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Author Topic: Racundra  (Read 60455 times)

dreadnought72

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Re: Racundra
« Reply #25 on: September 27, 2010, 01:59:21 pm »

With the sails hemmed and ready, Saturday night saw them facing a dunking to remove that whiter-than-white whiteness that, while it might suit a pillowcase, doesn't feel like "canvas" to my eyes. The result - this is the head of the jib, lying on undyed left overs:



The colour comes from Dylon's "Pebble Beige". I mixed up boiling water, dye and salt and plonked the sails and some cloth scraps into a large steel pot, gave them a stir with a trusty stick for ten minutes until they were definitely off-white, and then I ran them through the washing machine on a hot (soapless) wash. The results, unusually for me, are perfect. The sails have an air of canvas now that I doubt I could match again. I'm currently stitching on the bolt ropes by hand - better to monitor the tension - and this'll take a week or so.

But what of the hull?

Blessed with a gorgeous September day yesterday, I set to work.

Now I've accepted that I'm going down the balsa-clad-in-fibreglass route, things are progressing really well. Here's the bow, now laminated up with 1/2" balsa blocks, ready for carving:



Not much more planking to do here, as you can see. The stern is similarly laminated, and - due to extreme tight-fistedness - I've managed to build the block bow and stern out of two pieces of 36" by 4" by 1/2" balsa, with some left over! (Hint - the Proxxon fretsaw is ideal for cutting out the laminations required, allowing me to save the internal offcuts for the smaller, outer laminations).

Within the hull, all is looking good. I think this'll be toughened up with my own bandage-and-PVA gloopy mess recipe once I have decent access through the deck. At the moment, with only 60mm-or-so between the frames I can't easily work in here.



But I can stick the camera in!



This is (duh!) looking aft. The beam here is around 14", so there's loads of room, even after the dagger board case is fitted. Meanwhile the wide keel slot will be ideal for any amount of internal ballast.

While I haven't built or sailed an R/C yacht before, I'll be aiming for about a third of the total displacement in the hull and structure, a third in terms of batteries, electrics and internal ballast, and about a third in an external bulb. It feels about right.  :-))

More soon!

Andy
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dreadnought72

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Re: Racundra
« Reply #26 on: September 30, 2010, 03:44:10 pm »

Starboard side all finished - barring a couple of bits of balsa to make good the odd <ummm> gaplet!

And soon the sanding will start. Here's how the laminations look from within. (Though I still need to "block up the port side bow and stern, but that shouldn't take too long.)



The starboard side from outwith (as we'd say in Scottish):



WHAT

A

TUB.
  :embarrassed:

It's the most rotund hull I've ever seen. Lying upside down, it's like one of those fat beetles you feel sorry for when you find them in the garden. Indeed, it's so beamy, I think it might just sail sideways faster than forwards%%

We'll find out in the future!

Andy
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tigertiger

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Re: Racundra
« Reply #27 on: October 01, 2010, 01:23:53 am »

The thing I like about these 'fat' boats is that they leave a very satisfying wake when underway. :-))
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andrewh

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Re: Racundra
« Reply #28 on: October 01, 2010, 09:10:25 am »

Andy,

Great planking, as ever.
Rotund indeed!  That was my first thought on seeing the lines, but as you say, profoundly rotund in the flesh.

I had a go at drabbing my sparkly sails using weak coffee, it sorta worked, but now I reckon I should have used VERY dilute acrylic paint.

BTW, with my Hibernian upbringing I buy artists acrylic paints from pound shops - generally 12 tubes cost.........Any guesses?
They may not be perfect but they do the job and are waterproof/resistant when dry

rotund, rotunder, rotundest, racundra :}
andrew
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dreadnought72

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Re: Racundra
« Reply #29 on: October 01, 2010, 04:16:07 pm »

The thing I like about these 'fat' boats is that they leave a very satisfying wake when underway. :-))

 %) I suppose a bulldozer would too.  %%

Thing is, when cutting out the sail material, I looked at the mainsail I'd made and remembered my days of having my Enterprise sails in the living room for their end-of-season repair/check. Given that this boat is 1/8th scale, it was easy to "think-up" the model's sail to fullsize, and it wasn't much more than twice the area of the old blue triangle that I used to deal with in real life.

