Model Boat Mayhem
The Shipyard ( Dry Dock ): Builds & Questions => Working Vessels => Topic started by: Andy M on February 25, 2021, 09:46:31 pm
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Here is a boat I started years ago and put aside until I decided what kind of superstructure I was going to put on it. I have now decided to make it as a 1/72 scale cargo ship so that it matches my tiny tug and my Stihac Panorek subchaser.
I made four openings the same size in the deck and made the superstructure to fit. It can be fitted on any of the four hatches, I am not sure which looks best, but I think it looks not bad in all the positions.
I have fitted the propshaft, rudder, servo and motor mount.
A rough calculation showed that it is going to need about 4kg of ballast.
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Aft, a bulker needs the room for hatchcovers, nemesis
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Hi Nemesis, to be honest, I have no idea where I am going with this ship, I want to keep it fairly simple but would also like to add some detail as it looks pretty empty on deck. I have thought about items like anchor winch, lifeboat and some deck hatches to cover the remaining hatches, but havent decided which types.
I have been looking at 3d printing some items but will probably scratch build them as I dont really like the layers left by 3d printing.
I am open to suggestions as I havent built anything like this before. I was thinking about a crane of some sort as a cargo ship obviously needs to be loaded and unloaded, but it has to be quite basic as the rest of the ship isnt going to be very detailed.
The main reason for this is that I will probably be transporting it to my local river on my pushbike with it either in a rucksack or strapped to it somehow. If this isnt possible, then it will have to be a trip to Loch Lomond in the car. I would prefer the river though as it is much closer.
I have already spent this years modelling budget, so buying fittings isnt an option at this time but I will have a go at making anything I like the look of.
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Hi Andy,
I was working for 2 vessels looking like yours in the early 80th. Both were loading trailer and lorry on the upperdeck as well as on main and lowerdeck. Upperdeck was used by ramp. Sorry, no pics available.
b.r. Sven
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Glad to know it actually looks like something, I have made it up as I went along. Can you remember names of the vessels so I can have a search online?
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Andy, if you want some detail go for hatch covers, there are some stupendous ones , sideway slides. vertitical stowage ones and the normal roller front and back ones. all look good. nemesis
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Andy what about a BP tanker used to sail into Finart in lock long on the British Argosy 115,000 toner.
Regards Howard.
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Hi Howard, I had a look online and found out that at my chosen scale of 1/72, my ship is about 9 and 3/4 feet too short! A 1/72 Argosy would be nearly 13 feet long, she was a big old beast! At 1/72 scale, my 3ft ship would be 216 ft, less than 1/4 the length of the argosy.
It was interesting to see just how big these ships are/were.
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I was actually aboard the Earl of Skye tanker, which was previously BP's British Centaur. It was supposed to be converted to a livestock carrier but ended up being scrapped.
Myself and my brother walked to the middle of the Erskine Bridge over the clyde to watch it heading downstream on its way to be scrapped in asia somewhere. I was worried it was going to hit the bridge, it was a big beast too.
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Another couple of pics of Earl of Skye/British Centaur.
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Have you considered of a coaster/bunkering tanker?
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I will have a look online, I havent really done much research as I made things up as I went along so I didnt really know what it was similar to. If you know what I mean.
I built/converted an rc Shell Welder from a plastic kit years ago but there was a ton of pipework, railings etc. I drew the main details at a larger scale as I fancied doing a bigger version, just need to find the drawings and have a look to see how suitable they would be. The railings on the plastic kit looked like they would be about 8 inches thick on the full size!
I reckon I would need to make a good few metres of railings for a 3 foot version. Not really up for that amount of detail.
Its a bit daunting seeing how accurate the guys on here build their models, I was going for something a bit less detailed/breakable.
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Shell Welder kit
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Hello Andy,
names of vessels I was working for were Rosso and Transcon both registered in Malta homeport Valetta but owner in Norway.
Sven
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Hello again Andy,
What about a nice container ship a lot easier to do two big boxes fore and aft just stick sides on tops on top ends on the ends simple lots of room under Neath for battery's and the like. I have life boats at 1.72 scale look how I made some on my SD14 build.
Regards Howard.
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Sven, I had a look online but couldnt find anything about them, I will keep looking though.
Howard, I will have a look at your Sd14 build.
There is no shortage of space in my boat, it could fit about 3 12v 17ah batteries inside and still have plenty room left over.
Thanks to everyone for the suggestions, much appreciated. I am in no rush to finish it, I have several part completed projects I can work away at while I decide what to do. All suggestions are being considered.
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Howard, I had a look at your SD14, what a model! Nice work. I am definately not going to end up with something as good looking as that....
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Hi Andy,
was looking for infos about the vessel and found something you can have a look too:
M/S VALERIE (1972) (faktaomfartyg.se) (http://www.faktaomfartyg.se/valerie_1972.htm)
page in swedish but different names of the vessel in bold letters
pics I found were about Sapokka Bay and Alma Llanera
Sven
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I have not reported any progress on this one for a while, I have been plodding away at it slowly as ideas come into my head.
First off were the hatch covers, I had no materials big enough to cover these, then I started using coffee stirrers on/in my Sea Rover build and decided they might be the right stuff to use on the hatches. Still want to add some detailing in places on them.
Next to be done was the addition of over 100 matches along the inner face of the sides, above the deck. I added these for looks mainly, to break up the long bare areas. The top rails overhang these slightly and glue to them as well as the sides.
I made a start on bridge windows, 1/32 balsa frames glued to main structure and windows cut out afterwards, I tacked the frames only at the joins so that the windows in the balsa underneath could be trimmed out more easily, then superglued the edges to bond it all together. Still got some filing to do to finish the windows off.
I am quite happy with the way the bridge looks so far, I was originally just going to paint the windows on but I think this will look much better.
