This is a new thread of my refurbishing of an old ship model that was built back in the 1980's or so.

Background:
I managed to get this model when a fellow boat modeler knew that I have multiple scale RC powered boats and would be the right person to give it to. This was during a sailboat regatta and I was videoing the races from my big fishing trawler using a GOPRO camera.

The story goes that this particular person had the boat built, wired and fitted professionally. It is a huge model spanning 76 inches in length and weighing 35 lbs fully loaded ( of which 21 lbs were lead acid batteries ; six of them ).

however, that person passed away years ago and after a while, his widow needed to clean up the house and was about to trash all the models into the dumpster. Fellow modelers were able to save two of his huge boats. One being the German U99 submarine that went to a collector in Texas and the second was this un named old ship. It languished for years in a garage. The person that saved it was not interested in powered RC boats, but kept it.

Apparently there was an email offering this model for sale back then, but I have no idea what came of it or when it was written, nor any details as to what it was.

So what is it?

next thread 😎😎😎

Isaac

There were no documents of any sort that came with the model. No plans, no name, no clue as to what it was. So based on the model photos and my research, I narrowed it down to an American torpedo boat built in the 1890's just prior to the Spanish American war.

The low draft, minimum superstructure, steam exhausts narrowed it down to a cross between the USS Cushing TB-1 and the USS Porter TB-6.

The Cushing had two exhaust stacks with a forward raked bow and a rounded stern with two armored stationary turrets fore and aft. The USS Porter had 3 exhaust stacks, a straight bow and a straight stern, with an elongated rear turret.

The model has features of both and so far, I could not find a 100% match to it. So it is possible that the builder took liberties based on the research material available to him back pre internet days.

Attached are pictures of both historical boats.

Isaac 😎

Here is the actual model as I got it.

It is huge. 76 inches long and weight is 35 lbs.

Isaac

The model was dormant for many years.
It had 6 onboard sealed lead acid batteries probably dating to the 1980's. All read close to zero volts ( 4 were 12 V, and two were 6V batteries ). Total weight was 21 lbs for all 6 batteries.

The motors, controllers and all wiring were neatly laid out. However, I did not know what many of them did or why. There was no documentation for it. I could not test it as is since the batteries were all dead.

All of the controllers were old type, unfamiliar to me, but looked functional externally.

The rudder and props were frozen stiff.

There was a significant damage to the bow with visible holes in it.

External parts were fragile and some broke off with a slight touch ( glue got old and brittle ).

The beautiful Ace nautical Commander 7 channel system was not functioning again due to a dead battery pack. otherwise it looked good both internally and externally.

My concern is can I refurbish it with the old stuff inside of it, or do I modernize it internally? 👍👎🤞😎🙄🤑

More next.

Isaac

I decided to recharge one of the old batteries to see if it could be brought back to life.

Unfortunately is was damaged in the charging process and overheated internally. Failure #1.

Attached are pics of all the batteries and the one that burned.

I knew to play it safe as I recharged it outside,

So based on that, I decided to ditch all of the lead Acid batteries and go with what I do with all my boats, planes, gliders, drones, helicopters, trucks and use LiPo batteries. Based on my other large scale boats (4 foot long only ), I knew that either a 2S or 2S will be OK (7.4V or 11.1V). Only question was the mAh capacity which will control duration.

Isaac

One of the early tasks was to repair the hull. Specifically the underside of the bow was cracked and had multiple holes. I power sanded that entire area and filled it with epoxy. sand and repeat a few times. It is completely sealed and smooth with a small area on the very bottom that I should have filled in a bit more. I am not a perfectionist.

There were two stuck on foam bands from the stand. Years of just sitting around bonded to the hull. All was sanded and cleaned up.

Also, there was some minor wood rot on the inside. It was under the two large lead acid batteries and would have gone un noticed unless the batteries were removed. All filled in with 5 minute epoxy.

👍

Isaac

After the hull repairs, I needed to repaint it all. Obviously I could not match the old 40 years plus reddish color so I decided to get an ruddy brown primer which was really not the same, but representative of old hull color. It was also dull color and not shiny.

Also, for the sake of simplicity, I painted the bottom in two stages. One with masking the entire drive, props and rudder metal parts, and then again masking only the metal parts and leaving some of the original paint in between. I just hate masking.

Results were very decent in my opinion.

It will not be a contest winner ......😁

Isaac

The model came with a bilge motor connected via a silicone tubing. There is a toggle switch on the transmitter dedicated to its operation on and off..

I followed the line from the brass scoop in back of the center propellor, thru the rear of the boat, then to the pump and finally overboard.

