Model Boat Mayhem
The Shipyard ( Dry Dock ): Builds & Questions => Working Vessels => Topic started by: wombat on January 01, 2008, 04:40:18 pm
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Here is my Christmas present - don't know if Model Slipway is going to sell the mouldings - if not, this will be a fairly scarce beastie. I got the thing at Leamington this year along with a radio set to drive it. The plan is that it will be used for things like steering competitions though I would like to do some light towing and tugging with it. To this end the towing winch is attached to a pretty substantial framework under the deck to transfer the stress into the hull. The flexibility of the mouldings will should act as a shock absorber. The other other plan is that it can be used as a kids boat for when I get an audience at the lake - it can be used to give them a go at driving. Apart from the winch, what do I need to have on the rear deck to give a realistic deck appearence - I am assuming the square block on the deck is for a gob winch. I was thinking of something like a set of shark jaws or Karm forks to double up as locks on the hatch, though it could be made strong enough for towing. How strong do I need to make the bollards at the back if I am going to use them for a gob-rope?
The motors are 380 diameter units, fairly slow running but run on a 9.6V pack the 40mm props make it shift quite well if the speed it picked up going across the bath is anything to go by. The motor mounts are the vac-forms from Grimy-Rita. At the moment the ESC is a P93 multicontroller - the motors are run in parallel, though I may upgrade to a P94 Dual ESC/Mixer to improve the steering. The advantage of the P93, though, is I can add in a switch to limit the output speed to either 50% or 25%, so I can throw it inot "slow" mode to stop the kiddies from doing too much damage. Which do you think would be most appropriate - the turning circle seems pretty good with the P93 - I could just about turn it around in the bath
Wom
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Whose motors are you using?
Intersting rudder layout, will you get a lot of differential?
Martin
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Hi Martin,
the motors are freebies I got off a chap at the boat club - basically it is Power 400 can, perhaps a little longer with decent brush housing at the back. On 12v it only revs to about 500RPM, if that, so I am guessing it is 5 pole. I suspect they were from some sort of industrial equipment.
There is a fair bit of differential on the rudders - I could eliminate it by extending the crank arms by about 4 mm to make perfect parallelagrams, but the difference is going to aid the turning I think - when the outer rudder hits 45degres the inner one has passed it by 10 to 20degrees - this will mean that a proportion of the inner motors thrust is being directed back along the axis of the boat effectively braking the inner motor and forcing sharper turn. Of course the penalty of this is that drag is increased, but then there is power to spare.
Wom
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thats too cute !!! where can i get one for my daughter :angel:
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...Hi Bigford...
Give Jackie a call at Model Slipway on 01226 770008...She will sort you out with one, or two if you so wish...
I have 4 of these wee boats & we have a further 3 at our club to be built for local handicapped kids who visit our club in the nice weather...They are a smart wee boat...
...Best Regards...Norry...
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Well, we are progressing well - the main hull is painted with the waterline on. It is ballasted up - took about 250g of lead to get it to sit right. It moves pretty quick too and seems to be pretty manouverable - I almost turned it around in the bath. The crew is painted up and at post. I have gone for a vey uncluttered rear deck - a simple rail for the tow line to go across, with crew ready to catch a line and hook it on the winch. The main cabin has been re-done in sheet plasticard with the captian installed at the control console. The wheel is possible the wrong type - it is one I had handy. Only problem is that despite using the same paint system, it has all crazed a little bit - I wonder if there were still some cyano fumes in there. Still, will hardly show once the windows are in and the roof is on.
Should be on the lake fairly soon - only thing is how to do the rails on the upper decks.
Wom
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Should be on the lake fairly soon - only thing is how to do the rails on the upper decks.
Wom
Wombat - You've done such a cracking job so far that it deserves nothing less than turned brass stanchions to set it off properly.
FLJ
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I saw the mouldings at Warwick as well and I did like the look of them, now after seeing your model I must have one it looks great O0
Mark.
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Wombat,
If you've got two of Mick's motors in there on 9.6v it will go like a rocket {-) One on 6v moves my Wacht am Rhein at more than scale speed.
