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Author Topic: Your Mission, Should you choose to Accept it....  (Read 5683 times)

Roadrunner

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Your Mission, Should you choose to Accept it....
« on: February 07, 2011, 10:41:08 pm »

Typical i start this years build log with something that does not belong to me!

My daughter recived a very lovely seaport tug from santa Christmas just gone. £39.99 from amazon bargain!

Opened the box xmas day ''Wow! daddy i got a tug just like yours....''

My response to the Mrs later ''guess you get what you pay for!''

Well after a bit of deliberation (all of 2.3 seconds)  and while i wait for some items to arrive for my current tug project i have decided to set myself a little task. to convert this heap of plastic into a rather fetching Harbor Tug in less then a month, and to be on display at the Liskeard Model Boat Show coming up on the 5th and 6th of March.
(now if no one see's this model at the show its cos i didn't finish it and epically failed my mission!

Image is of a another club members seaport tug as i took photo's after i did the paint job (yet again i forgot to plan ahead!)



Bit rubbish ain't it? lets see if we can improve it...

Mission 1:- Undo the mountain of screws to get it down to the component parts... (20 mins passes and several swear words)                 -------------- COMPLETED
 
Mission 2:- Tear out the junk elecronics ... Yup that was quick  %% %%                                                                                         -------------- COMPLETED

Mission 3:- Tear out the ballast tank lid, the water squirter pump, the 'servo' ( %% %%) servo my backside... & the original battery box. -------------- COMPLETED

Mission 4:- Seal Ballast Box hull holes (p38) and create a new battery box to fit in place, able to hold a 6v 4.5Ah LA battery.                   -------------- COMPLETED

Mission 5:- Fit new servo and linkage to the rudder post.                                                                                                                -------------- COMPLETED

Mission 6:- Post some photo's you daft nut!                                                                                                                                  -------------- COMPLETED
    






Mission 7:- Sand hull & bulwarks, remove all items from deck and remove all plastic lugs that will no longer be needed.                            -------------- COMPLETED

Mission 8:- Fill all remaining holes on the deck with p38 and sand smooth ready for paint.                                                                    -------------- COMPLETED

Mission 9:- Get painting!                                                                                                                                                            -------------- COMPLETED

Hull & Deck was painted red oxide, above the waterline, bulwarks, the decks edge & the winches painted satin black, all finished off with a clear coat of satin lacquer.





Apologizes that the photo's don't show the true paint colour (stupid flash...  {:-{)

Mission 10:- Post progress on Mayhem, grab a beer and give up for the night.                                                                                   -------------- COMPLETED
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dodgy geezer

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Re: Your Mission, Should you choose to Accept it....
« Reply #1 on: February 07, 2011, 10:54:38 pm »

"..Mission 6:- Post some photo's you daft nut!  -------------- COMPLETED.."

Are the photos on your website...?
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Roadrunner

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Re: Your Mission, Should you choose to Accept it....
« Reply #2 on: February 07, 2011, 10:58:06 pm »

Sorted... Flickr sucks!
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Roadrunner

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Re: Your Mission, Should you choose to Accept it....
« Reply #3 on: February 09, 2011, 12:53:12 pm »

Well ran into a few bugs in working out the LED voltage, but i have managed to locate some info that the boats original LED's are 6v so i have no fear of blowing them later.

Todays mission was to install the electric's, i have two seaports to do this week one being my daughters the other is a club members. so i have worked on my daughters first to make sure i don't mess it up work the bugs out from there, that way when it comes to 2nd time round i will have an easier time of it.

Nothing complicated to do but as the electronics are to be housed under the wheel house there is 'limited' space for a mountain of cables, given my necessity to keep things neat and tidy it took a little bit of though.

The servo was previously installed before fitting the deck down, in this instance i have used only spare parts i had laying outbout so most of the electonics are overkill for this type of model.

The servo is a 9kg metal geared high toruge high speed servo, butchered from my IC racing Buggy.

The ESC is also an Rc car item the mtronics viper eco 27 designed for brushed 27 turn electric motors, this esc also has 'modes' for braking, but in this instance i have set it to full reverse.

The Receiver unit is my 'test bench' receiver which i use for all testing before committing to a new receiver for the item. this will be replaced with a 'giantcod radiolink 2.4 ghz system'.

The main power source is a 6V 4.5 AH LA battery.

No amount of words can explain the plugging in so i'll let the photo do the talking.



More in a few days i have to do the 2nd tug tomorrow before commencing with the super structure for this build.

R.R
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Roadrunner

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Re: Your Mission, Should you choose to Accept it....
« Reply #4 on: February 12, 2011, 09:42:49 pm »

Well nearly there with the re-build, after 2 evenings work i have finished the majority of the superstructure, there are a few holes to fill and sand, a few doors to fit in the gaps left by the funnels and the railings.

