Returning modeller

[Chris EParticipant @chrise]

Posted by Richard Simpson on 29/10/2021 19:10:16:

I built a rubber band powered plane with my Dad when I was a teenager. If I remember correctly it was a Veron Impala, but I might be wrong. It was a lovely flier though and a little offset on the wing positioning could bring it back to where we launched it.

I remember the Veron Impala as a glider.

I never had much luck with rubber powered models of the 50's and 60's, partly at least, due to a very poor choice of models – cheap & cheerful + easy to build sheet wings! .

I am also very impressed with 10 years from a foam Acro Watt!

[James Hill 5Participant @jameshill5]

As we `ve deviated slightly from the norm and people spoke about aircraft models, this is mine, not yet built.

Now back to the boats.

Jim.

[Ray Wood 3Participant @raywood3]

Hello Jim,

That's a nice glider kit, I'm lucky having the North Downs in Kent quiet near me, the White Horse Country Park is insight of my office window (back bedroom) so when the South Westerly blows we head off up there for some slope soaring, which is how I learned to fly RC models back in 1977 

Have been doing sticks & tissue paper recently the 1/16" x 1/16" really sorts you out, quite pleased with this little 22" span Auster Arrow

Regards Ray

Edited By Ray Wood 2 on 04/11/2021 19:15:04

[James Hill 5Participant @jameshill5]

Hi Ray,

I was looking through your gallery pictures the other day and saw the one of your Auster Arrow. A lot of the older prop models do make into great fliers.

The nearest suitable flying site for gliders for me would be the top of Butser hill, just off the A3 ( M ) on the way to Portsmouth, about a 45 min drive from my place.

You`re right. I can imagine that 1/16" X 1/16" does test your patience now and again, but it all looks good when it all comes together.

I`m just finishing off wiring the boat up at the moment. Am I right in thinking that when you switch things on, you are in effect programming the master esc and the slave basically follows instructions, (after wiring everything up correctly ) or have i got that wrong? As a two motor system is new to me I just thought I`d ask while I was on here.

Hope the Arrow goes well when it`s finished.

Regards, Jim.

[James Hill 5Participant @jameshill5]

After finally getting power on ( and answering my own question in the previous blog! ), I still have a question to ask.

Both motors are rotating the opposite way to the direction I wanted. I have the esc`s set up as master on the starboard one and slave on the port .

If I re wire the motors the other way round to get them rotating correctly, can I leave the lead with the red wire removed in the same place or would I have to swop that round as well?

I have to say ,I`m surprised at the motor speeds ( M Troniks 600`s ) and at themoment, it`s easy to get one motor running before the other on a small movement of the stick. Maybe a re check on motor /shaft alignment. If that turns out to be ok then I`ll wait until the boat finally gets in the water

I haven`t weighed the model yet but it seems quite heavy me.

Regards,

Jim.

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

Posted by James Hill 5 on 06/11/2021 22:01:48:

If I re wire the motors the other way round to get them rotating correctly, can I leave the lead with the red wire removed in the same place or would I have to swop that round as well?

I'm not too sure I understand the question James, if both motors need to be reversed then both must have the polarity of their main power cables changed over at the motor. The cable with the red wire removed is the power to the receiver and does not need touching. The wires you refer to are, I take it, the power supply wires to the receiver, which must remain as you had it as the receiver is polarity specific.

All you need to do is to reverse the main cables on the motors, nothing else such as battery polarity or receiver supply need changing.

As regards the delay it could be that one of the ESCs is set slightly differently to the other.  To check you need to disconnect them, one at a time, and go through the set up procedure according to the instructions.  One complication with this is that you are only supplying power from one of the ESCs to the receiver so one of them cannot now be set up individually.  What you can do is to remove the power supply plug from the ESC and temporarily power the receiver from a normal receiver battery pack such as a 6V 4 x AA non rechargeable cell pack or a 4.8V 4 x AA rechargeable cell pack.  Then you can disconnect the ESCs individually at the 'Y' lead and set the other one up.

Or you can change the 'Y' lead over from one to the other so you can supply power from the ESC that you are setting up.

