Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length.

[toptugger]

much help needed here please.

I have just taken delivery of my 10 hatch coaster that i am going to attempt to convert into a king crab F/V. ... this will only be my second ever build!!!... the biggest problem i think i am going to face is the radio control gear, because quite simply i no nothing about it.n I have spoken to a friend who has helped a little but he has never built a boat.

So here is what i have and want.

I have a model slipway 10 hatch coaster. I want to RC it.... titter.. told you i know nothing about it .. i assume the gear is fitted before the build gets into full flow,

what gear do i actually need?
do i need a bow thruster?
whats the best gear to buy without spending silly money? ( i was told a certain frequency is better than another???)
how do i go about fitting it to the boat?
can i fit some lights to the system and how? ( deck flood light and wheelhouse)

anyones help would be appreciated

cheers toptugger
 

[Roger in France]

You will need to think about your RC gear as you build because although you really should design your lay out to be easily serviced, provision for positioning things like servos for steering needs to be built in while you have good access.

Modelslipway themselves, are very, very helpful. Give Jackie/Laurie a call and they will advise you about size of motor and need for a bow thruster.

Other electronic gear will be needed like a speed controller and fuses. You will also need a distribution board if you want to install lights or other features. Again, seek advice from David Millburn at Action Electronics who is most generous with his advice and sells excellent gear.

I will leave others to recommend which radio and what frequency as I am conditioned by what I can buy and use in France.

All contact details for those I have mentioned above are in the Mayhem "Traders Directory".

Roger in France

[dan]

as far as radio is concerned i would go for 2.4Ghz as you don't need to wait around for a frequency peg you simply turn on your gear and go. and you can have a few models saved on one transmitter. The only disadvantages are that they can be costly and secondly they cant penetrate the water if your using that RC system in a sub.

A modeller at my local club has the 10 hatch coaster and he has fitted that with a 550 motor DD with a 6V 4A battery. This gives it a good looking scale speed. I believe its been fitted with a 25A speed controller which is more than enough, but like Roger in France said, make sure you fuse it.  Then its up to you  whether or not you want to install a bow thruster, it all depends on if you wish to spend that little bit more money, as bow thrusters to take up another channel on your transmitter and you will need a second speed controller in the boat.

hope this is some help

[FullLeatherJacket]

This is a basic installation, but you can add a bow-thruster, lights, bells, whistles etc as required. I've just discovered that our plain boring old 550 is actually a 5-pole, fan-cooled motor (never bothered to look before) and so would be ideal for the coaster on 12v direct drive.

http://www.action-electronics.co.uk/pdfs/Slipway%20Loyal.pdf

PM me for any further info, or suit yourself.

FLJ

[Roger in France]

Dave, as always an excellent and helpful diagram.

Just one small point. For novices would it be worth labelling the plug and socket with the battery to show that it is used to disconnct for charging? I realise you cannot put everything in a diagram without sacrificing some of the excellent clarity your diagrams provide.

Roger in France

[toptugger]

thanks for the advice fellas, i have been in touch with dave millbourne and he has been very helpful. I'm just waiting for a reply to find out where to go now. I'm hoping to keep the cost down as it is my first RC boat.

I have another question ... i have seen a few builds where the deck is made from wood. The deck supplied with the model is plastic card, do i need to have a wood deck and lay the plastic over the top? and if so what is the reason.

[dan]

i have the al khubar from the model slipway, this just has a plastic card main deck, and i haven't had a problem with it on its own its enough to support all the super structure but there is only one part of super structure, this is quite light in weight which i imagine will be similar to yours, as long as you have supports under the deck you should be fine with plastic card.

On my other, larger model i have used 5mm plywood with 1mm plastic card on top. the reason i did this is so i could have the strengh of the wood to support all of the super structures which spread the whole lengh of the ship and the plastic card to cover up the wood grain.

as long as you follow the plans they have given you, you should be fine when it comes to making the deck. but you can always replace the plastic deck for wood, its entirely up to you 

[Colin Bishop]

I substituted 1/16th inch ply for plastic on the deck of my Deans Medea. It doesn't affect the build and it does reduce topweight significantly.

Colin

[craftysod]

Toptugger
What finish do you want on your boat,you can lay plasticard on the deck then put wood on top,or just lay the plasticard and paint to your preference.

as said above,you need to have some support for superstructure

[toptugger]

i'm not sure yet on the finish, i may well be planking it. if i do would i need to fit the plastic layer on top of the thicker wood, then plank it, then build the superstructure? or plank it with thin wood after the superstructure is built.

[toptugger]

Also... whats the best way to plank the deck, do i make loads of individual planks or is there a better way?... i want to get the best effect with weathering after it is fitted. and what is the best wood to use?

The great thing about this build is it is a vertical learning curve!!!!!

[Bunkerbarge]

I think it is important to remember that most of the options open to you are all driven by personal choice.  You can do some research into the particular model but as this kit is more of a generic vessel you can basically do what you want with it.  Nowadays though wooden decks are not very common on cargo ships so you may be restricted to the bridge deck only for a wooden finish.  Then you can choose whatever technique suits you best.  I lay the planks with a gap, cover with a caulking then rub it down afterwards. Others lay the planks with cord or paper between the planks, some paint the edge of the planks with a black marker before laying them, the coice is yours. 

You can also buy sheets of planks ready stuck together with caulking, which makes covering a large area a lot easier but is actually then trickier to do the edges so a mixed blessing.

I would have a read through a lot of the build threads and tutorials already posted on here to get lots of ideas about how to progress but you do need to decide on what you want to do with the model first.  Bow thrusters for example are your own choice and you need to decide whether you want to fit one long before you actually start the build.

[bosun]

Hy Toptugger
I would,nt bother with planking on a king crab boat, none of the boats that I have seen in the series have a wooden deck. Just think about those big pots smashing into the deck the way they do and you will see what I mean. Follow the advice of Dave at action and you wont go far wrong, but consider a 4 channel radio just in case you want to have a working crane ect.
Bosun

[toptugger]

i've found some 12mm ply in the garage...is it to thick and heavy for the deck? dantheman, i see you used 5mm, i kinda guess that is more user friendly...12 mm might make it to top heavy?