So Racundra had - with the mizzen and staysail - maybe three to four times the sail area of my Enterprise, and yet it massed about twenty times as much. It was described as seriously under-canvassed: but maybe this is an advantage to me for a sailing model?

Whatever, I think "satisfying wake" is something you're more likely to find in a Dublin bar than when sailing this tub model.

Andrew - great to hear from you - but shouldn't that be rotundissimus? As in Caesar's famous comment, made shortly before his death:

"Brutus est rotundissimus! Est consumpti totis crustus!"

 ok2

Andy



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andrewh

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Re: Racundra
« Reply #30 on: October 02, 2010, 08:03:21 pm »

tt, andy

"crustus"  is that shell, as of a crustacean?  or is it crust, as round a tiddy oggy?
But Caesar would have been in Favour of rotundity :}
he said (famously) "let me have about me men that are fat and such as sleep o' nights"

As well as "Infamy, Infamy!  they've all got it in for me"

The only solution to her shape is to build light - I suggest you plank with balsa :}

How goes the cutter, tt?
andrew

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dreadnought72

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Re: Racundra
« Reply #31 on: October 04, 2010, 12:57:33 pm »

In-depth research (that is, applying my "D" in O-level Latin) suggests the Romans didn't eat pies. (Which might well be why Scotland forever remained unconquered!) But crustum-us is, apparently, the preferred translation.

...Though if you should ever find yourself whisked by time-machine to Ancient Rome, and you fancy a Scotch Pie, don't sue me if you end up with something in the crunchy seafood line.

 ;)

Andy
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dreadnought72

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Re: Racundra
« Reply #32 on: February 16, 2011, 06:11:04 pm »

At last!

Planking's complete!  :-))



Just a few blocks at bow and stern and that's me ready for some serious sanding. The blobby blue line is the waterline - which, I have to say, gives a smoother entry and exit than this tub ever seemed likely to have.

So what's she like the right way up?



Not too bad!



I've cut down/out the frames aft of the mainmast, leaving room for the cockpit and accomodation. I'll leave the tab at the stern for grasping it in the workbench when sanding commences.

Meanwhile, within the hull...



I'm going to reinforce the plank/frame joints with PVA and cloth - leaving lots of room for all sorts of things in here - while the outside will be fibreglassed and filled. The "K" and reverse "K" on the keel are the limits of the centreboard case. I need to drill these through from below and cut the slot. Any ideas to avoid botching that job?!



Stern again. Ah - just a few hours with 1/2" balsa, the Proxxon, some glue and some pins, and I'll be able to progress with smoothing the outside and beginning to see something watertight.
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tigertiger

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Re: Racundra
« Reply #33 on: February 17, 2011, 01:43:35 am »

Coming on nicely  :-))
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meatbomber

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Re: Racundra
« Reply #34 on: February 17, 2011, 01:06:07 pm »

very nice planking job, i`m envious of that neatness :) and the dingy is great too!
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Greggy1964

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Re: Racundra
« Reply #35 on: February 17, 2011, 02:29:17 pm »

Quote
WHAT

A

TUB.   :embarrassed:

Yeah but by the looks of it . . . . . .

It's going to be a lovely looking tub! :-))

 O0
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dreadnought72

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Re: Racundra
« Reply #36 on: February 17, 2011, 09:46:50 pm »

very nice planking job, i`m envious of that neatness :) and the dingy is great too!

The planking job is "ok", I think. That is, it doesn't stand close-up inspection or the camera nearer than three feet! But it's done, and there aren't too many gaps for resin to seep through when she's glassed over.

As to the dinghy - quite clearly the best bit of this thread so far - it's not mine, it's Greggy1964's! {-) (Casts an admirable eye over to the Master Hand thread where I, for one, am expecting more!)

Meanwhile, now the hull's all-but a hull and I can look at it with a curious eye, the Racundra's beam and the placement of the waterline suggests enormous stability when heeled. Which is comforting!

Andy - expecting sanding weather this weekend.

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Greggy1964

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Re: Racundra
« Reply #37 on: February 17, 2011, 10:22:10 pm »

One of the first model boats I ever built was that beer can thing in my Beer Can Sailing Ships thread at 8 years old.

