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Author Topic: Dickie Tugboat / Seaport Workboat  (Read 227394 times)

Ghost in the shell

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Re: Dickie Tugboat / Seaport Workboat
« Reply #75 on: December 01, 2007, 09:11:06 pm »

Andy, replace the dickies radio for regular 40mhz radio
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portside II

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Re: Dickie Tugboat / Seaport Workboat
« Reply #76 on: December 01, 2007, 10:27:06 pm »

Or if your realy tight ,like me  :) put some cheap 27mhz gear in  O0
daz
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Ghost in the shell

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Re: Dickie Tugboat / Seaport Workboat
« Reply #77 on: December 01, 2007, 10:48:47 pm »

as long as its hobby grade it doesnt really mater, just ditch the el crapo toy grade crap that it comes with, then you'll have a decent boat
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Mr Andy

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Re: Dickie Tugboat / Seaport Workboat
« Reply #78 on: December 02, 2007, 05:45:25 pm »

I put a 40 two channel in mine sealed up the tank didn't know at the time about the water scoop idea, or I might have had the monitor working on the turn.

Andy.
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DickyD

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Re: Dickie Tugboat / Seaport Workboat
« Reply #79 on: December 03, 2007, 03:51:55 pm »

Well my tug was delivered from Howes today. Haven't opened the box yet. O0
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tolnedra

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Re: Dickie Tugboat / Seaport Workboat
« Reply #80 on: December 03, 2007, 05:40:47 pm »


Now come on Richard, you should have had your tug half-converted at least by now! {-) {-) {-)

Danny
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Edward Pinniger

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Re: Dickie Tugboat / Seaport Workboat
« Reply #81 on: December 04, 2007, 04:22:06 pm »

I also have one of these - which I'm planning to convert to an earlier type (mid-20th century) diesel tug (rather like the one represented by the Revell "Lucky XI" plastic kit)
However, the boat seems to have a problem with the steering, the Kort nozzle rudder only turns half as far to the left as it does to the right, hence the boat doesn't steer very well in this direction to say the least. Has anyone else had this problem?

Another question I have - since the rebuilt boat probably won't have a water cannon, I was thinking of converting this to a bilge pump (not that the boat really needs one as it is very stable when running + doesn't take on water) and also replacing the water ballast tank (an annoying "feature" as it causes the boat to drip pond water all over the place!) with lead weights; what would be the best way to seal up the holes in the bottom of the hull? Would duct tape be sufficiently waterproof?

It's also very noisy in reverse, which appears to be caused by the prop (fairly close to the surface) sucking up air and creating bubbles - I'm wondering whether a bit of extra ballast at the stern might reduce this. The boat appears to have a solid ballast weight installed beneath the battery compartment (the battery also weighs a fair bit) so it could be a bit bow-heavy.
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Ghost in the shell

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Re: Dickie Tugboat / Seaport Workboat
« Reply #82 on: December 04, 2007, 11:19:40 pm »



I have had similar geometry problems with other RTR's, however that may be due to the linkages being offset, as for the two holes, epoxy two pieces of ABS onto the inside, then use plastic filler on the slots, sanded down. then give a good coat of paint.
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Edward Pinniger

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Re: Dickie Tugboat / Seaport Workboat
« Reply #83 on: December 07, 2007, 02:52:06 pm »

It seems that removing the rudder adjustment lever has more or less fixed the problem - I tried the boat out on the pond this morning, and it ran very well, the steering was very controllable in both directions. It still steers a bit better to the left than the right, but it's not a serious problem. Also, due to the rudder/nozzle auto-center not working properly, constant steering is needed to keep the boat in a straight line, but again I found I got used to this fairly quickly.

For anyone else interested, what I did was: after removing the deck from the boat, I removed the cover from the rudder servo mechanism (this is held on by 2 screws). I then removed the orange plastic adjustment lever, along with the plastic washer which holds it on, and then replaced the servo cover.

The next stage is to seal up the ballast tank intake and add some lead weight in the hull, then seal up the various holes in the deck left by removing screws + fittings - then I'll be able to start rebuilding the superstructure and external details.
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Willit

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Re: Dickie Tugboat / Seaport Workboat
« Reply #84 on: March 01, 2008, 05:25:30 pm »

just came from sailing my mates new Dickie, which he bought from Howes.

Don't even go there!  The RC range was less than three feet and it couldn't turn right, no matter what we did to it.

Its going to be sorted out soon with decent RC, as my poor friend was very upset with its RTR performence.  I'm going to sort it out to make it up to him (I recommended the boat to him!  ::))
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Willit

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Re: Dickie Tugboat / Seaport Workboat
« Reply #85 on: March 01, 2008, 06:13:29 pm »

just came from sailing my mates new Dickie, which he bought from Howes.

Don't even go there to get one!  The RC range was less than three feet and it couldn't turn right, no matter what we did to it.  It would appear that the new Dickie tugs (not counting the Naval rubbish) are rubbish.

Its going to be sorted out soon with decent RC, as my poor friend was very upset with its RTR performence.  I'm going to sort it out to make it up to him (I recommended the boat to him!  ::))
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DickyD

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Re: Dickie Tugboat / Seaport Workboat
« Reply #86 on: March 01, 2008, 07:45:56 pm »

Well Willit did you not read about these on the forum. Did you not ask yourself why is everyone altering these ?
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Willit

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Re: Dickie Tugboat / Seaport Workboat
« Reply #87 on: March 01, 2008, 10:06:38 pm »

Well Willit did you not read about these on the forum. Did you not ask yourself why is everyone altering these ?

