X-Craft RC options

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  • Slats
    Vice Admiral
    • Aug 2008
    • 1776

    X-Craft RC options

    Apart from the Excellent 1:15 scale X craft kit Mike sells are there any others?
    Only other kit I know of is a tiny 1/72 scale unit which is on the very small side for RC?


    Thanks
    J
    John Slater

    Sydney Australia

    You would not steal a wallet so don't steal people's livelihood.
    Think of that before your buy "cheap" pirated goods or download others work protected by copyright. Theft is theft.



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  • Subculture
    Admiral
    • Feb 2009
    • 2119

    #2
    Two models. Earlier type similar to the MBD by Alan Poole, but at 1/12th scale. A few hulls were produced, very nice model, but out of production at the moment. Mike has one of these hulls (master?) and the moulds are still kicking about somewhere. Nigel Edmonds had them last, but I think some retooling was mentioned. Nice boat. Nigel Edmonds model-



    OTW X51 (later design) also at 1/12th scale. I actually prefer this version- improved hydrodynamic design if a little less graceful looking.


    Comment

    • Kazzer
      *********
      • Aug 2008
      • 2848

      #3
      Originally posted by Subculture
      Two models. Earlier type similar to the MBD by Alan Poole, but at 1/12th scale. A few hulls were produced, very nice model, but out of production at the moment. Mike has one of these hulls (master?) and the moulds are still kicking about somewhere. Nigel Edmonds had them last,
      Correct. But Nigel wasn't going to produce from the molds, and wanted far too much money for them, making the project totally commercially nonviable. So Alan sent me a spare hull and the plan is to produce new masters and go from there.
      David is going to produce new masters when he has time. I estimate 2045ad. This boat is far more accurate than the MBD model, but with a little work, that can be rectified fairly easily - even I managed it.
      Stop messing about - just get a Sub-driver!

      Comment

      • Slats
        Vice Admiral
        • Aug 2008
        • 1776

        #4
        Well Mike, I'll have to start saving for your 1/15 scale kit. It won't be this year- Pauline would kill me!
        By the way Mike the Xcraft you sell, do you have some photos of any customer's models?

        Thanks
        J
        John Slater

        Sydney Australia

        You would not steal a wallet so don't steal people's livelihood.
        Think of that before your buy "cheap" pirated goods or download others work protected by copyright. Theft is theft.



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        Comment

        • Subculture
          Admiral
          • Feb 2009
          • 2119

          #5
          I take it the OTW stickleback doesn't appeal then.

          This is Paul Cooks Darnell X-craft.

          You can have a chat with Paul over on facebook, John.

          Comment

          • Slats
            Vice Admiral
            • Aug 2008
            • 1776

            #6
            nice but I like the orginal X craft from WW2. Would not mind this in a smaller scale - like 1/24 or 1/32 rather than the 1/15.
            J
            John Slater

            Sydney Australia

            You would not steal a wallet so don't steal people's livelihood.
            Think of that before your buy "cheap" pirated goods or download others work protected by copyright. Theft is theft.



            sigpic

            Comment

            • Kazzer
              *********
              • Aug 2008
              • 2848

              #7
              Originally posted by Subculture

              This is Paul Cooks Darnell X-craft.

              If you look closely at the rear horizontal fins, you'll see they are flat. Compare this with Poole's model and they are rounded, more like chicken legs. I put some muscle on my Darnell model by using Playdoh on the fin and sculpting it, them making a rubber mold and pouring Alumilite. They look much more realistic now. But then, at 20' away in a mirky pond, who's to know!
              Stop messing about - just get a Sub-driver!

              Comment

              • Slats
                Vice Admiral
                • Aug 2008
                • 1776

                #8
                Originally posted by kazzer
                If you look closely at the rear horizontal fins, you'll see they are flat. Compare this with Poole's model and they are rounded, more like chicken legs. I put some muscle on my Darnell model by using Playdoh on the fin and sculpting it, them making a rubber mold and pouring Alumilite. They look much more realistic now. But then, at 20' away in a mirky pond, who's to know!
                Mike photos please.
                J
                John Slater

                Sydney Australia

                You would not steal a wallet so don't steal people's livelihood.
                Think of that before your buy "cheap" pirated goods or download others work protected by copyright. Theft is theft.



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                • Subculture
                  Admiral
                  • Feb 2009
                  • 2119

                  #9
                  The Darnell/MBD X-craft is best described as 'stand off scale'. The vanes need modifying or remaking as already mentioned and the bow needs reshaping if authenticity is your goal (the unmodified bow is too sharp and pointy).

                  Most of the John Darnell's boat masters were fabricated back in the late sixties and early seventies.

                  Back then information was thinner on the ground, and folk were less fussy, plus John was one of the first to market working sub kits to the great unwashed, so most people were kept busy wrestling with ballast systems etc. Tends to sway minds away from rivet counting.

                  Comment

                  • Kazzer
                    *********
                    • Aug 2008
                    • 2848

                    #10
                    Originally posted by Slats
                    Mike photos please.
                    J
                    See the pdf file of my build so far.

                    The web page for the Darnell X Craft - some photos of kit.

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                    I didn't place the manhole covers under the superstructure - too complicated.

