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Author Topic: Mini Meercat 15 workcat  (Read 2655 times)

RST

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Mini Meercat 15 workcat
« on: April 23, 2021, 08:19:16 am »

Hi,


I'm well overdue to share some pictures.  Having to do this from a separate computer as can't get on to mayhem on my personal one so I'm afraid there's not so much write-up for these pics but a quick summary...




Lock-down build, living room table top at the family home while I am away from my place caring for a family member.  I have my little Steadytech Mini* 3-D printer here.  I suppose this took about a month to get it to 95% done seen here.


*same as a Wanhao i3 Mini


Inspiration for this was "Falls of Lora" just from pictures on the web.  at about 110x330mm it works out somewhere about 1:48 to 1:50 (close enough for me).


Hull and main parts:


Hull was printed from Fiberlogy Easy-PLA in 4 parts each just big enough to fit in build area of 130x120x100mm and glued together with CA and araldite.  Hull shell covered in lightweight glass cloth and z-poxy.  The grilles are all printed and popped into pre-printed holes from the insides spanning the joins.  They give a bit of strength also.  Deck is polystyrene sheet.  The hatch has a full rig of magnetic sheet around it -thought this might be the best way to keep water out on a very small model.


The hand rails are all Billings 23mm 3 rail stanchions solders up with brass rod.


Fenders are dinky tyres from ebay, think they're 17mm size.


The wheelhouse is part printed, part made from polystyrene, brass bits etc.


The deck winch is printed with a drum from pinched my mothers plastic sewing machine bobbins.  The lever is a brass stanchion filed down.


The HIAB is a 1:50 Corgi truck crane -from ebay and the truck mount stripped off and made my own.  I moved the seat from half way up to down at the bottom and added some brass ladders.


Most of the fittings are printed or modified from bits, the bollards and vents are Robbe / spare bits from my boxes.


Adhesives and painting:


Gorilla glue (brushed) and Zap thin Cyano.  Araldite epoxy.  Deluxe glass cloth and z-poxy resin.  Fillers are a mix of Ronseal woof diller (works great on PLA prints!), Testors and Mr White putty.  Primered in Halfords rattle cans with top coatings of Rustoleum super enamel. Colour choice a bit limited and unfortunately pretty much all in gloss but all I could get locally.  Small bits brushed with Revell enamel (I don't use Humbrol!!).




Electrics:


I found out at first bath test it was WAY too small for the planned 5cell Sub-C Ni-Mh pack.  So I made a 5 cell 2.9Ah AA pack up.  Motors are two RE285's from MFA with 2mm prop shafts and 20mm brass propellers in kort nozzles.  The ESC's are the 5A mini ones from action electronics*, no BEC so there's a separate one tucked in under the receiver.  Had to save as much weight as possible -no ESC enclosures, no on/off switch, just unplug the batteries.


*I might change out the Action ESC's for some of the cheap 20A Chinese ones off eBay as I really need to shave a few more grams off it.


Radio gear:


Volantex Exmitter (non-computer tx).  I've used the "mix" function which puts both controls on the right stick which I really don't like but don't want the extra weight of a mixer on the model.  I might re-solder the transmitter so it works properly with throttle on the left stick.  The mixer works fine, very steerable, not really any different to rudders except that the left/right is the opposite way round when going aft!  It will spin on the spot when the stick is pushed left/right which is ideal.


First sailing:


Had it in the canal basin in Linlithgow last week.  Bit too much weed unfortunately.  Couldn't get any clear pictures.  The 285 motors are about right for speed, nice wake and no bow wave coming over the deck, I ran it for must be 30mins without any sign of the batteries dropping off.  As with all small models I find it always a bit nerve wracking and I regularly bring them in to check for leaks because there's not much freeboard or warning of it going down!


Hope it gives some inspiration,


Rich
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RST

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Re: Mini Meercat 15 workcat
« Reply #1 on: April 23, 2021, 08:22:34 am »

Pictures...
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RST

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Re: Mini Meercat 15 workcat
« Reply #2 on: April 23, 2021, 08:23:23 am »

More pictures...
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RST

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Re: Mini Meercat 15 workcat
« Reply #3 on: April 23, 2021, 08:27:32 am »

More pictures...
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RST

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Re: Mini Meercat 15 workcat
« Reply #4 on: April 23, 2021, 08:31:13 am »

Sorry, picture 7 shows the deck winch but I'm not on my usual laptop and for some reason this file just refuses to compress like any of the others so I can't get it small enough to upload.  You can still get the idea from the other shots though.
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RST

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Re: Mini Meercat 15 workcat
« Reply #5 on: April 23, 2021, 08:53:30 am »

See if this works for pics of the original boat from the Meerkat website.  I got it close, but it's not supposed to be a scalemodel of it, just something resembling a 15m workcat...






