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April 2018: 21 people March 2018: 13 people February 2018: 8 people January 2018: 25 people December 2017: 7 people November 2017: 13 people October 2017: 9 people September 2017: 4 people |
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| Author: RNinMunich Posts: 14 Photos: 105 Subscribers: 4 Views: 2339 Responses: 141 | Most recent posts shown first (Show oldest first) |
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6mm lime wood planks from Krick and 4mm tap from Conrad arrived on Wednesday so Full Speed Ahead. This time formers were made from the 6mm lime so no bending or slitting required, new piece of mahogany cut so that this time no inserts left an right were needed. 😊 Formers attached using Rocket cyano and a bag of clamps and left overnight. The 'Riva' tank filler caps were tapped 4mm and appropriate holes bored in the deck piece. Neodymium magnets attached to forward edge. Deck fitted and trimmed in situ for flush fit all round. Transom got scratched during this process so will need a respray🤔 Underside sealed with two coats of EzeKote and sealing / varnishing / lacquering process started on the topside. Last two pics show current status; So Far So Good.😉 Next step; fit windows made of 3mm green tinted acrylic 'glass', which also arrived Wednesday. Will now have to start thinking about what to do in the cockpit 😲 All I have so far is a 25mm ship's wheel. Furniture building is not exactly my Forte! First time for everything I suppose! Suggestions gratefully received!! Ciao for now, Doug 😎 Almost forgot! While waiting for varnish to dry I tackled an old problem with the rudder. Namely; asymmetric rudder throw caused by the rather bulky connecting rod binding on the rudder arm! Suddenly remembered I still had some E-Z Connectors from old aircraft days. Been hanging around for 35 years or so waiting for something to do! So replaced the old plastic linkage with 1mm spring steel rod and two E-Z connectors. Works a treat 😊 Attached Photos - Click To View Large 
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Spent a 'relaxing' day cutting and trimming new parts! Pics later, off to the GF now for an Easter Dinner 😜 After that - 'Let the bending commence' 😉 Happy Easter folks, 😎 |
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give up and go home! Oh! I am home 😁 Since I need access to the rudder the after deck has to be made as a removable hatch. Would you believe at the last refit (25 years ago) I actually managed to shoehorn the RX and RX NiMH battery in there as well!? Pic 1 shows what it looked like when I started this refit, after 20 odd years in the cellar 😲 Anyway, I wanted the deck to be mahogany to match the cabin roof and as a hatch it was obvious that it would need a subframe. Pic 2 to 5, had to open a new bag of chomp chomp clamps 😉 Trial fit Pic 6. SFSG! Under side was sealed with two coats of EzeKote and fixings added; neodymium magnets at the forward edge, domed captive nyloc nuts glued into the under frame at the aft edge. Pics 7 & 8. These will then accept 4mm studs screwed into Riva style fuel filler caps to hold it down and (hopefully) keep it watertight. Mahog was then finished in the same laborious and patience testing process described above (or is it below😲) for the cabin roof and decks. Pic 9 shows it screwed down with normal 4mm 'Camembert' head screws - Why? see below 😆 Finish was OK.. BUT After leaving screwed down overnight a hairline crack had developed 😡 Pic 10. Also, I didn't like the 3mm fillets between the hatch deck and the main deck, and was wondering what to do about the lip on the bulkhead at the rear of the cockpit. There was a chunk cut out in the middle. This was where in the old days we had a tiller bar to set the rudder for Free Running on a great circle (Radnor Park Lake in Folkestone - side note for Graham P74, probably before he was born😉) Sooo .... machined the lip away, removed the 3mm fillets, made a cardboard template for the new deck-piece and tomorrow is another day. Wonder what I can muck up then !!?? 😊 G'night all, ciao Doug 😎 Oh yes the Filler caps - drilled them on the lathe for 4mm thread clearance, dug out the tap set, selected 4mm 0.7mm pitch ..... Oh S..t, only a tapered tap which starts cutting at 5mm. Hole in the cap is only 5mm deep.😡 Immediately ordered 4mm parallel machine tap, should be here on Wednesday. No sweat, should have deck hatch Mk. 2 finished by then 😎 Attached Photos - Click To View Large 
