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    roycv
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    Member No.#5840
    Registered📅28th Apr 2020
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    City📍Watford
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    small sailing yacht
    I built this one for my grandaughter. She is from a MB free plan about 12 inches long that used to have a swing rig. I don't like swing rigs so set up a very simple sail set from ripstop nylon material. The sails are just hot cut so no sewing needed. The vane steering works very well and on a small pond keeps you very fit! Again no radio but a lot of fun for a young person. Susie says "Not seen this one before"! You are not old enough puss. Roy
    roycv
    1 year ago
    0 Attributes
    7 Comments
    Anglian Trawler
    I have been doing a bit of re-furbishing and this is the Very old Hobby's kit for The Anglian Trawler, about 18 inches long. The all balsa kit is from the late 1950s. The kit was complete, note the cast lines in the just visible lead weights, these came ready shaped! The Mighty Midget electric motor does its bit to give her a healthy turn of speed running on a discarded Sony movie camera 6 volt battery. No radio and only for small ponds. I have kept her as was, this is Susie, Just checking! Roy
    roycv
    1 year ago
    0 Attributes
    13 Comments
    Celia May
    This is one of those toy boats that I used to look at through the Basset-lowke window in Holborn. Not an original Bowman Sea Jay but a copy I made from the Basil Harley plans of Celia May 1988. I suppose I started in 1989 almost certainly a Sunday as I had to hunt round to find some 3/8ths" thickness wood. The only stuff I could find was some 9 ply which is quite tough. So I made a steam cylinder from plastic guttering tubing. I boiled an old fashioned kettle into it and about 5 minutes of this softened the ply for bending. I made a crude former, mainly big nails, and whipped it out and bent the ply to shape. Then the other one followed and the hard bit had been done. The rest of the hull was straight forward. The superstructure was made of aluminium, not easy to bend but a friend showed me how. The boat was meant to have a steam plant but the one I had built by an excellent engineer for me was in the end too heavy. So I left the boat for a few months and then decided to go electric. If you look at the plans the 3 parts of the s/s are individual and have another bend also to form the deck, great for steam not so for electric. I cut the flanges off and made a wood deck and planked it to look pretty, well it is a toy after all, and fitted the s/s parts into the deck. Those ex-Meccano gents will spot the rudder parts a 2 inch pulley which I carefully sawed to make the 2 parts. These have a wrap round chain and a small spring to tension the chain. The rudder servo has a small extension and the whole has worked with a little oil ever since. The motor is a Bassett-lowke Marine bought when I was in my teens but not really used. The yellow U/J is I think from SHG it has a loose "bone" as the connection between the 2 ends. It allows for a lot of positioning of the motor as I had planned to use the boat as a test vessel. Notes The cat is Suzie my little helper and is 13 now. I really like the funnel, it is rolled aluminium with a half inch piece of dowel on about 6 thicknesses of blanket. The aerial is a working one connected to the receiver which is 27Mhtz 2 channel. Apologise for the prop I originally made my own it is somewhere in the shed! Roy.
    roycv
    1 year ago
    10 Attributes
    16 Comments
    Huntress
    Hi all this model was scratch built using the free plan Sparkler as the basis. She is just over 16 inches long and has a 380 geared down 1 : 2. Unfortunately she was over-powered and on 6 cells only has 2 or 3 inches of the hull is in the water. I have slowed her down a bit but it is difficult to ballance the hull. Either the hull is climbing a hill or just splashing through the water. I built her in 1986 so she is getting on a bit. The pulpit is brass tubing and painted silver. The perspex wrap round screen was fractured a while ago and left for several years, then I decided to replace it and it is fine now. Roy
    roycv
    2 years ago
    0 Attributes
    7 Comments
    Mary Ann No.2
    This is another Mary Ann, I bought her off ebay after a good negotiation to lower the price. She was built as a decorative model quite attractive but again many problems. All the glueing was minimal and I just lifted off the cabin! I stripped her completely and drilled into the deck to get an opening for the engine and RC. I grasped the side gallows to pull them off expecting brass they were delicate laser cut wood! So a recent model! I had a spare brass pair and that is what is on her now. The prop and shaft are just a short push in dummy! So a new shaft hole was opened up, I did an initial fit of motor and prop and into the bath, luckily I did not walk away! I watched the water coming in. This took a while to sort out and I had to open up the forward bulkhead which was sealed in. I poured in varnish and swilled it around and then poured the residue out. After drying I found the main leak and as I was not going to re-do the planking and I remembered seeing a fishing boat drawn up on the beach and it had additional planks nailed on, I presume repair leaks. So I did the same. She is a different colour as these fishing boats should be white hulled, this is because both of the Mary Anns work from a single 4 ch. Tx. (reference Admiralty Naval Intelligence November 1942) This I have found may need a more alert brain than mine to do successfully! The right stick, no problem but the left (hand and) stick do not give the right rudder movements when coming towards me. My left hand needs re-educating. I found the father and 2 sons crew lurking in my garage and after I got them new gear here they are. Roy
