Nice one Garth- but unless you put those traps in the water - not much chance of a lobster......
Was that from a Midwest Kit or scratchbuilt ?

Hi MIR - Boat is coming along well - frustrating but its the normal sort of problems that you run across starting out - sometimes its also hard to remember the way you solved a problem before for an experienced modeller. Someone said the only way to gain experience is by making mistakes - you don't usually make them again . That applies to all of us - including very experienced modellers like Lord High Admiral Doug (shades of HMS Pinafore Doug - pardon the insubordination)

Forgot to add in the previous alignment discussion - there was another way suggested long ago in a now defunct magazine - with your motor loosely in situ joined to the propshaft connect it to a single battery (1.2 to 1.5v) - 7.2 & 6v motors will run very slowly - you move the motor around on the mount (or move the mount) until it runs at its fastest no load speed on that voltage - (you can usually estimate that by the sound it makes by running it prior to placing in situ) then set the motor in that position A dab of silicone /glue would do . Always another way for everything.........

And by the way you can use a Z bend on one end of a servo rod cut to size - tiny adjustments being made on the threaded end. Threaded end of purchased servo rods usually come with the plastic connector here in SA. (Expensive so tend to make my own). There is also a better system called a servo saver which has a spring incorporated to reduce the risk of overloading the servo - used instead of the Z bend.

Your problem with the radio was probably caused by the fact they all tend to be made in China - and the Chingelese instructions are never clear......... That's why its useful to belong to a club or this forum where you can seek advice

One thing further - Nimh batteries can tend to get very hot when charging - had a set that would almost burn you - lasted 5 years though. Used virtually every weekend once or twice. So do Ni Cads which also tend to explode if seriously overcharged or charged too fast . Lead acids can swell and leak - and its almost suicidal to charge Lipo's in situ. They need to be in a fireproof container . So I would tend to rather remove the batteries for charging if you can do so.

Congratulations on your promotion Nerys - you are an inspiration to all of us.

Love it JB - must have been expensive .........

Have a few plans for small sailboats from Vic Smeed and others . Sail well and can be RC'd . Building triplet Elvers for my descendants - but small and vane steered - not quite what you wanted.
If interested PM me and lets see what can be dug out. All in digital form so easily sent and printed tiled on an A4 size printer. Assemble with Pritt - or you can be extravagant and use your local print shop - from what I remember in UK they tend to be expensive.........

Hi HW ,
Take it you mean they are simply clamped down with nothing attached.
If that's the case it would seem you definitely have a pair of duff motors .
Think you need to be having a few serious words with mtronics
You might also think about getting a pair of 385 motors instead - much more torque with 5 poles - and unless its a speed boat work much better - but beware like the 400s there are some serious amp eating versions around - ask your supplier for advice and get a pair that will happily run on 7.2v.- ones rescued from better halves old hair dryers prefer 19 to 24v.........

Hi HWman- Martin has led to another chain of thought - are the motors connected up to your propshafts ? - if so another silly question - are they filled with grease or an oil mix?

Very first RC boat motor ran very hot - struggled for power - had taken advice from a magazine and filled the tube with Lithium wheel bearing grease. Joined a club and the first bit of advice was clean it out - use an oil mix with a spot of grease to thicken very slightly . Problem solved , boat planed easily - motor ran cool ...........
Now use a touch of Silicone grease with two stroke oil ( left over from Seagull days)

Hi Doug - hate to argue but have had a couple that started to make a lot of very nasty noises and produced an alarming amount of smoke and the beautiful aroma of cooking motor - however agree with you that these are more likely to be Friday motors that someone wound the wrong way.................

Theres a little red square below your Avatar in each posting - someone wanting to contact you via a PM uses that - and vica versa of course.

Changed a lot since single channel radios and rubber powered escapements too - Only computer literate as previous life required it ..........

Sister in UK takes care of the postage - so dont fret.

Can give you an idea how to make the slide when measured & scanned - original only lightweight metal - as I said be a few days - now 1.30am - must go

Hi David,
You are welcome to the parts for the Fretsaw - Bench saw items in the 2nd pic I only have the ones for myself unfortunately - and will need to repair one piece anyway - but it might be a while till we find transport. Got a bargain when I bought the Fretsaw & 3 port VS Controller at boot sale near Lymington - also a big load of veneers for next to nothing from the same person - happy to pass it on . You can make a slide for yourself using a piece of hard timber and a bit of ply - will strip & measure the slide pieces for you . Send via a PM later this week - got to clear a bit of work first.

Been making models for close on 67 years - so have had a fair few models over that time including the ones with wings......... Which mostly tended to come home in a bin bag - so much prefer waterborne ones.......

Sounds like you have a problematic set of motors - perhaps you should try a query to mtronics - if you advise them you are also seeking help on the MB Forum you might get a response quicker !!

Sorry the increased voltage did not work - perhaps oiling the bearings and running in on a lower voltage as Doug suggests might help.

You could test them on lower voltages and see if they still get really hot - if they do so at 4 1/2 volts for instance there must be something fundamentally wrong with them. Are they getting hot enough to distort plastic or similar to a baked potato just out of the oven ? Any smell of burning ?

