Model Boat Mayhem
The Shipyard ( Dry Dock ): Builds & Questions => Yachts and Sail => Topic started by: Andy M on February 23, 2021, 10:46:43 pm
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I was wondering if anyone had the Starbaby plan as a pdf? I am hoping to build it to a different size so a paper plan wouldnt be much help. I was also interested in Vic's Panache design for a future build as well
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The Panache is a super little boat and sails well. Absolutely love mine and my 2 Starlets
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Lovely boat. I have built 2 Starlets as well.
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Hi, I put this post on yesterday, looking for a pdf of the Vic Smeed Star Baby, trouble is I got mixed up with the plan names, it was actually the Water Baby plan I was meaning, I have a picture of a part of the plan but it doesnt show all the information I need to start building. I eventually found a better picture of the plan.
I then found that there was another Vic Smeed design more suited to my needs, namely the Dabchick, if anyone has a scan of this plan, I would be very grateful. I am still trying to decide which particular model I am going to build, I will decide once I have seen a Dabchick plan.
Has anyone built a Dabchick? I would be interested in seeing photos.
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Sarik still sell Dabchick and Waterbaby plans, if that is any help
Dabchick MM1024 - Sarik Hobbies - for the Model Builder (https://www.sarikhobbies.com/product/dabchick-mm1024/)
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Hi, I was looking for a pdf/scan of the plan as I am going to build it at a smaller size, a full size paper plan isnt really suited to my intended build. I got a usable drawing of the Waterbaby but I liked the looks/construction of the Dabchick better
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After a good few hours of searching, I eventualy managed to find a plan for the Dabchick. If I decide to build it, I will start a build thread if anyone is interested.
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After a good few hours of searching, I eventualy managed to find a plan for the Dabchick. If I decide to build it, I will start a build thread if anyone is interested.
Hi, can you share the plans you found, please?
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Hi, here is the drawing I found for the Waterbaby. The Dabchick plan is a PDF, so it would need to be emailed to you, send me a message with your email and I will send you it.
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Hi Andy I built a Dabchick when the plan came out in summer 1963. It sails fine and I practiced on a hand sewing machine to make the sails. I used to sail her over the Highgate yachting pond in NW London.
I made the model to take my mind off getting married in the August of that year, and as the sails went well I went on to making bedroom curtains for our new flat! They fitted as well! I think it was then that my mother in law relaxed as I was taking her baby girl away from her. Still married seems to have been a good idea.
Roy
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Hi Roy, I have done a fair bit of sewing in my time too, cushion covers in fabric and leather, curtains and also sails for my Starlets, both model size and man size.
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Any photos of your Dabchick?
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Sea Urchin by Vic Smeed
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Hi all:
I am the admin at www.allRadioSailboats.com (http://www.allRadioSailboats.com)
You'll find good quality plans for about half of Vic Smeed designs here: http://www.allradiosailboats.com/designer/victorSmeed (http://www.allradiosailboats.com/designer/victorSmeed)
If you have others and want to collaborate, please don't hesitate directly adding content, or using our Contact Form (http://www.allradiosailboats.com/contact)
(Thanks Andrew!)
Regards,
Thomas Armstrong
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Hi Andy sorry No it was long ago.
I did fit what I thought was my own version of Vane steering, which has a 1 inch cog wheel instead of a tiller, a post to pivot the vane spaced for a smaller cog to activate the larger one, which had a light elastic band tensioner to keep the rudder straight.
You simply lifted out the vane and re-inserted it for the wind direction.
I have a smaller yacht which is biased to fall off the wind and the vane keeps her heading as close to the wind as pos and she goes well.
With a small yacht I would not bother with a sail winch, but if you do try a metal gear 5 Kgrm cheap servo, that should do the job, may have to double up the sheet travel with a pulley.
Regards
Roy
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Here is a rough sketch I did of a Starlet from memory, I had a pdf of it but when I shrunk the image to the size I wanted, the lines became very fuzzy for some reason, so I was not able to trace it. I have since found a better pdf of it so I will be able to trace it properly soon.