    roycv
    2 years ago
    0 Attributes
    1 Comment
    Lilla Dan
    Lilla Dan but not as you might know her! She is an extended version 36 inches stern to bowsprit. The hull is a Graupner Elke fishing boat hull. The plans were kindly sent by Billing 20 odd years ago. However I am the new owner as she was built by my late friend John Cook. I bought her earlier in 2022 and did an update on the insides and renewed all the rigging, which took quite a while and rather than serve the lower parts of the shrouds I used white heatshrink electrical insulation. She needs a good breeze to sail and really hates tacking through the wind and wearing ship can lose all you gained previously. However my daughter in law got her to go very nicely. Roy
    roycv
    2 years ago
    0 Attributes
    3 Comments
    The Schooner Theresa
    Here is another of my yachts, the hull is 40 inches loa and the bowsprit makes her a bit longer. She was built by my late friend John Cook back in 1965 and first came to my notice when many years later we had a club stand at Olympia. I had offered to take the boat and John said he would be along later, so he was very surprised when he arrived and found I had assembled the boat. (To some eyes it would be a jumble of sails and spars). We became friends then. I bought the yacht from his estate when he died and started refurbishing her. I simplified the RC and kept the double drum winch as it works very well. Replaced the 2 hatches in keeping with the rest of the boat, they have custom made brass pins on a retaining string to keep them located. All the rope rigging had lost it's strength and was replaced and there was a lot of whipping to to do on the spars, this is something I like doing. The paintwork you see is original I just cleaned the paint and gave it a spray of varnish, the sails are cotton and also original. The winch system looks the part where it can be seen on the deck, it is functional and easy to adjust. The plans and building instructions were in one of the old F.J.Camm A5 size books on model yachting and about 6" X 4" but the table of 'off-sets' was the main guide, John drew them up to full size and the construction is plank on frame and has well stood the test of time. She sails very gracefully and responds to the helm easily and always draws a small group of people when sailing. I keep her in a large 'Christmas Tree box' a plastic one with a lid which is excellent for model boats. Most of the plastic box makers do them but they only come out at Christmas! Roy
    roycv
    2 years ago
    0 Attributes
    9 Comments
    Condor
    This was drawn up from a 6 x 4 plan out of Yachting Monthly and is called Goosander. She was designed as a home buid yacht 27 feet loa 4 berth. My model is 1 : 12 scale. The hull shape is unusual being a double chine. When I came to draw up the plans it was not easy to accomodate a little more displacement and still balance the hull. This involves keeping the waterline right and doing some calculations for in and out wedges for heeling over and staying level. She got wet for the first time in 1975 and then having learnt a bit more about sailing I gave her a re-fit in 1990 and entered her in the Class C5 in the Model Engineering exhibition where she gained a Bronze medal. She sails remarkably well and also has a small prop, (purely for lunch time purposes of course). I found some more detail photos. The stanchions were mechanically drawn down to size on diameter from some Aluminium rod to match the brass tubing used at the pulpit and pushpit. The anchor sits at the bow and takes any knocks etc. The side view shows the tabernacle used to hinge the mast down. She is fitted with life saving apparatus. The handrails are cut from the solid and were a bit fiddly to make. I recently did a few repairs and some changes to the jib arrangements and the photo was taken a week or so back.
    roycv
    2 years ago
    0 Attributes
    6 Comments
    Mary Ann
    Hi all I like fishing boats and this must be one of the most popular judging from prices. This is an old one with brass fittings. It took me a while to recruit the crew as the hours are long and no holidays. She runs with a Monoperm on 6 cells and a small brass prop. The esc is a very small pcb one from China. I have another one but different colours can't go to sea yet as no Captain!
    roycv
    3 years ago
    0 Attributes
    4 Comments
    Fishing boat Norderney
    I bought this boat at an auction it was started but not much more. I paid £40 and when I got home I found a ready made set of sails wrapped up in the plans which are from Graupner. She sails with internal ballast and a small (drop down) keel, but this is fixed. Against Graupner advice with internal ballast she sails very well. Not great into wind but easy enough to control. I used a Hitec arm winch but this was too fast so I used a slow down circuit which works well. There is a motor so needs a 3rd. channel.
    roycv
    3 years ago
    0 Attributes
    6 Comments
    Ferry from St. Lawrence Seaway
    This is my version of Glynn Guest's free plan of Ogdensberg. I have timed it as the 2nd. August in 1937, which was the August Bank Holiday and the cars are all left hand drive with passengers for each. There is a story behind each group for my own satisfaction. The main s/s is located on brass ferules that come with servos, the lifebelts are the 'heads' of brass rods that hold the s/s in place. Took me ages to work that one out. Motor is a 555 with an old Hitec esc and runs on 6 cells, moves nicely. The ramps were made of coffee stirrers but it is crap wood and would not do it again, they do hinge down on dolls house hinges. Of the vehicles all to 1 : 43 scale the most sought after is the motor cycle and side car, I put in her a very disappointed girl friend expecting a naughty weekend but ending up in a sidecar!
