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[Bluebird v2]

..... and a couple more pics

john

[DickyD]

Looking good mate. Didn't lose your touch when you did your kit build then. Might finish that one some day ? :-\

[Bluebird v2]

Aye, thanks there Dicky, now I know where to send this kit     well I might finish it off pretty shortly - keep the better half happy 

aye
john
bluebird

[John W E]

Hi there one and all

I have been busy doing a little bit work on the bridge front by making and fitting 4.7 ammo boxes.  There seems as though there are hundreds to be made.  ( Lost count after 16) - these were made by covering squares of balsa wood with 20 thou plasticard and 1/16 square Evergreen SripStyrene.

Also making depth charges and depth charge throwers.   I have made these from Styrene tubing.

I have also commenced work on the aft emergency control centre - you can see the two engine room telegraphs and I am also in the process of making the binnacle & voice command pipe.   The binnacle is made up of three beads.   The voice command pipe is a sewing pin to be camouflaged.

You will see I have also added the forward galley chimney.

aye
john e
bluebird

[DickyD]

Coming on well John 

[Voyager]

Brilliant work your doing

[John W E]

hi there now for the next stage of the model, the bit that, for some reason, I dont enjoy making the ship's small boats  :)

There is a 25 foot motor boat, two 27 foot whalers and a single 15 foot rowing/day boat.  The way I describe is the way I make mine and, like everything else in modelling, its just one method of making them (I know there are many other ways).

First of all, I trace the profile outline of the boat and the top view of the boat out and transfer this onto 1/64 plywood.   Then I cut this out (just with a scalpel knife) and glue the profile shape to a piece of balsa wood the correct length and half the width of the boat - as you can see in the photograph.

I then glue the second piece of balsa wood to the opposite side, sandwiching the 1/64 ply shape in the middle, as per photograph.   Then, I sand the profile shape so you can just see a feint outline of the ply down the centre.   Once I have completed this task I glue the top profile shape onto the top of the balsa sandwich as per photograph.

I cut offthe excess material, as can be seen, with a small saw - then proceed to sand that profile shape in.   Once I have a square block, roughly the shape of the two plywood profiles I am making, I then proceed to shape one side of the hull with varying grades of glass paper/sand paper.   Once this is complete and I have done both sides, I then carefully hollow out the innards of the model.  I use various scalpels and varying chissels to do this, and, I also sometimes use a Dremmel tool.

Once I am quite satisfied with the removal and the shape of the inner hull, I then, simulate the planking on the outside using printer paper and pva glue.

Once this is complete, I give the inside and outside two coatings of sand n sealer with a very light rubdown with wetndry.   I give an undercoat of paint and once this has all dried I proceed on fitting the seats and the bottom flooring to the internals.

Hope this is of some help.

aye
John e
bluebird

[John W E]

and ...... some more pictures ... of the small boats build.


aye John e
bluebird

[John W E]

hi last couple of pics, you will not that the size of boat has drastrically changed from being a 27 foot whaler down to being a 15 foot rowing boat, when the picture is shown of me adding the planking strips.    This is because, when I was busy making the 15 foot rowing boat, I was checking the plan and on the overhead view of the ship, below the drawing of the 15 foot boat, there is a dotted outline of a 27 foot whaler.   Now, this is where I will have to do a little bit more research, does this mean that the 15 foot boat was stowed on top of the 27 foot whaler, or was this an alternative position for the whaler to be stored.

So, just in case, I have started to make a new 27 foot whaling boat.

aye
john e
bluebird

[Martin13]

John,

Continue with build please - or have you finished it :)

Where's the pic's then ::)

martin doon under

[John W E]

Hi there

Here is an up to date picture of HMS Daring - she is almost finished - I am going to send for some stanchions next.   I put her to one side  due to the fact, getting a little bored with greys and wanted to do something else - variety is the spice of life 

aye
john e
bluebird

[Martin13]

Lucky Man 

The good lady lets you bring your models into the Bedroom - WOW ! what a Lady ::) ::)

Martin doon under

[DickyD]

Great looking workshop John.
Don't you dare leave this one unfinished.

[John W E]

Hi ya there

There's rigging & stanchions to do and a little tidying up    and then, that's it, finished ... ready for the Spring time to go out on the Lake.   

John

[Martin13]

John,

Is this a pic of your build

Martin doon under

[DickyD]

Hi ya there

There's rigging & stanchions to do and a little tidying up    and then, that's it, finished ... ready for the Spring time to go out on the Lake.   

John

it's spring now John, or is it summer ? :-\

[John W E]

hi there - hey Dicky just remind me which part of England UK do you live in -  there is snow forecast snow right up the East side of the country - and where do I live - right by the North Sea .......... I ventured oot for the first time today and it was blinking perishing my man.   I consider it to be summertime when I dont require thermals under this here wetsuit ya nar warra mean like .....

