Miss Vegas Stock .18 Club Class Rules

Our Club is running a stock .18 Hydro Class. All of us are running the Miss Vegas. This class is meant to be an entry level class (especially great for kids) to limit the expense and challenge involved with getting into this hobby. However, many of us are finding reliability issues with a few things on the Miss Vegas. This post is not intended to bad mouth the Miss Vegas. All of us are generally quite happy with this entry level boat and it is quite fun to run, especially if you find the right prop for it, heeheehee. Some of the issues we are having are: Steel collect wear and deformation causing pinching of the flex cable and pre-mature wear and breakage of the cable, weakening motor mount holes in the wooden blocks, pipe to header coupler burn out, breaking or stripping out of radio box lid screw holes. Some of the earlier issues were made better by changes that AquaCraft made, but the issues I mentioned remain to be problems. Now, We are running the boats hard. We race them at least once day a month and many of use are practicing and testing with them a couple more days a month, so it is to be expected that we will have issues with them. But, here's a few recommendations that I would make for a club stock class as far as modifications allowed:

1. Modifications that can be made to increase reliability and durability should be allowed as long as these modifications are shared with the club and agreed to be allowed by the racers in that class.

2. Allow changing the flex coupler to an aftermarket one such as the Octura (I did this and it is a much better coupler).

3. Allow changing to a 3/16" stub shaft as long as the stock sized flex cable is retained. This will allow a wider array of props to be available and makes for more interest and excitement about running these boats.

4. Allow inserts to be installed in the wood mounting blocks for motor mounts.

5. Allow changing to an aftermarket turn fin.

6. Allow replacement of turn fin and rudder bolts to nylon for break-away option to save hull damage.

7. Limit the Nitro fuel to 30% or less (Car fuel OK too).

8. Allow changing the header to pipe coupler to any coupler, but retain stock pipe and header.

My issue is this: If we do not allow some modifications to increase the reliability and durability of these boats, we will soon find during the racing season that there may not be many boats left due to parts breakage and un-availability of replacement parts. Not to mention disappointment with reliability taking its toll on racers tired of dropping out of races due to parts failure.

What do you think? :huh: What would you suggest? What, if any, other changes should be allowed? Our club will be discussing this issue at our next race event.

Check out twisted liquid site they have all the rules for mod and stock there

redracer said:

Check out twisted liquid site they have all the rules for mod and stock there

Click to expand...

If your a club running a spec class as this why dont you just get the club to supply fuel. If outside guys want to run let them but use your own fuel. Its great to see this entry level class booming,will will run RTR 18 in June as a class Mike

There was a set of discussion rules posted in the December 2006 IMPBA Roostertail. Some changes are being discussed, but they are a good starting point.

redracer said:

Check out twisted liquid site they have all the rules for mod and stock there

Click to expand...

Redracer, I logged into the twisted liquid racing site, but I have not found the rules that you mentioned. Can you help me out?

Really, what I want are the opinions and experience of current Miss Vegas owners and racers. This is our hobby. The rules that everyone speaks of are our rules. We have control over our own destiny, especially at the Club level, so what is your opinion?

Hum.. Great question for sure..

Here is my take...

OK you can spend a few bucks on factory parts or, if not careful, turn it into a "where did you get that part and it cost you WHAT!"

Well we know gluing the blocks back in the bottom of the boat is not going to cost anybody anything but a cable? sure.. any cable..

For what its worth and speaking on behalf of the designer for Aquacraft I would like to see you do as much as you can to leave the parts stock.. This kind of support and "INFORMATON" as to what is breaking is VERY important regarding future designs. If we see a part that fails allot we know we are not going to build that into a new product. Making your racing better, makes future designs better for all of us "not pulling the wool over anybody’s heads here" Aquacraft too.. its a win win.. If you stick with us we are going to keep getting info that helps us design better racing boats..

I hope this came off OK.. Really we want better racing for everybody.. That is what drives us..

Cheers

Grimracer

Grimracer said:

Hum.. Great question for sure..
Here is my take...

OK you can spend a few bucks on factory parts or, if not careful, turn it into a "where did you get that part and it cost you WHAT!"

Well we know gluing the blocks back in the bottom of the boat is not going to cost anybody anything but a cable? sure.. any cable..

For what its worth and speaking on behalf of the designer for Aquacraft I would like to see you do as much as you can to leave the parts stock.. This kind of support and "INFORMATON" as to what is breaking is VERY important regarding future designs. If we see a part that fails allot we know we are not going to build that into a new product. Making your racing better, makes future designs better for all of us "not pulling the wool over anybody’s heads here" Aquacraft too.. its a win win.. If you stick with us we are going to keep getting info that helps us design better racing boats..