    roycv
    3 years ago
    0 Attributes
    1 Comment
    Inga IV
    This was a gift but needed a complete re-build. The insides had grown with new additions and I took everything out reduced all to run from 6 D cells right down low. She had some rather unfortunate red sails but I have now fitted a new but original set of sails. Lovely to sail but rather heavy to move around for me now.
    roycv
    3 years ago
    0 Attributes
    9 Comments
    Clockwork boat
    This was a collect it or it goes in the skip email to me. I went to collect wondering what electric motor it might contain. So opening up was indeed a surprise! "will you restore it"? the lady said. "more like a ressurection " I replied, however a collector friend convinced me to restore her. It was very crude s/s and heavy but very solid construction I reckon the mid 1930s the clockwork motor at first a mystery was revealed in an article by John Parker in his Flotsam and Jetsom series. Turned out to be a top of the range clockwork motor and she runs for about 7 minutes. I put in RC! This was for the rudder and also a stop on the motor. I found by the time I got low enough to launch her the motor had run down!
    roycv
    3 years ago
    0 Attributes
    1 Comment
    Yachts
    This just to show the 2 similar yact hulls I bought £30 for both of them! Had to go to Salisbury to collect just as the Novichok problem allowed us all back again. I made the boatstands myself to my standard format.
    roycv
    3 years ago
    0 Attributes
    1 Comment
    Graupner Gracia
    Gracia is my all time favourite! I had the plans and was about to build when I had an email from friend Keith Bragg who said would I like to take on his inherited part made kit, I jumped at the chance. It took me a month including planking the deck and making the sails, and she looks great on the water. I have recently found some original sails and am contemplating revising the rig. I usually separate the mast and sails and store them in boxes, so this would be another mast with new sails so I would be able to choose from 2 rigs etc. RC is simple winch with a far pulley on a stick so that it can all be withdrawn for maintenance. I finished her summer 2006. I have found some more pictures of the winch - on - stick which locates into a slot at the bow and the joggling of the planking. This is the stern and you can see the tiller arm. This is made of 11 laminates of 1/32 inch ply and shaped to fit over a 13 amp brass mains socket single pin. This is handy as it has a grub screw that retains it on the rudder stock. It is the second one as the first one was nicked while the boat was on display at a show!
    roycv
    3 years ago
    0 Attributes
    1 Comment
    Nordfjord
    This is a version of Glynn Guests Norwegian ferry free plan. I built my one from obechi and not balsa and she was top heavy, After much thought I sawed my one through just at the foredeck level and added 8 inches with appropriate lead ballast. I turned her into a cargo carrier which is exactly what was done to many of the ferries after WW2 due to the high cost of steel. The various derricks are made from an old 27Mhtz aerial so very light in weight. They do articulate. My model runs on a 555 motor on 6 volts with a 45mm brass prop, but there is enough power lower down to control the speed on the Tx, trim control alone. She has had a lot of admirers and running at slow speed my initial problem duck turned into a swan.
    roycv
    3 years ago
    0 Attributes
    1 Comment
    Dolphin
    Although no longer in my possession this a kit from the late 1940s. I was asked to finish an already constructed hull and there were the plans to go by. The drive is an orange and black Hectoperm motor, which I supplied so in keeping with the era well just about. She drives like a dream and even though I was paid well I found it difficult to part with. She is about 42 inces loa, originally for i/c.
    roycv
    3 years ago
    0 Attributes
    1 Comment
    Endeavour
    This is a conversion of the Amati static kit to RC. She is about a metre long and looks very graceful when sailing. Note for display purposes there is a 1 : 35 scale crew on board as well. The kit is on sale and you can also buy a booklet showing the conversion which I wrote with the kit, all rights sold to distributors.
    roycv
    3 years ago
    0 Attributes
    1 Comment
    Yacht
    This a bare hull I bought a few years ago, I think it was made in the early1950s judging from build. She had a sealed deck and I used my worm camera to look inside down the mast hole. B & B construction so I delved inside and fitted RC and kept it looking like a Pond yacht. Interesting part is there are 2 hulls almost identical and I am working out a new rig for her.
    roycv
    3 years ago
    0 Attributes
    2 Comments
    Pelican
    This an Aeronaut Bella with a gaff rig. 3 channel RC as there is an additional tweek to tighten the fore jib, makes a big boatspeed difference. I like the old 40 Mhtz sets with a flick arm for the 3rd. channel and I use this to flatten the jib after a tack. I had to fit a bowsprit because of the extra sail, and also move the mast back about half an inch.
    roycv
    3 years ago
    0 Attributes
    5 Comments
    Recent Posts
    📝 Question of the Day?
    5 days ago by 🇬🇧 roycv ( Vice Admiral)
    ✧ 36 Views · 2 Likes
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    Hmmmm! another question where the answer is in the question!
    Roy

