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    Forum
    Night Watch
    The lake at Les Rousses is quite shallow, consequently the ice gets very thick and of course it is a biggish lake. The Ice Yacht Club of Switzerland use it regularly as well as individuals. There seemed to be all sorts, varying from the DN which was popularised by the Detroit News newspaper before WW2 up to more modern ones as well as sledges with a makeshift sail Even people on skates holding a
    piece
    of cloth as a sail (often falling over). It all looked great fun. I remember one day, watching the Ice Yachts at Les Rousses, then driving on down to Geneva, where, an hour or so later, I was watching real yachts sailing on the lake in a beautiful (almost) summer's day. Cheers, Nerys
    4 years ago by Nerys
    Response
    Re: 40'' Seaplane Tender, first test run
    "Do I hear Wedding Bells? " NOT ON YOUR LIFE MATEY! We've both tried that before, and ended up with expensive disasters so we're very happy with the current arrangement. Mutual agreement that we don't need a
    piece
    of paper to prove that we love each other.โค๏ธ๐Ÿ’”๐Ÿ˜Š Under some peculiar German laws it would also be financially disadvantageous at this stage of our lives. Cheers, Doug ๐Ÿ˜Ž
    5 years ago by RNinMunich
    Response
    Re: 40'' Seaplane Tender, on the water at last
    Good
    piece
    of water you have there JB - what is it dam or river ? Was at Beale park in UK when a fellow was demonstrating his gas turbine powered Bluebird K7. Only just got on to the plane and had to shut down - short water - looks like he could have run it successfully there. Tender looking great on the water - glad you have her running before you added much more detail. From the pictures of the bow wave it looks pretty much like scale speed - seems to be the same as in pics of 206's final run. What sort of endurance on the batteries exactly ? Now onto the next model then?????? PS what about a ducted fan Bluebird or Crusader..........
    5 years ago by redpmg
    Blog
    The Caprail Guards
    The caprail guard are used like chaffing gear! Those are the tan
    piece
    s you see on top of the caprails! Towards the bow and Stern. but I feel it's going to get in the way! What do you think? Should I put the caprail guards on?
    6 years ago by figtree7nts
    Blog
    Wheelhouse
    Having completed the basic hull repaint, it was time to get on to some of the more interesting details. Many of the deck fittings, ventilators, Samson post, etc were sourced from the shop on this website. These plastic fittings were primed with a grey etch primer and then top coated with Tamiya Gunmetal or Humbrol white enamel as appropriate. Being the 1/16th scale Crash Tender, I don't have the benefit of having a set of white metal fittings. I wasn't able to find many off the shelf fittings in 1/16th scale so decided to scratch build them instead. It makes the job more interesting, if a bit fiddly, ....... and very time consuming! The first task was to replace the fixed wheelhouse roof with a removeable one. This gives access to the interior of the wheelhouse for fitting lighting, new windows, and the searchlight servo. The window frames were cut from 1mm plasticard and painted silver. The mast was built from brass, including making the pulleys. A 5mm white LED is fitted to the top, with a little white painted brass cap to make it look the part. Rigging is 1.5mm elastic cord. I think this is a little thick and 1mm might look better. I still have to source the ensign to fly from the mast. There is a pulley in place ready for it. The port, starboard and wheelhouse roof navigation lights were all constructed using plasticard and fitted with 3mm LEDs. The aerial on the roof of the wheelhouse is made from brass based on the details given by Mike (mturpin013) in his blog. The boathooks were also scratchbuilt from brass. I thought they would look better than the white metal ones available on eBay. For the "shepherd's crook" hook, the brass rod was first tapered by filing and sanding before being bent to the appropriate shape. The other hook was formed by silver soldering a brass cross
    piece
    onto a tapered shaft. Both hooks were formed on the end of a long length of brass rod to make it easier to handle them. Once complete, a short section of rod behind the hook was turned down to 1mm dia to form a spigot for mounting on the poles. The poles were carved from mahogany. With all these details in place it is really beginning to look the part. Next up the rear deck.
    5 years ago by Graham93
    Forum
    Work with Balsa wood
    Forgot to say that the other way for chine stringers etc is to laminate thin strips glued in position (which bend easily)- waiting for each one to dry in turn - makes for a very much stronger stringer than a single tortured thick strip. Easily held by spring type clothes pegs if you have not got enough clamps. They are not expensive so you can afford your own. If you cut off the angled nose
    piece
    they are much more useful and can clamp right next to a vertical surface if required with a cross
    piece
    etc.
