Member postings for John W E

Ray, the motor gun boat was a free plan in Model Boats mag way back - its been on the back burner to build for a long long time - and the model in the backgound is another old one - called the Buoy Cat designed by F.Body. At the moment I am setting up an Enya 19 inside - cos there are one or 2 lakes around here that allow us to run IC engines and we can get away with running IC engines if the model is a bit vintage.

john

Edited By John W E on 28/02/2020 08:35:24

Hi there,

have you thought about using a CD case - the clear plastic ones. Just tried this idea myself on the windows of an MGB and what I was able to do was to glue rings cut from plastic tubing onto them. I used Tamiya extra thin cement to stick the rings onto the windows. I also used canopy glue to stick the actual windows to the inside of the superstructure. Up until now, they haven't fallen out and I haven't poked them out with my fingers. They seem to withstanding a bit of rough and tumble.

john

Hi there

the splinter mats which I made for the Fairmile B were made from car body filler - first of all I made a mould from modelling clay and then I gradually built up layers within the mould with car body filler; doing it this way prevents the filler from 'going off' too quickly and cracking. When I had moulded one I made several other moulds from the original so I could mould 2 or 3 splinter mats all in one go. Here is a photograph of the 'real' ones plus those on my model.

John

hi there, Michael, your message has just been pointed out to me - as far as the prop shafts are concerned, I would go with what Ray on his plan has shown you. As far as prop shaft lengths are concerned. When I built my model of the RTTL I made up the prop shafts from cut down 12 inch prop tubes which the outer section had been cut down to approximately 6 inches long and the shaft was left at 12 inches long. There was then a support made which fits next to the propellers. Bit of a tedious job to set two of them up - because in the long run its just for cosmetic looks really.

john

HELP - I know I have lost part of me sight but I cannot see any photographs I am so sorry - I would really like to see this built though and have you managed to put 2 motors and 2 shafts in?

john

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNveRCGPMCw

Hi ya Michael

it is good practice to reinforce where the prop tubes go through the skin of the hull. I have put a photograph on of how I did this on the RTTL which I myself built.

just out of curiosity, is it not worth sticking to one prop shaft through the keel - this would make life a lot easier for you as you will only have one motor and coupling to line up - whereas if you have 2 prop shafts and motors - you then have to ensure that both prop shafts line up on the outside of the hull of equal distance from the hull skin - and - also that the 2 prop shafts are parallel to the keel. Just food for thought before diving in

Also, if you require the correct shaped rudder as is on the plan - one of the ways I have done it in the past is purchase a rudder from 'off the shelf model shop' and cut it and file it to the shape required.

If I can, I will try and put a link on of when I ran my RTTL on the local lake last summer.

John

Edited By John W E on 17/01/2020 18:25:29

Hi ya there Mike

As far as access to the hull - on the plan, the main superstructure lifts off and also the roof of the engine casing. On the model which I built, I also opened up the large hatch just behind the main superstructure and also the towing cabin at the back - which lifts out as a unit -This gives you ample access to the internals of the hull.

here is a photograph of the areas of access on the hull which I made.

john

hi ya Michael

you are building a classic here and by the look of it you are building straight from the plans - I built a variation of this model many moons ago - using Vic Smeed's plan as a basis, which I made some subtle changes to the chine line. The other way I went - I double planked it - obechi on the inside and mahogany on the outside. I ran it on 2 x 600 Mtroniks - the power comes from 2 x 7.2s 4000 mAmps NiCad batteries. There used to be a full write up of the build but when Mayhem crashed 95% of the build of my model was lost. What I have done is assemble what I have left of photographs of the build and put them in an Album under the RTTL.

John

Edited By John W E on 19/12/2019 14:15:44

Hi ya Ray and fellow Cossackers this scan which I have put on here may help you make a simplified 4 inch gun - although it's only single barrel - it could be simply adapted for the twin barrelled version - the article comes from Model Boats magazine January 1983 - I believe (by reading part of the article) that in February 1983, there was a follow up article - which covered the double barrelled version of the gun. Until I find that issue (if I have it) I am a bit unsure - someone though may have the February issue of the magazine and be able to confirm it.

Whilst search for the article, I came across several articles in Model Boats magazines (Feb 1970) a guy has built a 1:72 HMS Cossack from the same set of plans - overall length 63 inches.

So I will carry on searching and see if I can find more information in my back issues of Model Boats mags.

John

hi Ray

I have a couple of jobs to do; on my latest model = change the motors over; running a tad too hot and finish the paintwork on this model and on the other model I have to finish off the diving bell and the electrics - I will then be joining the Cossack build tribe

John

Hi Ray will this help you out ?

it is from the Norman Ough book

john

hi there - feel a bit of a traitor to the Cossack cause - as it was going to be my next build. However, on Sunday someone waved a red flag to a bull - cos he had a ready to run brushless speed boat saying that it was the fastest thing on this lake well that answered my question - what to do next - so I promise I will finish this build and then look at the Cossack build - watching this every day so Ray keep the photographs coming of the build.

