Todays Boating

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Nice bright morning yesterday, but of a breez, but dropped later on.

Ecranoplan going really well, the slight breeze and light chop suiting it just nicely. Ditto for Sunderland, which goes really well considering the tiny engines.

Trevors Jessie rower lost gear engagement and drifted in, while Peters lander/ferry was playing hard to get with an intermittent fault early on cured by reaseating all the connections.

”Cycle man” (really really sorry…mind has gone blank on the name front) turned up with a small destroyer built from an old MB plan, possibly a GG item, and it was its first outing. As usual with these things, an outing on the pond was different to the home test-tank Test, and it lost power and had to drift in. It appeared that the 4x AA Nimh pack was not delivering the goods and although the batteries tested ok, we think the voltage drop when the motor was on was enough to knock out the receiver. It was also horribly tender, which was expected, and I think we came to the conclusion that a standard 6 pack Nimh with lead glued underneath the flat bottomed hull would be the way to go.

Both the TBD and T22 frigate ( the small one I tow behind the carrier) have a steel strip glued underneath and are really stable with this setup.

I know it’s not aesthetically pleasing when you lift up the boat and look underneath…but why would you? Sometimes a bit of cheating is preferable to having a boat that is unusable unless it’s flat calm.

Ashley

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Sanded down the tops of an oak nest of tables pending going to charity, as the second largest had coffee cup ring marks on it and it had been horribly varnished in polyurethane varnish. To cut along story short…the hand belt sander again came up trumps in about 1 mins sanding! Finish with vitro and first coat of dark oak varnish/stain applied.

i used to have a bench sander and used it quite a lot, but the motor burnt out and I decided not to replace it, mainly because of the dust it created, even with the Henry attached. I thought that I could probably do without the dust, although the sander was very handy.

Paint showing its age on the Ecranoplan, cracking on top of the balsa. What to do? I may just Matt varnish it to stabilise the paint?

Ashley

[Dave ReedParticipant @davereed72029]

They say a change is as good as a rest – how about a repaint in new colours?

Who are "they" anyway?

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

I think I once saw an Ecranoplan with Virgin colours on it and that looked really smart!

Its a patchwork camouflage scheme (which is actually incorrect, as they were just a dull boring dark blue/grey) so I could do patches and repaint the worst. I have the Humbrol colours noted under the hatch (always handy).

However, once it starts to go, the whole lot really needs doing. Thin varnish I think first, that should hold it for a while, as itstops water getting in the cracks…an issue, as there is so much water splashed up on the boat.

Ashley

Edited By ashley needham on 14/02/2023 08:12:08

[Chris EParticipant @chrise]

Ashley

Thank you for the article on the Terror Fish that, as is usual, I enjoyed reading.

1. The Dodge-em and Terror Fish both use the apparantly same drive train components yet the S35 prop is said to draw 3A in the Dodge-em and 5A in the Terror Fish. The X40 and X50 have the same readings in both applications. I can see no obvious explanation for this other than one of the numbers being incorrect or …………………………..?

2. Whilst I know that it is usual for cable drive models I am surprised that you don't finf the lack of a reverse an issue in the Terror Fish which has a traditional (well sort of) rudder.

Edited By Chris E on 16/02/2023 10:42:17

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Thank you Chris. The fishy is more of a sculpture than a boat. The head foam was carved mostly “by eye”, and the rear cover I only had construction details in my head! Not shown were several attempts at internal bracing to get the curved bits sitting properly.

Regarding current draw…I think 5 is the correct one, I may have said 3 from memory (goldfish and so on)….however, the bumpers have Nimhs and the fishy has a Lipo, and this in itself makes a difference.

in fact, it can make a big difference, depending how hard the motor is working. I think I have seen a 20-25% power increase when testing some air-prop boats using Lipo over Nimh.

Reverse. Probably not a good idea on fishy, as the rear end, being pointed, and having (in reverse) a downwards pointing horizontal fin would likely dive underwater. It’s not fast, and there is access all round the pond….

More prosaically, the 28mm brushless/esc combos are very cheap and we are very poor and they have been reliable so far…so the lack of reverse is something we just “get along” with. Bumpers don’t need reverse and the Tups would dive underwater if going backwards, ditto Hydroglisseur, Swordfish and indeed the Seagull in my case.

Ashley

[Ray Wood 3Participant @raywood3]

Hi Ashley,

I like the Fishy, that's a hard act to follow How about Fireball XL5 ??

Regards Ray

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Cheers Ray. A few summers ago I made a rubber band powered flat section XL5 to fly down the garden on a strong fishing line cable. Looked jolly good if I say so myself!

Water capable Anderson vessels not so numerous or well known. Super car I suppose?? But quite vintage.

Ashley

[Chris EParticipant @chrise]

Thunderbird 4?

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Mmmmmm… TB4 a bit OBVIOUS for me. I have seen a few over the years. Mind you, I said that about DUKWs and ended up making one, although the Russian version!

Ashley

[Tim CooperParticipant @timcooper90034]

Ashley

Supercar that takes me back!

Had to look it up. Mike Mercury! Early 60's!

There must have been quite a number of the Gerry Anderson series.

Tim

[Tim CooperParticipant @timcooper90034]

Just remembered Four Feather Falls! It had a Sheriff with a magic gun. My mum liked to watch it with me because one of her favourite singers, Michael Holliday sang the signature tune and may have been the voice of the Sheriff. Guess the kids today wouldn't appreciate it.

Sorry no boat or ship in it for you !

Tim

[Richard BarnettParticipant @richardbarnett67129]

Thunderbird 4 would be awkward to make as a submarine as it’s about as submarine shaped as postman pats van!

