Topic: Drake Tail Steam Launch (Read 4251 times)

mrzippy · « **on:** April 13, 2020, 05:23:09 pm »

New project a simple steam drake tail, dove tail or torpedo stern launch - depending which side of the pond you reside,
was to be tested/launched next month at Mayhem 2020 Wicksteed Park.
Sadly now in 12 weeks isolation, I'm posting pictures of work in progress dents, filler, warts and all.

Model's loosely based on an old Midwest kit image found online, stretched and redrawn to 28 inches LOA. with a drake tail grafted on
to create a vintage theme and powered by a simple Saito single cylinder steam plant, imported from a model shop in Poland.

Lite Ply hull construction

'Nordlys' if you are reading this -
it's the hull mentioned in your post 'Resin not hardening completely' that required baking with a hair dryer to set off the Easy Composites resin applied to the interior, hope to tackle the exterior later this week

mrzippy · « **Reply #1 on:** April 13, 2020, 06:20:45 pm »

This posting should read -
New project, a simple steam drake tail, dove tail or torpedo stern launch depending which bank of the big pond you reside,
was to be tested/launched next month at Mayhem 2020 Wicksteed Park.
Sadly now in 12 weeks self isolation I'll post pictures of work in progress dents, filler, warts and all.

Loosely based on an old Midwest kit image found online, redrawn and sretched to 28 inches overall with a drake tail grafted on
to create a vintage theme, powered by a simple Saito single cylinder steam plant imported from a model shop in Poland.

My first attempt to build a hull using Lite Ply throughout -
seems to be successful allowing much easier and quicker cutting/sanding of parts, how robust it will be long term?, only time will tell.
Deck and interior ideas are in best 'Corn Flakes box' development stage to be produced in real timber.

'Nordlys' if you're reading this -
it is the hull I mentioned in your post 'Resin not hardening completely' that required baking with a hair dryer to fully set
the Easy Composites epoxy resin applied to the interior, hope to tackle the exterior later this week.

rhavrane · « **Reply #2 on:** April 13, 2020, 06:24:41 pm »

Bonjour,
Nice shape indeed which changes of tugs and launches!
With a light fiber glass (25 g/m2) and epoxy, outside and inside, your hull will be indestructible

SteamboatPhil · « **Reply #3 on:** April 14, 2020, 12:00:20 am »

Nice one Paul

derekwarner · « **Reply #4 on:** April 14, 2020, 12:44:09 am »

That is certainly an attractive hull

...I would have called the stern shape as 'Inverted Fan, or Draketail'.....here is an example

https://www.soundingsonline.com/news/draketail

Looking forward to see the build progress

SAITO steam engines are of supreme reliability......[not keen on their spirit fired boilers]......but these too have been on the market for generations

Derek

Mark T · « **Reply #5 on:** April 14, 2020, 09:02:22 am »

Thats a really nice build I'll be watching this one

Seacommander · « **Reply #6 on:** April 14, 2020, 04:30:40 pm »

Yes very nice build and nice lines,
I see you have a Saito boiler, I would value you opinion on the boiler,
I think we are a little light on good boilers and burners.
My quibble is that they are a little to high and effect the centre of Gravity of the boat
Best of luck with it
Cheers
Mark

Capt Podge · « **Reply #7 on:** April 14, 2020, 04:37:53 pm »

We don't often see models of this genre at our local clubs - looks like it's going to be a good one

Regards,
Ray.

mrzippy · « **Reply #8 on:** April 15, 2020, 11:53:02 am »

Thank you all for the encouraging comments -
Hi Phil hope all is well sur le continent? a new toy to play with at the annual bash ! progress may be slowing down with the build now Wicksteed's no go for me,
I'm on Boris's endangered species list and in 'at least' 12 weeks isolation.

Seacommander re Saito boiler - yes it's taller than I'd assumed from woolly info available online, stands 3 3/4" inches tall,
similar in height to a stationery Mamod I run in another boat -
had it arrived before I'd started building I would have placed the boiler in front of the engine in the bow, set much lower for better c of g.
I think its possible to alter the casing - 3 square punched holes per side, form breather holes and fold into tags supporting the burner, raising the tray 3/4" above the bottom line of the casing, undoing a couple of spot welds and some judicious metal folding would lower it at least 1/2" retaining the breather slots - hope this makes sense?

