Todays Boating

[Trevor HollowayParticipant @trevorholloway99134]

A couple of pictures

:

Certainly is a contact "sport" although there was no sportsmanship to be seen !

Balloons are held down by wooden pegs super glued to the deck and as Ashley already mentioned the jousting poles are just fixed to wooden towers.

Pins on the end are not strong enough and just bend requiring a visit to the armoury to straighten them out.

Great fun for combatants and spectators alike.

[Trevor HollowayParticipant @trevorholloway99134]

Part of the varied species of spectators !

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Boating today; A bit blowy on the pond! despite being calm in the garden. Took the BHA and went around the side stream first *(as per photo above), and then ventured into the wider sea. Cor. Water everywhere. Wings dipping down so far over I thought the thing might capsize, but it didn't get that far over. I took it out then as a precaution anyway, and it was also jolly cold.
The Sunderland or BFB3 do​ not go so far over as the wing floats are much larger. The BHA has relatively small floats as the body is quite fat.

Anyway, a pleasant hour`s floatational fun.

I have made a couple of `austere` tops for the ferry and LCM for future combat.. Despite there being no damage to speak of, this will not always be the case, and the ferry has a load of figures seated at the rear all ripe for being knocked off into the pond. I have splashed some white and grey paint respectively on them and they look fit for service. I have no cheap soldiers for the lcm top but we do have loads of Matchbox 1/32 American paratroopers, so three have been painted up, and for the ferry I had a brainwave and filtched some roadwork gang chaps from a box stashed away in the shed which contains Berengar`s road signs and stuff (that he no longer plays with) and after a bit of trimming and painting, they make excellent passengers. Two chaps have elf`n`safety yellow hard hats and these are the crew ….handy as that's what they are all wearing to start with.

Whilst deciding what to take out this morning I was again struck by the fact that not all the boats are kitted up ready for instant use, and so I must address this and purchase some more receivers and ESCs. Most of the boats I have are only fitted with a 15A ESc`s, and one or two have aircraft forward only jobs, which are incredibly cheap. I may fit more of these cheap ESc to things which I don't often take out, and apart from the Sunderland, all the flying boats could be so fitted. I must reach for the J.Perkins catalogue.

Watched "The African queen" film a few days ago. It struck me that they had of course dirtied up the boat to make it look, er, dirty, but it was well overdone, and most of the `muck` was black, and not rust or green slime. I noticed the diesel exhaust out the back of the boat when it passed the fort…..

I almost fancy modelling the Queen, with those two `torpedoes` sticking out the front.

Ashley

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Today, fiddled about fitting a pair of 5×2 Graupner props to the BFB3 to replace the push-on 3 blade props. I am hoping that the Graupner ones will produce a bit more oomph as they are proper props, and will hopefully be more efficient than the park flyer types. I am losing the multi-blade look, but what the heck. I had to reverse the rear motor direction buy swapping wires, and then the motor fell off (which was handy as wire replacement was much easier) and the motor is only held on by hot-glue in any case…

The wing end float mounts have been changed yet again so as to position the floats further forward and hopefully this will be the last time I have to touch them.

I did toy with the idea of speed 400 motors, but they are an order of magnitude larger than the speed 280`s​, would need to be mounted above the wing (and then I would have to disguise them a bit to make them look more like aero-engines). Two 400`s are also longer e-e than the depth of the wing leading to overhang.

I hope the 280`s are ok with the 5×2 props which are probably meant for a 400, but they are a very low pitch, and sound ok revving on the bench. See on Sunday, eh????

Yet more props and stuff purchased for proj No1, and I feel I may have cracked the er, propulsion issues, or at least have now sufficient bits to play with.. An 1820Kv motor would be the last gasp, to replace either choice of 1210 or 1380kv motors. Its amazing how powerful these little brushless motors are. Out of interest, the 1380kv turns an 8×4 air prop easily on test…its a big prop for a 28mm motor, but what does that translate into for a water prop????? but I digress.

Ashley

[harry smith 1Participant @harrysmith1]

**LINK**

ONE 4 DAVE AS HE HAS A THING ABOUT CARS!!!!!

Harry

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Harry. Not sure about the car, think DM has higher aspirations!

Its no good, although the speed 400s will not fit the BFB3, they fit nicely on the BHA, and will take 5 inch speed 400 props, so should have some useful grunt. While I am at it, I have stripped off the battered expanded polystyrene foam on the underside and am replacing it with blue Styrofoam, and slightly deeper..to get a better shape and more buoyant lift at the front, needed really due to the high mounted props pushing the bow down somewhat.

The poor Sunderland has teeny weeny motors and not even speed 280`s will fit in the nacelle space, so not much chance to upgrade there, but there are 4 of them, and with the very small 1600mAhr 2/3A Nimh battery I have the speed is already quite good, as previously reported.

Ashley

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Ho chaps. Am sniffing a bit, so will be languishing in bed tomorrow.

BHA has had speed 400 motors fitted and a pair of 5.5 x 4.5 props purchased. These should provide at least double if not a quadzillion times more thrust than the combination fitted before and will obviously lead to instant take-off from the briny, possibly, unlikely even. BUT….

The underside has had 25/20/10 mm of styrene foam applied (thickness from front to rear, and has been artfully sculpted and covered in eze-kote and cloth. Looks good, if nothing else. The body needs a repaint at the front now..the odd light orange /brown colour I must have mixed especially, so I may just paint it Humbrol light brown, and leave the top as it is. The other colours at the rear are standard Humbrol tins so no probs in touch=up there.

Internally a lower strengthening member (a bit of balsa on the floor) has been re-engineered (hacked off) to allow the battery to slide further back, and the rudder servo will be moved further forward for a bit better access compared to the as-built configuration. New motor side panels have been made in a similar style to the originals, so if I manage to attend Haydock later on the only real difference anyone will see (if indeed anyone bothers to have a look) will be the larger props and slightly darker hull forwards.

Ashley

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Today. Bit sharp but v sunny, clear sky. Car park full by 0930 due to a park run thing. I was down at 0920 as had a GFIG last night in Croydon. Nightmare as the sat nav packed up. Luckily I recognised some waymarks from previous visits. High point of the night (besides the very nice young lady dancing ) was our rendition of Batman…the Burt ward 60`s show tune. Megga fun, we were rolling up. Such energy in a tune, and everyone loved it, after all, it only has two words to sing (if you discount the da da )

A) BFB3; definitely faster with new props, but some sorting of rx reception needed now as range down, nothing to do with prop mods.

B) BHA. Not particularly faster with new motors!!! at least, as I remember it. Now I have more foam on the bottom the float are too high​ so need new floats. Torque effect apparent. Need a)new floats b) new 5.5 X 3 perhaps props as the 400 motors are not revving out as far as my ear can tell.

C) USS New Jersey ;An Argos toy plastic magic conversion. Wicked. Fast on a speed 280 and a small 7.2v 1600mAhr Nimh battery. Such fun. A speedboat with big guns. Why do people have such trouble with plastic magic…answer…they don't choose the right boats!!

Ashley

[Mark Jarvis 2Participant @markjarvis2]

HI Ashley, lets see some pics of the New Jersey, what other adaptions have you made???

Mark

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Mark. Picture in my album.. This was an easy job. The deck comes off by undoing screws from underneath the hull, ans simply needed a bit of painting. The various holes and wheels were removed/filled, and the draw (!) in the hull side was glued up and filled. Hull sprayed, a few of the supports and things cut away inside to allow a speed 280/shaft/servo to be fitted. All very crude, but the deck simply sits on top of this lot, there being sufficient depth of hull not to need any other work. It accommodates a standard 7.2V Nimh battery, none of this micro-surgery or miniaturisation like wot plastic kits require.

All this for £20 (boat. small die cast aircraft and some tanks). The detail on the boat is very good for a toy..the only painting I have done is a grey spray overall, paint the deck brown, red bottom and pick out a few details in black or light grey.

