Hatches, ventilators’ and ammo lockers,
These pieces are made from off cuts of balsa and plastic card. The hatches are made cutting 6mm balsa into rectangles 24x22mm then covering them with 0.5thick plastic card - commence by covering the edges of the balsa hatch first with a strip of plastic 6mm wide; then level the hatch of on a flat sanding board - next apply the plastic card to the top of the hatch and trim the edges. Apply the hinges and hatch clamps which fit on the top of the hatch - these are made out of 2mm plastic cut to shape, and then glued on with super glue (fig113-119), after that is the engine room hatch to make, the side profile shape is copied from the plan, then transferred to the 6mm balsawood x2 (two sides) next the front face and the bottom of the hatch is drawn out onto the balsawood. We then cut out the parts, glue and assemble them. This is then put to one side for the glue to dry; the curved back of the hatch is made from either thin card or plastic card. This is cut to size then glued in place, 3 coats of sand and sealer were applied to the outside (fig 120-123)
Ammo box; this is a basic rectangular box made up from 6mm balsa with 0.5 plastic card applied to the outside - there is a 1x3mm strip of plastic applied to the top edge to represent the lid (fig124-126).
Ventilators ‘these are commercial items from the model shop but the water trap bases are made from oval shaped balsa wood covered in 0.5 mm thick plastic card (fig 127)
Bollards these also are shop bought items.
Mast this is made from bamboo skewers that have been cut to length then sanded to produce the taper at the top section of the mast. The cross tree (the bit of stick that goes across the mast) is made out of the same bamboo skewers this time it tapers both ends
Life raft this was made by cutting out the shape from two pieces of 6mm balsawood then gluing one on top of each other to give a thickness of 12 mm; 3 coats of sand and sealer were applied and rubbed down between coats, the floor netting that goes in the middle is made from 0.5 x2mm strips or plastic card which has been woven into a net then glued in place in the centre of the raft (fig128-129)
Port holes and engine exhausts
Port holes the best way found for making these was to use the paper hole punch to punch out the circles from plastic card but first the plastic card was painted semi-gloss black and allowed to dry then the circles punched out.
To aide keeping the port holes inline on the side of the hull the use of masking tape is a great help - if we mark the position of the port holes on the masking tape as we apply them to the hull; we can transfer the tape to the opposite side of the hull and mark their positions on that side, keeping their positions identical (130-131)
Engine exhausts A slice of 6mm diameter plastic tube 3mm wide is cut into two equal pieces giving us two C shapes; these are the glued onto 3x1.5mm plastic strip to form a arch and the glue is then allowed to fully dry, cut out the centre piece of plastic from the bottom of the arch (fig 132-134) these then are glued into position on the side of the hull don’t forget there are three exhausts two on the port side and one on starboard side
Anchors away The flutes or the things that look like angels wings were cut from 1.5mm thick plastic card and the stock for the anchor is cut from 2mm plastic. The flutes where set up on a small piece of bluetak to hold them at the right angle then glued and allowed to set the stock was then glued in place (fig 135-136)
Speed controller
The thing that seems to give a lot of people some trouble! Which one will do the job? Well a bath test of the complete model (with a 35mm prop fitted) helps to sort out some of the questions.
Method 1: connect the motor directly up to the battery and in the positive wire side fit a fuse holder - insert a fuse of say 5 amps then place model in the water and then switch the motor on. If it blows the fuse we know the motor is pulling more than 5amps therefore we fit a new fuse of say 10 amps and repeat the water test. This time let’s say the fuse is ok and does not blow. Now we know the motor is using between 5 -10 amps under full load this is a rough and ready way of checking motor amperage draw but it works.
Method 2: we need the use of a hand held amp meter this time with a good amperage reading range let’s say from 0 to 20 amps this time we place the two meter probes between the battery and motor on the positive side instead of the fuse holder then set the amp meter to the highest amp setting on the meter and place the model in the test tub. Switch the motor on now get the bath towel and dry up the water off the floor and repair the inside of the bath where the prop has scratched when the model hit the side he he he.
Using the amp meter will give a greater accuracy of amps drawn by motor under load and therefore is better data for use in matching the speed controller to the motor and so let’s say the motor is pulling 9 amps under load from the battery, therefore we need a speed controller that can safely handle more than 9 amps - in other words a speed controller that is rated at 5 amps max is going to fry as soon as we put the model in the water - switch on a 10 amp speed controller is still too close for comfort - the prop on the model just has to snag on a tree leaf in the water and the motor amps will increase to well over 10 amps so we now know we need a controller of handling 15 amps minimum, a 20 amp controller is better and will give better leeway for small mishaps.
Next to fuse or to fry that is the question
As Clint Eastwood says in dirty Harry, do you feel lucky?
If and where to fit a fuse in the main power supply of the model has on many occasion created a great and long discussion on and off forums between modellers. The main debate is where to fit the fuse and the only answer that most modellers come together on is to fit a fuse but whereabouts has never been solved yet, if you do a search on model boat mayhem on this subject you will see what I mean. So, on that note I shall leave it up to the reader to make his own mind up what to do on this subject. However for this build and for the warranty on the speed controller I have fitted one as suggested by the manufacturer and it is suggested to fit the fuse in the power supply between the battery and the controller on the positive side wire so this was done - using a snap-on holder from the suppliers MFA (fig 137-138).
Painting and finishing the model
Most of us have strong points and weak points and when someone says a blind man on a galloping horse throwing a tin of pant at a model will do a better job at it than you, painting is my weak point I rest my case and so I’m not going to start to try and explain how to paint the model but the paints used were a selection of Humbrol gray’s and semi gloss black.
Here are a couple more pics of the finished model along with its test run on the lake – I do hope this will give a good starting point for the beginner and give confidence to at least TRY – there are many thoughts about what/how a beginner should start in model boating – ready-made models/kits ..... and they seem to shy away from a plan build. I think one of the main reasons is when a kit is bought, the lid is opened and the components can be seen already marked out. Also, a lot of the hulls are pre-made for the beginner and this may give the beginner a bit of confidence. Whereas, if you build from a plan there is picture with the plan and your imagination to help you visualise the finished model.
Hope you have enjoyed it.
And that you are not too bored.
BUT
HAVE A GO