Blog

Cooling the motor - an experiment.

Whilst I don’t think I’m going to need to cool the motor it got me thinking that it may be a useful experiment to see if the ‘Stick A Fan Blade On The End Of The Rotor’ idea would actually work 🤔 So while waiting for some glue to set on another part of the build I decided to rummage through the junk PC bits box and find an old fan of a suitable size, and I did indeed have on that would fit the bill 😀. I broke away the outer fan casing to release the motor and blades and then set about separating the fan blade, which proved fairly simple. The fan blade has an overall diameter of 45mm which is ideal and there’s a moulded-in centre mark so I used a step cutter to open up a hole to 10mm and then a tapered hand reamer to carefully open up the hole to about 11mm which is the diameter of the end bearing stub on the rotor. The fan was then pushed onto this motor stub until it seated flush on the wide and end of the rotor can and is a very tight friction fit so it doesn’t need any more than that to hold it. I don’t have a dial gauge but I can tell by eye that the fan is perfectly centred and true and so it shouldn’t cause an imbalance 🤞. The motor turns clockwise when viewed at the fan end which means that the fan would be pulling air through the side vents , through the stator and around the rotor and would need to through a new panel cut into the end of the motor enclosure. The existing motor enclosure still fits perfectly over the motor and its fan and wouldn’t need any other modification than the extra opening and mesh. So in theory this arrangement will give forced ventilation and cooling of the motor in the event that there is a heat problem. In practice I’ve yet to wire up the motor to the ESC so I have not been able to run a proper test to check it actually works but I’m pretty confident of it. This motor cooling arrangement could prove useful to others when faced with a similar situation which I why I decided to conduct the experiment...... and validate my theory. Just keep your fingers away from the fan blades…..😨

5 years ago by robbob

Forum

tvr steam engine

Hi Rick, and I am hoping this helps, the inlet and manifolds on the engine have no fittings included for you to screw onto, the connecting end is just a plain 1/8" brass pipe, so you need to silver-solder your fitting to suit. I have included a photo which hopefully will help. you are going to need some elbows (90* bends) and maybe a Tee piece or two, globe valves and the pipe fittings to put it all together, plus a condenser to collect and separate the waste steam. My condenser is simply a piece of 2" brass pipe, I can do you some piping diagrams for you if this helps, or send me a plan of how you are going to connect it all together. The end result will be worth it I promise. Regards, Gary. Hang on in there I have every confidence.

5 years ago by GaryLC

Blog

Fairly Hunsman renovation part 1

Pictures Rubbing down hull, Close ups of hull repairs Drill holes in transom for the pipes (water cooling outlets). Added spray rail to side of hull. Have found that I am having bad reactions to the fumes from Gorilla Glue.

6 years ago by CB90

Blog

Holy SMOKE !! Video, Tin Can Madness

Hello, Experiment with a tin can smoker works great, see video! I will have to sketch this one up so it's clear on what the pieces are. Uses a little cpu squirrel type fan, two brass tubes, a rubber stopper and a wick. Could not wait to test, will add detail. Had to shoot this video under a bathroom fan to avoid potentially setting off smoke alarms. it works! Joe

5 years ago by Joe727

Blog

Build

The heating elements in the hairdryer had two different wire gauges as elements. I removed the lighter gauge thinking they would probably draw less current. I am attempting to use 6 volts as that is what my boat is. 1. First Photo: Took a length of element and stretched it out as shown, started with a longer piece about 8". if you are at 12v probably longer. Use some alligator clip jumpers and attached to one end, ran it to negative terminal of my 6v SLA. Took another jumper and attached to a point on the wire, say about 7". JUST TOUCH the other end to the battery positive to see if it glowed, it did not. So just moved about 3/8" at a time till it glowed - See Photo. CAUTION, make certain you have a nonflammable surface to work on, I used a tile scrap. IT GETS HOT FAST AND WILL BURN, DON'T ASK ME HOW I KNOW. That's why I just touch the terminal till it glows then stop, let it cool for a while. 2. Cut element to length, than take your 16 gauge wire and the crimp tube shown in earlier post. insert both into the tube and crimp it. I used a side cutter and carefully just squeezed enough. Make sure that the element will not pull out. Do the other end. Because I am using only 6 volts, I had flattened out the wire to give me more wraps on the wick. See photo and note. 3. in the lid of the box, I located the fan at one end, the stack at the other. Drilled a hole matching the fan opening and secured with two screws, drill small pilot holes so as not to crack the plastic. Drill hole to match brass tube OD, tube is about 1" long or so. Super glued brass tube in place. Excuse the sloppy copper sheet work on the inside of the lid, it was an experiment at the time. I added this a a bit of a heat sheild as the wick and element would sit below this. 4. Next photos show the interior of the box, not the best photos of the process as this was already built.... The mint tin set inside the plastic box was an idea to do two things; first isolate the heating element from the plastic,and two, provide a smaller vessel for the fluid. You may want to just use a metal container instead of the plastic box, again I was just using what I had on hand. The wick is laying in the tin with the element propped up at on end to keep it out of the fluid. Photo shown does not show much fluid in place. This needs some work, but worked for this test. Experiment, just be sure that the lower portion of the wick is in the fluid and the element wire wrap is above the fluid level. For the test, I used some mineral oil and a bit of glycerin, smoked very well. it's late so I will run it and photograph tomorrow. Cheers, Joe (Excuse the Imperial rather than metric)