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dougal99

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Re: Mini Meercat 15 workcat
« Reply #6 on: April 23, 2021, 09:08:13 am »

Looks good to me. Good work.  :-))
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Tug Fanatic

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Re: Mini Meercat 15 workcat
« Reply #7 on: April 23, 2021, 09:57:09 am »

Nice model   :-)) built in a way that I don't understand  <:( .
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steve mahoney

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Re: Mini Meercat 15 workcat
« Reply #8 on: April 23, 2021, 09:48:35 pm »

Very nice, well done.
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awvs

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Re: Mini Meercat 15 workcat
« Reply #9 on: April 23, 2021, 10:38:03 pm »

What a beautiful model, great job. :-)) :-)) :-))


Wilhelm
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hama

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Re: Mini Meercat 15 workcat
« Reply #10 on: April 24, 2021, 09:19:04 am »

  Really nice! I think yours is better looking than the real one  O0  And that bunker boat in the back looks nice too :-))
Hama
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RST

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Re: Mini Meercat 15 workcat
« Reply #11 on: April 24, 2021, 11:53:04 am »

Thank you. Still a couple of last bits to add. Actually it turned out well enough I'm changing my mind about doing a canal tug next and going to draw up a version about the 22m prototypical size and print another hull when I'm home next week.  I can do a 400mm long hull in just 2 prints on my flashforge.  There's quite a few parts that can transfer over and spares from this one at the same scale.  I think I can just about get away with using the 285 sized motors again on a version a bit bigger.  They are a relatively quick/simple build with just enough detail.


...yes that's a completely freelance small coastal tanker behind. Printed hull also but a bit of disaster struck this week and have to re-make part of it so it's now on a back-burner.  It's actually a vic56 hull modified.
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RST

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Re: Mini Meercat 15 workcat
« Reply #12 on: May 01, 2021, 01:34:17 am »

Can I reply to this without being blocked due to trojan -perhaps?
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RST

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Re: Mini Meercat 15 workcat
« Reply #13 on: May 01, 2021, 01:39:39 am »

Can a mod please assist?  No way to correct anything but I misspelt the thread title and everything after which is not helpful at all, it shoud read Meercat not Meerkat.  Can a mod please correct throughout please as us mortals can't edit posts?
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RST

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Re: Mini Meercat 15 workcat
« Reply #14 on: May 21, 2021, 10:30:58 pm »

Can a mod please delete this thread please.  The model is now on a back burner needing quite major repair...


So far I've had:



Primer reacted with same primer
Top coat reacted with varnish from the same suplier and compatability
Somehow and I've never seen it before, but z poxy laminate is de-laminating like osmosis which it can't possibly be.  I've had to stab the bubbles with a knife to let the pressure out and hopefully stop the spread furrher. In probably 10 years of using the stuff I never seen this before


I've never seen such a good initial result then decompose over a matter of weeks after so I don't want anyone to follow the same build methods.  The base materials are fine, it's just all the coatings that decided to fall apart after just a few weeks despite A1 prep. and correct application!


Thanks,


Rich
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Martin (Admin)

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Re: Mini Meercat 15 workcat
« Reply #15 on: May 23, 2021, 11:39:51 pm »

 
We don't delete useful topics Rich.  :-)
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Martin (Admin)

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Re: Mini Meercat 15 workcat
« Reply #16 on: March 25, 2022, 12:15:05 pm »


 Added by email request:


"The model is suffering what I can only describe best as much as it looks like "osmosis" due to a few schoolboy errors I know better than to use some non-waterproof filler underneath.  Despite finishing with expoxy and cloth, water got in through a pin-hole in a couple of places and fixing is not easy owing to use Rustoleum rattle cans for paint also!  As it is only a very small model, fixing will be very destructive so it's on a back-burner and another one is already on the way with some lessons learned.  Multicat MK 1 is dead, Long live Multicat MK 2 -slightly bigger but not much, and details will follow on a new thread at some point!"



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Circlip

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Re: Mini Meercat 15 workcat
« Reply #17 on: March 26, 2022, 07:27:05 pm »

That  is really sad that a superb looking model can be compromised by using todays finishing techniques.


   Regards  Ian.
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RST

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Re: Mini Meercat 15 workcat
« Reply #18 on: March 31, 2022, 11:22:03 pm »

Hi, this thread isn't supposed to be unlocked and duly request it's re-locked now, I just asked mods for a small update to say I'll post back later with the new model.

Ian, it's merely a case of how sometimes we know better but just skip a few steps or don't think sometimes.  Nothing much wrong with any of the parts or the process but if a monkey like me puts it together without thinking sometimes then no surprise.

Rich
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