Todays Boating

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Fantastice boating today. Not only a great morning but boaters Ray Trevor Chris and a.n.other (with an extremely tidy steam river launch, electric,but with a fogger funnel and chuff chuff sounds)<AND rotating fake steam engine> … with several boats apiece. And Mr T.

Admired your flashing Blue light Trevor…a bit bright a day really, but when it gets a bit dim no doubt it will look FANTASTIC.

Had, in order.. Ecranoplan, its usual whizzy self, the TBD, trialling a three blade 35mm prop with a decent amount of pitch on it (I think its a Graupne one) which was going ok. AND the Invincible towing the T22, which I had sailing independently at the end.

Ray had straightened out and tidied up the Belfast which looked the best I have seen it, still a work-in-progress, mind (after 20 years) .

BUT..Mr T`s poor RTTL….which we re-wired last Friday night. This is a bit of a learning curve for Tom, as a complete beginner, trying to get the boat his dad built up and running. I think it is worth recounting the trials and tribulations as it has merit for any new person trying their hand at the boating lark.

SO.. new wiring, speed 600 motors, 50A ESC now. Plopped in the water….lots of zizz, no go.he had forgotten to tighten the couplings up..didnt have the right Allen key at the pondside (we have had a thread about taking tools, and WHAT we take, a while ago)…I popped to the car to get the box of bits. Fixed the coupling. Put it in the water…a few circles, looks promising.Bought it back to the side, held on to the boat and had it running full throttle for 20 sec….all ok. Out to the wide open sea, and very promising indeed! good speed. almost on the plane, sheets of water everywhere. Bring it back..oh dear…dead…fuse gone. Had a look and one propshaft was binding as the nuts were loose, seizing and so stalling one motor. New fuse, re-adjusted the shaft..off he went…..speed NOT quite so good..return to shore…motors hot, ESC hot..not TOO hot but obviously it and the motors would cook if it was run for any length of time, as we suspected might be the case…so…

Have wired up a pair of "standard" 540`s, which Tom can borrow and will be a straight swap into the boat. It will not be as fast, but Tom can then get the hang of controlling the boat, at slower speeds, and the boat will run reliably and for a decent length of time. Didnt ask who sold him the motors, but although they may well be the sort of power he might like, it comes at a price, ie, needing watercooling.

Ashley

[Rick DevonshireParticipant @rickdevonshire]

Hi Ashley,

Thank you for your invite with directions to Bushy Park sailing (09/05/12). We hope to see you this Sunday, 3rd of this month, all being well.

Rick.

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Blast !! Oh dear… PROBABLY will not be down, as have a Street party to play at in the early afternoon (one of two over the weekend….sorry about that, best laid plans and wotnot !

But an excuse to suss out the venue.

Ashley

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Didnt miss anything last week due to the rain, as it turned out, and the band job was cold and wet in a feild…However..Tomorrow (10th) looks as if it may be very nice, if a bit windy, so I may take the Herald for a move-with-wind-assistance (you cant call it sailing ,really) slot.

My tally book indicates that the Nelson and Devastation both need an outing, so will prep those as well. Hope to see some of you tomorrow??

Ashley

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Great morning ! Fantastic weather, boats running well (Nelson, Devastation and Herald) albeit that there wasnt much breeze for the Herald. I did get it out to do a spot of rescuing (as the front is flat) but the offending boat was recovered before I had a chance.

Loads of chaps there. Toolbox out in force again…to fiddle with Tom`s RTTL, shaft binding again, and a.n.other (sorry name either not obtained or forgotten) who had a large warship not based on anything particular, rescued from E-bay and done up..whose propellor fell off…nuts adjusted and plastic substitute prop provided!

It was almost crowded at the jetty!

Tom`s RTTL was going really well, after a bit of fiddling, on the standard 540`s I wired up for him. To be honest, I didnt expect this level of performance, the motors were very warm, as they might be after a good thrashing, but not over hot, and the ESC was as cool as a cucumber. Sheets of water were being thrust aside by the bow and Tom was well happy. It still runs a bit nose down, and so i suggested he might like to move the rudder servo rearwards a bit and put the battery stick behind the motors. I dont think that this will quite be enough to obtain a nose up attitude, as his Dad had built the boat fairly solid, but will be the best that can be done without some major surgery. I would be happy with the level of performance, and the 4300 packs lasted well over 40 mins no problem.