I am thinking about an anchor winch and maybe a crane for some detail, the deck looks pretty bare. I have been looking at Ruston Bucyrus cranes for inspiration. I like the lines of them. This would be a mini project, fitted in when time allows. I will get the drawings traced off my old laptop and that will let me see what I can come up with. It would be good to have the crane working, even if it only turns, there is plenty of space inside the ship for doing this. I will see as I get further into the build.
I am still not sure what paint scheme I am going to go for, it might be a while before I get to that stage. I have a few other projects to work on. My Sea Rover is coming along nicely, if a bit slowly. There is still a lot of varnishing and painting to do on it, so I will have time for other projects as it is drying.
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Andy,
if you think the Argosy was big that was the littlest I ever sailed on most was over 215,000 tons to to 255,000 tons spent most of my time at sea flying to Japan and the gulf so much for being a seaman lol. not many liked the VLCC,s but did not mind.
Regards Howard.
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The shell tanker, didnt one of the main plastic kit manufacturers do this vessel as well, like matchbox, will have to look in my plans archive (kept quite of plans though the models have gone.
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Hi Warspite,
I think Revell release it but not sure.
Regards Howard
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From what I can find, the Shell Welder was a Frog kit. Not sure about any other manufacturers
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It turns out it has been produced by Eastern Express, novo, triang, modelcraft, ark models and frog.
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Andy,
Sorry your right it was Frog.
Regards Howard.
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It was interesting to see how many different manufacturers there were.
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I drew up a crane body based on a ruston bucyrus rb 22, almost scale, but I thought it looked a bit small for my purposes so I enlarged it a bit.
I also drew up a larger boom with some details, and pinned them together for a visual test on deck, I liked the look, so I started making the main girders from 1/32 balsa and 1mm carbon rod. I made 4 of the 12 that I need. They sure are a bit fiddly to make. I can sand them to exact widths now they are a bit stronger. Not much though.
I am going to make 1/32 ply joining plates, a pair for each join. 1/32 and 1/16 ply inserts will reinforce the girders at the joins, boom attachment and boom end.
It is going to take a while but I can see how good it will look from the cardboard cutout, so I will keep going.
I had hoped to have it operational, but I will see how practical that turns out to be, given the size of it.
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I made a jig to build my girders, balsa covered with sellotape. It was much easier to make them this way. I am going to use it when I build the individual boom sections. It will (hopefully) ensure the sections are square and the sizes they are supposed to be before I add cross braces.
I imagine it will end up quite strong, the carbon contributing a fair bit.
I am going to try my hardest to get it operational, I like a challenge. There isnt room inside the cab unit for any motors strong enough, these will go below deck. I have built in my top ballrace, from there down has still to be fully worked out, I will refine it as I do more of the cab and boom. I am liking this little side project, it should turn out quite good.
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The jig worked really well for building the boom sections, I made the parallel section first, then moved on to the lower section then did the tip section last.
I cut out 1/32 ply join plates, 2 per join, glued them together then glued one boom section on, let it set, then aligned the next section and glued it. I did this at the next join as well, ending up with a fairly straight boom.
Still a good few bits to go on the boom, the pulleys I am planning on using are 2g each, and I need to use quite a few of them, all extra weight far out on the boom. Shouldnt really be a problem, the boom is pretty light so far.
It is also really strong for its weight, I gave it a 'much more than expected load' type of test, totally solid, no creaking, cracking or movement.
I have also made a start on the cab, having worked out how I was going to proceed. The main bits are cut out, 4mm ply base, 1/16 ply sides/uprights, 1/32 ply sliding door.
I decided the final positions of the pulleys in the cab, I glued the 2 pairs of uprights together and drilled holes for the pulley shafts and boom, glued the uprights to the base, using the boom for correct spacing and checking to make sure it looked square.
I added the pulley mount on the top section of the boom, I might have to compromise a bit here as I only have enough pulleys to rig it in a simplified form, (which will still work but be slightly less powerfull)
I imagine it would still be plenty for my purposes. I would like to rig it the way I was hoping to, so I will probably buy some more pulleys online. I still have lots of other things to do until I need more pulleys.
I am quite happy with the way it looks so far, it works the way it should, I have only been pulling the thread by hand, once I get some motors and gearboxes worked out I will be very happy.
Long way to go before that happens, I need to make a platform below the deck/hatch to take the 3 motors and gearboxes , one for rotation, one for boom raising and another for hoisting.
I have still to add braces to the bearing where it fits into the hatch, and I will probably epoxy the bearing in there. The motor tray underneath will be attached to my central 12mm alloy tube, so that the motors rotate with the crane. I may even use a separate radio system and battery mounted on the tray so there are no wires coming off it , giving continuous rotation without worrying about wires twisting up, not sure yet though, will see how things progress.
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A test fitting with cables and pulleys, still short of 5 pulleys but rather than try and find and buy them, I will think of something cheaper.
I made up the collar around the bearing, adds a bit more detail.
I also started painting the cab, I only did as much as I needed to allow my sliding door to be fitted and construction finished. I will finish painting it later.
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More done on the crane, boom has had some extra bracing on the top pulley housing, some 'angle iron' added around the front of the boom and lifting points added to the individual boom sections. I also ran superglue down each inside corner of the sections to make sure the carbon rods are well bonded to everything else.
Once this had thoroughly set, I started painting the boom, it took a while, and I only painted the outside of it, I will need to hunt for a thinner brush to get through the bracing.
The pulley block has had a balancing jig made and the required amount of lead added to the rear 'shelf'.
The weight of the brass pulley was pulling down on the boom cables and causing them to slip off the pulley. Balancing it has cured this and it follows the angle of the cables easily.
