Forum

Age of steam

Hi Gary, Thank you for your concern. I have a new pressure gauge that I will be mounting. The safety valve is set to 60 lbs and it does work (Tested it and test it every year priot to spring sails). In building the boiler I hydro tested the boiler to 150 lbs. The outside copper tube for the boiler wall is 0.100 thick and the end caps are 0.090 thick. It has 9 fire tubes and is silvered soldered together. The smoke dome on top where there is a loop of stainless steel tubing (used for a ) under the hood. The motor is about 70 years old and is 5/8 X 5/8 oscillator built by a fellow named Anthony Bohaboy out of Rahway NJ. The kitchen rudder is used as there is no reversing in a single cylinder engine and it works quite well. The boat is fiberglass where I made a plug then a mold. The boat is not finished as I have some copping and interior work to do, Boat is 36" long with a 12" beam and weighs 26 lbs. I do like your boat, it looks very nice. I just acquired a Diana hull and deck with the deck planking and some of the anterior is completed

4 years ago by RonH

Response

Re: 40'' Seaplane Tender, new build Z-1

Hi JB, Ref windows. Depending in the plastic used for model windows I have discovered this glue. It is milky in colour but then s Cristal clear. So if a little gets on the surface of the window then it will not notice. It is called. Diall I don't know if you can get it on eBay as I have not looked. Martin555.

5 years ago by Martin555

Forum

EeZeBilts From Keil Kraft

Have you tried this material Doug? far and away the best aircraft/general purpose covering you can use. It's a thinner version of the stuff they use on full sized aircraft and you can shrink it tight as a drum. Great puncture resistance as well (better than Solarfilm or any other plastic covering. Great for cabin tops/sides etc as well, (could even cover a hull with it, - just dope it, trim it and paint it) It's about all I use on planes as I got sick of expensive Solarfilm and others going slack in the sun (it's very stable and doesn't move) Slightly heavier than plastic but a lot easier to apply and you don't need an iron, just dope, a hair and a bit of practice at knowing when to stop shrinking. You can just go along your wing (for eg) and 'tune' each section by flicking it with your finger and heating where necessary. Bruddy marverus stuff. John B

5 years ago by jbkiwi

Response

Re: Stern Module assembly

Hi Pete, "I have now purchased my chosen motors. They are MFA 360. ... I wonder if I have to put the usual three suppressors on the motors if running a 40Mhz transmitter." Most definitely!! Considering the attenuation of RF signals under water the last thing you want to do is take risks with interference😮 As the RF signal level falls off when you dive the boat any local interference, i.e. from the motors, will become more significant at the RX input. Re warped stern parts. You could try gently (and I mean gently Bentley!) warming the part (hair ?) while weighting it down on a flat surface. You may want to put some shaped wood block supports inside to ensure the part does not bend inwards. Cheers, Doug 😎

5 years ago by RNinMunich

Response

Re: The Waterline/Boot Topping.

I managed to fit the Trimline tape together with the rest of the decals. The tape didn't want to stick properly where it folded over the spray rails, so I tried heating it carefully with a hot air paint stripper and then pressing it into place while warm. That seems to have done the trick and it still looks to be OK this morning. A hair would have been safer (cooler) but I don't have one and I didn't dare 'borrow' one from my wife!🤣