No boating next week as have a garden party job with the band.

I may have to break out the sub, week after.

Ashley

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Wierd weather we are having. At the pond, light rain, have my coat on. Decide that I WILL sail (the Oberon sub) as I can control the thing readily enough from under a handy tree and of course it doesnt matter to a sub about the rain. The rain stopped after 5 mins and it became moderately windy and fairly warm. Out therefore with the Herald, going fairly well in the blustery conditions, followed by the Toyboata, by popular demand (at least thats what I thought).

Peter was there with his new "vintage" cabin cruiser . hull only, for tests. It has a canoe stern which is unusual and very attractive, and a long sloped cut-up at the rear with a flat bottom. UNFORTUNATELY this combination gives a lot of rise at the front at speed, as the stern settles on the slop, and so it was..we thought that shifting the battery well forward and possibly a bit of extra weight would cure most of this. It may be that at rest the boat will have to have a slight front down attitude, but this would reduce to flat at cruising speeds, and give a spectacular lift at the front with welly applied. Chris turned up later on with kids and assorted fast craft and and anchor handling boat (with twin front fire monitors, always a crowd pleaser, but having a hard time keeping the jets on the Toyboata, as Jeremy is fairly wiley and has good manouverability).

Off home to fiddle with the project, trialed this week after 3 months of waiting due to wind and weather, and performing as I thought for a first attempt…just not right at all. At least the mechanical bits are working well, smooth and good manoeverability. Need a 9.6V battery for more welly as well. Ho hum.

Ashley

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Yesterday (8th), and I set off in light rain, parked the car in heavy rain,, and then it stopped and the morning got better bit by bit.

Had the Landing craft out, after giving it a good dusting off. Went ok, tried a few different props (as I had "recently" changed the 380 motor to a 385, running on a 9.6V batt pack as bought for the Ecranoplan. This is light and sits well under the tank deck). After a few tries it seemed to me that a 35mm S plastic twin blade prop was best, both forward and backwards. HMS Boxer was next followed by the Nelson. Chris and lads turned up with three boats between them, and Ray, on his cycle (no boats). THEN it poured down at about 11 ish, and we retired to the shade of a tree to continue. I had the T22 in the water then, and I thought it looked quite authentic battling through the pouring rain and waves!! Only lasted for 10 mins and then dried up again.

The t22 rear flight deck access arrangements were working very well (the area under the flight deck is bulkheaded off from the main interior, and the ridder control rod comes through an aircraft style sleeved control wire), as this was half full of water biut the hull was completely dry. The flight deck is on a simple plug, helecopter glued in place.

Showed the value of my new storage boxes, as the other two boats were sheltering in them on the grass and remained moderately dry. .

I have seen several boats lately with cramped servo/rudder arrangements, and would reccomend using the plastic sleeved aircraft style control wires. this allows the servo to be almost anywhere in the boat, and as long as the outer is glues firmly in place, the operation is very precise. Doesnt half free up space, especially at the stern, and provides much more "finger" room..

Ashley

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Today. Nice day, great day, blue skies and a bit oif breeze to ruffle the surface of the water.

Several new bods to tell the tall tale of how the T22 follows the carrier around because of the the infra red link at the back end of Invincible and the infra red eye in the bridge of the Boxer…..takes them a while you know. Both boats going well when seperated, the carrier is so easy to chuck around and has buckets of power, and the Boxer is almost like speedboat when given full throttle. Must race it aginst the other hotties in the collection…TBD and Torpedo boat ( both pre 1900 of course).

The GLORIOUS was out first though for a zoom, and this was joined by Barry, Tom ,Spencer and a few dad/child combinations with small RTR boats..some (on 2.4GIG) which ran along side ours ok, and others that didnt. Why do they all chuck them in the water and wait until they are out of arms reach before trying the controls .."well it worked at home before we came out".

Again a waste of a big boating pond with easy access and car parking right next to, and hardly any boaters on it on such a nice morning. Swan molesting the public on the jetty again, young deer making themselves a nuisance looking for bread, and having to be shooed away.

