My latest project, Twin OS Powered Tunnel

Well, here is a preview of my latest build, its a Power Surge Racing Products Nemesis .21 size tunnel. I had this extra hull laying around and decided to be creative and build a twin. I have always wanted a twin engine powered boat, and after seeing Mike Talley and Carl Van Houtens twin powered Shaman at the 2006 Tunnel Champs, I knew I had to have one. Initially I planned on using our signature series K&B 8907 water cooled outboard sport motors on the project, but made myself realize the limitations brought forth by a modified sport K&B motor. We really have pushed them to their limits in the horsepower department, and as a result started seeing failures with the engines, i.e. cracked cases were common, as well as finicky needles. Of course it was a nice challenge to make the 30 year old technology, run with and sometimes outrun the newer style OS sport engine, but ultimately I grew tired of all of the work needed to make a K&B fast, only to have it come apart after a few races. The decision was clear to me, OS would be the power plants for my 2007 fleet of tunnel boats, including the twin. OS makes very high quality equipment, and with the right props and slight adjustments, the motors are ballistic AND dependable. It was a no brainer, once I broke the ties I had with the old K&B's.... The great thing about the sport configuration twin is that it can be run in a number of classes including, Open Tunnel, Open offshore, Sport D (.45) Tunnel and Mod D (,45) Tunnel.




Here is a shot of the mount system. I tried to keep it really simple and utilize the stock mount system, and also make it work that when you adjust the height/angle on one engine the other receives the exact same adjustment.

Good side view, looks pretty tough with all of that power hanging off the back of the boat....

Good shot front he rear. You can see where I had to angle the carbs to get the stock needles to clear the other engine, I also added main needle extensions to make the adjustment a little easier. Not much clearance between the flywheel, but a little is all you need.

Right side view, gotta get rid of those Novarossi stickers....

One last rear shot, I extended the water "outlet" of the right engine to ensure no water gets sucked into the left engine while running...

New Team Oval Express Racing Logo

FE Sneak peak, NEU powered Villain

Well.... here is my first attempt of a FE tunnel boat, I dont really have a clue about what im doing, but its been fairly easy with a little research and a lot of help from others. I am still waiting on a cowling from Australia (thanks to Kris Flynn), an ESC, motor mounting plate and shaft collet from FFE (thanks to the Fullers) and eventually some M1 A123 cells (thanks to Capt Ron ). Of course, I still have a fair amount of work to do with molding in the cowl to become water tight, but once everything gets here, it can be finished in a few afternoons. One thing I am SURE about is this hull has been a proven RACER, as its made about a millions laps around the pond in the last few years as a MOD and SPORT nitro boat. Because of all of those laps, I decided to rebuild the transom area due to oil and fuel soaking into the exsting transom. The new Transom sports a carbon fiber rear plate and should provide pleanty of support for the newly aquired NEU 1512 2D Brushless motor. The stock radio box was cut off and sanded flat on the top deck, and the steering servo has been moved to the Center of Gravity. I will wait until I have all of the electronics to position everything else.

Summer has finally made it to Germany...

This is Victors little Tower Hobbies Uproar. Its his latest plane since selling his Trainer to Chief Master Sargeant Gary Coleman. Now Victor can safely say he no longer flys a trainer aircraft and is free (atleast for now) from the ridicule brought forth by his long lost brother Jeff Sweetenburg. Ok so they arent really brothers, but you wouldnt know it because they bitch and talk crap to each other like siblings.




This is the coolest R/C thing i've seen in a while... Its a Huge Turbine powered R/C jet. This thing is sick. The pictures dont show how big it actually is, but I would guess it had atleast a 6 or 7 foot wingspan, For my non R/C friends, it is powered by a real working turbine model engine, just like the full size version. It sounds just like the full size version. It flys just like the full size version. It was an awesome display of fine crafstmanship. It was owned by a German gentleman so I didnt get all of the details but, I understood this to be its first flight, and it cost around 8000 Euro (about $10,000 dollars!!) to build. The kit it self cost 2000 euro, the motor around 3000 euro, and the electronics, retractable landing gear, braking system and other goodies add up to the difference. I only saw it fly a short time, but it was impressive none the least.



This in the inside of the monster turbine powered Jet. Lots of cool electronic gismos in this thing, most of which I have no idea as to what they are... Very nice clean install, It had dual tanks on each side of the fuse behind the intake tracts. They must have been huge becasue it took for ever to fuel it up with kerosene. Very cool...

