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1. jbkiwi🇳🇿

   Fleet Admiral·7 years ago

   Hi Phil, long live the brown box Futaba! I had the FP4FN TX and the FP6FN (which is still working perfectly 40 yrs later!,- all the servos that came with it also working perfectly, and have used them with the Acoms FM radio I bought much later, (servos just don't quite center, but from memory you can adjust the pots in the TX to correct this) They made quality stuff back then.
   JB

   Liked by Martin555
2. philcaretaker🇬🇧

   Commodore·7 years ago

   With childhood memories of my STAR YACHT purchased in Bridlington circa 1958 - the Graupner Optimist was my first RC yacht, purchased second hand (also with Futaba 4ch 27mhz FP4FN TX when livinging in Wellington NZ 1978. Happy Days !
   Phil

   Liked by jbkiwi
3. jbkiwi🇳🇿

   Fleet Admiral·7 years ago

   Hi Delboy, quite a nice vid of a restored Optimist with an on-board camera

   YouTube
4. jbkiwi🇳🇿

   Fleet Admiral·7 years ago

   Hi Garth,You can find sail winches (drum or servo types) on line easily enough. The ones the 1m sailers etc use are some ridiculous price (around $500 ? ) but are very fast. Try looking under class racing clubs, you might find some for sale a bit cheaper. I bought 2 cheap ones from Ali Express but they are crap, don't center properly, just sit at the center and hum (unless there is no load at all on them) I'm going to try them anyhow and if they fry, I'll try something else.
   The Optimist sails quite fast for what it is and is worth getting on the water. I have re- rigged mine with .4 mm stainless solid fishing trace which will never need replacing. The original multi strand cable in the kit kept fraying and breaking. I found the best way of fixing the wire to the turnbuckle is to feed it through a short length of small copper tube, through the turnbuckle, back up through the tube, arrange to the finished length you need (leaving enough adjustment at the turnbuckle both ways), and crimp the tube (fishing trace crimpers are ideal for this) then bend the short end back down over the top of the tube and trim off, leaving about 2mm. Then using your soldering iron, run solder into the tube and you'll have a permanent repair for life.
   John B
5. GARTH🇨🇦

   Commodore·7 years ago

   I also have a unfinished Optimist in the basement gathering dust .I to had no keel . But in my spare time at Stelco I found a block of steel & did a lot of grinding for the keel . I think back then I couldn't find a sail winch still can't find one .😎

   Liked by Mike Stoney and jbkiwi See all
6. jbkiwi🇳🇿

   Fleet Admiral·7 years ago

   Did you get the cast keel with it? I had to make a lead one as the shop I bought it from said the freight was too much from Germany to Norfolk Island (Sth Pac).
7. Delboy🇬🇧

   Leading Seaman·7 years ago

   Thanks for the memory jog. I had completely forgotten that I have had an unfinished optimist kit in the loft for 30 years.
   
   Time to have some building fun..

   Liked by jbkiwi
8. jbkiwi🇳🇿

   Fleet Admiral·7 years ago

   Nah, just went for a thrash, too nice a day to sit still ! You spend money on a motor you might as well use it.

   Liked by Commodore-H
9. Commodore-H🇺🇸Gold

   Commander·7 years ago

   nice day.
   
   catch any fish?
10. Martin555🇬🇧

    Fleet Admiral·7 years ago

    That was very nice weather in the video.
    Looked look a pleasant day out.
    
    Martin.
11. jbkiwi🇳🇿

    Fleet Admiral·7 years ago

    It's very relaxing Martin, if you are not in a powerboat mood, just sit in your chair and know that the only battery you have to worry about just has to power a couple of servos,(winch and rudder) no motors or drive shafts or ESCs to worry about, and you can pretty much stay out there all day if you have good TX batteries, and your rec is powered by a UBEC from your main battery. I've sailed full sized small boats (biggest was an 18ft 'A' class cat ) since I was 12yrs old (54yrs) so it's just a miniature extension of that.
    I still have 2 small yachts (12ft and 15ft) and a 12ft dinghy with a 15hp motor for fishing, all rebuilt (the dinghy and 12 footer I got for free) but I'm finding that every time I go out now I come back covered in bruises, (clumsy old man syndrome) Here's a short video of a bit of my last 22km run in the dinghy to an island just up the coast from where I live. I took advantage of a brilliant day! (we don't get them that calm too often)
    John B

    YouTube

    Liked by Martin555
12. Martin555🇬🇧

    Fleet Admiral·7 years ago

    Nice work JB,
    I will admit I know absolutely nothing about sailing.
    It must feel strange having to rely on the wind it move the model.
    
    Martin.