5 years ago by Joe727

Blog

Can't stop adding stuff

Well, when I started this build I said it was just going to be a quick, easy build.....but I can't stop getting more ideas and adding on. Lights, now smoke! Could not resist taking time last night to try my hand at a homemade smoker. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to build one and it works great. Then today I decided rather then put it inside the hull I would put it topside for easy access and to keep an eye on it....fires don't do well on boats. Mounted as shown, still in progress but I made an enclosure to cover it. Will fashion a new stack out of the white tube in the last photo. Now what else can I add...... Joe

5 years ago by Joe727

Blog

Reassembly

Continuing on, I finished mounting the light bar, all lights are functioning. For some reason my iPad does not like LEDs and they don't photograph when lit. Made an stack out of brass tube, mitered the top, soldered and painted. Hull dry now so I mounted the superstructure onto the hatch, reinstalled the tow bits, switch and batteries, RX, motor, etc. Getting close to sea trials, maybe this week schedule permitting. Cheers, Joe

5 years ago by Joe727

Forum

Smoke generator

Have just made a prototype of a fan forced smoker which seems to be working well (despite breaking the heater coil by moving it while hot, - had it apart, broke wire, screw and washer repair, not quite as hot) I bought a couple of Heng Long smokers (for R/C tanks or cars) to play with, for $10 NZ each(or 5.3 Euros to you Northerners give or take a yen) from Bangood and just bought another from Ebay. There seem to be 2 different models, as one has a long coil with a lamp wick draped over it, which is sitting in the oil reservoir, the other has a small coil inside a piece of heat resistant woven tubing (as you might find insulating toaster/heater wiring etc) which acts as a wick and that also sits in cotton wool in the reservoir, (this seems to be the better of the two) Tip - don't fill the tank right up, only enough to soak the cotton, element should be just out of the oil. The wick loads the element. The better model seems to have a black top to the tank (also maybe either brown or black tank) and the other has a brown top and dirty brown tank. As with most of this stuff you won't know till you get it what it's going to be. What I did was remove the tank and cut off the pump tube just in front of the screw lugs (see black line in photo) then fitted the tank, and a 40x40x10 5v ESC fan (voltage controlled by a UBEC set to 5v on the jumpers) into a plastic electronics utility box from Jaycar (our local electronics and hobby store). I made up a double JST lead for the 2s 1800Mah Lipo and fired it up (using baby oil). it's pretty much silent and smokes well once it gets warmed up, ( starts smoking in about 5 seconds) You could control it (on/off volume) by either a remote on/off switch or perhaps a small cheap 10A brushed ESC. I would leave the fan running and control the element to avoid burning the element. The original pump tank inlet hole seems ok as is (approx 1.5mm) but you could enlarge it very slightly to get a better flow if you could find a better oil. At the electronics store they have proper smoke machine oil for $20 NZ per litre so I may have a look at that. The reason I went for the fan idea was that I found in std pump form, if I immersed a tube from the tank in water, it sucked water back into the tank. I was hoping it would pump smoke out of my HSL s at water level alongside the cooling water but it would need a very light non return valve to do this. The fan seems to pump the smoke through 2mm ID silicone tube ok, so tubing of similar ID to the OD of the tank outlets should work well. These pumps in original form work pretty well for the price, and are cheap enough to keep a few for spare elements, the only thing is they are a bit noisy but in an 'engine sounding' way, (might add to the effect on a tug or work-boat though) What you have left after this mod is a very handy little geared motor with an eccentric output wheel which could be used for winches, radar and whirly bits of any description (see pic of motor leftover and original) To avoid burnout, these should be run on no more than a 2s (around 7.5v-(suggest 8v max with fan running) The other tank is going to work a lot better than this one but I'm not making a tug, just want a bit of smoke on start-up etc to go with the 2 sound units. Very cheap to make (around $25 NZ with pump, box, fan and UBEC all through Ebay, Aliexpress and Bangood (and local electronics store) if you wanted to run an ESC to control the smoke and you have no channels left to control it proportionally, you can always try using a second receiver bound to your TX, (if your TX will allow it,) power it and a brushed ESC (wired to the element) as normal and use the throttle channel to plug in your smoke control. This should work if you want more smoke as you accelerate or if you are using only 1 stick on a 2 stick TX you could use your 'elevator' stick pushed up (or a toggle switch if available) to start/stop the smoke (through the brushed ESC setup) . This setup weighs 100g (10g more than std) The quest for lots of smoke continues Will try to upload vid later and update progress.