One silly question - are the motors marked for positive & negative - often just a red dot for positive next to the connection. Come across some motors in the past that really did not like polarity reversed.

Hi David .
searched through the bits & pieces - Jigsaw is actually MB 490 like yours - round one is the Unimat attachment - need to check before I speak. Have some spares for that but sadly not for the table saw . Plastic safety shield is broken on the table saw - only noticed now - (hopefully with a bit of luck can adapt an old disposable lighter fairly easily) as is the width gizmo (see photo) . Take it what you were looking for is the slide piece in the picture - regrettably only have that one for myself.
As regards the Jigsaw spares - previous owner used it commercially and bought a lot of spares - I can let you have whats shown in the picture - 2 square inserts plus 1 short , one long blade holders and the allen key.
There is a slight possibility that someone might be going over to the UK in the next month or two- usually easy to find someone doing so - but this pandemic is a huge problem travel wise. Total waste of time using the post and with courier cost would be cheaper to buy another jigsaw.............

As to the boats - currently on the stocks are 3 Small Elver vane steered Yachts, a 16" version of a Fairey Huntress , a Billings 100 series Trawler , and a pair of Q3 tug kits - all for grandsons & other family members - a 23"Huntsman for a friend plus a 19"Huntress for myself , and a pair of Cabin Cruisers 7" & 10" respectively started in Lockdown . Plastic Magic wise a Heller Smit London Tug and a Lindberg kit being converted to the SA Tug Alwyn Vintcent There are quite a few others lurking in the background too like a 80 % complete Billings Norden and a half completed Deans Marine mini Clyde Puffer ..............

Unfortunately at 10 years past retirement age still having to run a small business with a Laser Cutter/Engraver in conjunction with better half . One good thing is that I am able to use it for making kits for the boats. Very much quicker than using the fretsaw - but the parts have to be drawn out first - not as easy as it sounds.........

Have an extensive collection of paper/digital plans and articles which I'm always happy to share with other modellers and do so fairly often ........Also try and help with preserving model boat plans for posterity........

Look forward to your Tina build - have a small Billings Cabin Cruiser also named Tina (long since out of production - one that was built for my son years ago - but it needs refurbishing)

Use Red - everyone else does - only use real moniker on PM's - some people are odd - Martin forgot to add that .......

Hi David - postage is not the problem on something that small - its more the problem of things tending to disappear en route. Be a real waste if it did - dug out a very rare spare set of transfers for Revell's Jaque Cousteau's Calypso and sent those off to someone in UK long before before lockdown - still no sign of them - still waiting for May MB Magazine - let alone all the current issues from August on..............
As for the boats lets say I have eclectic taste and too many to list here . Working ones are all shown in my Harbour on this site and currently there are about 14 on the stocks in various stages of build - not all for me. Plus numerous unstarted kits and enough spare wood & running gear of all types to build at least another 20 . Roughly 35 of have been disposed of over the years - mostly given away - tend to only keep the ones that are really enjoyable for one reason or another.

What an incredible detailed build all round - love the mechanism

Will have a look - not sure if I have a spare - broke the one guide trying to straighten it - problem would be getting it there if I have one - about 3000 miles away on the tip of Africa.
Sister is probably coming over from UK in the New Year - could possibly bring it when she returns - but you probably need one before then.
Postage is a waste - about 10% chance of it reaching you...........

Hi Dave - much prefer the Minicraft tools to the Dremels - given one as a present - used it twice - gave it away.........
Was lucky enough to be given an original Unimat that can be turned into a milling machine - also has a heavy duty fretsaw attachment - handles 1" thick pieces easily . Lovely old machine. Inherited by a friend who passed it on to me.
Agree with you - belt & braces engineering of the Minicraft range makes for some great tools. Pity about the circular saw - cuts Balsa ok but that's better cut with a standard balsa cutter. Struggles with anything harder..........
Stay Safe

Also have Minicraft fretsaw - but it has a different fitting - round instead of rectangular . Must have been an earlier model - will need same thing for mine soon - came second hand with lots of spares plus a second large 3 place variable speed controller - nice to have two - but no inserts. Will have to try MDF - fortunately can cut that easily on the laser. Also have the simpler unit that uses the jigsaw held upside down - works just as well
Found the circular saw a bit under-powered but the disc sander is terrific. The only thing that has gone wrong is one of the larger drills had the switch burn out - fortunately readily replaced from the bits that may be useful box. The drill press has been a really useful item - taking both the large and small drills. The drills have a great locking chucks and taking from 1.5 to 6.5 mm bits are the best . The only non minicraft tool used regularly is a mini orbital sander adapted for use with the Minicraft VS Controller

Not found - only a pair of vision marine "400" (5 pole like 385's) - rated 4.8 to 12v - Hi Torque. Similar size to my mtronics ones - but obviously different. For the life of me cant remember what the boat ran on - have some 6v and 7.2 packs so not sure which.