My sketch shows me what I needed to find out, if radio gear would fit in such a small yacht. It would be tight but possible. 9g servo looks massive but the starlet is drawn at 9 inches long, so not surprising really. I think my sketch has a narrower beam than the Starlet actually is, but I liked the look of it, I will compare it with the actual plan once I get round to tracing it.
I am still deciding which model I want to build, do I go for something I haven't built yet or do I build my third Starlet?
I have very limited amounts of wood of the sizes required, I have loads of scraps though and hoped I could use up some of them.
I saw a footy class starlet someone had made with a very long keel and rudder but I wasnt that keen on changing the outline.
I will probably trace an 11.3 inch (1/3rd scale) version for a look, it would definately make it a bit easier to get the radio gear in, and be slightly less fiddly.
I always spend a while going over my options before starting building anyway, no rush.
My rc Starlet had a home made winch, using a standard servo with the feedback potentiometer taken out and mounted on the side with a ball end mounted on a servo arm running in a spiral groove in a ply disc mounted under the winch drum. It worked really well, but cutting the spiral groove was a challenge to keep it really smooth so it didnt jam.
The guy I sold the starlet to ripped it out, then messaged me for advice on a 'proper' sail winch servo? Mine worked fine, so why rip it out? Especially as it was custom built for the boat and had the exact amount of travel required already built in.
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The photos show that my sketch was only a few mm out in places, not bad considering it wasnt traced. I have decided that I am going to build it at 1/3rd scale which is 11.3 inches long instead of the 9 inch version, this results in the full size version's 3/16 ply keel, fin and bulkheads being 1/16 ply on my version, this will make all the slots are correct size.
By sheer luck, I have a bit of 1/16 ply big enough for the project, but the hull skins will need to be balsa as I dont have any 1/32 or 1/64 ply big enough, I dont think I even have enough for a cabin roof. I dont imagine Vic would have minded though😁
I am looking forward to this little project, even though I have a few other projects on the go just now, theres no rule says I have to finish one before starting another. Some of my projects never get finished, I have sold a few part finished boats and they seem to get snapped up pretty quick.
Anyway, I hope to get the plan traced later today if I get time.
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I did think of using some of the thin alloy sheet that I used on my crawler trailer for the hull skinning, but it is just too easily dented for my liking, I don't mind it getting dented on the trailer, it will just look used.
I am still thinking of alternatives having had a look at 1/64 ply prices on ebay. The postage on even 12 x 12 inch bits is nearly as much as the ply, even though I reckon I could probably manage to skin the whole thing with one 12 x 12 bit. It would be quite close though so I would get 2 bits just to be safe. My modelling budget for this year has been spent already so I dont see me buying the required ply anytime soon.
I will draw up my plan anyway and see what happens....
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I have now traced most of the bits of the Starlet that I need to from my laptop, the screen image is still a bit fuzzy at this size. I will tidy up the drawings before I make my templates. The photos show the size difference compared to my sketches of 9 inch version I was thinking of doing.
Scaling it up to 11.3 inches has definately given me much more room to work with and it will still be pretty small. Most of the other dimensions (mast height and diameter, sail sizes etc) will be calculated from the dimensions given on the plan, as these are not shown full size.
My tracings look pretty rough but it was quite difficult to see the details accurately on the fuzzy screen view, plus the fact that my laptop screen has a certain amount of 'give' which leads to some distortion as I trace over it, it is fine on bigger drawings, but trying to draw lines to represent 1/64 skins is difficult.
Anyway, I have enough to join up with a ruler and tidy up with an eraser.
Now where did I put that bit of 1/16 ply for my keel and bulkheads..... 😁
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Will it still be a Starlet? Vic's smaller version was called Starbaby, should I rename mine?
Starsprog? Starling? Starmite? Starfoetus? Lol. Maybe Starbug. Any suggestions?
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Main bits drawn on my bit of 1/16 ply (which I must add came through the post rolled up into a 9 inch cylinder! I wasnt pleased, it took me an hour to get it reasonably flat, although it still has a very noticeable curve)
I am going to cut the parts out on my spiralux saw then try straightening them out some more.
Seeing the parts drawn on the ply has pointed out just how small it is going to be.
