Vintage Miss Budweiser electric R/C Hydroplane.

I74

Well-Known Member
#41
I remember my friend running his in the town park lake In the early 90’s. I could not believe how fast it was. Now with the better motors and batteries I can’t imagine them running faster. He was running it one day and lost signal while full throttle, we tried running after it to catch the signal back, but it smashed into a mini island surrounded by rocks. This thing exploded into pieces! LOL. It was a devastating loss being so young, but now it makes me laugh. Man , at full speed that thing was barely in the water! Thanks for helping me remember that.
Thanks for the reply ! :)

The 2 MRP Miss Budweisers I had back over 30 years ago,, were set up with 2 - 540 r/c car brushed motors mounted side by side,, & turning a single spur gear attached to the single output prop shaft assy.

''So called'' speed controllers were pretty much 3 progression micro switches,,, activated by a servo cam wheel.

Had my 2nd one set up with ''Hughey'' custom gears,, so to run bigger ''Octura'' props.
The late Ed Hughey was pretty much the Grandfather of r/c fast electric racing boats,, & actually started messing with them back ''I think'',, in the late 50's.
Bet he would of loved to see how far things have advanced today ..
Probaby would of blown his mind !
I was lucky enough to talk to him on the phone a few times back in the 90's..
He was a cool Dude.

With the best rechargable batts. back then being ''low'' milli amp Nicds,, you were lucky to hit top speed for more than 15 seconds before the batts. pretty much already lost 40% of their charge.

About 3 laps & you were done.,, & then another 20 minutes to change out packs ect. & do it all over again. :rolleyes:

They were so - 'pain in the @$$'' high maintenence back then,, & always wanted to get another vintage MRP Miss Budweiser,, & set it up with the current - ''state of the art''-''simple maintenence'' brushless stuff,, plus Lipo batt packs ect. ect.

The way I have mine figured with this set up,, & 36mm racing prop with ''a lot'' of pitch,, it should run 40+ mph for about 8 1/2 minutes without breaking a sweat.

Also with 2- 3s 3000ma lipo's ''in parallel'' & the single brushless motor,, the boat should weigh around 2+ lb's less than they did back then soaking wet with 12 - 14 Nicd cells ect. ect.

The brushless motor I'am putting in,, can potentially produce over 900 watts of power !

3s means 3 cell,, which with 2 of these in parallel,, is still concidered 3s,, because the voltage is still the same,, just the capacity is doubled,, which is why I should be able to get over 8 min. run time.

I'll be sharing ''a lot'' more down the road ... ;)

I
 
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#42
Nice boat! My brother Dave took this pic in about 78 I think and could be wrong....It came in the mail one day when I was about 12 . I see it almost every day on my wall and still smile when I see it...LOL It was taken in California and sent to Michigan. Our family went to the rooster tail a handful times in the early 70s to watch the races. Mid 2000s my work had a party at the rooster tail and man did it hit me....love that boat.

I love watching those RC boats rip it up....nice
 

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I74

Well-Known Member
#43
Nice boat! My brother Dave took this pic in about 78 I think and could be wrong....It came in the mail one day when I was about 12 . I see it almost every day on my wall and still smile when I see it...LOL It was taken in California and sent to Michigan. Our family went to the rooster tail a handful times in the early 70s to watch the races. Mid 2000s my work had a party at the rooster tail and man did it hit me....love that boat.

I love watching those RC boats rip it up....nice
Very cool Man ! :cool:
 
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