Just as a side note did you ever consider Vic Smeed's castle corvette that was a free build in the magazine a good few year ago.

John

Hi have a look at this build blog it may help you out

https://shipmodeler.wordpress.com/category/ship-model-build-logs/billing-boats-dana/

john

Edited By Colin Bishop on 20/07/2019 18:44:00

As stated above, let us know the kit you are building - but - the way I plank my decks (whether it be wrong or right) I begin at the centre of the deck longitudinally from bow to stern - drawn a centre line - and lay your first centre plank there - normally called the king plank and this one is slightly wider than the rest of the planks. Then, I glue in the edging planks right around the edge of the decks and I do these in sections I bend them by heating the planks in boiling water & steam BE WARNED THIS CAN SERIOUSLY HURT. Use tweezers or some form of grips to remove the planks from the boiling water/steam and clamp them to a thick piece of plywood/wood with the radius of the plank drawn on. Leave it until the plank cools down.

When I have all the outside planks in on the model - and glued in place - and I am happy - I begin from the centre (king plank) one plank either side. Any deviation of the plank thicknesses can be made up by either slightly thinner/thicker planks width wise. Also, to assimilate the corking between the planks, I tend to use a biro (black ink) do not use a felt tip pin as this tend to run into the grain of the plank and stain it.

I then use a Stanley knife blade to level all the planks off when they have dried and then a light sand with some very fine sand paper. Then I stain with either coffee or old tea bags to the colour I require. Seal the deck with satin varnish (several coatings). There are several photographs in the album of mine entitled Hull.

Hi there

One way to find out if they are tungsten as in tungsten carbide is to take try filing one of the blocks and if it takes the teeth off the file, you know its tungsten, but, don't drop it on your foot - John

Hi there Tony

That link to the film you have put on is extremely enjoyable with some brilliant shots of paddle steamers. Did you notice one or two things the health and safety in those days was non-existent obviously when you watch the first paddle steamer coming alongside - the gap in the bulwark with no safety chains or anything - and people could have just have walked off the side of the ship - I presume that it was left open during docking hopefully but, further on, I note there were passengers actually standing on the paddle boxes - I don't think that would happen today

I was led to believe a while ago that the only paddle driven ships allowed to have independent paddle drive were tugs - the very first shot of the Greyhound, when you watch her come into dock - note that the port paddle is working and the starboard paddle has stopped. Whether the paddle was going to go into reverse you cant tell in the film, so, I think I will do a bit more research about paddle drives.

john

Hi there

I built the Forceful tug a while ago and I used MFA como drill toothbelts and pulleys for the drive at roughly 50-1,

Also 2 x Johnson 550 fan cooled motors (the thirsty ones) to drive it. As has been mentioned on 6 volt, it looked the correct scale speed for the tug, but, it had no pulling power whatsoever - therefore in great wisdom I increased the voltage to 12 volts in the model - this time I turned the tug into a 'kenwood chef' food mixer - the paddles looked spectacular thrashing the water about . But, didn't seem to improve the performance all that much - so- I tried putting NiCads in 7.2 and as it turns out 2 x 7.2 4300 Ni-MH batteries is equivalent (or thereabouts) to 6 volt 7 amp batteries of the Gel Cel type. So I loaded the model with 4 Ni-MH batteries to keep the weight right and it improved the performance greatly.

hi ya Ray

when I built HMS Daring (World War 2 one) I seem to recall two NiCads of 7.2 volt - either side of the keel - amidships and a tiny bit lead in the bow seemed to be sufficient to ballast this model. This model was built at 1:72 scale, plank on frame from the Norman Ough plans - and it was a bit 'tender' on turning. No doubt if I had added a bit more lead, it may have cured its wobbliness (shall we say ) I never bothered - which reminds me as well - I am sure Norman Ough did a set of drawings for the same class as the Cossack - will do a bit of investigating

John

hi there

Ray, you are saying each balsa wood plank would need to be 5/8 thick - in that case - hows about sticking to the two 1/2 inch thick balsa wood sheets for the bottom? cutting the middle out and then sticking on the bottom one 1/4 inch thick either plywood or balsa wood - that should give you the correct thickness of planking. The other thing to take into consideration - if we read back and look what they suggest you power the model with - they are talking about an old Taycol motor or something and no doubt it will be the old fashioned cycle lamp battery (the 2 joined together which Everyready used to manufacture) - so, with todays modern technology either the motor/s are going to be a lot lighter and also you can replace the batteries with NiCads which can be low down in the hull.

The other thing is are you going to go twin motors or stick to the plan and build a gearbox or use pulleys to drive the 2 props with one motor.

john

Edited By John W E on 09/07/2019 17:08:21

Edited By John W E on 09/07/2019 17:09:13

Edited By John W E on 09/07/2019 17:10:18