My sliding door works well, once the paint had dried, I was able to fit the door then glue the curved rear wall on, this keeps the door in place. The cab roof and other roof sections were then glued in place. Once it was all sanded nicely it got a further 2 coats of paint on top of what I had already done.
I have made up dummy counterweights from balsa, I will have a go at casting some lead weights using a balsa one to make a mould in sand. If the weights dont turn out very good, I can fit a decent amount of sheet lead under the rear of the counterweight 'shelf'? area and just use the balsa dummy weights.
The pivot pins I am using are from a pin art sculpture that had been dropped and broken, I now have hundreds of these handy little pins.
The crane has used up a good few of them, recycling at its best.
I came up with a solution for my pulley shortage, cost me washers.....
more on this in next update.
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Having looked online, the closest thing I could find to the pulleys I already had were meccano ones, pre war vintage, no less. £10 plus postage for the 5 that I needed. And the hole in the middle was too big for my purposes.
I decided to try making my own pulleys, so out with my tins of brass nuts, bolts and washers. I had 1/2 inch diameter washers for the outsides and smaller ones for the centre, my other pulleys are 12mm, so close enough for me. Two pieces of brass tubing (one inside the other) join them all and bring the centre hole down in size a bit. I didnt have any suitable tubing to take the hole to the size of my pivot pins, but a bit of plastic tubing from an older style cotton bud fits nicely. I managed to stash a bundle before they changed to paper. The washers were soldered to the brass tubes using flux between them and the v groove was made with a file while spinning the pulley in a cordless drill. Once this had been done, the pulley was parted off from the tubes with a junior hacksaw while spinning it. Final job was to sand both sides flat with a flat file and emery paper taped to a board.
Turned out not bad for home made. Very pleased. And it saved digging my lathe out of deep storage. If the washer style ones hadnt worked I could have done them that way.
I made four pulleys and a winch drum which is just another pulley/roller guide for the winch cable. Both it and the boom hoist cable will go down through the central mounting tube.
I have selected the motors and gearboxes I am going to use. I will be using speed controls on them all for fine control.
I finished painting the boom, a coat inside and another coat on the outside. Thats the boom pretty much finished. I will refit all of the pulleys ready for mounting to the cab when it is finished.
I had to make another 2 pulleys to route the cables from the central tube end under the deck towards the winch motors. I may have to add another 2 to get my winches orientated on my winch plate which will rotate with the crane, but under the deck.
I am working it out as I go along, I was going to do the rotating bit circular but there wouldnt be enough room for the winches. It will have to be rectangular, not really a problem as the space under the deck is completely clear. Just need to make sure it is lined up before removing the hatch/crane assembly.
I have made a cardboard template of the area I have under the hatch, allowing for the hatch coamings. I have been placing the winches on this to try different layouts and think about potential problems.
Another thing that has been getting a lot of thought is the crane rotation motor and gear, (from a friends dead helicopter) I am using a servo with the output gear removed and the next gear exposed by cutting away the servo casing, this matched the teeth on the heli gear nicely. But.... It has to sit vertically and is 45mm high, meaning my winch plate may have to go below this height. Its hard to explain when I haven't worked it all out myself. I have 50mm below the rotation servo and the winches are under 30mm high so shouldnt be hard to arrange something.
The bottom bearing for the crane tube has to be secured too, not sure on this either but plenty of space in the hold, whatever I decide. Do I build a frame attached to the hatch for this, or attach the bearing to the bottom of the hold? I will be cutting out a section of the crane tube at the winch plate level for my cables to come out, I will do this once I have a solid winch plate/rotating module with the tube epoxied in so the section that fits in the bottom bearing doesnt move out of alignment when I cut the section out.
Lots to think about and work out but it is taking shape, my initial hope of having a working crane is looking like its going to happen, I just have to work through the challenges that pop up.
One thing I would have liked would have been removable boom sections, another straight section would have been nice. That would have taken the boom up from 308 mm to 410 mm. Attaching them together strongly enough prevented me from trying this. Ah well, it's done now. I could always make a longer boom, but probably wont, its very fiddly, but it does end up looking pretty good.
Last photo shows the ship in a different configuration with forward wheelhouse.
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I discovered that one of the motor/ gearboxes I was going to use has a problem, it doesnt start turning without the assistance of a finger to get it going, not very good for a unit that is going to be under the deck.
I have started looking for an alternative but no luck so far.
Ah well, I did some more on the wheelhouse, reinforcing the 1/32 balsa angled side bits with a bit of match and 1/32 balsa capping. I had already added stiffener pieces to the wheelhouse roof in an attempt to lose a slight warp in the roof (or the wheelhouse?) which half worked, it still has a tendency to pop up a bit at one corner, once everything is painted and the windows are fitted, this should be a snug fit.... hopefully.
I have started fitting my lights, lots of woring to finish.
I think the cabin needs some portholes, some nice bought ones would be good, but budget limitations mean I will just have try and come up with some home made ones.
I found another dead servo that still had a working motor and gearbox, the only thing was that it had a filled in section on the final drive gear to prevent it turning right round and over rotating the potentiometer. I tried a scalpel to cut teeth into the blank section, not very good, terrible in fact, and the teeth would need to be very accurate so a different idea was tried with a servo gear that had teeth all round but a space for a different type of centre for the potentiometer (which was missing), I tried it and it engages with the teeth but the servo case wouldnt close, so I trimmed the half flat bit off the potentiometer shaft and tried again, it worked, the lid was on. A round output disc was trimmed to accept an old sewing machine bobbin, superglued on, this has ended up being very strong, more than I need for my crane.
There was a slight downside to using a gear from a different servo.... the winch drum has a good bit of float at the end, I will have to add some sort of support to the other end to keep it straight as it wants to sit at a jaunty angle. I might try a bush of some sort where the potentiometer shaft meets the output gear, but I have no idea if they are centred with each other, I may force it away from the gear that is driving it. I had to remove a small bushing from the servo case to get the new output gear in, so this is not helping either. A support at the other end of the winch drum might be best.