Martin, yes your photograph is spot on - HMS Daring - Lord Mountbatten's first command.

aye
John e
BLUEBIRD
by the battered North East coast  :) :)

AND THIS IS ONE GEORDIE WHO ISNT RUNNING ROUND IN A SHORT SLEEVED SHIRT - while I go around in me Arctic gear  :) :) :)

[John W E]

Hi one and all

Can't believe I finished this model in 2007 and she has never ever seen the water, apart from being bath tested for stability - and - after that was done she has been gathering dust until this week gone.    I retrieved her from the dust, cleaned it, reinstated some of the electronics - 2 ACTion speed controllers, one mixer - 2.4 receiver to match the TF transmitter and battery pack.   Everything hunky dory - crew were satisfied - fuelled it up with 2 x 330 Ni-MH7.2 battery packs and off we trotted to the Lake this fine morning.    Recovery team, myself and my camerwoman wife   oh ....... how entertaining it all was

Talk about Gremlins being there.    Placed the model in the lake it was as straight as an arrow, couldn't turn model left or right, crashed into the rowing boats in the middle of the lake and that is where she had to be rescued.  Luckily a guy rescued the model and recovery team son had to gallop half way round the lake just after a near miss from ploughing into quite a number of scale model yachts :-(   Recovery satisfactory.

Further investigation found the rudder wasn't responding/set up with the mixer.

So that was rectified - back to the waters edge again.   This time it shot off like a bat out of hell this time - a near miss with the ducks and ploughed straight into side of the lake - hey ho - square fronted naval vessel at your service.

I have though, found, that she only has a 20 ft range and if I went further than 20 ft away - one motor shut down and the other went full pelt forward no control.

So the camera woman wife of mine could only get a couple of short videos of one I have taken a screen shot - just before it disappeared full pelt.

Waiting to be returned to the workbench when I can stand looking at the begger again -

I cant understand why I only have a 20 ft rang as the receiver well up in superstructure and batteries all fully charged.

fun and games - in fact I have never made a model quite like it - I thowt I was back in the old 27 mghz days when the CB radios used to interfere with us.

Happy modelling

[BFSMP]

what sort of water was in the lake bluebird, and where were the electronics situated.


I have heard from others that if salt water sailing, electronics under the waterline, and you are sailing on 2.4 ghz, then the signal can just bounce off and signal lost after 20 -30 feet.


so in the paraphrasing of good ol' British Rail...wrong sort o' water.


Jim.

[ballastanksian]

She looks good from a distance so I am certain she will look fab on film and close up.

Bloomin electrics  I think clockwork is the way to go.

[John W E]

Hi there

I definitely think (at the moment) it was the Gremlins - I have it stripped down on the bench - and I cannot make the faults re-appear at the moment.   I have the manual out for the Planet T5 transmitter to find out what the range should be for the signal and it says it should be over 100 meters.  The receiver in the model is situated in the superstructure about 2 inches higher than the water level.   I know, when we were down the lake (which is fresh water by the way) after we had all the miss-haps and all of a sudden sensibility creeps in and you think to yourself - you should have done a range check first thing - we did a check out of the water - and it was still on 20 - 30 ft - something definitely wrong somewhere.

So, as I say, at the moment - I have all the electrics on the bench - the only possibility is the speed controllers and mixer I acquire from our own Dave M when he first took over ACTion and I believe they may have been 'old' stock - because the mixer is of the old design (in other words modern mixers from ACTion - when your throttle stick is in neutral and the rudder is moved from left to right - the motors don't kick in)  it is only when you move the throttle stick in either forward / reverse then when you move the rudder stick the props alter.   Now, the version I have when your throttle stick is at neutral and you move your rudder stick the props operate.   I have a feeling the combination of this and the old speed controllers may not be compatible with 2.4 signal - the signal band may be just that little too narrow.

I have noticed a few times that 2.4 systems seem to be a lot less forgiving than the old 40 mghz.

We didn't get much closeup film of it - and what we have - I would need to delete the swearing from the takes

John

[Tug-Kenny RIP]

I enjoyed your letter.  Really down to earth and very entertaining.

I think we can say we've all experienced occasions like this, which is what makes our hobby so interesting. No two days are the same.

Best of luck with your problems.  I know you'll solve it and we look forward to the movie.   

Cheers

ken

[John W E]

Instalment two of the Grand Day out

Sorted out the problems following the first day's outing - I renewed the mixer in the model by replacing it with a mixer - Alan Bond's design - through Technobots.   This mixer allows you to adjust the percentage of mix between the rudder and the props - which is of a great advantage.   Then, I found the main problem of range of the transmitter.   This was due to the aerial wire inside the transmitter becoming loose.   For those who have similar problems and all else has failed; in other words you have tried all avenues of fixes to ensure that it is the transmitter at fault.    My particular transmitter is the Panet T5 - what I did, I unscrewed the back carefully BE WARNED be careful as there are wires connecting a jack plug which is mounted in the back casing to the circuit board and if you pull the back off too quick YOU HAVE A CHANCE OF RIPPING THESE WIRES RIGHT OUT - then I located the wire running from the antenna all the way down to the bottom right hand corner area of the circuit board.  You will see there is a small gold coloured clip at the end of the wire - and this had become detatched on mine - causing the problem of shortage of range.   All fixed, batteries charged, pre-range check making sure everything is working on the bench

............................ got it down to the Lake

...............nowt would work - NOT AGAIN    I have a feeling the model just doesn't like water, at all!!!   it's afraid of it....but after I gave the model a good talking to, and etc., it started working perfectly

So good sail followed....

here's a pic of her sailing - mind, I must add - she is kinda wobbly in the watta

[crabbersnipe]

Absolutely beautiful model...she looks great on the water....congratulations
E

[ballastanksian]

Now that is a pretty warship John.

Them small vessels do seem to wobble as there is not much breadth and depth of hull to counteract all the stuff we have to put topside, but as mentioned many times elsewhere, careful planning and material choices should reduce the problem of capsize 

I am pleased you found the problem and we have learnt a valuable tip about Planet receivers