5 years ago by jbkiwi

Blog

Plumbing the water-cooling for the ESC

The HobbyKing ESC I’m using has the facility for water cooling and as it will be in an enclosed location without any free ventilation it seems sensible to utilise this feature. To keep the water circuit as short as possible I will put the pickup just behind the propeller and the on the stern but as the boat has a bulkhead just in front of the stern skin I need to make an access hole through it to allow me to secure the nut on the stern skin. I made a hole through the bulkhead large enough to get a socket on the nut and reinforced the hole with a ply plate, similarly I reinforced the inside of the stern skin where the outlet passes through it. When I was happy that the arrangement worked and I could attach the hoses and securing clips easily I glued and pinned the stern skin to the hull. The water pickup is a standard one that is readily available but it’s supplied with overly large and ugly fixing nuts, the inside one is of no consequence but I thought that the outer one needed smartening up so I put it on a threaded rod and locked it in place with another nut and put that into the chuck of a drill and used a file to re-shape the nut to a pleasing taper….who needs a lathe......😜 I had to reduce the height of the inner keel former as the pickup tube is not long enough to get a good fixing with the internal nut, as the inner keel is balsa I fitted a ply reinforcing plate to spread the load. The last ‘photo shows the location of the ESC, main battery fuse and receiver. The hoses will be secured to the ESC with spring clips throughout. I found that the silicone tube I use tends to kink rather easily if the radius of a bend is too small and I found it necessary to form a tight spring coil around the piece that loops the water back through the ESC to prevent this happening.

5 years ago by robbob

Forum

Smoke generator

A bit of confusion over what i wrote last night (note to self dont mix the internet with rum) I did not use a piezo unit, I used ultrasonic units, the kind that are fitted to fire places to produce the smoke and flame effect. The water depth seems to be the critical factor in the amount of mist produced. I am not looking for masses of dark smoke just enough to simulate diesel . This was just a prototype that works quite well but I am going to revisit it and try to improve the output and look for an ultrasonic unit that will work at 12v

5 years ago by marlina2

Forum

Smoke generator

I have made a smoke generator using a piezo transducer and a P68s variable speed brush less fan controller from action electroncs. The transducers tend to be 24v dc and are relatively cheap (£2-£3 each). I am using S3 lipos so I only have 11.4 available but a very cheap variable output unit gives me 24v. The fan is connected in-between the receiver channel for the throttle and the speed controller. The fan speed increases with the throttle and follows the throttle speed regardless of direction. The net effect is quite pleasing for diesel simulation, with a steady stream when the stick is centralised and the fan just idling. On fwd/rev throttle movement you get an increasing amount of dependent on speed. I have this installed in my Forceful paddler with twin funnels. The effect is quite realistic but can be difficult to see. I am looking for a another transducer that will produce more vapour. in its present configuration it will run for around 3 hours before topping up is required.

5 years ago by marlina2

Forum

Smoke generator

Been thinking how I could build a compact sealed electric smoke generator with a pump to push the smoke through the s, along with the cooling water on my HSL. Are the model train smokers not big enough for your purposes. You could just copy one of those and enlarge it perhaps. From what I remember from my train days they were not too complicated. How about an upside down ic glow plug with a variable voltage regulator in the bottom of a tube with a low temp oil ? You could possibly use a small brushed ESC for the regulator and come up with a controlled drip feed replenishing system. Just seen a site SMOKE EL in Germany which makes smokers for ic and electric planes but they look expensive and complicated,- work well though,-vids on site.

5 years ago by jbkiwi

Forum

All hooked up, nowt happens...

Arun now sorted. Programming card did not work so I translated the pidgin english instructions for the ESC and it worked using the Tx. I now have forward and reverse, correct prop rotation and no battery protection. Also the water cooling system for the ESC works with the water exiting from the s on the stern. On the down side the nav lights have stopped working! Pictures of installation and finished boat later.