    5 years ago by redpmg
    Forum
    Work with Balsa wood
    It helps. Balsa grain expands quite a lot when wet. Here is a picture of your C01 corvette sub-deck being bent to initial shape. I have held the part of the balsa sheet which was outside of the bend under a hot tap for 10 seconds or so to soak that side, then propped it up as shown. Expanding one side of a
    piece
    of balsa makes it bend towards the other side.... If held in that position, once dry it stays in a nice even bend. Note that you do not aim to get the bend fitting exactly - there will be some requirement to hold it in position with clamps/rubber bands/pins while gluing. If you use pins, you will get lots of holes in the balsa. These just vanish if you put a drop of water on them and swell the grain around the hole... like magic! You can also remove small dents this way. Works best on soft, open grain balsa - less well on dense hard wood.
    5 years ago by DodgyGeezer
    Blog
    Evolution
    Hi Guys, Knocked up a temporary jig to form more bone shapes. Using the cut spoon
    piece
    for the spine centre, and some thin plastic red tube for the push rod guide. A lot of sanding required! The photos show the jig and the bone before and after sanding. Martin555.
    5 years ago by Martin555
    Response
    Re: Suction hose
    Very nice job and clever idea. Might I suggest an easier way of winding a spring, ( for those who have no idea how to - this coming from a past job as a spring maker). Start by selecting your mandrel ( go down in size from the size you want to end up with) as the coils will grow as you release tension (bit of trial and error depending whether you are using hard or soft wire). Make a simple tool as shown in the pic (around 300mm x40mm x 8mm - mandrel hole is not too important but a loose fit. Forming pin hole (bottom of which is just above mandrel hole and around 40-50mm back) should be tight press (or hammer) fit and welded on the back side. A deep groove is filed into the under side of the pin to take the wire. Bit of trial and error here to get the best pin position,- but once correct you will have it for life. This tool is slid over the mandrel (pin towards chuck) A right angle is bent in the wire leaving around a 150mm leg which is inserted in the chuck between the mandrel and the jaws (not clamped) leaving the stock length towards you (or from a coil on a turn table or pin) . You then hook the wire under the forming pin. and with the lathe in slow,- 200 rpm is a good start (when you get used to it, probably 500 rpm +) and holding the wire tight against the handle (handle straight out) start winding. If you want tight coils move handle slightly towards the chuck and vice versa. You will find that you get quite good at 'pitching' the coils accurately with practice -ie closed-then open- then closed for normal compression springs and all closed for tension springs). Stop when you have wound your spring, move tail-stock back and slide spring and tool off mandrel (no need to undo anything, just cut leg and excess wire off to suit . There is another tool for forming spring eyes you can make also. If anyone wants to know I'll do a drawing. Just keep your eye on the stock end of the wire so you don't get a nasty surprise ! Best tail-stock would be a plain tube (we just used a 100mm
    piece
    of angle iron on an adjustable leg). If you had a decent horizontally mounted drill you could make your own spring lathe for small springs. If you are using high tensile wire you will have to adjust your mandrel size as when you heat your spring to temper it, it will reduce in diameter (ie tighten up). You probably only need to make 2 or 3 different sizes of these winding handles to cover a range of sizes up to say 8 SWG. John B
    5 years ago by jbkiwi
    Directory
    My current fleet 14 July 2019
    At long last the new Dry Dock is completed, we now need a new centre
    piece
    for the dining room table. It needs to be something interesting to provoke conversation, which the models have done quite regularly. All I have to do now is finish the rest of the stuff that is not in camera shot!!!
    5 years ago by ikseno99
    Forum
    Direction finder aerials /water pumps
    Hi again, "Thanks for the info will send more details next I have a query " Thanks Elsrickle. I didn't want to appear overbearing in any way but I've often noticed that we have had many queries where guys here have the answers if only they are given all the parameters of the application and problem. Sometimes we have had to draw out the info we need
    piece
    by
    piece
    . Therefore I thank you for your prompt response with exactly what I needed๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿ‘ Ship's of that era would not have had any radar at all so that settles that issue. Happy rotating (don't get your knickers twisted though ๐Ÿ˜ฎ๐Ÿคฃ) Cheers, Doug (AKA the nutter in Munich) ๐Ÿ˜Ž PS I'm sure that all members here would love to see some pics (maybe even a video?) of your Fifie. Lovely old typical Scottish fishing boats I believe.
