Blog

Mast lights

As I wanted to install lights in foremast and had trouble trying to drill the centre of the doweling in one piece. I decided to try a hollow section mast. This is in five sections with 4mm thin brass tubing a firm push fit. The length of these sections was determined by where the mast rings are positioned. Which enabled the joints to be hidden.The mast rings are glued only on the top side of the ring and a strengthener fitted below the deck to hold the mast in position. Lights are fitted and wired through the sections one wire used for ovolt of mast lights and one wire used for ovolt of deck lights. Wiring has two plugs at end for connecting to main cabling under the deck. The mast is then assembled and when installed all the rigging at the various rings will hold the mast firmly in position. This style of fitting means the mast can always be removed for lamp if required. Although I made the mast on my printer it could always be done this way using short pieces of doweling which are easier to drill though the centre.

4 years ago by Elsrickle

Response

Re: SEAPLANE TENDER STAND ADDITION

Re - Are the shafts ball bearing at both ends? and can’t you get sealed bearings Hi Mike, they have dual bearings which are MF 74 flanged bearings - 4x7-(8.2)x2.5 - steel double shielded, so are quite small, and are a tight fit in the brass tube so I don't want to disturb them until I need to. I've ordered some Zokol branded bearings from Ali Express as future s' so I'll see what they are like when they come. I might order some MBA stainless bearings if they have them as well, as I know you can trust them to be good quality. Have found some Chinese bearings to be very soft and give out early, even though regularly lubed (planes) as against the better FAG, SKF, Koyo, Timken MBA etc which I've replaced them with which last for years, (haven't replaced a yet in 10+ years) Not sure if you can get these particular mini bearings in a sealed version, (I haven't seen one in the mini bearings range) I've added the pic for others to view regarding lubrication, which may be of interest . (see also comment above to Martin. JB

5 years ago by jbkiwi

Forum

Rother class lifeboat. (1.12)

A few years ago I purchased an Alice Upjohn kit from Tony Green Steam models. This was for the most part a Metcalf Mouldings kit. I have spent a lot of time on it but am struggling to make much progress and as a result have lost interest and want to persue a different type of build which I prefer, namely plank on frame. The kit is 'more' than complete for as well as the kit it also has a crew of 3 unpainted, 2 MFA 4.5-15v motors, brass props as a for the white metal ones, Futuba S3003 servo, Planet PLAR06100 receiver and an action-electronics P94 dual esc/mixer multi controller. All these bits brand new and still in the boxes or wrappers. It comes with instructions, parts list and plans and sits nicely on a lovely varnished wooden stand. Is anybody interested making me a sensible offer for this kit, I can provide photos for anybody interested. Thanks for looking regards ChrisG I need the space that this model is taking up so have put it on that very well known auction site e..y, I am sorry none of the modellers on here wanted to take advantage of a bargain. Happy modelling to all.

5 years ago by ChrisG

Forum

Krick and Hobbyking

Hi guys and Gals. I do not blow the trumpet for suppliers too often but I just have to mention the superb customer service I have received from both Krick and Hobbyking. 1) Krick. The Dusseldorf model from Krick I am currently building has a superstructure mainly formed by one piece of blow moulded clear Lexan which incorporates all of the windows also. The windows are covered by preformed stick on masks which are supplied on a pre-cut sheet. Just peel and fix. Well, I peeled and fixed a few a little out of place. They were so difficult to remove that I damaged the corners. Not much good for spraying. I wrote a note on their web site asking if they could give me a price for a sheet. They wrote back the next day saying they would replace it f.o.c. True to their word, it arrived today, three days after my request. Well done Krick. Good products too I might add. 2) Hobbyking. I like Hobbyking. The products are good but their customer service is excellent. Over the last couple of years I have made many purchases and two have gone wrong.The first was a Li-Po battery. One cell was down when it arrived. I went to customer service on the web site and it asked me to take two pictures, one of the battery serial code and one of the battery connected to a monitor showing total voltage. I did this at 2pm. At 4pm I had an email approving the claim and a was sent the next day. The second claim was this week. My relatively new Frsky Taranis X9D Plus (six months old), strangely started turning itself on, beeping, and the screen flashing and then off again repeating this every 30 seconds. The only way to stop it was to remove the battery. I wrote to Hobbyking on Sunday advising them of the error. On Monday I had an email asking for a video of the problem. I sent this on Tuesday. On wednesday they responded by saying that they had not seen this problem before and to send the unit back to them for . They sent three emails over two hours today. The first said that they had received the faulty unit and that it would take around two weeks to assess and respond. Well that became one hour. They wrote again and said that the claim was valid and passed on to sales for . Sales wrote one hour saying that a was not immediately available and a full cash refund would be made. Five days and sorted. I can now buy a . It would be good to hear of others good outcome supplier stories, or in fact the horror stories too.

