Model Boat Mayhem
The Shipyard ( Dry Dock ): Builds & Questions => Working Vessels => Topic started by: corrado on February 18, 2007, 12:50:53 pm
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Fellow modellers,
Has anyone built a Tugboat from steel...and I don't mean soldered Tinplate or Brass...I'm talking 1mm thick Steel and welded up.
I know there's a lot of Wooden ones and Fibreglass ones and usually they are loaded with lead weights to bring them down to the waterline. C'mon...there must be some other retired Panel Beaters out there? Comments......Ideas??
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Wow, this will be an interesting project, and it should work.
What do you intiend to do?
Weld small plates, or panel beat larger one and put on rivet lines?
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I think you are potentially making a lot of work for yourself.
All non ferrous materials are not a major concern if the paint is damaged but utilising ferrous materials brings with it a requirement to maintain the paint at all times, possibly requiring repainting on a regular basis. Also the use of 1mm thick plate would only be suitable for a large hull as you would be carrying a lot of weight in that.
I can understand you incorporating the ballast into the structure in this way but the beauty of having seperate ballast is that it will always be adjustable. You will be stuck with your ballast with no way of compensating for future changes in propulsion or the addition of any future modifications or enhancements.
Interesting concept but a lot of preplanning and thought required.
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Hi Perhaps I should mention, that "Tin plate" is actually steel sheet hot coated on both sides with tin. Tin is a very soft metal, and the original idea of tin plate was to coat the stronger steel sheet to make it corrosion resistant.
Welding together 1mm thick sections will be fun, my own experience using MIG on 2mm thick mild steel still needs a good Angle grinder to look smooth
Best of luck on your endeavours
Fair winds and calm waters
Tom
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How about this seen at a Deans Marine open day a couple of years ago.....
or this Aluminium Tug - http://users.eastlink.ca./~jbentley/Tug1.html (http://users.eastlink.ca./~jbentley/Tug1.html)
(http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q168/MBmayhem/P9200230.jpg)
(http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q168/MBmayhem/P9200231.jpg)
(http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q168/MBmayhem/P9200232.jpg)
(http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q168/MBmayhem/P9200233.jpg)
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Even with a steel hull you will need to balast her. :P
So you can have fun loading her up with sand, tins of beer ;Detc.
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Well....I know this would be creating a lot of work for myself, but I enjoy a good challenge..that's the whole idea! And I don't think it's been done too often....I already have a scratch built Fibreglass TID Tug, a wooden Grand Banks and a Wooden/ Fibreglass Chris Craft Cobra.....the cunning plan at this stage (subject to change of course) is to build a wooden plug in the Bread & Butter fashion and then cut templates from cardboard & transfer the shape onto the steel. The cardboard templates would give a good indication to how much the steel will react in being bent in two planes. The hull would have to be fairly boxy but could have curved bilges. It's hard to project what's in my head to here but I'm pretty determined (stubborn) & don't give up easily. When I start it I'll post progress photos. What do you think??
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Corrado ref iron tugs = steel i have biult two models in this material the first was a 7ft model of Seaforth Clansman using 1mm steel for hull and .60mm fordecks this hull is seam welded from strips of steel cut to size to suit area being worked on. after tack welding into position all plates are seam welded and then filded flat filling does far less damage to plates as the welds are only 2mm wide it is not a big job. this makes a very strong hull with only odd ribs here there i could stand on hull when bottum up. This model wieghs 200lbs ballast was either 3 car batterys or 1 battery and some water from pond. Model 2 is Moorcock in the trailer at Deans Marine open day.This was made by biulding a frame , the same as if using wood . The frames were hand cut from 4mm steel plate one side at a time and were then welded to the keel bar 50 mm 10mm hull plates are 1mm thick and are rivited to bars welded in place .Plates are easy to bend to shape and fit, Drilling hundreds and hundreds of small rivet holes is the difficult bitt the keel worst of all. Model is 112inch long 28inch beam will wheigh 6cwt this means a lott of water ballast PS dont worry about rust it will take alot longer to get a hole in this even without paint big is Boutiful but bigger is even better so go forth and mutiply Malcolm
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Hi Malcolm--
What has happened to your Moorcock? I am in the process of rebuilding a 1/2" to ft Moorcock with steel topsides, but I am struggling to find detail for deck fittings-- monitors etc.. can you help please?
Firpark
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There was a gentleman from Vancouver BC, Canada, that built an all steel model.
I saw it at a model show back in 1980. Everything worked right down to the door latches.
Steel work was mentioned a few years ago on RCgroups, and at that time, I also talked about
this mans boat, and the fact that it was all steel. At that time, another member spoke up and
happened to mention his name... However, it is all lost to me now... {:-{
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Hi Firpark will try and get imfo for boat fittings for you. Are there any in particular that you want. There could be a delay as i am changing broadband company. and plans are buried in garage inside boat. malcolm
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My fatherinlaw now deceased build a couple of tug boats from the old bake beans and 20 litre kero tins and soldered them did a great job son in law has the boats on the mantle piece on display tassie48.