Conference vmszoo::rc

    Huh??  No sail control??  Going to be tough to go down wind...
    
    I suspect that the reason that you don't see them is that ice
    can be a very difficult surface.  Cracks, snow, and other 
    debris will make for very rough going.  
    
    Yes, it should be easy to build.  All you need is a box "fuse",
    an arm that runs out in front and a cross piece to hold the blades
    in back.  The mast should be anchored towards the front of the box.
    Nose steering and sail winch are the only controls.  You could use
    sheet aluminum for the blades.
    
    Have fun!
    jeff
    
    (certainly is a good year for it...  Cold weather and no snow!)
    

I saw some reference to a kit or plan for an Ice boat within the last two
days in some magazine - anybody know which one?  I dismissed it because I 
thought it would be too difficult to keep right side up.  An RC Sail boat
would be self righting but an ice boat would go down for the count.

Also there is a requirement that it only works if it is COLD and WINDY.
Sounds like prime building time to me.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
================================================================================

    Hi Sean,
    
    I have an RC BOAT magazine which contains the plans for a wind powered
    RC ice boat.  I would be glad to forward them to you.
    
    I have built a RC gas powered ice boat.  It has two skis made of
    3/32 inch alu. and was (I've put a larger engine on it since and
    have not had a chance to try it out yet) powered by an Enya .19.
    The engine set up is similar to a swamp boat and has one steering
    rudder.  The body is made of 3/32 inch plywood with the exception
    of the bas which is made of 1/2 inch plywood. It has an alu. cross-
    member which connect the skis to the body.  Its detailed with car
    decals complete pilot.  It goes (went) about 25mph.  I will try
    it out this weekend with the Eny .35.
    
    Andy Bernier
    
    dtn 225-6435	LUDWIG::BERNIER

This looked interesting from the Unix net.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
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From: [email protected]
Subject: Build an ice racer!
Date: 12 Dec 89 02:35:44 GMT
Sender: [email protected]
 
The discussion on using your RC car on the ice has encouraged me to note
a project a friend and I cooked up last winter:  The RC ice racer.  (only
useful in climates where large bodies of water freeze, and the wind whips
over them :-)
 
CONSTRUCTION
 
HULL
 
The main hull is a box:
  LOA: 80cm
  Beam: 8cm
  Draw: 8cm
 
---------------------________________
\                                    -------------\
 \             side view                           \
  \--------------------------------------------------
 
We used 2x4 and cut center frames with open spaces for radio installation
and put thin ply sides and tops on the box.
 
The aft runners are mounted on a 55cm piece of wood bolted to the frames
15cm from the stern
 
           |
  ---------|--
  Hull     |
  ---------|--
           |
           aft outrigger
 
35cm from the bow, the mast mounts into the frame, we use a dowel and drilled
a hole in the frame to make removing the sail for transport simple.  When you
drill the hole, keep the drill vertical port to starboard and drill the hole
a slight slant fore and aft so the mast will have a little aft rake.
 
BLADES
 
The blades were made out of 1" strip steel and are 15cm long.  Make them
blade shaped and sharpen them (we used a bench grinder).
 
The blades mount on the ends of the outrigger and in a steering column.  They
should pivot up and down to ride over irregularities in the ice.
 
MAST/SAIL
 
The mast is a 90cm dowel, the boom is 30cm.  The sail is the triangle formed
by the boom and mast, be sure to leave some space at the bottom to mount the
mast with.  We used grommets and soldered wire rings to hold the sail on.
 
RADIO INSTALLATION
 
The Rx antenna gets rubber banded to the mast.
 
The steering servo must turn the front blade.  Put a hole through the 
bottom of the hull in the fore section to put a rod through with the front
blade on it.  Some kind of servo saver is VERY IMPORTANT, the front blade
takes a lot of abuse, we used brass rods for the steering and found they
bent within minutes on the ice.
 
The sail servo was simple, attach a 15cm bar to the X top for the servo
and attach some fishing line to the end.  The line should go from the
servo to an eye on the aft deck, to the end of the boom, this lets
you use the same servo position regardless of whether the wind is from
the port or starboard.
 
Originally, we expected to have problems burning sail servos so we used
the inexpensive AristoCraft servos.  We have had absolutely no problem
ith them at all.  The Other problem we expected was that the NiCads would
perform poorly in the cold, also no problem.  The cold gets to you standing
on the ice in the wind before it gets to the batteries, and the boats are
so much fun, it takes the cold quite a while to get to you!
 
WEIGHT
 
Don't worry!  Our boats were built with heavy materials to survive the
stress of budding ice racers and to simplify construction.  We found that
in a heavy wind it is useful to add lead weights to the outrunners!
 
REFERENCES
The Chap-Stik (tm) commercial on TV - hey we used it!
 
The ice racers we built were not scale, but if you feel a need for scale,
the Jan '89 issue of _Wooden Boat_ has an article "Hard Water and Splinters"
that should help.
 
There was also an article in a modeling mag with a design around the same
time, but our design is not based on this article and our feeling is that
a balsa construction would not stand up to the abuse we give our boats.
================================================================================
From: [email protected] (Patman)
Subject: Re: Build an ice racer!
Date: 18 Dec 89 13:48:28 GMT
 
Another fun item for the winter months is an Everglades-style airboat.  Very
simple to build, just a box with a motor/prop and a rudder on it:
 
                                   | +---+
                              +---+| |    \
                              |mot|| |     \
                              +---+| | fin  \  
                              |  | | |       \
                              |  |   ---------
                              |  |     |
               ----------------------------
                \                         |
                  \------------------------
 
Although you might not equate the everglades with snow, these things work very
well on snow.  I built a couple of .049 powered boats, and they were a ball.
I don't know how well an electric version would work, but it certainly would
be easier to run.
 
The only construction trick is the rudder attachment.  Put a piece of brass 
tubing in the hull so it just sticks up above the top planking.  Then put a
piece of tubing on the fin that fits inside the hull tube.  You get a hinge  
point for the rudder, plus you can pull it out to get it out of the way when
you're starting the engine.
 
Pat
-- 
Pat Mancuso   ([email protected]    ...!uunet!lotus!pmancuso)