As a surface craft it’s not a lot better with that bulldozer scoop on the front + not a lot of kids know what it is anyway, only us old gits saw it on the telly.

Ricky ye pirate 🏴‍☠️

[Dave ReedParticipant @davereed72029]

Posted by Richard Barnett on 16/02/2023 20:05:44:

Thunderbird 4 would be awkward to make as a submarine as it’s about as submarine shaped as postman pats van!

As a surface craft it’s not a lot better with that bulldozer scoop on the front + not a lot of kids know what it is anyway, only us old gits saw it on the telly.

Ricky ye pirate 🏴‍☠️

Hi Richard,

I agree that it's only us old gits saw "our TB4" on the telly, but kids of today get the new CGI version – quite different but still as hydrodynamic as Pat's van!

Dave.

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

I just remember "Torchy The Battery Boy" but was only two when it first aired so they must have been repeats but I remember well "Four Feather Falls" and "Supercar". I can safely say that "Thunderbirds" started me in modelling and changed my life. I remember the first episode I saw was when Fireflash couldn't put it's landing gear down and these tractor units came out of Thunderbird 2's pod and ran down the runway. Fireflash landed on the tractors. The modelling was mind blowing at the time with smoke effects, proper weathering and a level of realism that had never been seen before.

[Richard BarnettParticipant @richardbarnett67129]

The documentary about the Andersons and their work is worth watching, as one of the surviving technical guys said, “We blew up a lot of things back then.” And he’s not wrong!

Ricky ye pirate 🏴‍☠️

[Ray Wood 3Participant @raywood3]

Hi All,

Yes brought up on Thunderbirds & Stingray, somehow so much more real than the CGI versions !!

The interesting part was trying to spot how many Airfix railway parts were used in the various silos, which was a great way of seeing the size & scale of the models

I have the DVD box set of every episode !!

The landing of Fireflash was spectacular, I just imagine the guys winding the back scene along like fury

Rather like Jaws the music & sound track also brilliant !!

FAB

Edited By Ray Wood 2 on 17/02/2023 08:12:18

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

…and all the Airfix based Aircraft!

The fireflash episode is a classic. You have to wonder exactly how long the runway was supposed to be!

a dada dada dada dada Batmaaaaaan! Boat is due next. I have to design a boat hull though which may be tricky? I have a hankering for something simple, like an airboat hull with a pinched in front, which would work bearing in mind it’s not hull which is the focus, but the stuff on top.

The original used a (forgot the name of the) American speedboat with I believe an out-drive or Z-drive, and the “jet” exhaust was in part simply there to cover this up. For spectacular-ness, considering the flat stern, I could do a surface piercing setup, and this would throw water out the jet cover in spectacular fashion? Trouble is they inefficient at low and moderate speeds.

Ashley

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

From what I remember of the Batboat, when Corgi produced one off the back of the 1960s Adam West Batman, it was not far off the shape of a Club 500 hull.

I bet that would make a good foundation and you can buy just the hull. Although I suspect, knowing Ashley, that he will only be happy if it is made from Cornflakes packets and empty Domestos bottles!

 

 

Edited By Richard Simpson on 17/02/2023 09:15:54

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

I thought I'd check one out, look at the price of this!!:

Corgi Batboat

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

That’s stiff!, will it sell though? I have a batboat, not Corgi, off e-bay from “Eagle Moss”, which seems to be a good accurate model to work from….ditto a nice batman and robin of the correct style, about 5 inches tall.

The Corgi model is of course another approach, to make a boat OF the model…on the basis that the model may be more memorable than the original,which only appeared in a few episodes. Trevor was looking at making a “modern” batboat, but they differ from film to film, and we sort of came to the conclusion that anything in black remotely resembling a film boat would do as long as it had a modern batman in it.

I haven’t been bothered lately, but once I scale up the model to see the size of it I will get stuck in.

The hull is fairly blunt at the front, has bowed out sides and a pen-nib sort of stern, so I think buying a hull may compromise this too much. A skimmer style hull will be very easy to alter to get these features in.

It will probably be the colours that do it, just like Stingray (and that was based more on the very common toy that everyone would recognise) ….the 70s custom car blue metallic paint and white flashes.

Ashley

[neil hpParticipant @neilhp]

Posted by Richard Simpson on 17/02/2023 09:19:26:

I thought I'd check one out, look at the price of this!!:

Corgi Batboat

was talking to my daughter last night as she had just bought a statue doll of Rose from the Titanic film and she said its not a collectable to her as it has no box and something else small missing……..but she loves it and only paid 30 quid instead of the usual 3 – 500 quid boxed…….

I told her of all the Corgi and Dinkey cars and trucks I owned when a kid………..and had I not played with them and thrown the boxes away to keep them pristene, many of them would have been worth up to a grand NOW…………but would I have got any pleasure from owning them………….a big fat NO!!!

[Richard BarnettParticipant @richardbarnett67129]

I wonder how many ended up as a bath toy?————you know you would have done it yourself! 😂

Ricky ye pirate 🏴‍☠️

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

I am not well. Berengar has gifted us with a coff and sore throat after his visit back home from last week-end.

I am afraid I will not be boating tomorrow. I may do boat-related work from my death-bed. Obviously as a man, I am near death with MAN FLU, the worst kind.

I am hoping a generous quantity of Famous Grouse will take the pain and suffering away.

Ashley (coff coff)

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

Sorry to hear you feel rough Ashley, unfortunately universities are an effective melting pot for spreading maladies around plus there is still a lot of Coviid about.

I agree that whisky does help alleviate/mask the symptoms and hopefully kills the bugs as well. Early night with something nice to read prescribed.

Colin

[Author]

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