My concern with Saito boiler - it's same diameter as a Mamod but only 3" in length, as opposed to 4 1/2" for Mamod?
Saito state 15 minutes run time?? - I'm hoping the engine being an efficient piston valve as opposed to a leaky old Mamod oscillator
may be gentle on steam usage and give 15 minutes run time?? it sounds optimistic to me.

The engine is a little gem, beautifully made with tiny valve gear and a modest £85 complete - compare this with a Stuart oscillator KIT £218??

below is the original 'Laughing Whale/Midwest image the model is based on. regards Paul

Seacommander · « **Reply #9 on:** April 15, 2020, 10:40:07 pm »

Hi Paul,
Thanks for the reply and opinion on the Saito items,
Pleased to hear about the little engine, I'll have to try one of those,
As you say at nearly 4" high and not so long, the boiler is a bit suspect, I got your idea for a modification
What Mamod boiler are you using, I have a number and would be interested to know
I am always looking for boilers, engines are easy, boilers are a nightmare.
Personally I don't want a £400 unit - to much and to complicated.
If a manufacture got a good boiler low and fairly long at under £200 they'd make a packet - Mamod SE3 style, but lower....
Thanks again
Mark

rhavrane · « **Reply #10 on:** April 16, 2020, 08:09:18 am »

Bonjour,
Just for fun, The "project X" launch recently created by Martin Baylis, Peter' son of Baylis of Marten, Howlew and Baylus (Der SeeKadett; Topaz, ...) :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPLj-5f_mKs

mrzippy · « **Reply #11 on:** April 16, 2020, 01:38:24 pm »

Bonjour rhavrane,
Yes the lovely 'Project X' - I'd spotted Martins sleek design when drawing up my plans and considered a similar upright Ram? Bow,
thought I'd save it for another project.

Seacomander mine is a Mamod SE3, but here's the catch - in a stern paddler where c.g.'s not so important !
The only obvious uk 'simple' plant I managed to find was the good old 'Unit Steam' plant supplied by Tony Green Steam etc,
these have a lower style flip-up boiler, but not so sure about the engines longevity, and actually cost more than an imported Saito plant - Saito boilers around £90.

Below should be a good image of the Saito engine. Paul

carlfmiller · « **Reply #12 on:** April 21, 2020, 09:34:47 pm »

I love a drake tail-- we saw them on the Chesapeake workboats. When I made a 50" steam launch using a sailboat hull, I converted the transom to a drake tail, and am very happy with the results. The job got very interesting where the transom meets the curvature if the hull, and this resulted in the pretty parabola along the edge.

All said and done, Cecilia is a success and is a nice launch powered by the Microcosm M29 from China.

[size

Anyway, as seen elsewhere in this forum, I have a movie on you tube of Cecilia on the pond

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6Ycsc_CzSY

Congrats on a nice launch and another drake tail!

-Carl

mrzippy · « **Reply #13 on:** April 22, 2020, 10:34:43 am »

Beautiful workmanship Carl an inspiration ! another level of sophistication compared with my simple efforts.
Mine's intended to be a quick build, small model to stash in the car boot along with picnic gear on days out, but the hulls taken a lot longer to build than anticipated.
Co-incidentally I considered hacking an old half built, balsa planked one metre yacht hull as a quick fix, blunt upright yacht stems make ideal steam launches, unfortunately the one metre worked out too large for my small steam plant, an internet search revealed the above plans which proved easy to alter with the aid of a drawing programme.

I've have a Cheddar Puffin sat on the shelf ready for a large project similar to Cecilia, a lifetime's collection of hard wood offcuts and recently bought a table saw I need to get to grips with - just not enough hours in the day !
Thank you for the interesting contribution. Paul

mrzippy · « **Reply #14 on:** April 22, 2020, 02:23:24 pm »

Drake Tail plan pdf should be attached below

frazer heslop · « **Reply #15 on:** April 22, 2020, 09:29:48 pm »

Many thanks for the drawings.It will make a nice wee build with my grandson once we get out of this mess
Good luck with the build
best wishes
frazer

belli · « **Reply #16 on:** April 27, 2020, 06:43:57 pm »

Here is a better copy of the plan, I have the .dxf too if anybody wants to laser cut.
This one is 20" long, I am not sure but it looks like a Heritage steam engine from Midwest?
Anybody care to shed some light?
I don't even know how you would build this hull.

carlfmiller · « **Reply #17 on:** April 27, 2020, 07:49:59 pm »

I looked more closely at this drawing and I have to say I have never seen a boat shaped like this before. I looked at your photos and the drawing originally just to see the drake tail or torpedo stern, but I didn't look at the rest-- now I see all the draft in the front section of the boat, and the shaft running aft under the boiler. How interesting! But I do know that engine, it is Midwest as you say, the Model VI. This was my 1st steamer a few years back-- the Fantail launch.