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Good progress yesterday, sat out in the sun cutting small bits of 1/16 ply as accurately as I could with my spiralux saw. A bit of sanding to exact sizes and cutting slots has given me the bare bones of my little Starlet,to me it looks great already 😁 but I can imagine it finished. Finding a rudder tube and shaft of small enough size is proving most difficult thing so far.
I thought about using a 3mm carbon rod for the mast, but I really wanted a wooden mast.
A bit of searching in the loft turned up a nice tip of one of one of my late dad's fishing rod, hexagonal split cane I think, but I could be wrong. Anyway, it will do very nicely for my mast, boom and jib.
These have been cut to length. The I left the lower section of the mast long enough to seat in the radio plate, just above the keel, a bit different to vics set up. I dont know if I will go for my way, there is a slight chance of water coming down the mast hole. Vics version is boxed in and the mast end sits in a slotted rack on the deck piece that is inside the cabin. No water can get inside using his method, but it is purely held upright by the rigging, my version will pass through the cabin roof, through the deck and into the radio plate for a rock solid fitting.
Still lots of stuff I can do before I decide which way to go.
I am really enjoying this little build, next stage was cutting the notches for chines and inwales. I am going to use some pretty hard balsa strip for these, it was too heavy for flying projects but perfect in this case. They have to curve a fair bit, I am not sure whether to soak them or not. The only bits glued in place so far are the keel doublers, these support the hull skins as they run along the fin.
I have cut doublers for the keel where the rudder tube passes through but I still havent decided finally on the tube and rudder post I am going to use for it yet. Need to decide that before I can really go any further.
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Pics
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Progress so far. I was still thinking of what to use for hull skins, cornflake box was considered but I didnt trust it to not go wavy, i tried a bit of the thin alloy sheet but I knew trimming it would be critical and difficult.
I remembered a pair of blue foam wings I made at least 20 years ago! They were intended for a slope soarer but they turned out really heavy. They are 1/16 balsa covered, glued on with copydex. If I could get enough of it off, I might get enough to at least get my side skins. About an hours work on each wing with the scraper from my 3d printer and I had the nice wing skins off, with only a couple of broken bits, one leading edge sheet was enough to skin my entire boat, so I have some extra 1/16 now. The only thing is that the copydex and slight whifs of blue foam are still stuck to the back. It doesnt come off.
I was worried this would affect my glue joints so I did a test bit and it was solid so I skinned the bottom of the yacht. I am going to work out the radio etc before I put the sides on, to give me the best access. Looking nice so far, I have made a start on the fittings for the mast and boom. I decided to go for the mast setup of Vic's original. In a waterproof socket rather than going through the cabin and into my radio tray as I was thinking about doing.
I have also made up my rudder, fitted the tube and fitted mounting blocks for rudder servo. Still to sort out a tiller arm and a tiny rudder pintle. Still not sure what to do, I filed the end of the rudder shaft down so that it could have a pintle, but it would need to be 1/16 inch wide, and have some way of fixing it to the skeg. Not sure it needs it but I had sort of planned on it. See what I can come up with.
Still got to figure out a sailwinch, probably just use a long arm on a servo, will a 9g metal geared servo be up to it, or a slightly bigger hitec hs 80. Or will it need a full size servo? There isnt much room inside, the arms wont have much room to move, plus a full size one weighs a lot too. It would be so much easier if someone made a board for marine use like the wltoys F949 aircraft board/servos. I was intending to use my flysky receiver, which is quite bulky and heavy, I dont really have anything lighter for boat use though.
I am pleased with how it is going so far, especially as I am managing to use a few recycled parts as well. I was lucky to find the (very nice) 1/16 wing skins and get them off mostly intact. The rest of the skins can finish off a few projects. Might even get some hatches on my cargo ship. I am still thinking about that though. I want to build a crane for it too, just dont know which type to go for.
I have been thinking about sails as well, what to use thats going to be light and wont need too much micro sewing, I decided I am going to try some vector 'board', which has no board-like tendencies when it is 0.2mm thick. I wont get anything lighter than this and I have loads of it. It has some strange patterns on a lot of the sheets so I tried to pick a semi transparent one, you will see what I mean. Still got to attach them, not sure what to do here.
