With rain clouds hovering overhead, plane build is out. But keeping the spirit of the Sweepstakes was thinking of building something. So trying my hand on an airboat. Have no idea about the desirable dimensions,weight and power setup. So just drew a profile of an airboat and starting the build with foam board. And yes, the newspaper photo with the drawn profile

Ahaa! Look on the net for Gator Bait, an article I read about 20-30 years ago.

It's an ELAASTA! Extra Low Altitude All Smooth Terrain Aircraft 

Not your typical Gas Guzzling 2 Dimensional bumparoo

Did a quick search, here are some results:

http://www.martysrcboats.com/air2.htm



As you can see, you have to wear a baseball cap and dark glasses to operate it 

I'm sure, knowing you, this will be something really creative and am looking forward to following this build. (Also fits in well with what you said about flooded flying fields  )

Thanks Sanjay ji. My first try should be quite basic to see if it works.

Started build today. Drew the side panel and cut out 4 pieces from 3mm foamboard. Cut anothe piece 12in * 27in to serve as the bottom skin of the hull. The pieces were glued today to yield the hull of the airboat.

 Sir what are the basic proportions that you are using?
Making an airboat too for sweepstakes

Your design and build looks nice sir

@RCNeil21 - This is NOT based on any plan, so do not know how it will work out in the end. The distance berween bow and stern is 27inches, the beam is 12inches. Height of the side panels is 3inches. The motor mount is 9 inches from the stern and height from deck to motor shaft is 4 1/2 inches.  Will try to get a 3 bladed prop, if  I can locate one with the LHS.

I have also cutout the bulkheads for inserting a plastic watertight box for the electronics.

Today I prepared two rudders using a scrap piece of 2mm coro (packing of a parcel I had received). To strengthen the material, I glued 3 sheets and added bamboo skewers. I used a cycle spoke as a hinge for the rudders. The two rudders were connected together as shown.

Just occurred to me... Where will you put the batteries? Will the box be big enough for ESC & Batteries?

Yep. The box is big enough for the battery, esc, receiver and vill still have space to spare.

Deck covered and servo installed. Prepared a lip around the servo and radio box to prevent water from entering. Will be covered by a lid later.

Completed covering the deck. Installed a working rudder stick. Next prepared covers for the three hatches. To add scale features to the Everglades boat, prepared seats for the pilot(?) and the tourists. The seats were affixed on the three hatch overs so that the internals remain accesible even after the seats are in place.

More pictures of the build

Wow!

In the next set of pics we expect seat belts with quick release buckles...

Detailed looks of the seat.
beautiful build sir.

Ashok-ji; you are an artist! 

BTWI hope you glued the 3 rudder corro sheets with the flutes at 90 degrees to each other. That way it will have strength in both axes

beautiful 

Thanks Iyer, Manoj, Sanjay ji and Col.
Yes, The flutes were rotated at each layer.

Very neat build. Love the seats

Great Detailing Sir! Sir you could also add a search light controlled by a knob on the TX

Absolutely LOVE the detailing. Inspiring work Sir.

@ashok baijal,
VC is the guy who has the most posts on this forum (excl Anwar)
He's been strangely quiet for the last six months or so.
I think nowadays he responds only when something truly impresses him.

Thanks VC. You should also be building one excellent model for the sweepstakes and share your techniques with all of us specially the embellishments you make for your boats.

@Iyer.I am rather slow at finishing the two models under construction for reasons you know. I tried the new epoxy I got from Mumbai for fibreglassing the boat. It was a complete disaster and I had to scrape off the fibreglass with some residual damage to the boat. Now I have more work to do for finishing the boat.

I need a 30/40 amp ESC on loan for the trial as getting a new one from HK will take time. I thought that I had one lying somewhere but I was wrong.

@Iyer. Recd the ESC in today's mail. Thanks.Will send it back once I get mine.

After a break, started fibreglassing the hull. My earlier attempt to use a new epoxy that I got from Mumbai was a total fiasco as it refused to stick properly to the pvc foamboard. Had to scrape it off and the red marks seen in the picture below are spots left by this epoxy. So now one kg of epoxy down the drain! 

I have started fiberglassing using Araldite and covered one strip today to see how it sticks to foamboard before covering the remaining hull.

Progress as on 16-7-15:
Fiberglassing of hull completed. Next step is deep sanding and a coat of NCPutty.