TOPIC:

A bit more progress ... the "planks" are 5mm wide, not 100% scale as there should be as far as I can work out 48 planks across the hull at the widest point - 5mm will only make 42 across - but any smaller than that & they were too small to cut reliably. The planks are also supposed to be parallel, but I cheated a bit & went with the angle of the access hole so I didn't have to fiddle with making so many angled bits ...

I'll do the outer edges properly once the glue has set properly

Wow, not much of a boatman myself but this is quite inspiring. Looks great.
After all, Mr. T started out with wooden kits a long long time ago...

Edou wrote:

Wow, not much of a boatman myself but this is quite inspiring. Looks great.
After all, Mr. T started out with wooden kits a long long time ago...

Mr T?

A little more progress ...

Scruffy ends of planks trimmed & edged with obeche ... still needs filling from the outside ...







Started on a few detail bits:

I love it when a plan comes together!

More progress ... got the main cabin roof on & shaped, "dugout" still needs shaping, nasty gouge is for a weather shield (already assembled, but it's fragile & has a flat base) to go on later ...





The rear cabin / "towing hatch" should be partially below deck height, but wasn't, so I added a bit to go underneath ...





This meant cutting a hole in the deck cover ... I could have gone a tiny bit deeper, but it's all rather crowded in there with the rudder ... also chopped a big hole under the main cabin - it'll save a bit of weight but it's mainly so I can glaze the inside of the windows once it's all toegether & painted ...

... and there's more...

Cabin slathered with filler ...





... and sanded off & a few more details added. The filler is Deluxe Materials "Model Lite" Balsa filler & is a bit peculiar - but very good. It whiffs faintly, is expensive, a bit pink looking, and very light & fluffy... very much like salmon mousse ... only it smells of PVA, not fish It seems to grip well & is softer than the balsa - so it sands off easily, whereas some other fillers/glues mean you've sanded off 1/2 the balsa without realising it, and barely touched the filler






I felt the hull needed something a bit stronger so used Molax "Stucco" (same manufacturer as the "Dur" balsa cement I've been using)... I used the whole tube & I'm not that sorry to see it go it absolutely reeks of some nasty oily solvent & you really need to use it (& wait for it to dry) outdoors In hindsight I probably could/should have used the "Model Lite" filler - I'll be fibreglassing over it anyway




Superstructure bits are finally glued down - just a bit of sanding/filling/sanding to do, plus improve the engine cover ventilators a little & add lifebelts, I've already started on the mast. I won't be adding the fore & aft short ariels (?) or any davits as I think they'll just be too fragile.

I'll also be cheating on some of the other deck details - cabin ventilators, searchlight, front deck hatch, etc - as I just can't make round things, I'll be buying those in

TBH I'm beginning to get a bit worried by the weight of the thing - the hull and superstructure weighs 700g already, and there'e more to go on - the mast, glazing, all the detail parts, sanding sealer, fibreglass & resin, primer, paint ...

The running gear (prop, shaft, motor, universal joint, ESC, RX, rudder & servo add another 550g, and the two 7.2v stick packs I'm hoping to run in it (for duration & balance) add anther 750g ... I can see the all up displacement being something like 2.5kg (5 1/2 lbs), and I think that could make it sit pretty low in the water... The sooner I can get the out of the hull sealed & sat in the bath, the better

I did think about posting this seperately as "tech tip" or whatever the section is called, but I thought the chances of anyone needing to fake up a Radar dish or whatever on a regular basis was pretty remote

Anyway ... I did want to make the Radar dish (yes, I know it's a acronym so techically should be typed RADAR) twiddle, and looking at the sizes (& prices) of model motors to do that, and the fact the low RPMs quoted needed a supply voltage of 1.5V (and so yet another battery, or something to drop the voltage), I decided I just couldn't be arsed, not when I had cheapo servos lying about, which I could run straight off the RX & would be fairly slow, and torquey enough that I don't need to worry about getting a perfectly straight, frictionless run from servo to dish ...

This is on a Hitec Zebra ZS-S1113 servo, but other cheapies (Acoms AS- series, etc) should be pretty similar ...

Step one - take screws out & very gently (so the gears don't fly out everywhere) take the top off, & remove the gear with the output shaft moulded in to the top of it - you'll probably have to remove one other gear to do that, so make a note/take a pic of the orientation.

Remove all traces of the "stop" tab (arrowed in the pic) - I used a dremel





Replace the gear(s) & top, then tape the top back on (to stop the gears falling out) while you tackle the underside ...


Step two - check out the two blobs of solder, these connect the PCB to the motor terminal. Unsolder these joints (I used a bit of Soldamop, or the "heat it & flick it" method also works ) ... remove the board & also the potentiometer hidden inside.






Step three - chop the servo lead off the PCB, remove the signal wire (yellow in this case) & solder the red & black wires to the motor terminals ... close up the case & screw back together. I did take a quick clip of the servo twiddling continuously, but it's a lot off faff to upload it ...

Running on 6V here so a little fast ... will probably look a bit more "scale" on 4.8V