So.... I have my 2 winches, my rotation motor, a big gear and a plan! I have pretty much worked out roughly what is happening next, once I get some parts cut out and some bits fitted, I will get a better idea of the next stage. I am going to build the platforms that will rotate with the crane first and build the static part to take the bottom bearing once I know how deep the rotating bit goes.
Still lots to work out, I think the crane will definately need its own radio gear, I dont want any wires coming out that could get twisted round.
I was planning on using a futaba 40mhz set for the ship controls.
I might use my 2.4ghz flysky set for the crane, due to its relatively short receiver aerials. A 300mah 7.4v cell should be plenty for operation and will save space too.
I think having the crane as a self contained unit will be good, no wires to plug in/get twisted.
And most of all, a dedicated radio to prevent accidental operation while sailing, as I dont have any limit switches, things will keep pulling until something gives. I will need to be very careful operating it.
Being self contained means it could be used on another model. Or just by itself.
I have made progress on a few areas since I wrote this the other day, I made a lead counterweight for the crane, and set it in epoxy under the counterweight 'shelf' at the back. Very pleased with how it turned out. Also made a start on the static frame attached to the underside of hatch to hold the bottom bearing.
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More work on the rotating module of the crane, I had to make sure it engages with the static gear on the underside of the hatch before I could glue anything permanently. I would like to be able to get access to work on the internals of it, but this means some bits wont be glued, so may lead to slop or misalignment.
I am working out solutions as I go, most seem to be working out fine, some need more thinking through.
One of the photos in last post shows how much stuff has to go on the rotating module, 2 winches, 1 rotation motor/gearbox, a battery, 3 esc's and a receiver. Quite a bit really!
There is some room under the winch module, although it has worked out to be less than shown in my photo, there should still be enough space.
I meant to mention that my static gear is mounted on a plastic bung from a steel tube table leg, turned out to be perfect for it, and superglue and balsa dust sticks well to it. Getting it aligned properly took a few attempts but is now very close, I will need to do a test to confirm this, I will need to wait till construction is further on before I can test it. I am fairly confident it is going to work, but I will have to wait and see.
I also built a workshop type container, from ready brek cardboard with 1/32 balsa framing. Nice little side project.
I made up pulley holders for the winch lines where they go up the central tube, these cant be glued in until I have cut a section out of the tube but I need everything fixed in place and the bottom bearing fitted before I can cut the tube so it doesnt move out of line.
All heading in the right direction, and looking pretty good.
I have made up 'steel' deck plates for under the crane base, they are made from litho plate. I thought the deck/hatch under the crane looked a bit empty. The hatches have had a couple of coats of varnish with a small amount of brown paint added.
I am still not finished thinking about my paint scheme, I have been thinking about grey for everything above the waterline for a kind of military look. I have painted a thin coat of grey on the varnished hatches, the wood shows through a bit, which I think looks a bit better than just a uniform grey.
I always spend a lot of time deciding paint schemes, it is a major part of a model.
Anyway, still a fair bit to go before I can get my crane finished.
I saw another post about a crane, it was mentioned that it could only lift a few grams, I think mine should be able to lift a bit more than that. We will see, my workshop container weighs under 10g so it shouldnt strain it at all.
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Short video of rotation motor test here
https://youtu.be/X_4mFsKQTws
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Crane base test with rc fitted here
https://youtu.be/PYNy-9v6-Yg
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Good progress tonight, I got the rest of the construction done on the crane mechanics, cut the central tube to correct length and fitted my lower pulley assemblies and braced them to existing structure. I cut the lower part of the central tube to length and fitted it in the bottom section of the rotating module, it fits into the bearing on the bottom of the static frame.
I found a space for my receiver and connected the 3 esc's (one at a time) and tested them, all working fine. I removed the red wire from 2 of the esc's receiver plug so only one supplies voltage to receiver.
I couldnt find enough space for the battery I was going to use, so I will make up a 200mah 7.4v pack and hope I can get it in without any of my wiring hanging out the sides of the rotating module.
I also had to take power from the main esc 7.4v input to supply the other 2.
Once I get my 200mah pack made up, I will be able to fit the crane on top and start running the 'cables' onto my pulleys and see how it works........if it works.
It should do, all the pulleys line up well. I have 2 cable guides to add to the winch plate, so that the cables are guided onto the pulleys even if the cable is coming at an angle from the bobbin/drum. I had to wait till it was at this stage before I could fit these. They will be fiddly, there isnt much space where they have to go, there isnt much space left anywhere in the module, enough for my battery is all I need now though, and of course some for all the wiring to be 'arranged neatly'..... probably stuffed where it can fit will be more accurate😁
I am very happy to have reached this stage, at some points during the build, I had doubts if I could get everything to fit in and work the way I wanted, and be reliable at this size. I cant wait to get the cables on and try it. 😁
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I fitted the cable guides, shown by arrows in photo, yes, they were very fiddly but they went in and do their job well. I fitted the boom and cables, again very fiddly but satisfying once it was done. Next thing was to test it......
It works! And very well too. The 200mah 7.4v cell lasts for about half an hour of operation (playing😁)
I may try a bigger battery if I can fit one in.
I had to add a bit of lead to the hoist cable to allow it to pay out under a bit of tension. I intend making a hook block from brass so that should weight it nicely.
I attached a 50g piece of lead to my temporary hook and found that the crane lifts it without any problems at all, it would take a lot more, I will be testing it with more weight once I get my proper hook on.
I had tested the hoist before I put the crane cab on, with the cable just coming out of the top of the central tube....... I held the cable with the whole mechanics/hatch hanging and hoisted, it was lifting the whole thing up, without much change to the motor noise.
