My first ever semi-scale scratchbuild

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Just to show how cheaty i am, i would have painted the freeing port on ,….as a black line..It would be undetectable at 10 feet….same as the long freeing port on my HMS Jersey (in My Photos.)

 

Ashley    are they still in service now??

[David Young 3Participant @davidyoung3]

Unfortunately not,they were on the decommisioned list in 1996,and it was thought then that they were too far gone to be a viable concern. I’m not sure if they’ve been broken up,or if they’re just rotting away.

 

  Cutting in the freeports allows any water on the foredeck to drain off,just as on the full sized vessels,but I feel its more important on a balsa wood vessel particularly. It doesn’t take balsa long to absord any moisture and I can’t be sure that I’ve sealed every square inch of the hull,try as I may. Sods law and all that.

 

David.

[David Young 3Participant @davidyoung3]

Some up to date pics of her on the water. I’m just waiting on the flags now,and other than some final painting to be done on the hand rails,she’s finished.

 

 

Edited By David Young 3 on 25/06/2010 00:57:37

[Ian GardnerParticipant @iangardner62867]

David,

I thought I’d just log in to say how good she looks on the water, especially cutting back through her own wake. Your boat seems to possess heft and purpose and moves very well. I’m always interested to see where people sail too – your water looks very nice.

 

Ian

[David Young 3Participant @davidyoung3]

Thanks for that Ian,I’m going to be testing her later today with a Raboesch(type 1) 25mm 3-bladed brass prop,to see if I can get her sailing at a more scale speed. I’ve found that even a 30mm plastic 3-blade creates too much thrust,such that I can only really run her at just over tickover speed on the throttle,as seen on the last vid. It’s really difficult to sail her at slow speeds,as there is the tendancy for your finger to ease off the throttle just a little too much such that she stops. You only need the lightest of touches on the throttle to get her moving. I’ll post up a vid of the test when I get back.

 

David.

[David Young 3Participant @davidyoung3]

Two video’s showing just how maveuverable she really is,both ahead and astern.

 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0yjm33q2Rs

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jve1W-lgDzo 

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

I find a bigger prop has more “bite” in the water, and would suggest that your motor may be of the higher power variety and you may be better changing it for a low power (MFA 540/1) version. straight swap.

 

This would enable you to keep the larger prop for better stopping power and better initial acceleration, and probably reducing power consumption.

 

This way, you can use the original motor in your next, larger boat..which will require more power  anyway !

 

My battlecruiser has two 25mm props, and although it fairy zips along
once it has gathered a bit of forward (or reverse) way, the frothing and aeration
caused by these small props on takeoff or initial reverse has to be seen, and
heard, to be believed

 

Ashley  (not very light on the throttle)

 

 

[David Young 3Participant @davidyoung3]

The 540 motor that is in the boat at the moment is one out of one of my R/C cars,which at 4.8V produces around 12,000 rpm. As you can see from the vids,the 25mm prop works very well with this motor,as it allows the motor to spool up to higher revs than did the 30mm prop. I’m quite happy with this set-up,and still gives me run times of around 90 mins/pack.

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

12000 rpm from 4.8v is pretty serious, and also explains why you have trouble throttling the motor… the very low volt range and a wickedly powerful motor. A motor with a larger voltage battery can be throttled with a bit more finess.

 

Still. like me, do what you are happy with, and after all, that sort of speed and 90 mins duration cant be all that bad!!

 

I have no trouble with balsa as far as waterproofing goes because as it soaks up water, so it soaks up a sealer, such as a cellulose sanding sealer. In the raw unpainted state, splosh the stuff on liberally and then give it a good sand, then paint. The beauty of cellulose sealer is that it will stand a bit of can spraying, which makes ships such as yours (all grey) so much easier to paint.

 

I always think that the freeing ports are a bit double edged sword on a model..the weight of water is not so much of an issue on a model, compared to the real thing, but its just as likely to let the water on deck in the first place as to drain it off, considering the non-scale waves.

You do need some holes of course, otherwise it would look a bit silly with all that water on deck!  Stopping the water entering the hull via the removeable superstructure has always been my no1 aim, as this allows you to partake in some serious rough weather boating that leaves others in dock (the car).

 

 Your model does appear to quite stable on the turns etc, but a pair of fixed fin stabilisers, or something similar really does damp down oscillations when weaving or being hit by sudden wind or duck-waves.

 

Ashley

 

[David Young 3Participant @davidyoung3]

The wee NNS Otobo at the Warship Weekend. Watch out for Lachie Stewart’s 1/72nd scale Bismark at the end of the vid.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nngVrL7MfN0 

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