Topic: My RC live steam tugboat / icebreaker (Read 62952 times)

kno3 · « **Reply #50 on:** November 02, 2008, 11:25:42 am »

And here some pictures of the condenser mounted to the steam plant, and in the boat.

Proteus · « **Reply #51 on:** November 02, 2008, 02:22:31 pm »

nice brass work , have you got any drawrings of the pipes on the inside . thanks

Proteus,

kno3 · « **Reply #52 on:** November 02, 2008, 05:22:06 pm »

I made a drawing of the condenser's inside for you.

Proteus · « **Reply #53 on:** November 02, 2008, 05:48:15 pm »

Thank you for that

Proteus,

kno3 · « **Reply #54 on:** January 15, 2009, 01:44:14 am »

Hi all!

Time for an update. I bought a new vaporising burner. It looked like this when I got it:

Because the two vaporisers were too far apart to fit under my tug's boiler, I had to modify it. I cut it and soldered the two vaporisers closer together. I also added a starter wick to preheat the vaporisers 9otherwise one has to preheat them with a lighter or so). Then I added a water gauge to monitor the alcohol level in the tank.

It burns for about 30 minutes on a full tank. Here's a test. It gives off more heat to the boiler than my other burner:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n63uU-z3wPM&feature=channel_page

MONAHAN STEAM MODELS · « **Reply #55 on:** January 15, 2009, 02:02:59 am »

Nice Job! Looks Great!

I love all of the improvements you have made to your steam plant and your tug has really turned out fantastic.

Keep up the great work!

Cheers,

Nick

kno3 · « **Reply #56 on:** January 15, 2009, 10:32:36 am »

Thanks Nick! It has also surprised me that all the fiddling with the engine, which was rather disappointing in the beginning, has resulted in pretty good performance.

I was surprised to see what a change of oil can do: since I started using the steam oil from Regner (which is a very thick, viscous oil - I use to lubricate the crankshaft and everything else too) the engine runs much smoother and with less noise.

logoman · « **Reply #57 on:** January 15, 2009, 03:10:20 pm »

Kno3, your new burner and condenser are great, I'm glad you didn't give up on the alcohol burner. Is there any chance of you doing a short video of the burner in action, I haven't seen this type of 'mushroom' burner before.

kno3 · « **Reply #58 on:** January 16, 2009, 11:57:10 am »

Ok, I'll do one soon.

Proteus · « **Reply #59 on:** January 16, 2009, 02:01:19 pm »

Quote from: kno3 on January 15, 2009, 10:32:36 am

I was surprised to see what a change of oil can do: since I started using the steam oil from Regner (which is a very thick, viscous oil - I use to lubricate the crankshaft and everything else too) the engine runs much smoother and with less noise.

what Oil where you using first before you changed to Regner

Proteus,

kno3 · « **Reply #60 on:** January 16, 2009, 08:52:01 pm »

I used several, including Wilesco's own steam oil (which is rather thin), motor oil and olive oil.

Here's the video of the burner in action. It shows how the pilot wick preheats the "mushroom" burner heads until they start vaporising alcohol and burning with a large flame.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAeMxsBN9hI

kno3 · « **Reply #61 on:** January 16, 2009, 10:29:50 pm »

The latest additions to my tugboat

I don't know what these are called, but you know what I mean:

Made some protection bars for the skylights:

Added masts I made of brass tubing. They carry the lamps and flag, which can be raised on the little roller.

Some general views:

Two videos with the tugboat under steam:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVuYGvgEnlo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uw-monn6VwQ

andyn · « **Reply #62 on:** January 16, 2009, 11:27:25 pm »

Beautiful work there

I'll post when our scale day is at the club, I'm sure it will be most appreciated if you turn up with this thing

kno3 · « **Reply #63 on:** January 16, 2009, 11:29:32 pm »

Thanks!
But where exactly is your club? I'm in Germany at this time...

andyn · « **Reply #64 on:** January 16, 2009, 11:32:52 pm »

Oh that doesnt exactly help matters were in England...

Proteus · « **Reply #65 on:** January 16, 2009, 11:33:46 pm »

Hi have you got any pictures of it on open water yet ? they look so good in winter with the steam showing up much better in cold weather.