It sounds more complex than it is honest!

 

Edited By Richard Simpson on 06/11/2021 23:00:01

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

You will never get the motors starting together at very low speeds. There will be differences in motor manufacture, shaft manufacture, coupling manufacture, esc manufacture and indeed installation. Nothing to even worth thinking about….UNLESS there’s a BIG throttle difference, but there again, once in the water with a load on (props stirring the wet stuff) and having “run in” the moving bits this will change again.

not sure about your master/slave esc remark. If the esc’s are on a y lead with one red wire disconnected, they are just two esc’s on a common lead?

Ashley

Edited By ashley needham on 07/11/2021 08:09:51

[Malcolm FraryParticipant @malcolmfrary95515]

With 2 ESCs on a Y lead, both ESCs are getting the exact same signal. What they do with that signal depends on how equally they were set up to respond to that signal.

After the ESCs have responded to the signal, they tell their motors what to do. Just how well the motors respond depends on many factors, as mentioned previously.

If the transmitter stick is set to "normal" and a motor runs in the opposite direction, reconnect the motor with its wires crossed over. If required, repeat with the other motor. Using the "servo reverse" to sort out motor rotation rarely has a happy ending. Unless it is a Futaba transmitter, because they used to like to reverse their signal logic – don't know if that is still the case.

[James Hill 5Participant @jameshill5]

Thank you gentlemen for your answers.

I`m afraid I confused the issue in the way I worded my question. The only wires I was to change were the two from the esc to the motor, basically to reverse direction. Sorry for the mix up.

I`m just pleased that with my lack of electrical knowledge I`ve managed to get things turning!

Many thanks once again,

Jim.

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

Good news, always works better going in the right direction!

[James Hill 5Participant @jameshill5]

Ray,

I f you read this, can I ask where you got your crew from in one of your gallery pictures? At the moment I`m just trying to work out what I can fit inside the cabin and I`d like put a couple of crew in there If possible. That`s a real assortment of loco`s in your picture, from early days to up to date with Tornado. It`s going to be interesting to see the next build from the Tornado builders when it is completed….. the P2.

[Ray Wood 3Participant @raywood3]

Hello Jim,

My figures are usually from the charity shops, my 1/12th are Doctor Who or Tintin figures at roughly 5-6" tall the 1/24th size are from model kits or Harry Potter I have accumulated over the years say 3" tall.

What scale is your launch ??

My model railway is like a preserved line so I can any region or era I please

The P2 will be quite a sight, I do worry about the skills being continued to maintain the many preserved loco's !!

Regards Ray

[James Hill 5Participant @jameshill5]

Hi Ray,

We`ve got a few charity shops here in Fleet so I`ll be having a look through those to see if I can find some suitable figures.

The Pilot boat is 1/12th scale. Not a great deal left to build on it and then it`s a paint job. I need to source the correct orange for the cabin etc. I`ve got spraying equipment but I`m wondering about possibly brush painting. As a working boat it wouldn`t need a super yacht finish.

Regards,

Jim.

[Dave Cooper 6Participant @davecooper6]

Hi Jim

In the smaller scales, the likes of Airfix, Revell etc do military figures in 1/48 and 1/32 scale. I modified some 1/48's for the gunner and skipper of my little RAF launch.

The larger sizes are often done for the RC model aircraft boys. I have a 6" pilot for my 1/5th scale vintage glider. It was a present and I think quite expensive as it has all the right clothing etc.

When "ToysRUs" was around, you could often find something in the toy range – "Action Man" springs to mind….or, perhaps try your favourite on-line auction site ?

Good to see you are progressing well with the boat.

Dave

[James Hill 5Participant @jameshill5]

Thanks Dave,

As you say, Toys `R` Us would have been a good source for figures, but, like many other things, no longer around.

I was lucky with the Surfury crew, they were originally F1 drivers in 1/12th Tamiya kits. Much modified people!

I`ve been following your current build. Coming along nicely..

Jim.

[James Hill 5Participant @jameshill5]

Ray,

If you read this, I just wanted to say that that is an impressive view of your loft. What a collection

I`m having enough trouble trying to find room for things in the garage with all the extra boat stuff. Maybe I need to down size the railway!

