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    robbob
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    Member No.#3664
    Registered๐Ÿ“…24th Jan 2016
    Last Online๐Ÿ“…11th May 2025
    City๐Ÿ“Milton Keynes
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    Recent Posts
    ๐Ÿ’ฌ Re: The Keel & Formers.
    15 days ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง robbob ( Admiral)
    โœง 18 Views ยท 1 Like
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    Hi Mike.
    Good to hear from you๐Ÿ˜€, I did think that I'd not seen much from you recently on this site ๐Ÿค”.

    I generally agree with you about the effort that goes into writing and presenting an interesting build blog.

    Good writing, grammar and photography takes more time but for my part I still enjoy doing it, now that I have the time, and I'm always encouraged by the helpful and constructive comments that I receive.

    BTW. I built the tubes into my Marlin long before you started yours but never got around to starting my blog until long after you finished your own model and build blog ๐Ÿ˜‰.

    I agree that it would be a useful addition to the construction sheet ๐Ÿ‘.

    I've no real idea about the VMW model sales, like you I do the test builds, which I imagine do help with promoting the kits.

    Thanks for following my blog, at least I know that you are among a few that are following, and hopefully enjoying reading it.

    All the best. Rob.

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    ๐Ÿ“ The Keel & Formers.
    23 days ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง robbob ( Admiral)
    โœง 44 Views ยท 4 Likes ยท 2 Comments
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    The keel consists of a number of sections of 9mm ply that are glued together rather than a single piece. The supplied instructions suggest that you overlay the plan with something transparent as protection and to lay out and glue and pin all the keel parts to ensure correct alignment.
    I found that this was not strictly necessary as the CNC cutting of the parts is so accurate that I could pin the parts to my cutting board along a straight edge and still achieve perfect alignment.

    There will be a gap in the keel for the prop shaft tube and this is bridged by the two K6 components. At this stage the instructions say that you should glue the keel doublers K6 to form the complete keel but I decided to do that at a slightly later stage.

    The keel is to be attached to the underside of the box and so I carefully measured and marked a centre line on the box. However, before I attached the keel and itโ€™s supporting formers, I chose to drill some holes through the formers so that I could install some styrene tubes from front to rear as โ€˜conduitsโ€™ for motor, battery, servo wiring and cooling pipes so that they are all are concealed under the floor panels and behind bulkheads.

    Fortunately, I already had some 10mm styrene tubes left over from a previous project and all I needed to do was temporarily pin the formers together to form a stack in the correct order to ensure they all stayed in alignment and then drill through them all in one go with a 10mm wood bit.

    I decided to re-make formers F4A in 9mm ply, as drilling through the original balsa parts with such a large diameter bit would almost destroy them, and the ply pieces also acted as a guide for the drilling.

    A dry test-fit with the conduits through the formers on the underside of the box revealed that before fitting the keel doublers K6 they would need some attention as they interfered with the path of conduits.
    The remedy was to make a simple jig to enable me to โ€˜routโ€™ out a shallow groove in the pieces using a router bit in my drill stand and a guide piece clamped to the drill base and just pushing the pieces through the jig.

    I will continue with fitting the formers in the next part.

    ๐Ÿ’ฌ Re: Constructing the box.
    25 days ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง robbob ( Admiral)
    โœง 46 Views ยท 2 Likes
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    Hi Doug.
    Thanks for you comment on the etymology of the word ๐Ÿ˜‰.
    Best to draw a line under this thread before it gets too 'earthy' ๐Ÿ˜ฎ
    Cheers.
    Rob.

    ๐Ÿ’ฌ Re: Constructing the box.
    27 days ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง robbob ( Admiral)
    โœง 59 Views ยท 4 Likes
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    Just for you Doug ๐Ÿ˜‰

    I found a word I thought I'd heard and this is how it goes....
    "superaliphatcilisticklebtwieScheiรŸeaneinernassendecke"

    ๐Ÿคฃ

    ๐Ÿ“ Constructing the box.
    27 days ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง robbob ( Admiral)
    โœง 63 Views ยท 8 Likes ยท 5 Comments
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    This is probably the easiest part of constructing the Marlin and having previously built the Thames River Police Boat Iโ€™m quite familiar with the โ€˜formers around a boxโ€™ method of construction which is characteristic of the Veron designs.

