THOR - FLAT BUILD / CORELOCK

[Slideblues]

Round here it was Powercats, Merc's in white and a big box of props B)

I do miss those days,

Gene

 

[Carl Van Houten]

that things looks awsome Carl!

Thanks Kris.

Very cool stuff guys. That looks like a pair of 78's on that Power Cat. I remember the Power Cats around here on my lake. One guy blew his over backwards but it didn't kill him. It was the talk for years around the lake. I was small then but still remember seeing them go down the lake with the twin Mercury's howling in harmony. There never were any Switzer boats up this far though. I have some old Skyway pictures somewhere around here. The Switzer boat designs were ahead of their time. Like you said, the available H.P. was a little behind what was needed to work the larger hulls.

I enjoy the old Mercury Mark engines. I have a Mark 75 and also a pair of Mark 78A's that would love to get clamped on a powercat.

Now days I just collect the "Thorkie engines" These are the engines that were in the building when Carl Kiekhefer bought the failed Thor engine manufacturing plant and started Mercury outboards.. It was then called the Cedarburg Manufacturing Company.

I have a Thor Streamliner in my collection that is super rare. It is what many collectors call "The story engine" because it is the engine that made Carl a very rich man. It was his showboat model when he made his first trade show in NewYork in late 1939. There were only 400 of them manufactured. There are less than 35 that remain. I actually have two. I am in the process of restoring my second one. I know some people that have been collecting for 25 or 30 years that has never seen one in person. There were three other models that he sold that year. The Alternate -2 (a stacked 2 cylinder with 100 manufactured), Alternante -3 (The 1st 3 cylinder outboard and only 20 ever manufactured ) and the single cylinder Thor Streamliner.

Anyway, I love the old Mercury stuff. Those Mark engines were the KING of outboards in their day.

-Carl

 

[JoeWScott]

Have you guys read Iron Fist? Great, dry read. lot's of history though...

joe

 

[RonShaw]

Greg,

He is working on his website. For now, send him an email and he will take care of you. It is in his first post.

[email protected]

 

[ozbryan]

The new boat looks very nice Carl.

Can't wait to see one run!!

What's the length of the .21 boat?

A .45 boat will be great to bolt a new Nova up to.

 

[Carl Van Houten]

Thanks guys. I will build larger versions of it after we get the THOR kit boat machine running. LOL This laser stuff is cool. I have enjoyed this project. Measured down the center it is abt 29-1/2" long.

I already have the next size cowling drawn and ready to go to print. There are 56 cross sections in that one part. Crazy amounts of drawing time invested. The larger boat cowling looks just like the THOR cowling just much larger. Boats never scale up and work right so I will have to tweak the dead-rise and adjust the A.O.A. a little then do some testing to see how it all works together. It should be close.

-Carl

 

[chris1088]

Any more photo's of the build?

 

[Carl Van Houten]

I am stating another one after this weekend and will take more build pictures to post. I am trying to get the burn price down as low as possible. I have been working on that all morning. I was able to reduce the size of the logo and a few little things like that in order to get the burn-time as low as possible. I should have the production kits here as I had stated by mid December.

-Carl

 

[Andy Greene]

Put me on the list Carl- I wanna build a stick kit. LKM before your ready, wanna talk a little more in depth about the ModVp version.

You have my number.

Andy

 

[Carl Van Houten]

Andy,

I sent you a PM.

Thanks,

-Carl

 

[TUNLBOTR]

Making sure you got voicemail with info.

RP

 

[Carl Van Houten]

Randy,

Yes, I got it. I am sorry that I didn't get back to you yesterday but after I got off the phone with you, I spent the rest of the day working on new quotes and got a lot done with a new supplier. Stay in touch.

-Carl

Making sure you got voicemail with info.

RP

 

[Butch Londrigan]

Carl when do we get to see more of this build. Looking forward to seeing more.

 

[Carl Van Houten]

Hey Butch,

I should be able to supply some more pictures soon. I sent my files to another laser company last week trying to get the best possible turnaround and price. I had to adjust my drawings to better suit their material. I have thought about purchasing my own laser but I decided it would be best to get started by having my parts cut by a supplier first. The drawback to this is the time between submittals. I should have the second prototype in here by this Saturday. Actually that is a very fast turn around compared to the first company I was using. Their turn around time was 3 to 4 weeks.

-Carl

Carl when do we get to see more of this build. Looking forward to seeing more.

 

[Carl Van Houten]

I have taken a lot of pictures of the new build. I will start loading them on here Monday. I am not sure how many pictures I can load but maybe they will all load up.

-Carl

 

[Maryland FE]

I have taken a lot of pictures of the new build. I will start loading them on here Monday. I am not sure how many pictures I can load but maybe they will all load up.

-Carl

Carl,

You can upload a lot of pics to this thread, like 40+ MBs worth. I've done a lot of uploads for the D12 races.

Pete

 

[Carl Van Houten]

I have taken a lot of pictures of the new build. I will start loading them on here Monday. I am not sure how many pictures I can load but maybe they will all load up.

-Carl

Carl,

You can upload a lot of pics to this thread, like 40+ MBs worth. I've done a lot of uploads for the D12 races.

Pete

Thanks Pete.

I had to visit family in Georgia this weekend for a late Thanksgiving gathering. We ate some killer home cooked food then spent yesterday afternoon flipping the channel between the Georgia / Georgia Tech game that went into overtime. A split screen at grandmas house would have been great. When that ended, we all watched the end of the Auburm / Alabama Iron Bowl game uninterrupted. Man...what an ending WOW... What a difference one second can make...I was at the Iron Bowl game in 85 when Tiffin made that 52 yard kick. Crazy stuff. I wonder how many bookies left the country last night? LOL

Drove thru all that game day traffic last night getting home was CRAZY. Okay, back at home now. Time to get back out in the shop.

 

[Darin Jordan]

This looks really awesome, Carl. Can't wait to see the finished product!!

 

[Carl Van Houten]

Okay I haven't ever posted more than a couple of pictures on here before so bare with me. This model may look complicated but the complicated part is already done for you. The core of this model will make building this model easy and quick compared to the models I have designed in the past. It is unlike the typical wood tunnel boat build.The strength of the finished model is unreal. The model will build fast but the key is building the jig. The jig is simple and easy to make.

Use a straight edge to select a straight piece of 3/4 inch birch plywood. You can get this size from Lowes or Home Depot in 24" X 48" size for less than $20.00.

Use the core plate as a pattern and trace the outline onto the plywood. Sand the shape edges smooth. Cut wax paper to fit across the jig and secure with masking tape so that it is laying flat across the jig.

The core plate looks a little busy but if you look closely, you will see that I have added a small scallop to the receiver slots that pertain the top build. The slots without these scallops are for the sponson build. The parts all have slots that are sized and positioned to only fit in their correct location but the scallops do help to understand the layout.

The jig is designed to use both sides during assembly. The risers that are used to elevate the flat side of the jig off the table doubles as a nest to hold the boat upside down while building the sponsons.

 

[Darin Jordan]

Hey Carl... be carefull... If you make this too easy, ANYONE will be able to build one of these, and THEN where will OPC Tunnel racing be?? :lol: B) B)

I am LOVING THIS!!