30 May 2013

A few Christmasses ago I was given a little remote control car. And I mean really little! Unfortunately, eventually it broke. Now, I wanted to use the remote control in a little boat. Unfortunately the transmitter or receiver appeared to be dead. Luckily the little motor still went, so an even tinier boat was thought up and built. Overall length is around 60mm, and it's powered by button cells (like watch batteries).

This whole project took about 5 hours from start until finish (including painting) starting at about 8pm. First most of the hull was made from a scrap of balsa and superglue. A little propeller for the fan was then made, also from a tiny piece of balsa, and glued to the motor. The motor was glued to an upright, and glued to the hull. Some little washers were then soldered to the end of the motor wires, and glued to some foam strip. The foam strips were in turn glued in the hull and serve as springs for the battery. A piece of aluminium (around 2mm thick) was bent to fit the bottom of the boat, and serves as ballast to counter the weight of the motor, which is placed quite high. Then the deck was glued on and the whole thing painted. Finally a little aluminium fin was stuck on the back to help with tracking.