And its been 32 years of experimenting and learning from others to get to where I am now and I give due respect and credit to all who have helped me.

The one person who got me started on the proper road to scratch building was a lovely chap called Derek Stamper, he's past away now but he was the one that made me believe I could build a boat and helped me.

And I'm still learning.

The point is the more you build the better you get, I've had lots of failed jobs that ended up in the bin unfinished.

I've scrapped lots of parts on my current build, they just get shovelled under the rug and I make a new bit {-) that's the beauty of scratch building, if it goes pear shaped you - fix it.

After all you know the job inside out!

And if you get stuck you ask someone who's already trodden the path you want to follow. Thats why I love this forum  :-))

The whole object of the game in my view is to get building, and the pretty boat that you've built sailing by and the knowledge 'I made this!' at the conclusion is what counts. O0

It don't matter what it looks like inside or how it got there, its the finished job and the satisfaction.

Amiring glances from bystanders and people comming up to talk to you about the ship is the icing on the cake.

I added the little dinghy to show what can be done with a little effort and knowhow, and I started that 15 years ago as an experiment and it still ain't finished %)

So I hope I haven't stolen your thunder mate {:-{ that wasn't the intention and I'm willing to give anyone the benefit of my knowledge if asked.

If you're not happy with your planking  and you've not already thought of it may I suggest you put a thin veneer of planks over the hull (its what the professionals building big boats do, they call it composite construction), you can plot the run of the planks on the surface and you can physically see where the plank runs go.:-))

I spend lots of time reading Classic Boats, The Boatman & Watercraft magazines to see how the big boys do it and adapt what they do to our miniature world but I do it so that I get an end result that don't have me working on it till I'm old and grey, there has to be a cutoff point somewhere.

I've read elsewhere of guys carving boats out of blocks of pink foam, epoxy glassing the hull and they have the finished boat on the water inside two months.

Now there is innovation at work O0
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dreadnought72

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Re: Racundra
« Reply #38 on: February 17, 2011, 11:10:26 pm »

Agree with all the above!

As to the current planking, it's there to skin the frames, and will be "dealt with" in order to make it stronger and more plankingly accurate.

Here's the stern of the original vessel during her build in early 1922, in "a wooden shed on an island near the mouth of the Dvina river":



Their planking is lovely.  :-))

Two and a half years on, here's the Racundra again:



The plank lines are subtle under coats of cream/white paint, but undeniably there, and it's something I want to have visible on my model. Not sure how to achieve that on a fibreglass surface yet, but I'm working on it.

Andy
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Greggy1964

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Re: Racundra
« Reply #39 on: February 18, 2011, 12:48:13 am »

I can help you there . . . .

Plot out the planks at your frame stations on the hull surface by dividing by the number of planks and mark in soft pencil as if you were planking on bare frames,

then tape battens to the hull at intervals on the marks for each plank edge,

then with a sharp scriber score the surface of the fibreglass lightly forming a plank seam,

tape the batten down where you've just scribed and lift off the tape placed initially,

then scribe the missing gaps to make a complete plank line.

You could try cutting plank line battens from 1mm or 2mm birch ply as it is very flexible, say 1mm x 2mm in section or 2mm x 3mm maybe :-))

For all Racundra very beamy - she's an attractive boat :-))
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dreadnought72

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Re: Racundra
« Reply #40 on: February 24, 2011, 06:14:39 pm »

As the sun* sinks rapidly in the west, I've completed the hull block add-ons at bow and stern...and just peeled my semi-frozen fingers off the fretsaw. What is good, at this point, is that both the ends appear to be symmetrical.

So, the boat's back inside and in the cupboard, and will get a thorough (outdoor) sanding once the glue's dry. Though I think this might be Monday, given the weather outlook for the weekend.  >:-o

Meanwhile, next on the radar - and far easier to work indoors - is the initial construction of the companion way. This generally right-angled structure needs to fit snuggly against the curvy frames and the even curvier hull planking, while sitting over the propshaft: so I'm going to spend the evening cutting and taping card together to make a pattern for the perfect fit before I cut any ply.

