I am putting the tyres onto the tug now... A fiddly job.
I intend to do an few changes to improver the manoeuvrability in reverse. A gent on YouTube did this by scrapping the engine control and fitting 2 ESC units and new supplementary receiver. It worked well but cost quite a bit and he ended up using 2 controllers which seems a little over the top to me.
I am working on a simpler device.
My plan is to add a sort of mixer. And a second motor drive ESC equivalent. The main difficulty is that the boat does not seem to have a conventional ESC and therefore the normal 1-2 msec pulse is not accessible. So a bought rudder to throttle mixer is not going to work.
I am not too worried about going forward, the rudder is OK for that. But going backwards is a different matter and I intend to address that first.
I will make and fit a copy of the present H bridge motor drive. This is driven with a PWM F and PWM B signal- forward and back.
So now there are 2 motor controllers,nboth in then first instance driven identically.
I can sense the rudder position and intend to break that down into 3 areas, small medium and large deflection. Small will do nothing. Medium will stop one motor depending on rudder direction giving reverse while turning. Hard over will reverse one motor which means it will go forward and the model should turn without any movement. Throttle setting will be as determined by the normal controller setting so speed control is not lost.

Any comments or advice welcome.

Thanks for that. Have added to the correct forum.

Hi SC,

There are a lot of posts on here about smoke generators. Try searching in the forum, and the gallery. I use glycerine in my smokers. Thinned a little with water to reduce the viscosity.

Graham93

As an extra. I contacted Hobby Engines and they say to use train smoke oil. They also say that the coil will not burn out if there is no oil loaded. They sent a circuit but I think its for an older model as the connectors shown do not line up with what I have. But what a nice friendly company they are!
Another web post claimed to have measured smoke generator temperatures and only seen 100C. I believe the heating device is like a wire wound resistor. These easily get to 250C and then the solder holding them to a PCB melts. Cue crimped connections.

Sailed it for the first time today. After web research it seemed that baby oil was the stuff to use. Train smoke oil is expensive and does little more. Paraffin know also as mineral oil is nearly the same as baby oil. Unfortunately the best webpost simply concluded that one does not see much smoke. And so it proved. Oil all over the place to start with and not a hint of smoke. We need to get a VW engineer on this job and find out how to produce smoke properly?. Could I just use diesel oil? What can one add to produce smoke colours?
Any ideas or information out there?

Thanks, looks like I need to find cutters and a switch!

Hi:

Bear with me; I can’t see very well.

I have the tug with the smoker. There’s no way to unplug the smoker or turn it off as supplied. You can disable it by cutting the two wires that power the smoke blower motor & the two that power the smoke generator itself. You’ll need to remove the deckhouse bottom cover & cut the two pairs of wires I marked in the attached photo. The smoke blower is in the upper left in the photo; the generator is on the right. The blower pushes air to the generator through the tube with the wire coil on it.

I’m revising my tug to add switches for the blower & generator as soon as my vision is 100% again.

I hope this helps. Good luck.

Pete

Hi SeamanCook,

I have the original!
There are no wires or any lights!

Take your time!
You maybe able to track the wires!

Cheers, Ed

Please tell me, does your model with no smoker have a 2pin connector under the wheelhouse that is bigger than the others? If no smoker it must have less wires than mine and logically the extra ones must be for the smoker. But mine has so many more lights than the original that a comparison cannot be certain. But lights only need small wires and I'd expect a smoker coil getting hot would need something rather bigger.

Hi Seamancook,

I'm hoping there is a way to disconnect the smoker!
I have the Southampton without the smoker!
But, I do know!
Don't run the smoker without oil!
You'll damage it!
Try to see where all the wires go!
If possible disconnect the smoker!

Oh, don't over oil the smoker as well!

Cheers, Ed

New Member. Same problem! Does the smoke coil burn out if no oil is loaded? There is no control for this but it must be possible to turn off the coil. My example received today has 3 connectors going up to the wheelhouse, a hefty 2 pin plus a 4 pin controller JST type and a 3pin. I'd hope that leaving the hefty 2 pin disconnected will turn off the coil.
Is there a circuit diagram anywhere?