                    I absolutely hate, loath and detest the cover design, so much so that I am going to cut up the aft end and then glue bits onto the cover (a Zee cut maybe) because I cannot get into the aft end easily. The 3" cylinder lies low in the hull, yet all the controls ar high up, so Klik-on connections are difficult. Much more to do, but house repair and painting come first, otherwise 'her-indoors' will be beating me up again.
                    Stop messing about - just get a Sub-driver!

                    Comment

                    • Kazzer
                      *********
                      • Aug 2008
                      • 2848

                      #11
                      Here are some photos of Alan Poole's model.
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                      Stop messing about - just get a Sub-driver!

                      Comment

                      • Kazzer
                        *********
                        • Aug 2008
                        • 2848

                        #12
                        At long last, I secured a complete model of the X Craft by Alan Poole. It arrived yesterday from England and those bloody neanderthals at UPS dropped it on one end and crushed the tail.

                        Of course, these were all the parts needed to mold for the other hull Alan gave me.
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                        The package was well done, lots of padding.
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                        The disappointment of seeing all the parts I need in pieces. They managed to bend a 1/8" shaft in two places, snapped off the bearing housings and shattered the control surfaces.

                        I have a rep coming out to inspect the damage tomorrow.

                        In the meantime, what is the best remedy to fix this? Are the 'chicken legs' repairable?

                        The shaft collars on the end of the legs hold the rudder shaft, and they'd had a brass rod threaded into them (where the set screw usually goes, and this was inserted into the end of the 'leg'. The resin leg snapped off at the end of the rod, about 3/8" down the leg. If only the rod had been an inch long, this would never have happened. I'll spec that into the new kit eventually.

                        I decided to effect a repair, so drill holes into the leg and the bit of snapped off resin holding the shaft collar. I made them oversized of the re-bar I was to use, to enable me to have some movement as I lined up the two parts. With the re-bar inserted in the 'leg' I gave it a dry run and both parts were able to line up on the break line.

                        Then I filled the drill hole in the 'leg' with a mercaptin hardening epoxy (5 min), pushed in the re-bar, dry fitted the collar part, and left it to set up.

                        Once that was hard, I mixed up some Phenol novolac epoxy, painted over both faces of the joint, letting it run into the re-bar holes, and then fitted them together. There were some spots where the resin was missing as it shattered, so I filled those areas with epoxy mixed with Cabosil so it was a non-slumping paste.

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                        The really difficult part is to keep the parts completely lined up while this strong, but slow curing epoxy cures overnight.
                        I placed a shaft through both dive plane collars and fixed two elastic bands to pull the parts tightly onto the 'legs'. The force tended to pull the parts down slightly, so I used some masking tap (left) to exert a slight upward lift.

                        Tomorrow will tell the tale as to whether this repair will be strong enough.

                        Next, the rudder. Look at the damned thing! I'd like to shove it up --- er-- ummm - you know! It must have taken one helluva whack to damage it like this. As soon as UPS have inspected the damage, I'll remove it by cutting the shaft. Most of the top half of the rudder is in small bits, but I think I can repair that sufficiently well to cast new ones in a new mold.

                        It's all a pain!

                        Here's the same boat before UPS butchered it.

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                        Last edited by Kazzer; 11-08-2011, 09:50 PM.
                        Stop messing about - just get a Sub-driver!

                        Comment

                        • subkraft
                          Lieutenant, Junior Grade
                          • Oct 2009
                          • 28

                          #13
                          Accurate Armour (who do the resin type VIIc tower) do a 1:35 resin xcraft. This is a static model, but looks accurate.
                          I've been slowly altering one of the Darnell hulls to get a better shape, it still looks to me as tho the deck /casing is a bit wide. This is a hard one to fix....

                          Here's a link:

                          Specializing in military model kits, including tanks, trucks, submarines, rockets, and larger scale AFV's.
                          Last edited by subkraft; 11-09-2011, 06:44 PM.

                          Comment

                          • Kazzer
                            *********
                            • Aug 2008
                            • 2848

                            #14
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                            Here is the rear (and only) dive planes. The diagonal stripe on the right is the repair of a complete break where this was sheared from the boat. I'm using Skulpy, Lego and a Freeman rubber to make a mold of it. Looking OK so far.

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                            I have a pair of 'chicken legs' from the boat sent me by Alan Poole, so while I'm at it, I may as well make the mold for that.


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                            The repair went well. The epoxy sanded down well, and it all looks pretty strong. We wait for the UPS guy to look at it now.

                            If they use their favorite expression 'Insufficient packaging' then I'll lose it!
                            Stop messing about - just get a Sub-driver!

                            Comment

                            • Kazzer
                              *********
                              • Aug 2008
                              • 2848

                              #15
                              Originally posted by subkraft
                              I've been slowly altering one of the Darnell hulls to get a better shape, it still looks to me as tho the deck /casing is a bit wide. This is a hard one to fix....
                              I have both models here, the Darnell one and Alan Poole's. The latter is more accurate than the actual boat at the Museum, as that ran out of funds and was cobbed up, apparently.

                              Post some pictures of your build and ask for dimensions, and I'll take them off my boat for you.
                              Stop messing about - just get a Sub-driver!

                              Comment

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