It goes very well, and water is easily decanted by lifting off the deck and tipping the whole lot upside down.

Ashley (Current browser not allowing picture placement)​

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Trevor popped in with motors and other props to chat about the 3D rendition of his new project, which is building something hitherto only being discussed in this very forum.

As usual there are a number of issues, and as with all these things, these issues stem from attempting to make the finished product resemble the full-size craft it is supposed to represent. BUT, they are not insurmountable and it is amazing the vision that can be conjured up from a pair of motors, a bit of ply, bits of wire and a milk container.

Theres nothing like seeing something in the flesh to fully appreciate the proportions and look of a craft. This is why I resort to making card models (corrugated card boxes and hot glue gun) to dicker around with the dimensions to satisfy the sometimes conflicting demands of scale and r/c practicalities.

Project No3 has benefited from this approach, and indeed my album I think contains the card Hovervan replica. Say no more.

Ashley

[harry smith 1Participant @harrysmith1]

Hi Ashley

It's not boating, but, I watched two TV shows last night, The Golden Age of Canals and The Return of The Flying Scotsman.

GREAT, GREAT SHOWS and they did not have commercials(downloaded from EZTV via Utorrent).

Harry

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Bit nippy over the pond. BFB3 performing well, now I have pulled a bit more aerial out into the open. Definitely faster with the Graupner 5×2 props

BHA is NOT so fast with the 4.4x 4.1 props on, but I forgot to take the 5.5`s along to swap back over. Side wing floats just the right height now and working well. Wind got up a bit and the boat almost capsized a few times but hey that's living-on-the-edge boating such as we experience at Bushy park.

Lastly an outing for the foam flyer, with a toddy 1600 mAhr 7.2V Nimh 2/3A size battery, and going quite well, considering it was just more-or-less a couple of days work​ with some 10mm Styrofoam.

Trevor had a development with the current project and had added some spongy tube and bits of ply to the previous parts. Can see the form developing now, and we discussed the project at some length although did not actually decide much !! a float test was very instructive even with the minimal parts.

It was a bit nippy and the planned LCM jousting did not materialise (although I did have a lander in the car).Also in reserve was the small New jersey battleship,

All this was accomplished on 27Mhz, referring to the PLANT current topic. I am mucho peeved. How can it be that such a popular set has been either discontinued or JP does not want to import it/CANT import it. Beats me. The question is what to do?? Invest in ANOTHER 2.4 set or what. I have probably 10 receivers but obviously not enough to equip the fleet.

Ashley

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Have received several parcels lately and have fitted a pair of opposite rotating 5 x 4.5 props on new adaptors on the BHA. Seems to be producing good quantities of thrust, and the motors are revving nicely…ie don't appear to be straining.
Did work on proj no4, and due to the cold I have been cutting the bits of knackered watermarked ply in the shed and rushing back to the living room to do the gluing, as PVA takes forever to dry in the cold. Reminds me when I made the Alvis, almost the same sort of time of year and also when it was v cold.

My birthday tomorrow but I will OF COURSE be boating to try out the BHA. Not sure what else. perhaps the Devastation, for a bit of fun.

I am going to stick with the Planet T5, using the nice small receivers in craft that they would most benefit. Loads of boats, IE the Titanic, have no lack of room and can keep the good old 27M sets.

Ashley

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Not a very good birthday boat. There is some p##y "event" on at HCP, and the park car-park was rammed solid at 0915…. did one circuit of the car park and vamoosed home.

Spent morning putting battens across the ends of my boat-boxes, so you have something to hook your fingers over when lifting them. Makes ball the difference, a couple had them by chance, but a few hours work has sorted all of them.

Birthday lunch…fish finger sarnie (and gherkins): I know how to live.

Proj 4 continues on apace. A few little quirks of the design have made themselves known, and I hacked a bit of ply into shape thinking it was going to be covered up but its on view!!! no problem, bit of filler, not much…its just the extra work ! Also I have a number of couplings for motor/propshaft somewhere…can I find them ??

