White Heat V - RC Hydroplane

[Wallfish 698]

Courtesy of Webhead

[Daren89 18]

Hi I have been collecting parts to build a white heat for a while, I first saw a WH60 as a school kid in a book at the library

So about 15 years ago I started searching ebay for parts and the plans, I have WH V / X / 30 / 60 plans and a WH30 built also 4/60 kit

and I'm looking for other White Heat owners so we can share info

 

[Daren89 18]

[Wallfish 698]

Welcome to the forum!

I have an engine setup with all the Octura stuff for the drive except the rod wth U-joints to connect the engine to the outdrive.

Also bought a complete boat off ebay but the seller never shipped it so I had to go through the B.S. of getting my money back.

[Webhead 95]

Yeah, I think that idiot tried to sell that boat a few times, and received bad feedback from all of them! That's my boat at the top. It was professionally built in the late 1990's by a cabinet maker, he used marine grade mahogany and had a body shop do the paint work.

[hollywood2979 1]

I have a White Heat either a 4 or 5 its 42" long, Would like to restore it, are the motors hard to find? I come to find out it maybe a 4-60?

Edited June 6, 2015 by hollywood2979

[Webhead 95]

Photos would help us identify it.

[hollywood2979 1]

 These are the pics of my boat

Edited June 8, 2015 by hollywood2979

[Wallfish 698]

NICE!

Looks like you might need a water cooled engine for that one, not much air flow

[hollywood2979 1]

I believe its the 4-60 and I will be looking for the O & R 23CC Water cooled motor for it, may change outdrive for a more up to date design, If I can't find a motor for a reasonable price I may sell the boat as is. 

[Webhead 95]

That is a 4-60 and was designed for a .67 or thereabouts nitro engine. I don't think that the O&R would work well. I have an original box with plans and instructions if you are interested.

[hollywood2979 1]

Yes that would be great to get a picture and copy of the plans, my email is: luis.n@aviationtechnologies.org, if there is any cost please let me know,

[Webhead 95]

I was actually offering an original box with plans. The plans are like blueprint size and not feasible to copy.

[hollywood2979 1]

what were you looking to get for them?

[Ghosty 3]

Hi All,

I have just found this site., I helped my dad build one of these in the mid 70's from plans out of Popular Mechanics, and I have a complete copy of the article. I have just acquired a 3/4 hp engine to power it, After a lot of cleaning out of the carby it is a good runner, still need to do some fine tuning of the carby.  The only info I don't have is the prop size, any info on this would be helpful. If any one is interested I will post the rest of the article.

 

[Webhead 95]

Did you install a new diaphragm? If not, it will definitely need one for the best performance. As for props, it's almost a nightmare to find the optimum one without trying multiple pitches.

I was lucky enough to hook up with a rc boat club and a knowledgeable guy with a box of props helped me figure it out. We ended up with a 3 blade, beryllium Octura prop, not

sure of the number. How about a photo of the boat? 

[Ghosty 3]

1 minute ago, Webhead said:

Did you install a new diaphragm? If not, it will definitely need one for the best performance. As for props, it's almost a nightmare to find the optimum one without trying multiple pitches.

I was lucky enough to hook up with a rc boat club and a knowledgeable guy with a box of props helped me figure it out. We ended up with a 3 blade, beryllium Octura prop, not

sure of the number. How about a photo of the boat? 

I will be replacing the carby with another, not shore from what yet, Looking at quite a few from OS, Super Tiger and OPS. I will make up an adaptor to fit the new carby to the OEM housing. I run and race boats with RCMK K30's, I was just after a base number for the prop to start with. I don't have any photos of the original boat that we built as they were old school photos that were either lost or tossed out on the many moves since.

 

Cheers

Andrew

[factory 487]

That looks a nice clean engine, it probably hasn't had much or any use, which may explain why it's running with the original diaphragm. They tend to harden & crack after being exposed to fuel, it's rare to find an original that is OK.

Those earlier style carbs are quite hard to find, I have a few O&R engines that may have had RC use in the past, often the governor vane is missing and the carb permanently modified for the RC servo.

 

Google has scanned the entire archive of the US Popular Mechanics magazine.

The article for building the White Heat V hydroplane by Tom Perzentka (of Octura Models) is in the June 1962 edition, available for free on google books here; https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=mtwDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA124#v=onepage&q&f=false
It's on pages 124 to 130, pages 186 to 188 and page 190.

Seems that your scans slightly are different, is it from the Australian edition?

 

David

[Ghosty 3]

David,

My copy is out of the Popular Mechanics Do It Yourself Encyclopedia set, Volume 8 published in 1968, That could be the difference.

The diaphragm is in very good condition, may not had much running, After looking around here a lot, I have noticed that the clear on-way valve is missing from mine, this could be causing the problems that I am having. When I change the carby over I will machine up an adaptor piece, so I can always convert it back.

 

Cheers

Andrew

Edited June 2, 2017 by Ghosty

[factory 487]

That explains it then, I've seen the same freely available article (re-typed) being sold on ebay, full size plans are also available as well.

Octura Models are still going, but they don't seem to have a website.

 

The clear one-way valve was originally made from the same black rubber as the diaphragm, the rubber valves perish too and sometimes the valve part falls off. I don't know when they changed to making the valve from clear plastic, as they didn't change the part number for the newer part. Here is a diagram for the carb, I will add it to the carb repair thread too.

 

David

 

[Webhead 95]

I've got the clear one way valve, also.

[Ghosty 3]

9 hours ago, Webhead said:

I've got the clear one way valve, also.

Webhead PM sent

Cheers

Andrew

[Ghosty 3]

Hi All,

Does anyone know where I could buy one of the Octura boat engine mounts or anyone who is willing to sell one.

Or can someone can supply me detailed photos of a mount with some basic dimensions so as I can machine one.

Thank you for your help.

 

Cheers

Andrew

Edited June 20, 2017 by Ghosty
Named the mount

[factory 487]

I can probably get some measurements and some pictures of the Octura mount I have, if no one has one for sale.

 

They seems to be two versions of the Octura mount, mine is the standard cast alloy version, but I have also seen a version made from a section of extruded & machined aluminium.

 

Here are a couple of pictures of one (not mine);

 

 

David

[Ghosty 3]

1 hour ago, factory said:

I can probably get some measurements and some pictures of the Octura mount I have, if no one has one for sale.

 

They seems to be two versions of the Octura mount, mine is the standard cast alloy version, but I have also seen a version made from a section of extruded & machined aluminium.

 

Here are a couple of pictures of one (not mine);

 

 

David

David, Thank you for the photos, that one looks like a piece of extruded alloy, the other one that I have seen is a cast one. Looks like I will just machine one out of a block alloy. Photo is just one engine I have

built over the years.