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A bit more work on sails and rigging
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I decided to fit one of the side skins to see how it looked, I still have access to fit my radio gear from the other side. It should all fit in through the cabin, but I like to leave myself the option of better access while I can.
Nice looking little yacht, my recycled balsa looks pretty good, I am still not sure what to do about a sailwinch. Someone mentioned not using sail control but I am not sure how this would go, has anyone else had experience of rudder only?
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Hi Andy for a small yacht rudder only works well and you could use a 9 gram servo here. A standard servo mounted on one side with an arm on will easily adjust the sails, if necessary a pulley would double up the throw.
I agree she does look very nice, I always thought the usual size version was rather tubby.
Regards
Roy
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Hi Roy, thanks for the reply, I will have to check if a standard servo will even fit, its pretty low on space inside. If rudder only will work ok, I may just go for that, sail control would be good, so I wont give up on that just yet.
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Here is what a standard size servo looks like, it would fit if I cut the lugs off and some of the deck sheeting that is inside the cabin. It looks giant though, and this is a metal geared version too, very heavy. I thought my Hitec Hs80 might be easier to fit in, although it would obviously be weaker. Still not decided yet. The 9g servo is definately going to be for the rudder.
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Seeing how big a standard servo looks compared to the yacht has shown just how small the yacht actually is. Fitting a receiver, a battery and at least one 9g servo is going to fill up the available space pretty quickly. I will be using a voltage booster so that I can run it from one 3.7v cell, so I need to find space for that as well.
On my recent plane builds, it didnt matter too much if some or all of the radio was hanging out in the open.
On boats it is best to keep all the radio bits inside in the dry.
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I temporarily added my deck fittings for the rigging and had a trial fitting to see how it looked. I have altered it slightly from the photo so the line attaching the jib to front mount goes back up through the loop on jib and back to the cleat on the jib, instead of running across the deck as shown in the photo.
The tape I used to mount my lines on the sails is starting to peel off so I need to think of a better method.
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I have worked out what I am doing with the radio, fitted mounts for it and glued on the right hand skin. First pic shows how deep the fittings go, these have now been superglued in place and are very solid, hopefully. Hull has a little sanding still to do.
It has ended up a tough wee thing, 1/16 balsa skins are more than enough. I used quite firm balsa though. Still got a lot of varnishing and (maybe?) painting. I may leave it as just varnished, the wood looks pretty nice and I havent made too many noticeable mistakes or big glue splodges.
I still have a cabin roof to make, which is actually in 2 bits, front one supposed to be glued to cabin with the mast down through a slot. The rear one is the removable hatch. I really need to still make 2 bits, but have them both removable so I can get the radio in and out. I will probably have the front section screwed on and a normal type hatch on the back.
The winch servo shaft is in a position where it has go up through the rear hatch. Or to make it easier, I may extend the front part back far enough to allow the winch hole to be in that bit and leave the rear bit easy to take off without having to pop the servo arm off every time I want to change or charge the battery. Only thing is that would reduce the size of rear hatch quite a bit.... I still have time to think about it, there will lots of time while varnish is drying. I still have to make and add fittings for the lines from the winch to go through on their way to main boom and jib.
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Its looking really cool :-))
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Thanks, its turning out to be a nice little build, theres a bit more involved than I first thought, it has all of the same steps as the full sized model build but a lot more fiddy, and gaps show really easily.
I made up my plug for casting the lead keel bulb halves, I just need to find the tin of sand I used to use for this purpose, it isn't where I thought it was. I will find some though. I want to get the casting done soon, theres not a lot of the model left to do really, mostly thinking about how I want to do things before I proceed. Main bits are the cabin roof/hatch, sailwinch/sail arrangements. And of course the lead bulb halves. I cast some long ingots for my u boat a while back, I did a fair amount of them, just need to find them again. 2 or 3 of them will be plenty.
At least I hope so... I have used a fairly thick (heavy, well, relatively) bit of solid cane fishing rod for the mast, I didnt want to use the thinner end of the section I had as it bowed a bit. I used the thinner, slightly curved bit for jib and boom as they are a lot shorter.
