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Miss Katherine Tugboat seen in boatyard, Mahone Bay, N.S. Canada

Oh my...basswood was used on the deck . Sub deck is balsa. The Gunwale will require some helping hands from Don. Donnieboy

4 years ago by Ronald

Response

Re: SEAPLANE TENDER, CHANGE OF ESCs

Hi Peter, yes I cool the motors with brass tube coils and water pump. I'm not sure if they even get hot as I never tried without them. I work on the theory, 'put everything on you think you might need and if you don't need it you can take it off' I don't prop the motors too high,- rather let them rev higher with less pitch, thereby taking the load off the motors. The motors are 540 45 turns which is sort of 'low gearing, high torque' so they are not straining. I could put on much bigger props and make a speedboat out of it, but it wouldn't look right. Batteries are only 2s 2200 MAh and last for over an hour, so motors aren't sucking many amps. I use 2 12V 385 motors in the MTB with no cooling other than clip on heat sinks and a computer fan blowing air through the boat, and they've been running for years (get that hot you can't touch them) with no probs. Just keep the bushes oiled now and then. These are so cheap they are not worth worrying about. With fans and ready made water cooling available these days for ESCs etc there should be no overheating probs, and most ESCs have temp and low voltage sensors and cut out if they get too hot, or with low voltage, (if they cut for temp reasons you know to up your cooling or unload the motors) The modern boat/car ESCs are pretty much plug and play, - auto cell count sensing( LiPos), auto throttle centering etc) Still using a 70's 20A Futaba marine ESC (in the Fairacre launch) which is as good as any similar unit today. Just plug any 12v battery in (no need for cell counting LiPos) and away you go. Was used on 27MhZ but now used on 2.4. Also used an Electronize unit,- nice but huge and makes an annoying fizzing sound going slow so I replaced it. JB

4 years ago by jbkiwi

Response

Re: Arctic Convoy

Doug ,May bite the bullet and deviate away from static ,with any luck tem I made for the decks were accurate 😅 proof of the pudding will be tomorrow when I test fit them.

4 years ago by marky

Forum

Drawing the Miss Katherine

I was a welder fitter for ten years, knowing this tug was built in 1959, they would not have cnc, plasma arc cutters, or other modern construction components. Keep it simple I am saying to my self. I see in the photos of the hull, were about 12” wide and welded. The are not curved as you would see with steamed wooden planks.

5 years ago by Ronald

Forum

Drawing the Miss Katherine

Hi Ron - recycled cereal packets we use for mock ups - cant get much cheaper than that - the card is strong enough - thinner card material does not always give the "true" picture as we have found out at our cost a bit too late on commercial jobs. The 1kg corn flake type boxes yield a good quantity locally - found another use for yard of biscuit boxes too - ideal for holding balsa planks - as are neon/led tube light cardboard boxes........... You really are getting along with Miss Katherine - a very good job you are making of it as well - most impressed. Are you going to plate the hull ? If you have a local print shop who do Litho printing - (they usually throw the away after one use) - ideal for plating - and a dressmakers wheel used on the wrong side makes rivets if you need those at all. Weld seams should be easy enough scribed with a ball point pen or knitting needle from the wrong side. Cardboard also works but not nearly as well.

5 years ago by redpmg

Response

Re: SEAPLANE TENDER STAND ADDITION

Hi All. Interesting debate😉 All I can say is that my experience with lithium grease, whatever the colour, is that it will over time cake and stick to the walls of the tube. Had similar experience using it in car wheel bearings ☹️ Seems to be due to the nature of lithium, i.e. , which slide over each other to provide the 'lubrication effect'. But it don't last. Eventually the stuff dries out and the stick together. Coagulation 😭 I now use Gear-Flon, a PTFE/TEFLON grease from Dupont. Bought mine from Krick here in Germany. I squish it in under pressure with an oversize syringe.😉 You can also find it on Amazon etc. https://www.amazon.de/GEAR-FLON-Hochleistungsfett-mit-Teflon/dp/B00UI0AS40?language=en_GB Cheers, Doug 😎 PS To JB: I also inject some into ball races, until it extrudes from the other side, before fitting them!😉 PPS: Almost forgot😮 I also fit a dished oil saver washer between the shaft tube and the thrust washer. A habit I got into while still using oils for shaft lubricants.