I was very impressed, but I dont fancy putting that much weight on the end of my boom.
As a matter of interest, I weighed the whole crane, with the boom fitted and the 50g lead weight, it is one and a half pounds, so the hoist winch definately has plenty of power. More than plenty.
Very pleased with how it has turned out, an interesting little project that is good fun to use by itself, I need to get on with the rest of the ship now, the hull needs varnishing above the waterline before I paint it and get it in the test tank (bath)
I estimated that the ship would need about 4 or 5 kg of ballast to sit at the waterline, the bath test will let me see how close my estimate was.
I dont know if the ship will list to one side as I use the crane, I did glue a counterweight in the crane so this should help to lessen any list, just need to get on with my varnishing and painting and find out.
Very impressed with the crane though, it does everything I wanted, apart from maybe needing a bit more battery life, I cant fault it.
Only one thing, I want to build a bigger one now😁
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Test video here
https://youtu.be/c5EtViibfgI
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Nice work.
Do you plan on powering the crane from a separate battery as a final solution?
I would power it from the ships main battery (through voltage regulator if necessary) and in that way it would have "unlimited" battery time.
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Absolutely impressive :-)) Luff +/- , and Hoist +/- speeds O0 , however need to slow the Slew speed .......Derek
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The crane operates from its own battery supply which is in the lower module, this enables it to rotate without binding up any wires.
The slew speed is a bit fast but I dont know how to slow it down a bit.
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Slew is rotation, right?
I'm guessing gearing down is not an option.
You can slow the motor down by connecting a resistor in series with one of its wires, depending on how much current it draws you need a resistor capable of that current(shouldn't be so much for small motors).
Multiple parallel resistors in series with the motor is also an option if you use small resistors.
The unlimited rotation with the crane supported by the main battery can be achived with "rings and shoes"(don't know the correct term for this but like the inside of a cars alternator).
It's also possible to use a little longer wires with slack to give the crane a couple of turns without binding up the wires.
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The slew motor is a servo motor and 3 of its gears, as the 3rd gear teeth matched the large gear I had. I have no idea what size resistor a servo motor would need.
If I was forced to, I could probably manage to remount my servo gearbox and try and add extra gears but it would be easier slowing the motor down. The speed controller starts at what seems like a fairly high speed, is that the slowest speed the motor will run at?
I can put up with the speed issue just now, while I think about what I can do.
The servo gearbox is just hot glued in place just now, in case it needed adjusted to mesh with the big gear. Very lucky as the other 2 are superglued. I might be able to drop it through to the bottom layer and fit more gears above it. Actually sounds like a plan.
I will have a look, each layer is removeable and the rx, esc's and battery might be able to be moved around a bit to make space.
Need to look in the dead servo box and see if I have some nice gears that fit with what I have.
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Looking at your setup for the rotation(slew?) i can't imagine that the problem should be wrong gearing even if it won't hurt to add another gear.
It should be able to start at a slow speed and it sounds like you should try another ESC, you could try to feed the motor from batteries(try 3V, 4,5V and 6V in that order) to se whats the slowest speed it will run at what voltage.
If its possible recalibrating the ESC could fix the problem.
If you like to try the resistor thing I'm happy to help calculating resistors, it's a quick setup to try when it only needs to be connected to one of the motor wires.
Do you know the name of the servo you use for rotating the crane? Can't tell what size it is from the picture but it should have a 5V motor.
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Hi, it is an acoms servo, I imagine it is 5v. Any help would be appreciated, resistors are beyond my experience.
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It is a standard size servo
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I'll do some tests with a standard servo from the pile of old broke down servos I have and should have an answer for you on the resistors I use to slow it down, should be close enough for any standard servo.
As long as you have some soldering skills, wich I know you have, recreateing my setup should be no problem at all.
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Thanks very much, much appreciated.
I have been getting on with the rest of the ship, I painted on the first coat of grey on the hull last night and today I painted the deck and inner hull sides, took a while, the matchstick uprights meant no long flowing brushstrokes here, just fiddly little panels. Done now though and looking good, next coat should be a bit easier.
I have not painted the wheelhouse as I still have a lot to do on it, not too far off now though.
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First coat of grey, excuse my handpainted waterline. 😁
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I was wondering if adding resistors would adversely affect the speed controller?
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Not connected in series with the motor.
The speed controllers don't care if the motor connected have a higher resistance, it would be the same as using a lower powered motor.
But I will do some testings and measurements with my own equipment and come back with some answers/results as soon as I've had the time to test this.
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Thanks again, I look forward to having a slower slewing. 😁
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Now the grey is on, I put the hatches, crane and wheelhouse on for a look, it won't look right till the wheelhouse is painted but it gives me an idea of how things are progressing. I was thinking of a brick red colour below the waterline, or do I leave it signal red? Not sure the gloss red goes well with matt grey hull though?
As a little side project, I made up a couple of 1/72 scale 6 foot by 4 foot pallets, again using some of my matches and some 1/32 balsa for the planks. I might make a few more and put something on them.
I made some H beams a while ago, made from offcuts of coffee stirrers. I thought they looked quite good so I might make some longer ones.
I would like an anchor winch, I have seen nice ones in other posts but I dont have funds for buying one, so it would need to be scratch built.
There are so many details/items that I would like to buy for it but I will probably have to make them or just do without them.
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It's definitely coming together nice.
I haven't had the time to test out my fix for slowing down a servo motor and honestly will probably don't have time for it this week.
But I promise to sit down with this as soon as I have time and come back with some results.
If it work as intended there will be very little modding needed to mount it to your crane.
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I decided to try a different speed controller for rotation motor, the same type as the other two, slowed it down a bit, but I think the motor is going as slow as it can. I may experiment with more gears.