I also didnt want to try sanding it down a bit and try keeping it hexagonal. Anyway, I am sure it will be fine.......just a bit heavier than I would have liked. I can always make a superlight balsa mast if the fishing rod one turns out to be too heavy.
A little bonus feature of using the bottom of the section is that it keeps a bit of my Dad's original thread binding at the base of the mast as a reminder. Its green and the rest of my bindings are dark brown, black once superglued. Never mind, it adds character.
The cabin, deck, sides and transom have all had 2 coats of varnish now, while varnishing the first coat, I noticed I still had a little bit of sanding I had missed, so the lower half was left bare balsa until the varnish had set and the sanding was done.
Its all had at least one coat now, so I am quite happy with how it is looking, will need to give it all a fine sand once the varnish has set up. I have it sitting quite near my stove so shouldnt take too long, hopefully. 😁
At least this one cant melt, I have underestimated the power of my stove when I sat my tiny tug close to dry the paint faster, my icecream tub plastic upper sides melted so bad I had to make new ones, was not happy with myself.
Anyway, the build is progressing well, still unsure whether it will get any colour on it.
Years ago when I had finished building my man carrying giant size Starlet, all shiny varnished wood and gleaming brass fittings, my wife said it looked like a coffin! Cheers!
Maybe I will paint at least some of it one day, maybe just the roof or something though, I do still like its varnished wood look.
One thing I was wondering was that on the original starlet plan, the sails were not sewn/looped? to the mast in any way, but I have seen other models that have semi loose stitching to keep the sail to the mast. Is this necessary?
The big version and standard size ones I built didnt have any stiching down the mast or on boom or jib. It would make changing sails a bit of a job. Maybe just stick with my 3 ropes per sail attachment system, it should work ok. I can always experiment later.
I cut out a second set of sails, a sort of fishscale patterned piece of vector 'board' this time, they look very nice as well.
I am going to cut another set and try painting them, maybe spray paint for lighter weight. I will have to remind myself to attach the lines before I paint the sails though.
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I may be a bit late to suggest but have you thought of a 17g(?) Servo? I have a few since lockdown started but obviously not used them for real yet. They seem allot more torque / more robust than 9g servo in something nowhere near a standard size or weight. Not too expensive either. Like I said, largely untested yet but if memory serves one of my models has one buried previously and works well.
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Hi, pretty much decided on the '9g sized' one with metal gears, no idea what it weighs, good bit more than 9g plastic geared version but space was really restricted or I would have used the slightly bigger servo I have. I have the servo mounts fitted already. If its not up to the job, I will try a bigger one. I have the Hitec HS80 shown in a pic earlier, it must be nearly same size as the 17g ones you are talking about.
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Hi Andy / RST, I use the 9 gram servos for rudder in a 22 inch loa fishing boat and I think the metal gear version will do the job.
The 17 gram metal gear servo could well be able to operate the sails though, if there is room for an arm to be attached.
Regards
Roy
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I managed to get some sand, so I ended up casting my keel bulbs, I overfilled one so it is a bit heavier than the other one, I dont know whether to attack it carefully with my belt sander, or just try casting another one. Save myself some sanded fingers. They turned out not bad, bit of a lumpy surface finish but it seems to sand up ok. I will have a go at casting a couple more then choose the best pair.
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After some semi dangerous belt sanding and some tidying with my converted powerfile, I have now got the keel bulb halves to within 0.5g of each other. A final light sanding will finish them off then I can bolt them to the keel and get some cataloy on to fair them in.
I still want a couple more coats of varnish on the yacht before I fit them.
Getting there slowly.... 😁
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A couple more coats of varnish then I got the keel bulbs fitted. Rather than use nuts on the machine screws, I drilled the right hand bulb mounting holes a bit undersize and self tapped the screws into it. Good solid fixings, ready to get some cataloy on to fair them in a bit. Still got a couple more coats of varnish to go on, hopefully be nice weather for doing that tomorrow.
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Don't sand lead - that find powder is toxic!
Use a wood rasp first (slowly, let grains fall down, not fly around, and don't let the lead melt) and then finish with a coarse sandpaper slowly by hand (again, let the grains fall down).
If you place plastic on your table, you can then collect all grains and melt them again.
