My Grey thunder arrived today and not having ever owned an rc boat before I must say that I'm impressed with the look of it. I paid for the version that doesn't come with radio gear but it turns out that they sent me the one which includes the radio gear which is a bonus. Pity I bought the receivers, servos etc... to go into the boat (I have no use for them, oh well it's good to have spares).
Can anbody tell me how to go about painting it: Can I use the same paint that I use on my lexan car bodies and then spray a clear coat over them?
Also is there a way to start the boat and have water running through the engine without having the boat in the water? Is this recommended for running in the engine?
Here are some pics for those who are interested. (sorry about the quality)
Hi mate. Nice boat! Cos it's plastic, grab some non water based paints to try. I think Revell make one that won't come off with water. Maybe some type of enamel. I'll PM you with a good rc boat site which may help. You can run the boat on land for a min or two to make adjustments.
Hey Davey it should go about 28mph as per the box which is roughly 45 kmh which will look half good on the water with all the spray. Thanks for the tips MarkG.
Anybody else who has any tips are more the welcome to contribute.
i recon if you hooked up the water intake(behind ya prop) to a small fishtank pump, then you could run it on land for a bit...
auto acrilic paint maybe...thats what ive sprayed on hundreds of surfboards and no probs..but not sure on the plastics...is that grey colour like an undercoat paint or is it the colour of the plastic??
Yeah, I am thinking about connecting it to a small pump to get water running through it, or just place a bucket of water higher than the boat so I can syphon the water through the engine.
It's hard to tell if the plastic is actually grey or has just been sprayed grey. It looks like it is clear plastic which has been sprayed on the inside as the outside of the case is much glossier than the inside. I would be 90% sure now that it has been sprayed grey on the inside. So let me get one thing out of the way : will normal rc car paint (the type used to spray lexan rc car bodies) be any good to spray this boat if a clear coat is sprayed over the top?
Ok so I have had it running out of the water now. I basically got a bucket of water and placed it on a table, then placed my boat on the ground. I then used some fish tank filter tube to take the water from the bucket into the water intake of the boat. When the tube was connected I siphoned the water out of the outlet water pipe and gravity took car of the rest.
It started quite easily (comparing it to the .28 in the savage, the boat only has a .16) I ran it for about a 1/4 of a tank feeling the temperature of the water and engine head throughout the process. The water exiting the engine was only luke warm and the engine head was cool enough to hold your hand on.
If you find some fittings, rig up a standard hose connection that reduces down to fuel line size and run that through your boat. Just make sure you only turn the tap on so it just dribbles or you will pop the hoes off with the pressure.
Make sure you put some extra flotation inside the hull. Some cut up pool noodles work well. We had a guy down the lake two months ago watch has his $600 boat do a titanic impersonation as he didn't have any flotation. He never recovered his boat and went out an paid $5 for a pool noodle for his other boat.
Put your receiver inside a standard party balloon and tie it off with a zip tie. It won't protect it from total immersion but will help when you get a small amount of water inside slopping around.
The fuel tank lid may give you problems with sealing after a while. Be worthwhile to replace it a Sullivan tank at that point.
Keep an eye on the bushes in the stuffing tube. From memory, the stock ones wear pretty fast.
The Greythunder is not a bad beginners boat. Just be aware that the ABS hull will have a limited life compared to a fibreglass hull. Enjoy
Do you have an airbrush or were you wanting to use aerosol paints to paint it?
If you are talking about airbrushing it then you could use the Spaz Stix paints. They are laquer based paints and therefore have better ahearing properties.
Thanks for the tips direwolf, that's the type info I could use especially about the pool noodles. The boat already has a large piece of polystyrene foam in the hull of the boat.
Qikazz, I have an airbrush and was considering using it but if the spaz stix paint is better I have no objection to buying a few spray cans.
I have just purchased an electric pump to run in my boat that runs on 6-12 v battery power, I usethis as a constant water flow exchange system to keep her cool. I got it from rc boat bits on ebay http://stores.ebay.com.au/RC-Boat-Bitz this pump works really well as an on land flush system all you need is a bit of 10 mm hose and a bucket of water to flush or run on land.
regards Simon
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