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[HS93 (RIP)]

Simple Rudders made from Brass.

these can be made with a simple blade made from brass or made slightly smaller and covered in styrene for a scale appearance. Picture 1 shows the materials all available from most model shops in fact the solid rod is from B&Q . you need whatever rod you want and a close fitting tube K&S sell this and the sheet the alternative I have shown is a bit of old prop tube or again K&S tube the bearings are from the ends of tubes as I don't use them but I think you can buy them or as ballraces are so cheap in stainless steel about £1 each if you buy ten its an alternative as you can fill the larger tube with Grease .

Picture 2 shows the shaft with just a small cut about 2to 3mm deep. Picture 3 shows just standard cutters trimming to shape .

Picture 4 shows a small slot being filed in the blade about 6 or 7 mm deep and the width of the bar after you have put a small flat on each side of the rod.

picture 6 shows it cooling after silver soldering, you can soft solder but its not that hard with the small cheap torches you can buy these days.
picture 7 is deciding how long to cut the tube. and Picture 8 is the small mitre block used. picture 9 centre popping the holes.picture 10  try and get the centre hole a nice tight fit and I put a slight countersink for the solder to flow in.

 Picture 11 shows that I drilled a hole for the tube on the rudder bar to sit in while I soldered it and picture 12 shows it assembled an in my mini drill jigged up so I can drill the hole for the Pin. the only other thing I did was to solder a washer on the bottom of the tube to fit against the hull

The last Pictures are of the finished items and the alternative tube and a finished rudder with the styrene on

The handy thing about this type of set up that you can have a set of large rudders for sailing and a set of accurate rudders for display and a spare set .
I have only used basic modelling tools to show that its not that hard to make your own rudders that wont fall apart when wet

[HS93 (RIP)]

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[HS93 (RIP)]

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[mike_victoriabc]

Nice looking unit - thanks for the steps to make that.

[banjo]

I'm making up a rudder for my Fire/Crash boat.  Ordinarily I wouldn't worry about water coming in because on previous models I have made sufficient length on the tube for it to be well above the water line.
On this model it is just above the planned water line and probably will be below the built line.   Will grease prevent the water getting in?

 :-\

[BobF]

Hi banjo,

I always slip a piece of silicone tube over the end of the rudder tube, leaving about 3mm or so above the top to seal the rudder shaft. If you grease the tube before installing the shaft there is almost no friction.

Bob

[banjo]

 

Thanks Bob

[Michel]

Hi HS93,

I have been looking for a way to make a rudder out of brass with only simple tools and this is a class 1 how to !
Very nice. 

The rudder that I want to make is large, 10cm by 5cm. Is the rudder in this example strong enough when 10cm by 5cm plates are glued on each side of that small brass rudder plate?

Greetings,

Michel.

[PMK]

How much to make two of them for my scaled-up Seaqueen?

[tobyker]

That is nice - I like the R pin fixing for the tiller yoke.

[HS93 (RIP)]

How much to make two of them for my scaled-up Seaqueen?

do you want two   what size?

Peter

[HS93 (RIP)]

Hi HS93,

I have been looking for a way to make a rudder out of brass with only simple tools and this is a class 1 how to !
Very nice. 

The rudder that I want to make is large, 10cm by 5cm. Is the rudder in this example strong enough when 10cm by 5cm plates are glued on each side of that small brass rudder plate?

Greetings,

Michel.

10cm X 5 cm would be possible, you would just have to make the shaft a bit bigger, but the construction would work,   is it a plain brass rudder or is it for a naval ship, because if it's a naval ship they normally have a shaped rudder so the brass blade would be a bit smaller and then cover in platicard.,let me know what its for and ill work out the sizes of material for you and do a sketch.
hear is one I coverd

[Michel]

Thanks for the reply.

The rudder is for the trawler Our Lass 2. 

In this build thread you can see the schape of the rudder : http://www.modelboatmayhem.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=21607.0

The best pictures I could find of the rudder of the real vessel is:


source: http://s109678751.websitehome.co.uk/completed%20pages/Our%20Lass%20II.htm


source: http://www.trawlerphotos.co.uk/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=13820

Michel.