Hi JB,

You will have to get rid of some of your dinghies if you are going to make room for a full sized one of those in your yard! 😂

Hi Andy,

It looks great on the water. You must be well pleased with the outcome.

I found I had to add some ballast to the stern on my Cutter to help keep the bow up.

Graham93

Nice jig JB, hope that means you will be making plenty more models. Looking forward to the Stiletto build.👍

Graham93

Hi Jacko,

The LEDs could be for any purpose on the boat. I’ve only used LEDs as an example as you could substitute a horn, pump or radar rotation motor.

I don’t understand the diodes you have added to the diagram. I can’t see that they serve any purpose.

The diagram is intended to show how the switcher can be used with the receiver battery, and with a separate battery (possibly of a different voltage). There is no need to use two batteries with the switcher - I’m just illustrating what can be done with it.

Graham93

Hi Michael,

Here's a diagram showing how to connect LEDs to your switcher. I've shown one switcher output connected to a LED powered from the receiver battery, and the second switcher output connected to a LED powered from a separate battery.

Graham93

Hi Michael,

You have a choice. You can use the receiver battery to power your LEDs or you can use a separate battery.

If you use a separate battery, you will need to connect the negative (ground) on both batteries together.

I’ll draw some diagrams tomorrow (need to use my desktop for that)

Graham93

Hi Michael

‘Switch to GND’ means that the switcher connects the output to ground (0v) when the output is turned on.

Connect the LED -ve lead to one of the switcher outputs. Connect the LED +ve lead to battery positive through a current limiting resistor.

Hope that helps
Graham93

Hi Chum444

There is a full blog for one of the rowboats shown in the video here:

https://model-boats.com/blogs/68795

blogs/68795

🔗

Hi Martyn,

I buy tagged cells from Component shop so that I can assemble a battery pack to fit in the space available. Looking at your photos, if I were trying to fit 8 cells in the motor compartment, I’d make the battery up as two packs of 4 cells to fit either side of the motor. That way it would be also be balanced.

I think putting that much weight in the forward cabin will cause problems when trying to get the hull to plane.

I have a 5000mAh 3S LiPo in my 34” Crash Tender mounted laterally on the bulkhead above the propshaft.

( no photos as I’m away from home at present)

Graham93

I like the colour scheme. Good choice of colours.

Graham93

Hi Martin,

There are several blogs on this site covering Crash Tender builds. If you go to the ‘Blogs’ section and search for ‘Crash Tender’ you should find several listed. This is one I found very useful: https://model-boats.com/blogs/23951

There is also one by Mturpin013 that is well worth a read: https://model-boats.com/blogs/37275

Graham93

blogs/23951

🔗

blogs/37275

🔗

Hi Phil,

There was a problem on the website earlier this week which prevented the picture loading. Now fixed thanks to Stephen (Fireboat)

Graham93

Hi Andy,

Thanks, I'm pleased with it so far.

I'm not into racing. I just enjoy sailing for fun and don't want to get into competitive sailing.

Graham93

Here's a link to a video of the maiden voyage.

https://youtu.be/O0VjUuGxcZA

The video was produced by Buxton Model Boat club member Phil.

If you watch the video carefully you may be able to see that the jib sheet is not letting the sail out as it should. The sheet was not unspooling from the winch drum as it should. To overcome this, I've now added an elastic cord to help pull it off the drum.

Graham93

https://youtu.be/O0VjUuGxcZA

🔗

Hi Michael,

That picture was taken at the lakeside BEFORE its maiden voyage - as I stated in the post 'ready for it's first outing' 😀

Graham93

Hi Roy,

A difficult problem to overcome. You could try to find a solvent to soften the glue. Acetone would be my suggestion. Try ‘nail varnish remover’ which contains acetone. Test first that it doesn’t damage the Mylar, but I don’t think it will.

An alternative, easier solution would be to cut the seam out of the sail and remake it. This would shorten the sail by the seam width, which would probably not be noticeable.

Graham93

The sails are made from 50 micron polyester drafting film, often referred to as 'Mylar'.

The jib is made in one piece, the main is assembled from four pieces stuck together with 12mm double sided tape.

