I always wanted a flying boat of some sort and after a long while I finally decided to build one. Ever since RCPowers made this F1 Hydro back in 2007 I’ve wanted one.
Well I finally got one, and here is the build:

All the pieces cut out of 6mm depron.

3mm carbon tube will stiffen stuff up.

A neat trick when gluing carbon spars is to mix the epoxy in wax-paper and rub in the spar before pushing it in.

Awesome hinging tape!

45° cut hinge-lines.

Taping the hinges.

Starting on the spons.
When bending depron, be sure to cover the outside with tape so that it only compresses the foam on the inside.

Use needles to hold stuff where you want it.

I use 5 minutes epoxy to glue the spons. It gives a non-flexing and strong waterproof seal.

Sealing the spons up.

Cuting of the execs.

I use sandpaper with 120 grit for heavy sanding and 400 grit for fine sanding of depron.

Fuselage in place using UHU-POR glue and toothpicks.

Vertical stabilizer glued in place and reenforced using toothpicks.

Top on.

Tail rudder hinging using DU-BRO hinges

One days work.

The electronics has arrived!

 

• Motor: Topwerpro 2409-12T
• ESC: Towerpro 18A
• Battery: 2s1000mAh 25-35C Loong-Max to start with
• Prop: 8*4 slowfly GWS

Hatch cut.

Break away motor-mount.

Hinge for the hatch.

Rare earth magnet for holding the latch.

One is strong enough to lift the whole plane!

A servo in place.

The two other servos in place.

Pushrod for the tail rudder done.

I use ball-links from an old T-Rex kit to make my pushrods.

3mm carbon tube with ball-links

Futaba 2.4GHz FASST Receiver mounted.

Speed-controler in place.

“Training wheel wings” glued on.

I used some clear hard plastic to protect the bottom of the spons.

Out in the snow.

Testflight!

Initially the plan was just to test-drive it around on the ground because the wife had the car so I couldn’t get to a field.
I walked to the nearest place that I could find with some flat ground and plugged in the battery.

The Hydro handles well on the snow but after a while my fingers got a little to itchy…
I thought that I would take of for just a short bit and land it directly, a little jump with other words.

Well this is how it ended:

Can you spot it?

Nothing serious, a few minutes of love and glue and she will be in the air again.

Video

I finely got some good weather here in Hjo, and I managed to persuade my wife to shoot some video:

New adventures

I was out on the frozen pond near “Kyrkofalla” church in Tibro planning to fly around with my F1 Hyrdo when the dog showed some interest in chasing the plane.
I took the opportunity and played a little with her.

Painted up!

After over 2 hours in the air I decided this airplane was worth painting.

After trying out a bunch of different power setups, this is the one I like best:
Motor: Topwerpro 2409-12T 1600kV
ESC: Towerpro 18A
Battery: 3s800mAh 20-30C Loong-Max
Prop: 8*4 DD GWS

All up weight after painting and with the 3s 800mAh batteries is 287 g.
Flight time is about 7-8 minutes.

Here is another film that I actually crash in: