Returning modeller

[Ray Wood 3Participant @raywood3]

Hi Jim,

Now you can see why Lever arm sail control servos are so popular (with me at least)

Never needed a servo tester, I have many receivers for testing servos ! If it doesn't work I bin it and move on

If and when the servo is tested and found to be faulty you will bin it anyway

Regards Ray

[James Hill 5Participant @jameshill5]

Hi Ray, I get your point,

My situation is that I`m starting at the bottom of the learning curve and many things,and terminology, are completely new to me.

I really need to get hold of a book to study things that might make it a bit easier.

I`m pretty sure at the moment,even if I had all the correct bits and pieces in front of me and all the electrics working I`d still struggle to set it all up to start with.

Not enough experience yet I`m afraid but will push on.

Regards, Jim.

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

Where in the UK are you Jim, are you a member of a club? You can pick up a huge amount of guidance from a Sunday morning chat at the pond side.

[James Hill 5Participant @jameshill5]

Hi Richard,

I`m in Fleet in Hampshire and yes, I literally have just joined the Basingstoke Model Boat Club, but I`ve not been able to get there just yet. When I do, I`ll be asking the yacht sailors some questions and hopefully will able to understand the the way things work.

Jim.

[James Hill 5Participant @jameshill5]

While bath testing my Surfury this morning, I unfortunately damaged the connector from the battery ( the clip together type ). I`ve decided to fit XT60 connectors, but, having never used them before, could someone tell me if the wires are soldered into the connector rather than crimping them .

I think they`re soldered but just wanted to make sure before I mess anything else up!

Many thanks,

Jim.

[Chris FellowsParticipant @chrisfellows72943]

Hi Jim

Yes, they are soldered and easy to do.

Don't forget to fit heat shrink unless they are the ones with the plastic covers.

Chris

Edited By Chris Fellows on 27/09/2021 19:06:53

[James Hill 5Participant @jameshill5]

Thanks Chris,

They look a decent connector and I noticed they have pos and neg markings on them as well so will give them a go.

Thanks once again,

Jim.

[James Hill 5Participant @jameshill5]

I`ve not yet quite reached the point of painting the boat but a thought occured regarding marking the waterline on the hull.

Would it be normal practice to float in the bath before painting to get an idea as to where the line would be, or do you wait till the hull is painted? The other two boats I have were fairly easy to mark but I think this one needs a bit more care taken.

Just a thought,

Regards,

Jim.

[Ray Wood 3Participant @raywood3]

Hello Jim,

Do you have a drawing or photo of where the waterline should be ?? I'm sure your going to need ballast or batteries to get her to sit at the right depth.

Having said that the bath would be a good idea with some sort of colouring to mark the line

I use Tamiya masking tape it's great stuff for marking the boot topping. This is my standard marking method.

Regards Ray

[Dave Cooper 6Participant @davecooper6]

Ray's method looks good providing you know where to put the line…

For commercial shipping this is an insurance requirement (Lloyd's Register ?). For leisure craft, it seems to mainly denote the anti-fouling line (I could be wrong there…).

The bath test, with ballast, would be a good starting point for a model backed up by real-life photos. Water-line markings are usually shown on designer's 'lines' drawings and /or the shipwrights experience of similar craft.

If the model's hull side is not dead smooth, it might be an idea to use sanding sealer (or similar) to fill in the 'dimples'. If this is not done paint can bleed under the masking tape and spoil the finished line.

Hope this helps,

Dave

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

I would tend to draw the water line as Ray has shown after priming and filling so I can immediately mask it and get a top coat on.

In the past I have sprayed the upper hull with the final coat before marking out the top of the boot topping, then masked and sprayed the top edge of the boot topping, then marked out the lower edge of the boot topping before masking and finally spraying the lower hull. With some hulls, shallow shaped sterns in particular, one thing to be aware of is that boot toppings are not of an equal width. The top and the bottom of the boot topping are both supposed to represent water lines so a shallow shape shows a much wider boot topping.

Steep sided hulls are a lot closer to an equal thickness. Interestingly this hull that I have just painted was very shallow at the stern so, if it had a boot topping would be a lot wider at the aft end of the hull however going across the transom it would revert to an equal thickness.

[Ray Wood 3Participant @raywood3]

Hi Richard,

When ever I see that hull you had built I'm in awe of the craftsmanship he used, fairly sure although I have many books on Clenched lap or Clinker construction and know the theory I doubt if I could do such a fine job

Regards Ray

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

I agree Ray. The chap was a retired traditional boatbuilder so that hull probably didn't present him with too much of a challenge.

Just so I could say I've tried I once built a clinker lifeboat around 5 inches long, from 5mm x 1mm planking, which ended up taking me around three months! I gained a great deal of admiration though for anyone that builds such hulls!

[James Hill 5Participant @jameshill5]

Thankyou gentlemen for your suggestions.

A couple of the pictures of the boat that I have were taken when it was out of the water on props which helps.

My question was about wether to paint the hull first or mark out before painting and you`ve answered that. Any marking would only be done with everything on board. Be interesting to see how it compares to the real thing.

Many thanks

Jim.

Ray, your use of balsa wood is tempting me to try it in the future.

[James Hill 5Participant @jameshill5]

Further to the question I asked in my last post, as the hull is already covered with glass cloth ( and was rubbed down before the cloth went on ) I take it I can still use a sealer over the cloth without damaging anything. All this is asked as I`ve never used glass cloth before. I haven`t done so yet, but I assume you cloth the deck as well?

Thanks for your help,

Jim.

[Ray Wood 3Participant @raywood3]

Hello Jim,

Once you have glass clothed its ok to use primer, I use Halfords red oxide for all of the hull as anti fouling , mask the waterline and then paint the topsides

I can't see any reason to glass cloth the deck if its ply just sanding sealer or dope, It's not going to get wet, paint is good enough.

Yes I love the balsa wood construction the destroyer hull in the picture is HMS Cossack a Vic Smeed design made completely of balsa, it has been glass clothed in the photo of the pen drawing on the waterline.

Regards Ray

[James Hill 5Participant @jameshill5]

Thanks Ray,

I`ve still got my copy of Vic Smeeds book from way back when I first started looking at modelling a boat Another one was by Phillip Connolly.

My first attempt was a kit called Sea Commander if I remember rightly. It ended up a bit of a disaster owing to total lack of experience in working with wood. I remember instructions saying, to get the curve on the hull you could steam the wood. With modern adhesives etc , how things have changed

It did get completed but I never managed to find suitable electrics.

Regards ,Jim

[James Hill 5Participant @jameshill5]

While I`ve been trying to sort out the positioning of the electrics in the current build, a couple of questions regarding positioning of the ESC`s and the receiver have me wondering.

Is there a hard and fast rule regarding where the ESC`s go in relation to the motors or other bits of kit with regards to possible interference?

I notice on the receiver that it has a very short aerial. Is it required to have the end of the aerial above the deck line or will it still perform down in the hull?

i`ve not used a 2.4Ghz system before so thought i`d ask the questions before going too far.

I`m using two M troniks motors and ESC`s so I want to get the layout as neat as I can.

Many thanks,

Jim.

.

[Ray Wood 3Participant @raywood3]

Hello Jim,

Glad your progressing, you can put the ESC's anywhere you want really, 2.4 radio is more resistant to interference from the motors so not a problem really, many will advise keeping the receiver above the waterline, having said that I never realised that till recently and have never had range issues, hope that helps. I'm on aeroplane building currently for a change

Worth asking about cutting the red wire to one of the ESC's if they BEC  from the same battery ?? I've no experience of 2 speed controllers in 1 boat to mean I guess, I have  rudders for steering my twin prop boats

Regards Ray

Edited By Ray Wood 2 on 28/10/2021 15:27:47

Edited By Ray Wood 2 on 28/10/2021 15:28:58

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

I think the idea of keeping the receiver above the water line comes from the system's inability to penetrate water but, to be honest, there is so much of a signal path anyway I doubt it makes much difference. The latest generation of Spektrum receivers do not even have an antenna nowadays and are so compact they can be slotted just about anywhere.

As Ray suggests the ESCs can go anywhere convenient.

[James Hill 5Participant @jameshill5]

Hi Richard and Ray, Thank you for the information.

Certainly some of the pieces of equipment are getting much smaller these days.

In my inexperience Ray, I went for two motors and two esc`s ( more costly I know ) simply for power control rather than steering as some do.

I realise the need to remove the Red wire on the slave esc. Everything is on a dry run at the moment to see where it fits and works!

Still detailing ( as best I can ) . Making the handrails are the next challenge.Need to make some jigs to get the bends right.

I`d like to put some simple detail in the cabin if I can , so need to look out for figures and make a couple of seats for them plus the helm and a few things to represent some of the equipment inside the cabin.

Which aircraft are you building Ray? It`s good to have a change now and again.

Regards,

Jim.

[Ray Wood 3Participant @raywood3]

Hello Jim,

Currently building a Piper Cherokee 39" span from a free David Boddington plan in a recent magazine which seems to be re-issuing a lot of his old designs, I'm enjoying the build very much

The baby is an Auster Arrow from the KeilKraft Flying Scale series and takes me back to being 10 years old again, loving the tissue covering, I have to do the doping in the shed, the management doesn't approve of the aroma, always reminded me of pear drops

Regards Ray

[James Hill 5Participant @jameshill5]

Hi Ray,

Nice looking models. Will they be electric power? It`s a long time since I built a flying model. My first attempt was a Hawker Hunter made from 1/8th and 1/16th balsa sheet, silhouette body and drawing pins for balance weights at the nose!! It flew very well and I had a lot of fun with it.

Regards ,

Jim.

[Ray Wood 3Participant @raywood3]

Hello Jim,

Although I have been flying electric for the last 10 years at my local football field with the same foam Acrowot by Chris Foss maybe 150 flights to keep my hand in for flying, the Cherokee has a 2.5cc 2 stroke glow motor which would struggle to take off from grass, my grandchildren live near a lovely flat beach, great when the tides right out

The little Auster is just rubber powered like in the good old days.

Regards Ray

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

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.

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