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Bits and pieces โฆor better name PT-174
I am not sure where to start or how to best present all this other than taking a break from my efforts to scratch build a WWII minesweeper trawler off an old Robbie hull of the Wontan โฆ(sp?) . Going over the same grounds as others have done and needing a breather I converted the 1/35 scale PT 596 by Italeri to a fair representation of PT 174 .This involved cutting cabin and other modifications that would have been easier if I had the PT 109 kit โฆbut it was an enjoyable build and even better runner. I owe much to the experience I got from building and later correcting my errors in the placement of the Vosperโs running gear. Even tho they are a joy to run at the pond , my corrections to trim make them that much more a pleasure.
BW3
1 year ago
Recent Posts
๐ฌ Re: Second Sea trials โฆ.
12 months ago by
๐บ๐ธ BW3 (
Chief Petty Officer 1st Class)
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I now have two S- boats, both are fitted and trimmed out where they are great running boats with many operational features due to their very good hull design for load capacityโฆThey are enjoyable to run and are well received at the pond or club meets. I have been asked to build a third S-boat and Dock and recreate the surrender at Felixstoweโฆ.
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๐ CV-8 Hornet update
12 months ago by
๐บ๐ธ BW3 (
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๐ฌ Re: 1/350 scale USS Massachusetts, and CV-8 USS Hornet
1 year ago by
๐บ๐ธ BW3 (
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I happen to have two 1/200 scale Trumpeter kits in my stash , Bismarck and HMS Rodney , โฆbut a follow club member has set the bar high with his rendition of a very high functioning Bismarckโฆ
https://youtu.be/oFcnckUHBA4?si=qZGImW8uf6wioArJ |
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๐ฌ Re: 1/350 scale USS Massachusetts, and CV-8 USS Hornet
1 year ago by
๐บ๐ธ BW3 (
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The Club has a Facebook page โฆand is based out of Sharon Ma. , but our members number close to 40-45 from all over New England . I have visited SpareTime Hobby Shop and will miss their closing . I have several other kits and projects in need of repair / restorationโฆso it becomes more of an issue of $$$ than time these days . Your DE 1040 is looking great ,one of our members , Eric, is the owner of Homeport Model Ships , Peabody Ma. โฆ his work is exceptional
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๐ 1/350 scale USS Massachusetts, and CV-8 USS Hornet
1 year ago by
๐บ๐ธ BW3 (
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๐ Bits and pieces โฆor better name PT-174
1 year ago by
๐บ๐ธ BW3 (
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๐ฌ Re: Update
1 year ago by
๐บ๐ธ BW3 (
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I am not the videographer, Eric the owner of Homeport Ship Modelers in Peabody Ma. is the one who filmed this and has it also posted on his Facebook. He and his crew are professional master builders in my humble opinion and well worth a look at the web site . In the background you can see one of his Arleigh Burke Class out on sea trials .
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๐ Update
1 year ago by
๐บ๐ธ BW3 (
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At a recent Marine Modelers of New England steering meet one of the club members took this video of my poor Vosper #78 โฆshe is not trimmed out to my liking and may some day be revisited to correct what I feel is a bit bow heavy . This has been posted on Face Book at the Homeport Ship Modelers web site with may likes โฆ
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๐ฌ Re: 1st outing
1 year ago by
๐บ๐ธ BW3 (
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Looking good can hardly wait to see her trimmed out and under wayโฆThank You for posting your build .
BillG.
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๐ฌ Re: The end is in sight?
1 year ago by
๐บ๐ธ BW3 (
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She is looking awesome, ๐ and very inspiring for me to start my own kit but current situation does not allow me the pleasure of such a long term detailed project. I have foolishly started my first semi scratch build and already have had to many distractions. I will soon start the build blog , but for now am very much excited to see you fine efforts having a great first sea trial and many happy smooth outs after โฆ Again Thank You
BillG.
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๐ฌ Re: Smoke and mirrors
1 year ago by
๐บ๐ธ BW3 (
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Enjoying your posts and hope that things are progressing easyโฆlooking forward to more of this great build , Thank You โฆ..
Bill G.
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๐ Success!
2 years ago by
๐บ๐ธ BW3 (
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Well it was a struggle, but I have gotten S91 to operationalโฆthere is still details to be added as in weathering and paint โฆbut I am happy with the over all build .
I ended up removing one of the three motors due to weight concerns and better use of the space it would give as to both operations and maintenance. I may revisit the motors and ESCโs due to having to dial back via the transmitter to 20% of full power , any more it starts to get very unmanageable and unstable.
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๐ฌ Re: Bad Day at sea trial and shake down โฆ.