5 years ago by MouldBuilder

Forum

Night Watch

To Fleet Admiral at Munchen RN High Command. Glad you approved my actions. I am taking a low profile tonight and going on an observation patrol only. I intend being in the Tenby/West Gower area a little before HW and observing any small vessel movements in that area. We didn't stay long at the party, I shall keep my weather eye open in that direction. may be covering for something. There is a Coast Watch unit at Worms Head/ Rossili, as good a for CG as we can get. I met them when we went on a Waverley trip a couple of years ago Full report tomorrow. MSWM Nerys

5 years ago by Nerys

Forum

Moronic Hydra 50 speed controller

About a month ago I posted that an Moronic Hydra 50 G2 speed controller I installed in a hull and switched on, went up in smoke for no particular reason that I could see. I phoned Mtronics and they asked me to return it and Doug asked for an update if they responded. Well today, a nice new Moronic Hydra 50 G2 speed controller arrived in the post. There was no explanation but a none the less. Thank you Mtronics, quite unusual customer service these days I think.

5 years ago by Brianaro

Blog

Cleats by Dumas!

I received the cleats from Dumas! Dumas sent 16 cleats. I had only ordered 10! So, they kept their word. Now that’s a good Company! FYI, I had ordered 10 cleats from Dumas. At the beginning of the months! They ended up going to the wrong location! I called Dumas told them what was going on. They looked most likely a wrong zip code was used! They said no problem, They would send replaacements. Which they did. And I recieved the s. three days later!

5 years ago by figtree7nts

Forum

water is wet and so was I.

Unusual! What do they do weld it shut or mould the electronics into a solid block?😮 Whatever, good luck with it / 🤞 Cheers, Doug

5 years ago by RNinMunich

Blog

The Battery Box & Power Switch

I wanted to install a main power switch on the model so that the battery could be pre-installed and connected ready for the lake but at the same time the battery needed to be easily replaceable at the lakeside. The problem I faced was where I could fit and conceal a switch for this, and have it easily accessible too. The answer, I decided, was to disguise the switch as a cabin feature that I intended to include in the model detailing anyway, and the boats steering wheel was the ideal candidate. I started by sketching out a design that would incorporate a battery box and switch as a complete sub-assembly and with a workable design I began by constructing the battery box from 3mm ply. The switch mounting was formed from 1.2mm aluminium plate for which I made up a card template to determine the right size and angle of bends required to obtain the ‘slope’ of the top panel. Once formed and drilled the switch plate was fixed to another ply panel on one end of the box and fixed in place with screws. I found the XT60 connector mounting PCB on the Hobbyking site and it is perfect for my needs so the alloy mounting plate was drilled with clearance holes for the connecting pins and the heat shrink tubing that further insulates the soldered connections, and the PCB is fixed to the plate with a couple of M3 screws and nuts. The switch is rated at 12v 25A and I disassembled it to remove the operating toggle so that I could remove the taper on the shaft and reduce it to a 4mm diameter to take a brass tube that forms the new steering column. The plastic steering wheel was picked up from the SHG stand at the Thornbury model show and is a perfect scale for the boat and it’s a perfect fit inside the brass tube too. The switch contacts were bent to give some clearance for the wiring. A cautionary note with these switches, don’t solder any wires directly to them as the heat from the iron will also melt and deform the plastic case too. This causes the internal contacts to move and lose their firm ‘snap’ contact and potentially compromise the switch rating. I discovered this very quickly but thankfully I had ordered two switches, as they are not expensive, so I had an immediate that was then wired with spade connectors. The switch assembly was finished with another XT60 connector that mates with the power cable that goes back to the ESC via a 15A blade fuse. The whole switch and battery assembly is fixed to the deck floor with three woodscrews and so the whole assembly is removable for maintenance or modification if required. When I glazed the cabin I made the port sliding window movable (but with an end retaining stop) so that I could quickly access the ‘Steering Wheel’ switch without having to remove the cabin from the boat. A battery change will involve that but as the whole cabin is retained by six small but very powerful neodymium magnets this is very quick and simple matter anyway. The whole battery box and switch will later be ‘boxed in’ with a false control panel with a throttle control and dials, and this will also be on magnetic retainers, with the battery section as a separate removable part for an easy battery change. All of these features I had considered and planned at an early stage and so implementing them was quite straightforward.🤔🤓 Getting closer to completion now, along with the control panel cover I need to re-shape the brass rudder and also fix the waterline tape problem that has really annoyed me!😡 More on that in a later update.😁

5 years ago by robbob

Forum

New forum rankings.

Hi mate. If you really want to know. We were going to Paphos for a week from 24/2 to 3/3. On 24th, at Birmingham airport my wife slipped and fell over. She was picked up, dusted off, put on a wheelchair, and bundled onto the plane. Half way to Cyprus, she said "I cand move my shoulder and knee". The cabin crew got us a wheelchair to get her off and we hired a car to get to the hotel. To cut a long story short, we got her to a doctor the following day, and she got x-rayed. To discover she had split her kneecap horizontally in two pieces and her shoulder was shattered. We spent the entire holiday, plus an extra 5 days in hospital. The we got repatriated via Istanbul to Heathrow with a 2 1/2hour ambulance journey each end, making a journey home of some 23 1/2 hours. Jan is still in hospital at Worcester awaiting a full shoulder this coming week. We really had a great holiday (and it's still going on, as she is going to be out of work for the next 12 to 14 weeks) and I am the disabled party in our home, and I am having to look after her, not the other way round as normal. Hope that satisfies your curiosity. But I could really do with a holiday (if we dont lose our home, as we cant pay the rent), as I'm totally shattered looking after her, and 3 days a week, our 20 month old granddaughter. Cheers, Dave 😴

5 years ago by rolfman2000