Boatwise , things are a bit fiddly at the moment. Because the cabin is fairly large I need to put things inside so I`ve been trying to make some of the equipment you can see in a photo I have. All unpainted just now. I then need to make four seats, possibly from mdf as they have a shape to them.Still looking for figures.

After that it`s handrails to make and then paint everything and it should be finished. Then, on to the Cigarette.

[Ray Wood 3Participant @raywood3]

Hello Jim,

Yes my loft is rather chaotic, I must get rid of some boats next year, but how do you chose your favourites ?? feels like selling your kids

I like your detailing for the helmsman's controls, you need some lights inside the cabin to show them off ?

You will find The Cigarette a quick build very little detailing required, and with brushless go like the wind !!

I'm still bashing out a few RC aeroplanes for next year's summer………..

All the best

Ray

[James Hill 5Participant @jameshill5]

Hi Ray,

Not an easy job deciding what to lose and what to keep especially after the effort made building them. A bit like sorting out a garage, then finding a week later you shouldn`t have got rid of this or that as you now need it.

I was thinking of trying to fit a light in the cabin as my photo shows one fairly large central light, so If I can, it would be worth trying to make something up and working it off a separate battery. Certainly worth looking into.

I`m looking forward to having a go at the Cigarette. You mentioned using a brushless motor ( which I don`t have at the moment ) just a couple of spare 540`s. Do you think that would work? ( obviously not as quick as a brushless )

Regards,

Jim.

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

James, This model has four LEDs fitted in each cabin, in the four corners. It gives a much more even light with far less shadows. They are powered by a separate battery and switched from the transmitter.

 

Edited By Richard Simpson on 30/11/2021 19:25:15

[Ray Wood 3Participant @raywood3]

Hi Jim,

I havn't used a brushless motor in a boat yet, I think you'll find a 540 brushed will be fine

I only used a 600 from the spares box in the prototype and a 7.2 volt buggy pack, may try it on a 3 cell Lipo with 11.1 volts next year to entertain the grandsons .

I use grain of wheat bulbs for light etc seem to work fine, or Christmas lights very cheap at the moment

Regards Ray

[James Hill 5Participant @jameshill5]

Hi Richard,

Thanks for posting the pictures. The LED`s certainly show the interior very well and that`s a very nice model. As a railway modeller yourself, you would know all about small lighting systems for buildings etc, which is where I was going to look. Just a case of rigging something up.

Hi Ray,

Thanks for the information. It`s early days for me to try Lipo`s and brushless. I need to learn to walk with the current model set up before I start to run with the quicker things!

It`ll be interesting to see how the Cigarette goes with a brushless setup. I`m certain your grandsons will love it. If I put lights inside then I need to make a bit more detail as best I can, to make it more interesting. I can only see so much in the photo and the video.

Regards,

Jim.

[Ray Wood 3Participant @raywood3]

Hello Jim,

I'm not going brushless with the Cigarette, just giving it more volts to make the 600 brushed motor work a bit harder

I use brushless in my aeroplane's as they really need the extra power and the lighter weight Lipo batteries.

Keep up the good work.

Regards Ray

[James Hill 5Participant @jameshill5]

Hi all,

I`ve been trying to find a paint colour that is close to the superstructure colour on lifeboats and pilot boats but until now have not really had any luck.

I wondered if anyone on the forum might be able to point me in the right direction. I`ve looked at the Humbrol and Tamiya ranges but haven`t really seen anything

M y next move was to look at the mix and match paints in B and Q to see if I could get anything made up, or one of the tester pots maybe. Obviously if I go down that route then I will need a good quality brush and have to hand paint instead of spraying.

Many thanks,

Jim.

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

Volkswagen Orange is usually considered to be a good match:

**LINK**

but Neil Howard-Pritchard on here is probably the best person to confirm.

Colin

[James Hill 5Participant @jameshill5]

Hi Colin,

Thanks for that. We have a Halfords not far from us so I can plan a visit and have a look.

Many thanks ,

Jim.

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