I also fitted a 500mah 7.4v battery for longer running.
I started making a proper hook for the crane, I tried cutting the bits of brass with a hacksaw then quickly changed to using my angle grinder and a 1mm cutting disc. Much much better, but easy to make mistakes.
I had already made the pulley for it.
Once I had cut the pieces, I sanded them on both sides and applied flux where the parts would join. I built the parts up, heated them with blowtorch and added solder where required. All the parts started moving about, floating on the solder/flux. I moved the parts back to their proper places and held them in place with a kebab stick till they cooled and set.
Cleaning and a fair bit of filing left me with a fairly good looking hook. I put it in a rock tumbler for a couple of hours with some medium grit, this smoothed it quite nicely, I could have done it a few more hours but it is getting painted anyway.
Having the pulley meant I had to remove my original hoist cable and fit a longer one as it takes twice as much cable to drop the same distance. I added a cable anchor loop to the boom, just behind the tip pulley.
I also did a bit more on the wheelhouse, adding some doors and portholes, stairs and some paint.
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Forgot to add this photo
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I painted the hull below the waterline with 2 coats of revell matt brick red, I think it looks much better than the gloss signal red. It was good for sealing the hull and a good base for the brick red. It took about a tin and a half, about 20mls, I have used two 14ml tins of revell grey so far and about half a tin of the humbrol equivalent grey on the crane and hatch covers.
I had masked off the waterline with pinstriping tape, try for a straighter look than my handpainted edge. Laying the pinstriping tape showed how bad my line actually was, in places, lots of places. 😁
Anyway, removal of the tape took small bits of the grey off showing some easily repainted red showing through. The line is sharp though, well happy. It needs another coat of grey, I have a full tin and a tiny bit left.
If its not enough paint, the shop that I got the paint from is a 45 minute motorbike ride over one of the best biking roads around here. Its called the Dukes Pass if anyone fancies trying it.
Anyway, back to the ship...
I have started drawings for a workboat/lifeboaty type craft, which will sit on deck along with my portakabin, to move about with my crane, I am also going to fit a tiny aircraft radio board in it, meaning it will be forward only, but it is only 175mm long, so shouldn't really need reverse if I am careful. Motor is 8.5mm x 20mm with tiny quadcopter prop cut down.
Propshaft and coupling will be home made.
The radio board has 2 servos, so one for steering and one spare. I dont know if these servos could work a microswitch, they are tiny. Steering and forward will be sufficient. The 8.5mm motor is powerful when used in micro planes, 1 to 2 foot span, so a very small boat should move ok, I can always cut the prop down a bit more if the motor gets too hot, I dont want it too fast anyway.
The workboat is really a separate project, I am sure the ship will be launched before the workboat is ready. Once my last coat of grey is on, I can do a bath test, see how it looks. Need to remember to fit the rudder first, save any leaks. The top of the rudder tube is well above the waterline so should be fine anyway.
Need to get some ballast weights looked out. The battery will add some weight, I will probably use my 7.4v mega pack, twelve 18650 cells, that I made for Sea Rover, should be enough for a few hours of gentle cruising.
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Have you considered making a 'BOBS' board with resistors (those more technical than me could probably design one) or if you have the skills and resources to print one for this small size, or as I did once, create a 'VERO' board switch for a servo where the disk type servo horn has two rubbing contacts and the vero board is stripped to be positive one side and negative the other with the vero board strip contacts connected to the motor, the wipers on the horn connected to the battery, this will give you forward and reverse using the servo as a switch.
In your picture the vero design would need to be different as its a half the horn on a sweep, so a piece of vero board where the contacts are alongside each other and the strips are arcs (some vero comes with an area quite wide without holes or in 3mm strips). You would need to create two strips in a arc around the centre of the servo and at dead centre split each arc so there is 4 parts, drill two holes at the end of two arcs and 1 hole in the end of the corresponding ends of the adjoining arcs, then connect with wire the opposite arcs in a cross manner under the board so the sweep of the arc does not hit these wires (as there underneath) the 2nd hole of the two strips connects wires to the motor, two pieces of brass bent into a hook shape and with a soldered wire to the battery connected to the servo horn should make contact with the vero board and switch the polarity when swept from centre left or right.
Alternatively, if the servo horn is strong enough, connect a rod to the horn, and to the other end of the rod a switch (cannot remember the designation) DPDT i.e. double pole double throw? wired with a switching crossover, the issue here is the arc of the horn versus the length of the switches movement - the shorter the switch moves the closer to the centre of the servo it has to be, unless you create another horn that switch the switch with very little travel - its hard to describe in text without sketches
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Hi, I have thought about a crossover switch to allow reversing of the motor, the main problem is that the servos are tiny, I doubt they could work a microswitch without burning out. A small board with wipers may be possible but super fiddly at this size. I may just make do with forward only, just need to make sure I have plenty of rudder to avoid situations that need reversing. I have only cut out the deck and keel so far so plenty of time to come up with something. 😁
I dug my Stihac Panorek sub hunter out of storage for a look at it beside the cargo ship. It is also in 1/72 scale, (and needing finished off too) . I have a box of detail parts for it but no idea what I did with it.....
Note my poor attempt at a crane for launching the boats. I may take it off and try improving it, wont be too hard as it is pretty bad, oversize string doesnt help. 😁
Cargo ship has had its second coat of grey, much nicer and more waterproof looking. I have been thinking about an interior for the wheelhouse, it looks very empty. I also want stairs going down inside, and possibly some detail in the cabin below, even if it is only what can be seen down the stairwell. I have lights so may as well have something to light up.
