Model Boat Mayhem
Mess Deck: General Section => Beginners start here...! => Topic started by: astroscouse on October 25, 2014, 03:41:22 pm
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I want to make a platform to be towed behind my Seaport Tug and to carry my tiny E flite Carbon Cub floatplane. The plane will face stern wards and will slide down the sloping rear part of the tender, into the water and then taxi into wind and take off. The model is so light and about twenty inch wingspan she should easily slide down the ramp under power.
Can anyone please point me in the right direction ref. plans or existing tenders for me to copy ?
Dick
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Do you want your barge to look realistic or just build "a thing" to get your plane on the water ?
A simple sheet of polystyrene foam should offer more than enough buoyancy (e-flite.com says 90g).
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For all intents and purposes, a heavy barge whose freeboard is quite close to the surface of the water - heavy so that it does not tip up as the plane moves to the edge,
You could get a large piece of balsa cut to a length of a barge, two wide depending upon the width of the balsa, then glue pieces at 90° along the length to give rigidity, then a sheet of steel or lead slightly smaller so it is set in from the edge to act as the ballast, lay a strip of balsa along the edge of the ballast to enclose it and then cover the whole ballast and edging balsa with another set of longitudinal lengths of balsa.
IE create a sandwich like plywood of balsa, turn the whole lot over and the thick balsa side would be the top, with the ballast at the bottom, chamfer the bottom edge at 30° or 45° and paint the bottom RED and the top black varnish to high heaven after adding some towing bollards and hey presto you have a tug barge that a light plane can just drop off the back end of. lol O0, I could be wrong and those in the know will correct us :-))
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Warspirte and Calimera, thank you both for your kind attention. Yes, I do want it to look real so your suggestion, Calimera, is the sort of thing that would be ok I think. The part the plane will sit on will be covered in plastic or celluloid so she slips off easily. Thanks again, what a great forum this is !
Dick
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Calimero. apologies for typing your name wrong the first time. !!!
Dick