2 years ago by
๐บ๐ธ BW3 (
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I am not sure but it looks like It was a number of factors , from not enough ventilation, to not enough big enough Amperage of the ESCโs โฆalong with the possibility of the props not correctly matched to the motor size โฆmy solution has been larger ESCโs โฆ85 Amp vs. 45 Amp โฆmotors are rated at 40 Amps โฆbut no spike/ peak data availableโฆI have added Fans to the ESCโs and opened the deck for better air flow. Given The larger ESCโs , I removed one motor and ESC โฆto save weight and to gain space for wiring and air flow โฆThis still gives me 1/3 more power over my first EBoat build of a S100 , see Blog โฆ2- 2218 kv motors vs 3 1100 kv motors .
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๐ Letโs try again โฆ.
2 years ago by
๐บ๐ธ BW3 (
Chief Petty Officer 1st Class)
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๐ฌ Re: Bad Day at sea trial and shake down โฆ.
2 years ago by
๐บ๐ธ BW3 (
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I am still not sure what/ why I had this failure , but I am correcting many possibles , , 1. Not enough ventilation, and possible heat build up .
2. Not enough over spec in matching an ESC to the brushless motor ,,ESC 45 amps , Motor 40 Amp โฆ
3. Component failure in the ESC , โฆ
4. To large , or to great of pitch of the props for the motors , โฆS100 has 3 discontinued brushed motors and ESC โs and ran well from day 1 ..bought over 6 years ago , otherwise I would have bought the same set up again .
My current efforts are focused on more ventilation, and a larger ESC at 85 Amp , as such , I am removing the center motor and only powering with two counter rotational props of the outer shafts .along with a prop change in the future if needed. In the mean time I wait for the electronics to finish drying out for so far they all work after being dunked to put out the flaming ESC , the deck did get some damage from the flameโฆbut fixable โฆthe addition of floatation on the removable hatch over the motors and ESC โs took a large part of the flame damage before the deck hatch and Hull did .
The removal of the center Motor and itโs ESC will lighten the load and give me space to better run the wiring , โฆ.I feel the major mistake I made was not taking into full account the peak or spike loads.
BillG.
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๐ Bad Day at sea trial and shake down โฆ.
2 years ago by
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The good news is my S100 and the Two Vospers ran with out issues, so with recharged batteries I look forward to the next meet sailing meetโฆ.
The S91 not so well โฆ.I am lucky that with quick action it appears the damage is easily fixed ,like all things mechanical , time and money โฆand most importantly education and learning โฆThe photo says it all โฆ.๐
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๐ฌ Re: Near disaster
2 years ago by
๐บ๐ธ BW3 (
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Sorry to hear of this , glad that the damage has been repaired.
I have Rodney in my build stack and look forward to your build and any insights , I happened to see a YouTube build of the Bismarck by Bruce Murray and his use of stepper motors and their use as gun training โฆ.inspirers me to learn how to do that . Thank You for posting your build , and hope that things go easier and you have an enjoyable build and future sailing .
BillG.
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๐ Progress
2 years ago by
๐บ๐ธ BW3 (
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Well with help from the local Hobby shop that is more into RC cars and off road I was able to learn what I should have remembered from my youth and education and work experienceโฆ..We are close this is a bench test just before a sea trial ๐ค. Must have missed a button or two on this post โฆwill keep trying to get the video to work or maybe I have fixed it time will tell ..
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๐ Lucky ,,,,but Good? โฆ.
2 years ago by
๐บ๐ธ BW3 (
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Still donโt know why but at this point I am just taking it as a near miss, I went to the only source I have locally for information about Brushless motors , ESCโs and Lipo battery packs . It is primarily RC Cars , Trucks and Off road buggiesโฆ..very very little in the way of boating , understandable as to the limited ponds and water ways that have access, itโs even the same for full size boating at least for fresh water ,,,Salt water well thatโs always been $$$$$.
Still donโt understand what was done , rewired everything the same way I had it in the boat back at the apartment, โฆ.except it all worked โฆ.No factory smoke releasedโฆ.Motors and speed control worked as it should โฆnow a day later , and everything back in the boat , I and ready for finial trim and sea trials , โฆ.
๐ค. I just done know ..but I will take it โฆthe next club meet is in July โฆand my fleet will be in top form and will be out on the water โฆ
Be Safe and Smooth sailing
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๐ฌ Re: Vosper after action reports
2 years ago by
๐บ๐ธ BW3 (
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I agree , I really liked these conversion builds ,unlike the S91 project that has a displacement type hull , these plane hulls require a light touch I feel so have been given a small brushless helicopter motor I felt it was a good fit and I am happy with the out come and their performance. As long as I have done my part โฆ.lol.
Your Vosper puts my feeble efforts to shame that is a fine looking model. Very Nice !!
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๐ Vosper after action reports
2 years ago by
๐บ๐ธ BW3 (
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Well not checking before rushing off to the meet was my major mistake , my St Nazaire special , had a collet set screw that missed thread lock resulting in the loose prop shaft . I also found a few mounts that had not been glued in place well enough so fixed a possible future failure,โฆ.she is now ready to run .