First up was to reconstruct the roof of the wheel house, my aim was to use as much of the original boats 'detailing' as possible to reduce the waste and my construction time.

I have removed from the original tower one of the platforms, the horns and the radar and relocated them on the roof , along with the life raft casings that used to sit behind the rear winch.
I have also created a 'mast' using an old chopstick and a bit of 3mm doweling.

I have also filled all the holes with P38 and re-located the LED's to sit below the radar, which won't be visible until the final paint job is finished.

To take the craft from the toy to a more model like appearance i though it prudent to remove the old 'battery hatch' and create a new two part section, given the bulk of the superstructure a more square feel and not so out of proportion.
After creating the new front section i have to tackle the gap left on the deck where the original part would have covered, this was just built up using plastic card and will be sprayed up to the deck color. 

As a final job i have re-located the funnels to the rear behind the winch at deck level. i think it gives the tug a slightly better appearance more then anything else.

All these parts are still to be painted but i though i would post the before photo's for anyone interested in what parts were used and where.









More Monday with any luck it should be basically finished minus a few loose details and the stand.
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Roadrunner

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Re: Your Mission, Should you choose to Accept it....
« Reply #5 on: February 14, 2011, 09:54:04 pm »

Well todays update as promised, although not as finished as i would have liked, i had a massive issues with the paint today had to take the base of the superstructure back to bare plastic and re-spray the primer, hopefully tomorrow the top coat won't bloom again.

As you can see from the photo, i have decided to paint the tug in 'grey' reason being simple, all the colors are very easy to repair should accident happen as they will with a youngster at the helm!

I'm hoping by the end of the week the boat will be finished providing i don;t run into another paint problem.



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TugCowboy

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Re: Your Mission, Should you choose to Accept it....
« Reply #6 on: February 16, 2011, 11:24:22 am »

Looking good.

Bet you are having fun aren't you, best things since a springer to fiddle with!
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Roadrunner

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Re: Your Mission, Should you choose to Accept it....
« Reply #7 on: February 16, 2011, 08:47:33 pm »

Thanks TugCowboy yes i have actually been enjoying this re-build surprisingly the toy its self is quite well though out, with only a little imagination it can be converted quite easily although once done i hope not to do another one any time soon as my current project is being neglected and i should be much further then i am which is unfortunate.

Well todays little update is im pleased to say i had no further issues with paint, i can only assume the paint reacted with possibly the wipe i used prior to painting to remove grim, or the workshop temperature was not as good as it had been previous days, one of those odd things that i guess we will never know for sure.

Today i managed to fit the main guard rails, and spray it up to its grey theme, i have also done a fair bit of light magic with the wheel house, fitting LED's to light it up as well as modifying one of the 'search lights' from the original boat to actually work.

I have no more spray painting to do now the rest is all to be done by hand using acrylics, this is all the hand rails in a nato black (which is like a very dark grey more then black unfortunately the photos don't show this very well with the flash)

So this is the photo up to where i have stopped for the night i should have all the detailing finished in the next day or so with very little issues now.



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Roadrunner

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Re: Your Mission, Should you choose to Accept it....
« Reply #8 on: February 20, 2011, 12:17:32 pm »

Tug is now 99% finished, i just have to paint the windows in and make a nice stand for it to sit on full time so here are the photo's enjoy!






With the Lights on!




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Roadrunner

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Re: Your Mission, Should you choose to Accept it....
« Reply #9 on: March 06, 2011, 07:13:38 pm »

Well i guess ''Mission Accomplished'' is the phrase needed,

The show was a great success and here is the boat on display with the owner poking her head up just at the right moment!

 
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Roadrunner

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Re: Your Mission, Should you choose to Accept it....
« Reply #10 on: April 18, 2011, 10:28:45 am »

Another one finished, this time with an admiralty feel.









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proteque

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Re: Your Mission, Should you choose to Accept it....
« Reply #11 on: May 10, 2011, 07:07:31 pm »

Buster looks awesome!
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Roadrunner

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Re: Your Mission, Should you choose to Accept it....
« Reply #12 on: May 10, 2011, 09:28:12 pm »

Some more photo's if anyone interested,







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Zebra

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Re: Your Mission, Should you choose to Accept it....
« Reply #13 on: May 11, 2011, 01:03:54 pm »

Great photo's and great looking tugs.

Steve.
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Roadrunner

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Re: Your Mission, Should you choose to Accept it....
« Reply #14 on: May 11, 2011, 04:01:50 pm »

Thanks for your comments lads great little tugs to convert, but if i see another one any time soon i think it may end up under my hammer!  {-)
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