I fancy an MFA Fantome

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I fancy an MFA Fantome

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29 October 2008 at 18:51 #16816
ashley needham
Participant
@ashleyneedham69188
I have been hankering after something BIG and fast for years and this was always the one that took my eye. I want one even more now as some months ago a chap turned up at the pond with a hydrojetted " Virgin atlantic challenger" of immense proportions and swept around the pond in the most magnificent style. It commanded the water (by being fast, large and heavy) in a way that no smaller vessel could.

Has anyone any experience on this model? or running 2x 800 motors like its recomended to have? Does it have the "long running time" as advertised in the MFA blurb? Does it go at a fair lick? all these questions. Ashley
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31 October 2008 at 13:06 #16845
ashley needham
Participant
@ashleyneedham69188
OK, I will settle for hearing from anyone with a similar sized fast boat!
1 November 2008 at 07:52 #16849
Paul T
Participant
@pault84577
Sorry Ashley

It looks like everybody is on holiday.

Speaking for myself I have never used an 800 size motor for my big boats I either use electric motors gleaned from 24v high speed pumps or switch over to 2 stroke strimmer engines.

I guess that you will have to take the plunge and buy a pair of MFAs and see what you can do with them.

Meanwhile my boat design is coming on, the frame is complete and I am starting on some of the smaller details the only problem might be that I have drawn the model to be 1500mm long which might put some people off so I shall have to produce a set of scaled drawings to bring the size down to 500mm.

Your proposed design has got me thinking…how are you going to animate the ships cat?

Paul
1 November 2008 at 08:41 #16852
ashley needham
Participant
@ashleyneedham69188
Morning Paul, Thanks for that. As the motor combination is recommended by the manufacturer (who also sells the motors,oddly enough) I dare say the setup works as well as it could. I am tempted by the slightly smaller vessels they offer (36×11 inches) and powered by one 850, and I dare say they go as fast or faster than the Fantome, but I like the idea of twin engines on a boat like that, they sound good for a start. Anyway if I bought one of the smaller ones, I would probly still want the Fantome, so..

The cat is easy, you make a cat out of flexible material, and connect optical fibre wires to its extremeties (inside, of course) and lead them below deck via angled tubes, The ends are terminated on to miniature servos. The cat will travel along the deck via a gap in the mahogany planking. The mouse is a bit more tricky, as I want its whiskers to twitch.. Did I mention the seagull flying around the mast head??

Ashley
2 November 2008 at 20:09 #16865
ashley needham
Participant
@ashleyneedham69188
Yuk, there was another cheap RTR speedboat on the pond today, about 18 inches long. Bouncing up and down it was, fairly oscillating on the waves….skipping across the pond like a Zebadee on a trampoline. Yuk. Big is best. I can feel a christmas present coming on!.

Nice weather today …. only the leaves and twigs spoiled our boating, ok, the ducks and geese were a nuisance, and the weed up the small stream….and there was the usual green goose poo on the concrete jetty. . It makes it interesting though. Full of features our pond. My HMS Glorious and Berengars HMS Argus had their turn this morning. A complimentary pair, from a historical point of view, and on par (ish) in the scale department.

(But mine is faster than the lad`s !) Ashley

…or the dolphins accompanying the ship an leaping up and down ???
1 December 2008 at 22:57 #17327
Geoff Pyatt
Participant
@geoffpyatt81497
A like minded soul – the lust for speed is building in me too!

Along with another member of my club, we’ve built an MFA Piranha each – I’ve re-named mine "Green Meanie" – with a Speed 600 Race motor, water cooling and opened up a couple of vents on the top for additional airflow. Following initial testing followed by quite a bit of tweaking, it’s going very well now and get’s up onto the plane very quickly. Good fun racing as a pair and trying to get a few more involved.

However, I now want more speed and the Fantome is looking a good alternaltive. I’ve just bought a George Turner GT400 hull and deck, which whilst small (18") George promises it will go like stink with just a 400 or better still, a 480 motor – I’ll let you know how it goes in a few weeks.

I’m fairly new to boat medelling although I did quite a bit with aircraft a few years ago – and I’m just about to start Bruma, a Mantua kit, following a "Test" plank on frame with "Mincio" a Matua Riva launch. Pride and joy at present is "Drumbeat of Devon" a Model Slipway buils which as my second boat took about 10 months – but I have this lust for speed.

Let me know if you find any more out about the Fantome.