Ashley

[Dodgy Geezer 1Participant @dodgygeezer1]

Posted by ashley needham on 20/03/2016 14:23:32:

………………………
Spent morning putting battens across the ends of my boat-boxes, so you have something to hook your fingers over when lifting them. Makes ball the difference, a couple had them by chance, but a few hours work has sorted all of them………………………

Never found the need for battens myself…

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

DG. As an exponent of the shoe-box sized vessel I dare say you never have needed battens!

Nice box by the way (as it were). Unfortunately with larger sandwiches the need is for battens. The box for the ARGUS had thick ends and I used a bit of rope through a couple of holes to do the business.

Now I shall need to paint the battens to restore the glory of the carefully handcrafted boxes (mostly constructed from best man-made board). Yours is self coloured??? Corex or whatever.

Ashley

[Paul TParticipant @pault84577]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ASHLEY

Elf and safety wouldn't let me use the correct number of candles without two fire tenders standing by so this will have to do.

Paul

[Dodgy Geezer 1Participant @dodgygeezer1]

Posted by ashley needham on 20/03/2016 17:52:54:

DG. As an exponent of the shoe-box sized vessel I dare say you never have needed battens!
………
Now I shall need to paint the battens to restore the glory of the carefully handcrafted boxes (mostly constructed from best man-made board). Yours is self coloured??? Corex or whatever.

Ashley

Yup. Folded Correx Twin-Flute for all my boxes, including the radio/support box. Means I have a set of matched model-boat luggage…and totally waterproof, of course.

Correx is surprisingly strong when bent properly and joined with pop rivets – see a 'build log' here **LINK**

You are correct that my boats are light and small – but I see no reason why the boxes as designed should not take at least 20lb – maybe much more – I've never tried them out. Probably the limiting issue will be size – Correx can be floppy when it gets over 6ft or so – but that's just a design issue. And this way the boxes are easy and cheap to make, stack and store…

[Trevor HollowayParticipant @trevorholloway99134]

I did a similar circuit or two of the car park (no improvement by 9:45) and gave up .

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Paul thanks for best wishes, cheeky bugger.

Trevor. Sport relief event apparently. Any more on the old Pyrrhic Runabout??

Ashley

[Trevor HollowayParticipant @trevorholloway99134]

Ashley, e-mail sent, put it this way: several concerns have been allayed !

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Boaters. It looks like tomorrow is not going to be good, weather wise, and there is a RUN on Sunday leading to congestion so I think it will be workshop time.

Speaking of which, Trevor has said that the propulsive assembly for his project is showing "adequate" thrust on test. Having seen the setup I am excited and am expecting good things.|

Proj No4 is coming on. It is getting to the stage now where some artistic judgement is called for, due to the fact that I am using parts fit-for-purpose but not necessarily in scale (with each other). A bit like the Alvis, whose wheels were just the job but too fat for scale necessitating some juggling with dimensions to keep "the look".

I have had to cut a hatch in a bulkhead after it was fitted due to an oversight and once again my small Dremmelly thing was not up to the task. I am going to purchase something a bit more powerful, but what? A Dremel 3000 has 130Watts, a Dremel 4000 has 175Watts…how much watts do you need? In Wilkinson's today as I was in Kingston getting some paint and I saw they have their own Dremmelly thing whjich was a nice substantial thing, mains powered and it has 130watts.. only £30. I only ever use these things now and again..is it worth the extra to get a Dremel?

Ashley

[Andy CParticipant @andyc56856]

Hi Ashley

I have a maplin's dremmelly thingy. No idea of the wattage, but works well enough, plus loads of the same attachments.

Andy

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Andy. 130W according to Maplin's.. The Homebase item I have is a 12v/transformer job and has never been satisfactory. I looks like it may have a 385 motor in it. I have used it over the years to drill very small holes, but even then it did not cut the mustard. The non-Dremmelly corded items I have seen all look the same and no doubt come off the same production line.

I feel a trip to Maplin's coming on.

Ashley

[Author]

Posts