    The base of the box is 9mm ply which is laser etched with planking lines ready for finishing, but Iโ€™m going to overlay this at a later stage with another panel that will be planked with 6.5mm wide limewood with .5mm black plasticard โ€˜caulkingโ€™.

    The box sides are 9mm balsa and end panels 9mm ply. Before assembly both of the balsa side panels need to be โ€˜half-cutโ€™ along the marked lines and then glued and bent to conform with the taper of the ply base.

    The sides are then glued and temporarily pinned to the base and the two 9mm ply end pieces, formers F2 and F4, glued to the inside face of the side panels.
    A quick check with a try square and then it was left to dry.

    Iโ€™m using Titebond 2 throughout the build, itโ€™s is an โ€˜aliphatic resinโ€™ (whatever that is!) glue which I have always had great success with.

    The next part will cover the addition of the keel and some of the formers.

    ๐Ÿ’ฌ Re: The VMW Marlin Cabin Cruiser by Robbob
    29 days ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง robbob ( Admiral)
    โœง 73 Views ยท 9 Likes
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    Hi Ronald.

    "Any views of your new shop?"

    I'm very proud with my new workshop and pleased to give you a look at it ๐Ÿ˜Š.
    It's a single 'integral' garage (UK size is 9 ft wide by 17ft long, which I could get my car into but then I wouldn't be able to get out of the car!)
    Much warmer in winter than my old detached garage and cooler in summer too.
    Rob.

    ๐Ÿ’ฌ Re: The VMW Marlin Cabin Cruiser by Robbob
    29 days ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง robbob ( Admiral)
    โœง 80 Views ยท 3 Likes
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    Hi TonyAsh

    "What I find odd is it appears that the cabin has no doors or hatches -tell me I'm wrong!"

    You're absolutely right....there are no doors but there will be a couple of hatches, one up front to access the forward wiring and one at the stern to access the rudder servo.

    A very valid comment though, and for your benefit I may include or simulate a door in the rear wall of the cabin for the captain and passengers!

    Rob.

    ๐Ÿ’ฌ Re: The VMW Marlin Cabin Cruiser by Robbob
    29 days ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง robbob ( Admiral)
    โœง 80 Views ยท 4 Likes
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    Hi Zooma.
    You should definitely dust off the Marlin and give it a bit of an update, perhaps that will give you some impetus to recapture your 'mojo'.
    And a visit to your old clubs will certainly help too ๐Ÿ˜€๐Ÿ‘ .
    Best of luck.
    Rob.

    ๐Ÿ“ The VMW Marlin Cabin Cruiser by Robbob
    30 days ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง robbob ( Admiral)
    โœง 102 Views ยท 22 Likes ยท 11 Comments
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    The VMW Marlin Cabin Cruiser by Robbob

    Preface.

    At the time of writing, Iโ€™ve had the construction of this boat on โ€˜the back burnerโ€™ since July 2022. By then I had spent about two months on and off constructing the boat to a stage where I could consider applying a glassfibre cloth and epoxy finish to the hull. However I couldnโ€™t spend any more time on the Marlin project as I had a more important project to undertake, which was to paint, decorate, refurbish and prepare our house for sale so that we could downsize and move to a new area now that our kids had all fled the nest.

    Fast forward to today (mid-April 2025) and itโ€™s taken a while to get the new house and gardens into shape and settle in, with the emphasis on converting my internal garage into a great new workshop, I can finally pick up from where I left off.

    Introduction to the kit.

    This new model is the latest undertaking by Vintage Model Works, now famous for their very popular models of the RAF Crash Rescue Tender and Thames River Police Boat kits which are based on old Aerokits and Veron designs.

