Liquid lead meets fibreglass

[androotParticipant @androot]

Hi there, i’m just going to put ballast into the hull but i’m not sure if i can do it with a liquid lead, even with the hull immersed in icy water. Has anybody ever done that?

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Having molten lead anywhere near water………………..is an accident waiting to happen!!!!!!!!!!

DON`T RISK IT!

I filled the keelson of Louis Heloise with molten lead ,,,,,,,but that was a pocketed chunk of wood

Bob Abell

[Paul TParticipant @pault84577]

DO NOT DO IT

Molten lead will explode when it comes into contact with water and will certainly melt through your fiberglass hull.

Pouring lead ballast is a highly dangerous and very skilled operation and must only be undertaken by experts in very controlled conditions.

Try lead shot enclosed in epoxy.

Paul

[androotParticipant @androot]

Thats what I thought. I was just mislead by one guy who actually did it and he shared his experience on the net (http://www.modelboatmayhem.co.uk/Modellers/Eddy_Mathews/1ndex.htm). As a first timer I think I will stop even thinking about it.

Thank you very much for the advise.

Andy

[Model Boat MayhemParticipant @modelboatmayhem15613]

How about using lead shot or whatever the environmentally safe equivalent is!
Mix in a little resin, epoxy, paint, glue … anything that will bind it together.

 Martin – Model Boat Mayhem

[neil hpParticipant @neilhp]

as paul Says. the best way of ballasting your model, any model boat with internal ballasting, is "lead" shot, either encased in epoxy or GRP resin.you can usually obtain it from a gunsmiths or fishing tackle shop.

It finds it’s own levelso that you can put batteries and such on top of it, and saves space that such as lead sheat takes up.

it also fits into little spaces that you can’t get sheet lead into. 

be carefull if you use grp polyester resin though, that you cannot use it on abs plastic hulls. it will melt through in some cases. and don’t use too much catylist as a "hot" mix will bend, twist or warp your grp hull

[Tony HadleyParticipant @tonyhadley]

to add further to Pauls and Neils comments, please be aware that the lead shot from fishing shops is a lead substitute. This is to protect wild life (swans etc) from lead poisoning, as such it is lighter and  therefore more will be required, this can be a problem if space is at a premium.

Other sources of original lead shot are Diving shops, and Hobbies in Norfolk.

I have used it as ballast and have mixed it with paint, which avoids the problems of using gel etc.

Tony

[neil hpParticipant @neilhp]

cheers for that info, tony.I haven’t been fishing for years and didn’t realise that the substitue was lighter.been using my supply of "real" lead shot for some time now and haven’t had to buy any for a long while.neil.

[androotParticipant @androot]

Thank you all for help. As i have lead sheet I’ll cut it into small pieces and drop them into the hull.

Regards

Andy 

[androotParticipant @androot]

Hello again, sailers. After some thinking i did not like the fact of having  more lead going up the  hull, just wanted to concetrate as much lead as possible as close to the bottom as possible;-I so as i was cutting the lead into small bits i decided to have a go. Being stupidly stubborn polish bloke i had to try…. and i DID IT!!! Absolutely nothing happen to the hull. I t was immersed in homemade tank of water. The operation, as you can imagine, took me looooong time, around 5 hrs.  I was  melting  it bit by bit, something like 100 grams every round. I lost my count after 5. At the end the hull weights about 3 kilos. I left some room for other stuff like servos and battery.

Regards

Andy 

[learner johnParticipant @learnerjohn78074]

Hi Andy !  I know its a bit late in the day ….but …in future try this.

      Get an old bake bean tin and drill a load of say  1/8 holes. In the meantime ( whilst the wife is out ) in an old saucepan melt your lead over the cooker, when molten ,hold the tin about 3-4ft over a bucket of water and pour your lead. The result is usually small shell like flakes which can be put in place and smothered in pva glue.   I of course reserve the right to absolve myself from any mishaps , especially if "her indoors " comes home unexpectedly!!

       

[Paul TParticipant @pault84577]

Think before you write..

Not everybody who reads this page is going to be an intelligent / rational person who will realise that whilst discussing the attributes of using molten lead to cast keels as an intellectual exercise is all well and good that the actual process would be fraught with danger.

