Harbour directory
Sea Commander
Specifications
- Boat Length
- 31" (78.74 cm)
- Motor Type
- Brushed
- Drive Type
- Direct
- Props
- Single
- Battery Type
- Lead Acid
- Prop Type
- 314
- Prop Size
- 329mm
- Run Time
- 1+ hrs
- Model Speed
- 365 km/h (226.8mph)
Photos
About this boat
Originally built in the late 1950's by my dad, and rescued from his attic 22 years ago, it had major delamination problems, a seized propshaft, no rc kit only an ancient Taycol Supermarine motor which was ready for the scrap bin, but Doug in Munich offered to resurrect it, and I was actually amazed at how efficient it is now its refitted along with the special Doug converter box.
25amp water cooled esc, flysky 6 channel rx. All ppowered by the 12 volt 7amp hour battery.
25amp water cooled esc, flysky 6 channel rx. All ppowered by the 12 volt 7amp hour battery.
Liked by
Loading…
Comments
Sign in to comment.
With a LiFePO4 of the same physical size which weighs half the sla but greater amp hours she does get on the plane quite nicely but looks high in the water at rest.
Cheers Colin.
But I will be using LiPo battery when I do it just to minimise the weight. The 12v lead acid batteries are a bit heavy. I will give both a try though just to see what both react like, as well as a play about with different size props, as I do this on all boat's. But my only problem is as to where I can go to ponds to use boats on. There is not much to use in the Dartford area.🤔🤔 And Mr Khan has added another £12.50 to each visit to other ponds, except on Christmas day and that's already booked indefinitely and has been for the last 29 years, even before he wanted to dip into our pockets. But due to public anger he has at least dropped the charge on 25th December.
Cheers Colin.
I have just come back to carry on writing this after reading your post again. I still don't get it I'm afraid. I pause and I'm now thinking am I just stupid or thick? and should I even post this, not wishing to offend you. I have just read it again,
All clear?
Sadly No!!. Boatshed 🤔🤕Sorry.
Cheers Colin.
Cheers Colin.
Part of the reason for the increased efficiency and performance is that I cured the 'slop' in the paxolin end plates by fitting his motor with mini ball race bearings. Hidden inside the plastic end caps, which also contain the felt oil pads, to retain some of the 'Vintage look'.
On the first trials after cleaning and before mods she 'rattled and rolled'.
With the ball races fitted she purred like a pussy cat🐱😉
😎
The 'card' that you see sticking out of my 'Black Box' is actually a chunk of alu plate forming a heatsink for a bridge rectifier.
As you may know; the old Taycol motors are are 'Field wound'. This means that instead of a permanent magnet, like 'canned' motors', the static magnetic field (Stator) is generated by applying current to a field coil. As this fixed field coil is in series with the armature coils (rotating part of the motor) reversing the polarity of the voltage at the motor terminals has NO EFFECT because it simply reverses the polarity of both fixed and rotating magnetic fields. So the first step is to separate the stator coil winding from the armature.
All I do is rectify the pulsed (square wave) signal from the ESC with a bridge rectifier (4 hi-current diodes in a bridge form in one package), apply the + and - outputs from the rectifier to the field coil so that it produces a constant magnetic field just like the permanent magnet of a canned motor.
The two alternating (pulsed) outputs of the ESC are applied to the AC (~) inputs of the rectifier, which go / - or - / according to the command from the TX, I apply to the brush terminals just like a normal brushed motor setup. The output of the ESC is a train of either positive of negative going DC pulses. Pic 2 the positive train on the scope. Pic 3 the negative train.
The larger and wider the pulse the higher and longer the voltage is applied and the faster the motor spins. So called Pulse Width Modulation (PWM). The gaps between the pulses are smoothed out by the inertia (flywheel effect) of the motor, and anything hanging on it - like a prop and a few million gallons of wet stuff 😁
Hey presto, a field coil motor that runs forwards or backwards on command 😊 Main thing is simply to separate the field coil from the armature coil (i.e. brush gear) so you can control each one independently.
No rocket science but highly satisfying when it all comes together and works on the pond. Which Colin has recently proven, much to my joy😀
This was the second Taycol that I converted in this way. The first being my Taycol Target.
See my Sea Scout 'Jessica' build blog for details.
Third link below.
My first trial was unsuccessful, no reverse, until I realised I had made a wiring error.🤔
Having corrected that I proved that it doesn't matter which pair of rectifier outputs (+/- or
/) you connect to which coil, it will work.The two fuses are there to protect motor, ESC and most important the wiring (fire risk) in case of a stalled prop (weeds etc😠)
All clear?
Cheers, Doug😎
PS As Always🙄 when clicking a link within the site it may take several seconds until the correct post within the thread is displayed. Foible of the site.
Refresh the page (F5 on a Windows PC) to accelerate the jump to the correct post.😎
https://model-boats.com/forum/46155#46155
https://model-boats.com/forum/46155#46343
https://model-boats.com/blogs/28209#28881
That's Smart Doug.
I think like you about batteries, I also prefer AGM lead batteries.
I have used the Saft brand as lithium batteries, very high-performance and reliable, but I have never used them for models and I don't think I will ever use them.
I like to keep my vintage boats controllable so that small children can enjoy using them without fear of damage.
And yes I posted the Taycol Supermarine to Doug, and he posted it back when it was finished.
I oil the brushes with light sewing machine oil before each use.
So far it has done about 120hours since the refurb and runs sweetly for 2 to 3 hours each trip.
I'm going to change the battery for a LiFePO4 next year to save weight as my old sla 7ah one is 7 years old and is getting tired.
Don't like lipo's after losing my Lancaster to a battery failure causing a mid flight fire. So I stick to old school batteries and chargers.
Cheers Colin.
Doug totally rebuilt the motor for me and supplied it with the black box.
Now I'm able to use my dad's boat as I would like to and share it with others who love vintage models.
Cheers Colin.
Excellent!
Any further descriptions and comments will be greatly appreciated.
Could do a brief post on her life as its been around quite a while and still keeps me and a lot of youngsters smiling when on the pond.
Cheers Colin.
Beyond the admiration of the models, it is a fantastic thing that this hobby, passion and fun for ship modeling passes through the generations. From your father to your nephew not losing memories, knowledge and scale models is something admirable from every point of view.
Classic r/c model boats need to be seen out on the water.
Generations have missed seeing and making Aerokits models and many will be seeing them for the first time - mostly thanks to those of us that make the effort to restore and keep them afloat and in the public eye.
Well done Colin 👍
But now as hopefully my health improves I'll get to finish it. The motor is super quiet in use, and runs so smoothly right down to 52rpm.
I might even fit my other Supermarine in my other sea commander as I think it is running at a much truer scale speed.
I'm using singer sewing machine oil for the brushes.
Thanks again shipmate for your help in restoring the motor.
Did you do anything with the KG V.
Cheers Colin.
Very glad to hear that the Supermarine is back in service, and to your satisfaction.😀 I was getting worried that you HAD chucked it in the scrap bin🤔😉
Good job 👍
Cheers, Doug 😎