5 years ago by rapidair65

Media

Veron Tarpon

Well I had one of these back in the early 1970,s been looking for years for another one must of been a rare boat. So I was surprised when this turned up on eBay last week. So I had to buy it, the seller did not mention that the engine a Merco 35 was locked solid and all the head bolts were missing and the whole inside of the boat was soaked in sticky castor oil residue, but this is how I like them loft fresh and not messed with. I don’t think it’s hardly been used, I managed to get the engine apart after heating it up with a blow lamp looks like it’s hardly been run but the liner got a fair bit of rust on it so not sure I can use it. The only thing to remove the sticky castor oil was 25% nitro fuel, the one I bought in the 70,s cost me £27 this wreck I bought in 2018 £70 but I will enjoy restoring it, this is the boat as how I got it and now with the engine out that was another nightmare 😁

6 years ago by Biscuit

Forum

Voltage increasing via regulator

A somewhat confused question if I may say so Eric!😲 You can't 'regulate up' only down. The regulator's job is to produce a constant lower voltage from a range of higher voltages. I often use one to produce 5V for the RX and servos from a 12V SLA drive battery. A little 3 legged device (type LM7805) which looks just like the power FETs in a high current ESC. My version of a UBEC! 😉 What is this 'regulator' you have? Type number? Manufacturer? Photo? To get 12V from 7.2V you would need to use a Voltage converter (also known as an inverter). This works by converting the DC input from the battery to an AC voltage which can then be increased using a transformer. More elegant (and expensive!) versions use a transistor oscillator and amplifier. This uses hi-power transistors instead of the transformer. The AC output of the transformer (or amplifier) is then rectified back to DC. All this is very inefficient which is why it is normally only used for very light currents, where the losses are not so significant, and when there is no other alternative, not often the case! You can't beat the physics and you will never get the same power out that you put in. This leads to a basic design question:- What is the total current consumption of the load? I.e. the motors. A simple example:- Let's say that at 7.2V the motors draw 10Amps total, i.e. 72W (or VAmps). Assuming a utopian 100% efficiency at 12V this would equate to 6A. Due to the three stages of conversion; DC to AC, transformation / amplification of AC to 12V, AC back to DC, you'll probably be lucky to get an efficiency of around 60% to 70%. Thus if you stick 720W in you'll get around 430 to 504W out. Not much of a gain is it!🤔 Your battery would be ed in about 2/3 the time it is now 😡 If your motors draw more than 10A the problem just gets worse. So what is it you really want to do? If you just want to up the volts to your motors stick a 12V SLA or an 11.1V LiPo (3S) in and hope that you don't cook your motors! Frankly I don't really know why you're bothering, tugs aren't sprinters! If you want more pulling power with the existing setup try experimenting with prop sizes and pitch. Will probably achieve much more than fiddlin' about with voltage converters. BTW: All this assumes that the RX has it's own separate 5V battery supply or from a BEC in the ESC. Some clarification needed from your side. Cheers, Doug 😎

6 years ago by RNinMunich

Forum

PS Waverley

Thanks for the offer, Marky, but it's specifically the Waverley we need drawings for, or rather the superstructure. Sarik have a set, but hardly ive. I suppose general dimensions and all the hundreds of photos will have to do, unless any of you guys know differently. I was going to ask on Paddleducks but they are talking closing down for lack of use and age of the membership, so no point asking there. Doug, can you imagine the repetitive stress problems of twiddling a pin chuck that many times? I have a lovely old fine feed pillar drill, but it's in bits being cleaned and repainted. Cheers, Martin

6 years ago by Westquay

Forum

Kingsmere Model Boat Club

All very frustrating, has anyone compiled an ive list of ponds where boats can be used?

6 years ago by Slowboat

Forum

Kingsmere Model Boat Club

I do have several model boats with both petrol and nitro engines in them. One I have is a 48" PPT109 with a 26cc petrol engine and the has the water cooling going out via that way. it runs at a pleasant hum rather than the normal engine sound. it is a lot quieter than someone using a petrol lawn mower or a petrol strimmer. it is even quieter than most brushless model boats. Yet I am not allowed to use it on a pond on Blackheath just because of it's fuel system. I'm told that it's due to sound rather than fuel. The local council have a ranger that comes round and give you an £80 fine if you are caught using one. I find this totally stupid when they use petrol lawn mowers and strimmer's to keep the whole of Blackheath's lawns cut. I have a Proboat Miss Geico tunnel hull model boat and the motor screams when it's running but I'm allowed to run that on the pond.