Hi Pete,

45 years, Wow! Well I'm glad you have some switches.
you can use on your project!
It wouldn't have been a problem. I would have sent you some switches! I'm glad you have some though!

Yes, Harbor Models is a good place to look for model supplies!
There's also Cornwall model boat in the UK.
They have a good amount of supplies as well!

I also know what you mean about your appointments!
It always seams as if there not going to end!

Nick, is good people and very helpful!
Let me know how you make out!

Ed

Hi, Ed:

Thanks very much for your kind offer, but this morning I found some switches in my almost 45-year (yikes!) accumulation of hobby-related stuff. The ones I’ve got will be just right for my project.

I’m going to contact Nick at Harbor Models tomorrow afternoon when I get home from my 854th doctor appointment since I got hurt. OK, it isn’t really that many but it sure seems like it. I believe I’ll be back home by 1:30pm, which will be 10:30am in California. That should be just right; Nick will have time to have a cup of coffee or two before I call & pester him.

By the way, I looked around on the Harbor Models website for a while today. I couldn’t believe what they have available! It would be really easy to spend a LOT of money very quickly on that site!

I won’t forget to tell Nick that Ed sent me!

Best regards,
Pete

Hi Pete,

Doesn't it say on the instructions.
How long of a run you will have with a fill up?

You are right that's why.
I put switches on my smoker and fan!
You don't want it smoking indoors!

Pete,

I have some very small switches.
I had purchased!
If you'd like I can send you two!
I'm not too far from you!
And I wouldn't mind sending you.
The switches they are small.
And would be just right for you model!

If you like I can PM you mailing details!

Regards, Ed

Hey, Ed:

I noticed in one of your post about this topic you mentioned:

“PS. When you use the smoker.
Don't let it dry out.
You'll burn the coil!
Just keep track of it!
And have fun!!!”

When you say “when you [I] use the smoker”, I need to point out that I don’t have any control over it, as such. I can’t turn it “on” or “off”; smoke is automatically generated whenever the transmitter throttle is pushed forward or reverse. According to Hobby Engine’s response to my email: “smoke will be generated automatically when the boat runs”. Based on what you’re saying, Ed, which makes perfect sense to me, if my boat runs out of smoke liquid I should get it to shore a.s.a.p. because there’s a strong possibility that the smoke heating coil could burn out. It would be sort of like letting all of the water boil out of the pan on the stove; as soon as the water boils away the pot will weld itself to the stove top pretty quickly!

All of this gives me an idea. I think I’ll install an “on-off” switch for the smoke system blower & smoke oil heater. There’s more than enough room to add a switch on the deckhouse floor (close to the tug’s main power switch).

This would be helpful for maintenance work, too. I wouldn’t necessarily want smoke coming out of the stacks when I’ve got the boat indoors on the bench & I want to run the motors after shaft oiling or something.

My “to do” list keeps growing!!

Pete

Hi Pete,

About RNinMunich (Doug).
He was having Computer problems a while back.
And was off line for a bit! And is busy as of late!

I will email him and tell him you asked about him.
And send your Regards!

Ed

Morning Pete,

I'm so glad you found out where to put smoking liquid. 👍
Especially where to put it!
when you have the Tug smoking make a video!
We would all like to see her smoking!

Now all she needs is her lights!
But that's a different project....

PS. When you use the smoker.
Don't let it dry out.
You'll burn the coil!
Just keep track of it!
And have fun!!!😊

Update:

I received a reply from Hobby Engine about the smoke generator system. They even included a drawing (attached) that shows where the smoke fluid is placed. It confirms that the fill point is where I learned it was today:

“Dear Pete:

The smoke will be generated automatically when the boat runs. You can use the hobby oil on the boat. The hobby oil can be easily found at the hobby stores in the neighborhood. The same in which people used for model trains. About 5-6 drops is enough”.

