|||
Not Registered
Go AD FREE & get your membership medal
BRONZE
Less Ads
SILVER
GOLD
Ad Free
Cancel
Anytime
Β£2.50
Β£4.50
Β£6.50
Subscribe
Go AD FREE & get your membership medal
BRONZE
Less Ads
SILVER
GOLD
Ad Free
For A Whole Year!
Β£25
Β£45
Β£65
Donate
You Will Be Helping Towards:

  • Domain Fees
  • Security Certificates
  • iOS & Android App Fees
  • Website Hosting
  • Fast Servers
  • Data Backups
  • Upkeep & Maintenance
  • Administration Costs

    Without your support the website wouldn't be what it is today.

    Please consider donating towards these fees to help keep us afloat.

    Read more

    All donations are securely managed through PayPal.

    Many thanks for your kind support
  • Join Us On Social Media!
    Download The App!

    Login To
    Remove Ads
    Login To
    Remove Ads

    Model Boats Website
    Model Boats Website
    Home
    Forum
    Build Blogs
    Media Gallery
    Boat Clubs & Lakes
    Events
    Boat Harbour
    How-To Articles
    Plans & Docs
    Useful Links
    Search
    Search
    Blog
    Splitting The Hull.
    I had a busy weekend planned. It was time to split the hull. It is fair to say that I had been looking forwards to having a go at this. I had made the special tools last week ready for the split. The first job was to try to fix down the hull to a board perfectly level and rigid enough to ensure that it did not move during the cutting phase. The first thing was to find a suitable flat board, 12mm marine ply, and stick a 1” strip of sandpaper right down the middle to help to reduce the risk of the hull sliding. This done, I placed the hull roughly central on the board and marked out the positions for the anchor points for the elastic bands and screwed them in. I used standard hooks for this. The bands, two at each end, were fitted. It was surprising just how rigid this was but the hull could still slide. To stop this, I had bought some angle brackets. They were to be screwed onto the board, one each side at the centre of the hull. These proved top be very weak and I could still move the hull. A search of the garage followed to find something suitable and I came across two Krick motor mounts which were left over from the Dusseldorf motors. I screwed these to the board and the hull was rigid. I fitted the Dremel to the special tool with four cable ties. These held it very well. I then set the height on the
    marker pen
    and tested it at each end of the weld line chosen as the split point. It was around 3mm out at one end so I placed two large washers at one end under the hull and this gave me level. I then checked to see if the hull was level across the width and twisted it until the pen made a mark at the same height on both sides using the weld line on the model as a point of reference. I them marked a cut line along both sides of the hull. Next up was to set the height of the slitting saw using the previously drawn line. This done, I then very carefully cut the side walls taking care to only taking shallow cuts as the Polystyrene melts very easily if heated. I did this in stages leaving the hull connected at each end, behind the bands and about ½” in the centre to ensure stability when cutting the other side. I completed the cuts on both sides and then remove the hull from the board. The remaining sections still joined were then carefully cut with a 12” hacksaw blade. Success!! I had two pieces. I then roughly cleaned up the cut joints and placed the two halves together. It was good. Finally, for today, I made and fitted a support brace at the stern end of the deck piece as cutting into two had left this area weak. Next time I will improve the cut surfaces, put locking devices on the deck half and location tabs to aid alignment. Thanks for reading. Peter.
    4 years ago by MouldBuilder
    Blog
    Lightening the hull
    I have decided to leave the ballast system for now. I am confident that my pressurised system will work very well but I have to source a much stronger solenoid valve. Ideas on this would be welcome but weight must be a consideration along with the tube connection size. I have turned my attention to the main build. My aim for this session was to complete the aft section and cut all of the weight reducing sections. The first job was to place all of the decking parts and forward and aft sections into place using tape and mark all around with a
    marker pen
    . The parts were removed and another line drawn about 6mm (1/4”) inside. This is so that any removed material will not be visible once the deck is fixed back into position. Lines were then drawn about 12mm (1/2”) each side of the hull half connection points and the large areas cross hatched to avoid mistakes. Time for the Dremel. I fitted the Dremel with a 25mm (1”) diameter 0.8mm (1/32”) rotary saw blade and very carefully cut all of the sections out. To join all of the cuts together, I used a 300mm (12”) hacksaw blade. Great care had to be taken with this process not only to avoid a visible cut, but also not to remove a finger. Regular counts were taken on fingers just in case. To complete this task. I carefully removed all of the plastic burrs with a needle file. These are quite severe with Styrene but relatively easy to remove. I was happy with the results of this cutting. The next item I addressed was the aft section. I had to try to assemble the two halves whilst installing the rudder, aft planes and their operating rods and connectors at the same time. I had previously made the connector rods and had carried out successful trials whilst holding the parts together with elastic bands. The time had arrived to glue the halves together with all of the parts in place. I assembled all of the parts again with bands and started to glue a part at a time. Disaster. I broke the aft planes in half. I was trying to be clever and keep this part in its original supplied condition and ignored previous builds that had strengthened this part. Not a good idea. I now have to try to repair this part and put in place even though both halves are now glued together. This is a job for the next update. Just a reminder, if anybody knows of a solenoid valve that fits the requirements, help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading. Peter.😊
    5 years ago by MouldBuilder
    Blog
    Midships
    When the boat was fitted with a diesel there was no deck between the forward cabin and the engine room. This was to allow room for the engine cylinder head. So the first task was to construct a planked deck to fill the space. The opportunity was also taken to add the cabin door detail, complete with dummy hinges and door knobs. The davit was constructed from plasticard and painted gunmetal grey. Basic height and reach dimensions for this were taken from the plan. Details were added based on photos found on this site. The scramble nets were made using black woven cord. This was laid out on a piece of scrap plywood using panel pins to space the cord into the desired net structure. The cord crossover joints were then glued with superglue. This didn't work well. The joints were not strong, some having to be re-glued. The dried glue caused a white stain on the cord. This was disguised with permanent black
    marker pen
    . A bigger issue was that the cord had absorbed the glue which wicked along the length from the joints making the net inflexible in parts. It would not roll up neatly and looked a mess. Fortunately I had enough cord left to make replacement nets. This time, each of the 100 crossover joints was sewn with black cotton thread. This took some time but the joints are now strong and the completed net is fully flexible. This post brings us up to present day with the refit. There is still more to do including the fire monitors and spotlight. Just to show it does sail, I've included a photo of it out on the lake yesterday. It is only running at approx. 1/4 throttle which doesn't show how it planes. I haven't yet mastered driving it at full speed while simultaneously taking photos!
    5 years ago by Graham93
    Forum
    Hints and Tips.
    Hi If this all ready known just say. Have you every had to draw a line along a tube, if it is yes then how about this way. place the tube up to the door jam with the side that the line should be drawn along against the door jam, then run a
    marker pen
    down the jam thereby marking the tube. To put a line around a tube just tape a sheet of paper round the tube making sure that the edge of the paper mate up. Sorry if this is teaching you to suck egg's
    5 years ago by Fred


    About This Website
    Terms of Service
    Privacy Policy