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Bristol pilot cutter - Three Daughters
Based on the Sarik Hobbies Katie by David Alderton. Built to be a working version rather than a pristine yacht like the real life 'Breeze', which the original plans were based on. Only recently completed and undergone sea trials, where the usual odd bits were found to need sorting. So far only has her 'core' sails fitted. The topsail has not yet been made, and depending on how things go and her sailing credentials, will see if it is necessary, as storage with a keel to mast cap of nearly 5 feet, the extra 18inches of top mast ,may not be practical.
luckyduck
4 months ago
3 Attributes
4 Photos
15 Likes
Billings Polar
My first radio control model built about 20 years ago. Only needs 2 channel radio. Built to a budget, so has only a single motor, driving the twin props through a home made gearbox, using Meccano gears and sheet brass for the frame. Alignment of gears and shafts was fairly straightforward, although it is showing its age now, and the gearbox can be a bit noisy, even when well greased. Added the crew to give it a bit of realism.
luckyduck
4 months ago
6 Attributes
7 Photos
12 Likes
Billings Zwarte Zee
One I built many years ago, and still use regularly. The fire jets all work, powered by a car windscreen washer pump in the bow with an intake through the side of the hull. Jets shoot water about 6 feet, so can have fun when youngsters are watching and get a quick shoot of water. Motor is 12v, so same battery can power pump, which means a small extra battery for the receiver. The big problem with this model is access to main hatch under superstructure, so battery access is very tight. Main stern hatch has easier access, but the weight of the 12 v battery is too much aft. The contacts on the rudder servo, energise the pump, by swinging the transmitter to maximum swing with trim tab maximum. This was built with only 2 channel radio, so had to dream up a switch solution for the pump.
luckyduck
4 months ago
7 Attributes
9 Photos
6 Likes
Coastal tanker
Model built in late 1950's by my uncle from scratch. Built of red cedar bread and butter. All fittings hand made. Originally radio controlled with a valve transmitter and reed receiver, see pictures, which I still have. I believe the radio only ever worked once as tuning the reeds was almost impossible, even for friendly friends at RAE Boscombe Down. Model was exhibited at the 6th International Boat Show, when the model stand was sponsored by Model Maker. Was awarded second prize and a pennant, see photo. The boat was given to me as a 21st birthday present, and a few years ago, I installed modern RC, and the model is now regularly seen at Chichester Canal Basin where it runs at scale speed, i.e. quite slowly.
luckyduck
7 months ago
9 Attributes
Members Blogs
7 Posts
12 Followers
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Katie, aka Three Daughters
Another version of Katie - kept the hull, but changed the deckhouse, to allow fuller access internally. The mast is fully removeable for car transport, using pelican hooks on the shrouds. All blocks are handmade from mahogany with fully working brass sheaves. Capping rails are single piece for strength, steam bent. The deadeyes are not fully setup yet, hence untidy ropework, all other ropework properly spliced. The white rope lines are testing the best sheet routing prior to home making the sails from cotton poplin. Sheeting will be winch line for foresails and direct drum for main. The large slot internally between the winch lines is for a large battery, resting on the keel to add ballast. Taken about 9 months so far, and might finish over the winter, but not rushing.
luckyduck
4 months ago
Recent Posts
π Question of the Day?
6 days ago by
π¬π§ luckyduck (

Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class)
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What holds the sail UP is a halyard, what holds the sail DOWN against the gooseneck area of the mast/boom is the tack!!!! as has been said, doing the quiz at breakfast may hit the wrong button whilst trying to drink coffeeπ€
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π Boat Fittings Supplier
1 month ago by
π¬π§ luckyduck (

Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class)
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Hi Firefighter - have you tried https://www.smallscalelights.co.uk?
They do various sizes, right down to nano size LED's - you may have to wire them in and include resistors. The nano size are tiny, and the wires a nightmare to work with, but very fine, and as long as you can solder, I have used them on my model railways, including N gauge station lights. I have drilled out the lamp standard clear tops which are about 1/4" wide and the same high and threaded the wires up through fine brass tubing for the lamp posts. Very realistic, AND they do blue lights as well.
https://www.smallscalelights.co.uk? |
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π Wood Strip Bending
2 months ago by
π¬π§ luckyduck (

Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class)
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I am struggling to bend stripwood for the handrails for my current build. The boat is 1/24 and at least two of the bends are quite sharp.
I have been struggling with 3mm x 5mm mahogany and holding in a jig after both steaming and soaking in very hot water. I achieve the required bend but after a few hours the wood springs back significantly.
Walnut has been suggested as it has a better "memory" than mahogany which has no "memory" at all.
Please any suggestions.
Regards ChrisG
Hi Chris,
My suggestion is once the plank is steamed it must be fastened in place immediately or as you said it will straighten out.
Trev
I have had similar problems and found the best solution is. Once, the wood is saturated and bent, dry it with a heat gun.
Mahogany will retain a shape similar to the bent shape. It can then be CA glued into place. Working it to final shape as the glue sets
Rowen
Thanks gents for the suggestions, sorry for the delay in responding but was unsure of the way this section of the site worked.
Thanks again Chris G
I have used 1/2" softwood for gunwhales, which needed quite a lot of bending - tried all sorts of ways, eventually ended up steaming it with a floor mop steamer that has a detachable steam unit, then as it was heated fixed it to a board with pre-determined blocks for the shape required, steamed again, then clamped to the required shaope and left for a week to dry naturally. Got very close to required shape, so did same treatment and left for another week, and shape held. Luckyduck
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π Wood Strip Bending
2 months ago by
π¬π§ luckyduck (

Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class)
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I am struggling to bend stripwood for the handrails for my current build. The boat is 1/24 and at least two of the bends are quite sharp.
I have been struggling with 3mm x 5mm mahogany and holding in a jig after both steaming and soaking in very hot water. I achieve the required bend but after a few hours the wood springs back significantly.
Walnut has been suggested as it has a better "memory" than mahogany which has no "memory" at all.
Please any suggestions.
Regards ChrisG
Hi Chris,
My suggestion is once the plank is steamed it must be fastened in place immediately or as you said it will straighten out.
Trev
I have had similar problems and found the best solution is. Once, the wood is saturated and bent, dry it with a heat gun.
Mahogany will retain a shape similar to the bent shape. It can then be CA glued into place. Working it to final shape as the glue sets
Rowen
Thanks gents for the suggestions, sorry for the delay in responding but was unsure of the way this section of the site worked.
Thanks again Chris G
I have used 1/2" softwood for gunwhales, which needed quite a lot of bending - tried all sorts of ways, eventually ended up steaming it with a floor mop steamer that has a detachable steam unit, then as it was heated fixed it to a board with pre-determined blocks for the shape required, steamed again, then clamped to the required shaope and left for a week to dry naturally. Got very close to required shape, so did same treatment and left for another week, and shape held.
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π¬ Re: Maiden voyage
2 months ago by
π¬π§ luckyduck (

Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class)
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Superb, well done
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π¬ Re: Albert - fitting the electrics
2 months ago by
π¬π§ luckyduck (

Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class)
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That's one deep keel, hope your pond/lake is deep enough!π€
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π¬ Re: I Found Another Lockdown Video I'd Like To Share
2 months ago by
π¬π§ luckyduck (

Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class)
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I fully agree with you Firefighter - my mother was in the NFS during the blitz, and she kept running an annual re-union for the team she worked with until about 1964 - most of them women. Amazing how women kept so many things working with the men away. Thank you for remembering them.
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π The Pleasure of Building Models
2 months ago by
π¬π§ luckyduck (

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Hi PeterB4, living near that model shop in Ford West Sussex can be extremely expensive, as not only do I build model boats, with supplies from another store in West Sussex, but I am also into model trains in both OO gauge, HO in the US, and N gauge, and also have a Scalextric set built up over many years. Attached photos show part of the N gauge, which is about 4 feet long by 15 inches. Fully digital, with sounds, and set lighting and carriage lighting!! My excuse is that the grandchildren love playing with all the toys.
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π Insight please
2 months ago by
π¬π§ luckyduck (

Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class)
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It looks to me that someone was trying to make it look like the Cutty Sark, I agree with RNinMunich, that the transom looks wrong, BUT what you can see of the figurehead looks like Cutty Sark, just missing the actual tail hairs
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π I gauge ships crew
3 months ago by
π¬π§ luckyduck (

Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class)
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I don't know whether these guys go up to the right gauge, but I have ordered from them before for my OO gauge and N gauge railways, and their models are very good -
https://anyscalemodels.com/ |
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π Orca
3 months ago by
π¬π§ luckyduck (

Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class)
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Superb
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π Bilge pumps
4 months ago by
π¬π§ luckyduck (

Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class)
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NickD, depends on how much water you are likely to get in the boat - for small amounts why build a complex pump, and just use a large plastic syringe with a flexi pipe on the end to get to awkward corners when you bring the boat ashore. If you want a full electric pump, you will need to either have all bilge water drain to one internal point, or have multiple suction pipes in all areas water can collect. The simplest water pump is a car windscreen washer pump, and are cheap in the UK. BUT they do need 12v power. They are powerful, and I use one in my fire tug to shoot water from the fire-jets. They shoot about 6 feet.
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π Thames Sailing Barge
4 months ago by
π¬π§ luckyduck (

Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class)
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thanks for the plans Tomarack. Yep, Kitty does not look suitable for me, but will look at Capricorn in more detail.
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π Thames Sailing Barge
4 months ago by
π¬π§ luckyduck (

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Thanks Anthony - from all the comments below it has now slipped down my list of possible next models - I will keep your offer in mind though, thank you.
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π¬ Re: "Katie the Kayaker"
4 months ago by
π¬π§ luckyduck (

Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class)
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Utterly brilliant - looks fabulous and works so nicelyπ
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π Thames Sailing Barge
4 months ago by
π¬π§ luckyduck (

Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class)
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thanks for your valuable input Nerys.
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π Thames Sailing Barge
4 months ago by
π¬π§ luckyduck (

Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class)
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Thanks Johnf for all your info - I had expected a rudder extension, and had hoped to avoid motor power. Still a lot of thinking to do, and when the sun is over the yardarm, a wee snifter may delay detailed thinking.π€π€
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π Thames Sailing Barge
4 months ago by
π¬π§ luckyduck (

Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class)
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Just looked up Model Boats magazine - there is a company called Brown, Son and Ferguson Ltd, website - www.skipper.co.uk, who have a huge range of model plans - including one for a Thames barge - Lady Daphne. Don't know the detail and quality, but you need 3 plans. As they are nautical publishers, I would guess they have a good standard.
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π Thames Sailing Barge
4 months ago by
π¬π§ luckyduck (

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Good idea Andy for National Maritime Museum - will do some research
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π Thames Sailing Barge
4 months ago by
π¬π§ luckyduck (

Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class)
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thanks John - not on Facebook, so will have to do some searching
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π Thames Sailing Barge
4 months ago by
π¬π§ luckyduck (

Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class)
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Thanks Dave, the pictures ARE inspiring, the big keel below waterline is not. Massive weedtrap for me. Need to think this all through - any ideas where they got the basic plans please? The old plans for Kitty seem to be unobtainable, so it is either a kit, which I am not keen on, Sarik plans, or some other plans I can get hold of.
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π Thames Sailing Barge
4 months ago by
π¬π§ luckyduck (

Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class)
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Hi Dave976 - I see your pilot cutter is slightly different to mine - mine is based on Sarik's Katie - and compared to yours has a far bigger rudder, I would guess probably twice the size, and she responds very well to steering commands. All her ballast is internal, with the bulk central. I have yet to test her in strong winds, but they are fairly rare on our lake, normally a pleasant gentle breeze! Thanks for the guidance though, will have to give the sailing barge more thought.
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π Thames Sailing Barge
4 months ago by
π¬π§ luckyduck (

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Thanks Dave 976 and Johnf. Even if I do have to add a keel of some sort, I would still aim to make the leeboards work. The Pilot Cutter has been good so far, but I have deliberately not fitted the topsail, as even fully balasted, I think it will be too much. With just main and 2 foresails she sails well. My thinking if I do have to go down the external keel route for the barge is to have false full length keel, with the weight near centre to avoid getting stuck in stays, but the full length would blend into the hull shape so as not to be a weed trap with a fin keel?
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π Thames Sailing Barge
4 months ago by
π¬π§ luckyduck (

Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class)
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Hi Dave976 - workings of the leeboards is not an issue for me, as I have spent a lot of time researching the Thames barges, and my mother used to sail on Reminder when she was setup for social sailing. As much as anything it is whether in a model the leeboards would be sufficient, knowing that when scaling down the real yachts, keels almost always have to be bigger, deeper and heavier than true scale.
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π Thames Sailing Barge
4 months ago by
π¬π§ luckyduck (

Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class)
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I fancy my next build is a Thames sailing barge - seems there are 2 options - Sarik or Billings. My problem is that I would not want a fin keel, as my sailing lake can get quite weedy, so I want to try and make the barge realistic using the leeboards as they were intended. Has anyone thoughts on which is the best option to build and has anyone made the leeboards work properly to avoid the removeable fin keel?
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π¬ Re: Completion
4 months ago by
π¬π§ luckyduck (

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Awesome - now you need a boat on fire to dowse!!! Maybe the next model is a simulated on fire boat?
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π Speed controller or RC failed?
4 months ago by
π¬π§ luckyduck (

Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class)
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Thanks Dave 976 - model has been stored in garage for the last couple of months, having last been used in November - replacing wiring in a Billings Swarte Zee is not an easy option - access below decks in very tight - will keep testing on dry land, before next water test. Fortunately a water test is safe, as we have access to rowing boats to retrieve recalcitrant models. Replacing the wiring is a last resort.
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π Speed controller or RC failed?
4 months ago by
π¬π§ luckyduck (

Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class)
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Swapped channels as you suggested Colin, and all works. So replaced correct channels and all still works, just needed centralising the esc. So it seems that just unplugging and plugging back in servo cables into receiver cleared whatever the problem was - just goes to show that such a simple operation can solve a problem. thanks again
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π Speed controller or RC failed?
4 months ago by
π¬π§ luckyduck (

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Thanks Colin - will have to try swapping channels as I do not have a tester.
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π Speed controller or RC failed?
4 months ago by
π¬π§ luckyduck (

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Went to use one of my boats at the weekend, and as usual tested before going out. Turned everything on, RC works fine for rudder, but motor just went full power with no control from transmitter. Had another good look today, and nothing obvious wrong. Any ideas which is more likely to have failed. RC system is a simple Futaba Attack 2 channel, and speed controller is an old Hunter Systems advance. Suggestions please.
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