Todays Boating

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Harry, that is just the sort of thing you need..but sadly I have no duff drills to use!!!

Will be making paddles tonight, should be easy with only 4 to do!

Boat bottom looks a bit crude as yet, but will bash on…if it works I will make it look nice(er) that it might otherwise look for a whim idea. If it does work I may then embark on the paddle warship.

Ashley

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Paddle boat looking much better now.

Have taken delivery of a 40;1 plastic worm drive geared unit now, so can see where I need to put it whilst leaving room for 3 rudders. Sprockets for plastic chain a bit larger than anticipted.. plastic chain fiddly to assemble but will be ok. It is bright Blue…so if the paddler looks good and performs well I will need to disguise it somehow.

No reason I shouldnt have it out on Sunday for a quick test, albeit unfinished. I need to make some rudders up and may do this using brass rod with a soldered on tiller arm, with a long slot in the rod for aluminium blades epoxied in place as I have insufficient nylon tillers and brass sheet. Can always change them later on.

The Nylon axle holders for the paddle shaft are axcellent and will just screw in place easily on my chunky wheel supports, will try to put some snaps in soon.

Ashley

[Trevor HollowayParticipant @trevorholloway99134]

Darn, I'm gonna miss this Sunday and the next one is the cycle race.

Lets hope there is plenty of weed to try it out (never thought that sentence would be used here) – don't forget the pole.

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Will be trying it out in the stream (for easy recovery!!!).

Good point, roads/bridge closed due to cycle race 2 August

Ashley

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

drive unit not up to the job and has just stripped the worm drive !!!

Will be boring boating tomorrow assuming we do not have the rain forecast.

Hovervan stopped working last week and I have not looked at it.

Might look at my list and see what I have not bought out lately. Might be the big lct or woteva

Ashley

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Raining!

Given up on the paddler. In the bin. (literally) wasnt happy with it, never happy just making up something to build..I like to base my models on the real thing. The paddler was never going to be an El Fateh copy, more like an El Ashley Chain too bulky, worm broke. Dont want to spend any more on it. Chain/sprockets will come in handy for the big paddler (eventually)

Proj No1 just needs the "hull" sealing with two patches and a spot of calm weather. I know it sort of works but needs some fine tuning, and also see notes for No3

Proj No2 still varnishing…I know it works so its almost there.

Proj No3 has the hull built, need to fit propulsion next…and I am umming and arring over swapping the motor I bought for it with that from No1..this is the trouble with brushless motors..fine specs for aircraft, but…. and No1 is about 10 times heavier that No3 !! I will give you a clue….no I wont…iy will give the game away.

Hovervan to fix.

Projext no4 ?? dont know yet, have reached a point where although I have three on the go, in fact they are stalling for one good reason or another and theres not much to be getting on with.

Ashley

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

NO BOATING Sunday due to cycle race and H/ct bridge being shut. I know this is devastating news for the crew but we must accept this and be manly with it, no blubbing.

Proj2; Varnish wot I thought was quite good, in the sunny, er sunlight is NOT so good and has too many slumps in it for my liking. So, rubbing down yet again, but only on 8th or 9th coat so actually not well over the top yet. Paul Twould say I am just at the beginning stage. All this varnish adds weight though !! Still looking for a suitable 1/12 scale chap. Several figures I have so far, but .

Quick demo of project no1 to the man who kljhbwefh it, and managed to hit the kndqfds with it !! damn and blast..! but no damage done. Everyone well impressed. Control not great, but theres little that can be done. It did not hfjkfovvks ribhdfnxkd as I thought it might though which was good news. I am sure it will be ok once I tweak the hjfkrthsmdfng, and I have another main motor (slightly different spec, purchased for proj No3) to try for a bit more ooph, and I need to get a larger selection of props to try.

Ashley. oops sorry about the deliberate typo`s.

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Dudes. Sunday. Ashley

[Trevor HollowayParticipant @trevorholloway99134]

Loads of weed (more than usual) = empty pondside !

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

a)Sunderland

b) Argus

c) large clear patch for Argus

d) weed no issue Sunderland.

e) pleasant hour boating on own

f) sob

g) nxt week proj1

Ashley

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

a) BFB2 and HBA

b) serious duckweed

c) no problems with the right tools

d) Sunderland having bent soggy cardboard engine cowls replaced by plastic ones. Looking a bit tatty now and will have a repaint as well. Engines tatty but hidden by cowls. Note small motor size.

Ashley

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Just in case anybody wondered, the motors , being flat on two sides have simply been epoxied to the engine bearers. Small white marks on wings are where the exhaust pipe straws were glued on.,

I am repainting the plane now so not an issue.

Grey lower hull had been sanded and Eze-coted.

Rudder has been hand fettled to provide zero gap between rudder and body so that weed does not get trapped there.

