I have recently purchased and am the proud owner of the very first all "Happy Orange" R42 to be produced by AC Model Boats.I would like to thank Dom (ACLazer) for arranging all involved over there making for a very smooth and pleasant transaction. A big thanks needs to go out to Andrew (Faster) here in Melbourne for communicating with Dom and assisiting me with the freight to get her here safley at a reasonable price.

Their service and advice has been first class, thanks guys and look forward to working with you to produce and build another fast oval racer cat here in Australia.

Here are a few pics taken from Doms work bench, I think.

...any comments, suggestions, advice and feedback are always welcomed.

Engine mounts,Coil Iso and Carb standoff arm from Bonzi.
Servos are new Ultra Premium HS-7950TH HV (overkill I know) from Power Hobbies.
Servo Trays, billet switch, a few other bits and pieces and Volt Watch from Horracing.
Futaba R614FF receiver and new 4PKS tx from Hobby Supplies Australia.
New Tacho from Dasboata, thanks once again mate.





...The engine mounts are black anodized and the edges are now all polished. They should look great on the new power plant when it arrives for a little added bling.

This is the new power plant from Gismo and the new Victory pipe along with some extra hardware. Full mod race prepped Zen which should see this new cat at 65mph+. I cant get over just how much compression this motor has !!!! Thanks Bruce for the fast turn around on the motor and pipe and appreciate the great service and communication, not to mention the "free gifts".

Took me a little while to assemble as a few custom fabrications had to be made due to the Ezy starter, Bonzi's coil relocator and the coil. Just a heads up to every one, that the Bonzi coil relocator will not fit over the Ezy start pull starter, they are designed for the original Zen pull starter only, hence my new custom coil mounts. Here are a few pictures on the assembled Zen ready for the test fit.

...picked up both pipes this afternoon, hows that for a same day turn around! Both the Victory pipe and the M&D have come up great once again. Fuel bag and the insert that I made are sitting idle for the fuel to soften the bag for the first time and to check for leaks.



...and my new Cooper Cobra. Great service from Cooper Pipes and I have now three great pipes to try out on this new build. Steel VS Aluminium, looks like some serious time will be spent testing when she hits the water.

When it arrived...and straight into the build,

...next step was to prepare the radio box and make up some rails as Dom did not have an orange quick release one to sell me. Two thin strip of aluminium were used to make the rails as you can see in the pictures. While I waited for the radio box to cure I started to install the floatation and run the water lines. Once they had cured the assembly of the radio box started to take place.

...14 hours into the build and I find myself ready for the stuffing tube and stuffing box. 11/32 and 5/16ths were used. My fingers and thumbs are killing me, lol. Using a glass table I placed the engine and all the hardware in the hull to determine where the motor needed to be fixed to ensure that the 14 3/4 inch COG was achieved. I taped down on a glass table some dowel and started moving the motor around to find the COG as the radio box was already in its desired position . It took about ten minutes to find the sweet spot and then I marked where the holes needed to be made for the engine mounts. 30 minutes later the motor was mounted into position ready to mark out the hole for the stuffing box.

...here are more update images of the build. Not far to go now with only the cowl left to complete installing the holding brackets and the cowl locks...didnt get a chance to finish it before todays visit to the lake...

...and now she sits ready for her maiden looking like this...

Hi

Your new boat looks fantastic and neatly assembled.

I much look forward to seeing the video clip!

The only thing I'd have done differently is use expanding PU foam in the bow section for buoyancy plus the added strength that it gives.

Excellent set of pictures and thank you for sharing them.

Cheers
Craig