So saying , not there next week as on hols (days out only…..due to budgetry constraints)

Ashley

[Trevor HollowayParticipant @trevorholloway99134]

Car trouble meant no boating yesterday, away next Sunday and the week after is the Olympic cycling coming within yards of the pond (roads closed from 4:30 am) so I am sending my apologies now.

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Trevor, Apols noted. I expect to see improvements in all boats next time!!

As an aside, I am working on the BFB3 at the moment, I have cut off the agricultural 1/4 ply wings and am making some balsa ones, and the three low power engines are being replaced by two speed280`s on the centreline under the top wing, in push-pull configuration.

The wings are about 1/3 the weight of those replaced, and the motor output is probably twice or three times as much, The end wing floats can be much smaller cutting drag and so it should be a right little performer eventually, besides l;ooking a bit better.

This means it will become the BFB 2, but I may keep the original name.

(see my pictures) Ashley

[Trevor HollowayParticipant @trevorholloway99134]

Plus at least one more on the water – the fleet is growing !

[LARRY WHETTONParticipant @larrywhetton68737]

Hello Ashley,

Recieved plan and paper work to day , thank thank you vrey much , will study and redraw your plan on to draft paper to get more detail lines and also wiill put arcive papers safe so if you need to have them back or pass them to some one else , they are all ways avable thanks again wished i lived closer to your pool , i enjoy a sail together …i will keep you posted when i start build …..Larry..

[LARRY WHETTONParticipant @larrywhetton68737]

Hello Ashley,

dont worry ashley abuot your simple drawings , you should have seen some the drawings and ideas i used to work to when i was construnion manger when i was in the building trade ,

thank you again……. Larry…

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

This coming Sunday will be a flying boat day, with the newly re-winged bfb3, Sunderland and BHA, and just possibly the Ecranoplan just to have them ALL out. Weather permitting. At least the Olympics is finished with at this end of the world.

Ashley

[LARRY WHETTONParticipant @larrywhetton68737]

Hi Ashley ,

GOOD LUCK Larry….

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Larry.No probs as long as the weather is nice!

On the aircraft carrier front..I made a deck-only illustrious for Berengar to put (my) die cast sea harriers , and his other assorted planes on a while back. This was a bit of 4 foot by 9 inch 6mm ply, with superstructure done from memory with whatever bits of wood I could find to fit the job. After a bit of bandsawing and hot-glueing together I splashed some light grey primer on…masked and painterd the runway dark grey primer and added a centre black stripe. Much to my amusement this looked really good on the carpet with aircraft on it. It wasnt sanded, there were loads of splits in the wood and the various buts were as crude as can be ….but….

Last week after a clear out the deck has made it to the shed with bits missing and wotnot, and (having now no harriers to put on it, them all being on the Invincible now) I thought I might do it up a bit, make some missing parts and free-cycle it. So

A few bits were made, the rear funnel shortened , the bridge sliuced in half horizontally (it was just a solid block) and the underneath part slimmed down. Boats were made for the starboard side and a new main radar …using ally mesh for the reflector rather than a bit of wood as-was.Everything was sanded this time, and repainted..and for a final touch the deck markings and lifts were drawn in with black and red flet tip pen respectivly.

What a transformation!! the deck markings make all the difference. The whole thing looks very respectable, for just a few hours work…..and then I thought….how about a hull and motor to sit the top on and put it in the pond??? work on going, using nothing but hardboard and MDF scraps!! (but i may just glassfibre the bottom just in case) pictures to follow.

Ashley

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

A few pix wouldn't go amiss?

Bob

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

snaps as requested. All done in an afternoon (initially) from lumps of wood..from memory and splashed with grey primer for the lad to put aircraft on. Since tarted up a bit but essentially as-built. Mixed group as you see..the Belvedier hele probly worth £20 or so!!!! (and not normally played with).

Not meant to be a great work of boatbuilding..but quite effective for small boys none the less.

Ashley

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Todays boating. mixed weather, and we stood for half of it in the rain.. at least it was warm!

3x flying boats…and the rewinged and engined BFB3 was going well, and a tad faster than the Sun derland. Made a big difference to the manouverability of the plane, having two more powerfull motors both blowing across the rudder I can tell you.

However…distaster was only narrowly averted when the plane was rammed by an out of control battleship..and pushed underwater!! luckily we were able to stop the runaway ploughing into the concrete jetty with the BFB on its nose and when I fished it out (apart from not working!) there was miraculously no damage. I have taked the receiver apart and I think we should be back in business next week.

