Comtesse Sailing Yacht by Krick Ro-Marin.

[geconParticipant @gecon]

Semi scale 70’s style yacht.

[geconParticipant @gecon]

I started the Comtesse kit i January-february by doing just small painting jobs and preparation of parts of the hull and cockpit. I have already written a few posts elsewhere, often combined with comments on the my scratch build project on the Fisher 34 motorsailer. There are now several photos in the Comtesse album. The Comtesse is a revitalised version of a previous product from Robbe of the same name. My version will include the propulsion kit and the wing keel kit.

Generally I am pleased with the kit. It does not have quite as precise English instructions as found on Graupner kits. Some sentences were written with German grammar formulations but this was not a problem. A couple of short paragraphs in the English instructions were written in German!

The mast and boom diagrams showing hole-drilling positions were a bit misleading due to being drawn upside-down. Some eyebolts were not long enough to be inserted exactly per instructions.

I am decorating the Comtesse to vaguely resemble a Bavaria 37 I once owned. The hull shape, particularily the bows, is not quite 'scale B37' but overall I am very pleased with the results so far.

Posting more photos as the build progresses.

George

 

Edited By George Edward Connery on 07/05/2020 18:49:38

[geconParticipant @gecon]

Info' about the bent shaft coupling in the kit.

Finally heard today from Krick in Germany, they are sending a replacement brass coupling to the modelshop in Norway (50 miles away) which supplied the Comtesse kit. They agree that the coupling must have been machined out of true. I've asked them to send directly to my home address so I'll just wait and see where it gets sent.

I'll then have a choice of couplings when the U/J arrives from CMB.

George

[geconParticipant @gecon]

This weekend has been devoted to soldering -or rather, trying to solder- the fore and aft pulpits and folding bathing ladder. I'm not good at soldering so tomorrow when I grind down /smooth out the rough joints I expect a number of them will break. Perhaps I should have read up a bit on soldering before starting. I though I'd get better as I worked at it but I don't feel that the quality of work improved at all. Posted a few photos of the results in 'album'.

The instructions on the soldering section were 'alright' but not 'very good' . I get the impression -as in other sections- that these instructions have been adapted from the old Comtesse and in some areas the text does not quite match the drawings, photos or kit contents. There were also a few small brass splitpins missing in the kit's 'splitpin bag'. This made soldering the bathing platform rungs more difficult than it should have been. These splitpins are made of very thin brass so not sure how to find a replacement…maybe copper wire? Anyway, soldered without them. Nobody will actually be standing on the rungs! so they should hold.

George

[geconParticipant @gecon]

Propper propshaft-to-motor U/J arrived today from Cornwall MB after 12 days in the post. Photo in album shows an almost-smiling helmsman with the U/J on the cockpit bench. Hope tests will show an improvemnet over the original machined brass 'joiner' supplied in the kit.

George

[geconParticipant @gecon]

Pullpits and bathing ladder base coated last evening. Used Humbrol matt grey no.64. Don't know if it is still called colour '64' as this tin is from my 'collection' of matt Humbrols used on Balsacraft Spifire, Hurricane and Bristol Blenheim models ca. 1998-ish! For some strange reason I kept all the small tins of Humbrol and Revell enamel even though I gave away allmost everthing else connected with model making.

Topcoating today with brilliant silver to try to make it look like polished steel. Hope for the best.

George

[Ray Wood 3Participant @raywood3]

Hi George,

I had the Balsa Craft Blenhiem, my first electric twin, very nice to fly but with the 600 size motors it didn't fly for long & sold it 😢 but I have another part built up the loft now wondering how it would go with brushless & lipos 😎

The Colin Archer is a fine boat, which will keep you busy for a while 😉

Regards Ray

[geconParticipant @gecon]

I would think that the Blenheim would be great on brushless motors. The 600 brushed were a little low on power. I added flaps to my Blenheim and this helped landings, but some kind of protection is needed so they don't get torn off at touch-down!