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Sooo ... Happy with the cabin and main deck so onward and upward with the hull. At a previous stage the hull was already sealed, primed and two coats of gloss Royal Blue, or at least what passes for Royal Blue in Germany - seems a little light to me but I like it anyway. Over-spray from other operations was sanded off with a 600 grit sponge. This revealed a few imperfections around the bow that needed sealing (EzeKote) and re-flattening. No one's perfect!😉 These areas were re-primed using a primer-filler from the pro auto branch, flattened off with 1000 and 1500 W&D and the whole hull given a quick blast of Royal Blue again and flattened with 2000 grit wet. Pic 1. The finishing coats were then applied: 3 coats blue and 3 coats protective lacquer (contains a UV filter😎). Flattening with wet 3000 plus liquid soap between each coat. Finally cutting polish and finishing polish, as for cabin roof and main deck. Polishing might give her an extra knot or so, scale of course😊 Results of all this can be seen in pics 2-6. After removing all the masking tape full effect is shown in pics 8-10. Minor Arrrgh!: the masking tape on the main deck had been on too long and the white on the cabin walls had hardened, so when I removed the tape some paint came with it 😡 No sweat! I'll trim the cabin with a mahogany moulding 😁 BTW: the W&D used here are all Tamiya sanding sponges. Not the cheapest sort of W%D but I'm so impressed with how they work and their longevity that I've acquired a modest stock of grits from 240 to 3000😉 Only slight disadvantage; it's virtually impossible to get old colour out of them, unlike W&D paper, so you need new sponges for a new colour! E.g. I didn't want to use sponges I'd used on the blue hull for the white cabin walls!! Big advantage: you can use them wet on raw wood without staining the wood black! So, that's how I've spent the last two weeks, what have U lot been up to??? 😉 Happy painting people, cheers Doug 😎 Attached Photos - Click To View Large 
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Sorry the advertised Flash Gordon reel has gone 'walkies' so you'll have to make do with this boring description of how to occupy a day or three and stink out the house!😁 After the eventual success with the cabin roof I continued with the main deck using essentially the same process. First I had to extend the planking (engraving) from cabin leading edge back to the transom. Dad had only done the foredeck. Pic 1 shows starting point. AKA Square One! Pic 2 after initial staining, pseudo planking and sealing. Plank engraving was done with a fine hardened steel scriber / centre punch and a steel rule clamped at 7mm centres. Rule was aligned so that the wood grain pushed the scriber against it. Don't ask how I realised that that was the way to do it (minor Arrrgh!)😡 Anyway, worked out in the end. I had started with cherry wood stain but it came out too bright red so from Krick I obtained some Jotica mahogany stain (also some Oak stain for the decks of my Prince of Wales and Bismarck - but that's another pair of Sagas to be.) Using basically the same process as for the cabin roof: two sealing coats, two matt varnish primer coats, two gloss varnish coats, two protective lacquer coats, polishing with cutting polish and top gloss polish, and lots of patience and elbow grease (this time an Italian Lugana😉) pics 3 to 5 show the result. I'm 'appy with that 😊 Note: to remove build up of sanding residue from the 'planking caulking' I had to resort to an old toothbrush or nail-brush from time to time. The sponge couldn't hack it. The aft deck 'hatch' is still the temporary bodge-up I made 25 years ago to quickly get the boat going for my daughter. Think the ply (ca 4mm) came from the back of an old bureaux! Haven't decided yet whether to make the new one from the same mahogany as the roof or thin ply and stain like the main deck. Suggestions welcome please. After the deck time to turn my attention to the cabin walls, looking pretty shabby and full of over-spray - pic 6 😲 Step 0: masking off, pics 7 & 8 'All Dressed Up and Nowhere To Go'🤔 Step 1: mucho sanding starting with 180 grit and working through to 600 ensuring removal of all traces of blue as I wanted the final finish to be Arctic White (not Ice Blue!) Step 2: two sealing coats, flattening with 600 grit. Step 3: spraying with Revell white primer, not impressed, gave a rough dusty finish🤔 Step 4: sand off Revell muck, flat back with 1000 and 1500 grit sponges, respray with two coats of pro white primer, flattening with 1500 and 2000+ soap respectively. Much better 😊 like the proverbial baby's ...! Step 5: two coats of gloss white, same make as the primer!!!, flattening with 3000 grit sponge, wet + a drop of liquid soap. Step 6: two coats of protective lacquer as with the varnish. Flattening with 3000 and soap between coats only. Interesting effect with this lacquer and the paint (as opposed to the varnish); it seemed to 'melt and fuse' with the paint surface and smooth it out.