Saturday, February 19, 2011

Magic Cat Speedboat

Magic Cat model speedboat

The are bargains out there you know. A few weeks ago I picked this little speedboat up at our boat club auction for a fiver.

For those not in the know (how could you ?), a Magic Cat Speedboat is just under a foot long, features an odd (to me) pistol grip controller and a water-cooled motor. The package comes with everything apart from a 9V battery to power the transmitter. Basically, it's a very small, very fast boat. Since I don't really do very fast boats I thought it would be interesting to give it a go.

On the water you squeeze the trigger and the boat sticks its nose in the air, it's arse deep in the water and shoots off at speed. Steering seems to be reasonably responsive even when it's travelling at 45 degrees. Of course you can run slowly in which case the little driver (there isn't one but just imagine) will see the land and not just the sky. There is no reverse but the vessel is so small should you get to the bank, ripples from other boats will bounce you around quickly enough. Ripples are bad news, any crew would quickly become sea-sick as the boat bobs around like crazy.

Having driven the boat I'm not sure what to do with it next. I think a colourful paint job would be a good idea. There is another in the club so maybe we could race although I think a tight track would be better than open water - far too easy just to open her up and let rip even on the corners.

We did try for a shot on the water but it's too fast. A video was a whole lot easier !



Buy a Magic Cat from here although you can see what a good deal I got !

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