Thread: Aquarama

Now if I could a pair of 1:10 Lambo motors hmmmm

I think I will be ready for sea (pond) trials within a few weeks, radio is taking some understanding

I made a little grate for the floor of the cockpit into the bedroom to catch the sand. Sliced up some balsa into 1.5mm square strips and then rotated and glued it all up. Give it a quick lick with some brown paint. Could have purchased some made up from England - will next time.

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Making up some headlights to copy the original boat. Used the light surround in SS from a kit and glued some thin perspex to the back side.

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Used some 10mm aluminum tube for the light barrel. The difficulty is approximating the required angle to make the skew cut fit neatly to the light surround. A few practice shots! The angle was then measured with the digital protractor as I need to drill corresponding holes in the hull to accommodate the light fixture and to be flush with the side. And point forward!

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Lighting is provided with a 5mm crystal clear LED and dropping 47ohm series resistor to limit the current from the 12v battery source to 25mA - OK?

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Some clear pipe around the LED to center it in the pipe.

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Measuring the hull to make symmetrical holes for light bodies. Wiring will be internal. I need to drill back through the injected buoyancy foam (remember that?) to the cockpit and then under the cockpit floor to the batteries.

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Drilling the hull next. Wooo need to be careful!

Mounting lights in hull. I started with 3mm pilot hole and worked my way up to 8mm. Poked the Dremel in with small grinder to micro trim hole. Finished with small round file. Tricky as the wood was very thin at the back due to the steep angle to the surface.

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Brass nailed the fitting in place. Not glued - so it can be serviced. Wires were taken through the hull back to the LiPos via a "Y" connector.

I did purchase a circuit board with a remote switch to enable me to switch the lights on and off when under way using the third channel on the transmitter. Well that worked for one day and then the board then refused to work so it got binned. I now just plug the lights into the charging port on the batteries when I want them on.

Not good but I am over it.

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I will detail the model of the Riva boatyard cradle next and that's it.. off to the pond!

It looks really,really good, well done.

This is some details on the cradle. I made a model of the original Riva boatyard cradles.

A plan I ripped from the net. Plan is 1:10 scale same as boat - handy!
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Framing up with 10mm ply/ Lots of little cuts to fit.

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Some paint as close as original as I could figure.

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Stikas! This was fun, I tried all sorts of ways to make decals and ended up using A4 clear sticky back I got from Etray made for the purpose. Good stuff, for use with inkjets, does not smudge and sticks like you know what. Just copied original fonts from Riva photos and printed direct to A4. Cut out with razor and apply - simples.

CANTERIE RIVA SARNICO ITALY

Is translated as -

YARD (boat yard) RIVA (who makes em) SARNICO ITALY (Where they make them)

I used some fluffy window sealing tape from "Raven" to make some protection for the hull to cradle.

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Added some hold down straps with Velcro. Don't want it blown away in a storm.
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That's it for this build!

I am off to the pond to do some damage. The missus can make me a video (I think) as I am driving it from the bank. Barring floods and the river don't rise all should be well.

All going well I will post a YouTube link for those interested. Else I will post pictures of a busted boat.

Now for another project.....

Cedar strip Canadian canoe perhaps?

Well all done with the construction of the boat.
Pretty happy with how it went for a first go at this sort of project given I had only a set of very old plans and no instructions.

I gave it a test yesterday at Harrington Waters Keys.

It runs flat out for about 10 minutes and gets up on the plane quite easily. I could run it for longer on a lower throttle for longer but where is the fun in that. If I put larger batteries in it it would go longer faster but would be heavier soooo... maybe not. It takes about an hour to recharge each battery.

The cooling system works well with the props pushing water through the ESCs and the two motors, only just warm at the end of the run.

No water leaked into the hull and there was little splash inside the cockpits so just a quick flush outside with the hose, dry off and ready for next time.

Here is a link to a short video we made of it running, let me know if it does not work . The rocks were very intimidating I think if I hit them it would be curtains for the hull.

Aquarama Trial Run1 - YouTube

Thanks everyone for the interest and the comments, it added to the fun.

That looks awesome and she runs well. You can also carry a seco d set of batteries.
I used to have 3 or 4 charged set of batteries with me.

That was great to watch how it all came together and now even the final result!

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

Well done, it even rides with the classic tail down bow up attitude of the riva, sounds cool too! Great effort enjoy your work.