Using a full sized drawing of each sail, the film was taped on top and the outline of the sail traced onto the film. Coloured vinyl tape was added to reinforce the positions of each attachment point. Once one side was complete, the sail was turned over and reinforcement tape added to the other side. Only once all the reinforcements were in place were the sails trimmed to their final size with a sharp knife, thus also trimming the reinforcement tape.

Metal eyelets were added to each attachment point using the tools which came with the eyelets.

Finally, the completed sails were tied to the rigging points - ready for its first outing.👍👍

Hi Ron,

As a contributor to the upkeep of the site (i.e. I make a nominal contribution each year) I never see any advertisements on the site 👍

Graham93

Hi Michael,

The winch is a Kingmax 55g metal gear 4 turn model. Having just installed it and attached it to the rigging, the 2 turn version might just have enough range.

The rigging stays are plastic coated 120lb 7strand sea fishing braided leader wire. The sheets are Dynema braided cord.

Graham93

The radio installation is quite simple comprising the battery, receiver, a sail winch and the rudder servo. Unlike my other models there are no custom electronic mixers, lighting, sound effects, pumps etc so it should be reliable 😉

The rudder was built from three layers of 1.5mm balsa. The middle layer was made from offcuts. It had a hole to accommodate the rudder shaft with a piece of brass sheet soldered to it to prevent rotation of the rudder on the shaft. The completed rudder was sanded to shape, coated with epoxy and glass cloth and then painted.

I've included a photo from earlier in the build to show the arrangement of the rudder servo and the link to the brass horn which is held on the rudder shaft with a grubscrew. Fitting the horn onto the rudder shaft in the completed model was a bit of a challenge as it is located under the rear deck. I hope I don't have to remove it ever again 🤞

I've also included a photo from earlier in the build showing the sail winch arrangement as it is difficult to photograph in the completed model. This proved relatively easy to install through the small central hatch. Threading the sheets through the two fairleads and below deck to the winch was achieved using a long pair of tweezers to grab the cords below deck.

The battery sits on the other side of the keel box, and the receiver is velcroed to the bulkhead.

With everything in place, the next step was to attach the sheets to the winch drum and adjust them to the correct length. This is when it all went wrong! The winch servo would not respond to commands from the TX. I know I should have tested it before installing it, but modern electronics are so reliable I missed out this basic step. Eventually, I removed the winch from the model and bench tested it, but it still wouldn't work.

A phone call to the supplier on Tuesday afternoon to explain the problem resulted in an immediate promise to send a replacement which duly arrived on Wednesday morning. The replacement worked just fine. So, a big THANK YOU from me to Components Shop for their excellent customer service.

All it needs now is the sails......

To fit the chainplate 'screws' to the deck, holes were drilled to match the core diameter of the screw. The chainplates were then simply screwed into position.

The mast is an 8mm diameter aluminium tube. These are readily available in the UK from the DIY warehouses in 1 metre lengths. Unfortunately the model mast is 1.045m long. Tubes longer than 1m are available from on-line retailers, but at a much higher cost. Accordingly the mast was made up from a 1m length plus a short offcut from the scrap box. The two pieces were joined using a 6mm tube, also from the scrap box, which was a good fit in the 8mm tubes.

A few small holes were drilled in the mast to attach the stays, which are plastic coated wire fishing trace.

The mast fits over the 6mm threaded stud mounted in the deck and sits on a brass knurled nut which can be used to jack the mast up to tension the stays. (The screws on the gooseneck still need to be trimmed to length - there is always more to do!)

The main and jib booms are 6mm diameter aluminium tube. Split pins, fixed through holes in the booms provide fixing points for the sails and sheets. The jib boom is attached to the forward chainplate with a fishing swivel. I have a small concern that this swivel may not be strong enough.

(The black rubber boot over the on/off switch will be replaced with a white version when it arrives in the post!)

Hi Michael,

I wanted a coarse screw thread that would 'bite' into the balsa. I could have tried screwcutting on the lathe, but soldering a thread on was an easier and quicker option. Just need to try and keep the threads evenly spaced, although it doesn't seem to be too critical with balsa.

Graham93

Hi Phil,

I don't think it will be frozen, but perhaps you could arrange for (another) fire in the middle of the lake just in case! 😮

While waiting for the paint to dry, I found time to make some of the fittings needed for the rigging.

