Update from the Drydocks December 10th, 2021
A long week with lots going on, both at the shop and at home. Our house is currently completely encapsulated in plastic as we repaint the entire interior from top to bottom. When we purchased it, the entire house (The ENTIRE house) was painted in dark brown paint. It's a biggish house, but looked small and dark and very cave-like. We're feeling pretty displaced, and fighting paint fumes, but the results are amazing so far.
Quick update before I forget. Renee and I are taking a much-needed vacation for part of next week from Tuesday through Friday. Jason is still going to man the fort, so standard orders will go out, inventory levels willing.
On that topic, a few things that we are waiting on suppliers for, in case you're waiting on an order:
6ch receivers: ETA Tuesday
Universal Joints: ETA next week
MKIII SubDriver cylinder bulkheads: ETA next week, cylinders to (finally) be shipped out week following
Last week in photos:
The mini fleet of RC subs arrived from Dwayne Hill thanks to Jason driving from Naples up to St. Augustine and then back here to Texas. These boats are GORGEOUS!
We've started going through them one at a time. These need to be gone through in detail, radios added, and final test and trim done prior to crating and shipping out. If one of these is yours, we are still online for getting the last one out by mid-January, per the product pages. You'll love these things.
Full video on each will come soon!
The only damage to the boats occurred in the form of a broken propeller on Alfa. This was a cast resin prop and it doesn't take much to snap off a blade.
I am in the middle of molding and re-casting the blade, but this time it will feature carbon fiber reinforcement of each blade to avoid this from happening again.
I'm also taking with Ed, the new owner, to see about drafting and 3D printing a new, more accurate propeller in stainless steel.
We are 98% done with this gorgeous little Albacore Phase IV model. It's a tiny boat, and has a lot of functions packed in there.
The Phase IV's were characterized by their x-tail rudders and contra-rotating propellers. This thing is going to be FAST and maneuver like a fish. Pool trials are set for next weekend, weather permitting. Look for a full video soon!
The 1/48 Type XXI was finally completed and crated. This is our new standard methodology for shipping any boat larger than 4ft or so. Solid plywood crates, expanding foam and air packs.
Trust me, shipping companies can still damage a boat, even one packed up like this, but the odds of them doing it mistakenly are drastically reduced. It's a lot of work and additional expense, but very worth it.
1/6th Delphin master patterns completed!
These are going to my new casting partner up in Dallas. These hulls will be vacuum formed for strength and cost-efficiency. The rest of the kit will consists of 3D printed cowlings and laser-cut aluminum control surfaces. Look for this new kit in early 2022!
A baby RC shark! I got this off of Amazon for $30 and have fallen in love with it. The reason for the strange purchase is that I'm slowly picking at my beautiful scale RC Orca from Jaws and I really want a functional RC shark to chase the boat. This one is too small (it's about the size of a "regular" Great White, but I'm going to use the design methodology to modify my big rubber "Bruce" to provide realistic motion while it stalks the boat.
A bit of weathering to this beautiful 1/48th Astute submarine really brings it to life!
Well... that's it for this week. Not much going to be going on next week with me being away, but lots of progress to share shortly thereafter. Next RC project: 1/77 Disney Nautilus RC full buildup from scratch, fully documented start to finish.
Thanks for reading! Bob
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