My Porsche 944, fine German engineering? or Porsche's red headed step-child

Well, here are some official photos of my little red Porsche. I just got finished cutting the grass in the back yard and thought it would be a good area for a photo shoot of the Porsche since the view is so nice. If you know anything about the 944 series of porches, the title makes perfect sense, if you dont.... You will have to do a little internet reading. While not exactly a 911 turbo, it still is a wonderfully fun car to drive. It handles the curvy German roads with ease, as thats what it was designed to do. Literally. Its got a front mounted, water cooled, inline, upright four cylinder 2.5 liter engine. From the factory, the cars are rated at 148 HP. This particular car has been dyno'd at 186, due to aftermarket, exhaust, header, and intake parts. Its not a Rocket-ship by any means, but it AINT slow either. It was without a doubt built with Autobahn travel in mind, 5th gear is fairly tall, and I have travelled in excess of 140 mph with relative ease. Even better, if you get this car in the tight twisties (which is VERY frequent in Germany) there are few cars that can hang with the true 50/50 weight distribution "glued to the road", "like its on rails" and any other cliche' you can think of handling characteristics of the 944. This happens to be a U.S. spec model, and may end up coming back to the U.S. with us when we leave Germany. Enjoy~

Nice passenger side picture, the awesome view is actually from our backyard. (you have to be here to get the full effect, thats a hint for any of my friends who may want to vacation in Germany, FREE ROOM AND BOARD!)
Cool picture with the camera on the ground.... im slowly figuring this whole photography thing out.
picture of the interior from the open sunroof, note the new MOMO steering wheel and P-Tech steering wheel quick release. :) It has a Kenwood head and Kenwood 12 disc changer
The little engine that could.... I have a strut brace coming from my father that should be here any day, I will post a picture of it once I get it on the car. Thanks DAD!!
Last picture from the drivers side, the sunlight was kinda bad at this time of day, but its the best I could do.

Tower Hobbies Fun 51 Profile Fun Flyer

This my one and only (at this point) kit build of an airplane. It took a few days worth of work to get it framed up, anther couple to get it rigged out, and yet a few more days worth of covering (my first experience with covering) to get it finished. Of course, this all happened over the span of a month or so, working on it as often as I could. I can honestly say, I am very pleased with the outcome. I've put about 20 flights on it so far, but today, with no wind to speak of, was the first time I could have a little fun with it, after all it IS a "Fun Flyer". It handles pretty well in my non-experienced opinion. I honestly wouldn't know if it didn't, but other guys that have flown it, say so. ;) Even though I've only been flying for a few months, I've been able to do a few basic maneuvers with ease, rolls, loops, some inverted flight and a few lazy snaps can be done fairly well. Ok, so they are not perfect and uniform, but it still looks cool to me, and you only get better with practice right? I've worked out a few issues with the not-so-forgiving landing gear, and got it trimmed to my liking. Got the Dual Rates set up, and also programmed a few snap-roll options on my radio. I am going to start playing with different props in the future, the plane tends to fly to fast right now and its pretty obvious in the air that it wasn't designed to do that. Overall, an easy build, easy set-up, and VERY fun plane to fly. I am currently using a little O.S. FX .40 on it, it seems to provide plenty of power and is getting better after every flight as the engine gets a little looser.

A bad day at the flying field is better than a good day at work...

Well, I cant really say that I had a bad day at the flying field today, but Breck did. Breck has been flying a V-Mar Big Stick for the past few months that i've known him, its one of those planes that is certainly not perfect in construction, not perfect in owner influenced rigging, and not perfect in looks. But the bottom line is: it flew pretty damn well. With Breck manning the sticks on the radio, and being a typical grossly overpowered Breck aircraft, he regularly did every maneuver known to man to try and rip the wing off it, but it always came back for more. When the rudder wasn't falling off, the elevator wasn't fluttering, and the monokote wasn't flapping in the wind, it was a respectably nimble little plane.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. And end it did. After talking himself out of going home to ride his mountain bike, and staying with the rest of us to fly, the very next flight went to hell in a hand basket all to quickly. The little "Big Stick" that could, met its match with a very large German grown hardwood tree after the Elevator servo decided to quit working. A quick trek in the retrieval truck through the woods revealed the expected. The damage, in my opinion, wasn't as bad as the sound it made when it went in, I was sure there would be a nice pile of toothpicks left. Unfortunately the stick was forced into retirement, permanently.

The good thing from all of this is now Breck has a very nice O.S. .91 FX engine and all of the radio equipment to build a new plane....hmmm.... decisions, decisions