Geoff
3 December 2008 at 06:54 #17363
ashley needham
Participant
@ashleyneedham69188
i have purchased a Fantome (my christmas prezzy) and its HUGE ! the 800 motors are also HUGE and everything is just BIG. It will be fantastic and I will plod on with the build after the festivities. Also cant wait to take it to the seaside to see how a big boat really goes on a proper size sea ! Ashley
7 January 2009 at 14:44 #17900
ashley needham
Participant
@ashleyneedham69188
I have started the beast now. In the freezing cold (my shed) i have cut out the ply parts for motor mount and battery holder and also the holes for shafts and rudders. MFA recommend Silicone sealer to join the hull and deck !!!! They obviously know best, it may be because the hull is so large and hence will be a bit flexible and silicone sealant will flex too. Using a hard type glue…epoxy/fibreglass it might start to crack ?? Nice kit, comes with everything you might want (assuming you get the motor/esc kit as well), excluding glue, even has a clear box to put the radio gear in .Nice. Ashley
9 January 2009 at 19:20 #3278
ashley needham
Participant
@ashleyneedham69188
18 January 2009 at 15:41 #17992
ashley needham
Participant
@ashleyneedham69188
I have built the fantome now, barring the front big pulpit rail (one leg missing) and the wooden radar platform/mast thingy. I need this to be detachable, for storage and i can see it will be the first thing to get broken off if i just glue it on. I also need a doll to drive it, about 6 inches I think…will have to ask a few workmates with daughters for that. possibly next Sunday first outing, and pictures! Ashley
23 January 2009 at 17:23 #18112
ashley needham
Participant
@ashleyneedham69188
6inch dolls are in short supply ! the missus is trawling thro` e-bay now….

I have just had an inaugral spin on pond with the beast, and……well, its not QUITE as fast as I was hoping for, but it certainly did go…and I suppose that its as fast as the real one would be. having a 12v NiMh battery would lighten things up and help the speed. the speed controller is a bit suspect as the red full throttle light does not come on, and there is only about 1/3 power in reverse, so i will try an m`tronics Viper25 on Sunday perhaps to see if there IS any difference. One of the legs on the chrome pulpit rail was missing (?) so that has been sent back. Ah, trials and tribulations. It sounds nice, almost THROATY, the big engines are very slow revving (5100 rpm), and the hull doesnt resonate as much as I thought it might do. Ashley (pics when grab rail returns)
24 January 2009 at 13:27 #18130
ashley needham
Participant
@ashleyneedham69188
It looks like a “pippa” doll was used, or at least,pippa and her boyfriend (or is it “partner” nowadays?) as the picture in the MFA label on the box coincides with pippas boyrfiends stripy top outfit as seen on e-bay! , and they are 6 inch dolls as per my reconing of whats needed. I am doing the speed thing an injustice really, as the boat Was on the plane, and i had it out for 20 mins or so, with no slowing…MFA think 3/4 of an hour is the average duration…not bad for a boat that size really! Ashley
2 February 2009 at 20:21 #18267
ashley needham
Participant
@ashleyneedham69188
In the bitter cold last Sunday I braved out to zoom around the old pond, with a viper ESC of 25A capacity, and discovered the speed to be much as that as previous with the MFA supplied item, (the lights of which dont come on) ( and there is an annoying delay for reverse, and when it comes on it is only half speed). All and sundry (all 2 of them) thought the speed was inkeeping with a mobile gin palace, and we were out on the pond for a good 50 mins,,,,not all at high speed of course, with no apparent diminishing of battery capacity, so not bad really. In reverse it turns sharply to the left…or was it right? as both props turn the same way, and reverse thrust is rubbish. I am wondering why, with 5000 rpm motors that the boat is fitted with s-props. It may be a hangover from days when the kit was first produced… 30 yrs ago???? I am going to splash out on a pair of 50mm brass 3-bladers….I dont see why the motors will not cope, and I can have them contra-rotating for straight line reversing and a lot BETTER reversing to boot. If they dont work however I will have nothing tofit them to as they will be 5mm, and not 4 as per all my other boats. The jolly old working 18mm spotlamps on the front looked and worked a treat though!!! II have a Pete (Pippas boyfreind) now, he needs a bit of glueing up, and has no clothes, but the wife is going to knit him a nice arran seamans jumper…… He also needs a pair of DOLLY BIRDS for the rear couch, preferable one red and one blonde……..Ashley
7 February 2009 at 18:56 #18335
ashley needham
Participant
@ashleyneedham69188
I have found some pictures now of the original Fairy Marine Fantome. Not bad, looks just like my model! The picture I saw had the boat all in White, with a white flying bridge and radar with rotating bar…looks like MFA produced the boat in all-white originally, and I have stained and varnished my bridge and made a can-type radar for it. It also looks like I need some sort of “curtain” effect at the windows?? (and a few more horse-power) Ashley
7 February 2009 at 20:34 #18339
Paul T
Participant
@pault84577
Hi Ashley

Got any photos of this super model?