I hope this came off OK.. Really we want better racing for everybody.. That is what drives us..

Cheers

Grimracer

Click to expand...

Grimracer,

Thanks for the response for sure. As I said, I think this is a great, fun little boat. I gues part of the reason I posted this was the hope that someone involved in the future development of RTR Hydros would see this and take note, just as you said you have. Thanks for listening. Yes, I agree, that we want to keep the cost down and modifications should be kept to a minimum, or at least within the average racer's budget. I see now that Tower Hobbies has the steel collets available. Thanks again, Jeff.

District 8 has a set of rules for Sport 18 RTR Hydro. We have had three D8 races this year. The class consistently draws the largest number of entries at each race. There were 12 boats at the D8 race last weekend in Lakewood. We have had three different winners.

Anyone interested in our D8 Sport 18 RTR Hydro rules can pm me with their e-mail address and I will forward them. I'm not saying these are "The Answer," but they "Are A Start."

JD

Some other things to think about with this class is the noise issue. As it stands right now, the Vegas does not meet our rules. Some of the dist 8 guys (Jerry Dunlap, Shawn Warren) are trying a canister muffler to quite them down. The pipe that comes with the boat is basically a megaphone without that diverging cone on the back side of the pipe. Jerry says that a new real tuned pipe is being work on for sale in the later kits. This pipe will address the noise issue and give the boat more proformance. Until then, probably next year, the issue should be addressed. Something that is cheap and easy to build is what is needed. That way the new boaters won't go to a race and be turn off to racing because their boat does not meet the rules.

Mike

Mike Hughes said:

Some other things to think about with this class is the noise issue. As it stands right now, the Vegas does not meet our rules. Some of the dist 8 guys (Jerry Dunlap, Shawn Warren) are trying a canister muffler to quite them down. The pipe that comes with the boat is basically a megaphone without that diverging cone on the back side of the pipe. Jerry says that a new real tuned pipe is being work on for sale in the later kits. This pipe will address the noise issue and give the boat more proformance. Until then, probably next year, the issue should be addressed. Something that is cheap and easy to build is what is needed. That way the new boaters won't go to a race and be turn off to racing because their boat does not meet the rules. Mike

Click to expand...

Ya'Know Mike, I was wondering about that. They are definitely loud! I always get a little bit sheepish after running the Vegas at the farmer's pond I practice on.

It's nice to hear there is a new pipe in development for this great little boat!

FF,

We are going to run 2 classes for the Vegas and Proboat hydros. 1 being stock and the other being mod, of course.

In the stock class, we are able to get rid of the plastic prop. This is a problem because I can go out and put a 440 w/spacer and smoke a plastic proped vegas. I think it sould be limited to a 2 bladded prop.

The boat must retain the wing, and all stock hardware that is came with. Some are in favor of modification of the hardware, some or not. To me if it's still stock, it is stock. You must run the engine that came in the boat. As far as the Proboats, everything is basically the same except for the engine. There is discussing about swapping engines to the AQU 18 only. And it has to stay in stock form. If you didn't know the proboats have 15 in the, but the new "Formula" proboat will have an 18 in it.

In the mod class, basically you can do what you want, but the engine cannot exceed 18 size.

I see this class being promoted as a kids class. That isn't necessarily true(I'm 33). I thinks it's more of a "Newcomer" class. These boats are capable of mid 40 speeds(modded), mid to upper 30s(in stock form).

Finn, aren't you a member of the RTR forum. There is a rules discussion there. Not on the TLR site.

Hey Chad, nice to see you on here. I agree with what you had to say and like to point out how well this class has done in NAMBA District 3 http://namba3.net/index.html. We have had the class in the last two races (Broward, and Miami) and it has grown and shown lots of interest from other racers. I think alot of people are starting to realize this is not just a child's toy and should be respected as any other class. I definitely agree with the stock class being a great way to get new comers into the sport. The cost is low and the boats are easy to handle. However the mod class really shows what these boats can do. We currently have an open RTR .18 class. Any mods are acceptable as long as the motor is a .18. This allows us to bring in a broader class of RTR's as now proboats with .15 can upgrade to .18 and be competitive in the class. As more and more people sign up for the races a need for a stock class will need to be made, so that the new comers can compete with out of the box boats. RTRZone is definitely a good resource to learn more about the mods, rules, and classes...