Todays Boating

[Richard BarnettParticipant @richardbarnett67129]

Shame I couldn’t make it today, wife not well, planning a trip there on Friday weather and other things being ok.

the cannonades coming along nicely, will post some pics later in the week.

Ricky ye pirate 🏴‍☠️

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Yo dudes! Having popped to Poundland to purchase some C size batts and pp3 types, I have installed them in the “Powe Cruiser” and after a bit of coaxing ,it all works!

this is a 60’s? 70’s? RtR toy boat, in its orig box that bought off flea bay years ago. It says “5 1/2 ins wide, 13” long and 5” high. Made exclusively in Hong Kong for FJ Straus and co, New York (USA).

The hand controller only does the rudder, and inside there is a marvellous set of gears, rollers and a rubber band to actuate the rudder. On the boat, the on switch simply turns the motor on, and presumably the receiver cuircuitry as well.

I remember testing it when I first bought it, and it was horribly slow, the noise not living up to promise! I dare say the prop tube has no bearings so would be noisy.

i will bring it down the pond Sunday for a whizz and take some snaps.

Ashley

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

[Richard BarnettParticipant @richardbarnett67129]

Hi all,

As promised new photos in album of my now compleated cannonades, they look the part and weigh nothing, which was the M.O. to keep deck weight to a minimum.

The cannonades work, not in the real sense, they train up and down with the screw thread and swivel side to side with a pivot screw at the front and a tiny roller under the back of the truck.

keep watertight,

Ricky ye pirate 🏴‍☠️

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Richard. Good work on the carronades !

spent last hour adjusting the mast twiddly arrangement on London. How hard can it be? Tinsnips used for mizzen mast..all masts needed sanding to fit sockets (despite being good fits when made) and some tweaking of pushrods needed to be carried out. Discovered the servo slower only goes left-neutral+right, there is no in between…however this is ok.

glued yet more men back on that I had knocked off… at least it is fully ready to sail now. Got to go, me fish fingers are almost done.

Ashley

[Empire ParkstoneParticipant @empireparkstone]

Ashley I would be wary of Poundlands batteries my experience with there AA ones very weird . In my Universal remote which I use to control all the bits and bobs on my tv and sound system unusual events .First this not a cheapo one-for-all type Universal and a pretty expensive one. Over the years using what I would say genuine brands the only thing that happens as as the batteries run out one gets a warning on its screen. Then recently the remote would act up not responding or wrong commands various mishaps .I thought it might be getting on a bit then Ah! poundland batteries I wonder went back to regular batteries never happened back to Pland and it started again as well as getting nowhere near the duration from them.Would not use them on my boats though I'm sure many do with no problems

[Richard BarnettParticipant @richardbarnett67129]

Ashley, thank you kind sir, I must admit I’m well chuffed how they turned out!

so if your back fiddling with London is it going to get it’s bum wet on Sunday? Champagne on order?

Ricky ye pirate 🏴‍☠️ (fibreglass resin and tricky screw fittings)

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

I usually use better batteries however I only wanted to See if the boat worked so cheap batteries are fine in this instance. I plan to flog it, so can sell it in working condition.

London..oo er…if it looks to be nice on Sunday…..you never know!

Not content with sailing boats, i re-glued the fore mast back on the Manchester, and repainted the BFB; it now sports green/grey wing camo (rather than green/brown) and the green has been touched up..remembering it fell from the ceiling a while back. Floats to do next and then I will bring it down for a zoom.

Ashley

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Supposed to be warm this weekend so champagne at the ready…

spent 20 mins sorting out the rigging..how can it get that tangled in a box?? Also needed to remember exactly how the rigging was supposed to go. Bowsprit needed “easing” as would not go into the socket fully. Sails not hanging very well, but there was no wind in the garden to fill them. I have a feeling I should have let them be a bit looser? Wondering if a puff of water before sailing would allow the creases to dissipate as it dries or will it just shrink the material!!

Re- glued yet another crewman back on deck. I could do with the esc on/off switch being available externally, but there does not seem to be anywhere to hide it, JUST possibly I should have / will have to make one of the gratings removable so I can get to a repositioned switch underneath.

I have a special hat to go with the London, a picture of which will never make it to the forum.

Ashley

[Richard BarnettParticipant @richardbarnett67129]

Ashley, will bring the Minotaur and we’ll have a mini naval review!

Ricky ye pirate 🏴‍☠️ (Rum all round me hearty’s)

[peter ward 9Participant @peterward9]

ive used pound land batteries AA type and have found as per empire parkstone they start off fine then their power falls off fast and sometimes in an unexplained fashion

previously using "duracell" or the like kind they have been in a model all year but the cheapies from experiance ive replaced them every few trips for safety

thought yuo can get around twelve for a pound, some times more from our local outlet long term and for reliability once my present batch has been used up i think ill revert to tried and tested brands

as another example had a known brand in a bed side alarm clock lasted for years and years the cheapy only four months !

[Richard BarnettParticipant @richardbarnett67129]

Like the old saying ‘you get what you pay for.’

There’s always Ni cads of course if you don’t mind spending hours cycling AA cells through a charger. Been there and always lost track of what I’d charged and hadn’t, maybe I’m just untidy!

Ricky ye pirate 🏴‍☠️

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Fantastic morning at `t pond.

London looked good and went well. Some issues with the Masting, nothing terminal, and there were no leaks.

The ~power cruiser also went well despite the poundland batteries flagging a bit!

Other boats wot came along ALSO went well except Trevors, whose didn't go at all, possibly bringing a transmitter may have helped….

