JAE 45 Short Kit Build thread

So the kids came to me in the garage last saturday saying "Dad, you got a package. What is in the box?" So I opened it up and it was the kit from Zippkits that Rod had talk to me about building. Came bundled up nicely.



Open it all and took stock of what came with it. You get all the wood to build the sponsons and tub. Nose blocks and lids included. Even has some nice under deck piece for the radio box lid ledge.

So I figure I have 5.5 weeks to get this boat done, painted, and tested before I leave for nats. Lots of time you say. Nope. Got all the others to work on as well. So jumped right in.

The engine rails come in 2 piece. One is solid and the other has cuts outs to lighten it. These get glue together to make the rails. The solid piece was arched. I try to flaten it some with no effect. I figure I would glue it up and this would flatten it out. I clamped them to my T boat gig. It is nice and flat. Perfect boat building station.



I added lots weight to keep the rails flat. After they dried there was still some arch to them but not as bad. I propped up each end and weighted the middle and let it sit for awhile and it fixed the problem.



I am using west system to build the boat so it sat over night to dry.

Sunday

I started to take a look at the sponson at this point. There is a doubler for the turn fin to bolt to.



I did not like the idea of it being on the outside of the sponson so I decided to recess it under the sheeting. So the foam need to be notched to do this. So took the foam to the mill and cut a slot for it.



Now the doubler set flush with the foam.



Glued up all the pieces and stacked them with wax paper between them. These got clamped to the gig as well.

Monday

I test fit the bulk heads to the rails. They have some nice tight notches and the pieces do not fall out. There is a transom doubler piece also. I glued them all up and weighted them down. I put clamps on the sides of the bulk heads and the rest was bricks and 5lb bags of lead shot. I checked it for square. I was kind of hard with all the weights in the way.



The sponsons got sanded to the ply to level all the edges up. I start sheeting the small pieces first. These are going to be the weakest pieces and want them to be locked in by the other longer pieces.

Tuesday

Got home after working a 7 to 7 day with no breaks/lunch. Also 1.25hr commute each way. I figure I would at least sheet the ride pad and after plane pad.



I also notice that the tub was not quite square. So i made up a little piece of tubing to wedge in between the bulkheads to twist the boat back. I let it sit over night.



At this point I was shot and needed to get up early the next morning for another long day.

Wednesday

Work from 6 to 5. No breaks/lunch. Had concrete pour scheduled so I was burned out after that. No work on the boat.

Thursday

I recovered from the last 2 days.

Friday

Had the day off from work. So got up early to work on the boat.

I noticed on the sponsons that I did not sand the ride pads correctly before glueing. They both had angles left to right. That is what you get when you are so tired from working so much. So I sanded them off so I could get it right. I was having trouble getting them just right and took off more than I wanted. So to compensate for the loss of material I used a thicker pad when I glued them back on. All better. I also glued on the top sheeting of the sponsons.

The brass piece did the trick and the tub was square so I glued it to the bottom sheeting.



In the afternoon I was able to sand everything down and get a second glueing done. Added the recovery pads on the sponsons and the top deck sheeting.



I lined up the cut out for the engine section with the radio box bulkhead. This gave me a nice overhang at the front bulkhead so a cowl could tuck under it. Also gave plenty of room for the radio box lid ledges.

Looking good Mike. I wish i had your building speed, still working on mine JAE45. Keeping my other boats running is costing a lot of my building time. Is this the new 2011 version of the JAE45?

XtremeRcBoats said:

Looking good Mike. I wish i had your building speed, still working on mine JAE45. Keeping my other boats running is costing a lot of my building time. Is this the new 2011 version of the JAE45?

Click to expand...

I can answer this..... .....yes it is....it is the new Zippkits JAE 45 "Short kit"

ok thanks.

As for building tubs I always built a simple jig from aluminum so that I know the tub is straight. See picture below of my JAE21 tub:

I do not worry so much when comes to having the tub absolutely perfectly straight. The real big things that need to watch for are. The rails are the same length with the tube holes drilled. The rails are square to the tub. These two thing line up the tube holes. The rail holes also need to be same height so the tub needs to be perfectly flat. The transom is a long way from the boom tubes. So to be out a little on straightness of the side does not affect anything but the strut being off center 1/8" or so. Now the sponson tubes, if they were off an 1/8, you got yourself a big pile of crap. When I glued down the rails to the bottom sheeting I squared up the edges to the sheet. It was nice straight.

Mike

Saturday

Ended up sanding the sides flush with the tub today. There were a couple of spots that did not glue well to the tub. So I decided I would seal the inside of the tub and pool epoxy into the cracks. I sealed up the all of the inside of the tub, including the nose section. I took some white foam and cut it to fit. Stuck it in before the glue dries. Also was able to finish up the sponsons by glueing on the nose blocks.



Mike

I am building the jae 45 short kit like you.

What motor mount are you going to use?

Norris

It will be an rubber gromet and bolt thru the side style. This sytle works the best on riggers. Simple and lite.

Mike

Was hoping you had a place where you could buy one.

Don't want to go to work and machine one,that old age does to you!!!

Norris

Good lordy you have some energy! !!!! Nice work!!!

So I have been thinking for a long time now on how I want to mount the boom tubes. Rod asked me to do it with the brass tubes thru the hull and sponsons. Using collars to hold everything in place. I really wanted to just glue in wood blocks in the sponsons and do the SGX boom style. I have gotten very good at replacing them with out to much damage. I just do not like collars. I have had to many failures with them and do not want to go down the road. So I decided to pin the booms into the tub and the sponsons. Still using the brass tubes cut flush to the tub and sponsons. The sponson only have foam on all sides of the brass tubes and to drill a screw down thru it would not hold up very well. I need some backing in and around the brass tube. I built some plugs with some 5/8 dowels. I put some blind nuts on the underside of them. I than drill down thru the top of the sponson to about 1/4 below were the brass will be. I glued up my plugs and dropped them in. I installed the screws to keep the glue out of the threads until it drys.



The hole for the brass tubes will be drill out and brass installed later. It will be done on the drill press so that it is 90 to the side of the sponsons.

I will be doing something similiar with the front of the tub. I was able to cut the the foam and taper the bottom sheeting on the tub.

I forgot to order the boom tubes so it might be a couple fo days before I get back to it. Guess I will start rigging the boat while I wait.

Mike

Mike, Thanks for doing this thread. I will probably be building a JAE 45 at some point, and this thread will be helpful...

Got home today and started to remove the screws from the plugs. The first was a little stuck but came out. I then proceded to snap off the other three. I had to drill them out with a smaller bit and go at them with pliers. Got them all cleaned out. So I made 3 more and glued them in today. I made sure they came loose before they completely dried this time.

Mike

I also have a new short kit will start my build soon. Need to clear out the 21 first. Maybe my build will mirror Mikes

Great job on putting the build for this on the web for everyone to see and learn from. Not many would do that. Class act, my friend. Need a turn fin for this???

Dick Tyndall

Funny man there Dick. Funny man. LOL :lol:

Mike

PS Got no work done on it yesterday. Had to change out the shocks and rear shoes on the truck.