Todays Boating

[Richard BarnettParticipant @richardbarnett67129]

Hi all,

The west London barge off is slowly coming to fruition, I found it surprisingly difficult to make something boxy look not boxy. If that statement doesn’t make sense then it must just be me

I’ve named it Betsy in case someone builds a Bertha, it’s about 30in long and has 8lb of ballast which should give it some momentum but not enough to overwhelm my tiny tug, hopefully!!

Is there anymore in the making?

Ricky ye pirate

[NoelParticipant @noel26080]

I’ve got my design sketch and a lot of wood but barge is not in the making just yet! Need to get on with that soonest.

Had a nice morning at Bushey with Ashley and Trevor. Lots of wind for the graupner yacht.

[Richard BarnettParticipant @richardbarnett67129]

Hi Noel,

I saw your barge plans in your photos, look forward to seeing it in the flesh.

Ricky ye pirate

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Offered my bandsaw services to Noel in order to kickstart the barge build. It makes it so easy to make these things when you can cut the wood up easily!

LcT254 (the medium LCT) had AN AMOUNT of water in it after Sunday, no obvious splits etc, but the paint was beginning to crack, almost like it had been on the ply for 30 years, when in fact it is only as old as the rest of them,on the others is still good.

Have sanded the thing right down, Eze-Koted it and glass tissued the bottom. Will repaint in grey tomorrow poss, and give it a different camo look, possibly in a light blue/dark blue/cream colourway?? woteva.

We are slated to be going out tomorrow BUT if not I will pop down `t pond with the Herald in the morning, but cant promise.

A MUM at the pond , and a lot of people, actually, ask…where did you get them did you make them where can I buy one just like it? I am tempted to make another bare hull LCM (painted u/c grey, or possibly something similar, ,and say… there we are Mrs…yours for only £20,

BUT you will need to get an r/c set, tube, prop, rudder, motor, coupling, battery, batt charger for it (cost about £70 ish)….and see how many takers there would be.

Ashley

[Dave MilbournParticipant @davemilbourn48782]

Puts me in mind of the occasion when, sailing the prototype big Huntsman 31 on Danson Park Lake a long, long time ago, John Rudd and I were approached by a MUM, complete with a baby in a pushchair. She stood and watched while Rudd showed off with some wide, sweeping turns and fast straight runs and then said to him "Did you make that?".
"No" said John, very quickly – and then, nodding towards me, said "He did".
She looked at me with big, round eyes and said "Did you? Cor! You must be really clever! Will you marry me?"

Take great care when sailing; she may still be out there somewhere….

Dave M

[Ray Wood 3Participant @raywood3]

Hi Dave,

Good job the baby in the push chair didn't say hello daddy !! You would have been in trouble

Regards Ray

[Richard BarnettParticipant @richardbarnett67129]

I’m obviously going to the wrong pond!

Hello Grandad is all I get these days!

Had a nice morning at Bushy, needed to try out the new MP3 music player, well loud had to turn it down so it wasn’t to intrusive, only lasted about an hour so not too impressed with that but I haven’t charged it since it was delivered. Might last longer on a good charge. At £6.30 off E bay I can’t complain and that’s with free postage!

Met a nice guy called Trevor with a very nice MTB told him of our meetings on Sunday’s so look out for a new body turning up.

Ricky ye pirate (bottle of rum and sea shanty’s)

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Unfortunately I am playing Sunday so no boating for me.

Painting of big LCT going well, eze-koted and glassed and painted bottom. No splits cracks or holes seen, but dismantled propshafts and the shafts are well rusty and loose in their plastic bearings (these are the cheap 2mm shaft jobs) so this is where the water is coming in.

Ordered two Caldercraft fine-line shafts (as these are only 6.5mm diameter) and a pair of 35mm 2 blade plastic props. This should stop the water ingress and also give me a performance boost AS WELL as actually providing some reverse, the other props being too fine to provide much reverse thrust.

Ordered a 6 inch shaft for the flack lander, but didn't feel rich enough to order 3 lots for the BIG lander. This has had the shafts removed, de rusted and greased up only a little while ago.

With hindsight I should have equipped all the landers with "proper" shafts, but I made loads of them (cheaply) and didn't think I would have many left at the end of it all, but as it is, the four I have get used a fair bit.

