Todays Boating

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Srn4 construction continues, currently thwarted by the motors i ordered being unavailable from China…despite having had a  few only a week ago.

BUT alternative motors now ordered will allow me to double up on props to give the four blade look.

Ongoing issue with the forum is not seeing recent posts….this morning, my last post 2 weeks ago was the latest post my android phone showed……?

Ashley

[Tim CooperParticipant @timcooper90034]

Ashley

I use an Android as well. I don’t stay logged in but after logging on to see the latest posts I open any post from the Latest Posts that appears, scroll to the end of the post and find Latest posts again. This is usually an up to date Latest Post.

I think someone else has posted the same problem.

Tim

[Ray Wood 3Participant @raywood3]

Hello Chaps,

Well blow me down, the forum is up to date on my phone which is a first 🙂

Happy Days  Ray

[Chris FellowsParticipant @chrisfellows72943]

I checked my tablet last night after posting on Soapbox and whilst the thread was there my first posting and subsequent ones weren’t so it was still lagging behind. Will check again in a bit.

Chris

[Chris FellowsParticipant @chrisfellows72943]

Checked it and found that Colin’s Silver Mist thread comments were up to date but others weren’t so it’s unreliable and I won’t be using it.

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

It does seem to be a bit if a lottery, but using the device of looking at the ” latest” post and scrolling down to the “latest posts” at the bottom did seem to reveal a few actual latest posts.?

Anyway. Snap of the Griffon 1200. Very reasonable representation i thought…not scale to be sure.

SRN4 waiting on bits. Just made two more rear fins having broken one and not repaired it to the same angle as the unbroken one (!).

The motors i amusing are very weedy but there’s 4 of them. At the small size of the thing there’s not much choice, however it doesn’t take much power to get a very light boat to move on the water.

Going to the “professional Builder” show next Friday with Trevorat Sandown park racecourse for a free morning/ afternoon out with freebies!

Ashley

 

[Tim CooperParticipant @timcooper90034]

Ashley

Glad you found my advice about Latest Posts then I’mscrolling to Latest Posts worked for you.

Tim

[Tim CooperParticipant @timcooper90034]

Ashley

Don’t know where the “I’mscrolling” came from! Must be my OAP fingers. My Grandsons seem to have thinner and faster fingers and thumbs to me.

Tim

 

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Better temperature today so might be able to spray the SRN4 top.

Recieved 10 new nylon clamp-on tillers in the post yesterday so now I need to sort out linkages and servos for the twiddly bits before applying paint. Two twiddly bits and a servo forward need to turn opposite to the 4 twiddly bits at the stern.

Waiting on China’s finest weedy motors ,and  red and blue sticky vinyl sheet.

In awe of Colins current build. Much too complicated for me!

Ashley

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Vinyl arrived and has been cut up and stuck on. Looks very good.

Top painted, pylons white undercoated, fins and captains cabin painted. Waiting motors.

About the motors…a 130 weighs about 18gm but the 180s i was going to fit are 32gm…that’s almost double the weight! So I will have a 60 ish gm weight saving using the yet to arrive 130s. Not a lot you say but it will represent a reasonable percentage overall.

Ashley

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Still waiting for motors, but now have the lettering stuck on courtesy of zyrevors Electronic Brother dymotape and the results are….average! Actually they look ok, and the price of the graphics for both the Griffon and ‘4 have plummeted to about £8.50 per set…

And that’s for 3 different font sizes and two different styles over four colours. Something of a bargain especially considering this will drop again the next time the cassettes get used.

Ashley

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

I have the extended shafts 130 motors and the have been dropped up, stuck on and wired up. Painting next (almost done) thanks to my Acrylic Pebo paints. Final coat of red to be done on the motors and then some lettering on the air rudders.

Having done all that, I have found some 180s with extended shafts now…so..have ordered some, along with some 108mm two blade black push-on props. Its not easy to tell how much more powerful these other larger  small motors are or the difference in thrust, but i will wait and see how the craft performs before making new pylons for the longer motors.

Ashley

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Srn4 finished barring the windows for which I am waiting for a reply from a graphics company.

All the bits turn and twirl and I am surprised by the (relative) power of the 130 motors leading me to have hope that the performance of the thing will be “adequate”, but not fast.

Box next, and oddly enough the Griffon box is just the right size, perhaps an inch less width and length.. The box is going to look like a toy boat box, like you would have seen in Woolworths, with a “cellophane” window and internal lighting to show the craft in the box, so in effect it will have its own self contained display setup. Tbe warning on the side might read ” not suitable for children under 65 years of age” ????

Ashley  ( over 65…just…)

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Well. Loaded up the car Sunday morning and it started to rain but I thought what the heck and went to the park anyway…whereupon it wasn’t raining and actually got a bit brighter.

Tried SRN4 in the side stream and very great it was too. Fab maneuverability and much faster than I thought it might be. Draught…about 10mm!

Has a quick sail with the P&O ferry ( c current mag!) Then went for a walk round the pond to find Trevor and his cousin sitting on the pond bench SO I had to demonstrate the 4 again, which was good…until it broke down. No motors…rudders OK. Due to the light weight and strongish wind it hurtled over to the far side heading towards the narrow bit between our biating pond and the BIG lake…so.. I had to run to the car to get the 10m pole and run round the boating pond to successfully intercept it. Appears that the Mtronics esc is not working???  Test this out today.