5 years ago by RNinMunich

Forum

My secret boat

'Portmeirion .' Alice is too busy roofing the shed today to worry about Chateau Briand, Anyway, cooking is my department. Apple pie being made at the moment from our own garden apples. Six of them, first we've ever had off the tree. Nerys

5 years ago by Nerys

Forum

My secret boat

"complete with Portmeirion " Do you unship the whilst paddling Nerys, or is Alice paddling the galley alongside you whilst whipping up a Châteaux Briand!?😋😋 Nice drop of Châteauxneuf-du-Tap to wash it down perhaps? 😁 Bon appétit Nerys, 😎

5 years ago by RNinMunich

Forum

My secret boat

A dresser complete with Portmeirion , Lovely it is, going down the river. I paddle it, like a coracle. Nerys

5 years ago by Nerys

Forum

Sea Commander.

Exactamente Dodgy 👍 Martin is also correct. Point 2 was discussed a few days ago in a similar thread. The earth wire should be soldered or clamped to the prop tube of earth plate though. A loose connection like a croc clip can itself be a source of interference; so called "Metal to metal noise". That's also why I don't like all metal UJs for the prop shaft. Even 1:1 ships can suffer from problems with earthing ! In the mid nineties I designed a COMMS system for a series of glass fibre minesweepers. Against my better judgement the yard decide to use vertical whip antennae for the HF radios. A vertical monopole whip antenna needs a good earth to act as it's counterpoise. "No problem " said the yard "We'll let a copper earth plate into the keel." After launching and a few weeks of fitting out and trials they complained that the HF comm efficiency and range was deteriorating. We tested all our radios, ATU and cabling and all was OK. Then we sent a diver down to inspect the earth plate. He came up and said "It looks like Chantilly lace!" Red faces at the yard and they coughed up for the Crossed Dipole antenna (with it's own built in counterpoise and ATU) which I wanted to fit in the first place 😉 Cheers, Doug 😎

5 years ago by RNinMunich

Response

Re: Detailing the pilot house and 2nd lash up

"I’ll use clear hatch tape like I use on my sailboats. " Fair enough. Just a thought though- When faced with the same problem sealing the perspex pressure hull cover of my Type 1A U-Boat I used a circular section silicon rubber gasket. The hull is made of solid wood so using a mini drill / engraving tool, and a ball ended 3mm mill bit, I cut a half round slot all round the hull. Following a line previously marked out with tem. The tool came with a neat gadget to put just behind the chuck to help maintain a constant depth of cut, which was about half the width of the silicon ring. The slot is slightly wider than the ring and "fills up" when the ring is squashed into it by the cover. The cover is held down with wings nuts, and then nyloc nuts, on studs which are Loctited into the steel keel. On a surface ship neodymium magnets would probably do the job. I used silicon and magnets plus two 3mm threaded dummy fuel filler caps to hold down and seal the stern deck on my Sea Scout. End of ramble - just a few ideas. Cheers, Doug 😎

5 years ago by RNinMunich

Forum

Movies.

I have found a few good movies in the last few years which show some good wartime (and later) small boat action. 'They Were Expendable' (great PT movie with John Wayne) 'A twist Of Sand' (great RTTL med action in the early scenes, - (Richard Johnson, Honor Blackman Roy Dotrice ) 'The sea shall not have them' (Michael Redgrave, Dirk Bogarde). I also have a Beta copy of another med movie called MTB which is set in Malta but can't play it any more due to my beta player being destroyed years ago. It is about HTTLs based in Malta, not about MTBs as you might think. Of course there is the PT109 movie which most people have seen. There must be a lot of old movies around with ASR boats, MTBs etc which are obscure and need to be watched to find content, -just came across 'A Twist Of Sand' on Youtube a few weeks ago and only watched it because I saw boats while skipping through it. Found 'The Sea Shall Not have Them' because I found the old book in a second hand book shop, and it mentioned the movie, and had from the movie as well. Anyone else found anything of this nature, ?( I know there are plenty of warship movies but not many on small boats)