 :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o

>>:-( >>:-( >>:-( >>:-( >>:-( >>:-( >>:-( >>:-( >>:-(

I'm not an idiot, of course I read about it, I read about it on the Mayhem site before it even appeared on this forum!  {-)  I was going to do it myself but built my Springer instead.  I was in point of fact saying the ones from Howes are a particularly nasty breed.

I did tell my friend he would have to upgrade it as there is no such thing as a good cheap RTR model and it would have horrible RC properties.

But I never expected it to be as bad as it was

Martins test run of the stock Dickie showed reasonable performence out of the box for a RTR (in that it went forwards backwards left and right as well as squirt water), and I was banking on it being the same.

Instead my friends one went forward ok until it was three feet out (when it went out of range), reverse caused it to just cavitate a lot.  Steering was well....port :P   forget starboard, couldnt be done.  The fire hose thing was gutted the moment we got the boat open. 

Not to worry it will be upgraded by myself soon so my friend will be happy and have a decent boat.

He wants to repaint it so I shall get pics of it when he's done.
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SS Daring

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Re: Seaport Tug Review
« Reply #88 on: April 21, 2008, 04:15:52 am »

A couple of my Dickie Conversions

Two canadian tugs based on the same hull
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Edward Pinniger

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Re: Dickie Tugboat / Seaport Workboat
« Reply #89 on: April 24, 2008, 07:53:53 pm »

Those look like two very nicely built conversions!  O0 It just shows what you can do with this RTR boat with the help of some scratchbuilding work. I'd definitely like to see more photos and detail close-ups of these models.

The nearer one of the two (Pacific Fury) is more or less what I was originally intending to convert mine into, before I discovered that some steam tugs were fitted with Kort nozzles.

Don't even go there!  The RC range was less than three feet and it couldn't turn right, no matter what we did to it.

See my post (above) for a way to fix the steering problem (at least partially!). The range is another matter, it sounds faulty to me - mine has a range of at least 20-30 feet.
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djrobbo

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Re: Dickie Tugboat / Seaport Workboat
« Reply #90 on: April 28, 2008, 03:17:43 pm »

Hi guys...just bought one of these from fleabay for the grand sum of 17.00 squids..........so i'll tear everything out and see what a mess i can make of converting it     

      And you are right about the range ....stavros tried his at watt tyler and the end result can be seen of my springer pushing it back ...it must have gone all of four feet before it went out of range..........now where did i put that saw ?????? O0

                  regards.....bob.
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dougal99

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Re: Dickie Tugboat / Seaport Workboat
« Reply #91 on: April 28, 2008, 03:46:37 pm »

Anybody else transmitting in the same waveband? These 'toys' have very weak TXs and rubbish RXs any nearby transmission on the same wave band, ie 40 or 27, from a decent TX will swamp the RX rsult one dead boat. Turn off the decent TX and presto 'toy' boat jumps back into life.

Cheers

Doug
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Weeds

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Re: Dickie Tugboat / Seaport Workboat
« Reply #92 on: April 29, 2008, 05:12:33 pm »

Anybody fix the leaking propeller shaft?
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DickyD

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Re: Dickie Tugboat / Seaport Workboat
« Reply #93 on: April 29, 2008, 05:23:07 pm »

Anybody fix the leaking propeller shaft?

Mine doesn't leak.
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Martin (Admin)

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Re: Dickie Tugboat / Seaport Workboat
« Reply #94 on: April 29, 2008, 05:28:19 pm »

I think the shaft is quite tricky to get out but if you do, just back it with grease.
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DickyD

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Re: Dickie Tugboat / Seaport Workboat
« Reply #95 on: April 29, 2008, 05:34:39 pm »

That was pack it with grease. These admin chappies, always in a rush.  ::)
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Weeds

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Re: Dickie Tugboat / Seaport Workboat
« Reply #96 on: May 04, 2008, 03:22:26 am »

Thanks so much!

Greasing the propeller shaft with $2.99 Coastal Marine Grease (Water-repellant) fixed the leak. Shaft was easy to get out - pull it out with pliers, grease, push it back in.

More pictures here: http://s203.photobucket.com/albums/aa36/Stevelum_2007/Dickie%20Seaport%20Workboat%20Tugboat%20RC/


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Re: Dickie Tugboat / Seaport Workboat
« Reply #97 on: May 04, 2008, 02:18:21 pm »


So that's how you get it out!

Thanks!  O0
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rwalker

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Re: Dickie Tugboat / Seaport Workboat
« Reply #98 on: May 08, 2008, 04:03:34 am »

As shown on the mayhem site, I gutted the radio gear and installed a proper radio set. After running the stock motor, I decided a new one was definitely in order. It was an easy swap to put a better Mabuchi 380 in place, and boy what difference in performance. While you have the innards open, replace all your wires to the ESC, battery and motor with 12 gauge r/c car wire. I think this also helped to boost the power. I also intend to replace the universal out soon, that thing's noisy!
Rev
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Weeds

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Re: Dickie Tugboat / Seaport Workboat
« Reply #99 on: May 16, 2008, 05:56:37 pm »

Quote
HoaRC,

GREAT SHOT! One of your gallery photos was selected for rotation on
 RCUniverse Home Page!

The caption is: "Dickie Workboat / Tugboat"

To see it, make sure you are in the "BOATS" or "All R/C" Universe (if
 you are not in that universe, you can select it using the menu atop the
 login/member box on the upper right of the home page).

If you don't see it at first, just refresh the page because it rotates
 every 3 minutes with other awesome shots.

Thanks,

RCU "Shot of the Moment" Crew

      

Maybe I am the only one who thinks this is awesome. Rcuniverse forum put a picture of my Dickie Tugboat on their front page in the rotating "shot of the moment" spot!



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