And yet the more impressionable moron might decide to follow the recipe and "have a go" not understanding the full implications nor realising what does actually happen when molten lead at 328deg hits cold water, yes in very small amounts it forms flakes or lead shot but in quantities larger than 1/2 an ounce it explodes and molten lead doesn’t just scald it burns straight through clothes / flesh and bone.

Remember idiots and children also read these pages.

[DuckyParticipant @ducky]

I have a friend who owned a scrapyard and as you may know they melt their scrap into moulds to make ingots, early one morning he was going to start pouring and did’nt check to see if the mould was alright being earlier than he normally did it and because it was DAMP it blew up in his face when he started to pour the molten metal!! He lost the sight of one eye and has only limited sight in the other one. He had been doing this for years,but it only takes one mistake does’nt it

As a retired ambulanceman I can tell you the most used sentence I heard at a accident was "I did’nt think this could happen to me" and we all know it can,as Bob the Builder said "Don’t do it"

Here endeth the lesson ,Amen.

[learner johnParticipant @learnerjohn78074]

Sorry folks   Will watch I send to you all in the future….never thought about idiots and children. 

[androotParticipant @androot]

I hope my description of playing with lead was not too ecouraging.  Sounds fair, if you wanna do something stupid, dont share it with others.

Anyway, I was very pleased with what i did, in spite of being stupid. Some say ..who doesn’t try doesn’t win…

Regards

Andy 

[MIKE YoungParticipant @mikeyoung78533]

 Hi.

  Just read the comments re hot lead water, definitely a sily thing to do.

  I believe lead shot from your local gunshop is the answer.

 I have just finished ballasting my current model with lead shot and resin, it works a treat and does not  move around also providing a stable platform for batteries ect.

 Ask for "bird shot" or "number 6 shot" it comes in a plastic container usually holding about 7 kgs.

  A little expensive but cheaper than most other sources.

Hope this helps

Mike

   

  

[Paul TParticipant @pault84577]

Hi Mike

Lead shot (either real lead or not) is the perfect way to ballast any model especially when set into epoxy blocks.

Paul

[Vinnie BraniganParticipant @vinniebranigan92297]

That’s not very nice Paul.

They may not be nice blocks, but there’s no need to call them poxy. 

Vinnie 

[Paul TParticipant @pault84577]

Hi Vinnie

I thought that you were off on your holiday sorting out the web departments model boat index, I have heard that is is very nice in Bedlam at this time of year so I expected that you would be having a great time.

Paul

[Vinnie BraniganParticipant @vinniebranigan92297]

I am!  We have dancing girls here to keep us enthused!

[Paul TParticipant @pault84577]

Well Vinnie

Thats just great and throughly deserved and I bet that you will be so enthused that you will be to tired to do the epic model boat index, which I believe has been mentioned in the house of lords.

Have a nice time and dont drink the water.

Paul (in a very cold and windy Lymm)

[Vinnie BraniganParticipant @vinniebranigan92297]

I can catagorically state that we will (not) have an index in the very near future.

[Paul TParticipant @pault84577]

 Dearest Vinnie 

Good. if I wanted to read an index then I would buy a book,

The site is great just as it is where if someone has a problem then they just ask.(simple init)

Watch out for the customs men when you get back off your holiday, personal use is one thing but seven suitcases of vodka is a bit much.

Paul

[Tony Bell 2Participant @tonybell2]

I, like many of you have found it extreamly dificult to buy lead shot. I wanted 3kg and ended up having to buy 7.5kg.

As an ex marketing manager my thoughts turned to the possibility of a niche market.  My other hobby is writing websites, so I setup http://www.leadshotballast.co.uk not to waste the 4.5kg and test the market.

I am buying from one of the two major suppliers and my last order was for 200kg. The average of the first 36 orders is 2.5kg. Oddly, lead scrap is more expensive, if they will sell it. "Health and safety".

I have written about the safety of lead and have designed a  Volumn/weight calculator. The density of lead shot is about 7.1g/cc, The shot diameter makes little difference and it cannot be calculated mathematically. I weighed 200cc. 

There is obviously a need for small quantities

My first scratch model is the 1/20 scale "Jolie Brise" a 1913 French pilot cutter built from French plans, goto http://www.joliebrisemodels.co.uk to see my progress. My tank testing has shown up it’s 1.5cm below the correct waterline. oops!

 Tony Bell

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Hello Tony

You may find my Gallery album describing the French Barfleur boat ….Louis Heloise…..1/15th scale of some interest……..it looks very similar!

Bob

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