Proteus

kno3 · « **Reply #66 on:** January 17, 2009, 12:04:38 am »

No, not yet. I still want to build in a ventilator because the fire doesn't get enough oxygen unless all doors and windows are open.

MONAHAN STEAM MODELS · « **Reply #67 on:** January 17, 2009, 03:26:15 am »

Wow!

Absolutely Beautiful Craftsmanship! I just love the way your tug has turned out. Great job.

Now I need to clean the drool off of my keyboard!

Roger in France · « **Reply #68 on:** January 17, 2009, 06:29:16 am »

Super build, excellent.

Excuse my ignorance, what flag is that.

Small comment, if your string looks a bit "hairy" on the fender, try applying beeswax. It not only lays the hairs but offers a small degree of waterproofing.

Roger in France

Bernhard · « **Reply #69 on:** January 17, 2009, 07:32:48 am »

Hey.............greatttt work....look TIP...TOP........+++++++
Regards Bernhard

Roger,,good ide with the beewax....i will try that to.........

kno3 · « **Reply #70 on:** January 17, 2009, 09:16:57 am »

Thanks guys! Good idea with the wax to keep the string nice.

The flag is Romanian, see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanian_flag

Nick, I was wondering, since you also built a tugboat with one of your steam plants: did the fire get enough oxygen when all fittings were on, did you leave some openings?

Proteus · « **Reply #71 on:** January 17, 2009, 09:44:44 am »

you have to be able to get a lot of air in ,well you do with gas and I wouldn't have thought spirit would be different, you also have to get the heat out or you will start to have problems with bending and with some glues, this is the reason some people go for open boats as well as being able to see the moving parts, I see the floor of the bridge is grating is it possible to remove the under side of it as that would enable a lot of hot air to escape with doors and windows open. they do create a lot of heat when enclosed I also line the inside of the superstructure with a heat reflective tape they use in motorsport, you will of realised by now how hot it gets from tests but 30 min on a hot day with a big burner produces wood bending heat.
Proteus

kno3 · « **Reply #72 on:** January 17, 2009, 10:27:05 am »

Could you give me a link to that reflective tape?

Proteus · « **Reply #73 on:** January 17, 2009, 10:57:21 am »

I used this tape 2" wide but at the time I bought it they did shorter rolls that where about 20' and a lot cheaper, you should be able to get it local to you cheaper as this company is expensive.

http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/products/ProductDetail.asp?cls=MCYCLE&pcode=DEI010408

this stuff is not as good but would prob work

http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/products/ProductDetail.asp?cls=MSPORT&pcode=ADVAT500

Proteus

MONAHAN STEAM MODELS · « **Reply #74 on:** January 18, 2009, 01:57:51 am »

Quote from: kno3 on January 17, 2009, 09:16:57 am

Thanks guys! Good idea with the wax to keep the string nice.

The flag is Romanian, see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanian_flag

Nick, I was wondering, since you also built a tugboat with one of your steam plants: did the fire get enough oxygen when all fittings were on, did you leave some openings?

Hi Kno3,

The tugboat "Seguin" that I built and posted pictures of here on this forum does have one of our steam plants installed. With this model I chose to leave all of the window glazing off in order to allow enough air to be available to the steam plant. I haven't had any trouble with air circulation or excessive heat build up with this particular model.

I have started building two more steam powered tugs which both models do not have enough windows or openings to allow for proper air circulation. What I have chosen to do with one of the tugs, is to install two miniature "computer type" cooling fans that I bought at a local electronics store. These fans are very small and very quite. They do not require much power either. My idea is that, one of these fans will draw air into the hull through a skylight on the model. The incoming air from this fan will then be routed and distributed throughout the hull via some ducting which will carry fresh air to the steam plant. The other small fan will pull air out of the hull to help keep too much heat from building up inside the model. I have not had much free time lately to continue work on either of these tugs so I will not know if this system will work well yet.

Nick

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Author Topic: My RC live steam tugboat / icebreaker (Read 62952 times)

kno3

Proteus

kno3

Proteus

kno3

MONAHAN STEAM MODELS

kno3

logoman

kno3

Proteus

kno3

kno3

andyn

kno3

andyn

Proteus

kno3

MONAHAN STEAM MODELS

Roger in France

Bernhard

kno3

Proteus

kno3

Proteus

MONAHAN STEAM MODELS