5 years ago by jbkiwi

Forum

EeZeBilts From Keil Kraft

Now we are on the home straight! We have a drawing, a reasonable structure, and we can start pulling out the detail. It's at this stage that I usually confuse myself completely, since I will make numerous slight alterations to put bulkheads and formers in better positions for several reasons - internal layout, better strength and balance.... and I end up with several dozen slightly different hull designs, each of which are slightly incompatible with numerous slightly different bulkheads, and I then lose track of which parts go with which others... However, here are some examples of the output from this stage. The superstructure base(fig32) is going to have to be made from parts as I mentioned earlier. The bulkheads (fig33) can now all be drawn with their slots and tabs, ready for assembling into the classic egg-box on the sub-deck (fig34). The front formers and the keel are taken off the drawing, again with tabs drawn (fig35)... There will be quite a number of other parts to be drawn and made - the transom and other flat sections of the stern, the triangular bulkheads under the subdeck, the trapezoid which go to make up the funnel and mast, and other details like the anchor well. Almost all of these parts will be uninteresting rectangles with dimensions taken off the drawing, so I am not going to list them all down here. The full set of parts, however, will be needed when it comes to the cutting stage, because we will be trying to get as little wastage as possible from the balsa, and sneaking little triangular formers into all available gaps on the sheets. I will take a bit of a break now, because I need to get the water-jets delivered before doing the final stern design - and I am running short of balsa, so I will need more of that! I may cut a few parts on a sheet of 1/8" inch as an illustration. To do this you simply arrange the parts you want into a 4"x36" rectangle, load the cutter with a 4"x35" balsa sheet and send a file describing the parts to the cutter over a USB link. We will cover the software used and the stages of converting the drawing file to cutting instructions at that point...

5 years ago by DodgyGeezer

Forum

EeZeBilts From Keil Kraft

Hi Nerys, It only sounds complicated as this is at a design stage. When it actually comes to making it you will have plans that you cut out and use as tem, and with simple instructions you will find it easy to build. Honestly. Martin555.

5 years ago by Martin555

Forum

EeZeBilts From Keil Kraft

"...C01 this was made without any drawings/plans..." Really? I'm amazed! I would have thought you would have to have sketched out something - if only tem for the bulkheads and keel....?

5 years ago by DodgyGeezer

Blog

Billing Andrea Gail

Had to make a motor stand for the Graupner 400 brushed motor . Took quit a while to line up & glue in place .Used Brass 2 brass silver soldered to make a 90 & drilled holes for 2.5 mm motor screws . I have a Deans Marine speed control that's older than me but works well on 6 volts . P/S the guy with the fish isn't me & I can't edit to put a me photo in

5 years ago by GARTH

Response

Re: Steampunk Pike.

As you wish Red. But if you're serious about building Memo's Nautilus you ain't gonna find more info and advice than on that disc. And that straight from the Disney horse's mouth. Confusing is that sometimes they mention DVD and sometimes CD!? Happy trawling the Net, I did too, but didn't find a more comprehensive collection of info and data than that. Lots of vague plans, but then what? Material: "Wood seems an odd material to make a submarine from - so where do you go from there..........." My U25 hull is made from four 3cm planks of wood. Lots of carving and checking with tem and swearing. Then wood sealer, more sanding 🤔 primer, three coats of resin based RAL 7035 paint. Brush quick or your brush will stick to the hull😭 Later spraying upper and lower hull with appropriate Revell enamels, light grey and mid/dark grey respectively. No ingress of water or other damage incurred over the last 25 or so years.😊 Advantage is better thermal insulation from the cold water surrounding the hull than with thin plastic. "plastic does not like the "African" sun much"! For several days now we have had temperatures of 35 to 40°C, new record for Germany in June was set yesterday☀️. Expected to climb further to a new record peak on Sunday!😎 I note that today, and the foreseeable/forecast-able future Cape has temperatures of around 13 to 15°C. I remember being in Jo'burg/Pretoria some years ago towards the end of November. We went to the Zoo with temperature around 35°C and while refreshing ourselves sitting outside the cafe there were astounded to to witness the arrival of a class of young school kids and a Father Christmas wearing the full red arctic outfit with hat and beard. I started melting just looking at him 😂 During my time in Cape Town and Simonstown, also shortly before Christmas, the temperatures were a very comfortable 25 to 30°C. Where are you? Of course various plastics deform at various temperatures, so 'Taste and Try Before You Buy'. (With thanks to Savoy Brown - see attached Utube clip😉) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNyzrOM5RR4 Check the specs of the type of plastic you are considering buying for your build. Some are specially developed I believe for minimal deformation at higher temperatures. BTW: Joburgsailor seems to do all right with the materials he uses under the African sun👍 See his blogs and post on this site about his magnificent MEKO frigate. (A ship class I also worked on for other countries!) Whatever floats your boat Red 😊 have fun doing it, that's what it's all really about! Cheers, Doug 😎 BTW; wish we had your grocery prices here🤔 85US$ = about €75. Which is around 20 or 15% of my monthly grocery bill of around €400-500!