Making the box now, top brain moment…I will use Gorilla double sided tape to secure the thing acrylic window stuff. Have been pondering how best to glue that on, but tape is probably the best way, as the box will flex a bit and might crack stiffer glues.

Next project…to be decided.

Ashley

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

I inherited a couple of 15 amp Mtronics Escs from Paul Freshney which went kaput for no obvious reason. Be interested to see if it comes back to life.

Good to hear that he SRN4 is successful though.

Colin

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

You never know. They usually seem to lose reverse or forward first. Might text it out later.

The big news is that the log in the pond has been dragged to the side, about 12 feet from the bank. It’s been a shipping hazard for years. We all wondered why it sort of stayed roughly where it was, but now we know. It’s a massive hollow bit of tree trunk it’s hollow….hhmmm wonder who will very first to make the passage through it….

Ashley

 

[Richard SimpsonModerator @richardsimpson88330]

I have had a couple of Mtroniks speed controllers go bang spectacularly in the past but Mtroniks have always been very good  and are happy to have a look at the unit to give it a thorough testing and replace if there is a fault.

[Chris FellowsParticipant @chrisfellows72943]

That’s interesting. I’ve got an Mtronik in my Club 500 which on more than one occasion has swopped forward and reverse around, once just as a race was due to start! And on another occasion the rudder reversed. Probably not helped by the boat being upside down more than once?

I’ve lost confidence in it so will replace it with one of my favoured HobbyWing Quirun ones.

[ashley needham]

On ashley needham Said:

the log in the pond

 

 

Bang some big corks in the ends, propulsion of your choice and you’ve got a unique “Captains Log” stealth Ship!

I once accidently bought an Mtroniks Plug-n-Play ESC instead of the TIO version. Each time it is powered on it interprets the first direction the throttle is pushed as forwards – took a while to work out why direction was sometimes reversed.

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Tested the esc by plugging a 540 into it and it works OK. However…none of the motors turn if a battery is put across the common lead. Can’t believe all the motors burnt out???

They were supposed to be 6v ones. What’s the betting they were 3 or 4.5v , sold as 6v on an ” up to 6v at a burst” ????

I only hope the new 180 can  long shaft ones on order DO have a long shaft to put two props on, and that they really are rated for the advertised 9v operation….

I will be making more pylons if the current motors are really knackered.

Ashley

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Not that anyone will notice but the opening photo/ fake advert for the P&O ferry was colourised in a “vintage” hue, and at least on the PC looks exactly the same colourway as period magazine pictures.

Was mildly dissapointed with the mag as the pictures are all a bit washed out/ faded. Certainly in the past the colours have been more vibrant. Likely it has to do with more environmentally friendly inks and paper….?

Pictures of it on my PC look really stunning, with the bold blocky blue and white, and lovely sky. You get a really nice reflection on the pond when the sun is up and the sky is blue, allied to a great grassy/ tree dotted background.

Working on the storage/ display box now. A bit of a work of art, with lighting, inside rear panel mural and “cellophane” glazed panels top and front.

Ashley

[Richard SimpsonModerator @richardsimpson88330]

Ashley, I agree I think it has a lot to do with the quality of the paper and the quality of the inks.  The quality of the photographs is noticeably poor nowadays, not just from a colour saturation aspect but also sharpness and contrast.  Pictures that I submit are bright and clear but they end up bland and washed out in the magazine .  Compare them with a magazine from ten years ago!

What’s more concerning though is to compare them with any other available magazine nowadays.  Put it side by side with ‘Hornby Magazine’ or ‘Airfix Model World’, Hornby is £6.49 for 170 pages and Airfix is £6.25 for 114 pages, both of very good print quality and clarity and noticeably heavier paper.  Model Boats is £6.35 for 82 pages, so I think we are reliant on the hard core enthusiasts to support it and are not attracting new customers.  I know advertising plays a big part so I guess it begs the question, “Are we not getting the advertising or are there simply not enough suppliers out there”.  Maybe we should be looking a little bit wider or maybe we are not making enough of the available suppliers.  One thing that immediately strikes me is that Humbrol advertise in Airfix Model World every month.  Why don’t they advertise in Model Boats?  We have evaluated their products in the past so given them a bit of free advertising so why do we not see a Humbrol advert each month?

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

The paper quality has definitely declined with a consequent effect on the images. I have no idea what the circulation is now but it must be continuing to decline. There are a number of former advertisers who have gone out of business in the last few years such as the Chatham Model Shop and some smaller one man setups. Others seem to have simply stopped advertising such as Macs Mouldingas and ModelBoatBits. I think Deluxe Materials advertise occasionally.

Incidentally, the images in the Archives do reflect the quality of the submitted photos.

Colin

[Ray Wood 3Participant @raywood3]

Hi Richard,

As far as I’m aware Hornby own both brands Humbrol and Airfix so they don’t have to pay for advertising as I guess they publish the magazine ?, rather like PECO and Railway Modeller ? If my boat club is anything to go by very few active boaters build their boats 🙁

PS I didn’t go boating today as it looks very cold and there is no wind for sailing 🙂

Regards  Ray

[Philip OxleyParticipant @inonowt]

Haven’t heard the word “cellophane” since…well since I was last ill and mummy bought me Lucozade.  😂😂  You could scrunch it up and listen to it unravel.😄😄

[Author]

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