Member postings for Tim Rowe

Hi Chris

Much of my traditional work has dried up but I am running a refit on a 1948 Owens 40. A wooden yacht built in Baltimore. That will finish mid July.
I am also the Balearic agent for a large international marine group. I am normally their first responder, mainly on insurance claims on large yachts. Because of the Covid travel restrictions no other surveyors can get to the island so my scope has widened. The other day I went for a walk inside a boom 21m long damaged in a crass gybe. In another instance a damaged mainsail with a replacement cost of a fraction under €500,000 ex tax! Makes me fell better about my modelling budget!

Tim R

Hi Ray

Thanks for the comments but didn't quite understand your launching procedure.

The tang of the keel goes up into a matching tapered slot in a fibre / epoxy box. The top of the tang is drilled and tapped M4 and one of those screws goes through a carbon fibre plate at the top of the keel box and pulls the taper up tight. The taper is a non-locking taper unlike Morse. More like an ISO taper that I copied to make sure the keel would not jam in place. All the screw has to do is hold the weight of the keel in pure tension. M2 would have done it but the thread would be a bit flimsy in the alloy.

Here is the hole for the retaining screw on the carbon plate on the centreline.

Tim R

If you remember my keel. it is quite heavy, strong enough but strangely fragile and liable to surface damage from knocks and scratches.

This is what it looked like and I found myself moving it around all over the place trying to find a safe haven. My IOM keel is safely behind the telly and seeing as no one does any dusting around there it is quite safe.

Time to make a box for storage and especially transport. It also gave me some breathing space and think time to get back to the deck that had been subjected to a stupidity.



First step was to make the cradle for the bulb. Various bits of balsa from the scrap box glued together and arranged to give the bulb plenty of support.



Test fit to make sure the keel was vertical when in the correct position.

Pre-painted and nearly finished with the felt bed.

Felt complete and the sides and base made up. The sides are two pieces of 3mm MDF stuck together with one 3.5mm wider than the other. This make the slot for the slide in cover. The catch is a chromed fitting costing a few cents from a Craft shop.

This built-up MDF block locates the alloy tang of the with matching tapers.



Showing the tang in the retainer.

Clamp now fitted to the retainer and the keel cannot go anywhere. The two cross points are M4 machine screws to hold the keel in the boat. One to use and the other in case I lose! The screws are fitted into blind nuts.

The sliding door nearly shut showing the two parts of the clip.



Finished case with pine carry handle hanging on Terylene braided cord. Knots underneath hold the cords in place.

And here is where the keel has been hiding since Novemberish last year. Must have a look.

Tim R

Another option to think about some time is to use a bell crank. This converts the motion by 90 degrees and using a pushrod between the servo and the bell crank you can have a much greater choice of where you locate the servo.

Tim R

Interesting trim tab Neil.

Looking forward to seeing how it operates.

Tim R

Thanks Ray and Chris

Just to prove there really is one.

Here are the topside in primer with everything else masked off. I use a Spanish brand high build spray primer. It goes on beautifully and dries quickly so it can be sanded the same day. It doesn't like overcoating too soon or it can blister as I found some time ago on another model. Getting on with something else or being very patient is the by-word. Now I know how it behaves I use a lot.

And now with the third coat of top colour. Burgundy was the unusual colour of big Galileo and the defunct model. I did wonder about other colours but I have other model to try some favourite colours on.

Eddie was asking what paint. It is a Spanish brand again Titanlux and the colour is Burdeos 524. It was an end of line offer and I only have a small 125ml tin. I am not convinced of the shade as I think it is coming out a bit to "cherry". To get a good final finish I would have to thin it a bit but I think I may call a halt at the 3 coats and just call it an undercoat. I think the real colour should be RAL 3005 and I think I will get a lager tin blended.

First choice is brush finish.
Second choice is brush finish and then cut and polish
Third choice is spray in which case I would use my airbrush. (and that would probably need a cut and polish.

The varnished deck is with brush and no post-finishing.

I get involved quite a lot with painting of large yacht hulls and spars. These get tented up with extractors and often we use a special plastic film to make a tent within a tent. The film has a side that has to face the work and has a static charge that attracts dust particles and to a lesser extent overspray when you get going. Even using airless spray only about 40% of the paint you buy actually gets to stay on the job. Some kind person is going to give me a couple of metres.

I have a love / hate relationship with painting.

Tim R

Great stuff Eddie

That deck going to look the business.

Work is seriously getting in the way of modelling but I did get another coat of paint on Galileo and some marking out for some more wood removal on the Huntsman. If I am feeling brave enough I might stick the forward bulkhead in place.

Cracking pace.

Tim R

Goodness Gracious Me

Last post in October last year. At this rate Galileo will be old again before it is new! Time to bump the thread so I can find it again.