😊 Just had to be careful not to apply too much at once in case it all ran down and took the paint with it! Step 7: finishing with cutting polish and anti-hologram polish. Results: pics 9 - 11. Final effect makes it look and feel like plastic or fibreglass, almost forgot that there is wood underneath😁 Next in this theatre "Hi Ho Silver Awaaaayyyy!" (Sponsored by KiOra!) or 'I'm gonna finish this hull if it kills me!' (sorry Flash reels got lost in the post😡) Cheers Doug 😎 Attached Photos - Click To View Large 
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Typical of Aeorokits the cabin roof skin was made of two thin pieces of ply < 1mm. Over the 50 years or so the overhang corners had started to curl up and crack 😲 Pics 1 & 2 show the 'off the shelf' condition after 25 years of neglect 🤔. First I tried to correct this by soaking in hot water and flattening under a car battery (flattens most things😉). So far so good. Then some super glue in the cracks and back under the battery. After a day or two it just curled up again. Ho hum! Pour a glass of wine and back to the thinking board. Seconds Out - Round Two! Thought, OK make new pieces from the 0.6mm ply I still have and paint it - then my eye fell on some 1mm mahogany sheet (Ouch 😭). Tried to make the whole roof skin in one piece of this but the compound curve defeated me. The skin was steamed and soaked in hot water and clamped across the roof frame. Next morning - Arrrgh! Had started to crack along the centre line 😭 More thinks!! Carefully cut down the middle and glued and clamped the separate pieces; pics 3&4. Getting the two pieces to match in the middle was a tedious ***!!! Pic 5. Then mucho sanding. followed by 2 coats of Lord Nelson sealer, sand back with 600 grit sanding sponge. Then two coats of Lord Nelson matt varnish, sanding with 1000 grit in between. then two coats of Lord Nelson gloss varnish, sanding with 2000 grit in between. Pic 6. So far so good, pic 6. 3rd coat of varnish and - Arrrgh 2! 😡 Pic 7. No idea why! Sand off and start again, pic 8 😭 Treated each side separately, pics 9 & 10 and flatted off with 2000 grit. Then applied three coats of clear protective lacquer, sanding with 3000 grit between coats. Finally cutting back with auto paint restorer / cutting polish and finally polishing with anti-hologram finishing polish. Pic 11. Now I'm happy 😊 Pic 12. Only took a week 😉 Next week in this theatre - "I love you too Flash but we've only got 15 minutes to save the world"! or 'Will I ever get this hull finished?" 😎 Attached Photos - Click To View Large 
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Most of this actually took place last August / July! Regular readers may have seen that when Dad built this boat in the 60s he put a Taycol Target field motor in it. About 25 years ago I put a Decaperm and 'modern' transistor ESC in her to provide forward and reverse. Performance was sedate to say the least. I have since modified the Taycol (see below) so it can be run forward and reverse and decided to put it in an ancient Billings Boats Danish fish cutter (Gina) that I inherited from an Aunt. The cutter is badly in need of renovation (see pic 1) and the Taycol will be more suited to her performance requirement! On advice from Canabus in Hobart I obtained a Propdrive 2830 1000kV brushless motor, appropriate ESC and a 35mm 3 blade prop from Raboesch. Pic 2 shows the old and new motors. Next step was to trial fit new motor mount, coupling and prop. Pics 3 &4. While doing this it became obvious that a new shaft was in order, as mentioned in last update. Soooo, - appropriate stainless steel rod, thrust washers and set ring were acquired and back to the workshop. After cutting to length to accommodate the new coupling type a 3mm thread was cut a the prop end. At the inboard end I milled recesses for the grub screws in the set ring and the coupling, pics 5 - 7. I don't like to just file(or even mill) flats for the screws cos they have a tendency to slip and work loose😡 Trial fitted the new shaft and found I'd boobed a bit with the measurements and need extra thrust washers to make up the difference. 😲 Pic 8. No sweat, they came in a pack of 50 anyway😊 You can also see in this pic that I decided to fit an oiler pipe while everything was in bits anyway.