Yes the Colin Archer is going to take time. See you have one i 'album'. The instructions are pretty scanty, but no problem for a hardened scratch-builder like me? or? At least mine is the '414' with ABS hull. Wife would not be able to take the pressure of another wooden hull in the kitchen! She would probably re-introduce keel-hauling.

Regards,

George

Edited By George Edward Connery on 14/05/2020 08:42:28

[geconParticipant @gecon]

Made up the sails today. Not much shape in them but they came with the kit so they'll be given a chance. I've never made sails before so when I do my homework and make sails for the Fisher I may be able to make better ones for the Comtesse. For the time being I'm content just to make a 'sailing vessel' which stays afloat, sails and looks the part.

George

[geconParticipant @gecon]

Made up the sails today. Not much shape in them but they came with the kit so they'll be given a chance. I've never made sails before so when I do my homework and make sails for the Fisher I may be able to make better ones for the Comtesse. For the time being I'm content just to make a 'sailing vessel' which stays afloat, sails and looks the part.

George

[geconParticipant @gecon]

Sorry, there are two sails but I did not mean to say it twice!

[geconParticipant @gecon]

Another piece of worthless info: the sail number has been 'doctored' from 88 to 38. The reasoning for this is not worth knowing about so I'll stop at that.

[geconParticipant @gecon]

Pulpits now mounted on deck. Radar mounted on a Scanstrut together with dual AIS antenna, SatNav, GPS and the latest jetisonable floating VHF antenna. High-Tech yacht this. Hope it floats. Photos in album.

George.

[geconParticipant @gecon]

Painting walls in the flat for last two two days. Had a few ours on the Comtesse today though. Prepared the sails/ brass rivets in the corners. Cut and tensioned the standing rigging. Stepped the mast. Hoisted the sails. Rigged the kicking strap. Guard rails and winch servo to set up next week.

Still waiting for the shaft coupling to come from Krick in Germany. Sent them an e-mail on Friday evening to ask if it has actually been sent.

Progress photos posted in album.

George

[geconParticipant @gecon]

The brass shaft coupling arrived from Krick today after 12 days in the post from Germany. This replacement coupling is straight as a die -unlike the one in the kit which was giving a concentric rotation of the motor+motor mount unit when fitted to the propshaft and motorshaft. The motor and mount not having been glued to the hull yet. Good job I checked in advance or there would have been 'generous' vibration when motoring. Motor unit to be glued in place ASAP.

I had ordered in a 'propper' u/j from CMB but it was too long. In order to fit it I would have had to cut 12mm off the propshaft. I would have done that if necessary but did not relish to idea of trying to cut hardend steel with the limited facilities at the builder's yard (kitchen).

There has been a disproportionate amout of time focused (by me -nobody else I'm sure) on this short piece of brass so I'm now off to do some more work for the Admiralty this morning. It's called 'painting and decorating' or something like that, she said.

Have a nice day,

George

[Ray Wood 3Participant @raywood3]

Hi George,

I'm glad to hear the the coupling issue is sorted, I'm sure you will hardly ever use the auxiliary motor with the yacht with sails on ! It just dawned me that a yacht motoring with bare poles would be an interesting sight on the water, you may have given me an idea for my next build a Yachting Monthly Eventide,, always a favourite of mine 😄✔

Regards Ray

[geconParticipant @gecon]

Don't have them completely bare though. Have the mainsail neatly folded over the boom and secured with sail ties. Have a jib secured to the forward pulpit or a genoa neatly rolled around the forestay. I plan to be able to do this with the Fisher 34 -as well as being able to raise them for sailing of course. Not radio controlled though, just manual reefing / stowing.

George

[geconParticipant @gecon]

The Comtesse is nearing completion now. Rudder servo installed and functioning. Have to find suitable locations for ESC and Rx mounting.

I was not looking forward to the process of 'binding' the receiver and transmitter on the Graupner R/C gear which I bought last year. Instructions for 'binding' are written in two separate booklets (one for Tx and one for Rx). As is often the case, it can be more complicated to understand the written instructions than actually perform the actions. Graupner instructions seem to me to be written by technical wizz-kids. Acurately written, but a bit complex for 'non-wizzers' like me. I bought Graupner R/C because that's what the lokal (80km away!) modelshop stocked.