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Too late, already finished, but thanks for the advice anyway. I was careful not to inhale any particles and was wearing gloves.
I faired in the bulbs with chemical wood, like cataloy but a brown colour. A bit of sanding then another small amount of filling/fairing and some more sanding then the first coat of black gloss went on. Pic shows first coat but I have since painted on another coat. Looks good enough for me now.
I still have to work out what I am doing with the cabin roof, I would like to use 1/64 ply but not sure if I have big enough bits left, it will need pretty small bits, but my ply scrap box has very little 1/64 left. I want to get another couple of coats of varnish on the hull and cabin, then it will be time to fit some windows.
Really enjoying this little build, very pleased with how it is turning out so far.
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I did a test float, on the end of a bit of thread to see how it looked. It had 2 servos, a receiver and a battery aboard.
No mast.,jib or boom, no sails, no rudder or servo linkage yet. Also no arm/mechanism on sail wing servo..oh, and no roof. I am working round to doing these bits. I had to jon 3 bits of 1/32 ply to get a big enough bit for the roof. Just dont have much of that at all.
Lots of bits not fitted/finished/made yet. They will add some more weight. Doesnt look as if its sitting too deep just now, a bit more shouldnt look much different.
I did notice it moved easily when pulled on the string and kept going for a fair bit when I stopped pulling. I also made a very simple stand after thinking about it for a good while. It works perfectly.
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Hi which batteries are you using? I am using old technology 27 and 40Mhtz. Just wondered if you might want to try smaller batteries I sometimes use AAA cells but was contemplating using some old camera LiPos.
regards
Roy
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Hi Roy, I have a wide selection of small lipos from my recent micro plane 'phase'? s, a few turnigy ones but also about 200 e cig cells at 280mah. I need to use a voltage booster if I use 3.7v though. I could use 7.4v and use a small 10 amp speed control to use its bec. Easier to use voltage booster and small 3.7v. I am pretty sure a 200 or 300 cell will power two micro servos for an hour.
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Hi Andy Components shop do a very cheap and very light in weight voltage step up or down. It has an accurate LED voltage read out. I suggest 2 LiPos and the voltage step down.
Roy
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Hi Roy, I would probably just use the speed controller as it is pretty small and has an on/off switch as well. The main reason is that I have it already. So far, I havent had to spend any money at all on this build, apart from superglue, which my wife gets me, and is included in the weekly shopping budget rather than my (empty) modelling fund.
Picture shows how many models can fit in a rucksack if you build or buy small. And a flask of coffee.
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After a few days for varnish to dry properly, I fitted my servos, I had to raise the winch servo on 1/16 ply spacers to give me as much servo 'hub/drive?' sticking out as possible.
As you can see, there is not much room.
Also shown is my simple but effective stand, still to be painted as previous project lines are still visible on the liteply.
I also fitted spruce blocks in the cabin for the roof screws to go into. I will show these later as I forgot to take a photo.
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I make mistakes sometimes, I am sure everybody does. Normally I would remake the part, in this case though, I cant start again as I dont have any more ply of the right size. The problem is the roof, made up of 3 bits of 1/32 ply, just big enough to make the roof with barely a millimetre spare front and back. I was being careful but still managed to get the servo hole 2mm from where it needed to be.
With no chance of making a new bit, unless I make it by joining 6 or 7 bits, I decided to make a 1/64 ply washer, 13mm diameter with a 7mm hole for servo arm boss to pass through. I broke the first attempt while sanding the edges of it, so I made a new one, being extra gentle on it for the sanding phase. It covers my mistake well, and is actually close in appearance to the anti tangle plate shown on the Starlet plan.
I had drilled and filed the hole first then cut round the outside with sharp scissors, as I had tried cutting it on my Spiralux fretsaw with little success. Next job was to screw the roof in place, 6 tiny screws hold it down. I was then able to fit the ply washer in exactly the right place, this also showed that my mast hole needed extending back a tiny bit. Careful filing sorted this out nicely.
