Baldwin Racing
The boat is now sanded down with 320 grain water paper to ensure that an effective surface is made for the paint to stick to the boat. After wiping the boat down with acetone, a special 2K primer is painted on the boat to prepare the surface for the colour to be put on. Once the primer is put on, it is smoothed with 600 grain water paper. This primer also allows you to get rid of those unwanted pit holes that you get from the Epoxy moulded boats. The boat is now wiped with acetone and is ready for painting.
The boat is given 2 coats of paint. I also use a 2K paint which is a hardener mixed with the paint. The paint is allowed to dry for approximately 20 minutes (flash off period) and then I bake it under an Infra Red heater for another 20 minutes. Take note that the paint manufacturers should inform you of the baking requirements. For the Plascon product that I use, I bake at 60 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes. This hardens the paint and gives it better durability as well as making it available to work with. I do some level of customizing on my boats and thus install my various stickers on the boat after the base colour is installed. The second colour is then painted on the boat and the various customization is done.
The stickers that are used for the customizing are then removed and a clear coat layer is painted on the boat to give the gloss finish. The baking process is repeated after the clear coat layer of paint is installed. The boat is now ready for assembly.
The first thing I install is the tank. The linkages that go through the tank are aligned with the radio bulk head and it is sealed with some silicone tubing. A plastic insert is installed inside the brass tubing that goes through the tank and it is sealed on each side with silicone tubing. The tank is bolted down with the brackets installed.
The shaft is then installed and the motor is aligned and fitted. The throttle mixture controller is also installed with the motor.
The servos are installed into the servo trays. The switches are also installed to switch the radio on and to switch the glow plug on. The trays are then fitted in the radio compartment. The Trim tab is installed and the rudder. The linkages are now made for the Throttle, Mixture control, Rudder and Trim tab. Like I said before I use solid wire and not cable. The radio is switched on during this process at various stages so that the linkages can be adjusted to ensure that all the servos have the correct travel.
The rev counter pickup is installed at the drive shaft with the mount that was made on the shaft when it was manufactured. It is connected to one of the braided communication wires that were installed when building the radio bulk heads into the boat. The wire is then connected to the rev counter unit that is installed in the radio box. This rev counter unit gives you the ability to see current revs as well as highest revs obtained in the running period.
The anti torque wait is now installed together with a glow plug battery on the left front side of the boat. The battery is then connected to the heavy duty wires that lead to the radio box switch and to the glow plug. I install a total of 300 grams of wait on that side. The lead takes up the difference of the battery.
The exhaust is now installed with its brackets and all the related cooling pipes are installed. The outlet nozzle is installed on the deck. I only use 1 water pickup on the centre of the hull and 1 water outlet. This cools the motor head, exhaust and pipe. I feed the water to the exhaust outlet first then to the head of the motor and then lastly to the pipe. From the pipe it is fed through a nozzle out into the air. I let it spray straight up into the air so that I can easily sea if its blocked and water stops coming out. If the temperature is high or I run at low altitude I feed the cooling to the motor first and then to the exhaust.
The header tank is installed in the front of the nose above the motor. The height of the tank above the motor gives the natural pressure to the carb. This will stay constant from start to finish of race. The mixture control is only used if I want to lean the motor out for additional speed when required. It is not required to be adjusted for main tank level changes. The main tank is pressure fed from the exhaust. From the tank the fuel is fed to the header tank. From the header tank it goes through the mixture control to the carburetor. Baldwin design as I said before that really works since 1983. I won the friendship Regatta in Germany in 1984 with this design. That was with a PICCO 40, B class.
The tank cover is installed together with an aluminum handle to pick the boat out of the water. The number plate holder, the arial and the radio hatch seal is installed with the mounting bolts. The radio cover is installed with aluminum angle iron that is attached to an airfoil. The airfoil is designed to lift the back of the boat out of the water and then in turn keep the nose down. This however only lifts 100 grams and is thus more show than really improving performance. I have found that the stability does improve but have not been able to prove that. I have however measured the lift capability of the airfoil and results showed that it lifts approximately 100 grams at 80 km/h. Obviously the bigger the airfoil the greater the lift. The angle will also affect those results. I think however that we should not under estimate the airfoils abilities.
The boat is now ready to run. The boat weighed in at 6.4kg`s ready to race without fuel. This is not very light but it works for me. The weight of a boat is a story of its own. You can use thinner screws and shafts etc to reduce your weight if you so choose.
Well that's the end of that article and hope you enjoyed it. I would like to close off in saying that I give credit to my late father that has given me most of the ideas that you see here. I am proud to be able to say that I am able to do this as a result of his exceptional knowledge, support, and tolerance towards me when he was alive. He laid the foundation that I required to be able to perform at the level that I am performing today.
Compiled in October 1997 by Gary Baldwin
Last Updated on 29 December 1998
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