I'll enjoy seeing this little boat come together. Fortunately nowadays you buy these micro servos and lithium batteries, and get some of the "dark matter" weight out. She'll be very sensitive to weight in the stern I think.

steamboatmodel · « **Reply #18 on:** April 28, 2020, 01:57:33 am »

Quote from: belli on April 27, 2020, 06:43:57 pm

Here is a better copy of the plan, I have the .dxf too if anybody wants to laser cut.
This one is 20" long, I am not sure but it looks like a Heritage steam engine from Midwest?
Anybody care to shed some light?
I don't even know how you would build this hull.

Thank you for loading this plan, I have been keeping my eye out for it for a number of year.
The reason it looks like the ones from Midwest is it was probably designed by the same person,

At one time you could get them from

http://www.sidestreet.info/railways/gr.home.html

, but on checking they are no longer available.

Some of the plans, in PDF format, are available from Kalmbach Media --

www.kalmbach.com , but I could not find them

Gerald.

steamboatmodel · « **Reply #19 on:** April 28, 2020, 02:25:30 am »

If you look at the stern of the New England Steam Launch you can see that it uses a Kitchen Rudder.
Gerald.

carlfmiller · « **Reply #20 on:** April 28, 2020, 04:34:03 am »

Gerald--
Who says old dogs cannot learn new tricks? I never heard of a Kitchen rudder but I looked it up and how cool is that? On the little launch this would be two pieces of sheet metal curved away from each other and soldered to the rudder post. From my quick look before your sharp eyes pointed this out, I thought it was a freestanding spade rudder. (Didn't look at the inset rudder pattern) Thanks for the eddication!

Ironic this comes today, I just laid up (30 minutes ago) a "normal" rudder for the St Andrew tug I have started.

I hope we see the Kitchen rudder in photos.

-Carl

carlfmiller · « **Reply #21 on:** April 28, 2020, 04:43:49 am »

Or, are there two Kitchen rudders, port and starboard? The two servos must be for that. This old dog ain't learned the trick yet, I guess.

Has anybody seen the instructions for building this model?

-Carl

mrzippy · « **Reply #22 on:** April 28, 2020, 11:25:52 am »

The original 'New England Steam Launch' kit was designed and manufactured by Mr Ted Stinson via his 'The Laughing Whale' company,
I believe this evolved into 2 more model boat kit business's - 'Freedom Song Boat Works' and 'Mid West Products',
producing many small simple boats and yachts with a traditional American flavor - Fantail Launch etc.

Yes the steam plant was the above Midwest Heritage in Carl's photograph available in self-assembly kit form and complete plants.

The kitchen rudder in this case uses 2 servos electronically mixed to control speed, steer and reverse.

The original kits construction is straight forward hard chine - keel, bulkheads, chine stringers etc
with a slight twist from the norm - 'proper' wooden side and bottom skins - guessing Mahogany? Veneer or maybe solid timber??
end result was a complete model with an all natural varnished wooden finish ! see below pics.

I will add - the hull bottom skinning is very tricky to secure,
it's planked with 1/2" wide strips and requires lots of steaming, clamping, nailing and pining etc
to wrestle and secure in position, I epoxied each plank individually and left it to cure before moving on.

tonyH · « **Reply #23 on:** April 28, 2020, 12:29:39 pm »

This might be of use. www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?1183127-Midwest-fantail-launch-Kitchen-rudder
The elevation drawing shows that there are 2 rudder shafts, one inside the other but the plan seems to show a single link between the two servos but that's not right.
Good Luck
Tony

belli · « **Reply #24 on:** April 28, 2020, 02:25:59 pm »

Oh dear, I'm building mine from balsa. You sayin I'm doin it all wrong??
Mr Zip, that is a fine looking boat you have there. I guess I should have spent a bit more time researching before starting but I will carry on with it. It is my first and better to make my mistakes in balsa. I have now cut the bulkheads from plywood....
I will also make a small steam plant for it, a fellow on RCG did make sketches of the Heritage steam plant for me and I made some CAD drawings.
I have also posted the .dxf here for those that will find it useful. I modified the parts a little to make it a bit more interlocking, hopefully easier to stick it together. It is made from the above photo and so there might be small errors.

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Author Topic: Drake Tail Steam Launch (Read 4251 times)