5 years ago by RNinMunich

Forum

Hintsand tips - Decals made easy

If anyone is looking for a cheap easy way to make any decals of photos name , designs etc, here is an idea you might find useful. I use a waterslide decal paper on which you can print anything you design, draw etc on your inkjet printer. I buy this paper from a company in Australia for around $30 NZ for 10 A4 sheets. You can buy clear or white. What you do is just print your design, photo, text etc onto the paper (plastic waterslide coated), let the ink dry, spray with either a clear lacquer or Helmar clear (the best), allow to dry, trim,soak in warm water as usual and apply. This material is quite tough and will not tear easily and you can spray lacquer over it to seal it on the model. It is a similar stuff as sold by Testors in a kit but is a lot more cost effective. I've included some examples of decals I've made for my boats and planes . For small decals you can cut a small piece a bit bigger than your design, print your picture on A4 to see where it will come on the page, sellotape the piece of decal paper over the print, (tape horizontally top and bottom) put the page back in the printer with the same orientation as is was, and print onto your decal. This saves wasting a whole sheet of decal paper which cannot be re used. If you find a nice clear sharp design it will come out nicely on the decal

5 years ago by jbkiwi

Blog

Puffer build continues

Fitting of bulwark cappings, deck angle , bulwark strengtheners. I want to weather this model has anybody got some good tips please.

5 years ago by davejw

Forum

Rivets

Martin , forgot to ask if you were using it on or direct to hull. If litho, plastic, or thin card you can use a dressmakers wheel from the back - I have two of different size wheels for different spacing - they are pretty cheap so I would not advise trying to borrow you know who's , That would be much quicker to do. Agree with Dodgy - Chinese pins are much softer - trying to use so called office pins from China found they bent easily

5 years ago by redpmg

Blog

Soykils (Brooklyn for Circles)

In 1856, Constellation had two 10 shell guns mounted bow and stern as "pivots" or shifting guns. To make shifting them easier, and prevent them tearing up the deck, sectional iron were screwed down to the deck, a bit like model rail-road track, these were referred to as "circles" or "gun circles." What pattern was actually used on Constellation is so far unknown. The museum folks think there was just a basic circle under each gun, but I think they've interpreted the name a little too literally, as I can find very few examples where just a single simple circle was used. I decided to base the model on the more complicated patterns I found in photos and a diagram in the Navy's 1852 manual: Preparation of Vessels of War for Battle. I cut the circles from 1/32" (.5mm) sheet styrene, painted black, and glued to the deck with gel CA. Both guns on the model sit on access hatches that don't correspond to any actual hatch, so the bow circles, especially, had to accommodate the seam of the hatch.

5 years ago by Jerry Todd

Forum

CNC boat kits...?

Hi. This machine is called the Ox, a full set of , anodised in black, is on sale at Oozenest at half price, I am building it bit by bit as I do not have funds for a kit. All parts are sourced in the UK, either from Oozenest, , extrusion some bolts and other Ox specific parts, Arduino Uno and CNC shield, the rest, Nema 23s, Toshiba motor drivers, bolts, some extrusions, 30 wheels, spacers etc from WE Do 3D Printing in Sheffield. Control will be via Arduino Uno and CNC shield, with Toshiba 5 amp drivers on a 24 volt PSU. This machine can be made as big as you want just by increasing the length of the extrusions, which consist of 20 x 80, 20 x 60, and 20 x 40 V slot. Mine will have a footprint of 750mm x 550mm, which will give me a build area of around 380mm x 650mm. Big enough for me, I have very little space and I am going to have to sell a couple of 3D printers to make room. I will be using GRBL firmware, Designspark Mechanical for design, DXF2Gcode for converting and Universal G code sender to cut. I don't anticipate needing a bigger machine as I cannot lift big models any more so 600 mm long will do me. I have not thought about work holding and my designs, If I manage to get ant sorted that work, will be there for anyone to use.I have not fully mastered the art of CAD yet, I learned Tech Drawing on a drawing board with T square and compass. This weekend will be a laugh as I am going to get the electrics sorted, I have mastered Marlin, used in 3D printing, and I have been laboring on the misapprehension that CNC would be the same, so it's teach meself GRBL time! https://ooznest.co.uk/product/ox-cnc-aluminium-/ https://shop.wedo3dprinting.com/ Please note, I have nothing to do with the suppliers I have linked to other than as a satisfied customer...