I did a bit more research on sail making and getting down to scraping performance out of sails (ie the engine) the shape in the mainsail will be slightly different to that in the jib. Going a step further the shape of a sail or the camber can vary from top to bottom of the sail so ultimately the combinations are infinite and why sailmaking has an art as well as science. With this in mind I have made two more blocks, one with the maximum camber at 40% of the chord and another at 33% to bring the draft well forward. The block I have will make fairly full sails so I probably need another set of three at a shallower angle. Apparently making good flat sails it harder than full ones. I have yet to find out why.

Galileo is in paint and in the gap I have been working on the rigs and a carry case for the keel. Instead of watching the paint drying I will catch up on the spars, rigging and the case. I am dying to get the boat on the water and it is absolutely going to get there before the Huntsman 31 and the flying boat.

Tim R

Edited By Tim Rowe on 29/05/2020 20:07:39

Just a wee small point Chris.

Probably not that important in this boat where the rudder is likely to be quite lightly loaded but servos are more stable in their mountings if the long axis of the servos is at right angles to the tiller arm. In your case and particularly with these small units, the single screw at each end on a rubber grommet, the servo can rock.

Nice photos and interesting commentary to complement your models.

Tim R

Edited By Tim Rowe on 29/05/2020 19:44:56

NIce work Chris

Are you secretly building under a sun ray lamp.

Just for your info I am hand painting Galileo and the topsides not have their first two top coats. Quite a few more to go.

Tim R

Hi Ray

I wold say it is a barge with considerable attitude.

Tim R

That was a very good plan for the rubbing strip Eddie.

I am impressed (and slightly envious) of your progress. It's all looking very good indeed.

Not sure how I am going to tackle my deck as the panel supplied in my older kit is just plain plywood. Looks like I may have to invest in a decent pen! And borrow some of Job's patience.

Tim R

Thanks Chris

I will do some research. I think I have to use something better than I have got

Tim R

Some more layout work before sticking anything together. Actually the two halves of the keel have been stuck together and apart from the cockpit that's about it.

Here's the shadow engine on the bearers. The bearers have been spaced quite a bit wider than the actual engine mounts and the idea is that the engine sits on two aluminium plates to make up the difference. The fixings to the bearers will always have the same pitch but if I ever want to change the engine, all I have to do is make another set of adaptor plates. The plates are 3mm thick and I have allowed that thickness when setting out the height of the bearers. The bearers are beech and as hard as nails. They had grooves in them because they are for aircraft undercarriage piano wires but they have been repurposed by filling the groove with some hard white wood hence the two-tone effect.

Here is the silencer and the silicone tube exhaust tail. The silencer arrived in a lucky-dip job lot I bought some time ago. It is aluminium. I have no idea how it will affect the performance of the engine but that's for later.

Same job lot and I have a rather nice exhaust riser. I have to adjust the pitch of the holes on the riser to suit the engine or I may make an adaptor. The flange on the silencer will be cut off and the two parts joined with silicone tube. I am going to bright polish the exhaust parts to add a bit of bling. There were bright shiny parts on the Ford Mermaid and Sabre engines that went into a lot of the Faireys.

Also showing is the fuel tank. Relatively speaking it is quite large for the engine which should give me a decent duration if I don't have to use full throttle all the time. It is an American Du-Bro tank marked in US fluid ounces. No idea what that is but there are 16 of them.

The rudder is as far aft as I can get it. It overhangs the lower part of the transom but is inside the top line of the transom due to it being raked. This has allowed me to get the engine further aft and to tweak the shaft angle.



Roaring ahead now with the shaft lined up. Somewhere in there I will have to fit a scoop for the water cooling pick-up. The shaft and tube is too long but I could easily sort that out. I don't know however whether it is any good or whether I should buy something better. Ideally it would like to have a short tube and run the shaft in a bearing in a P bracket like full size. I shall be picking brains on that later as modelling wise this is new to me.



Final check to see if the cockpit will miss the bits. The photo is biased and in fact the engine is clear from the front of the cockpit with plenty of breathing room around the carb. You can now see that the tank goes about 1/2 way through a frame and is supported by the cut-out. It will need a steady at the front when everything is finally being assembled for real.

I like to try to arrange things to have dual purpose and in this case the bulkhead avoids me having to make a separate cradle and keeps everything nice and simple inside.

I'll have to do some more building now as this is about where I am.

Tim R

Edited By Tim Rowe on 24/05/2020 20:26:19

Two lovely boats Chris and an exiting moment.

Tim R

Chris

You know you are always most welcome in my threads and congratulations.

Tim R

Hi Ray

That's what I am doing. There will be a belt permanently tucked under the flywheel so that I can pick it up with an electric starter. I have a few of those at various sizes. This is not a big engine either.

Tim R

Thanks Chris and Eddie.