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    💬 Re: Graupner Optimist - Another refit
    7 days ago by 🇬🇧 roycv ( Vice Admiral)
    ✧ 26 Views · 3 Likes
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    Hi JB, the reference icon you put up for the Graupner yachts reminded me that I had built a Libera Ocean. It was for the Int Marine modelling magazine, I had been in Germany where our son lived at that time and I ordered one from a Model shop in Munich.
    It was taking a while to arrive. In the meantime I had a phone call from the editor re the next build review. I mentioned my German order and he said that he had one to hand and I could build that one.
    A hurriied phone call to Germany and my son cancelled the shop order. Well no response in over 3 weeks was a bit too long.

    I did the review and the kit went together very nicely. The hull is built in an odd way. The bulkheads and a lot of the insides are assembled upside down on the upturned deck and when this is done the whole lot is inserted into the hull.

    It is about 40 inches long and I decided to have a rehearsal first! Wth a mix of wood and plastic the recommended glue was Stablit Express. This is a 2 part glue with a 10 minute shelf life!

    So I had an 80 inch+ glue line to do plus internal bulkhead attachment within the time limit! I did the rehearsal and gathered all the things I needed. This included quarter inch square pine lengths 4 feet long so that the plastic to plastic joint along the deck edge did not show pinch marks where the spring clamps were positioned.

    It went OK but was glad I had done a dry run. Looking back I would have used bathroom sealer as all the reinforced parts for supporting the rigging were through the deck into the bulkheads.

    She was the fastest sailing boat I ever had and the only one that would plane at speed to the disbelief of on-lookers.

    I sold her on about 8 years ago as the 2 masts with all the rigging took ages to set up at the pond side!

    Regards
    Roy

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    💬 Re: Graupner Optimist - Another refit
    8 days ago by 🇬🇧 roycv ( Vice Admiral)
    ✧ 31 Views · 5 Likes
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    Does your optimist have a lead keel? My gracia has a cast iron keel as at the time lead was at a premium. A magnet clings to it!

    My Gracia was given to me by a semi professional model maker. He had had the hull with a view to restoring her but decided not to as he was busy. I had put a request on another web site for a Gracia in any state and he passed her on to me. I had the hull as shown and a broken mast and I already had some plans.

    I worked on her for a month around June 2006. The deck was stained and irretrievable so I used it as a pattern to plank the deck, which I enjoyed doing. The planks are all joggled into the king plank.