Ashley

[Tim CooperParticipant @timcooper90034]

Ashley

I used the Fine line 6mm propshaft in the Eezebilt PT Boat , no problems. I have also got them in the S100 conversion and the Fairey Huntsman

Tim

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Tim. Yes fine line tubes are ok, however I am wary of using them in any longer sizes (perhaps 8 inches plus) due to the very narrow tube and vibration at high revs causing shaft wobble and the possibility of touching the tube walls. Not accusing them of this, but I always use the 8mm types just in case.

In my instance of course I have bought them for the slim tubes, as the larger ones get clumsy on smaller hulls.

Big LCT looking good now in gray/black/white camo.

Have been stocking up on 27Mhz receivers and crystals. I have three 27Meg transmitters and most of my boats are still so equipped and large enough such that accommodating the aerial length does not matter

Ashley

[Tim CooperParticipant @timcooper90034]

Ashley

The PT Boat uses an 11" tube. No problems so far. The S100 will use 2 x 12" and 1 x 11", but there will be support along the shaft.

Tim

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Tim. Do you mean SHAFT or TUBE?

If the shaft is perfectly straight and the revs are not too high then no reason why these thin tubes should not be ok, but I like a bit of space to play with as it were. Personally I would not entertain such long tubes at the thinner diameter.

Ashley

[Tim CooperParticipant @timcooper90034]

Ashley

Yes. I meant to say extra support for the tube.

Tim

[Richard BarnettParticipant @richardbarnett67129]

Hi chaps,

Nice mornings sailing even though the wind was a bit blustery, all my pirates were seasick!

Finally wet the bottom of the barge, was pleasantly surprised as it tows nicely with just enough momentum you can control without it running the tug over. So let’s have a few more down and I’ll cobble together an assault course for a barge off!

Ricky ye pirate (barrel chest and wooden leg)

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

The lander has had the new shafts fitted and a complete repaint in grey/black/white. The tank deck has been altered and some interior detail fitted. Have to put lettering back on and some rope bits, then all done.

Have several EDF units at home….must have a use for them??

Noel came round yesterday and we chopped up some ply for his barge. Design altered slightly but not much. Centre well sized to put the tug INTO for storage.

Should be down Sunday with refurbished lander, Herald and one other…woteva.

Considering a cheaty 3 decker…may have to get the card out for a quick prototype……

Ashley

[Richard BarnettParticipant @richardbarnett67129]

Hi Ashley,

Away Sunday so catch up with you next week. Weather looks a bit iffy this weekend, maybe one day next week?

Ricky ye pirate ☠️⚓️

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Will be taking the carpet carrier out today. I have filled some of the cracks in the wood of the superstructure and it now looks much better.

Also filled some of the unevenness at the sides of the flight deck, and followed that up by adding two strips of 10mm by 4mm either side aft and sticking on life boat packs (6mm dowel bits cut up and painted white. Looks very effective. Will also be a first outing showing the men I put on it, first series 20mm Airfix British army group (painted blue etc ). These are showing their age and breaking up, having gone very brittle…half the figures in my plastic tray have broken, unfortunately some figures suffer more than others from this.

They are the smallest of the `modern` figures Airfix made, along with the first lot of Germans. All the rest are just that more `chunky and appear to be JUST too big for the carrier. Considering nothing is to scale perhaps that's a bit of an odd thing to say, but think I can just get away with the figures I have. Oddly enough figures much smaller would look too small.

Have decided on next/parallel project. It is going to be a two deck `Nelson` style ship. A later one, sails and all, stripy sides, moveable sails and so on. Obviously I am not telling you much else, but it will not be as you think…
Firstly I have to make a card ship to see if my thoughts can be turned into reality

Ashley nb see you at the pond later on

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

 

 

Carpet carrier went well today (4 feet long, MFA 540/1 motor, 7.2V Nimh and 35mm two blade plastic prop) and looked better with the few additions. Superstructure has been filled somewhat but you cant see that from the pictures, remember the thing was built from scrap timber in an hour, no plans, for the lad (deck only). LCT looks good with its new coat of paint and what a performance with the new shafts and 35mm 2 blade props on 9.6v (mfa 385). Speedboat or what. I now also have reverse! great improvement on the cheap 2mm shaft jobbies.
Peter down with v v nice r/c pond yacht and green fishing boat.

