Sidewalls completed. Excess wood trimmed away. I don't have those fancy clamps so I had to 'modify' my pliers to aid the adhesives on the curves. 

Beginning to look like what she is intended to replicate.

Really  greati will be following this thread happily

Put a BIG motor on this please

Not only the motor, but the prop will be much bigger (as compared to my other builds) - 3 blader with a 55 mm dia. Consequently, I am ramping up the ESC to 30A.

Received some heavy duty servos from Girish. They should be adequate for flicking the DPDT switch and handling the huge rudder. By the way, Adiboy is arranging to bring in reversible brushed ESC's soon. Snap them up while you can.

Wembley's Quickfix and sawdust mixture is an excellent option for filling gaps in balsa/wood constructions.

Quote from: VC on October 30, 2013, 01:16:54 PM
Thank you Sire! All started with a Graupner boat that I had as a kid. Many years later a senior gentleman from Gurgaon procured beautifully laser cut parts for the Aquarama Riva. A little practice will help me do justice to that beauty when I do build it.

Build started on 27th. Oct. Using an existing keel and modifying it - lot of surgery involved. Bulkheads have to be repositioned and completely redesigned to arrive at the desired shape. Motor has been wired to the DPDT switch and tested - works fine. Stuffing tube is a brass pipe that has been lengthened with the addition of ball point pen skeletons. The greasing funnel on the tube is from the tip of a ball point pen.

Target completion date is set at 30th. Nov. 2013 

The keel of the boat was made by you ? What is it made of?

The original keel comprises 3 sections of 10mm Japonica. I wanted re make it out of hard ply but couldn't source the required scrap pieces from my local carpenter.

What is a date for launching ceremony?

Maiden scheduled for 1st. Dec.

Major problem. Hull waterproofed and first coats of varnish applied. She is sitting too high on the water. Not scale. Tried adding weights - still not happy. She looks top heavy. What do I do?

Some lead weight at keel level??

Is this happening with full rc set up?

Quote from: VC on November 06, 2013, 09:00:24 AM
3 blader with a 55 mm dia. Consequently, I am ramping up the ESC to 30A.

Please re-consider the power setup.
3 blade 55mm prop on 30A ESC will be huge load on ESC. even 36 size motor running 55mm prop will be hot setup. I would suggest 40 size low KV motor may be 1000/1500 kv running 4S lipo will give it scale speed and will sound better. It will be great to see this model cruising around.    

Please note that I am using a BRUSHED setup. They run much much cooler on boats and cars when compared with brushless motors.

Quote from: Gajjark on November 11, 2013, 09:33:57 AM
Is this happening with full rc set up?

Yes Krunal, unfortunately. I am left with two options - sail her the way she is or do massive surgery. I will post a picture of what I would have to do shortly.

If I want to preserve the scale appearance, this is what I may have to resort to.

The entire area shaded black will have to be cut away. Huge job if one considers hull integrity, strengthening the bulkheads - not to mention refinishing everything all over again. Or do I just go ahead and finish her the way she is and compromise my own expectations?

That's a call only I can take.

If I do muster the guts and conviction to go in for this surgery then we will arrive at this.

Btw, How's that for photohopping/ airbrushing achieved in under 15 mins?

Difficult call. I would go ahead with it though in order to preserve the scale look, else it will keep nagging you whenever she sails. But, sorry for the obvious question, is this the only solution? (Did you try Sanjay sir's suggestion ? )

Rohit bhai, as I explained to Rai Saheb earlier yesterday - I loaded the hull with all electronics + 50% extra weight in lead bars. Still not happy with the way she sits on the water.

I know nothing about boats. But what I know is you have worked very zealously with meticulous planning. But if don't preserve the scale appearance, there's every possibility that you'll later regret not making it PERFECT.

After working so hard on this boat, I don't think you should compromise on ANYTHING, even if its the appearance. Its your call though.

You have the luxury of additional weight - avoid surgery and use the
extra weight in batteries - do not use lipo - use round cells in series/parallel
arrangement - cheaper and more hardy. You can even use a lead acid battery
if your boat is big enough.

That prop is going to put heavy load on your esc

Saikat is correct

1. Use a Pb Acid battery, the type used in lanterns. Weighs about 500 grams +
2. Put a fibreglass coat on the hull

Take the benefit of the lower weight and beautify it further

Making it heavy will decrease the agility. Plus such a low transom might make it unstable.. Can you not take it out for a test run to see how it goes when you have some speed built up?

I was looking at the pictures on the first post, and it got me thinking. You might make it appear a bit lower by using some pieces of trim(Like the black bit in the picture where the boat is shown from the back). Or do some clever paint scheme. A two tone paintjob maybe? Black on the underside to make it appear as if more of it is submerged?

You can use barring balls. Make a small pouch of it filled with wet sand and try.