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Author Topic: My humble Northlight build  (Read 20113 times)

GrahamD

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My humble Northlight build
« on: September 11, 2015, 10:44:54 am »

Last time I built a boat was back in the 70's when following several very expensive (due to radio failure) attempts at learning to fly model aircraft, I changed direction from airborne to waterborne  {:-{
Then it was a Perkasa (that I never did finish), and they never cost what they do now....and several other refurbs from other people.


Now I hold both my BMFA A & B flying certs and have taught many others to fly, but have always fancied the Clyde Puffer (my late father and I loved the "Maggie"), and thought, why not now ?


I first ordered the kit from a company in the south, and then read on here I'd chosen the wrong supplier (alarms bells were ringing when they would not answer the phone or return my emails  >>:-( ), however the credit card company canceled for me, so no harm done.  I got my new kit in the end from Clyde Model Boats, who I cannot praise enough, THANK YOU Kim.


So bare with me, I'm not expert on model boats so this should be fun (or boring), and please chip in with any offerings of help and expert advice as mine has been pulled from this great site and others.


Basics = Motor 555, Brass 40mm RH prop, and Shuco flex coupling (going to use supplied prop shaft)


First step was that rudder.





Although no mention of it in the destructions, I filed down the rear till the rudder post was a comfy fit (see red)





The manual (revamped by Jotika I understand), talks about a bolt going through the post at the bottom, but was not included and there were no holes drilled, and the fit seems fine when the rudder is in place so I've left that off. Prop shaft is also loosely fitted for now.





And bingo the rudder is now epoxied in place.







 
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Martin (Admin)

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Re: My humble Northlight build
« Reply #1 on: September 11, 2015, 04:30:38 pm »


Great start Graham!

Where do you get 555 motors these days?
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GrahamD

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Re: My humble Northlight build
« Reply #2 on: September 11, 2015, 04:34:12 pm »


Great start Graham!

Where do you get 555 motors these days?



Got mine from http://www.action-electronics.co.uk/stuff1.php


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mark w

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Re: My humble Northlight build
« Reply #3 on: September 11, 2015, 04:58:23 pm »

Welcome to the forum  :-) . Looks good, keep it coming.


Mark
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Stavros

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Re: My humble Northlight build
« Reply #4 on: September 11, 2015, 06:03:56 pm »


Great start Graham!

Where do you get 555 motors these days?


Up here in Sunny North Wales

http://www.componentshop.co.uk/motors/dc-brushed-motors/

Dave
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GrahamD

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Re: My humble Northlight build
« Reply #5 on: September 12, 2015, 06:53:29 am »

Despite the manual being updated, there are still some errors, ie the drawing that shows the "revised" locations of the forward and rear bulkheads is rubbish, it states the front bulkhead is 46mm from the front, you need to add a 100 to this, also the rear is stated at 95mm, again try 195mm. Not the end of the World, but you would have thought by now they would have got it right  :-))


Bulkheads now installed.


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Seaspray

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Re: My humble Northlight build
« Reply #6 on: September 12, 2015, 07:25:13 am »

Got mine here couple of phone calls to chase it up 5th motor down good top revs

http://www.westbourne-model.co.uk/acatalog/Model-Boat-Elecetric-Motors.html
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Corposant

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Re: My humble Northlight build
« Reply #7 on: September 12, 2015, 10:38:59 am »

Hi Graham,
                  There is no way your build will be boring!

Just a couple of points which have occurred to me:

Hopefully the prop shaft supplied with the current kit is made of stainless steel. Mine wasn't and went rusty after a couple of trips in the bathtub! (and yes, I had greased it!) My kit was purchased in 2000.

I'm not sure about the wisdom of making the rudder post a permanent fixture. It's going to make tightening the prop a bit tricky and you will have to insert (and, at times, withdraw) the shaft from within the vessel.

Having said that, making it removeable (which entails accessing the nut from within the vessel when the deck is in place) is not easy!
I fitted the nut and bolt which is missing from your kit - but it needed some work to make it possible to tighten and also to ensure it didn't foul the rudder casting.

I look forward to the rest of your build.  O0

Mike
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GrahamD

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Re: My humble Northlight build
« Reply #8 on: September 12, 2015, 04:32:36 pm »

Hi Graham,
                  There is no way your build will be boring!

Just a couple of points which have occurred to me:

Hopefully the prop shaft supplied with the current kit is made of stainless steel. Mine wasn't and went rusty after a couple of trips in the bathtub! (and yes, I had greased it!) My kit was purchased in 2000.

I'm not sure about the wisdom of making the rudder post a permanent fixture. It's going to make tightening the prop a bit tricky and you will have to insert (and, at times, withdraw) the shaft from within the vessel.

Having said that, making it removeable (which entails accessing the nut from within the vessel when the deck is in place) is not easy!
I fitted the nut and bolt which is missing from your kit - but it needed some work to make it possible to tighten and also to ensure it didn't foul the rudder casting.