See you Wednesday?
Barrie
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very nice there Wombat i have the tug 500/510 #2 off the plug from lawrie and jackie when we had a visit to the factory last year .
Can you make yours not so good as it makes mine look rubbish O0 ,mind you look at lawries covered in dust
(http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u176/darran77/P1000117.jpg)
have you thought about towing with it as there is a tow/barge available which takes a brick as ballast .
Oh dont think they will be scarse as lawrie had sold about twenty of them at Blackpool last year very popular :)
daz
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Wombat,
If you've got two of Mick's motors in there on 9.6v it will go like a rocket {-) One on 6v moves my Wacht am Rhein at more than scale speed.
See you Wednesday?
Barrie
Hi Barrie,
Yup, two of Mick's motors spinning 40mm props - across the bath it did look like it would get onto the plane - though the motors do seem to be pretty slow revving, so it should be OK for a bit of pulling action - hopefully I will be there tomorrow
Hi Daz,
hopefully there will be a few of them about - couldn't see them on the website and there didn't seem to be too many at Leamington so I sorta guessed they were a clearout item. Didn't know about the barge, though maybe I will knock something up custom - though not using flooder tanks after the loss of Fawkes.
Don't know about it being good - there are a lot of flaws and glitches - the upper cabin was rebuilt after lousing up the windows. Part of it is an exercise in speedy detailing. The radar and controls are inkjet printed sticky lables glued on and then vernished, for example.
Wom
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Well, here is the wrap up - cocked up the paintwork on the upper hull so it is rough as a bears' a**e. Had to pop the roof off after fitting it some some of the gaps are cruddy.
However spent some time on the detailing of the funnels - thought it was a bit silly having them below the upper cabin. The dome for the radar is actually the boss for the rudder from the inner moulding which I didn't use.
Still shouildn't disgrace me too much on the water.
Wom
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...Hi Wombat...
That looks a fine wee tug that you have there...Well Done...
I,ve shelved mine temprarily to get some other ytugs finished for a display at the end of the month...I will get back to it soon, Then on to number 2 then number3 then number 4, Yes I have 4 of these wee tugs to built for Wee Johnny & his pals...
....All the Best...Norry...
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what a cracking job there Wombat ,i do like the colours .
I have just started on the vac form wheelhouse so you have given me inspiration ,i think i will leave the windows in as i have glued the roof on now.
Have you had water trials yet ,mine goes nicely and has a little oomph for the pull ;) .
daz
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Hi Guys,
Thanks for the comments....still trying to decide whether I can be bothered to put on any railings on the uppder deck. Can't decide if that is gilding the lily or polishing the 'xxxxx'.
Still trying to decide if a nice picture of the Snork Maiden could add anything to the boat - maybe on the opposite of the whellhouse to the ladders.
Haven't had it on the water yet - I am waiting for the weather to clear up, but evidence is that it should go pretty well. I am expecting that it will tow reasonably - there seems to be a reasonable bollard pull when I did the bath test. It may even haul Aziz as fast as Aziz can (not that that is saying much - Aziz is best described as stately)
Wom
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Took it on the water for the first time.....
Ballast is not quite right - leans a little to one side. The water wasa bit chopy - it rolls well, but didn't ship too much water. The speed was pretty good, and I suspect that it was set to slow speed mode. Turning circle is quite tight - about 1m turning radius. Might want to look at the steering though - it is a bit sensitive. Will give me the opportunity to practice steering.
Only problem was that water got inot the ESC - funny burning smell on the way home - one melted ESC and a failed battery. Spent the afternoon repairing the ESc and mounting it onoto a raised platform - got to get quite full before the ESC gets wet.
Slipped on a picture of the Snork Maiden onto the side of the wheelhouse.
Will put up pictures of it on the water when SWMBO downloads them off her camera
Wom
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Shes lookin very good indeed well done O0 vid ftw ;)
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Well finally got a couple of piccies off SWMBOs camera - no vids I'm afraid.
The water was pretty choppy when it went out - it looks deceptively calm there but was far from it. The poor old Snork Maiden was very seasick
Wom