    The Marlin is a re-working of an original Veron design by the late Phil Smith in 1953. His son Colin Smith, who was also responsible for the re-design of the Thames River Police Boat, has made some changes to his fatherโ€™s design to take advantage of more modern materials and production methods such as CNC and laser cutting.
    The photograph below is of a prototype built by Colin Smith to give you an idea of how the boat looks in finished form. And there is also a review of the Marlin that appeared in Model Maker magazine, November 1953.

    The size remains at 36โ€ and it employs the same construction method as the original. The spacious cabins of the boat makes it very easy to accommodate all the latest control hardware required, not that the original was lacking in that area even when the radio systems used valves and large batteries and the propulsion was usually IC or a large electric motor.
    Even the pre-production sample the Vintage Model Works kit supplied to me is well presented with a full size drawing including a pictorial construction sequence and separate pages of building instructions.

    All the required materials are supplied in quality ply, balsa, strip-wood and dowel including clear plastic sheets for the windscreens, and various white metal deck fittings. The builder is of course required to supply their own adhesives and paint of choice, as well as the propulsion, drive train and radio control gear. In the latter respect I will likely restrict control to throttle and rudder and not add any lighting or other features. That has already been done magnificently by Mike Turpin.

    Construction.

    As with the Thames river police boat, another Veron design, construction starts with the assembly of a box structure onto which formers and bulkheads are attached to make the basic hull shape.

    I will be tackling this in the first part of my build blog which I hope you will enjoy following and I encourage you to ask questions, leave comments and hopefully some โ€˜likesโ€™ as I make progress.
    Robbob.

    ๐Ÿ’ฌ Re: New fire monitors.
    1 month ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง robbob ( Admiral)
    โœง 46 Views ยท 5 Likes
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    Hi Duncan.

    "Pity they are not for the 36 inch model which I have!"

    There are some plastic/styrene fittings for the 34" model, SLEC make some, but it's not a very comprehensive set. I've seen the same in white metal elsewhere, but again very poor โ˜น๏ธ. At the smaller scale the detail is very difficult to achieve.
    Robbob.

    ๐Ÿ“ New fire monitors.
    1 month ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง robbob ( Admiral)
    โœง 46 Views ยท 11 Likes ยท 5 Comments
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    Itโ€™s been a while since I posted my last update of the new fire monitors but for those of you that are interested Vintage Model Works have introduced an extended range of fittings for their 46โ€ Crash Tender including the new monitors that I modelled for them.

    The new fire monitors that they asked me to provide patterns for are now available for just ยฃ14 plus P+P for the pair.

    Thereโ€™s also a very comprehensive set of parts for the salvage hoses for ยฃ23.50 plus P+P and also a completely new tow bar kit that that has been accurately modelled at a cost of just ยฃ15.50 plus P+P

    Sadly, I canโ€™t claim to have produced the patterns for the hoses or the tow bar, they are the work of a professional model maker and far better that anything I could make!

    I might add that I donโ€™t have any commercial connection to VWM and I produced the new fire monitor patterns purely for the prestige of making a better job than those that were made so many years ago.

    All of these items can be seen on the VMW website on the accessories page:

    https://www.vintagemodelworks.co.uk/?page_id=39
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    ๐Ÿ“ The BIG St.Albans Model Show
    1 month ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง robbob ( Admiral)
    โœง 40 Views ยท 1 Like
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    The BIG St.Albans Model Show is back for 2025

    Over the 27th and 28th of September at Townsend School in St Albans.
    Come and have a go with our radio controlled boats, take a steam train ride, see big Tamiya radio controlled trucks in action, drive our electric ride-on train. You can also see drones, hot air balloons, model steam lorries, Meccano models, model railways and many other models.

    Over two days you can experience the largest club run model show in the south east of the country, brought to you by the St.Albans & District Model Engineering Society.
    Light refreshments will be available including tea, coffee, squash, crisps, sandwiches etc.

    Parking is FREE.