Other than pure looks of a boat pumping water overboard, this has no function. It scoops water from below directly to the pump and then overboard.

So, does the model really need it? The answer is NO. It is purely a visual.

In testing the pump separately, the motor could not turn the pump at all even after lubricating it. So for now, I have a replacement pump on stand by. I have yet to decide what to do with it here.

Isaac

I removed all the dead batteries and that opened up all the internal bays to relocate the controlers and wiring.

I decided to place each of the original motor controlers in front of their respective motors. The original configuration had them in various locations.

That meant cutting the original wiring, keeping the connectors and for this round, connecting all three motor controllers together in parallel because the original Ace transmitter did not function properly.

Attached pictures are the position of the controllers and re routing the wiring ( a bit messy for now, but I needed to test it all together first ). I added a connector for all the red and black wires in the middle bay.

The test run was done using a 2S 5200 mAh battery ( 7.4 volts ). It should give me a run of approx 15 minutes or so at cruise speed.

it all worked from a single throttle on my Spektrum radio.

Also a picture of the leftover wiring that will be cut and removed.

Isaac

The last time the boat was in the water was many years ago. After repairs, it was time to test her again in the water.
I finally got all the propulsion wiring and battery acting properly, got the hull repaired and repainted, got the Spektrum radio set with a single throttle lever controlling all 3 geared motors, so it was time to see if she floats and can run in my pond ( yes, I am lucky to have a large one in my back yard ).

There is no ballast yet ( recall I removed 21 lbs of old lead acid batteries which acted as ballast ). The original boat was about 35 lbs which was too heavy for me to carry. I will make a drop in ballast later.

I got the shafts, universal joints all lubricated.

I did not open the motor gearbox for fear of damaging it.

Pictures here of its initial voyage after many years being dormant.

It floats, it runs, it makes sounds.

I will need to make some modifications to reduce the turning radius ( more rudder throw ).

As for the ballast, I will probably only add a few lbs ( not the original 21 lbs ).

The fun continues.😊😎

Isaac

The Original Ace nautical Commander 7 Ch transmitter did not function properly. My frustration reached its limit when I finally got it to work, but the Starboard throttle did not respond. I was then forced to re arrange the 3 motors controllers to work together as a single unit to a single throttle stick on my Spektrum 2.4 ghz transmitter which functioned fine.

however,,,,

I started taking a closer look at the Ace Transmitter and found the problem. The soldering contact to that throttle lever was completely separated.

I will have that connection re soldered and separate all motors back to their original 3 motor control configuration.

I will keep the single battery to all 3 controllers system.

Details soon.

Isaac

p.s. some of my reporting have been on other threads on our forum here.

Good news! The broken connection to the starboard throttle lever in the Ace nautical Commander transmitter was soldered today.

The connectors from the ESC / BEC were modified to be plugged each directly to its own channel in the receiver.

Servo wire extenders were used for each controller with two of the extenders having their red wires cut and insulated.

Now we are back to original configuration with fresh connectors. Each motor can be controlled individually.

I had to adjust the trim position for each ESC so at neutral, none of the motors turn. Not difficult! Small screwdriver turn on the two internal knobs.

Next I have to reattach the long antenna wire.

All fun 😎😎😎

Isaac

The good news is that I got the Ace transmitter working all the channels.

I put the boat in the water and it functioned nicely.

Then after about 15 minutes of running, she stopped dead in the water.

A few seconds later the transmitter felt hot. I turned it off. And removed the back housing. Smoke came out. I disconnected the 9.6 v battery pack.

I did not notice any fire damage?

I then rescued it with my tug boat.

I am done with this radio.

I will post on my other blog regarding this Torpedo boat

Isaac

Here are two videos of the boat running using the old Ace transmitter. The transmitter failed after 15 minutes of running. 👎👎🤕🤕😭😭

Boat motors running on 2S LiPo battery ( 7.4V )

The back story soon.

Anyhow, it was a fun run

Isaac

I finally got the original Ace radio to work with the boat.

After running the boat for close to 15 minutes, the boat stopped dead. The transmitter external battery was hot and I disconnected it from the transmitter.

Root cause was multiple internal locations where the insulation was frayed, but it was really mostly my fault.

A bit of background information:
I replaced the original dead battery ( which was not original since it looked like it was replaced and rewired internally with different connectors ). But, I wanted the battery pack to be outside the transmitter case so I can easily charge it. That was a good idea. However, I should have made a cut out for the wires leading out of the metal transmitter case.☹️ The wires got pinched when I closed the back of the transmitter, cut thru the insulation and shorted the battery. Oy...😮

See photos.

