Tribute Act

[bluebirdsback]

Ive already sent her mine Bill, along with the two princes in the congo who need a bank account as thier poor father has just died and the government are going to steal all of their money poor things.
I should be loaded by this time next week.

[Tyler]

There's no link to gina campbell qso.com or to the Bluebird electric sites, that says loads I think. But they didn not link to the site of the boat design they stole either! Idiots.

[mtskull]

I'm still waiting for the US Marine Staff Sergeant who nicked four million dollars worth of Saddam's gold to pay me my share....

[sheppane]

There's no link to gina campbell qso.com or to the Bluebird electric sites, that says loads I think. But they didn not link to the site of the boat design they stole either! Idiots.

Exactly what or who gives you the right?

I'm very interested.

[Renegadenemo]

There's no link to gina campbell qso.com or to the Bluebird electric sites, that says loads I think. But they didn not link to the site of the boat design they stole either! Idiots.

A perfectly valid point, Tyler. But we try to avoid name calling in here so please play nice...

Now I'll be in trouble for over-moderating!

[mtskull]

There's a world of difference between talking about it and going out and actually building something and then trying to get it to work

Indeed, but surely it is better to get the design right in the first place so that you know it will work, even if the time taken over the process may give rise to the misconception that you merely belong in the "talking about it" category?
IMHO it would perhaps have been more appropriate for the Helical team to have made their own boat work properly before disparaging others for failing to deliver a "working British pure thrust jet hydroplane".

[Renegadenemo]

IMHO it would perhaps have been more appropriate for the Helical team to have made their own boat work properly

You only have to look at the great thick slabs of aluminium used everywhere, even for for such simple items as fuel tank brackets, whilst remembering that K7 is notoriously sensitive to weight and balance and it becomes clear that they never really understood the problem. Now where did they stow the ton of batteries for the electric start?

[mtskull]

Now where did they stow the ton of batteries for the electric start?

In fairness, it probably doesn't need a ton of batteries.
I recall, in my (relative) youth, that we used to start the old Jetstream 41 off a pair of 24v, 28ah NiCad batteries that weren't very big and heavy at all. Admittedly, those Garretts were smaller than an Orpheus but they were single spool, so there was the inertia of a dirty great prop. to overcome into the bargain....

[Renegadenemo]

Yes, in fairness I was speaking a little tongue in cheek there and I agree you could get it going with modern, lightweight batteries but consider this. We were offered the details of their electric start system though we'd already decided that we'd stick with air start in some form or another for the authentic sight and sound and historical accuracy but it was given proper consideration at the time. The biggest problem was how to package it without upsetting the weight and balance and that's with the genuine boat accurate in every detail. Now start fitting a fuel tank made of 3mm plate (more than twice as heavy as the original) and fibreglass sponson tops then just keep adding to that list and by the time you're done you're going to have a world of problems where just trimming the thing to look right isn't going to be enough to make it work.
And even that in itself is fine if you have to work blind but all the information to get it light-years closer is there in the public domain, so who took the executive decision to make the fuel tank out of boilerplate?

By the way, don't those little turboprops have a free turbine to drive the prop? Or are they direct drive?

[Richie]

so if they remove the boiler tank and replace with something lighter ie thinner ally or perhaps GRP.... and were to perhaps start the engine from a remote power pack and pull the batteries, would that help ?... why did they make the sponson tops out of fibreglass ? this to me seems nuts ? its heavy !, and subject to easy damage..... if they were going to use composites perhaps carbon fibre would have been better at very least its a stronger sandwich than glass. are you sure its fibreglass ?


looking at what they have all in the name of looking like K7 coupled with a heavy safety cell and incorrect intakes.....was she ever going to plane ? methinks not

i guess this lot are irritating me again...

to me it all just seems poorly thought out, poorly executed, poorly unveiled.

takes me back to the questions i had from the get go.

if its not a replica then why:-
A)Paint it blue (granted there are many blue boats etc not just bluebird)
B) number it 777 (then inset the numbers to make it look like K7.....plus you cant tell me that all the numbers between 7 and 777 had been used)
C) paint the yellow motif's on the tail cover ala bluebird
D) use an orpheus unit there are way more suitable units with spares available ?
E) feel the need to launch it at Pier Cottage

F) build it at all ? your target speed on the web page is 400 ? this design was on its limits for 300 so why waste money and time you have not improved on any of the aspects of the original design..infact you have in some cases made it worse

there are some jibes towards the Quicksilver camp... but in my eyes at least they are going somewhere new and as a potential sponsor i would be backing that camp over the 777 lot for the record title

well again i appear to have had a rant.... sorry...... but my business is "Bull muck" and how to spot it... the 777 team appear STILL to have not been honest about their intentions


lots of love

Richie

EDIT: Moderator please feel free to delete this post if its not in good taste etc etc...