6 years ago by BOATSHED

Forum

Launch ELAINE,

Re that jacket. it may be easier to shift than you think. it looks as though there are soldered over screws round the top.If you can remove them the jacket might just prise off. The stubs just unclamp.If you can get that off you may then be able to see what motor you have. I see a likeness to one of the E.D. 1:49s👍👍 P.S. Colin can you tell me the proportions of diesel and Methanol you used please ? I'd like to try it for myself. What gave you rise to think it would work? I'm really fascinated by this. Regards John👍🤔

6 years ago by onetenor

Forum

Launch ELAINE,

Thanks Doug, have just had a scout round the Web, from what I can see on my engine it's more likely to be a Mills. But without removing the water jacket and covers I've no idea. Cheers Colin.

6 years ago by Colin H

Forum

Launch ELAINE,

Usually diesels don't throttle reliably as if left ticking over or even running slow they cooled to the point where they'd still run but not pick up to accelerate. Except the superb ED Super Hunter 3.5cc, which never went off a 2 stoke even when slowed, unlike all other small engines. it had a throttle in the right up next to the port and was a superbly controllable engine. Never could get hold of one. Frankly I'm astonished you could get anything out of such a mess of an engine, but congrats and good luck with it. Martin

6 years ago by Westquay

Forum

Launch ELAINE,

Fantastic stuff, Colin. if you can get that ancient engine to run on diesel from your car plus Methanol, you could get that kitchen nozzle going! Where did you just get some methanol from? I'd say the engine is something like an old ED Competition Special or similar with a very home made water jacket and even more home made wrapper, requiring tubes to be added to the 2 stubs and led to the stern or either side. Doug's yer man for anything lecktrickal. is there actually anything of the original RC in there apart from that superb kitchen nozzle affair, which deserves to be preserved all on it's own. Control will have been vestigial at best as the engine has no throttle and the nozzle arrangement will not have had any level of proportionality to it. it will, at best, have been push the button and see where the boat ended up, knowing it could, at a a pinch, be brought back to where it started. At one time all RC was like that. My own REP set was left,centre, right, centre, etc. A wonderful throwback that must be preserved. I wish my local junk shops had stuff like that! Cheers, Martin

6 years ago by Westquay

Forum

Launch ELAINE,

So far, only checked the engine, it ran using a little diesel from my car mixed with a few drips of methanol. Throttle spring broke and the flames from the were about 4 inches long but it sounds healthy enough. As for the radio gear I'm afraid I don't have a clue. Have managed to get the rudder nozzle gear to move using 6 volt battery, but all the connecting wires are missing. Lots of wood inside that needs attention, seems a bit too soft. Cheers Colin.

6 years ago by Colin H

Forum

Stalwart

Yesterday at Haydock show was a Stalwart.this was a very well made model with loads of detail brill. If by chance the owner reads this you were right they are the pipes there are fans under your spare wheel that cool the engine. Making a lovely heater.

6 years ago by dragon

Forum

Brass bashin' Chris Craft deck fittings...

If you want it to look like metal, use metal. That alclad is OK, but still looks like paint to me and having to do it in black first (and that coat has to be perfect apparently) is too much of a faff for me. Hammer, as you can see from the response (or lack of it) taking more pictures (never easy for my shit camera) would hardly be warranted and the description says it all really. I have a few more to take, or rather the wife can take em with her Klevafone for me. Filler and cap, outlet and windscreen supports have been added. Just the bear paw vent to go when I get a bit of 1/8th" through the post. I have 1/8th", but it's that horrible yellow gooey stuff, so I've splashed out on a small bit of CZ120, hard brass. Also called leaded, silicon or engravers' brass. MUCH better to cut and shape. The equivalent for rod, strip and section is CZ 121, extruded. These will all be available to buy once my chum has cast them in white metal and then you just have to burnish with a crewel needle (darning) and you have chrome (lacquer to taste). Martin

6 years ago by Westquay

Blog

Complete!

So, having had a few days off during the week when "The Boss" has been at work has given me enough hours to finish The Waveney off! Its been a hard week of making the small bits n bobs from scratch using a combination of balsa, carbon rod, brass rod, plastic tube, plastic sheet etc to make the radar array, antenna mast, extra cockpit details ect. The deck winch was made from large Servo output discs! The RNLI flag printed off Google! This has been followed by alot of detail painting and laquering. Anyway, I think I have just about ed as much detail as can be had at this scale and and happy to call completion! Only job to do now is get it in the Hot Tub and add the 2 Kg of ballast to get her on the waterline. On water photos and video to follow in the last update on this thread! as for next projects? I have the Aeronaut Pilot boat sat in the pile and the Fairy huntress 23 plan and wood pack on route from Sarik Hobbies!

6 years ago by Skydive130

Forum

PT 109 upgrade?