    5 years ago by RNinMunich
    Blog
    Re visit Rear upper deck & Aft cockpit deck
    I have decided that the rear upper deck and the rear aft cockpit will be a one
    piece
    unit. After see another boat with a similar set but not both decks were joined. This means that the upper deck and lower deck and the sides of the cockpit will all be joined forming a box. This has a number of benefits these are:- 1. It makes a water tight compartment which can be emptied if required. (except for the removable hatch I did in the initial build, this will have to have an โ€œoโ€ ring type seal) 2. It makes it easier to get to the servo area without taking all the smaller parts out e.g. foam tanks ladders etc. 3. Fitting the ladders made easier with a single 10 BA bolt Disadvantages A lot more work!. Because the individual parts are already made and in some cases painted I need to make sure that all surfaces that will require gluing are suitably abraded before applying any type adhesive. Additional work will be required around the top edge of the cockpit to give a lip to stop any water from entering the servo area. I decide this would look nice in mahogany to match the floor edging, along with some corner
    piece
    s in polished brass this edging will also add substantial rigidity to the whole structure. The mahogany was cut from a spare
    piece
    of old table top to 9mm by 6mm and then a 1.5 mm x 2mm deep groove was cut along the length to slot onto the top of the box section. The corner brass
    piece
    s were fabricated from 0.5 mm brass sheet and the joints soft soldered with a strengthening
    piece
    underneath. The box section sides were already made and painted so had to have their edges prepared for gluing by removing a 2mm wide strip along each edge. The area where the box fits had to be prepared with spacers of 0.6 mm card and strips of baking sheet to stop the glue sticking to the sides of the boat. This method ensures that the box fits exactly in its hole. After epoxying the box section to consolidate the Rear upper deck & Aft cockpit deck I could then glue the mahogany rail to the top along with the brass corners this was left to set overnight. The top rail was then radiused to finish it off and a first coat of varnish applied โ€ƒ
    5 years ago by mturpin013
    Forum
    Glue
    Hi, For the plastic card I use humbrol liquid poly (see photo)and applied with a small paint brush. And I also use super glue and if I apply it to small areas after it has been painted I use a thin
    piece
    if electrical wire, (sometimes just one strand)and for a larger area I use a cocktail stick. For two part epoxy I use different sizes of plastic card depending on how much I use. I hope this helps.
    5 years ago by Martin555
    Blog
    Bollards!
    The fittings supplied with the kit include some bollards for the deck but Iโ€™m less than impressed with them and decided to make my own by adapting some brass handrail fittings intended for locomotives. As readers of my blogs will know, I donโ€™t have a lathe but thereโ€™s a lot that can be achieved using a horizontal bench drill and files. The first job was to reduce the diameter of the base to fit inside a couple of steel washers that were superglued together and then to the reduced base to form a large flange for the bollard. This was then spun in the drill and files used to radius the edges and blend them into the base. Some brass rod was then used to form the cross
    piece
    of the bollard, some tape the same width of the โ€˜ballโ€™ was used to protect the centre section and the outer end reduced to a taper with a file, finally the
    piece
    s were reduced to the correct length and the ends rounded off. The cross
    piece
    was then superglued into the bollard base and then all four were given a coat of etch primer and then two brushed coats of Tamiya gunmetal grey. There is another bollard on the foredeck and this is just a simple wooden post with a brass cross
    piece
    , itโ€™s fixed through the deck into the underlying structure by a brass pin.
    5 years ago by robbob
    Blog
    Detailing the cabin โ€“ Part 2. The Roof Rails.
    Some hardwood dowel is supplied in the Vintage Model Works kit for the handrails that would look perfectly acceptable for most builders but as Iโ€™m going a bit overboard with the detailing of my boat I chose to fabricate mine differently to look a little more authentic. This involved selecting some obeche stripwood of suitable dimensions and carefully measuring and marking out the positions of the supporting legs and the spacing between them. Again I used some โ€˜photos of the NMM model as a guide for this. Fortunately I had previously treated myself to a vertical stand accessory for my Dremmel drill and I used this as a milling machine with the addition of a suitably sized sanding drum and an improvised โ€˜fenceโ€™ attached to the base of the stand. After making a test
    piece
    I also chose to attach a vacuum cleaner hose to the stand to extract the dust as the process generates quite a lot! Milling out the recesses in the obeche strip was a remarkably quick process but the subsequent hand finishing using abrasive paper glued around a dowel and some abrasive pads took a great deal longer to achieve the final profiles. I was very pleased with the final result and so I applied several coats of Teak stain before hand drilling a 2mm hole in each of the supporting legs to take a plasticard rod which was superglued in place. These form fixing spigots that will enable me to easily fix the rails through the roof without using epoxy or superglue on the roof surface but on the underside of the roof instead. The legs at each end of the handrails were drilled to take 1mm rods as the legs are a bit smaller. The rails were then laid out on the cabin roof and with the aid of some masking tape the position of each plasticard rod was marked and then the drilling centres marked with an indent through the tape onto the roof. The fixing holes were all hand drilled through the roof and the handrails pushed into place before being secured with a drop of superglue on the underside. When set the excess plastic rod was cut flush with the roof panel. The finished result is very pleasing ๐Ÿ˜€ as seen in the last pic along with a sneak preview of the searchlight.
    5 years ago by robbob


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