However found this data sheet for the 400s on the mtronics site
Should be fine up to 12v - but there's a clue in the 12v stall current - 27 amps - these specs are for a normal length case and they say "new range"so yours are probably different
None of my "hot" 400's have a stall current that high
One planed my 19 1/2"police boat avatar drawing less than 10amps - but it did blow a 10amp fuse when the prop locked with weed - stall current turned out to be 14amps .
Try using a higher voltage - be interesting to see what happens- supposedly draw less amps with a higher voltage - might help with the heating

Also have a pair - shorter than normal 400. Went on about watercooling and lower pitch prop

So Whoops - pardon me - now seen you said no load - only thing could be they are not meant for 7.2v - have you tried them on 6v - not sure what Im using - not run that boat for over a year . Might have yet another pair loose - if so will try those and see what they do on 7.2v

Lot of the Graupner full size 400s are meant for 6v - but seem to take 7.2v ok - they did have a 7.2v rated one too - much more powerful than the 6v ones - George Turner used to run those on 8.4v in his fast models

Cheeky B . Could have had him for a few traffic violations . Description of vehicle on the docket would have been interesting - imagine the beak saying "what sort of vehicle ?"

Not much of a surfing beach then - is it always that flat ? Being on the tip of Africa the waves roll up here all the way from Antarctica ........ Not for nothing this place has two names - Cape of Good Hope - and Cape of Storms. Proved to live up to the latter this Winter - were told to batten down the hatches on a constant basis.......

Hi JB - you do realise that crepe paper is not waterproof I hope - take it you varnished it - chances of a bit of water getting on it are quite high - at the least will leave white spots or at the worst a lot of blue stain in your good looking cabin.............
Blue hanky would work as well - they are usually very fine cotton weave . No danger of colour run either .
Once again probably teaching my grandmother.............

Looking good Ron - look forward to the build.

The boat is coming along well - glad to see you are taking your time and not expecting it to be finished overnight. doing a great job !
And some very wise words coming from a so called "beginner" ( suspect you must have built other things before !) - single most important thing on any model boat is motor /shaft alignment (even if you are using Huco type couplings ) - full size boats too come to that. If you have a lathe an alignment tool is simple to make - with the right length piece of brass rod - gap to suit your coupling - (lucky to have lots of old round pin brass plugs - dismantled those and have lots of ideal size) All you need is one end drilled to suit the shaft and tother to suit the motor. With centre drills piece of cake.......If you don't possess a lathe sure a member of your club will be able to make you one easily. First one was made for me by a friend from hex brass .
Sad that Graupner stopped making a lot of their nice items - amongst them the very useful gearboxes and shafts - included with those was a very nice setup for direct drive off a 380/400 motor - George Turner used those on all his fast models - only complaint was the plastic oiler fitting - so usually soldered a piece of brass tube on instead........ I bought all Westbourne's stock of them and any others found........Sadly only have a few left.
They made things so simple ..............
This ones going in a 16" model of a Fairey Huntress

Getting a bit flashy then JB - excuse the pun - -are getting there - came across the 1/12 coke bottles , various cans and only one beer bottle - funny cant remember drinking the rest....... Would look good aboard - pity we live so far apart .
Needed a blue flashing LED for the Police Launch - but only red or white available here. Bought a so called bright white - turned out to be one of those colour changing ones.
Have plenty of the little flashing LED candles - used for a few of our laser products - but of course cant find a white one now..........
Grandsons will have to have multi coloured flashing lamps in the lighthouses they are being given as part of their birthday presents. Dont suppose they will mind.........

Wow Cash - last time I saw a boat leap onto the plane was a friends full size 18' T craft fitted with a large Dodge V8 motor..........
The handling is great too - definitely a keeper
Congratulations on a job well done

Hi Colin,
If you can get 2mm Perspex or acrylic sheet for laser cutting (NOT the same) that's what you should use - Plastic shops usually have a bin full of offcuts - like B&Q do with MDF. Most of the specialist shops I found in UK were very helpful when you explained why you only needed a small quantity - even over the phone. Perhaps they know you will recommend them to other modelers & friends.
3mm is very much more difficult to cut - needs a lot more power on the laser - and does not bend well - when you heat & bend it forms bubbles in the material - don't ask how I found out................
As a last resort you could ask SLEC to cut them for you.

Martin - that's got to be the best excuse I have heard since "The dog ate my homework !"

Are you sure that's not the real thing - absolutely stunning - incredible workmanship.

Don't forget the cooler bag for the beer JB - and the sami's
Like your idea on the guages - Do you just paint the interior of the cut out to look like a rim - cant quite make it out - seen it done with thin slices of plastic tube as rims - gauges printed on paper & stuck on perspex buttons inlet into the board - but not with the backlight - that would have made a big difference. Given me ideas as there are a few buttons lying around from commercial jobs.........

Hi Doug - sometimes as the saying goes - Caution :- Engage mind before opening mouth - is true for all of us . Hard to take back what ones said when its in writing - even if meaning is being read into it which was never intended.........
Know Im guilty of it often - especially as I get older - we just have to be more careful with words like we are with other things - especially now we know we are not bullet proof........