Correct Martin, three 12-cylinder 1,500 horsepower (1,100 kW) Packard gasoline engines! Diesels (especially digital diesels) will sound ALL WRONG! Something like 3 Marine Merlins might get close😉 Maybe there's a sound bite for those somewhere!? Diesels were never used for such boats as they would have been too noisy (rattly!) for the 'Whisper' mode, even with muffler flaps closed. Masterfixer: what size / weight is your boat? The 33" or 40" version? What motors are in it now? Cheers, Doug 😎

6 years ago by RNinMunich

Response

engine

Engine room layout. A very tight fit, will be challenging to operate. The servo for regulator control will be under the forward saloon stairs. There is a bolt into the regulator through the baulkhead. Silicone pipe joining the copper, exiting up what on original, was the safety valve exit. Normal model practice is for inside the funnel. I have found this can but the flame out, when excess water runs down into fire tube. True steam out the funnel looks good but only shows on cold days. The copper steam feed pipes need connections made, & lagged. The brass circle will be the oiler. Gas pipe to make. When that is finished it will be test time on the bench. Sh*t or bust😱😱

6 years ago by hammer

Forum

46Firefloat Mk2 paint

Hi Elsrickle, This topic has been ively discussed here, with some interesting contributions from guys who served on or around these boats, and some original builders drawings. Check out this thread. https://model-boats.com/forum/boat-specific-chit-chat/42714?goto=43068 Cheers, Doug 😎

6 years ago by RNinMunich

Forum

Spektrum, new, useless...

Each to his own Martin, 👍 The functions I listed can also be easily translated to the merchant marine etc; cranes, davits, NAV radars etc. But I know you'll never build anything like that. A chaque un a son goût! 😉 I just like to try a few different types of ships! And of course for me half the fun is getting the function to work in the first place 😁 BTW: I also started as a 'Free sailor' but always had ambitions which the pocket money then couldn't support! Many many thanks for your offer to make a shaft which I'll gladly take you up on👍 My normally inible patience is ed 😡 Total length required is 10cm, thread length 1.5cm please. That gives me room for the thread reducer and a lock nut. Now I can concentrate on the mount for the Target to get the height correct for the gears I need to use to get down to the very low mounted shaft. Good luck with the service guy, if all else fails I'll gladly have a look for you - no promises though! Will PM you now. Cheers, Doug 😎 PS: think I'll stick to machining brass only in future😉

6 years ago by RNinMunich

Forum

Charging NiMhs, one for Doug?...

Right, gentlemen who know fings, here are shots of the wires I have. OK, I must have put the banana plugged wires in a box marked R/C Gear, I'm assuming, but the charger's wires mainly have brick red flat contact -containing plugs. However, none of my battery packs have those, they have the white things with two small round pins in 'em, one socket square, one round. The newest pack for binding duties has a little black jobby that fits the Rxs. Pictures included of all relevance. I tried to charge an old(ish) lead acid after making up a lead, but the charger put up a "Connection Break" legend on its screen. I assume that means, That one's f****d, mate. Fair enough, I thought it might be. But i still haven't worked out a lead to charge those green wrapped old NiMhs. I HAVE charged them before, because I have had two attempts at flying the aircraft. it went round in circles and then took a slate off my daughter's roof, proving that aircraft models really DO need insurance! Anyway, enclosed are three pics. The shot of a Lipo is to show that I do have such things, but that dates way back and although not damaged or bulged hasn't been charged while I've had it. it was sent to me with 2 small outrunner brushless jobbies and a couple of brushed ESCs as a thankyou for sending plywood to a part of Britain that the PO won't go to with biggish parcels. Finally....I have today received my FlySky RC set and guess what? it all works, perfectly, out of the box. it's PRE-BOUND! Whoopee do! it musdt be an upgrade as it came with a small Li-Po battery pack for the Tx. and a charge lead from USB to Tx. body. That's all great, but how do I know how long to charge it for? it currently has what looks like a full charge on it, judging by the brightness of the LEDs. Getting used to a passable impression of my son's old Subaru front wheel and tyre (complete with vented disc and caliper behind!) will take a while. I am guessing that pushing the throttle trigger forward is like a brake on a car. I assume on a boat it would be reverse? The instructions are not in any way ive! But hey...on a tatty old Futaba servo it all worked a treat. Here's the pics of wires. Cheers, Martin

6 years ago by Westquay

Forum

Charging NiMhs, one for Doug?...