I am still not sure what to do about the winch/servo arrangement, I have come up with a solution, but putting it into practice will need some more thought. I have small brass pulley wheels that I will mount on the servo arm ends, one slightly closer to the centre for the front sail, which doesnt need the full travel I will have. Here is the bit I have to think about... the lines will go slack as I turn the boat and the sails swing to the other side, allowing the possibility of them falling off the pulleys. How do I keep the lines in place?
I am still thinking about how I can manage this, or if I can come up with a better version, as it looks a bit out of place on the boat, the servo arm's black plastic isnt really in keeping with the rest of the boat.
No rush though, I have several boats that I can work on while thinking about this. Maybe painting the roof black would disguise the servo arm a bit, but I was hoping to just varnish the roof...
I am pleased with how my micro Starlet has turned out, just a few parts left to work out.
I made up a new set of sails using the kind of fish scale looking vector foam, this time I have fitted the lines better, no peeling tape this time, just a shaped piece of vector foam superglued on top of each line.
Definately looks better and should be slightly stronger too. I ran more superglue down the pockets each side of the lines and gave them a good press as they were setting.
I am happy with these and cant wait to get them fitted. I went for black lines this time, this is strong thread I was going to use for a battery cover for my ebike, I can always get more later... 😁 hopefully.
Anyway, thats the progress so far, time to do a bit more on my Edita motor yacht until I work out my winch arrangement.
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I have rudder control! Yeehah! A brass wheel collet from glow plane days, a small bit of flat brass and a ball linkage from a dead micro heli made up the tiller arm, 1mm carbon rod with paperclip end bound on with thread and superglued sorts out the servo end. Works nice, plenty of movement. Next job is the sail winching arrangements, just waiting on 3rd coat of varnish drying on my roof, might need one more coat then I can start working out what I am going to do with the winch servo pulleys. I have 2 eyelets to fit for the jib and boom lines, need to make sure they go in the right place first time, cant afford to make any more mistakes on the roof. The radio gear looks a lot to fit in the tiny hull, but it does fit, just a bit fiddly to get it in there. I used a voltage booster for testing purposes but I may use a 7.4v cell and a 10a speed controller which has a switch, I can mount it poking through the rear of the cabin, so I can switch it off without having to remove the roof, which would involve removing the winch arm assembly, rigging and mast. Not a huge job but there would be a good chance of losing the screws
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I decided that I am going to use the voltage booster, but it left me without a switch, so I made up a switch harness and fitted the switch.
I think I have enough coats of varnish on my cabin roof so I fitted it and the mast and sails, which pointed out a slight problem, the sail winch pulley arrangement is going to hit my mast stays as they go from the deck fitting onto the cleat on the mast. I have thought of a solution though. I will bind another loop fitting further up the mast, then run the says up to the loop(s) then back down to the cleat, missing the sail winch pulleys. Hopefully.
I will check it is going to work before I do anything permanent.
I like the new sails, better than the first ones with taped on lines. The pattern is certainly different.
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Forgot to mention that I fitted the windows as well, even though its hard to see them from some angles, it is definately progressing nicely.
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New fittings are the lower loops in the mast top pic, and they work well, keeping the mast stays well away from my winch pulley system. Probably not the correct nautical way of doing it, but it works for what I want.
I will move onto perfecting the winch pulley bit soon.
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Not had a chance to have a look at my winch pulley fitting, the main boom pulley is on the outside hole of servo arm, this gives the exact travel required for full movement, the jib pulley is closer to the centre of the servo arm, its a couple of holes closer as the jib doesnt need as much movement as the boom, I can check this and adjust it as soon as I make up fittings for the lines to go through and another couple for the fixed ends of the lines. Unless I can do both jobs with a single fitting for each line. I dont want any chance of the moving line chafing on the fixed ends.
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Looking at your photo showing the pully system on the sail arm there looks to be a very high probability that the sheets will come off of the pullies as there is no retaining system. Would it not be better to replace the pullies with simple eyes mounted on the arm, If you use flexible line for the sheets it will go round the eyes without a problem. In the size you have built there will be so little strain on the lines that there should be little or no wear on the lines or the eyes. I have used sheets going through eyes on yachts up to Marblehead size with no problem.