Anyway, after several re-reads and a couple of attempts, the R/C gear was tested OK on the kitchen table and is now en-route to the hull internals.

I'll post a photo or two of the completed yacht on the water…if it floats long enough. I'm at least pleased with the end result visually. From a distance it looks vaguely -as hoped- like the Bavaria 37 I owned in 2007.

George

 

Edited By George Edward Connery on 30/05/2020 07:25:10

Edited By George Edward Connery on 30/05/2020 07:25:52

[geconParticipant @gecon]

As a few helpfull souls have noticed, I have had issues with deciding on the aerial routing / placement. Ater first routing it out into the open cockpit (which looked like a poor choice ) it is now under the starboard cockpit combing.

The guard rails are going on today and as far as I can judge, the yacht will then be ready for a motor-running range test and subsequent launch. Weather here is not friendly for the time being so the launch will maybe be after tuesday next week.

After a posting a few floating (hopefully) photos, the Comtesse thread will be became more 'peacefull'.

George

[geconParticipant @gecon]

It floats -to it's marks! Only managed a few photos and a short video taken at a nearby shopping mall water feature -as explained in my Soapbox thread.

I had a bit of luck with the chosen waterline marking. I knew the Comtesse would be a little heavier than standard due to helmsman, radar mast, large-ish digital servos and 3600mAh battery so I added a few mm to the waterline markings when spraying the hull.

The yacht looks as good as I had hoped for -on the water. She sails in 'no perceptable wind' conditions which means that graceful sailing is posssible in calm, pleasant conditions. Just what's needed to be able to combine a lakeside picnic with both wife and yacht.

I will post a few photos from the floatation test and maybe one or two from a lakeside venue later and that will conclude the Comtesse saga – unless some important event/failure occurs which needs reporting.

George

Edited By George Edward Connery on 10/06/2020 07:40:38

[Chris FellowsParticipant @chrisfellows72943]

Looks very nice on the water George, as you say graceful.

Chris

[geconParticipant @gecon]

Had another short sailing session 10th, June. This time on a lake 20 mins from home. Held the mobile the wrong way so the 2 photos I posted aren't much good. Pleased with the sailing caracteristics at least. She accelerates quite quickly in just a slight increase in wind speed. I got a bit of a surprise the first couple of times the Comtesse 'took off'. Definately not time for 'sandwich-and-coffee' while she's on the water. When allowed to keel over she heads up nicely into wind and rights up again -just as a well balanced sailboat should. I expect the extra wing keel helps to keep the CoG nice and low. Hope this summer will produce some relaxing model-sailing weather. Keeping distance from others is no problem, there are lakes all over the place. Just have to ask the landowner/farmer for permission to sail -or fish for trout! With an 'Ashley-rod' to hand you can salvage a boat -or a trout for supper!

George

[geconParticipant @gecon]

Not exactly sensational news, but had the Comtesse up from the cellar today for a quick rehab. A few bits had become loose (transport damage) and the seagull underwent some surgery to shorten it's legs. The leg cut-offs now represent two large prawn shells disgarded by the gull. Well, what else? I couldn't just bin them! Yacht now on charge for the next suitable sailing day.

George

[Chris Stevenson 2Participant @chrisstevenson2]

Please can someone advise me on how to fix the heavy metal wing keel supplied for the Comtesse. This is my first sail boat and only one previous boat build which was the SLEC Huntsman.
I have been building model aircraft for some years and decided due to age to have a change of direction. I am reluctant to create a hole to fit a bolt but not sure glue will be strong enough. The winged section weighs 880 grams.

Thanks in anticipation,

Chris

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

Chris, I'm afraid I am not a sailing modeller but I do have a beautifully made yacht which might be of interest. The keel has a tapered section at the top which sits into a matching socket that goes right through the hull. This ensures that it can be totally sealed and watertight. The keel is simply inserted and a brass thread which is bonded into the blade of the keel, pops out on the deck. A nut and washer holds the keel in place.

If this doesn't make sense then let me know and I will take some better pictures of the arrangement.

[Author]

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