    The St.Albans & District Model Engineering Society is a Registered Charity No: 1208654

    Visit our website to find out more about us:

    https://stalbansmes.com/
    ๐Ÿ“ Moving home
    1 month ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง robbob ( Admiral)
    โœง 29 Views ยท 3 Likes
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    Welcome to your new home Phil.
    We moved home in late 2022 and it was also a great relief for us when it was all done and dusted. Ours is a brand new house but it has still taken us until recently to turn it into our new home, particularly the workshop for me. It looks like you have quite a lot more on your plate than us but I'm sure you'll get there.
    I hope you find a friendly local boat club or model engineering society.
    Best of luck.
    Robbob.

    ๐Ÿ“ Decals
    8 months ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง robbob ( Admiral)
    โœง 63 Views ยท 6 Likes
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    Hi Johnforty.
    I see that you have already ordered some stickers elsewhere but I thought you might like to know of a UK supplier that I have used for custom vinyl lettering and numbers.

    I used them for some custom lettering on my Southampton Pilot Boat and they were excellent ๐Ÿ‘.
    Decals & Stickers are based near Manchester UK.


    https://www.decalsandstickers.co.uk/shop/
    blogs/71877
    ๐Ÿ’ฌ Re: Assembling and finishing the new monitors.
    9 months ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง robbob ( Admiral)
    โœง 97 Views ยท 5 Likes
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    Hi Doug.
    They are indeed non-functional and are intended to be a very realistic representation of the real monitors. Adding practical features with the level of detail I have used would be difficult (for me) but not impossible for others.
    Mike Turpin (mturpin013) has produced some monitors that are operational and also have a good level of detail.
    Robbob.

    ๐Ÿ“ Assembling and finishing the new monitors.
    9 months ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง robbob ( Admiral)
    โœง 97 Views ยท 12 Likes ยท 3 Comments
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    My first task is to clean up the white metal castings to remove any casting marks and blemishes and to key the surface for a good paint finish.
    I have decided that the best way to assemble the monitors is to drill a 3.2mm central hole through the base part to accept a threaded rod which will then hold the top piece firmly.

    It is not possible to drill white metal as a drill bit in an electric or hand drill will very soon seize and snap, but the trick is to put a drill bit in a hand chuck and bore the hole a few turns at a time, withdrawing the bit to clear the swarf produced and then continuing.
    This is quite laborious work but it is the only way to bore a hole through white metal to any depth.

    I did fully drill through the base and to my relief the exit hole was pretty much centre of the casting and I was then able to put the upper casting in place and drill a shallow hole in the top part which was then tapped with a 3mm thread, again this tap had to be done a few turns at a time withdrawing the tap frequently to remove the swarf.

    I could then insert a 3mm threaded rod through the castings to pull the two parts together, with a nut on the bottom of the base, in a recessed hole, both with some Loctite threadlock to keep them tight.

    To add some extra detail to the monitors I used a couple of steel washers and a plastic spacer between the top and bottom parts to simulate some flanges that are on the real thing.
    The white metal casting of the operating handles is a little bit fragile but they will withstand a single bending to introduce the crank that raises the height of the handles for the operator.
    I had made the handles for the pattern in brass for strength so Iโ€™ll have to see how they fair in the much softer white metal.

    The handles are attached to the side bosses of the top hose part using some 1.2mm brass screws, again I very carefully tapped the holes that I made through the casting to get a secure fixing for the handles. The excess brass screw was cut back and the screws re-fixed with a dab of Loctite to ensure they stayed tight.

    The new fire monitor kit is actually supplied with four tiny white metal screws for attaching the handles but in my view they are unsuitable to provide any kind of firm fixing and hence my use of proper brass screws as used in my original pattern.
    Another small detail on the monitor base is an operating lever that presumably is foot operated to allow the monitor to be unlocked from a centred position and allow the monitor to be rotated to the desired direction, thatโ€™s just a guess as I really donโ€™t know the true purpose of that lever!

    I made this lever from a short length of brass rod and finished with a small round brass bead on the end. This piece was bent to the correct shape and then epoxied into a hole drilled into the underside if the base.

