Nimbus Mk3 Build

[Brian White 3Participant @brianwhite3]

[Brian White 3Participant @brianwhite3]

I'm about to start building a Nimbus Mk3 IOM sailing yacht having been given a set of plans and the 'ghost' frames from a friend. I'm putting together the building board and cutting out the components needed for the fin box, rudder, etc. I've been looking at servos and winches, but am somewhat confused as to what to fit. I would be looking for a sail winch sub £100 preferably analogue as digital will set me back even more for a programmer. Krick do two that looked promising, but firstly I don't know how many turns I'd need, and I believe their digital. I've read the Hitec winches are slow, but how slow?

I'm also thinking to build the hull with Mahogany and varnish the finished hull. The other option is balsa. Has anyone any experience of building the Nimbus hull and can offer advice, as I believe there is significant bending to be negotiated.

This is not my first build having almost completed a 1:24 TSB Veronica and a 1:8 Huntsman 28, but this is venturing into a new world for me.

Any advice and support would be most welcome.

Edited By Brian White 3 on 15/10/2021 09:27:10

[Ray Wood 3Participant @raywood3]

Hi Brian,

If you have a look at Eddie Lancaster's thread in the Sailing Models section " A couple of IOM yachts" he has built both versions balsa & mahogany planked, he is also built a Veronica and is building Cambria TSB .

Cost of winches really comes down to how serious you are about racing, I don't think digital winches need programming, but not 100% sure.

Eddie has passed his Nimbus formers on to me to build one in the future but I'm building aeroplanes at the moment for a change ! , last I heard from Eddie he had taken to the skies also.

Regards Ray

Edited By Ray Wood 2 on 15/10/2021 10:53:27

[Brian White 3Participant @brianwhite3]

Thanks Ray,

I've put a post on Eddies thread, hopefully he'll get back to me soon. I had read through his thread earlier; a lot of very useful info their, which I'm sure will be most helpful to me.

Well, I've made a start and cut out the bow and transom and fitted them to the building board with all the ghosts, and fitted the inwales

[Eddie LancasterParticipant @eddielancaster]

Hi. Brian, I found the run of the planks were easy after the first few around the transition from the centre line of the hull to the vertical stem, after that it was easy to put a full length plank about 3/8” wide in the centre tapered to approx. 3/16” at the transom and 1/4” at the stem.

The hardwood hull is around 400 grams over the minimum 4 kilos. The balsa hull with two layers of lightweight glass on the outside and one on the inside plus extra around the fin box is only a few grams over the 4 k.

Both sail well, the balsa one is competitive against a 2017 professional hull and the heavier hull is good in stronger winds.

I have used a Hitech 1/4 scale servo winch in the hardwood hull, but is too slow, so I have fitted a PJ sails one in the balsa hull, it is much faster and not as heavy, with postage it cost just over £100-00 from Frank Parsons at Nylet sails.

I hope this all helps and I look forward to seeing your progress.

As Ray says I am busy trying to master RC flying at the moment but I do keep popping in to have a look at this forum.

Regards.

Eddie.

[Eddie LancasterParticipant @eddielancaster]

Hi. Again Brian I have just looked at your specific questions about planking at the stem, if you look at the varnished hull build you will find a photo of a jig that I made from a piece of strip steel, it is twisted through 90deg. at each end, one right handed the other left handed, boil the end of a strip of wood clamp it to the steel jig and leave to dry overnight, it will retain it’s twist ready to fit to the shadows and stem.

BTW your shadows look good and ready for a satisfying build.

Eddie.

[Brian White 3Participant @brianwhite3]

Many thanks Eddie, I'll have a rummage and try to find a suitable piece of metal to make the jig before I start building. The PJ sails winch WO1 sounds perfect and I'll treat myself to the Hi-Tec HS646/WP servo. I need these to cut out the panel. Did you stay with the 67mm winch drum or opt for the smaller 50mm drum?

Finding a supplier of 1mtr length timber has been tricky, my usual supplier CMB seems to be selling a lot of 915mm timber, too short for my build. I must say I'm now in a bit of a quandary over hull material, maybe mahogany is not a wise move as our club pond is somewhat sheltered. I might opt for balsa if I can get it. If it builds well then a hardwood second hull might be on the cards before I hand the ghosts back to the owner!.

Regards, Brian

[Eddie LancasterParticipant @eddielancaster]

Hi. Brian, I kept the larger drum on the winch, try SLEC for 48” long balsa spruce and bass wood.

Eddie.

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