Haverlock, soldering per se isn't a problem, I use jigs all the time to save burning or getting too much solder on things (1/43rd scale manifolds for F1 cars for instance), but I was just wondering if there was a problem with big hole, small wire, kinda thing. Thanks for the tips. Doug, I'll take a pic later and send it along with the leads. There are several, but nothing with a 4mm plug on the end! I wish I'd scrolled along a bit more on the listings and found the screw on plugs! Cheers, Martin

6 years ago by Westquay

Blog

Lady T

Dropping down aft from the boat deck are the tow hooks, why there are two hooks, I have no idea, but that's what is shown on the drawing. Taking the dimensions from the drawing the main part was made up of plasticard and bits of brass tube, the two hooks were made from brass sheet and soldered together, the hoop that these run on goes through the superstructure and is fastened with nuts on the inside. To the side of the tow hooks is an with silencer, this was made out of aluminium on the lathe with bits of brass tube, also on this platform are two coal hatches, again made out of plasticard and wood with painted staples as handles.

6 years ago by AlanP

Forum

It's a sad day!.

Thanks for your support gents, but I'm too old to kick too much arse these days. The Sea otter I'm not completely sure of, but the Super Hunter 3 1/2 cc,. was indeed a boat only motor and had a throttle on the rather than the inlet and the result was that it never came off the 2 stroke, so sounded very strange. But it was incredibly responsive and was demonstrated to an appreciative crowd at one of the race course big shows nearish London. Can't say which as I don't do nags, but on the temporary pond in a typical -for -the -time flattie boat, it was VERY impressive for a diesel and started easily too.....Kempton Park, methinks. All ED engines look like they mean business and run really well. We'll be making our own fuel again for lack of supply. Always used to, but poncy chemists won't sell you anything stronger than cough mixture these days. I could always get my Uncle some amyl nitrate when he asked me to. Don't know where he got the ether from, but it always got his little ED Bee going and was ace in my Racer. BTW, the Mk 4 was the precursor to the Racer. Looked a little earlier by being spindly and taller. Martin (the Anarchists' Boat Club)

6 years ago by Westquay

Forum

It's a sad day!.

Building stuff, me too. The engine I did attach this was a home designed 15cc glow rear induction rotary disc engine. We ran this at the model engineer exhibition at Bingley hall in the 1980's in Birmingham, before it burnt down (not our fault I add). The engine - notice twin glow spark because its a huge engine and overrun 1mtr of flames out of a scooter when it throttled down from 12,400rpm. ABC engine. Never made it into a boat too dangerous !!. 3 months to lap the piston in, compression high, power electric start only watch your wrists on starting. (sits on a shelf). Stephen.

6 years ago by Novagsi0

Forum

It's a sad day!.

This gets my goat. My boat had a Kawasaki lawn mower engine in it 26cc. It was no louder than a Flymo from where it came from(a lawn mower), in fact I was actually a bit quitter because it had a proper tuned . The Ban on IC means I cannot use it. The petrol issue now means the pool weeds up every year, because of the lack of nitrates going in the water so no body can use it. The weed means all the small fish are also gone that we use to catch as kids using rock pool nets when the power boats were bombing around, becuase the weed takes all the oxygen out the water killing the fish. When the pool weeds up no body can use it!!! Kept the boat for memory sake, and I too have a draw of retired engines and have to resort to opening my tool box for the smell of 40% glow fuel. Engine attached 9 years work and will never go into the boat I believe now. Are we going to ban petrol Lawn mowers in the future same as the flymo boat. Video on youtube https://youtu.be/7UQLaYVuDmI Also before the green squad suggest about the wild life, they periodiocally shoot the canadian foreigners on our water to keep the numbers down civil.

6 years ago by Novagsi0

Forum

It's a sad day!.

I used to use Blackheath pond South London but last time I went there with a boat I had just come off the pond after clipping the pond side and bending my prop shaft,The local park ranger pulled up in a van after someone making a complaint. The boat isn't noisy as the cooling also runs out of the . He told me I was very lucky as if he had actually seen it running on the pond it was an £80.00 fine. He saw me lifting it off the water but engine wasn't running. I don't understand it as some of the boats I have seen running with brushless scream more than my 26cc PT109. I do have a Proboat Miss Geico she isn't too bad on noise, I also have a Graupner Rhode island with a brushless outboard but she is still untried on water up to now.

6 years ago by BOATSHED

Blog

Wheelhouse

Painted and interior fitted. Pleased with the door sliders. Additional housing will be in sliver colourway...

6 years ago by GrahamP74

Forum

What is this boat ?????

Hi The centre hatch is were the nitro or Diesel engine was fitted at one time, still remains. Anchormodels.

6 years ago by anchormodels

Forum

cooler

Dave M is right, but, if you have the 46" hull at slow speeds you might find a lack of cooling, due to the long distance to the motor's, a pump will cure this, but, look for a low watt pump, 10 L PM will be fine. I like my outflow at the stern as the but it can be masked with the propwash Mark

6 years ago by jarvo

Forum

replacing propshaft

My personal choice would be transom like an . I've done this on a few boats and can look quite realistic when sailing.