    A side-by-side comparison of the old and new monitors was satisfying to see as the new pattern looks so much more true to the real ones.
    With the monitors fully assembled I cleaned them thoroughly with some panel wipe to remove any grease or contaminants and then gave them a light coat of primer.
    I had some etch primer to hand so I used that although I donโ€™t think itโ€™s particularly effective on white metal.

    The final coats of red acrylic were applied and then some black to simulate the hand grips and finally some โ€˜bronzeโ€™ acrylic for the nozzle at the end of the hose.

    When fitted to the boat the monitors look so much more realistic, I hope you would agree?

    Vintage Model Works are also introducing some other new fitting for their 46โ€ RAF Crash Rescue Tender to replace older designs and Iโ€™ll post some pictures of them in another update.

    ๐Ÿ’ฌ Re: Building Veron Marlin
    9 months ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง robbob ( Admiral)
    โœง 21 Views ยท 2 Likes
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    Hi Jon.
    I've no doubt that you have overcome your issue with the bottom skin fitting by now.
    If it's helpful to know how I tackled it, I used my sanding 'plate' to sand all of the formers and the keel until they were completely flat so that the bottom skins could be fitted to butt together along the centre line of the keel.

    Some careful trimming and bevelling of the skins was required but the result was a very close fit, and a good flat and even fit of the skins to the keel and formers.

    I will be posting my own build blog of my VMW Marlin very soon, I started the build in March 2022 and it's still not finished but a lot has happened in between then and now!
    Robbob.

    ๐Ÿ’ฌ Re: New Fire Monitors, making the pattern.
    9 months ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง robbob ( Admiral)
    โœง 107 Views ยท 6 Likes
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    Hi Stephen.
    The original fire monitors in pics 4 & 5 are more like representations of the real thing with more regard to sturdiness and practical construction and less regard to accuracy.
    My new pattern is more realistic and true to scale but possibly not as robust the old 'clumsy' design.
    White metal castings are very heavy and the alloy is rather weak so ideally they should be cast in something stronger like bronze or perhaps even 3D metal printed but then the cost of production may make them too expensive.
    Rob.

    ๐Ÿ“ Brave borderer
    9 months ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง robbob ( Admiral)
    โœง 80 Views ยท 7 Likes
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    A superb looking model and one that is on my personal 'wish list' to make one day. I did once buy a Precedent K D Perkasa kit from eBay but the quality of the ply and balsa parts was so bad that I sold it on.
    I expect the film was of great use when detailing your model. I found some similar newsreel film of the RAF Crash Rescue Tenders incredibly useful when adding scale details.
    Rob.

    ๐Ÿ’ฌ Re: New Fire Monitors, making the pattern.
    9 months ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง robbob ( Admiral)
    โœง 111 Views ยท 6 Likes
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    Thanks for your kind words Stephen.
    I think the finished pattern looks so much more authentic than the old one which was quite crude by comparison.
    Rob.

    ๐Ÿ’ฌ Re: New Fire Monitors, making the pattern.
    9 months ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง robbob ( Admiral)
    โœง 112 Views ยท 7 Likes
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    Hi Pete.
    I can usually get by with my 'drill chuck' lathe, but for anything requiring precision I get my brother to turn it on his lathe. I did contemplate getting a small Warco lathe when one came up for sale in my model club but I really don't have room for one in my small workshop.
    Rob.

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    ๐Ÿ“ New Fire Monitors, making the pattern.
    9 months ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง robbob ( Admiral)
    โœง 115 Views ยท 14 Likes ยท 6 Comments
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    Some while ago I was asked by Vintage Model Works to make new patterns for the fire monitors which are quite characteristic to the RAF Crash Rescue Tender. The current type supplied with the VMW kits are based on a very old pattern from the early days of the model when it was produced by AeroKits many years ago.

    I took this as a great honour to be asked and I set about finding as many photographic references, original drawing and early film of the boats in action.

    Of particular use was a video from film taken by Pathรฉ, a newsreel company, when the boats were demonstrated to the public, and one sequence showed the fire monitors in action and some very usable detail of the construction and scale.