Ashley

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

I really do like your aircraft models, Ashley

Very novel and very original

Nice to see them being restored

Surprised to see so much weed!………We've only had thick Algae……And the heavy rains washed it away

Any more surprises in the pipeline?

Bob

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Bob. Thanks for that. Weed I think is more of an issue at Bushy as the pond and lakes are quite shallow and so very warm in summer.

The Sunderland has a slightly different colour scheme now, as the new grey has a slightly green tinge to it and looks quite nice. Cracks in wing roots have been re-glued and the bottom treated to eze-cote. A bit of white touch up required and all systems go.

Projects….. No1 done , needs tweaking. No2 still varnishing as its covered in veneer..actually working a treat but the finish is taking longer than expected.

. No3 work in progress. Being held up for the same reason as No1, although not on such a large scale.

I think you will find all three to be different and at least two of them suprising and hitherto never seen before.

Expect to see a novel propulsion system despite the familiarity of the design, an unexpected propulsion tweak, a seen-it- before propulsion but not like this at all, and all of them using brushless technology !! (size and weight in all cases), and the use of LiPo in the first as weight is an issue and you will see what I mean considering the size of it.

In order they will be slow, quite fast and takeoff very fast.

Ashley

[Trevor HollowayParticipant @trevorholloway99134]

Yup, all "different", however I am yet to see any of them running in anger yet.

Once they are public, there will be bowing in awe aplenty !

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Trevor. Ah well bu they have only been down running once and twice respectivly.

Speaking of projects….>>>?

Ashley

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

weed still not a problem. last picture….appreciative audience. Ashley what fun.

Appreciative audience. Real boaters, not fair weather boaters….

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

They're plotting something Ashley….

Colin

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Pooing something more likely. The jetty is covered in it. Notice the green splodges, guess what that is..

Have to be careful kneeling down.

I did miss a great photo opportunity Sunday, Boat was going r-l in front of the jetty and the swan and large cygnets were in a line going the other way. As they passed the boat in line-ahead formation they all turned their heads to inspect it. The moment was past before I could get the hood on though.

Ashley

PS I am not explaining that one. Paul T, tell DM what I mean, he is too young, theres a good chap.

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

I wonder…….

[Dave MilbournParticipant @davemilbourn48782]

Ashley

I'm all too familiar with the by-product of Canada Geese and the effect that rain washing it into a pond can have on the algae and weed population. Anyone who's taken a walk down by the Trent in Nottingham during the last thirty years can testify to that. Wicksteed Park also has the same problem. That's why we sail in a pond which is surrounded by a raised concrete edging and has nothing to attract the little b*ggers. Landing on a pond surrounded by pine trees apparently isn't easy, and there's nowt for them to eat even if they manage it. I may be daft but I ain't stupid……………

**LINK**

Dave M

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

DM. The "explain" bit was the hood remark….

But yes geese are an issue. Our pond has a flow through but not much of one and thats probably the main problem, build up of geese poo and wotnot. Its amazing to think there is a flow of water through the park as its just so flat and the water travels right across it diagonally from the inlet from the river Longford to the Thames at the other side.

Ashley

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Bunked off Sunday.Sitting on your own can get to you eventually (sniff sniff)

DESPITE having fun with the flyingboats. Of which, speaking, I need some thin paper drinking straws for the Sunderland exhaust pipes. Can`t find `em anywhere…I only need one!

Went to a car boot instead and purchased some foam, with which to cosset my babies in, in their boxes. Its amazing where it all goes to, and after a while I am reduced to sticking odd scrapstogether for padding etc.

I have found that the Toyboata, Alvis and Herald sit nicely in their reasonably well-fitting boxes simply by using two layers of bubble wrap; They dont need anything special as of course they sit on their wheels.

Proj no2 has a bit of a complicated box and support arrangement, whilst project No1 just sits on a foam mat, the bottom of the boat being fairly flat.

Speaking of proj No1, some bits stick out a bit and have been made deliberately easily frangible so as not to damage the superstructure. Thing is, I keep on franging them and need to ….revisit ….this area of the build. It is ready to go though barring some tinkering for performance optimising.

Ashley

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Ho HO. A chance find, half a dozen half-sheets of 4mm ply on free-cycle.. perfect to add fronts to the boxes of my baots that only have 3/4 boxes, and make the final few boxes for boats that dont have them.

Popped over the pond, still well weeded up. Ho hum.Car boot tomorrow early i suppose buy some more rubbish.

Good day today getting 3mm strip and STUFF and working on Proj No3.

Ashley

[Dodgy Geezer 1Participant @dodgygeezer1]

Posted by ashley needham on 19/09/2015 19:33:22:

Ho HO. A chance find, half a dozen half-sheets of 4mm ply on free-cycle.. perfect to add fronts to the boxes of my baots that only have 3/4 boxes, and make the final few boxes for boats that dont have them.

Ashley

Ah, Ashley, try some Correx! Your boxes will be so much lighter to carry…

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