Photos to follow if all goes well!  :-))

Andy

* It's a yellow orb that lives in the sky, in case you've forgotten.
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dreadnought72

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Re: Racundra
« Reply #41 on: February 27, 2011, 11:22:41 pm »

Today, the weather looked good.  :-))

The hull met Mr Angle Grinder's evil sanding attachment, the dust flew, and I have a bow:



...and a stern:



One of the horrors of making real boats is, apparently, the long board. A strip of wood and sandpaper used for fairing the hull after planking. My long board was - thankfully - a mere ten inches and was employed for an hour or two to sort out my soft balsa planking. The curves are good:



...and - flushed with success - I took Mr Angle Grinder's near cousins, Mr Power Drill and Mr Jigsaw, to the tricky problem of the centreboard slot. Bow's on the left, stern on the right, if you're confused!



Five minutes later, from the bottom of the hull, and with one eye shut, and a steady, vertical hand (and why had I fretted so much beforehand!?) bish-bosh, job done! A bit of file work and I have a 6mm parallel slot.

The remaining sticky-up frames were sorted (jigsaw and angle-grinder used without a care in the world for Elf and Safety) and all looks well. The two frames crossing the hull in front of the centreboard slot will hold carlins to snuggle up against the mainmast, whose foot will be midway between them at that black spot on the keel.

To finish: here's a bow shot (sorry it's a bit soft) - and some filling and remedial work are needing to be done before glassfibring starts, but it's nothing much. Best of all, the hull looks remarkably like the original. The lines are sweet, the finish is lovely (though I say so myself) and I seem to be steaming ahead!



Woo hoo!  %%

Andy
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dreadnought72

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Re: Racundra
« Reply #42 on: March 09, 2011, 10:42:41 am »

There now follows a brief interlude from mere boat-building.  %)


A hull like this will need a sailor: and preferably in this instance a plucky Edwardian gent who looks a bit like Arthur Ransome, the owner.

So - having looked online and found absolutely nothing to help me in terms of figures at 1/8th scale  :(( I nabbed some anatomical info (plenty of that online)  :o and scaled up some skeletons to the required size. Here's a link to the 1MB file should you ever need 'em. These are 1/8th scale human skeletons when printed at 300dpi at 100%.

Out with the Fimo! Flesh-coloured, obviously, and on with the oven.  :-))

I haven't kept a build log here, not least because it was too much fun playing with clay, to interrupt the process with photos. But, briefly, I made and baked a skull-on-a-stick. Once cool, I started building up muscles and bits, drawing on a dim memory of Gorky Park (?) from many years ago.

And the result's ok:



...If you squint a bit and stand three feet away. He needs a hat and hair, still...and I'll be adding a pipe and wire-frame glasses: ubiquitous for Ransome.

Ummm: a body would be useful, too.

Anyway, here's the hands:



Right for the tiller, left for the coaming. I nearly made two right hands. Which would have been wrong.  %)

More soon, as we disappear down the companion way.

Andy
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Greggy1964

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Re: Racundra
« Reply #43 on: March 09, 2011, 11:24:14 am »

Wow!

He's sooo cool  :-)) such detail  :o

I build model ships and boats but never give real thought to crew.

Can we not have a build log of Ransome?
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andrewh

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Re: Racundra
« Reply #44 on: March 09, 2011, 12:43:57 pm »

Andy

Nice Fimoing :}
You are an artist, sir!

I have only been called an artist when there is an adjective attached - can't remember what it is

Hulll looks very good, too.  I'm still reminded of a bisected ostrich egg

andrew
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dreadnought72

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Re: Racundra
« Reply #45 on: March 09, 2011, 12:56:50 pm »

Build log - sadly not for the head and hands. But fear not!

...Meanwhile there could be a knitting pattern for a 1/8th hat and jumper if you stick around! %% (I hear the clattering of needles in the next room!)  

I looked and looked for good resources for modelling heads, and ultimately found this build log which blew me away. Stunning details. The head he makes is half the size (16mm) of the one I made. I'm in awe.  :o

I think Fimo (is that what he calls Sculpey?) has a huge advantage over something like Milliput. Milliput goes off rock hard after a certain length of time, while Fimo gives you endless time to sculpt, add and shape before you bung it in the oven. If you do go the "bake a skull first" route then it's a great foundation for what follows. The hands, of course, are just Fimo-sausages with a bit of scalpel-shaping.