Have you tried the Fairey owners site www.faireyownersclub.co.uk

Paul
8 February 2009 at 08:36 #18349
ashley needham
Participant
@ashleyneedham69188
Paul, i think that is where I found the pictures!! there are some great photos on that site of all those big boats racing around on the briny sea. The MFA kit is big enough for an i/c engine and indeed they have moulded a little flat in the rear underneath fotr those wishing to fit a single rudder. This would certainly give it the grunt I need, but as usual no i/c plants allowed on the pond.The kit comes with two “special angled rudder assemblies” for fitting the two rudders….a couple of bits of wooden dowel drilled to take the plastic rudder post tube and cut at an angle to suit the hull slope!!! crude, but works ok, and why have anything more complicated?? The most difficult bit of this build is proving to be getting and clothing dolls for the crew (at a reasonable price). I will take boat and camera to the pond in a half anhour or so`s time and take a few snaps. Ashley
8 February 2009 at 11:00 #18355
ashley needham
Participant
@ashleyneedham69188
too icy to sail, so pics in the back garden. Will take some pics on the pond next week poss?? need so other boats to get a good consideration of size. Ashley
8 February 2009 at 14:04 #18361
Paul T
Participant
@pault84577
Hi Ashley

I have the single cabin version of this model range fitted with a 10cc engine (not used it for years) yours is a very nice looking model but what happened to the huge motors those that you have fitted are tiny will they make it go at anything faster than walking speed?

Paul
8 February 2009 at 16:13 #18365
ashley needham
Participant
@ashleyneedham69188
Paul. good point..the motors ARE big, at least compared to a 600 or 700 motor. They dont look that big in the boat I grant you, but I had to trot to keep up with it. As I said, the performance is….adequate, and more to the point, it lasts on the pond for over 50 mins even using max thrust for longish periods. Be interesting to fit a pair of 850`s in there, but then you have 20 amps drain at max and then you need NiMh and not a jolly old gel cell and it all gets expensive..Ashley
15 February 2009 at 08:27 #18542
ashley needham
Participant
@ashleyneedham69188
Success on the doll front, E-Bay has pimped my a couple of lookers, one blond, the other “Strawberry Blond” (according to the wife). All they need is clothes, same for Pete. These dolls have straight non-bending legs, so will have to be sprawled over the couch. They cost £10 with postage, so all in all the crew is adding up to a reasonable percentage of the total cost !!! After a chat with t5he excellent George Sitek, I have ordered a pair of 50mm three blade tye brass props with a course pitch…will see how these items perform later on. Ashley
15 February 2009 at 10:05 #18545
David Meier
Participant
@davidmeier28154
Hi Ashley.

Please do put a picture of the boat on the water at speed. It is a great looking model. It would be interesting to see what extra speed you could get out of it using brushless motors. I’m sure the two babes on the couch would be impressed.

David.
15 February 2009 at 16:24 #18554
ashley needham
Participant
@ashleyneedham69188
David. Will do , need to have the babes hair streaming in the wind, of course. ..

The trouble with swapping motors at this stage is it could get very expensive….A pair of 850 motors would make it fly, and would be a straight swap. Brushless motors would require cutting out the existing mounts and fiddling with different props, and if they dont work too much better???I have yet to get the other props to see the difference, if any. At the moment, the speed is very reasonable for the duration of the (cheap) 12v gelcell, and any increase in speed will only cut this down. The boat is a bit bare at the moment, and I am looking for some bits to busy it up, I would like a kedge anchor, a cheesed rope at the front, some fenders, and some torpedo cleats to hang them off…but these items have to be silver or it wont match the various chromed rails..and the fenders also have to be of a good size, 50mm ish tI think.Theres not actually a lot of detail you can add to a cabin cruiser? Ashley
15 March 2009 at 18:30 #19389
ashley needham
Participant
@ashleyneedham69188
Well, I have now fitted the 50mm three bladed brass props, from George Sitek, and they look the business.He has made them in his “modern naval” style, with extra pitch, although nothing like the X pitch props fitted as standard. The boat goes just as fast, so no loss of performance which is a relief, and the reverse is enhanced, with much less turning upon reverse. What I may do next week is get my ammeter on it to see what the difference in current draw is. They look so much better on the boat than then horribly out of character bright red plastic hydro-props ! I know its only a fibreglass hull, but its a reasonable representation on the original, and boats spend most of their life on the shelf being looked at. The crew is still awaiting their clothes, the wife has a shiny new pair of 1mm knitting needles and megga fine wool… Ashley
18 April 2009 at 19:06 #20310
jordan kjfj
Participant
@jordankjfj41080
just got same boat just hull no cabbin and placing a 28cc engine in it also do you know were i can get the flage and name details of for the hull???
18 April 2009 at 19:30 #20312
jordan kjfj
Participant
@jordankjfj41080
about how fast is your top spead with the set up at the min with what size prop
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