Todays Boating

[Mark Jarvis 2Participant @markjarvis2]

Hi Ashley, your earlier comment about using foam to line your model box might be a bad idea, if the foam gets damp it will cause condensation both around and inside the boat, could play havok with the electrics.

Mark

[Trevor HollowayParticipant @trevorholloway99134]

Mark,

It is closed cell packing foam that is used which does not soak up water (I got a load off a friend and shared it around).

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Mark. Good thought, but as Trevor says it is closed cell foam. In any case I always make sure the boats and boxes are dry before putting the lid on.

Still too cold for making stuff in the shed, and although I am itching to paint Proj S, but even when the sun is out and it feels warm, it is still too cold for spraying.

​Further down the project line is craft commonly seen (although not perhaps so commonly modelled) and having printed a few line drawings of it, and rolled out a bit of clean paper to sketch out a working drawing. I had to double check my measurements because at a similar scale to something else it is HUGE! I did not realise how big it would be. I am now tempted to build it at a smaller scale, but a big one will be much easier o make and I can use 4mm ply for the job again, cheap, easy to work with and stiff enough not to need framing. However, this sits well behind Proj V (building) and proj H (not even sketched out yet). It is/should be an easy thing to make though, so there is a possibility of a bit of parallel building going on, for when the first two stall due to ordering equipment or parts, or tricky decisions and so on.

Ashley

[Paul TParticipant @pault84577]

007

Your thread is starting to read like a 60s thriller, you must have more secret projects on the go than Ernst Blofeld ever did!

Whats all this about 4mm ply…………..whatever became of hardboard?

P

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Paul. There will be a bit in there somewhere…..

Ashley

[Byron Rees…(Ron)Participant @byronrees-ron]

Hi All,

I agree, it's far to cold to use the big shed so only small projects in my warm rabbit hutch workshop at the moment.

The Blue foam I use for building is closed cell and will not take on water, very good for packing, but…and I don't know if I should say this…but I will because it is a good and cheap idea.

Watching a friend at the lake getting his little speedy model ready for a run and he dropped a little white pellet in the bottom of the hull. It had a loop of string attached which he placed through a small ring to keep it in place in the stern.

'Wot yer doin Dave?' I asked innocently, he replied 'Keeping my gear dry, the rudder post leaks a bit of water sometimes'…..'Wot yer usin then'…..he held it up…it was a Tampax!!..'.They'll soak up a cup full of water…brilliant'

There was no answer to that, but I learnt something new again….I love boating.

Ron.

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Ron. Yes yet another use for these items!! JUST POSSIBLY preventing water coming through the rudder post would be a goal, but..

​We have had some rudder posts leak over at the pond and a common cause is water pressure from the prop pushing the wet stuff up the tube. Sometimes tricky to stop, but a small fairing over the wet end usually helps to divert pressure.

​Grey cold and raining over here. Will prep some batteries, but will wait and see tomorrow morning. If not I am always open to a "show and tell" session or even some tinkering in the shed. (no smutty replies please)

​Ashley

[Trevor HollowayParticipant @trevorholloway99134]

New Flysky radio delivered one boat converted ready to pond test tomorrow – thick coat and hat to be donned.

Will have the tug ready for rescue purposes just in case.

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Shaping up to be a nice bright clear but crisp morning down south. Taking ProjS and the German LFM landing craft (complete with two king tigers as a payload)

ETA 9.15 ish….

​Reading the VAC2 posts, wondering if "the flock" could usefully be fitted with Hydro props??? Hmmm…

Ashley

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Well, it was b**** freezing at `t pond. A total of 8 boats made it into the wet stuff. It was the wind that made it cold, as it was beautifully sunny, and warm once out of the wind.

​Only sailed the German LFM, and a good choice….these landers are very buoyant, and the LFM has a good freeboard at the bow and the aft superstructure area sits on a combing. Some water in the boat I think due to propshaft weep, but only a few tea-spoons worth.

​Impressed with Trevors new flysky set, very sophisticated and dinky, with receivers only costing £7. I suggested he gets another transmitter and a bunch of RX and he will be set up for some years to come.

Ashley

[harry smith 1Participant @harrysmith1]

Gee Ashley

Two transmitters, that adds up to a total of forty receivers and forty BOATS !!!

Well you can bling the transmitters up with different colours .

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Yes Harry. Well impressed, and very reasonably priced. Thinking about it. Ashley

[harry smith 1Participant @harrysmith1]

Hi Ashley

If you add on the telemetry sensors you can have motor rpm, battery voltage and temperature(on the motor or ESC) reading from the model back to the transmitter.

Very handy in setting up a boat and playing with different props.

Also add in a Wattmeter/power analyzer (this is a stand alone unit) and near full kit.

Only require a stand alone GPS unit for boat speed !!!

The sensors are very small, but, the analyzer and GPS unit are a bit of a lump.

All OK in 30" plus models.

Harry

[NoelParticipant @noel26080]

These flysky receivers are £6 each?

Look like a nice tranny, better than my old e-flite DSM knockabouts. Still DSM2 mini receivers are £4 for a 6 channel so I will stick with those for a bit.

Had frustrating day yesterday as it was surprisingly windy and the foiling EDF literally splashed itself to death – or the death of the ESC anyway which shorted and smoked itself. Also – receiver on top of model exposed is a dumb place to put it too as it meant at least two cutout-and-drift moments due to wetting.

