The electronics for my upcoming RC sailboat build have all arrived, and I've also finished 3D modeling the electronics & servo tray/board/thingy that everything is mounted upon. My servo tray is designed to contain the two servos, and the other electronics, on a removable tray/board/thing. What exactly is it called, anyway?! The hookups for RC sailboat servos and electronics are about as simple as anything can get in the RC world. Everything plugs into the RC receiver. I'm using the Spektrum AR400 4-channel aircraft receiver . The sail arm servo is plugged into the throttle receptacle on the receiver. I'm using the Hitec HS815BB Sail Arm servo. It's huge, and not particularly fast, but it should be plenty strong enough. I'm not racing so I don't care about the speed of it. The rudder servo is plugged into the aileron receptacle on receiver, and NOT the "rudder" receptacle. I'm using a Hitec HS-322HD . Plug your battery switch into ...

In the size of RC sailboats that I enjoy building (Star 45, my Salish 475, Vintage Marbleheads, maybe someday an East Coast 12 and others... all between 45"-60" LOA), it is tough to find rudder control arms that fit a 1/8" rudder post. It's virtually impossible. Recently I found a website that showed how they made their own. Today I tried it and it worked really well! I'm simply horrible at metal working, especially soldering, but after a few mistakes I finally got it to stick. Here are my first tries. When I finally get around to building the actual boat, I will make better ones. But this at least proves that even someone as solder-challenged as I am can do it! Click HERE to go to the website I found. They were working with 1/16" shafts, but the steps are the same for my 1/8" shafts. There is also a nice discussion on RC Groups about rudder control arms. This is another example for an RC hydroplane . Then I found someone else, and I can...

Tonight I modeled the Hitec HS-815BB Sail Control Servo for use in both the Rip Tide and the Sun Wind II RC sailboats. I'm going with a sail arm servo instead of a drum winch like I used on my Star 45 and Salish 475. I really want the deck to look clean, without any sort of shock cording like I have on the drum winch boats. Yes, I can use an internal self-tensioner, but a swing arm is also much easier to use. It may not be as competitive, but on the other hand, a lot of guys swear by them and say that they are just as fast as the drums. Since I'm not into racing, I don't care and will go for simplicity. Besides, this servo is $50 compared to $300 for the RMG SmartWinch. RMG winches, by the way, are amazing! I suggest you use them on certain boats. But for the VM Rip Tide and Sun Wind II, I'm going with simple and clean. Here's how the 3D servo looks. I wanted to make sure that it would fit, and that the arm had plenty of room to swing. Looks good so far! ...

Version 1 of the Sun Wind II RC sailboat laser cut frames files are almost finished! Phew... Ended up being eight sheets: Four sheets of 1/8" x 12" x 24" birch ply, three sheets of 1/16" x 12" x24" birch ply, and one sheet of 1/8" x 6" x 24" balsa. Here is how the first sheet looks: The cheapest 1/8" plywood I found today was over $18 for a 12" x 24" sheet! Yikes! So I came home and bought several sheets online for about $5/sheet from National Balsa . I've used them before, and they are OK, but you might get some twisted or warped sheets. And a few sheets I bought from them had deep horizontal scratches in them. But this time they will all be internal frames which will be tough to see, so it doesn't matter that much. It'll take a week or so for the wood to arrive, and the laser cutter hasn't been set up yet at work, so I'll just have to hold my breath until I can finally try my first laser cuts...

Tonight I finished the Sun Wind II RC sailboat building board and supporting frames. I think I'm almost done! Hopefully by next week I can try out the new laser cutter at work! Here's what the building board and frame supports look like. This is how it should look while being built upside down on a table. More updates shortly. Aloha!

I'm currently working on the building board. Just made the base boards, and now need to work on the frames. Remember that you will build the hull upside down on a strongback. The building boards will align the frames exactly where they need to go. More updates when I get further along. Aloha!

I am not a professional CAD guy, and making 3D models of RC sailboats in order to create laser-cut frames, is simply a hobby. So take my notes with a huge grain of salt. In addition, I only have real experience with two applications: SketchUp Pro and Rhino 4. Both are great, and each has their advantages and disadvantages regarding RC sailboat work. In the end I'm using Sketchup Pro (early versions up through 2017) for most of the work because it is by far the easiest to use. The tools, features, capabilities and functionality are all perfect for most of what needs to be done, with one huge exception. That exception is curves, and along with that, curved and faired surfaces. Rhino is what you would use if you were designing a full-size boat. It does remarkably well with curves and surfaces. You can fair curves, and it includes a curve analysis tool that graphically shows you how fair your curve is. Sketchup Pro is much easier to learn though. Rhino isn't hard, but if you ...