The hobby shop located a few miles away from my home sells model trains & they probably have smoke fluid available. The website where I found the pictures of the Southampton fill plug mentions that ordinary baby oil can be used in smoke generator systems. According to that website baby oil generates a lot of smoke & is very clean. I guess it wouldn’t hurt to try a little bit in my boat to see how it performs.

I hope this information will be helpful to others who find themselves in the same boat (no pun intended) as me when they want to figure out how to work with Hobby Engine’s undocumented smoke generator system.

Many thanks again to you, Ed. Thanks to Hobby Engine, too, for your prompt, polite & helpful reply to my inquiry.

Best regards,
Pete

Hi, Ed:

I did more web searching & struck gold. I found some excellent photos & great information about the Southampton’s smoke system (the Southampton is identical to the Richardson except paint & markings).

Smoke fluid goes in the little tube on component “B”, not “A”. When the deckhouse floor is installed that little tube fits snugly into a raised ring on the inside surface of the deckhouse floor. The rubber plug goes through a hole in the deckhouse floor (see photos) to seal up the filler tube.

I’m going to rework the filler tube arrangement by enlarging the hole in the floor so it’ll fit around an extension tube that I’ll add onto the existing filler tube. I’ll seal the extended filler tube with a snug-fitting vinyl cap (I have dozens of vinyl caps on hand). Doing this modification will make it a lot easier for my clumsy fumble-fingers when smoke fluid needs to be added.

I emailed Hobby Engine today via their website’s “contact us” page & asked them for information about the smoke system. I’m also going to contact Nick at Harbor Models tomorrow & ask him for advice as you suggested. I’ll be sure to “tell him Ed sent me”!

By the way, have you had any contact with Doug (RNinMunich) lately? I half expected him to offer up some advice about this topic. A couple of weeks ago I replied to something he posted on the “LED Mast Lights” topic, but he didn’t respond. I also sent him a PM to ask how he’s doing, but he didn’t respond. He used to reply pretty much right away whenever I asked him a question or for advice. I hope he’s all right & I also hope I didn’t say something that insulted him in some way. He did a lot of design work for my tug’s lighting upgrade project. That upgrade is definitely going to get done; it’s been held up all along by a string of eye infections, then my fall, surgery & recovery. If you hear from him please say “hello” for me.

I’ll post back later on & share whatever information I receive about the smoke system or fluid from either Hobby Engine or Nick at Harbor Models.

Thanks for your input & advice, Ed. I appreciate it!

Thanks,
Pete

Hi Pete,

Feel better that's for sure!
Maybe after that you'll be able to.
Do some work on your tug!

Pete,

It looks as if you would.
Put the smoke liquid down part "A"!

Pete,

Your going to have to find that plug!
But, I believe where the plug goes.
That's where you put the smoking Liquid!

Don't you have the instructions to the model?
Maybe you can get in contact.
With Hobby Engine see if they'll send you a copy!

Regards, Ed

The smoker bottle come with a dropper.
I would just put one or two dropper.
Full of liquid see if that works!


Pete,

When you call Nick at Harbor Models.
Tell him Ed from Connecticut sent you!

Hi, Ed:

I’ve attached a photo of the deckhouse interior showing the two smoke generator components & tubing (these things have since been taken out of the deckhouse). As soon as I’m recovered enough I’m going to modify the existing wiring & finally add the lighting upgrades that Doug (RNinMunich) so kindly worked out for me.

The red arrow on the photo points forward. The object marked “A” is the blower motor. “B” is the generator; the short tube is where the rubber plug fits when the deckhouse floor is in place. (I’ve misplaced the rubber plug itself but I know it’s in one of the separate bags I put parts in when I took things apart).

In the meantime, Ed, I’ll contact Nick as soon as I can as you suggested to ask for his advice, too.

Thanks,
Pete

Hi Pete,

Is it possible for you to take a picture.
And show us the location of the plug!

Why don't you call Harbor Models in California?
Their number is 626-963-4591
The guys name is Nick!
He sells Smoker Liquid!
And he's very helpful!

Ask him if you can use it for you tug!

Regards, Ed