    The tiller arm is I think 11 layers of 1/32nd. ply and is the second one. She was at an exhibition and someone had loosened it and stolen it!!! So I made another.

    Sorry not meaning to hi-jack your Optimist thread nice to post with someone who appreciates the old Graupner yacht kits.

    Roy

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    💬 Re: Vosper ASRL
    8 days ago by 🇬🇧 roycv ( Vice Admiral)
    ✧ 55 Views · 3 Likes
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    I suggest you use cheap masking tape stuck on where you are working do the marking up and cutting and then discard it.

    You can also mask off as when painting to stop glue going on the shiny plastic.

    Roy

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    💬 Re: Graupner Optimist - Another refit
    8 days ago by 🇬🇧 roycv ( Vice Admiral)
    ✧ 38 Views · 4 Likes
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    Hi jb I did not know that Optimist was a model of an actual full size yacht.

    I have a model of the Gracia very similar to the Optimist but is 36 inches loa. One of my favourite models. Funnily enough I made a very similar winch control unit with a pulley on a stick which locates in the bow in a hard to get at peg.

    Do you know if this had a prototype.

    regards
    Roy

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    💬 Re: Graupner Optimist - Another refit
    8 days ago by 🇬🇧 roycv ( Vice Admiral)
    ✧ 38 Views · 3 Likes
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    Hi jb, I have run a yacht with a large jib and no jib boom and I inserted a length of piano wire into the lower seam of the sail. It is flexible so not too large a diameter.😋

    This did give a lot more control to the shape of the sail and you can fit a kicker as well.

    This is Endeavour 40 inches loa. The sails are made from mylar film
    regards
    Roy

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    📝 Question of the Day?
    11 days ago by 🇬🇧 roycv ( Vice Admiral)
    ✧ 53 Views · 6 Likes
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    Hi all, I asked my son about the depth sounder question as he has one in his 40 foot yacht. Definitely a sounder, he thought the sonar answer was ridiculous.

    If he went into his yacht chandler's they would not have any sonar, plenty of depth sounders though!
    Roy

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    📝 Dutch sailing barge
    14 days ago by 🇬🇧 roycv ( Vice Admiral)
    ✧ 22 Views · 3 Likes
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    There was a very large Dutch Barge at a ME exhibition many years ago. I think it was called Green Dragon.
    Groene Draeck Queen Beatrix's royal yacht. It googles to find it.

    Roy

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    📝 Dutch sailing barge
    14 days ago by 🇬🇧 roycv ( Vice Admiral)
    ✧ 26 Views · 3 Likes
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    Hi Andy for some reason I have missed your thread on Dutch barges, which I regret as it is very interesting.

    Before RC was everywhere when I lived in Hampstead I saw a model Dutch barge which had working Lee boards. These were automatic and were controlled from a mercury switch, I think there were 2 of them.

    As the hull tilted to one side or the other the switch would turn on, and an electric motor would drop which ever lee board it was using a chain.

    Did you give a thought to just having a servo on its side directly coupled to the lee board?

    Roy

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    💬 Re: Half Hull side project.
    15 days ago by 🇬🇧 roycv ( Vice Admiral)
    ✧ 23 Views · 2 Likes
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    Hi Jump' My Goosander is a double chine hull. Is yours single or double?
    Roy

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    💬 Re: Half Hull side project.
    15 days ago by 🇬🇧 roycv ( Vice Admiral)
    ✧ 39 Views · 4 Likes
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    Hi I agree lovely looking yacht. My working model is from a self build (full size in wood) design called Goosander.
    The very first yacht I drew my own plans for from a 6x4 picture in Yachting Monthly magazine over 50 years ago.

    Good luck with the project. We have similar tastes, my model is 27 inches loa. at 1 twelfth scale.
    Roy

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    📝 Planking a hull
    16 days ago by 🇬🇧 roycv ( Vice Admiral)
    ✧ 39 Views · 3 Likes
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    Hi Garth, it is worth looking at all the plug in ready to go electronics there are out there now.
    You can stretch the servo movement slow it down or even delay it. You can mix twin esc's in several ways.
    You can have a single Tx. channel feeding a mixer to a 2 channel o/p to twin esc's. The rudder control does the mixing.

    I use slow down units and a servo extender for standard size but high powered servos that I use as sail 170 degree arm winches. Cheaper as well, than dedicated sail arm units.