A new man, John, and spouse down, with a small cabin cruiser and a 24 inch (I think) RAF fire boat.

Ashley      snaps below     no wind whatsoever to fill sails

Edited By ashley needham on 24/02/2019 14:42:03

Edited By ashley needham on 24/02/2019 14:42:49

[Trevor HollowayParticipant @trevorholloway99134]

One tip for the future :

If you think you have forgotten your transmitter, check the footwell of the car for a second time !

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Doh!

further to musings on the sailing ship front, I was reminded that model sq riggers need outsize and deep rudders to work properly, which the London does not have. It matches the very short keel (yes really) and thus will actually sail, but need the prop turning,albeit slowly in order that the rudder will have some effect. The special (secret) sail material worked well I thought despite some earlier doubts although with little wind it was hard to draw any conclusions.

perversely the sail control wot was altered (for more yard twiddle) as I thought there was insufficient twiddle when setting up turns out to be too much for the shrouds and needs reverting back to as initially built.

The totally incorrect colour (somewhere on the ship) looked very good in the sun and to my mind was the correct choice. Black and white sides are correct for period and look striking, as do the titchy men with white shirts…they show up well on deck.

Ashley (cracking hat)

[Richard BarnettParticipant @richardbarnett67129]

Trevor your priceless!

Ashley, as mentioned pondside another flying jib would give it a bit more presence, so to speak and you’ll be altering various bits and bobs to get it to do what you want it different wind conditions.

took a good 6 months to get the Galleon to do what I wanted and not wander off on it’s own!

Ahh the joys of square riggers!

Ricky ye pirate 🏴‍☠️

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Easy fix for the yard/shroud issue, simply moved the pushrod on the servo arm down two holes.

Its funny that although you get to know some of the in’s and out’s of certain model disciplines by chatting to chaps (and chappesses) it is not until you try these things for yourself that you fully appreciate them. Not having, on the day, any sail/yard control, I was sailing “sails aback” for a lot of the time, and thought that having the aforementioned control would sort that out, however the ability to sail with the wind coming sideways, even by a small amount, is very limited on sq rig vessels (I have come to appreciate more fully) despite knowing this as a fact from extensive reading.

Anyway, if I have to tack backwards and forwards across the pond more than I would like, so be it. Sometimes the wind dithers as to direction in any case.

Popped to Kingston and purchased TWO cameras. Didn’t intend to, was just going to replace the compact…however on Sunday I finally lost it with my bridge camera. I had to use a calendar between shots, it was so slow. Purchased another bridge camera, a Panasonic, and the photo cycle time is stunning…it also takes continuous shots, very rapidly (only at 8 meg) whilst still showing the picture on the screen, something mine doesn’t do.

just so I can take better shots of boats for your amusement…

Ashley

,

[Empire ParkstoneParticipant @empireparkstone]

My extension on my Brig

[Richard BarnettParticipant @richardbarnett67129]

Perspex rudder extensions work well and the added bonus that you can’t see them when there in the water.

the downside is they put excess pressure on your linkage and servo, I had an issue with the Galleon when smartly on the move it didn’t turn as well due to water pressure forcing the rudder back. At the end of the day it’s all trial and error.

Ricky ye pirate 🏴‍☠️

[Tim RoweParticipant @timrowe83142]

Hi Richard

If you make the Perspex extension deeper rather than longer it will be more efficient and require less torque therefore easier on the servo. The added advantage, using EP's photo as a reference is that you could put some of the rudder area forward of the hinge line. 25 – 30% is ideal and that would semi-balance the rudder further reducing the load.

Here is the rudder for my Galileo and there is about 25% of the area in front of the rudder stock.

Maybe worth a try.

Tim R

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

All suggestions regarding rudders noted. I will have a think..the current rudder sits in the box as it is, an extended rudder would not. I may think on an easy demo table extension. OR make a new acrylic rudder, not deeper, but wider, the original outline could be painted on and the rest left clear. Easy to change the rudder as it hangs on hooks.

Second jib sail made and fitted, does look better. THEN had to re-jig the mast box so the bowsprit was horizontal and the sails could hang (and remain crease+free).

weather apparently getting colder for w/e??

Ashley

[Richard BarnettParticipant @richardbarnett67129]

Tim, I have a Perspex rudder extender on the Galleon which partly in front of the hinge line which works well , the only problem is on a hard turn it does act like a sea anchor. There’s always a pay off!

Ricky ye pirate 🏴‍☠️

[Empire ParkstoneParticipant @empireparkstone]

What I did was make a wee box that her indoor stand sits in and a similar one that her launching cradle sits in so keeping that shallow

[Tim RoweParticipant @timrowe83142]

Hi Richard

Sounds like you may have too much travel. A Galleon is not exactly a "turn on a sixpence" type of ship and any attempt to force it around will only stall the rudder in which case the effect goes to nothing and the drag goes through the roof. Just like a stalled aircraft wing.

About 35 degrees either side of the centerline is a normal maximum but in you case it may need to be less. You may have to accept that this type of model is not that manoeuverable and trying to force it, isn't working. This is not the same as rudder authority which you will get by having the right area and throw bearing in mind that deeper is more efficient. Balancing the rudder is not linked to it turning into a sea anchor.

Tim R

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

The London has a very very short keel, and the rudder will have to stay as it is for now, the sides of the pond are quite shallow in places and I don’t wan to have the sort of grounding issues that beset other sailing craft.

grey and spitting with rain here so no boating…shame as it’s blustery and would have tested the London out as regards masted stability.

dropped my phone in the garden pond yesterday (doh!) but seems to be ok today (whew).

Ashley

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