the gooseneck (the swivel where the boom meets the mast).

Added double spreaders using the ratios of a Beneteau 43  mast and used control line wire as stays and shrouds.

Now to locate spinnaker cloth for sails and some more turnbuckles.

Sorry this is not a flying model.... but it is a model.... and keeps me busy.

The photo of the full boat is from the Hobby King website.

Frank

ps: I am sure BJ, Dr. John and Rob D. will understand and ....forgive me.   They understand sailors.

[octagon]

Good Job Frank. I would love to see you sail that boat. I was in Central Park in NYC last year and there is a big pond there where they sail boats.

[sihinch]

I must admit I have a slight interest in RC boats, too.  And this model looks lovely.

TEMAC now has a car track.....maybe we can get @gmcnic  to agree to a pond, now?