6 years ago by Colin H

Blog

small detail items

The hobby doesn't have to cost the earth I made some ladders from welding brass filler wire, and an outlet from a draw knob I found whilst walking to the shops. Also done some additional planking using stirrer sticks from costa fortune coffee shop. (My son grabbed me a hand full enough for a life time's modelling).

7 years ago by Novagsi0

Forum

Denatured Alcohol

Hi John, there seems to be a market for the 'one way' cardboard Rapiers motors, so why not for a reloadable Jetex? Yep, I remember my Hunter gliding like a brick as well 😡 For the glider I only had the 50s, but the US version with the domed . Seemed to concentrate the thrust. You may be right about meeting 😉 a few Triple Xs or similar would probably also get demolished in the process! Re Ether, probably from the Apotheke (Chemist) not the DIY shop. But I have no need for it, or do I? Think we'll get told off for hijacking this thread!!🤔 Cheers Doug 😎

7 years ago by RNinMunich

Media

Sea Cadet

We had a brilliant though ing day at Winterbourne house and gardens on Saturday with lots of steaming and BBQ bacon!! Here is a superb Marten Howes Balis in aluminium owned by John Esher.

7 years ago by lesliebreame

Forum

MY D95 ARRIVED

Bigger than I thought and I'm ed just carrying the box. Of course, there's the daunting task of putting it together. But thats for another day.

7 years ago by Les-Forbes

Forum

PT109 Refit

Hi Dave, glad you found the pics useful, that's what we are all here for n'est ce pas? 😉 may have a few more detail pics in the archive, will have a rummage later. The two 'black boxes' are 'ready ammunition' drums for the Browning 50 cal MGs. You can see them again in pic 14. They sit on an equipment box in front of the cabin, cos on this version there is an extra single 50 cal mounted on the port corner of the cabin. See pic 23!! The one after the starboard prop pic. The penultimate pic shows the MG in detail from the rear - Operator's PoV. The silencers (mufflers in American) have a simple butterfly flap valve to deflect the into the silencer box with an underwater outlet. BTW: the actuators are missing🤔 They were a simple rod mechanism actuated from the stern deck. Still looking for detail pics! Maybe we could figure out a way of coupling them to a motor sound module for 'Whisper Mode'?? Bit small to see when out on the pond though! Cleaning the glasses helped the eyesight a bit😉 straightening out the crossed eyes and retraining the brain took a little longer 🤔 happy building and exciting but safe sailing, cheers Doug 😎

7 years ago by RNinMunich

Forum

Age of steam

I presume its a single cylinder single acting engine in which case have you tried an throttle? A simple lever pivoted at one end which can partially cover the port. it may seem a bit strange but if steam cannot get out there is less room for fresh to get in while keeping the full boiler pressure to move the piston. if your engine has an stub then a butterfly or slide valve across that .

7 years ago by Haverlock

Forum

Dust extraction

I use a hood unit like you would find in your kitchen over your stove to fumes, soldering soot, fine particles too. it is vented to the outside. Two stagelight and variable speed van. I got this unit from a Recycle store in Canada they go various names. Other than this, there are dust extraction units such as found in wood shops. Festo has small units as do stores that sell Turning & Lathe equipment.

7 years ago by Ronald

Forum

Motor Cooling

Not an expert on this but I think the usual,(easiest) way is via a water pickup behind the prop and then ed though the side or whereever looks right. I have heard of motors or ESC's being fitted with temperature sensors that turn on a pump if the heat starts to build up. I think most pumps will only work for a short period at a time. Chris

7 years ago by octman

Forum

Working radar

Doug: I enormeously appreciate all of your advises that everyone has given me in this place including yours. Maybe because I come from another culture (Cuban) very much different from yours, sometimes I have said or posted something that to you, it might not make any sense. I'm sorry, I'll try better next time. Giving / receiving?: The wisest man who ever lived said: “There is more happiness in giving than in receiving.” Do you believe in this principle? if so, then perhaps you have wondered what kind of giving is the most valuable. What kind of giving really produces that deep sense of happiness that eclipses receiving? or 'never ' : v. ex·haust·ed, ex·haust·ing, ex·hausts v.tr. 1. To make extremely weary; wear out. See Synonyms at tire1. 2. a. To remove a resource from; deplete: tobacco crops that ed the soil of nutrients. b. To use up completely: a costly project that ed our funds. See Synonyms at deplete. 3. To discuss or treat completely; cover thoroughly: a topic. Julian😎 "There is more happiness in giving than there is in receiving."

7 years ago by chugalone100