My standard Vosper , had the suspected grease issue , along with a collet that was to tight running against the end of the prop shaft tube , this added drag and heated the motor which resulted in the bridge deck to start to melt . Not realizing that my deck fitted that close to my motor mount as it heated an melted it then contracted the motor adding more drag ,..more heat โฆ.this also explains the change in sound during its short run as told to me by my son. Final failure was the motor ripping out of it mounting and binding the works up โฆ.
I have fixed all the issues found ,hopefully this will help others too not make my mistakes and let the enthusiasm over ride better judgement and practiceโฆ
Back in the water!
Bill G.
P.S.
Still evaluating the S91โฆ.๐
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๐ Update : Found and joined a club and my poor efforts are still showing โฆ
2 years ago by
๐บ๐ธ BW3 (
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Hoped to get an early start to this new to me Marine Modelers club based in Boston Mass. but members from all over the state and near by. โฆWell I loaded up my Two Vospers , check out their build blog , โฆand the still on going old lindberg Blue Devil Fletcher class destroyer and arrived two hours after the start time , took a quick look at some fine scale models and the paperwork to become a member . After answering many interested questions as to my builds and the models I had brought I sent out my St. Nazaire Vosper โฆ.Only to run it into the biggest patch of weeds and have my driveshaft fail๐คฆโโ๏ธ. So had the pleasure of one of the members wade out and retrieve my wreck โฆ.Ok โฆThings happen no biggie will just send the other Vosper out โฆHanded the model and controller to my son and he took her out โฆfor about 3 minutes only to have it go dead in the water โฆwith a locked Prop Shaft โฆ.๐๐๐ have yet to open the hull up to see why โฆbut have a feeling the home made prop shaft did not get enough grease and not checking it in my rush to this event only put frosting on my cake as the new guy. ๐๐คฆโโ๏ธ. Good news is I had Video of my runs from last year and the over all results is that several members are ordering kits to convert . A good day!
Back to the bench and repairs โฆ๐๐
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๐ฌ Re: Project S91 update
2 years ago by
๐บ๐ธ BW3 (
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No .. I think the cat sabotaged me โฆ..they are like that most likely due to not working on my trawler โฆ๐ค
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๐ Major Set Back โฆ
2 years ago by
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I foolishly got info about a local club is have a meet, so with lack of sleep I started to rush to get S91 at least water operational โฆ.was working on trim and final electrical/ electronics bench test still not sure what went wrong โฆ.but plugged in main battery and smoke โฆ.Have confirmed all 3 ESCโs are toast โฆstill need to check radio receiver and sound board , and motorsโฆ.๐๐ญ๐ญ๐ญ๐ญ๐ญ๐ญ$$$$$
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๐ Project S91 update
2 years ago by
๐บ๐ธ BW3 (
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๐ฌ Re: Update โฆon S91 projectโฆ
2 years ago by
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I found Model Sounds inc. online , they have a wide selection of sounds and for a small fee can customize your sounds and has the option to purchase software to make your own customized sounds . Their system can be optimized to be removable and placed in different models. I have found them to be very helpful and worth the consideration when choosing to add a sound system .
Bill G.
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๐ Update โฆon S91 projectโฆ
2 years ago by
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Well things are progressing slow , life does that at times , tho a bit of procrastination can be made if honest โฆlol ..I have done more detailed work and finalizing things as to hull access , and component mounting/ locations โฆone thing I have added that was not on my original build plan is a sound board and LED muzzle flash .
I am very excited to get this in and see and hear it on the water . My only regret is where I am adding muzzle flash to the 40mm Bofors in the stern that I have reto fitted the LED . I feel if I had installed it at its build time I could have run the fine wiring better , but we do the best we can . What is nice is that the sound board has proportional Throttle Diesel engines, 20 mm bust , 40 mm Bofors bust and Torpedo launch ,with warning siren ,โฆas an added feature the LED out puts for the engineโs exhaust, and the weapons are synchronized to the sound of each , so you can have exhaust flash , and muzzle flash when the sound for each is activated.
Hope all are well , Good Building and Best to All
Bill. G.
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๐ฌ Re: Schnell Boat
2 years ago by
๐บ๐ธ BW3 (
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Looks like it will be both an enjoyable rebuild and sail โฆBest to you
Bill G.
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๐ Free Christmas Prize Draw!
2 years ago by
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Thank You for an enjoyable event , may the New Year be safe and many hours of good sailing โฆ
Bill G .
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๐ Free Christmas Prize Draw!
2 years ago by
๐บ๐ธ BW3 (
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Thank You , very enjoyable activityโฆWish You all a Happy New Year , โฆ.
Be Safe .
Bill G.
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