X-Craft RC options

[Kazzer]

Not sure about the shaft seal, I think it was a piece of brass tubing with a simmering type seal at one end and probably a bearing pressed in behind the seal to support the shaft. Don't know how it was originally fixed to the endcap, but I wouldn't trust cyano long term.

Agreed. It's too brittle, but very watery, and this leak was hairline around the brass tube. I'm hoping for some capillary action into the crack. Eventually, I'll take it apart, but have a lot of other things on my plate right now. I think it's another UPS caused problem.

[H2Ohaze]

Although I went to the RN Submarine Museum at Gosport, Britain to photograph the Holland 1, I also took some shots of the X-24 when I was there, a mix of exterior and interior shots(they sawed it open). I have 22 shots of inside, outside long overall shots, and detail shots of linkages; not much for a photographer...I shot about 120 of the Holland.

I processed and color balanced 50 of the Holland shots, and made a web slide show. I'm in process of finishing my RPM Mark II Holland 1/32 scale, and the pics and goodies from the gift shop are helping a lot.

Do you folks want any shots of the X-24? I don't have time to color balance or correct the shots- just feed them into my web site generator and post a link.

[trout]

Is more reference ever bad? Bring it on! Please share!

[H2Ohaze]

After throwing out duplicates, here are 18 shots from the X-24. The Gosport folks have sawn open the hull just before the engines. I didn't take time to process the shots (color correct, exposure correct, etc), just ran them through a web generator:

http://users.frii.com/jimhayes/X-24/

[trout]

Thank you!

[Peter W]

Not sure if it has already been mentioned but Italeri, The plastic kit make, are to release a 1/35 scale X-Craft later this Year.

Listed length is 446mm or about 17 1/2 inches.

All the best,

Peter.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Hmmmm.... it's doable. Mike?

David

[Subculture]

Make a fantastic tiny boat for pools and small ponds. It will go well with the little 1/35th scale Seehund from Bronco too.

Couple of points to bear in mind.

X-craft kits have been around for decades (Darnell, OTW, Alan Poole, Accurate Armour)- yet outside of the UK, where the significance of these craft is well known, they appear to be a very rare sight. So will it sell?

What's the price like. Italeri kits are good quality but tend to come with Ferrari price tags.

[Kazzer]

Hmmmm.... it's doable. Mike?

David

I really have no idea. I guess my philosophy these days is to say to hell with plastic kits. There is always some idiot who will try to sell them for a buck lower than anyone else and drive the price down so it's simply not worth stocking them. Just look at the Moebius Skipjack. Moebius have not announced the price yet there are several folks selling them at ridiculous prices.

So, it's easier for us to have Sub-driver and fittings kit organised with all the other goodies required and let someone else stock the actual boat.

The other factor is that it's such a small boat at the ideal fleet scale of 1:72, so whatever you do with it, its an odd-ball. Personally, I prefer the bigger boats, they don't bounce around and are a lot less fragile. My Alan Poole X Craft is ideal!

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Gotcha, Mike. I was too cryptic with my above post. I'm

with you: leave it to the small-fry to stock and sell these plastic kits -- we stick with the fittings kits and SD's to make them practical r/c models. Anyway, we both have a plate full now. Maybe at a later date.

And Andy, as to price: The most expensive plastic model kit is orders of magnitude cheaper than the equivalent GRP kit. Mike and I see plastic model kits as the way to get (and keep) people into the hobby of r/c model submarining.

David,

[Subculture]

Alan's 1/12 scale boat was a bit too big for my tastes. A modeller over here scratchbuilt a lovely little 1/24th scale x-craft which I always thought was a perfect size.

[Kazzer]

Alan's 1/12 scale boat was a bit too big for my tastes. A modeller over here scratchbuilt a lovely little 1/24th scale x-craft which I always thought was a perfect size.

I'm inclined to agree. It's a big boat as per Alan's spec.

[Slats]

Not sure if it has already been mentioned but Italeri, The plastic kit make, are to release a 1/35 scale X-Craft later this Year.

Listed length is 446mm or about 17 1/2 inches.

All the best,

Peter.

Wow -that will be worth a look at.

The beam might be a bit small - I estimate the beam would be around 50mm - just under 2".


J

[Kazzer]

Here are some detailed photos of my X Craft. It shows the detail according to Alan Poole's information. I hope to encompass as much of this as possible in the Vacu-forming we are working on.

[Slats]

Mike
your photo attachments aren't visible?
J

EDIT - can see these now - thanks
J