All very shambolic frankly and I must do better next time with packaging, but I don't want to make a body for it yet until it actually works.

Boys played best with the landing craft of course after the speedboats flattened themselves.

maybe these rear foils will help:

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Noel. Encouraging results despite the waves.

Try a bit of plastic cut approx. hull opening shape, and simply tape down ….will be waterproof enough for testing. Could use a bit of plastic bag even.

​Ashley

[NoelParticipant @noel26080]

The receiver is now wedged up the fore-peak on top of the buoyancy foam, so shouldn't get splashed. Not sure why I didn't think of that before. Will have to bag up the speed controller and put a crude cover on the front – scared of adding weight though!

Edited By Noel on 05/02/2018 15:59:09

[Ray Wood 3Participant @raywood3]

Hi Noel

I imagine with fixed foils it'll keep going straight ?? the foiling Moth sailing dinghies have the rear foil on the rudder blade so it kills 2 birds with one stone, just an idea ?

Regards Ray

[NoelParticipant @noel26080]

Ray, the first attempts with 3 foils did have a blade glued to the bottom of the rudder, but it quite poor and not big enough and every time you touched the rudder control it would roll all over the place. I kind of want four decent foils to try and give it stability, and de-couple the "lift" from the "steering" – if that's the correct approach even, I mean this is all semi-educated guesswork really.

The last half inch of rudder should still be in the water even when its "up".

The foiling Moths are an interesting case and having seen them in action at close quarters its clear that even though they have a very simple T on the rudder and daggerboard, they have no inherent stability – its all down to the helm's ability to shift themselves around and keep it upright. They are impressive to watch though!

[Ray Wood 3Participant @raywood3]

Hi Noel

I believe the foiling Moths have controllable elevator type flaps on the foils, controlled from a pendulum which controls the pitch of the boat and keeps it level. I think somebody with one in my dinghy sailing club mentioned carbon foils costing him 6k on top of the boat price !!

The old Russian built Hydrofoils which used to run down the Solent to the Isle of White had foils under the hull at the front and rear as were the props, your high mounted fan unit is trying to bury the bow ? If you fan was angled up at the front would that lift the bow ?

Regards Ray

[NoelParticipant @noel26080]

Good point. The fan is angled up about 4° at the front as a result of it being rubber banded to the wooden crossmember, so there is a bit of natural lift. This was by accident as much as design.

I'm actually making some covers for it so that it doesn't get soaked next time. This has meant in new configuration the fan moving back about 30mm so should make sure its even less bow heavy. The fore/aft COG is about 3-4" behind the front foils.

Some sort of self levelling mechanism would be cool, like on the Moths or full size boats, but I am loath to make it heavier right now.

[Trevor HollowayParticipant @trevorholloway99134]

Noel,

No need to make things complicated, a rudder with built in fins will definitely work, it is just a case of getting the balance right.

Harry,

Impressed with the radio so far, the second tranny would only be a spare – twenty boats sounds about right (only another few to go).

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Our garden pond was frozen over yesterday morning, and the pond in the deer park was also partially frozen at Hampton wick, so it doesn't bode well fro Sunday. I am going into Kingston Saturday and will check out the pond on the way back.

​I mak prep something icebreakery if so.

​or stay in…

​As you may have seen, something appears on the front cover of March`s MB. Oddly enough I came across a thread on an American website, last post April 2017, concerning this craft, and one of them saw the teaser snap that PF had put on the end of the Pontoon boat article.

​Well, for those chaps over the pond….yes, here it is and sorry to disappoint but I did not do a GA drawing as you would have liked, and couldn't find anything else out about it. One of the chaps was considering an I/c version, and good luck with that considering the behaviour of mine!! Although I do not do drawings of my craft I am quite willing to do a dimensioned sketch to assist construction if anyone was wanting. I did one of the Pontoon boat for a chap in the lake district, and would like to know if he actually built one?? As with all these things, I would not build the same thing exactly the same again, but would make alterations in the light of experience, but that's always the way.

Ashley

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

Yes Ashley, an impressive front cover for March MB. Well done.

Colin

[Trevor HollowayParticipant @trevorholloway99134]

Ice breaker tug ready – will dig out gloves for tomorrow too.

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Colin, thanks for that, and yes, a good snap.

​Cold at the pond today but no ice, in fact, a very nice day. Breezy but a relatively flat water surface, and I realised that the wind was blowing from behind us on the jetty, so the rough stuff will be at the far side unlike the other day when it WAS rough due to a wind head-on.

​Three of us there plus a dad/son/mum combo with one of those RTR Russian destroyers. The lad was 5, and this equated to about the same time in minutes that the lad wanted to sail the boat for!! which is why I started making my oddities to keep my lad interested in boating.

​Aircraft carrier Argus followed by project S, both going well although the carrier was leaning over a bit….

​Project S is not as odd as the Farman Hydroglisseur that has been now outed in the March mag. The Farman looks very odd, if not weird, when looking at the front quarter and even more so at speed. I may post some pictures after the April issue has had time to sell out, if that's ok with the Ed.

Project S is cute, if anything, and has turned out more or less exactly how I wanted it to look, but that's for later. The REALLY weird project is about 4 or 5 boats away yet.

Ashley

[Author]

Posts