I look forward to the rest of your build.  O0

Mike


thanks, yea I did give the fitting of the prop some thought, and went with removable motor mount.


I found some 10mm Cyparis (only coz I had some laying around from my Beaufighter wing I'm building) and will cut/sand down to about 5mm, but any off cut of 5mm ply, beach etc would have done.
using this method I can pack the motor up and down as needed, and can withdraw the shaft once the prop has been removed, which is just possible when the motor is removed.








I used the string method to find the center line, and tack glued the motor mount and wood bearers into place with CA, once in place I then followed this up with Epoxy. When the Epoxy is dry I will remove the motor & mount from the bearers and flow some P40 around the bearers, grease up the shaft and reassemble.


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GrahamD

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Re: My humble Northlight build
« Reply #9 on: September 12, 2015, 04:33:42 pm »

PS yes the prop shaft is a steel jobby.
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GrahamD

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Re: My humble Northlight build
« Reply #10 on: September 14, 2015, 10:29:39 am »

Small progress today, installed the deck supports





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GrahamD

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Re: My humble Northlight build
« Reply #11 on: September 14, 2015, 06:22:32 pm »

I noticed when I looked at other peoples builds their rudder post was almost proud of the stern post, yet mine was about 5mm under. Today I think I've confirmed the hull is 5mm higher from the bulkhead back, I've had to add a 5mm piece of Cyparis ontop of the bulkhead to fill the gap, its not a major problem, but worth mentioning.





I also found a couple of parts are missing from my kit, but hats off to Jotika, I sent an email describing the missing parts and had an email back within minutes telling me the parts are in the post  :-)) :-))


My smoke unit also arrived today (second hand Flea-Bay), I see it needs 24Volts, so I did some messing and I can build a cheap 12>24v converter so I can save on the extra 12V battery and weight (unless I go Li-po).


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Martin (Admin)

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Re: My humble Northlight build
« Reply #12 on: September 14, 2015, 07:16:15 pm »


NB 1: Test the Smoker on 24v DC first,  a row of AA will do!
NB 2: Some 12v - 24v  DC to Dc converters can be a bit noisy, whines, whistles etc!
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ballastanksian

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Re: My humble Northlight build
« Reply #13 on: September 14, 2015, 08:31:11 pm »

Do Converters have moving parts then or is it something about electrons gadding about between coils {:-{

I am learning lots reading your build log.
 
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Martin (Admin)

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Re: My humble Northlight build
« Reply #14 on: September 14, 2015, 08:33:40 pm »


No moving parts, something to do with high frequencies.
Mind you you, haven't used one in some time, newer ones might be a lot better!
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ballastanksian

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Re: My humble Northlight build
« Reply #15 on: September 14, 2015, 08:36:11 pm »

Does that affect recievers in any way? It sounds positively problematic.
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GrahamD

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Re: My humble Northlight build
« Reply #16 on: September 16, 2015, 12:43:31 pm »

Front deck now fitted in place (black bags are pvc off-cuts sewn into small bags and filled with Lead buckshot from local gun shop, used to hold wing sheeting on wing ribs lol).


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GrahamD

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Re: My humble Northlight build
« Reply #17 on: September 16, 2015, 02:30:30 pm »


Deck now dry

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Martin (Admin)

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Re: My humble Northlight build
« Reply #18 on: September 16, 2015, 04:07:44 pm »


Before you go any further, cover that wood with anything that will make it waterproof!

.... too late?!    {:-{
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GrahamD

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Re: My humble Northlight build
« Reply #19 on: September 16, 2015, 04:13:52 pm »

lol. yea good point, but not too much of a problem, can swill some Poly-c around inside it (got gallons of the stuff).
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kdubya

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Re: My humble Northlight build
« Reply #20 on: September 16, 2015, 10:02:43 pm »

are you Graham D off RCMF ?

KW
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GrahamD

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Re: My humble Northlight build
« Reply #21 on: September 17, 2015, 05:11:33 am »

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kdubya

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Re: My humble Northlight build
« Reply #22 on: September 17, 2015, 03:16:39 pm »

Thought so  when I saw Poly C mentioned , you still use it a fair bit then?

KW
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GrahamD

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Re: My humble Northlight build
« Reply #23 on: September 17, 2015, 05:37:58 pm »

Thought so  when I saw Poly C mentioned , you still use it a fair bit then?

KW


Yea, when I got the sample from Ronseal back in the day, I got a 1 gallon and 5 gallon container sent free  %%
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GrahamD

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Re: My humble Northlight build
« Reply #24 on: September 18, 2015, 09:38:53 am »

Managed last night to get the hatch coamings and the hatch built, sounds simple but it was many hours of work.





Gonna nip out today and get some paints so I can finish the hatch off.
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