I was thinking of making another deck hatch, to replace the one I built the crane onto. I might leave my crane off for the actual launch in case any problems crop up. It will also lower the centre of gravity a bit by leaving it off. It is quite a bit of weight high up, but the ship has still to have ballast fitted, about 4kg. This will sit on the flat bottom of the hull keeping the centre of gravity low. I will bath test it with the crane on and see what difference it makes.
Still a bit to do before I can do a bath test, but getting closer.
I can add more detailing as I get the urge, if I get the urge, that is.
I looked out my Futaba 40 mhz radio and fitted the speed control and receiver, only to find the rudder servo didnt work, I found a suitable replacement in an unfinished motorglider.
So the radio works, pretty much ready to launch now although a bath test would be good. I could ballast it at the river, but not quite as easy as using the bath.
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Hi, I have thought about a crossover switch to allow reversing of the motor, the main problem is that the servos are tiny, I doubt they could work a microswitch without burning out. A small board with wipers may be possible but super fiddly at this size. I may just make do with forward only, just need to make sure I have plenty of rudder to avoid situations that need reversing. I have only cut out the deck and keel so far so plenty of time to come up with something. 😁
A microswitch needs very little force to operate and even the smallest servos should switch them without burning out. Two microswitches operated by the servo horn will give you a reversing drive.
Jim
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I agree with JimG but the space you showed is so tight I'd question although you can get tiny microswitches whether that's right. Personally I'd be more inclined to see if that board will drive a servo in a normal way then strip out a slightly bigger servo and either use that motor or connect your desired motor to an old servo PCB. In my mind that seems a smaller / lighter set-up.
...sure I've watched some impressive efforts from folk sailing at the miniatur wonderland in Germany -they manage to shoe-horn things into teeny tiny spaces although they're sailing indoors, not outside I guess it might give some ideas anyway.
Rich
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I managed to get the ship launched tonight. It weighs just over 5 pounds with the crane fitted and my Sea Rover mega battery but I removed the crane for the launch. I added my ballast at the river. Sailed very well, bit too much power at full throttle but not a problem. I tried it with the ballast removed, it wheelies! 😁
I did this for a bit of fun but it made the motor get pretty warm. I wont be using it like that again anyway.
I still have detailing, lighting and a fix on my crane to do, but the boat is basically finished.
The no reverse problem isnt really a hold up to the workboat mini project, I can progress with the woodwork bit just now. The main reason for building the workboat was to try using the aircraft board, as I had one available.
These little boards would be awesome with reverse, but there you go. Not much space available on this boat for switches though. Even micro switches are big at this size.
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I have wired up my lighting now, for the lights I have fitted already. I intend to fit more.
I have a switch and I am using 2 duracell aa cells giving 3v, I tried with 3.7 lipo but was far too bright. I may even try 2.4v ni cad pack as the lights are still too bright, I may have to cover them with something too and try and darken them a bit, see how it goes with 2.4v.
I sorted the issue with my crane, the push fit of some parts had loosened and needed glued, I knew this would happen but was waiting to see if I had to make any modifications before it was permanently glued.
Apart from wanting to slow the rotation motor, which I managed to do a bit, I am happy with how the crane works so shouldnt need to dismantle that section again.
I still have an urge to make a longer boom for it as the pulleys could be swapped onto the longer boom easily, so it would only require balsa, carbon and some ply to make a bigger one , I enjoyed building the boom, it went together nicely if quite fiddly in places.
The end result (to me, at least) looks quite impressive when built up and painted.
Why a longer boom? I would like the crane to be able to lift from any part of the ship, at present it is a bit short of managing this.
I have lots of projects to finish off so it might be a while before I consider the cargo ship and its crane properly finished.
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While I have been confined to my couch, I have had time to make small bits for the cargo ship, more crates, which actually take quite a long time to make, but look good, and more pallets, some cable reels, fuel drums and yet more crates. 😁 I actually found it very relaxing to make the crates and they used up balsa scraps that wouldnt usually be big enough for anything else.
I also made a ships boat, to sit on a cradle on deck (and be lifted into the water?)
I was going to have it rc, but decided it was too small and cramped to fit my micro board in, so I drew up a bigger version, which I have started building, it isnt much bigger than the non functioning one shown but enough to make it a bit easier to get the radio in.
I will take photos and post them once I get it further on a bit. I have a couple of deck cradles to make too, I can build them anytime, I dont even need the rc boat to be built before I do them, I have the bulkhead templates for hull angles.
The fuel drums were made using the metal tube from an e-cigarette in my cordless drill to cut plugs from 1/2 inch square balsa. A tidy with sandpaper produced reasonable shapes. Turned out exactly right size to fit 6 on a pallet.
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Some detailing in the wheelhouse, a radio operators position and a loading attachment for my crane, turns out it fits my 3d printed tiger tank just nice. I had chosen the dimensions of it at random. I trimmed 2mm off the ramp piece to allow it to fit down through the hatches.
I have printed a few vehicles to go with my 1/72 cargo ship, transport for a secret mission! Lol.
I have other vessels in 1/72, my Stihac Panorek got some attention paid to it the other day, it is at the stage it needs radio gear but I dont have any spare at the moment. No rush, I can wait till I can afford another rx. I only have 2 with one in the Sea Rover and the other one is buried in the depths of my crane.
I also have my micro tug in 1/72, bit its a bit brightly coloured for my fleet.
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I have been 3d printing some 'cargo' for the ship, to go with my homemade crates, cable reels and fuel drums. I maybe got a bit carried away with this and have ended up with a fairly large assortment of 1/72 vehicles, which I am enjoying, even removing support structure is enjoyable, seeing the model as it is revealed. I have been doing lots of painting too.
I remembered I had looked at lifeboat models online a while ago, but the prices were a bit of a shock, so never bought any.