It is all repairable though.👍

to be continued.................

Isaac

So now that we know that the torpedo boat died in the water due to transmitter issues, it was still stranded in the middle of the pond. I had to retrieve it.

not a problem, I have multiple boats to rescue it.

So my wife said, 👍 "use the tug boat" to push it to shore. I said, let me use the large shrimp fishing boat and drag a long rope behind it and then snag the old torpedo boat to bring it in. 🤞

so....

After a couple of turns around the torpedo boat, the fishing boat died and would not move. The rope snagged the fishing boat propeller and now I had two dead boats in the water. 😠😠😠

frustrating.

My wife was right, I got the tug boat ready.

Sure enough, I ran it to the torpedo boat and within a few minutes, I pushed it to the shore. Yey....rescue number one👍😎

Now it was time to rescue the fishing boat.

So I head the tug to the fishing boat and started to push it. However, within a few seconds it to stopped and somehow got snagged by the rope from the fishing boat. Oops, I now had a third boat dead in the water. Not good.

I was thinking of sending another boat out there to rescue the two tangled boats, but decided against it for fear of losing it as well.

As it turned out the winds and waves cooperated and the tangled mess of the boats made it to shore after 30 minutes or so😔😁🙄🙄🙄.

When I pulled one boat out of the water, the other one pulled as well. Both props were a tangled to each other.

Moral of the story : listen to your wife!!!!!!!!!!👍😎😍

and that is no fish story!

Isaac

The old torpedo boat is finally ready. All the wiring and controls are working and I’m using my aircraft Spektrum radio.

All three motors are are joined and operate via a single throttle.

Currently I coupled two LiPo 2S 7.4 volts at 5200 mAh each running in parallel. Not bad, but I ordered 3S batteries and see if the old boat can handle it.

Attached are two videos I took today 😎😎😎

Isaac

I just got two new batteries; 👍LiPo 3S that’s 11.1 volts at 5,200 mAh each. Coupled in parallel to keep the voltage. At 11.1 nominal. Ran the boat at medium speed for 15 minutes. Batteries check at 74 percent still available. That means I can comfortably run for 30 minutes with reserve. That’s more than enough for me.

This boat lives this amount of power.

Check out the video 👍

Isaac

I just took the old torpedo boat out to play with the local sail boat regatta.

Stayed out of their way, but still cruised around.

All fun.

Pics including the other sail boats here

Isaac

My main problem with this big and heavy boat is to lower it to the water.

I could not do it from the dock because there is a drop to the water. So I had to find a shallow area at the pond that I can lower the boat. That was a pain in the butt.

One of the fellows showed me his sail boat cradle. I liked it, but had to make an engineering modification to lift the big boat.

Here is my solution made out of 1 inch diameter PVC plastic pipes o got at the local hardware store.

I’ll test it soon

Isaac

Now that the old torpedo boat is operational and running fine, I was asked to do a short Show and Tell about it. I will present it to a club in the Sarasota ( Florida ) area soon.

I wish I knew the original builder's story. There must be at least some hundreds of hours worth of build here.

I just repaired it and made it sea worthy again.

Picture is from the original owner. ( the submarine in the back was sold to a collector in Texas ).

Isaac

This huge 6.5 ft long boat is now fully operational. But I have no room for it inside the house. It was just taking valuable table space in the garage.

I decided to build a shelf for it on the garage side wall ( concrete blocks ).

Now this big boat has a proper place in between missions

😎😎😎

Isaac

The “seas” were rough today at our local public pond. I did a short run though.

My modified cart and cradle worked well

A beautiful day to take this big boat on the big pond here. I lowered the boat into the water, radio was working. I applied power and slowly left the dock. However, I noticed that the rudder control was reversed ( I used my Spekrum 6 channel airplane transmitter and receiver radio ). That was strange. So I reversed the power and got the boat back to the dock. I started going thru the menu of the transmitter and in the process of finding the correct menu, I reversed the rudder. But silly me, the rudder for the boat is on the right stick ( aileron side in airplane speak ). So I reversed the boat and got it back to the side of the dock still in the water. Once again as I changed the setting to reverse the servo direction for the boat, I did not pay attention and the boat drifted away from the dock and was approx 50 yards from shore. By itself this would not be a problem...🤞

but...............😔

For some reason, the boat was not responding . No communication on any channel. Nothing working. Not even the horn. It was dead in the water.

Luckily, I knew the kayak vendor right there and he let me used his kayak to rescue my bost.