5 years ago by Graham93

Forum

46'' RAF Crash Tender

Hi Red, Just found this on the net. There are two approaches you can try for fixing warps in plastic. The first is to simply clamp the parts and adhere them with adhesive. I prefer the liquid styrene cement, which actually fuses or welds the parts as opposed to adding an adhesive to create the bond. Once so fused, they're nearly impossible to separate. Most of your alignment issues can be addressed this way. Most warping issues for these models come when you cut it to allow access for your RC components. These are usually long cuts along the mid-line of the boat. It is common for the cut parts to see warping along the length, creating gaps in the seam that are unsightly and hard to address via the first method. For these, the solution is to mechanically force the part straight, then heat the plastic up to its Glass Transition temperature for a short time, then cool it off. Polystyrene begins GT between 175-195° F (79-91 C) depending on its molecular weight, plasticizers, pigments and fillers. In order to straighten warped polystyrene parts, you need to get the plastic up to that temperature, allow it to settle in the proper shape, and then cool it back down again. There are a number of ways to accomplish this. The safest one for small parts is to use hot water. Simply heat up a bowl of water in the microwave to something around 200F, allow it to cool slightly and then dunk your part. Once the plastic has heated up, it should become more malleable and retain whatever shape it's put into. Dunk the part in cool water to lock in the new form and you're done! You can also use your oven, which allows for precise control of temperature in a larger format. Most sub hulls are going to be much larger than your bowls or oven, so you're going to need to use something like a hair blow or, ideally, a heat gun. This takes some practice, as it's easy to overheat the parts and get warping and distortion, or even burning if you're not careful. Never focus the heat gun on one section for too long. Keep it moving at all times and use broad strokes so that you're heating up a large area. You'll see the part relax into the proper shape. Once it does, let it cool thoroughly before releasing your clamps and checking alignment. Repeat as often as necessary for a great fit. Martin.

5 years ago by Martin555

Forum

46'' RAF Crash Tender

Hello Red In the past I’ve found heating plastic suddenly has resulted in flat areas warping or distorting as the area intended is straightened. To get round this I twisted the plastic and held it in correct position with clamps etc and then gradually warmed with a hair which can be moved away if distortion starts to appear

5 years ago by Brianaro

Forum

46'' RAF Crash Tender

"..I should not jump to conclusions, due to the lack of information maybe I should have researched before submitting my last post...." Hi Martin - I agree with DG - we all do it from time to time . No need for apologies - you were asking the right question anyway. Can remember reading an article on getting the warps out - for the life of me cant remember where - going through a lot of back issues at the moment - very confusing as the brain fades...........Was hoping someone else may have read it - Don't think using better half's hair would go down too well - and the paint stripper heat gun would simply melt the plastic !

5 years ago by redpmg

Blog

Paint prep

It’s time to start looking at some paint preparation as this is something that can be done alongside some of the remaining jobs. I have spent hours glassing the hull and deck and the cabin roofs and then finishing to a standard for the first coats of primer, this was achieved by progressing through various grades of wet and dry from 400 to 800. This gives a good adhesion surface for the first primer coat. As I have said in previous posts I made as many parts detachable as was practical, so on the forward cabin roof (which is in itself detachable) all parts are removed leaving a relatively flat surface to prepare, the underside was masked and then put in the queue for painting. Mid cabin and rear cabin roofs - again all parts were removed and placed in the queue/turntable, Spraying is a hazardous process whatever type of paint you use, so it’s essential that some sort of extraction is used and an appropriate face mask ( I use a P100 rated mask because it gives the highest level of protection in the widest variety of situations and will filter out 100% of both oil-based and non-oil-based particles.). This can also be used for most of my wood working activities, however; if this isn’t an option for you then I suggest you spray outdoors. My spray booth is made from an old cooker hood mounted in my workshop with a table below. On this I used plain sheets of hardboard which I made temporary fixings to hold a box together. The extraction element was a piece of old clothes flexible 4” pipe which when I’m spraying hangs out of the window. Back to spraying, I use a compressor and small spray gun for this size of work so I purchased a litre of grey primer and 5 litres of thinners. I am no professional sprayer but have sprayed a number of cars in the past and I have learnt that once again ”Less is more” so a number of light coats is better than one thick coat that runs, meaning lots of sanding and a repeat performance of painting. First three coats of grey primer applied and I’m pleased with how it’s going. I took the opportunity to spray some of the other parts that were finished while the gun was full of primer. Spraying is one of those jobs which is over before it’s begun yet the preparation seems to take weeks but it always pays off in the end. Next will be a top coat of Appliance White.

5 years ago by mturpin013