First Time wood kit (Nordkap)

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First Time wood kit (Nordkap)

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5 April 2009 at 03:55 #19943
Southern O Josh
Participant
@southernojosh
This is my first attempt at building a wood kit and i have some questions and I also want to make sure I’m on the right track. I’ve built many plastic kits in my time and I want to try my hand at building a wood RC boat. After much searching and debating I found the Nordkap by Billing Boats and wound up importing it. I’ve gotten as far as laying down the keel, but as I am a full time student I plan on taking this slow.

re”> 1. Billing boats doesn’t tell me how to make my deckhouse removable, it just says to build it, so how do I seal it, but make it removable?

re”> 2. I read on some of the other posts that I can seal my rudder and prop holes with a light grease, but I’m worried about it leaking out. (on the plastic hulls I’ve built there was a grease box)

re”> 3. I’m planing on steaming my planks with a tea kettle and NOT nailing them to the frame (I plan on making it RC).

re”> 4. do I glue my hull planks together, or just to the frame and seal them later?

re”> 5. What type of paint and sealant should I use for the deck and hull and does this kit require putty or caulking?

re”> 6. My hobby store recommended cyanoacrylate (5-15 sec) as a glue. It will bond anything together, but its not forgiving. Is this a reasonable choice or are there better ones?

Thanks so much,

Josh
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5 April 2009 at 03:55 #1855
Southern O Josh
Participant
@southernojosh
Billing Boats Nordkap
5 April 2009 at 17:25 #19952
Colin Bishop
Moderator
@colinbishop34627
Josh,

I’m not personally familiar with the Nordcap kit myself but as far as some general advice is concerned:

1: The deckhouse should fit over a coaming or lip run around the edge of the access hole in the deck, about 1.5cm high should be sufficient to stop water that gets on deck running into the boat. You need to have some way of securing it though otherwise the deckhouse could be thrown off in choppy water. A pin each side passing through the side of the deckhouse and the coaming would be sufficient but there are other ways that may occur to you.

2. A light grease in the prop and rudder tubes will not leak out but will stop appreciable water ingress although you may still get a few drops in up the prop shaft. A tip is to use a close fitting brass washer between the prop and the end of the tube which will tend to seal the end of the tube when the boat is going ahead.

3, 4 & 6 Obviously the planks should be held in position while you are glueing them with tape or similar means. They will need to be glued to each other as well as to the frames and the best glue for this purpose would be aliphatic resin as the excess can be wiped off with a wet cloth and won’t stick to everything else! People do use cyano glues because they are quick drying and you could certainly do this but, as you say, they are not forgiving in this situation and you will need a lot of it which would be far more expensive than using a proper wood glue such as Aliphatic resin. (which might account for the shop’s reccommendation!)

Plank on frame Billings kits are rather notorious for leaking so you will certainly need to seal the hull. Some people advocate just sealing the outside to let the wood “breathe” but most would give the inside a coat of polyester resin at least, ideally with lightweight glass cloth reinforcement which will make the hull very strong.

6. For the external surfaces the wood will take most conventional finishing systems and it is just down to preference. Some people would coat it in polyester resin on the outside too and rub it down before spray painting. My method on a wood hull would be to give it two or three coats of sanding sealer to fill the grain and rub it down to a smooth finish. Then I would use Halfords car body primer spray to give the initial finish. After that you can either use more Halfords colours for the final finish or switch to Humbrol enamels. But if you do use enamel, don’t try to spray over it as you will ruin the finish. Likewise, if you are using spray cans, ALWAYS stick to the same manufacturer as the solvents used by different makes are frequently incompatible.

I’m sure that others on here will add their own pennyworth so read the advice, try not to get confused and ask as many questions you like until you are happy.