After that save, I raised the boat out of the water and sure enough, nothing on the boat was working. However, after I restarted both transmitter and receiver, all was fine and working correctly.

feeling OK, I launched the boat again and it ran fine for over 10 minutes.

then....😔

As I placed the motors into reverse about 20 yard away from the dock, it died again. So back into the kayak and I rescued it again.

I took it home and decided to replace the receiver taken from one of my RC airplanes as well as program my other newer Spekrum transmitter. All is working!!!!!!!!!!!

I am yet to test it in the water. My local pond behind my house is so shallow now that I do not feel comfortable running it for fear of hitting rocks ( I already had that experience once ).

I hope this fixes things.

I wonder if the original old Robbe ESC/BEC has something to do with killing power to the receiver?

Isaac

Rudy

I use the Spektrum line of radios on all my RC planes with no issues. But in this case, I used an old set and it may be the cause of failure. I’m using a newer set now and will check it out.

Lew
Yes rocks in the pond. Like all Florida developments they dig holes to make retention ponds. The bottom is not smooth. They leave rocks and debris on the bottom. And at low water level, they stick out

Just to be clear, I changed both. These are used routinely on my RC planes. So I know they work.

I never had issues with the Spektrum radios.

I’ll let you know when I run the boat again.

Isaac

I replaced the radio with yet again another radio. This one was Flysky 5 channel surface radio. I did it because the old Spectrum receiver went dead in the middle of the lake. This new one is working great. I liked it so much, I purchased 5 more receivers and converted 4 more boats to that system. Transmitter has 20 model memory.
$70 USD on Amazon.
😎

I went yesterday to the lake with the big Torpedo boat.

As I checked the boat prior to launch, I noticed that the number 3 motor was loose off the gearbox housing. I had no tools, so I hand tighten it. Bad idea!

The run in the water went great. All fun.

I then returned after 10 minutes as it somehow slowed down.

Results: the motor completely disengaged. At least I had two more motored to rerun to port.

Home for repairs.

I will explain the repairs next.

Isaac

The two screws holding the brushed motor to the orange gearbox backed off completely.

Unfortunately there is no access to their screws because the builder glued the wood part after the assembly was bolted together.

I had to break off the wood plate. Amazingly it separated cleanly at its original lines.

I now separated the assembly, cleaned the plastic gear and noted one tooth was mostly missing. Oh well. This is an old Robbe gearbox, and I just lubricated the gears and closed it all up.

It works fine, but is noisy.

I then reconnected the coupling and applied a generous amount of epoxy back to the wood mounting plate.

All fine. A bit noisy, but ok. Let’s see how long it lasts.

Isaac

During the gearbox inspection, I noted one of the large plastic gear missing a tooth. That is the source of the noise. I do not have a method to repair it, so I lubricated the gears with a generous amount of marine grease... Hopefully it will last a few more years. I also reduced the battery voltage to 2S ( 7.4 volts ) instead of the 3S.

I still need to see if there is a great affect on the boat's speed in the water.

Isaac

A couple of months ago I let a young boy run my torpedo boat under my supervision. In one of the runs he glanced the boat to the side of the dock and one of the guns snapped off and fell into the water. Oh well.

Anyhow, I was looking at the original model guns and they were really a pawn chess piece base with a metal punch for a gun. Not scale.

I decided to make a close enough scale Hotchkiss gun. Not exact, but better looking.

the pics of the gun schematic with the original chess piece gun and my new ones made of wood will be attached later since the current location does not have the needed signal strength.

Isaac

I was just invited to go on a local Sarasota Florida TV morning show ( April 29th ) to bring this big old torpedo boat. This in conjunction with the local RC Sailboat club. But as some of you may recall, when I refurbished the boat last year, there were questions as to what is this boat modeled after. It looks like an 1890's USS Cushing TB-1, but this model had three smoke stacks where the actual Cushing really had only two. The three stack TB boat from that era was the USS Porter TB-6, but the bow is different and so is the stern. So it remained ambiguous....I did not mind it.

I could not be ambiguous for the show, so I decided to modify and make it look like the USS Cushing. The main visual difference was the removal of the middle stack.

However, this model has 3 geared motors and three propellors. I decided not to remove the middle one because it is not seen and also it would have required new bigger motors and bigger props as well as new ESCs. So that is the only main deviation for the USS Cushing.

The boat was then patched up and repainted grey.

I sailed it again in its current USS Cushing configuration yesterday and it was great!!!!

Pics attached on the current configuration.

Isaac😎

I had a great photographer take a few pics of the torpedo boat before modifying it to conform to a TB-1 USS Cushing. 😎

Isaac