Other boaters..Peter with his gentlemans speedboat.. now with two batteries at the front in aneffort to keep the front down at speed (A bit better than last time)…I thouight that he might be able to add a third battery, as to my eyes tye boat was on an even keel, and a bit of a nose down at rest would soon dissappear when on the move anyway. Spencer…with said battleship and the awesome Atlatic challenger (when running, that is) and Trevor with a £15 e-bay puchase runninmg well, and a new project..using the controll from a tank, to acheive differential prop control..with some success . Latly Mr Chris fast, with his massivley fast speedboat and an MFA ..er cant remember.. the small 500 club type one. Running well, but when we changed the prop from an X30 to an S32….spectacular performance… never seen that much performance difference with just a prop swap.. amazing.

Judging by the lack of comment I will say you are all unimpressed by the "Deck only" carrier, and of course so you should be. It is nothing special, but in the flesh it shows what can be done to amuse small boys for an hour or so`s pottering in the shed..better in the flesh with aircraft on, definately. The motorised hull for it is made and fibreglassed but is stubbornly sticky, and I have a feeling it will take a week of drying out before it becomes tack-free..or I will be a bit miffed. The propshaft and MFA Marlin motor is in and a rudder has been knocked up.

As the bath test was by and large ok,  all I need (eventually) is some paint and we should be ready to go. 

Ashley

Edited By ashley needham on 05/08/2012 19:02:54

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Well.. after reading of tales of woe in the Glasgow ballast department I tried the second bath test.. with the top on and …the hull (without top) had to be a given about a 20 degree list so that it was upright with the deck on !!

oddly. given that this and the Invincible are roughly the same length etc, the "deck" carrier only takes two 6v gel batteries and a 12v gel battery to acheive approx waterline. the Invicible takes 3 12v and one 6v!! Marlin motor . shaft, rudder and S45 prop installed. Spectacular splosh on applying 6v battery to the motor when in the bath , but we will see…

Ashley

[LARRY WHETTONParticipant @larrywhetton68737]

Hello Ashley,

Nice you back on your own page any pictures yet ,

will start invincible when i come back of holiday in september ,

also grandson wants a carpett carrier for christmas , so will build to gether,…..

still ploding on with trawler…….cheers Larry…..

[The Long BuildParticipant @thelongbuild]

Posted by ashley needham on 05/08/2012 18:52:31:

Judging by the lack of comment I will say you are all unimpressed by the "Deck only" carrier, and of course so you should be. It is nothing special, but in the flesh it shows what can be done to amuse small boys for an hour or so`s pottering in the shed..better in the flesh with aircraft on, definately. The motorised hull for it is made and fibreglassed but is stubbornly sticky, and I have a feeling it will take a week of drying out before it becomes tack-free..or I will be a bit miffed. The propshaft and MFA Marlin motor is in and a rudder has been knocked up.

As the bath test was by and large ok, all I need (eventually) is some paint and we should be ready to go.

Ashley

Edited By ashley needham on 05/08/2012 19:02:54

Not unimpressed ,but not much to say than its probably more detailed them most things I have currently built..I consider this thread the Model Boats version of Twitter..Carry On..

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Long. Thanks for that comment.

Have uploaded a few snaps of the Invincible construction, see album for the others. The long stick across the top was hot glued to the bulkheads to keep them upright. Base pre-cut with slots for propshafts

But…. will add two pics here…one of what happens if you DONT have any carpet ships (and they easy enough to knock up) with space marines on board (and I hope they are keeping their eyes peeled for DALEKs, and one of the Invincible build plus the carpet deck..as built.

Spot the difference.. and the difference is an hour or so`s work reworking a few items and a bit of time sanding/painting and felt tip pen drawing. Stunning really!

Ashley

Edited By ashley needham on 08/08/2012 21:01:50

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Ashley

Don't ever get despondent through lack of comments!……..It's just a fact of life!

I personally consider you the perfect fun Father in this crazy materialistic world

Berengar is a very lucky boy to have such a creative father……..Keep up the good fun work

Bob

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Bob, you are too kind.

Larry.. dont get carried away with the carpet carrier,,, solid wood construction for all the bits.. no plasticard or lite-ply!!

Ashley

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