    Having gathered as much detail as I could find I made some scale drawings of the monitors as I perceived them and worked out, as best as possible, the correct scale for the 46โ€ model.

    As I donโ€™t have any metal turning experience or equipment I decided that the best material to use for the new patterns was plastic, particularly as some of the parts would need to be heat formed.

    I made up a small wood former around which I could bend heated Plasticard rod around to form the distinctive curved shape of the top of the monitor.
    This took multiple attempts until I made a satisfactory shape which will still need some filing and shaping to refine it.

    With the hardest part out of the way the remainder of the pattern was relatively easy to make by โ€˜turningโ€™ the rest of the parts for the body and the base in an electric drill chuck against some files and abrasives.
    Small details were easy to add such as the reinforcing fillets between the circular flanges and the main pillar and also bolt heads which were made from short sections of hexagonal plastic rod. I added some blocks to the curved part to form the mounting base of the operating handles.

    The operating handles themselves were made from some 'D' profile brass rod and they attach to the body of the fire monitor with very fine brass 1.5mm screws.

    Once I was happy with the final result I supplied the pattern to VMW for approval.

    Sometime later I was sent some samples of the white metal castings to evaluate and to my delight they had turned out quite well with a minimal amount of flashing to file away.
    Remarkably they had even made white metal casting of the screws however I don't think they will be strong enough to be used to fix the handles to the monitors.

    Next partโ€ฆ.assembling and finishing the new monitors.

    ๐Ÿ’ฌ Re: CENTERING SERVO
    9 months ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง robbob ( Admiral)
    โœง 73 Views ยท 6 Likes
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    I'm pleased that you found it helpful ๐Ÿ˜Š๐Ÿ‘
    Rob.

    ๐Ÿ’ฌ Re: CENTERING SERVOS
    9 months ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง robbob ( Admiral)
    โœง 74 Views ยท 6 Likes
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    Hi Ross.
    There are some YouTube videos that show how the spring is fitted, this is just one of several:


    ๐Ÿ’ฌ Re: A Fan for the Motor
    9 months ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง robbob ( Admiral)
    โœง 131 Views ยท 5 Likes
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    Hi Doug.

    "BTW: I guess you can wrap a coil round an Inrunner brushless."

    You know what, ๐Ÿค” I'd forgotten all about the In-Runner variety of brushless motor.
    They often have a water cooling jacket built in but I've seldom seen them used.
    Rob.

    ๐Ÿ’ฌ Re: A Fan for the Motor
    9 months ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง robbob ( Admiral)
    โœง 132 Views ยท 6 Likes
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    Hi Isaac.
    Thanks for your comments, you make some interesting suggestions but in my view none are really practical in this particular situation.

    The point of mounting the fan blade directly on the motor is that involved nothing more than fitting it to the end of the motor and while the motor is running, in either direction it is creating airflow around and more importantly, through the motor. Thus the motor is self cooling.
    I'm not sure how it could generate more heat than it removes ๐Ÿค”
    The motor compartment is very capacious and also vents to adjoining compartments.

    You can't water cool a brushless motor, but you can use a water cooled mounting but that's even more weight, plumbing pipes etc.

    The speed controller is already water cooled anyway so nothing more can be improve that.

    Consider the positives, no fan mounting structure is needed, no wiring is required, no battery or power supply is needed, all of which involve a cost and more complexity than is really warranted.

    The fan was ex-computer power supply, it was not working and had a noisy bearing when it was, so no cost implications at all.

    I can't think of any valid negatives.

    The KISS principle is well applied in what I have done here.

    As I said in the blog, it cost me nothing to do, it adds nothing to the weight of the boat or affects it's trim requiring corrective ballast etc. but it certainly seems to stir
    up a lot of hot air! ๐Ÿ˜‰

    For your boat with three large brushed motors and no space for motor cooling coils I would agree that motorised fan cooling may well be your best option ๐Ÿ‘.

    Kind Regards.
    Rob.