    I also use rotating sail winches where the string all stays inside the unit so no need to have a pulley and a line. You can choose how many rotations you need.

    There are plug in dual relays for operating high current electrical switching. I am sure there are ones I have missed out as well.

    It is all a big toy shop out there now!
    Roy

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    📝 Planking a hull
    16 days ago by 🇬🇧 roycv ( Vice Admiral)
    ✧ 43 Views · 5 Likes
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    Hi Marti in Falmouth. If you look at my original 'how to' post I have included a photo of the modified clip. It takes less than 15 seconds to do.
    Roy

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    📝 Planking a hull
    16 days ago by 🇬🇧 roycv ( Vice Admiral)
    ✧ 44 Views · 4 Likes
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    Anyon else have trouble with my modified bulldog clips? Or care?

    Roy

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    📝 Planking a hull
    17 days ago by 🇬🇧 roycv ( Vice Admiral)
    ✧ 44 Views · 3 Likes
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    Looking at how it works if the bulkheads are just 3mm wide surely it will split open the bulkhead by the time you are halfway.

    Roy

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    📝 Question of the Day?
    17 days ago by 🇬🇧 roycv ( Vice Admiral)
    ✧ 53 Views · 1 Like
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    I guessed as the other 3 had other jobs! Got lucky!
    Roy

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    📝 Planking a hull
    17 days ago by 🇬🇧 roycv ( Vice Admiral)
    ✧ 59 Views · 4 Likes
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    Hi I have not got a photo of the finished item, but see if I can describe how to make a quite effective one from a bulldog clip. As per picture.
    You will need several as the wire parts are also donor items.

    Dismantle one and keep the 2 wire pinch pieces. Take one of the pinch pieces and insert it into the upper part of the inside of the black spring part.
    It will then project out so that when you open up the complete bulldog clip and clamp it on to a bulkhead there is the top of the wire sticking out at right angles. The old part which was a hinge will now hold it in place.
    This will hold down a plank while the bulldog clip is clamped to the bulkhead.

    I bought a pack of 20 each about 2cm wide and they make up 13 of these clamps. But any of the type in the picture will do.
    Hope this helps.
    Roy

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    📝 Question of the Day?
    20 days ago by 🇬🇧 roycv ( Vice Admiral)
    ✧ 56 Views · 2 Likes
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    If you look at Rik's appearances in Black Adder they really do not know what he is going to do next. All unrehearsed as he got into character
    Roy

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    📝 Question of the Day?
    20 days ago by 🇬🇧 roycv ( Vice Admiral)
    ✧ 56 Views · 3 Likes
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    I wonder if Grace Darling was a distant relative of Captain Darling who made appearances in the WW1 drama Black Adder? 😂
    Roy

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    📝 Question of the Day?
    29 days ago by 🇬🇧 roycv ( Vice Admiral)
    ✧ 60 Views · 3 Likes
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    Hi Boatshed I bet todays question floored you! Who would have thought T*****C was the right answer.
    Roy

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    📝 Departed modellers 'left overs'
    1 month ago by 🇬🇧 roycv ( Vice Admiral)
    ✧ 95 Views · 19 Likes
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    I am the contact for model boats and sailing on our club web site and although it is tempting to make an offer to the club for kits etc I have more than I can cope with.

    I am currently trying to dispose of one large yacht 3 feet long but nearly 6 foot in height a 50 inch yacht (not a Marblehead) in need of mast and sails a PBM kit of an off shore oil rig supply vessel and an Artesania Latina Amsterdam tug boat the 2 kits are unstarted.

    The club can only absorb so many items and then the donation to club funds offered becomes derisory.

    At the last visit / contact, I left behind me an unstarted IngaIV kit which I thought was rather rare and I set up more country wide advertising with instructions for price for the owner.

    I find the sons and daughters are so pleased to get advice, it is rewarding in itself. I like it best when they keep back some models to remember 'dad' by.
    Sometimes when I have known the modeller well I have asked where certain items are? On one occasion after a search, it was only on going down some stairs that I saw what I was looking at eye level under a cupboard.

    It was a scratch built London underground train, all 6 coaches in OO gauge. It sold well at a local model railway club auction.
    It is best if models are disposed of early on rather than linger in a damp garage.

    Even better if modellers decide to dispose of their models before departing this world. I recommend this as they will also receive the thanks of the recipient and advise on any queries.

