Power surge racing products Villain S1

Radio Control Boat Modeler, Jun 2003 by Dunlap, Jerry

I first met Mike Zaborowski, designer of the Villain S1, six or seven years ago, and a couple of things about him immediately caught my attention. First, he is most proficient at setting up and racing model boats, and second, he willingly shares his skills and knowledge with fellow modelers. My first opportunity to see the prototype of the Villain S1 in action was at the 2000 IMPBA Internats in Moline, IL, where it won a national championship. At that time, Mike told me he was exploring the possibility of making the design available as a kit through The Model Shop/Power Surge Racing Products. My response was immediate: "Send me one."

To Mike's credit, he didn't attempt to rush the project to completion. His primary goal was to offer a top-quality model tunnel kit that would perform up to the expectations of those who had seen the prototype race. Mike explored various ways of kitting the Villain Sl, but he settled on a design that uses two construction techniques: wood over foam (WOF) for the center section and framework and sheeting for the sponsons.

VILLAIN IN A BOX

In this day and age of plastic and fiberglass prebuilt model boats, a wooden tunnel-boat kit (especially a racing design) is a rarity, Realizing that the Villain S1 might be a buyer's first wooden kit, Mike focused on the how-to aspects of building a wooden model in the construction manual; it blends detailed written directions with numerous photos depicting the various construction phases. Also included is a CD containing the instruction manual as well as additional photos. The CD photos are in color, and they're much larger and sharper than those in the manual; they can be enlarged to provide even more detail.

I've built enough wooden kits to recognize high-quality material when I see it. All the sheeting for the Villain S1 is aircraft-- grade plywood. Lite-ply is used in the sponson frames and the motor mount. Laser cutting is employed throughout, making the parts easy to remove and fit together with precision, but the edges require a little sanding before they're assembled. A sanding block with 150-grit sandpaper works well for this task. All the spruce stringers, hardwood blocks, balsa stringers and balsa sheeting are included.

The foam center section is covered with 1/32-inch plywood. The center section has been precut and slotted for the radio box and motor mount, and it incorporates a 1/2-inch offset to the right for each; this serves to shift weight to the inside sponson and to improve cornering. The cowl is white, ABS plastic from a Dumas 7.5 Sprint kit. The cut line for the cowl to conform to the top of the center section is clearly marked. Stumble blocks molded from ABS plastic are also provided. Mounted in the forward section of the tunnel, the stumble blocks help prevent the boat from hooking or spinning out in a tight comer. A clear plastic radio-box lid is provided to seal the top of the radio box.

You will need to supply steering and throttle hardware and a fuel tank, as well as your preferred radio gear and drive system (a complete list of necessary components for rigging the boat is included in the manual). Power Surge Racing Products carries a metal fuel cell specifically designed for 3.5 tunnel boats that is worth considering.

CENTER-SECTION ASSEMBLY

The Villain S1 is built using modular construction; the two main components are the center section and the sponsons. These two components are built separately and then joined to create the finished hull. Since the center section is presheeted, there are basically three assembly tasks: inserting the motor box, installing the radio box and capping the front and back edges with hardwood pieces. I used 90-degree angle braces to assemble both the motor box and radio box.

* Motor box. The motor box is built from 1/8-inch lite-ply and consists of a bottom piece, two side formers and two transom doubters. The bottom piece is slotted to accept the tabs in the side formers, and the back edges of the side formers are notched to accept the transom doubler, so the components are basically self-aligning. Epoxy the completed motor box into the center section; it has two indexing tabs extending downward to establish the depth of the sponson at the transom when the center section is joined to the sponsons.

* Radio box. The radio box was designed to be glued into the center section, but I prefer removable radio boxes. I easily accomplished this with a few modifications to the radio box and center section. I glued a piece of 1/16-inch plywood that extends 1/4 inch past the edges of the radio box cutout to the bottom of the tunnel. I trimmed the bottom of the radio box to allow it to slip into the radio-box well. To seal the exposed foam in the radio-box well, I applied epoxy to the foam. L-shape metal brackets in the front and back of the radio box secure it to the hull.

* Completing the center section and installing the radio gear. The instruction manual describes the installation of two servos-- one for rudder and one for throttle control. Since I intended to use a third-channel mixture control on my Villain, I created a servo-mounting tray to accommodate two standard-size servos and one miniservo for mixture control. A Futaba 9303 handles rudder control, a Futaba 3001 controls the throttle, and a Futaba 3101 adjusts a Perry mixture control. I used Robart plastic radiobox seals and arms to connect the rudder to its servo. Sullivan Gold-N-Rod flex cable links the throttle servo to the carburetor arm. The mixture-control output rod is simply a piece of linkage wire running through a plastic tube seal and attached to the servo using a ball and socket type of connector.