As to having a crew at all, the Racundra had an open cockpit, and was only 30' long. Nothing would look weirder at this scale than a Marie Celeste-like boat without a crew, to my mind. With regards to the amount of detail, while I don't need a "perfect miniature" at a range of a few metres when on the water, it's nice to know that the figure will be "good enough" when on display.

Andy
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dreadnought72

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Re: Racundra
« Reply #46 on: March 10, 2011, 12:36:18 pm »

Moving swiftly downstairs, here's the companion way, made up and glued in place.



Many years ago, as an archaeologist on a site in Carlisle, I worked alongside this old fella. He must have been in his forties  %) - I was a spotty teenager aged seventeen. Now I'm in my late forties. How did that happen? Anyway, he was excavating a Roman post-hole one day, as you do, which had been cut through a sloping interface of two different soil types. "Look at that, Andy - solid geometry in action." And I looked and it was true: the paraboloid post-hole had a sloping ellipticalish ring halfway down it. You'd need better maths than mine to calculate how one interfaced with the other, but there it was in all its glory.

Well, what's this to do with the Racundra, I hear you snore?  ;)

I have a more-or-less rectangular companion way meeting the bottom of the boat - a shape (manifold might be a better word) of immense complexity. How to make them fit perfectly?

Simple! ...Cheat!

I spent a few hours with tape, cardboard and scissors and it was a case of trim-&-fit, trim-&-fit and trim-&-fit until it all worked. Then I transferred this profile to wood. I made one side first, made up all the steps and that thing which is ideally placed to bump your head on, plus the doorway, as seperate units, before assembling the lot, checking it was square, and slapping the other side on.

Once dry, and wiith a slice here and there of the scalpel, it slotted in beautifully. Here's the base of the starboard side glued to the hull planking, with a later sloppage of PVA and kitchen roll to help seal the joint.



And now the feature. I prefer to see it as not a problem, exactly.  %) The original Racundra had a short prop shaft and a dumpy wee engine situated under the companion way steps, which were removable. I have a big electric motor and a long shaft that ends more or less above the waterline in the hull, which - as you can see here - passes over the floor at the bottom of the steps. (The floor's not yet been added to the section aft of the propshaft support.)



This is a feature since I'll need access to the couplings at some point, so it needs to be accessible. My current cunning plan is to make a removable "pile of oilskins and a crate of cabbages" which will sit at the bottom of the companion way steps and hide all the technical bits.

And finally - a note on scale. I'm appalled/impressed at the designer's ability to shoehorn things into Racundra. That hatchway into the cabin was, in real life, about 20" across and a staggering 44" tall. Pokey doesn't do it justice. (Once inside the cabin, which was ten feet square, there was full standing headroom, and features that weren't so bad for a 30' boat.)

But here in the companion way, each side of the steps and floor, were the galley on the left - a couple of lockers (fronts to be added) containing a primus and some pots - and on the right, the head.

Now I've looked at this build and the plans in depth over the last few months, and while I can imagine a figure standing and cooking without too much trouble, I still can't get a true grasp of the toilet arrangements. I think you could only "arrive" by backing yourself carefully in (preferably beeping like a truck while doing so) in a semi-crouched position, trousers down, and the door couldn't be shut after you. Indeed, if your arms were long enough I strongly suspect you could have fried up breakfast while on the throne. They were tough in them days! :o

(Many years later, following a refit, a posh new head was installed up the sharp end.)

Andy
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dreadnought72

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Re: Racundra
« Reply #47 on: March 23, 2011, 06:55:49 pm »

Just a brief 'un!

I've made the centreplate case - 6mm ply, glued together and waterproofed within - and just fitted it.

What might be a fatal error is that I've glued it in with the cheapy-cheapy A&B type "epoxy" that you see in the pound shops. There now follow two questions for the viewer:

1/ Does it ever set? Like hard, as epoxy ought, and not jellyish, as it currently is after an hour.  <:(
2/ What do I do if it doesn't?!!?!!  >:-o

Andy
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dreadnought72

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Re: Racundra
« Reply #48 on: March 24, 2011, 11:12:22 pm »

Ah! Bliss!