Jim
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Hi Jim, I am still undecided about this,I was getting the rest done before I put my full attention to it. I agree totally, the sheets would probably fall off the pulleys pretty quick or get jammed underneath, I thought about using eyes to guide the sheets onto the pulleys but it would end up looking like an overcomplicated mess and would still probably jam or fall off.
I did think of just using eyes and no pulleys but wasnt sure how they would cope with the sharp angles that the sheets will come in at.
I will take your advice and get some eyes made up, the pulleys looked far too big anyway but the overall length from servo centre to outside edge of pulley is perfect for the travel I need, so I need to keep this distance the same if I use eyes, they would hang off the end of the servo arm by about 5mm.
I was contemplating making a ply arm arrangement for the servo instead, as I dont like the look of the black servo arm, it doesnt fit in with the varnished wood on the rest of the boat.
You have given me a bit of reassurance that the eyes will work so I will give them a go, it has to look better than the pulleys.
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Having decided to ditch the pulleys after Jim's confirmation of my worries about the sheets just falling off them, I glued a bit of 1/16 ply to the top of another servo arm, after sanding it flat, sanded the ply to the shape I wanted, but still over length.
2 brass eyes were made up, the ply was trimmed to correct length and I bound the first one on for the main boom, then at a position slighly closer to the servo centre screw hole, I bound on the one for the jib. It isnt much further in than the boom one, maybe 2 to 3mm, but that is 4 to 6mm sheet travel.
A coat of varnish to seal the ply and my winch arm is complete, once the varnish dries I will take my receiver out of my Rorqual and get my end points set up for the winch. To fit the receiver involves removing the mast and sails and unscrewing the roof. There is never a huge job on a tiny yacht though😁
The last jobs were to make my fittings for the sheets to attach to and run through. I had to use paperclip wire for them as the small brass eyes I have were not long enough once they were straightened out. I made the one for the boom first, getting it right first time, the one for the front took a few attempts though, the first attempt was ugly, the next one had the loops too big, meaning it wouldnt fit on the roof centre strip as it was too wide. Next go was the right spacing with nice loops, then I realised I had wound it the wrong way for what I wanted, so I made up the final one, perfect after all my practice. Holes were drilled for these to go through the roof centre strip, ends pushed through, folded over and superglued to fix them solidly to the roof.
Cant wait to try the winch once the varnish has dried, it may need more varnish but I can give it more coats at any time.
I think it looks so much better than the pulley arrangement, I may even try painting the black servo arm a wood colour to help it blend in more. There is no way the sheets can jam or jump off so it should be 100% reliable, which I like!
I have really enjoyed building this little yacht, its a fully functional tiny version of its bigger predecessors. It has had its own challenges to work through, but they are solved now.
I found that working out the rigging and making all the little fittings was really enjoyable, you dont get to do that on speedboats, and I got to do some lead casting too.
Many thanks to Vic Smeed for this lovely design, thats 3 of them I have made now, one is one third scale, one is full scale and one is three times full size!
Even if this little model just sits on my shelf as an ornament, I have had my enjoyment from it already, sailing it will be a bonus.
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That looks much better, nice neat job.
Jim
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Cheers Jim, I was never that happy with the way the pulleys looked, far too bulky and out of character with the rest of it, it is still to be set up and tested with the receiver. I did work out the throws required with the receiver in it, so I dont foresee any problems, about 10 minutes work to fit the receiver and battery and get the mast and sails on and it will be ready for its maiden voyage.
I might fit the rx and battery and give it a bath test to make sure it floats level, I have some space to move bits about, but its obviously not a lot. It is a compact wee thing.
One job I nearly forgot about.... I have still to make up my curtains 😁
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Bath test for the tiny Starlet showed a slight list to starboard, the metal geared winch servo, voltage booster and receiver are on this side. The battery and plastic geared rudder servo are on the port side.
I used a 500mah lipo for the bath test but I will try a bigger one for actual sailing, to see if the extra weight can get it to float level.
I am very happy with how it turned out, even the wife likes it! Not enough to let it live on the mantlepiece though. Probably best, it could get swept off there during a feather duster attack.
It was moving quite easily with me just blowing on the sails, and the rudder is effective. Just the slight list to deal with, I am sure it wouldnt affect the sailing too much as it is, but I will fit bigger battery anyway.