building rc sailboat hints

[h_2_o]

So a couple of us decided over this winter we wanted to attempt to build an RC sailboat or two to play with. Anyway the way we are going about it might be a bit different than most so i'll explain. we have our hull design (see attatchment) and what we are going to do is first cut it out with some prototyping foam on a CNC after that create a mold around it. after we create that first mold we can then use flotation type foam to make more hulls and wrap either fiberglass or carbon fiber around them. anyway i know we are going to do a lot of things wrong the first couple times so i thought i'd ask for hints/suggestions/etc........

thanks for any help anyone can give.

[Doc]

1. Don't make the mokd with keel and hull attached.
(really difficult to get the @#$ keel-bulb out of the mold.)
- 'Doc

PS - I'm the last one that should be giving advice about this sort of stuff (if you haven't figured it out yet...)

[Rex R]

simple fix 'Doc(in theory) use a two piece mold.

[h_2_o]

sorry i didn't take the keel bulb off of the rendering. we are planning on making the keel seperate from the hull and attatching after we get it out, mostly because we think it will be easier and hey i'm lazy. actually the keel and the keel bulb will be 2 seperate pieces as well also making it easier to put together later. any other suggestions are greatly appreciated.

thanks

[h_2_o]

just got done talking with the fiberglass guy working on this with us and i had part of our pcocess a bit off. instead of using a prototyping foam to cut the design out of we are going to use a hardwood for the boat pattern. after we cut it out of a hardwood (i forget which they said) then the wetsanding. from what i gather having a really really nice surface makes a huge difference when laying fiberglass. anyway after the wet sanding then a few coats of wax go on the wood. then a fiberglass release type wax. then we lay the fiberglass on the wood and after it dries it should pop off. once removed then we will fill the cavity with foam and continue on.

again if anyone has suggestions/comments/etc.... please jump in

[Robert Harik]

Its best to pick a class first ( type of boat ) , get plans and build , so you have tested design and someone to sail against in your area. There is alot involved with designing a good sailing (not to mention competitive) boat. If your good in that department, go for it! If not, its a bummer to spend all that time building to find out you have a dog. Here are a couple of good sites: http://ghmyc.org/ http://www.gbmy.com/ http://www.amya.org/us1mcons.html http://www.myrc.org/build36 http://www.onemetre.net/ Rob

[tallyrc]

are you doing this for fun or do you want to be competitive. i started this a few years ago as much for the process and "hands on" time. i don't care a lick about being competitive. it has been a wonderful experience to date. i freehand sculpted a plug from white foam. coated it in plaster then faired that. once i had it as i liked it, i coated it in marine grade epoxy. sprayed that with mold release (i had miserable times with wax...) and layed up the mold on that. if you leave the mold you pull a little thinner than you might want to do, it helps in pulling it off the plug, and helps in getting the new hulls out later... getting your plug absolutely as nice as yo can at first saves much time later... i'm kinda making it all up a i go, but my result i think is quite nice.. i'll try to get some pics..

[h_2_o]

I've been busy for a while, ok quite a while anyway some updates to questions people had and the boat.

first off nope not going to be competitive at all, just wanted it to scale, and it will be a 1/20'th scale model of the luna rossa, and it will be faily precise as we were able to get the plans for the original boat.

as for racing it or whatnot, if the boat ends up a dog it ends up a dog, we are making it because we are having fun with it when we get the time. plus the fact that it wont fit into any class i've found, and that is partially done on purpose so we can have fun with this project and not do it just to try and out do everyone and all that BS.

as for our progress, well since a lot of us have been busy it kinda got put on hold, however i did recently get the laminate done so i can get it to the mill before long. that will give us are armature to make our mold off of, from there it get's easy.......HAHAHA ok not easy i should have said, from there we start testing out unknowns. anyway i'll try and get some pics up of the laminate after it get's cut, it is a slow process but an enjoyable one so far.