😉 To solder it on in a cramped space without setting the boat on fire 😡 I packed a wet rag underneath and used a gas Kitchen Torch! Known as a 'Gas Gourmet Burner'. Yep, those handy little gas torches like your Missus uses to melt the brown sugar on her Crème Brûlée!! So do I, delicious 😜😉 The torches are not expensive, small, very handy, refillable with lighter gas and can be adjusted to a very small hot flame. Ideal for this job. See pics 9 & 10. Pic 11 shows the new motor & mount, shaft and coupling all trial fitted after using a brass alignment tool I quickly made up on the lathe. Pic also shows the trial electrical installation after cleaning up the 'machinery compartment' a little and painting with silver Hammerite. A Quickrun BL ESC is sitting in the bottom in one of the trays my Dad originally fitted for the 2 wet cell (very wet!) 6V lead acid batteries. The home made board on the left carries the battery and ESC connectors, main ON/OFF switch with LED, blade fuse holder with a 20A fuse and a green LED which tells me if the fuse is blown! Stuck on the walls (OK Bulkheads!) with so called Servo Tape are a 6 ch Turnigy iA6 2.4Gig RX and the arming switch for the ESC. Battery compartment is sized to fit 2S and 3S hard case LiPos. For trials I can fit my Wattmeter forward of the switchboard and splice it into the battery supply using Tamiya connectors. Might change these to XT60s later if current drain is more than 12 to 15A. All for now, all this was pulled out again preparatory to cosmetics on the hull, decks, cabin roof and walls inside and out. But that's another chapter so, 'Tune in next week, same time same channel when once again it's time for 'WHAT DO YOU MEAN BUCK RODGERS IS APPROACHING!? 😁 Or 'The Saga of the Cabin Roof' 😉 Cheers Doug 😎 BTW: After drilling the shaft tube for the oiler pipe I flushed it out with light machine oil (pumped in from a big syringe) and shoved a few pipe cleaners through (rotating them on the way) to remove any remaining drill swarf!! Attached Photos - Click To View Large 
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After many distractions and accumulating 'stuff' to go in and on the boat I finally got around to tidying up the hull this week. After flattening with 180 / 240 wet and dry I sealed with Ezekote flattened again then sprayed with a professional grade primer / filler from the auto branch. As usual this showed up all the pits so I filled them with Revell Plasto and primed again. After going round this loop a few times I was (reasonably) happy and flattened with 600 W&D. Then sprayed on Royal Blue from a giant rattle can, also from the auto pro market. Flattened off with 1200 W&D between coats. I have Tamiya Royal Blue acrylic for my air brush as well but couldn't be bothered to set up the compressor🤔 Can worked pretty well though. 👍 Last pic shows the 'Before'! Will leave the final finishing, nameplate and lacquer coat until I have finished the internal fitting out and the cabin. Have decided to plank the cockpit with mahogany😲 just ordered from Krick! First attempt at planking - Wish me luck! I like the blue hull so much I think I will just mark the waterline with a red (or white?) boot topping stripe. Comments welcome. Cabin will be white with a blue roof. Now to continue with the new prop shaft, old one is showing signs of wear at both ends and rust at the wet end 🤔 Anyway it's got an imperial thread which is useless when all my brass props are metric. More soon, I hope 😉 Cheers Doug 😎 Attached Photos - Click To View Large 
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Success 😊 First attempt as per cct with + &- from bridge connected to field --> Zilch 🤔 With + & - outputs connected to brushes and the two ~ to the field coil --> perfect, Full power F and R 😊 Confirmed my suspicions! Pic 1 shows the breadboard lash-up. Pic 2 input waveform to brushes forward power, average 'DC' positive. Pic 3 input with reverse power, average 'DC' negative. Pic 4 typical current drawn near full power @ 6V. Well within Taycol spec. Pic 5 shows the waveform with the motor in standard 'out of the box' setup, complete with sparks! Have also videoed the change in waveform with 'stick' movement. 😊 I'm happy with that. Will now tidy up the layout and make a compact board for boat installation. Tomorrow is another day 😉 Cheers all 😎 Attached Photos - Click To View Large 
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Taycol Target test 1, with Graupner V30R brushed ESC. Running on 6V. As expected full speed control with ESC connected to field terminals as usual but no reverse. Now about to try the 'lecktrickery'. More soon. 😎 |
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