For some general hints and tips on glueing have a look here: http://www.deluxematerials.com/

Colin
5 April 2009 at 18:35 #19957
neil hp
Participant
@neilhp
Hi Josh,

a member on this site, Peter Fitness, has just built this kit, and made a lovely job of it too.

if you pm him, he will probably be able to answer ALL the questions and problems you are liable to encounter.

neil.
5 April 2009 at 21:28 #19959
Southern O Josh
Participant
@southernojosh
Thanks for the quick responses. I’ve messaged Peter and I’m just waiting for a response. This is sort of a departure from the prefab plastic hulls, but I think I’ll enjoy this a lot more then the plastic kits I’ve done before.

Josh
8 May 2009 at 07:40 #20700
Southern O Josh
Participant
@southernojosh
I seem to have hit a snag in my electronics. I have a receiver and controller (3 channel) with trim control for the speed, with a MicroViper Marine10 speed control and of corse, a servo with a spare thanks to my soon to be father-in-law. The snag is what to power the boat with. My soon to be Father-in-law is a airplane and helicopter builder so he does have some spare parts, but none that we think are suitable since all but one of his motors are brushless high speed motors, and the other is a brush can motor thats not suitable for an 81cm trawler. We’ve been looking at motors between the 300 and 400 range with a 2.5/1 or 3/1 reduction gear,but are still wondering what a good choice would be.

I’ve also swapped out the plastic prop and stock shaft for a brass one (r/h) and a pre fab shaft with Brass Bushings and a Stepped end. I also plan on filling the tube with grease so whatever motor is selected has to have enough power to spin the prop, overcome the drag from the grease and of course, drive the boat.

I was also wondering if it would be a good idea since this is my first plank on frame boat, to install a bilge pump?

Thanks, Josh
8 May 2009 at 08:05 #20702
Southern O Josh
Participant
@southernojosh
Almost forgot, the prop is 40mm and the shaft is 4mm x 170mm and the speed controller is good to 12v and 10a max.

Thanks

Josh

Edited By Southern O Josh on 08/05/2009 08:06:10
9 May 2009 at 20:53 #20752
sammyk
Participant
@sammyk
hi josh its a good idea to use a gearbox i would go for 6/1 ratio because the model is a fishing boat and it will turn your nice brass prop easy and wont drain you battery to fast and best of all wont use high amps to turn the prop.if you can try an get a motor that you can change the ratios then you can match the motor to the prop better.i am building a tug with a 55mm prop with 6/1 ratio with a decaperm motor that has a pile gearbox on the end that i can change the ratios.regards sammyk
10 May 2009 at 00:34 #20756
Southern O Josh
Participant
@southernojosh
Thanks sammyk. I Just found a low rev, low amp 500 motor and a changeable gear box. This motor is similar to the one Peter uses in his Norkap, except I’m using a gear box instead of a belt drive. This hopefully will work well.
8 June 2009 at 09:57 #21368
Southern O Josh
Participant
@southernojosh
Just thought I’d give an update. My finals will be over on the 10th, and I’ll have a few days vacation (Not by choice) before I have to go back to work so I’m going to try and start my planking then. I have most of the keel tougher and the aliphatic glue Collin recommend is working nicely. It doesn’t dry as fast as my other glue, but when it is dry it makes a great bond and its fairly forgiving. I have my motor, reduction gear and all of my other electrical implements of destruction in good working order. I’ve decided to use a white wood filler and a sanding sealer rather than fiberglass. I’m not a big fan of doing fiberglass and I’ve been a house painter for years, so a sanding sealer isn’t anything new to me and I have 2 cans of it so I’m planing on at least 3 coats on the exterior. The down side to this is I’m going to have to use oil based paint to paint it. I think my upgraded prop and shaft was a good idea. The new shaft feels like a tighter fit in the tube and it didn’t take near as much grease as I thought it would to fill it.

I’m still interested in how to set my planks. The instructions from Billings tell me to set them from bow to stern with one on the top and one in the middle as guides, but it seems that I won’t have to cut planks to fill gaps so hopefully I can get this right the first time. I’m going to soak my planks in warm water so they hopefully won’t break.

So this is my update thus far.

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who got me this far. Your input has been immensely helpful and I don’t think I’d have had a good building plan without your help. I’ve built boats before with pre made hulls, but this is by first keel up boat.

Josh
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