5 years ago by Nickthesteam

Blog

Hull Details

To make the hull look like it made from riveted , I plated the hull using card cut as required and glued to the base hull using Waterproof PVA glue. Then the rubbing stakes fitted. To simulate the rivets I used brass round headed pins hammered into the hull. This was done to the water line. The rudder was made from brass, etc. The Puffer used a tiller type rudder hung over the stern. The drive mechanism was chain from the wheel house. More details later. A prop tube was fitted. The hull was then undercoated, top coated with red and black gloss.

5 years ago by Hillro

Forum

Soldering

Many moons ago when I worked in the shipyards we used something similar on a much larger scale with the holes 2"dia these massive slabs of steel were used to bend bulb bar and hold flat for welding they were called dogging or tables depending on the size (I think dogging has a different connertation now a days) .the tables or were used with bars which were called dogs .good luck with the rest of the soldering😐😐

5 years ago by marky

Blog

Preparing the frames for the hull

The drawings came with the hull profiles to scale so I photocopied them enough times to when cut out gave a template for each one. I decided to build the hull upside down so I marked out the tem to allow for this and to allow the frames to be cut when the hull is complete. The frames were made from 4mm Birch Plywood. Tem glued to the plywood and cut out using a scroll saw.The interiors of the frame were also cut out where there was sufficient material to allow a 10mm web. A 50x75mm batten was marked out from the drawing for the frame positions. frames had blocks glued to them to allow the fixing of them to the batten. The keel was also cut out from 4mm plywood and glued to the frames.

5 years ago by Hillro

Blog

Manufacturing of Paddles

I started with the paddles. Main reason was that I was not sure the final product would work. I ordered all the brass parts using eBay and google. Tem were photo copied from the drawing (paddle frames) and stuck to 1/32 brass sheet. Centre punched all the points that needed to be drilled. Holes drilled used a jewellers saw to cut out the frames and finish off using files. I had not done anything like this before but patience was need to replace all the broken blades. I note that the saw came with 120 blades. I then made all the paddles, the spider gear, etc using soft soldering technique. The wheels were then assembled and tested. small adjustments had to be made with a file as some of the paddles were fouling each other. Disassembled them and painted them using car spray paint. I was quite pleased with the paddles so could start thinking about the tug hull. ,

5 years ago by Hillro

Blog

Shop/Refrigerator

Not much, happening this time of year. The shop doesn't have heat, so things like batteries that shouldn't be left in the cold come in the house, and the shop which seems to stay at or near 40°f/4°c, become an annex to our refrigerator. Now and then we get a warm day or three, and I open the doors because it's actually warmer outside than in, but more often than not what gets done is for other folks, and not the models. Spring is about a month off, but we'll likely get get some warmer days before that and I have been doodling some thoughts on what to address on all three models when the opportunity appears. On Constellation that's chain, pinrails, and getting the mizzen bracing working - a fairlead got some epoxy in it and needs to be cleared. I also want to get into some details like railings on the mast tops, and the bands that the futtocks attach to on the masts. if you don't know what that is, just wait and it'll be explained.

5 years ago by Jerry Todd

Blog

Wheel Boxes

Done a load of work around the wheel boxes this week (as well has finishing the other Deck hatch as the parts had arrived). Started with a blanking plate where we drew on the curve of the wheel box as well as the height of the side boxes. steamed 2 thin strips of wood into shape and glues them to the . Then glued the 2 preformed wheel box shapes to the . Once dry, using the preformed boxes cut out 2 wheel box fronts, marked up where the slots are going to go (not skilled enough to cut the required 10 slots so gone for 5 instead). Once cut out and shaped, glued into place and at the same time removed the extra material from the blacking plate to form the backs of the wheel boxes and side boxes. once all of that was dry, cut out of balsa wood the 4 side boxes (2 each side, front and rear), glued together, shaped to fit and then fitted to the backing plate and wheel box arches. We found that the Wheelhouse platform was actually slightly too big (port and starboard wise) so cut into the platform slightly do the wheel boxes etc fit, looks better and once all fitted together will be fine. Next thing to do is the steps over the 2 wheel boxes, so ordered some more wood strips to do that. once all that is done, seal and paint the boxes. Also on the plan for this coming week is to mark out and cut the deck holes for the battery, steam generator and other bits and bobs 🤞

5 years ago by barryskeates