Vintage Miss Budweiser electric R/C Hydroplane.

I74

Well-Known Member
#1
A bit of off topic viewing for anyone interested...

Have always had a soft spot for Unlimited Hydroplanes, especially the Miss Budweiser's,, from the 80's & early 90's.

For many years,, I have been searching for another MRP 1/12 scale electric R/C Miss Budweiser, as I had one back in the early 90's.

This kit I was ''very'' lucky to find on an R/C site, & it was made in 1991,, in So Cal., by MRP.

Always envisioned another one, with running it with a state of the art ''lightweight'' brushless set up,, & Lipo battery packs.

The set up I will be running, is a 3660 - 2150kv water cooled brushless inrunner motor, & a 70a water cooled ESC ''speed control'',, & powering it with 2 - 3s 2200 30c lipo packs wired in parallel.

Free rpm's of this set up, will be over 27,000,, & around 23,000 rpm's under load.
It will kind of have a turbine sound pretty much like an electric R/C Jet. :cool:

Run times should be around 8 1/2 min. , & with the initial prop set up,, should hit around 40mph, with out breaking a sweat.


Back in the day, we ran these electrics with duel brushed car motors in a gear drive, & ''heavy'' Nicd 12 - 14 cell packs.
They ran like stripped ones for about 30 sec., & were pretty much done after about 1 1/2 min. LOL

The state of the art set up now, should be around 2 1/2 lbs. lighter,, & will have pretty much full power for the whole 8+ min. run.

It's going to be glorious ! :p

Pic's 'so far'',, are showing the rudder & turn fin assys. that I made & or modified.

Some of the graphics were missing in the kit, & am having them custom made.

Hope to have it all done by Sept., once I get the rest of the stuff for it.

Lastly,,
As far as I' am concerned, the late 80's - early 90's ''real'' Miss Budweiser's,, were some of the most ''beautiful'' / functional works of racing art ever conceived.
They could hit around 240mph also !
That's right up there with this years Indy 500 track record breaking speeds.

Bottom pic is of a 1993 ''real'' version.
That was pretty much one of the last, in the - ''red / gold,, & white'' scheme,, which is my fav.

MRP started making these official ''A/B'' kits back in the later 80's, & re configured them every year or so,, with keeping up with the changes of the real ones,,, up till the early 90's.
Pretty sure the 1991 version I have, is the last of their offerings in the red / gold & white scheme., & is ''really rare'', as my other one back in the day,, didn't have the ''rear'' protruding outboard hortz. ''hull' winglets.
My other one would of been a prior version.


I
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I74

Well-Known Member
#4
Nice… Bernie Little and his teams were so fun to watch!
Thanks Man ! :)

I never got to see them run, but always wanted to.

Went to the Bud shoot out back in 05, @ the lake of the Ozarks,, where they do straight line speed runs with misc. ultra high performance racing boats.
The Miss Budweiser ran that also, ''up till that year'', because sadly,, ''Bernie Little'' died 2 years before,, & that was pretty much the end of the Miss Budweiser program. :(
The Miss Budweiser's always dominated that race,, & were ''not'' even going flat out.
I absolutely would of loved to have seen it run !

I did see a twin turbine Cat do 212mph though.
 
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I74

Well-Known Member
#5
Here is a cool pic I just found, ''probably taken in the early 90's'',, of an MRP Miss Budweiser ''like mine'',, in the water with the real one.
The model being in the foreground,, makes it look ''a lot'' bigger than it actually is. imagesAQTMQ30Z.jpg
 
#7
Bernie had all the money… In hindsight, he really kept the Sport going! I was always a spectator on the Detroit river. My favorite race… The river was rough, lots of chop. Borderline if they would let the races go or not. They let them run! The race was no longer about horsepower, just the driver who was most fearless! Bernie lost to a driver he just fired. Can’t remember who, don’t think it was Chip.
 

I74

Well-Known Member
#8
Bernie had all the money… In hindsight, he really kept the Sport going! I was always a spectator on the Detroit river. My favorite race… The river was rough, lots of chop. Borderline if they would let the races go or not. They let them run! The race was no longer about horsepower, just the driver who was most fearless! Bernie lost to a driver he just fired. Can’t remember who, don’t think it was Chip.
Being sponsored by ''AB'', & pretty much an open check,, he had ''very'' deep pockets.
I was going to ask on my first reply post to you, after looking @ your location,, if you watched them run on the Detroit river.

Looks like the teams today, still use those turbines & parts ect. that the Bud engineers ect. massaged & made,, ''way back then''.
Still cutting edge technology today, for those racing platforms.
That says a lot. :cool:
 

I74

Well-Known Member
#10
Bud was definitely on the cutting edge… Best of everything… still like the pop of the old Rolls-Royce 10 cylinder engines
I have an old Miss Budweiser model from 77', that has a supercharged front mounted Allison V-12 in it.
They said that those frigg'n boats would do around 200 !
Those were ''definitely'' a death trap.

My Dad told me that when he worked for Boeing up in Seattle before I was born,, that him & my Mum used to love & go watch those piston powered jobs race.
 

I74

Well-Known Member
#14
Thanks.

Here is a really cool pic I found of Bernie Little & Clint Eastwood,, probably taken around the early 70's.
Don't remember the name of the other actor Dude.

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I74

Well-Known Member
#17
The "other dude" is Chuck Conners the star of the iconic 1960s series "The Rifleman"
Michael
Yea,, that's him ! LOL
I knew somebody would pop up shortly & clarify that.
Dig those groovy bell bottom purple pants he was wearing. :cool:
 
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desert rat

Well-Known Member
#18
I have an old Miss Budweiser model from 77', that has a supercharged front mounted Allison V-12 in it.
They said that those frigg'n boats would do around 200 !
Those were ''definitely'' a death trap.

My Dad told me that when he worked for Boeing up in Seattle before I was born,, that him & my Mum used to love & go watch those piston powered jobs race.
Sh8t my dad worked for Boeing in Washington also. We used to go to Puget sound and watch the hydros run all the time. Used to dig fresh clams by the five gallon buckets full in the same area, those were the good days. Dad used to bitch about the long haired hippys with there knees blown out of their jeans.... so I figured that was a good thing to become.
 

I74

Well-Known Member
#19
Sh8t my dad worked for Boeing in Washington also. We used to go to Puget sound and watch the hydros run all the time. Used to dig fresh clams by the five gallon buckets full in the same area, those were the good days. Dad used to bitch about the long haired hippys with there knees blown out of their jeans.... so I figured that was a good thing to become.
Small world, ain't it Man. :)
 
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desert rat

Well-Known Member
#20
Small world, ain't it Man. :)
Ya it is. Dad was a lifer with Boeing. He retired as an engineer with his last design project being the flight deck of the 777. My last "new/ production" aircraft project was the engine for the same bird at GE FTO, kinda ironic.
 
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