Again was asked if we built the boats from scratch. Again tempted to knock up a lander (with shaft and in grey primer) for 20 quid….and even make a couple of `kits`, ie ready cut parts requiring assembly and fitting out. After all, even if they don't get motorised, they can be used to play with on the floor!

Populated project V with cannon and sailors from my collection and it looks fab, dowels standing in for masts.

Ashley

 

Edited By ashley needham on 27/08/2018 09:20:37

Edited By ashley needham on 27/08/2018 09:26:09

[Richard BarnettParticipant @richardbarnett67129]

Good job Ashley, love the carrier, not many people attempt carriers as they can prove to be a bit top heavy thus causing stability problems.

Love the gun deck action, I see I’m gonna have to up my pirate population!

Hopefully be down this Sunday coming, weather dependant.

Ricky ye pirate.

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Arr. I forgot to add that the seats I made to fit on the little rail around the grassy knoll were also spot on, and should alleviate the ribbed bottom syndrome (as long as I remember to bring them).

Spent the afternoon fiddling with hull of proj V. Have spent an hour studying plans for same on the computer and making notes whilst measuring things off the screen…don't you know that the plans are almost exactly same size!

Carrier remarkably stable. Will bring the proper build carrier next week.

Ashley

[Boiler BriParticipant @boilerbri]

Ashley. Is the landing craft made to published plans?

I would like a bash at one of them

Brian

[Andy CParticipant @andyc56856]

Posted by ashley needham on 23/08/2018 20:43:17:

The lander has had the new shafts fitted and a complete repaint in grey/black/white. The tank deck has been altered and some interior detail fitted. Have to put lettering back on and some rope bits, then all done.

Have several EDF units at home….must have a use for them??

Noel came round yesterday and we chopped up some ply for his barge. Design altered slightly but not much. Centre well sized to put the tug INTO for storage.

Should be down Sunday with refurbished lander, Herald and one other…woteva.

Considering a cheaty 3 decker…may have to get the card out for a quick prototype……

Ashley

There is a plan online for a pvc pipe and foam bottom. I made one with some left over small motors. It looks a bit like a hovercraft type thing. Might work with edf’s instead.

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Brian. The ordinary LCM has a plan, kindly done by Paul Thomason. If you PM Paul he will sort you out. A small donation to a charitable cause is all that's required…cant find the link at the moment.

The snazzy lander, as previous post, essentially has just been lengthened a bit and the superstructure altered. I can do you a dimensioned sketch of the bigger one if you want. The LCM`s are roughly to 1/32 scale so kit tanks and Airfix type plastic, or Tamiya kit soldiers can be used (The Airfix British Infantry support group is fantastic for this, as seen on the flak lander)     Ordinary lander below…choose your own topping!!

Ashley

Ashley

 

Edited By ashley needham on 29/08/2018 08:30:22

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Have been sitting at the PC trying to discern various details from various sources regarding project V. Notably the masting arrangements. Although the NMM had a line drawing to scale of the masts, they were just that, lines, and I took measurements of them. However the dimensions of these items seems to differ to the various pictures I have. The sticks on the boat do not look long enough compared to s couple of the good NMM pictures and one has to wonder that the drawing was a design sketch and not exactly what the builder fitted or decided was right.

There is also the issue of the overlap that joins the top and bottom sections (not shown on mast diagram). I have taken some measurements from the photos and will get percentage ratios of the various sections and apply them to the masts I have, then make some from bamboo to see what they look like.

The mast footings are in and are a beautiful sliding fit for the mast bottoms, in addition, some time was spent getting the masts to line up properly! a most important consideration…..

Hull detailing underway and apart from a few gun ports, all the other openings will be shown as closed hatches. Freeing scuppers are a two edged sword…they let water off the deck ok, but also let it in. One picture shows scupper hatches, and so these will be closed. Unfortunately due to the design of the ship I cannot seal the decks up, so I don't want ANY water on deck. I have a reasonable amount of freeboard, but once the wind starts levering the masts over this may be inadequate.

Ashley

[BanjomanParticipant @banjoman]

Ashley,

Given that the exact configurations of masts and spars would have been eminently variable (they were, after all, not glued in or anything, only held in place by their stepping and the standing rigging) at any point in time, and that a new set-up with longer masts and/or topmasts could have been installed in a ship in a few days, things may well have come to vary from the original design, if the latter for one reason or another was found wanting or sub-optimal …

Mattias

[Author]

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