Dec 7, 2015 | By Alec
Radio-controlled cars and drones are among the coolest 3D printable designs around, but why aren’t all elements accessible for a clever maker? That must’ve been on the mind of Sebastian Huber, a German RC fanatic who frequents the web under the alias RCWeinstadt. In a very cool attempt to conquer the rivers, pools and swamps of his homeland, he has recently developed a very cool RC boat that is unique in at least one respect: it features an air propeller, exactly like the swamp boats you can see in the alligator-invested swamps of Florida.
Not only does that propeller complete the look on a very cool, waterproof RC boat, it is also very easy to make. As Sebastian Huber explained, an RC swamp boat had been on his to-do list for quite some time, and he now finally got round to building it especially for a competition. What’s more, he hopes other people will be able to enjoy this simple design as much as he did, so he shared all of his 3D printable designs on Thingiverse. Together with his simple Instructables tutorial, this should be a very fun project to recreate.
As Sebastian explains, the boat visible here is mostly based on salvaged parts, but is still quite clever in its design. ‘I took the motor and ESC out of my MHQ hovership, the receiver of my model car and the servo that just was lying around,’ he says. ‘The boat consists of two parts, which are screwed together. The boat has an integrated cable duct to "invisible" do all the wiring. For sealing the whole thing is glued around the internal cable duct.’ This cable duct cleverly hides away all the wires, and makes this swamp boat waterproof. The ESC and the receiver are also safe and sound in a front section, with the battery doubling as a weight in the center of the boat, ensuring that it remains stable.
But fortunately, there’s no need for you to break up other builds to find the necessary parts, as Sebastian has provided an extensive list of all necessary parts and even links to where you can find them. Aside from the steel rods, screws and ball joints, you will need a Afro ESC 12Amp, a Turnigy Multistar Outrunner V, two 5030 Carbon Fiber Propellers, a Lipo 2S 1000mAh, ten female JST pigtail batteries, ten Servo Lead Extensions, a Digital Servo, and obviously a radio for controlling the boat, such as a 2.4GHz Tx & Rx. While this will cost quite a bit, quite a few makers will doubtlessly have many of these laying around already.
The actual building of this model is as straightforward as it can be, provided you have a bit of making experience. All 3D printable parts can be found on Thingiverse here. ‘I printed the rear and the front out of ABS and with 15% infill. The control surfaces are printed with 20% infill. All other parts are printed with 50% infill,’ Sebastian explains, using his Revised Tantilus 3D printer for all parts – but any desktop 3D printer will do.
After 3D printing, the rest is fairly easy. Just follow Sebastian’s conceptual drawings, and many of the parts will come together quite easily. The only step that requires extra attention is sealing everything properly. ‘You must extend the Motor wires to run them to the ESC through the cable duct. For sealing the two main Parts are glued around the internal cable duct and the screws,’ he explains. All in all, it’s a very fun and accessible build that does require a bit of engineering work, but looks to be absolutely worth the effort. Now if only we had some footage of this boat in action…
Posted in 3D Printing Application
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