A draft plan layout had been sketched out way back in the early 1970's based on these Frigates which were built for Iran. But, every time I rediscovered these plans, something seemed to divert me away. This time, needing something lighter than the previous model, a model was finally built. One problem was that over the years these vessels have had numerous alterations, the basic Vosper profile remains but armament/sensors have changed. The resulting model is definitely in the Semi-scale class.
Sticking with my favorite 1/144 scale, it produced a model some 26 inches (66 cm) in length. My usual Balsa Sheet construction was used to give a model weight of 36 oz (1 kg). The real vessels could achieve 39 knots, so I was looking for this model to have a top speed of around 5 ft/s (1.5 m/s). An Engineers "back of the envelope" type of calculation suggested a RE 385 motor and 7.2 NimH battery pack might just do this but the best I could achieve was about 4.5 ft/s (1.35 m/s). Adding another cell did not make any obvious difference, but it's still quite lively for a small model.
Despite the narrow beam, 3 inches (75 mm), its stability has never been in question. It even coped with the wind and waves at the "choppy" end of the Wickstead pool! Plans just need to be scanned before it can be sent to join two more items in the files of the Model Boats magazine.
Glynn Guest
[size=78%] [/size]
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Topic: Vosper Mk 5 Frigate (Read 1913 times)