Hour 28, and the epoxy seems to have finally set.  :-))

...I promise I'll buy the "name brand" in future.  :police:

Tonight's task involves a hastly-constructed 3d cardboard battery. I'm currently thinking* this will be 12V and, because I have the hull and displacement for it, 7.5Ah. This'll give me at least three hours motorin' about the pond time and (...sound of calculator keys...) near-infinite sailing time via the BEC! (Can that be that right? BEC power doesn't mind a winch on it, too much, does it?)

The task? A jigsaw puzzle. There's no picture, all the other shapes are weird, and there's no right way to do things (at least, once the motor's shoe-horned between prop shaft and fin case. I see that it kind of has to go there.) I can certainly fit all the bits in - the fake-o-battery, winch, servo, switches, motor, etc. will get swallowed up in such a beamy boat - but there has to be access and order.

Towards this, I note that Racundra sported a circular hatch forward of the mainmast, of 60mm in diameter at this scale. It's raised, potentially dry, and therefore seems ideal for the main switches, fuses and charging sockets: much easier than levering the cabin lid off.

Other than that:

1/ The battery feels most comfortable just in front of the fin case. It's going to mass around 2.6kg, so needs to be low and central.
2/ The receiver would be handy near the mainmast.
3/ The ESC oughtn't be near the receiver, so I'll bung it portside near the motor. A motor festooned with 0.1 microfarad capacitors, naturally.
4/ Portside is essential for the steering servo (reasons to follow in a few weeks' time).
5/ Portside may as well take the lighting servo. Because...
6/ Starboard side can then be completely freed up for the winch and sheets.

Hmmm...this all sounds suspiciously like a plan! Right - I'm off to cut panels and trays for mounting the bits and pieces.

More soon!

Andy

* Did you see what I did there?  :-)

... I'll, urr, get my coat.  :((
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Enjoying every minute sailing W9465 Mertensia

dreadnought72

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Re: Racundra
« Reply #49 on: March 28, 2011, 02:40:00 pm »

 :-)) Fifteen seconds of brutal work with the angle-grinder on the Buehler and the motor fits the gap. This is good.

I was concerned about heat on that back bearing during the cut, and the masses of steel filings flying off the redundant end of the drive shaft taking a rapid and disastrous bee-line to the magnets, but all seems well.

There's no motor-mount for it yet, as the companion way door has just been given a catflap carefully crafted access hole for the coupling, and I obviously need to check alignments.

For scale, the space from frame-to-frame is just over 60mm.

 

That little red "5" on the planking relates to the section marked "5" last seen in the plans way back up the page. For some reason, which I'm sure made sense at the time, I have four frames on & between a pair of those numbers (i.e. 4, 4.67, 5.33, 6), while those sections obviously have three (4, 5, 6). Now that I'm at the stage of locating stuff-that'll-be-on-deck using the plans, I'm continually confusing myself - hence the numbering.

Incidentally, that amateurish trickle of epoxy down the keel below the fin case will be buried when the internal ballast is poured into the keel gap. You and I will know there's shoddy work on this boat, but we'll not say nuffin', ok?  %)

 

Forwards - the fin case (6mm plywood), battery holder and mast partners & mainmast step. The cabin's front end just brushes the aft end of the partners here, and it's a wide, beamy, blunt front - so there should be room for battery installation.

That box is 30mm deep, and - as long as The Component Shop have done their measuring correctly - there's a millimetre room for the 151 * 65mm battery. The box appears to be floating, but it's glued to recesses in the frame it's resting on, the front of the fin case, and there's a substantial support below it to the keel. The battery's going to mass 2.6 kg - I don't want it moving!

The fore-hatch, mentioned last post, is centred on the red mark on the right side of the image. Once I've got all the necessary cables and bits to that point at deck height, I may well be filling that entire area to the bow with expanded polystyrene blocks for buoyancy.

And - having never built a sailing model before - I've now got a good idea of the area available for the stringy bits. The winch (a Hitech HS 725BB) will probably land near the motor, and will meet the Meccano set so that I can have three drums (of differing diameters) for the mizzen, main and foresail sheets.

More soon!

Andy
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