Hi Martin, Thanks for the compliments. Much appreciated. I am not one that does build blogs as such, but will post photos of the AHTS when there are some reasonable photos to post. It takes me a long time to make the models and they don't always look pretty during construction.

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Hi Martin, My newest 3 models are the ones I recently put up some photos. I am also building an anchor handling tug supplier - an AHTS200 from Damen shipyards. The Fairmile D was completed about 2011.

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It is powered by 2 720kV brushless motors. You can find details about the boat in my Boat Harbour including photos of the internals.

When I get some time I will send you details of the strobe circuit and you can advise me on the right size resistor. I already managed to get 4 LEDS working off the circuit that was built for one, but with a suggested mod and change of resistor could do 2. Electronics are not my strong point.

I did spend some time learning about the ensign the boat was named after when I was creating the nameplate.

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More great photos in this series taken by my friend at Albert Park Lake in Melbourne. These of my P28 - Ensign Simitzopoulos. Great wave patterns. These photos were all poster size in detail. I have had to shrink them to get them posted here. This boat is in my harbour.

The 1/35 scale boat is scratch-built, mainly from Balsawood and marine ply with a fibreglass covering. The guns can elevate and rotate. The radar units both rotate and there are LED navigation lights that I forgot to turn on. There is also a flashing red LED strobe warning system. It needs a little work to get the 4 LEDs a bright brighter.

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I started off construction of my Z-39 by buying a 1/700 scale model kit. In hindsight a 1/350 would have been much better. My digital micrometer worked overtime. Later I was fortunate to find a website where someone had created all these 2D & 3D images of the Z39 for a plastic kit manufacturer - great detail. I also found several photographs of the Z39 taken in dry dock in the US post-war. There is a series of these photos that were all taken in a single walk-around of the ship, but I only found them one or two at a time on different websites at different times. The unique camouflage pattern was from book on Kriegsmarine camouflage in WW2.

I will do some sketches on my gun turret mechanisms and load them on here. They use a Turnigy 180 degree servo.

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Doug, I look forward to seeing another German destroyer - not many models of them around. My gun rotating mechanisms are all modular 'drop-in' types. This is the only way to get to them for maintenance. Our hands just cannot get in to some areas of these models.
My Z-39 is actually quite seaworthy and I have to get a stiff breeze to get it to heel over for good photos.
Here is another of her after a sharp turn.

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My scratch-built 1/72 scale Type 1936A (mob) destroyer, photographed by a good friend at Albert Park lake in Melbourne.
It has rotating turrets linked to the gun directors and rotating torpedo tubes, the front 6" guns elevate and there is also a ship's horn.

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1/45 Scale Type IX DX2 U-boat. A good friend and photography guru came along and took some great photos for us at a recent sail day. Details about the U-boat are elsewhere on this site.

I am putting together a Tug working event at a club. I have some ideas in mind, but would please like to ask those with experience in such events to offer particular types of tug testing items.
I am also considering a teams event item such as two tugs having to manoeuvre a larger vessel from A to B.
Each event will be worth a few points and an aggregate of points to obtain a winner or winning team on the day. Looking forward to some proposals and please describe your ideas in detail. Thanks

Hi Admiral, Isn't it only brushed motors that require suppression.

Well Done Doug!. We cannot have too many Admirals. It looks like it will be years before previous admirals are back in the ward room again.

When I first joined I used to look at the rankings to see the experience and credibility of those posting and responding, but I found some 'Fleet Admirals' asking questions that I would have thought they should have known the answers to. Anyway I soon worked out who had credibility and experience. I believe the updated system points gives better credibility.

The Lake Illawong Model Boats club and Task Force 72 Fleet Base Victoria had a combined display at the 2019 Sandown Train and Hobby Show. This video is compiled from the first 2 of the 3 days. We even had a pond erected, but unfortunately a few small leaks restricted its use.

Lake Illawong & Task Force 72 Display at The Model Train & Hobby Show 2019

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And the 'bolding' has gone! Why can I only find my reply to the post and Doug's reply if I look under my notifications. If I look at the post then I don't see them. including this reply.

Stephen,
You say that the majority of people have gone down instead of up. I can only see that people's ranks would have gone down. Perhaps it would be worthwhile to explain to all the reasons behind the new points allocation. Photos and videos are all now all classed as 'media' and only worth 4 points. It takes a quite a bit of effort to do a good video as compared to taking a few photos. Surely there needs to be a distinction. I can see why giving likes has been reduced to zero, but that also lessens the chance of people receiving likes.

The new system seems to want to randomly 'bold' words. Surely that should be up to the person doing the comments. i have not 'bolded' any of the words in this post. That has been randomly decided for me by the programmer.

Regards
Haig

Robbob,
This was my first venture into using brushless motors so I was a bit uncertain on cooling. I made the fans from aluminium and bolted them on at the existing 2mm bolt locations. Someone told me they wouldn't rev fast enough but I think every bit helps. I also have water cooling at the front plate of the motors. The end result is that the motors never get warm, even after an hour of sailing around the lake at good speed.

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The aluminium servo mount is similar to what I have used, but the quality here is a step above excellent. 👍

I use aluminium angle sections as well, so they can be made into a Z section depending on the application. I use 2mm to 3mm diameter bolts and drill and tap into the sections to secure the servos. This method can be used on any size of servo as they come in various sizes.

I have also noticed that some modellers put two linkages on rudder servos. if both linkages worked in tension only (ie both pulling), then this is necessary, but if the linkage is a rod that works in both tension (pulling) and compression (pushing) then there should be no need for duplication. None of my models have this arrangement.

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Sorry Doug, How did I do that? But the sentiment remains.

I agree with Ron, a brilliant effort. Please publish more photos, specially close-ups of the detail. it looks magnificent.

Steve, That is the right colour. For a model that size consider just buying three or four tinlets. For my Fairmile D I needed much more, so had it mixed up at a local paint store once I got a tinlet and painted the colour on a test board. if you have it mixed you end up with at least 500ml. This colour photo shows the deck on a Fairmile D.

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Sakibian,
My friend Graham built his E-boat with a fibreglass hull but scratch-built everything else. He does magnificent detail work.

For you to build this hull you first need to get the plans to the scale you want to build. 1/24 is good for these models. The cross sections are essential. You need to determine how many bulkhead frames you will require. You won't require as many as shown on their plan and photos - maybe less than half - as many as will enable you to support the stringers to give you a shape of the hull on to which you can fix the planking or skin.

The frames you choose need to be at or very close to cross sections, so you can use them to mark and cut your frames. I use 5mm plywood. There is a photo of my Fairmile D frame earlier in this series of posts.

One of my earliest posts on this website was a Youtube video with the E-boat and my Fairmile D in action with sound effects.

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Hi Sakibian,
The PT boat site now sells stuff too, but was originally a site where the author John Drain described how he was building his PT boat and then the E-boat. There are good plans and examples of how he has constructed these boats.

My Fairmile D was made from plywood frames, pine stringers, planked and skinned with balsa and then fibreglassed. it was a very interesting and difficult shape, but very satisfying once completed. it sails beautifully in the most difficult conditions.

I have also included a few more pics of my friend's E-boat with the newer camouflage for further inspiration.

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I am afraid that I disagree with the comments about Doug. They do not reflect Doug's comments or intentions. We are here to offer assistance to those that request it and others that may learn from the comments etc. Doug offers some of the best most practical advice from his experience.
A Fairmile D had 4 engines and props. if you want to recreate it as a true scale model then that is the the aim.

You are entitled to have one prop, one engine and one SLA battery in your boat. it may plane for approx 10 minutes before it slows and drops off the plane. I had such an arrangement a few decades ago in an old MTB, but have learned from it and moved on. I would not advise this arrangement with all the newer motors, battery types and ESCs available.

My Fairmile D has 2 x Speed 700 motors and NiMH batteries. it runs on plane for an hour or more. My newer Vosper MTB and La Combattante III boats have 2 x brushless motors each and the same NiMH battery packs - my choice. Other people use LiPo batteries.

We respect all modellers and their quest to build 'their' own models. Nothing wrong with having the best advice available, so modellers can make up their own minds.

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The E-boat was built and belongs to a friend of mine - Graham Smithwick. it is a fibreglass hull and he has had it for a long time. There are plenty of resources on E-boats. This is a very good one.
http://www.pt-boat.com/
I have also included some photos of his E-boat before the newer camouflage.

http://www.pt-boat.com/

🔗

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Victorian Fleet Base - 1/72 scale model ships. Part of Task Force 72

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Victorian Fleet Base - 1/72 scale model ships. Part of Task Force 72

http://taskforce72.org/2016/05/02/fb-victoria

🔗

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I would prefer to use brass rod for the rudder shaft as it will be easier to cut and also to solder the rudder plate.

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Shadowing of U-181 from the subcam on HMS Triumph at the Naracoorte swimming lake. There are other videos and detail photos of these submarines previously posted on this site.

U-181 at Naracoorte 2018

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Hi J.Barry,
You can use the SLA batteries in any position but if they are laid on their side the weight is not evenly distributed. Most of the weight is in the lower section of the battery (when vertical), so if you lay one sideways in your boat you need to move it so that the weight is even, especially if you put one on the centreline of the boat (say over the keel). You can test this outside of the boat.

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