That's the key to the whole concept. Individually the parts are weak and floppy but when assembled they are support each other. The tricky thing sometimes is the bit in the middle and why I am so keen on jigging. I have done the same thing on the keel of the Sealane. Galileo has no internal keel or chine stringers although those joints were reinforced with glass and epoxy. Initially it had no internal structure until I added it but only where I reckoned it was necessary.

There is some logic to keeping the hull light in my case when you see the amount of gubbins that goes with that big lump of a motor. Probably the flywheel weighs more than the equivalent electric motor then I have to add fuel tank and plumbing, cooling system, exhaust, throttle servo, battery and the list goes on!

Bet your boats will last longer than mine in the long run Chris

Tim R

When I wear out my little drill chain drilling it may be wise to invest in a scroll saw - maybe

Continuing now with the bulkheads and making a lot of sawdust. On the plus side I am collecting some nice little bits of Lite ply for use elsewhere.



Here is the most forward full frame. Like all of them, it is pre-coated with epoxy to seal it.

Here is the bulkhead at the fore end of the engine compartment. Because I am moving the engine aft I cannot use the engine mount supplied. The notches take the fore ends of the engine bearers.
In the background you can see the drawing where I plotted the various levels for the new alignment. Time will tell and fingers crossed.

This is the engine space aft bulkhead. Here I need the clearance for the flywheel and starting cord. I am cutting things as fine as I can here. There is not much wood above the keel but it will be fine when all glued up. Just hoping not to break it by being clumsy. The notches support the aft end of the engine bearers.

This bulkhead supports the aft end of the fuel tank. When I have done a trial fit of all the equipment there will have to be a hole on the port side to take the exhaust hose.



Finally the aft bulkhead. Here the lower edge of the cut-out corresponds with the height of the servo arm for the steering. It may need a hole for the exhaust but I have not decided yet.

It is a lot of fun planning where the bits will go and balancing up the weight distribution as far as possible. Easier now and I can be more predictive thanks to DM and the drawings.

Tim R

The laser cut fuselage parts assemble with tabs and slots which is helpful as they were quite accurate. It goes with saying that both pieces of ply for the main body were curved the same way so I could not "hand" them to cancel out the bend. Even with the tabs it would be very easy to build in a bend and a twist. Nobody would want that in a boat - unless of course they were building a Gondola - but in something that hopefully is going to fly, it is very bad news as it affects the incidences and could induce some very unpleasant characteristics. Actually the instructions are quite and stress the importance of accurate alignment.

Here is the first former going in. The big round weight is holding the fuselage locally flat and two engineer's squares are holding the former vertical. I needed two because guess what - the former was twisted. The miniature anvil is simply pushing against one square to keep it in place.

Incidentally I am using aliphatic glue which I decant into one of those individual portion jam pots and brush it on the joint using a small brush that lives in a jar of water which gets changed every week or so. The aliphatic I use is not water proof and is at best water resistant when fully cured. I like it though because it grabs very quickly and it is light. Most of the weight is water and evaporates away. It is unlikely that this model will spend huge amounts of time on the water but nonetheless I am brushing the glue on both side of all joints as this will provide some semblance of sealing as I go along. I don't bother doing this on normal aircraft.

We are now on the SLEC fuselage jig. It's one of those things that make you wonder how you managed before getting it. You have to buy a board to put the vinyl sticker on and I bought maybe three times as many blind nuts and screws as supplied to increase the number of jig position options. Since I bought it I don't think there is a single model that hasn't been on it.

In this photo you can see the step and the bow is off to the left. This forward section is the one that will get most of the pounding taking off and landing. I wasn't keen on gluing the bottom sheeting to the edge of the ply alone. It would be a bit like building a chine but omitting the chine stringer. On the fore side of the step I have glued a balsa doubler and later I did the same all around the front end. I now have a decent gluing area with a ting fraction of weigh gain.

Here is the aft end showing the keel in place. On the water at rest all this has to do is keep the thing afloat and hold the tail in the right place. Very quickly the hull will be riding on the step and this bit will just be receiving spray. I have glued the bottom skins to the ply edges with the doubler following the instructions this time and to keep to the them of keeping the aft end as light as possible.



Here the hull is in the SLEC jig and weighted down to take out the twist. The lines on the jig make it a doddle to make sure everything is straight and the brackets hold it in correct alignment for the bottom sheeting. Once the bottom sheeting is on, the structure becomes a box and resists twisting (or straightening if you get it wrong!)

Near the bow you can see the doublers down each side. I did not try to bend these from stock but cut the curve out of sheet. Medium soft balsa, light and very easy to sand.

The only thing I don't like about laser cut wood is the brown scorched wood. You will have seen some in earlier photos but I HATE it and at some point, all cut edges will get a sanding to remove it. Actually on very light aircraft construction where the minimum amount of glue is used, I remove it because I don't trust gluing onto the charred material. Fortunately I am not totally alone in this affliction!

Next job is the sheeting.

Tim R