Question

Hi Garth !

    I have R/Cd that very boat before  .Using small Slot car can motors ( direct drive ) and an electronic speed control along with a FUTABA four channel receiver ( installed in a w/t box up in the aft cabin raised area , it performed well) . The battery pack provided enough ballast to offset the receiver at deck level . The battery pack was at the centerline of the boat on the bottom secured with some locators glued in place .

.Now for the transom .Take two layers of .080 sheet cut to the inside shape of the transom and after laminating them together install in the boat with Tamiya plastic glue .Make sure you have a snug fit . After a day or two come back and fill any voids with C/A and DO NOT use accelerator !

The original LINDBERG kit as built ,  drew way to much water .Now .You want the deck to be as watertight as possible .Here's how . Cut the opening to encompass the forward house and aft one .Use .040 Strips for flanges on the main deck part glued in place .Now using a large flat ( thin ) rubber band or two set it in a groove you partly engraved in the strips .When you screw the deck part down this will make a watertight seal .Your switch can be covered by an ammo box or something .

 The screws are mounted by installing nuts under the deck with epoxy After  drilling their holes .That way you can get the screws used by model railroaders to hold parts on rail cars  as your mounting screws . This is all sturdy and long lasting .The last one I did was eight years old ran great and I gave it to my neighbor's boy .He still has it too !

If all you want is a 'proof of concept' r/c, consider buying one of those cheap toy speedboats, of a similar size, often sold in the bargin bin of electrical wholesalers or auction sites.

This should give you a motor capable of moving the 1/48th boat reasonably well & it should be supression shielded.

Good luck

I'm considering something similar with one of the 1/35th Italeri boats...

Pager motors will fit in just about anything (they are about 1/8 inch in diameter), but would likely not propel boat fast enough.  However, you can get motors in lots of sizes larger than that, so I am sure you can find a motor that will fit and give reasonable performance.

I have  MicroGlass fiberglass hull for an Elco 80' in 1:48th scale.  Haven't started the build yst, but have collected some pieces and parts.   I plan on using a Losi Xcelorin  (Part # LOSB9594) 1:36th scale brushless motor and ESC along with a 2 cell 7.4 Volt Li-Po battery.  

Garth, R/C-ing the 1/48 can be done. There are all sorts of small electric motors and batteries to power them out there. Local hobby shops, or on line places like Tower Hobbies should be able to help you as most are the same motors used in planes. If you go to one of these sites, look up R/C sailboats and you should be able to find all kinds of radio gear shown there and the way they are installed.

The 1985 R/C unit should be able to be used if you did not leave the batteries in the unit all this time. If so, the batteries should have leaked all over the place and ruined the contacts. If the batteries were removed after use, the unit should be OK.

Using resin on the inside of the hull should work if the job is done slowly and carefully so as not to melt the plastic from the heat of the resin curing. The radio gear and all electronics including the motor are usually installed in sealed plastic boxes to make them waterproof. I raced R/C sailboats and scale boats for years, including a PT-109 and a diving submarine, and never lost a radio receiver due to water in the boat.

Hope that this helps you Garth. If you have any more questions or need any help, feel free to PM me.

Jim 

built a scratch built pt109 back in the early 80's that i installed  rc for a friend's younger brother. was about 20 inches long & had 2 handmade props out of brass. the thing moved pretty darn good in the water.