Now that I had my 3d printer back in use, I decided to look up lifeboats again and found a file for titanic's lifeboats. At 1/72 scale they looked too big for my ship, so I scaled them down to 100mm. I printed 2 and they look about the right size. I have still to look for davits? I never made provision for fitting lifeboats on the ship so no idea where they will go, or where they would go on a real ship.
Also, would they be white? I painted one in grey to match the rest of the ship and one in white. They still have to have some details added and painting finished, nice little boat projects in themselves.
Another couple of 3d prints were a pair of anchors (which may get painted a different colour?) and some tiny ship's wheels. They turned out not bad considering my printer is set for slightly bigger prints than a 10mm steering wheel.
My wheelhouse got one, and also the ship's boat, still have more painting to do on them, first coat is pretty light.
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A few more 3d printed bits for the ship, a winch for either end and some bollards for along the sides, I dont know, where should they be?
I haven't glued anything on yet. Will need to do more research. (Look on google). Also made a little tractor for moving pallets about, I just have to make up tiny forks for the back.
I tried my lifeboats in about the only bit they could go, just need some davits, very simple ones if anyone has any tips?
I looked to see if I could find any 3d printable ones but not found any yet. My deck looks a bit cluttered just now but I was thinking about doing an open hatch with some of my cargo stowed below.
I went a bit wild printing WW2 vehicles as cargo, I probably have enough for a convoy up to my shed. 😁
I did enjoy printing them, and starting to paint them, I have a base coat of paint on most of them, and they are in various stages of getting wheels or tracks painted, I am not good at realistic painting/weathering, so its just basic colours just now, I might get experimental, I have loads of them.
I have a roll of 3d filament that was from a sealed pack, I had printed half a small tank then the filament broke, not a huge problem if you know and can change it before it runs out.
On inspection, though, it turned out that the whole roll is separate pieces, most just c shaped bits, 8 inches long and no use, a few coils at a couple of metres, enough for a 1/72 bren gun carrier. 🙁 I have loads of them now, just to use up the broken bits. I did have about 3 or 4 longer bits, maybe 10 to 20 coils on each, they did slightly bigger items. Very annoying though, its all supposed to be one bit! 🙁 Thats what I get for buying 2 rolls cheap off my friend. He has 6 rolls left, so I dont feel too bad, I imagine some of his must be same way. My second roll has breaks too, but not so many. Still annoying, maybe even enough to end up just binning it! Dunno tho😁
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Hi Andy,
I feel your pain on filament running out / breaking. I started a print last week I thought I would have just enough to finish and feel proud I used a full spool. Print went to 97.something% then ran out after something like 9hrs during the night -no chance to correct it and the parts unprinted were just silly small! Had to print again!!!
Heed the advice out there, cheap filament is usually cheap for a reason. The difference between a £17 spool and a £21 spool from a reputable supplier can be night and day. It's all a bit of a learning curve. Depends what quality you want from it also.
For the davits there was a good article in Model Boats magazine last month -I'd never seen some of the compact types before.
For the winch and bollards I think you just have to look at some full-scale prototypes and think how they're laid out and imagine the same on yours.
That tractor looks prety decent for a small FDM print though! As do the lifeboats, actually thats quite impressive for the lifeboats. I can't get things to print that well.
Rich
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Andy...
I am sure it's only a temporary placement, however with the final cargo loading [and the "Bills of Lading"] show that the livestock crates far Aft of the Forcastle ....or the Animal Welfare :police: Authorities will be on your case
Derek
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Yes Derek, after hes's gone through classification process, then registered with some kind of convenient flag state then found numerous banks and insurance, and once though all that he can perhaps worry about BOL.
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mmmmmm.
Had never considered if livestock could be covered by a, or the BOL? ....but I am still sure the Animal Welfare :police: Authorities would be involved
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Yes but be careful what you pick on for Andy here please, his project is perfectly good so far otherwise someone might ask where the golden rivet got knoked in after launching.
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No animals on board, there is a prop in tne crate.
It took a while to learn how to adjust/set the printer to get decent results.
It can vary with filament, the cheap stuff was bought second hand by my friend a job lot off facebook.
I am using a different filament now, works nicely and appears to be all one bit, so far, touch wood. And relatively cheap. I have a base for my rather nice cannon printing just now. I printed the barrel and wheels earlier. The barrel is just over 200mm long.
I started off thinking about printing cannons for my plank on frame 1/70 sailing ship, but I dont think I would get very good results this small, I actually think the ship is more like 1/100 scale which would make the cannons even smaller..... So I decided to do a big one instead! 😁
I am printing a wide variety of stuff just now to keep my mind off things. I printed some triangles for drawing, very nice, put them in my top pocket, forgot about them and sat a hot water bottle on my chest to ease pain (I am recovering from a broken sternum, collarbone, shoulder blade and six broken ribs, in case you are wondering)
Needless to say, the points of the triangles went a funny shape..... Oops, typical. I could print new ones but I heated them carefully with a lighter and flattened them out with a steel ruler.
I am filling some of my couch time with modelling, which is definately helping me through. I cant manage for very long before everything gets sore, but I am determined. 😁
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The lifeboats printed as two ends, joined and sanded they end up pretty good, the supports come out easily. The print includes a mast and a rudder too.
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Here is my 3d printed cannon, I am not very inventive when it comes to painting.
I carved a pair of tiny bamboo oars for my lifeboat,pretty fiddly. I think the rest of the oars must have washed overboard😁
I might end up making more at some point.
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While I am showing some 3d printed stuff, I thought I would show this little outboard, non functional but pretty good looking. I have left the prop loose enough to spin in the water.
I left prop red so it might be seen better.
I will be trial fitting the outboard on my Edita cruiser as a fake auxilliary engine to see how it looks. Quite impressed how my printing filament thumbscrews turned out. Just heated and squeezed flat.
Although this outboard isnt functional, I have plans........