First up, the chainplates to attach the rigging to the hull. The plans suggest simply glueing split pins into holes in the deck but I have reservations about how secure that would be. I made mine from brass rod, turned on the mini lathe. The photo shows the stages from left to right. The last stage was to solder some 0.5mm copper wire round the shaft to form a screw thread. To test how secure these will be when fixed into the balsa deck, a test rig was assembled. One of the chainplates was screwed into a scrap block of balsa and then clamped in the vice. A spring scale was then used to measure the force applied while trying to pull the chainplate out of the balsa block. I wasn't able to pull it out with a force of 25kgs, so I think it will be secure enough.

Next I bent up some pelican clips from 1mm dia stainless steel welding rod. These are to attach the stays to the chainplates.

Finally I made the gooseneck to attach the mainsail boom to the mast. This was cut from several bits of brass sheet and tube and then silver soldered together. An adjustable vang was also put together from bits of brass and threaded rod.

Thanks Phil, Stephen,

I’m looking forward to finishing it and getting it on the water.

Andy,
Once your design is printed onto the decal paper the paper is soaked in water for 30 seconds to release the backing just like traditional decals. The ink used in inkjet printers is not waterproof, so, before the decal is soaked, the artwork is lacquered to protect the ink from the soaking. First time I’ve made decals, but it worked a treat 👍

Graham93

The hull has been painted with several coats of 'Appliance white' from a rattle can, rubbing down carefully between coats with 1200 grit wet and dry, used wet.

There is a 'Racing Sparrow' logo available to download from the website: https://racingsparrow.co.nz/free-model-boat-plans/
This was edited using graphics software to produce a pair of handed logos, suitable for use on either side of the hull. The blue of the logo was adjusted to match the colour of a pinstripe tape I bought on-line.

The two logos were printed onto clear inkjet decal paper following the instructions which came with it. Once these had been lacquered they were applied to the hull, followed by the pinstripe tape.

With everything in place, the hull was coated with several coats of clear lacquer. It will now be left for a week to fully harden before moving on to the mast and rigging.

https://racingsparrow.co.nz/free-model-boat-plans/

🔗

Hi JB,

I've added a couple of fixed end stops to the traveller as the easiest thing to try. They will help reduce the violent swing of the boom when it tacks. Just need a bit of wind to try it out now..

Graham93

Nice video Phil 👍 Certainly was a battle in that wind. Watching the slo-motion video I think a few adjustments are needed to reduce the throw of the main sheet traveller.

Graham93

Hi Andy,

When I got to the stage of adding planks that needed to be juggled into the margin plank, I cut each new plank end to the desired shape, overlapped it onto the margin plank and used a scalpel to scribe the cutout needed in the margin for it to fit. Then cut this piece out and fitted the plank into position. I did caulk the ends.

https://model-boats.com/blogs/86653#88027

(For some unknown reason, the link doesn’t take you to the relevant post in my blog, so you will have to scroll down to ‘Planking the deck’)

Graham93

blogs/86653#88027

🔗

With the keel in place, time to start painting.

The underside of the hull and the keel have been given several coats of grey etch primer from a rattle can. Each coat was sanded and any irregularities filled with knifing putty. After three coats, its looking nice and smooth.

With the keel fitted, the hull no linger fits in the temporary stand so attention turned to making a proper stand. An internet search came up with drawings for a stand for the IOM yacht

http://nmsclub.org/files/documents/IOM-Boat-Stand.pdf

The drawing was scaled down to a suitable size and then the stand was constructed from scraps of timber found in the workshop.

With the hull supported on its new stand, plywood lippings were added to both hatch openings. Once glued in place, two layers of masking tape were added around the lipping and the plywood sides for the hatch lids were then glued together while clamped in place. The tape ensures that the hatches will fit accurately and allows for the thickness of the paint which is still to be applied. Two layers of 1.5mm balsa form the top of the hatches

With the hatches complete, the deck was also given several coats of grey primer. The stand was also painted with 'quick drying woodstain'.

http://nmsclub.org/files/documents/IOM-Boat-Stand.pdf

🔗