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I originally built this about 6 years ago when I was still a novice builder and some mistakes were made and it ended up partially sinking , it was left in the workshop for about a year before I decided to refit it out. The deck just lifted of the framing without any problems because it was rotten as well as some of the framing , the motors and prop shafts had seized and most of the electrics and the battery had shorterd and corroded due to the sinking. I had been doing the odd bits of the refit over the past couple of years not really in any rush to complete it. After replacing the rotten framing I started to replace the electrics with all new gear Battery 12v 7mah Motors Mtronic 560 Working crane using 3 mini motors with Mr RC world micro speed controllers Working anchor winch (krick I think) Full lighting kit and working radar Main speed controllers electronize The pictures shows as it is now ready for the new decking to be fitted
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Former tug nut now switched to sail because of health
Hi Ron, I'd be very interested in your crane drive as well. My Graf Spee has two cranes for ships boats and the Arado float plane and my HMS Belfast one for the boats. Both ships 1/128 scale. Had been pondering cannibalising some micro servos. Cheers Doug 😎
Young at heart - slightly older in other places 😉 Cheers Doug
here we have some pics of the electrics as requested the first pic is of the mtronic 650 motors for main drive. second pic is of the twin rudder control. the third pic is of the water proof voltage dropper and connections for 5v power supply to some of the aux, Ron
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Former tug nut now switched to sail because of health
Here we have the working radar and search light . The radar was easily converted to working by using a micro geared motor rated at 300-1 controlled by a micro speed controller thanks to mr rc world electrics. The original radar mould was first filed flat underneath then a small hole was drilled and a brass rod was glued into the hole with about 5mm sticking out and this was attached to the micro motor using some heat shrink. The second pic shows the micro motor hidden in the bracket
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Former tug nut now switched to sail because of health
Here is the working anchor winch, i did cheat and purchase this from cornwall model boats if you search for " krick working anchor winch " when i purchased this it retailed at £69 but i do think it is worth the expense and i have in the past used this to make my own working anchor winch for one of my tugs.
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Former tug nut now switched to sail because of health
Here we have the working crane for lifting the buoy's into/out of the water. Again this was converted to working by using three micro motors rated at 300-1 plus one gear box at 5-1 to operate the rotation and a 4-1 gear box to operate the lift and lower first pic shows the crane completed second pic shows the line winch motor which is just a 300-1 micro motor. third pic shows the lift and lower arm with the motor and gear box is hidden in the crane body fourth pic shows the micro motor and gear box that controls the rotation, there is a similar layout that controls the lifting arm the final pic shows the micro speed controllers that you can do the fine control of setting the required speed that you want. Ron
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Former tug nut now switched to sail because of health
I just thought i should mention for those of you wondering what all the polystyrene bits in the hull are for, as i mentioned at the start of this refit the boat did sink so i am not taking any further chances of it sinking again and i am filling all the empty space with polystyrene before fixing the deck in place. Ron
Former tug nut now switched to sail because of health
The crane is the original that comes with the kit but the workings are my own doing, it took a while to work it all out but that's the joy of building , but once I had got it working Graupner did release a kit to convert the crane to a working one , go figure? Ron
Former tug nut now switched to sail because of health
Al I have done today because of the weather is to make the card template for the ply decking and then transferred it to the ply sheet ready for cutting out and glueing in place You can just about make out the pencil outline on the sheet ply
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Former tug nut now switched to sail because of health
The deck has been fitted today after dry test fit before glueing. The timber framing and underside of the ply decking was coated in a water based varnish before applying the titebond 2 wood glue. Used a number of clamps and bungee cords to hold the deck down.
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Former tug nut now switched to sail because of health
Have finally got round to sanding the deck edge to blend into the hull using permagrit files and 200grit sand paper ready for its couple of coats of a water based varnish before applying the paint
Ron
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Former tug nut now switched to sail because of health