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With my boats getting routinely stranded in the middle of nowhere, I felt compelled to commission a rescue vessel and "Triton" was born. "Triton" is a Springer-type tug push boat. With a hull and superstructure consisting of an “Indiana” style command cabin, it was built using a pretty basic birch plywood American kit designed for swimming pool water polo. Kit altered to resemble a fictitious Salvamento Marítimo (Spanish Coast Guard) unit following Salvamento Marítimo’s actual boat markings. Equipment and deck layout inspired on actual Springer tug push boats supporting larger vessels and barges found in US and European ports and rivers. Model built during September – October 2015. Approx. 1/18 scale. Real life boat could be a 30-footer (9.14m) vessel. Equipped with 9v LED navigation lights and sound system. Powered by an HPI Racing 1145 Gt 550 Motor, NiMH 7.4v battery, a 3-bladed 44mm propeller, and a 6-12V 320A RC Ship & Boat R/C Hobby Brushed Motor Speed Controller.
Hi guys need a little advice, I am finishing off a US Coast Guard Boat with twin props one left and one right handed, my question is if they are handed do the motors have to be wired up diferently i.e. One wired minus to plus and so on.
Hi Russo, I am in Pennsylvania and getting together plans for the USCGC Point Hobart (WPB 82377). Where are you located? I am planning on building from scratch in 1/12 scale. I was able to get the actual blue prints from the Coast Guard museum in Seattle Washington. Lets keep in touch.
Some years ago I visited the Liverpool Maritime Museum and noticed a model of HM Coastguard cutter 'Vigilant'. This was an attractive static model, but one that seemed to have the potential to be made operable. After some research, determined the vessel was a derivative of the Dutch Damen Stan 4207 patrol boat. There are many pictures of this type of vessel in the liveries of several countries on the net. However, after numerous inquiries searching for plans or drawings, was advised they would not be available as long as this was a current production vessel. Thus decided to shelve the project and continue with building other models concluding with HMS Beagle, my previous blog. This was in the hope that eventually a lead on drawings would arise. Last winter our Club was invited to tour a Canadian Coastguard 'Hero' class vessel which is berthed locally. The tour reawakened my interest in a patrol boat model, particularly as the 'Hero' class is another Damen Stan 4207 derivative. My search for plans was initially unsuccessful, but a Dutch contact made inquiries directly with Damen and they kindly set him a set of sheer lines, sections and GA drawings. These contained enough information to develop a set of model plans.
The RNLI built 13 of these(under license) as the Waveney class, starting in the early 1960's. When the boats got to be "long in the tooth" they found home ports in different countries around the globe that were starting up new life saving organizations. Some of the boats are 50 years old.
Hi Roy I do believe your problem could be solved with prop shafts extending from both ends. I am not familiar with the motors but expect they are mabuchi or similar rebadged. The Electronize site has a section on motors http://electronize.net/motors.htm . This gives the expected current for different size props at various voltages. The stall current at 12v is given as 2.6amps for the 365-14. Can you measure the current with your props? If one motor is drawing higher current this may indicate an internal fault. I am not a fan of 360 size motors as they can be very greedy current wise and have a tendency to overheat resulting in deteriorating performance in a very short time. I had two in a Coast Guard cutter but now have two brushless which are much more powerful and reliable as well as running for much longer. Not that I am suggesting such for your model ferry. My personal preference for a scale model is a"555" type motor. It is a high tork low current motor that works very well in low speed models and allows scale size props to be fitted. I use three in my 1:96 scale RMS Olympic and have several smaller scale models that also use a single motor. Regarding your Tamiya connectors they can after some use become unreliable especially if high currents are involved. You can static test any connection by using a multimeter on the lowest Ohm range. There should be no resistance recorded if the joint/connection is good. I doubt if this is a problem as you are feeding all from a single battery (or pair). Dave
I'm building my first ever US Coast Guard Life boat. It's approximately 33" long. What RPM motors are you running? Was going to ask how you got that super deluxe hull finish until I read it's fiberglas. i'm still in the throngs of hull prep and finish. Nice work you're doing there mate!
HI Derek, if you google the billings official site you can download on pdf all the Info for the Vanadis & bluenose schooner showing every detail of the Installation of the winches etc this helped me a lot this Is the list BB100 US Coast Guard BB101 Royal Navy Life Boat BB200 Dana BB201 Rainbow BB397 Building Slip BB404 La Cancalaise BB414 Colin Archer BB430 Emile Robin BB432 Gothenburg BB437 Norske Love BB450 Half Moon BB472 Mary Ann BB474 Cux 87 BB476 Nordkap BB478 Smit Rotterdam BB490 Wasa part I BB490 Wasa part II BB492 Bounty BB498 HMS Victory BB500 Absalon BB502 Vanadis Part I BB502 Vanadis Part II BB504 NEW MODEL BB506 Faimount Alpine BB508 USS Constitution BB516 Banckert BB520 Slo-Mo-Shun IV BB522 Monterey BB524 Evelyn Rose BB526 Andrea Gail BB528 Smit Nederland BB534 Boulogne Etaples BB560 Calypso BB564 Cutty Sark BB570 White Star BB576 Bluenose BB578 Lilla Dan BB580 Marie Jeanne BB582 Dragen BB586 US Coast Guard BB588 African Queen BB592 Zwarte Zee BB600 Bluenose II BB601 Will Everard BB603 Norden BB604 HMS Renown BB605 St. Roch BB606 Colin Archer BB608 Andrea Gail BB609 America BB700 St. Canute BB701 FD 10 Yawl BB703 Roar Ege BB706 Winston Churchill BB710 Phanton BB720 Oseberg BB722 Hoogaars BB724 Martegeaux BB800 Regina BB802 La Curieuse BB820 Mayflower BB5003 Jylland BB5005 Danmark BB5006 Coastboat Bent
Hey Mates, Being very "green" to this modeling sandbox, what are the good wood fillers to use? Also, once I finish planking my hull, I'll need to water proof and cover with something. I seriously doubt the hull of this Coast Guard life boat had It's planking hull showing. Is there some type of film or skin, I can shrink-fit?
HI Aaron Welcome to the site. I have a Billings boat In the US Coastguard version. I used to use 380 motors and had a single Electronize ESC feeding both motors. I had a 12v 1.2Ah SLA In the rear cabin and the boat worked well for about 15 mins until the battery went flat. It was never very fast after about 5mins. As you note weight Is the main problem and I have now fitted two small brushless (outrunner) motors with ESC's and use a LiPo In the rear cabin. Performance Is now very realistic and I get about 30 mins sailing with an 11.1v 2200Ma battery. I use car type ESC's with a small fan for cooling and have not needed to watercool the motors You could use Mtronic ESC's and replace the SLA with 12v NiMh or even a LiPo - the recent Mtonic ESC's are LiPo friendly and can be set to prevent over discharge damage to the battery. Just a final thought the 380 motors used to come In different varieties and some were 6v so would not need the 12v mine required. Good luck and please let us know how you progress 😀
HI Shaun Brushless Is a good choice for a lifeboat. The Waveney was an early fast boat but top speed was 15 knotts so nowhere near as fast as the Severns 35 knotts. I have been restoring a Metcalf Arun (1/12) scale and Intend to fit brushless. I also have the 1:20 Billing Coast Guard model with brushless and this really performs well. If you are happy to race up and down the lake then 2200kv motors will be fine but not good for slow sailing and showing off your model. 800kv would be a much better choice, give you much better control and still give you plenty of speed and not use too high a current, so you can use smaller ESC's. I hope you will do a build blog so we can see how you progress. 😀
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