    ๐Ÿ“ A Fan for the Motor
    9 months ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง robbob ( Admiral)
    โœง 134 Views ยท 16 Likes ยท 12 Comments
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    The motor compartment in the boat is quite large and thus a reasonable volume of air surrounds the motor and despite never having any motor overheating issues previously I did decide to add a fan onto the end of the motor shaft to introduce a bit of air circulation.

    This is something that I did on my VMW Thames River Police Launch where the motor is enclosed in quite a small box and benefited from the forced ventilation. Itโ€™s not that the Crash Tender really needs it, but more that I have another small computer fan of the right size and that it is so easy to do!

    Disassembling the fan is quite brutal but necessary to extract the fan blade in one piece. A hole was then made through the fan at dead centre to the exact diameter of the spigot at the end of the motor using a reamer. The Turnigy Aerodrive motor comes supplied with some extra metal parts for attaching an aero propeller when the motor is used in an aircraft.

    The piece is easily re-purposed by cutting off the threaded stud and grinding/sanding the face to a flat and smooth finish, and then it's fitted over the spigot on the end of the motor and secured with the three cap screws which are also supplied with the motor.

    I operation the fan is either pushing or pulling air through the motor and stator depending on the direction of rotation, and in either event it is stirring the air in the motor compartment.

    This mod seems to add no extra load on the motor, no additional bearing strain, no extra noise and if youโ€™ve got the bits, no cost!

    ๐Ÿ’ฌ Re: New Electrics
    9 months ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง robbob ( Admiral)
    โœง 141 Views ยท 5 Likes
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    Hi luckyduck.
    Thanks for your compliment on my wiring ๐Ÿ˜Š, professional pride would have me do nothing less than that.
    Rob.

    ๐Ÿ’ฌ Re: CENTERING SERVOS
    9 months ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง robbob ( Admiral)
    โœง 73 Views ยท 7 Likes
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    I have added a self centering spring to my Turnigy(FlySky) i6 transmitter on the throttle stick.
    Quite easy to do and the parts are cheap.
    What transmitter do you have?



    https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/295852178493?itmmeta=01J4Q94VQKXHB0SC3A0060NWVW&hash=
    ๐Ÿ“ New Electrics
    9 months ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง robbob ( Admiral)
    โœง 143 Views ยท 18 Likes ยท 2 Comments
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    The new LiPo batteries are not supplied with any type of connector, so that the user can supply and fit whatever they prefer to use. In my case it was XT60 for all the battery connections but for this refurb I chose to upgrade them all to XT90 to allow for higher discharge rates.
    Fortunately I already had sufficient XT90 connector sets in my โ€˜electrical bits boxโ€™ and I soldered these onto the new LiPo batteries, using extreme care to avoid shorts and heat shrink sleeve to insulate the connections.

    As the old NiMh batteries were arranged in a series connection I had to modify the cable loom for the single battery connection and re-terminate the fly lead to the battery with an XT90 connector.
    I have left the in-board charging facility unchanged as that would require a quite unnecessary change to the entire wiring loom and switch panel. I will be charging the new LiPo batteries, in a fireproof charging 'pouch', on the workbench for safety.

    Because the receiver will now be powered from the BEC in the speed controller I have put the (red) 5v supply line of the speed controller back into its 3 pin connector so that the receiver is powered from the speed controller. Whilst I remembered, I dug out the programming card for the controller to set the speed controller for LiPo operation and also set the battery cut-off voltage accordingly.

    The receiver was then fixed to the side of the compartment with some cable ties and all of the servo wires tidied up with cable clips, the two receiver aerials were also re-fixed in the recommended 90 degree polarisation and also secured with some clips.

    The small โ€˜platformโ€™ that I had the old receiver battery mounted on is an ideal place for a battery voltage alarm which is a very useful thing to have with a LiPo battery system, the audible warning is very loud and can be heard quite well even when the boat is running at speed and a vital prompt to bring the boat in for a battery swap.

    With all of the wiring in place I was able to test the system for full operation and it all worked perfectly. Previously I had to remember to switch on the receiver battery supply before turning on the main power switch, now it is all powered up by the main switch alone.



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