    I hope the above is not depressing but your models can 'live on' if considered in the right way.
    Roy

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    📝 Model boat storage
    1 month ago by 🇬🇧 roycv ( Vice Admiral)
    ✧ 55 Views · 8 Likes
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    Christmas Tree boxes.
    I have found the best storage boxes are artificial 'Christmas Tree' plastic containers at over a metre long and otherwise boat shape with a lock down lid.
    Great as long as the mast can be removed. They also stack nicely and are semitransparent to see what is inside.
    So if looking for same, now is a good time to find them.

    Also consider making your own from 'bargain' left over single packs of wood flooring from DIY Stores, which have the right dimensions, with small construction angle pieces.

    I have also used a Flat screen TV box cut down to suit, and with a little reinforcing they are very strong. I use a wide ribbon type sling to move the box around.

    Roy

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    📝 Question of the Day?
    1 month ago by 🇬🇧 roycv ( Vice Admiral)
    ✧ 70 Views · 1 Like
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    Apparently the AI content may be limited to the US! Of course Titanic is closer to you than us so probably has been adopted, which does not explain having the Vasa as an answer.

    HMS Victory is just famous for being the warship Nelson met his demise in. Also the answer USS Mississippi instead of HMS Driver gives an idea as to who did what first!

    I shall be interested to know who is ascribed as the inventor of the Light Bulb! Another contested if not disputed question between nations.
    I lurk in my sea of trivia oblivious to the real world of who or what or why.
    Or OMG not again! QoD questions of course.

    Roy

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    📝 Question of the Day?
    1 month ago by 🇬🇧 roycv ( Vice Admiral)
    ✧ 67 Views · 4 Likes
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    But Vasa is in a museum, Victory is in Portsmouth and Titanic is famous for being Titanic which leaves one 'unknown' (well to me anyway) which has to be the answer.

    I was listening to a BBC radio 4 programme yesterday talking about the harvesting of data for AI to generate 'information' from.
    Most of it is done by people who become slaves to the computer and are paid a pittance for a long day's work as there is no other work where they are.
    Teaching s/w and the like is very cheap to do. The speaker mentioned central Africa as the place. The slave workers are fixated by the job and are relentlessly measured for o/p of work. One point mentioned was to make decision on accepting or rejecting data every 55 seconds. The intensity of the work frequently breaks up marriages and families.

    Any general complaints about wages could cause the data requirement to move elsewhere and the jobs would just vanish.
    Also 'the Cloud' has become an insidious user of power.

    The computers supporting these systems now have a bigger carbon footprint than the entire aircraft industry including airlines.

    I did come across one statistic that suggested an individual doing a 'search' on their laptop which only took a few milli seconds used the same amount of power as boiling a kettle!

    There is a data centre for the cloud not far from me and it is the largest one in Europe. It uses a sizeable chunk of all power used by the local population.

    Typing this has associated costs!
    Roy

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    📝 Old electric motors
    1 month ago by 🇬🇧 roycv ( Vice Admiral)
    ✧ 77 Views · 9 Likes
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    Hi all, I have a confession! I do like old electric motors. I collect them, everything from the old Taycol ones to the Japanese ones that flooded the market in the late 50s. Of course I also have some Bassett-lowke ones which are more difficult to find.

    I still use the Marx-luder Monoperm/Super / Deca, series of motors as they are excelllent for the smaller model boats I build. Because many modellers have changed over to brushless motors the prices have fallen for the brushed ones.😆

    Of course you come across motors you have never heard of before which is nice. If you read Model Boats magazine the current edition has an article titled Flotsam and Jetsom.

    I correspond with the author and have done so for many years as we have similar interests. This edition concentrates on model electric motors, one of them has my name beneath in the caption as a difficult motor to find.

    Sure enough, last month I bought another which surfaced at our recent Model Show in St. Albans.

    As most of them run at a maximum of 3 or 4 amps which means I can use some very inexpensive esc's from China. By cheap I mean aproximately £3 each. They have worked well for me and none have failed over the last 3 or 4 years.

    I have photos does anyone else collect old motors? I understand that brushless motors are more efficient but for me with low power it does not much matter
    Roy

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    📝 Question of the Day?
    1 month ago by 🇬🇧 roycv ( Vice Admiral)
    ✧ 69 Views · 2 Likes
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    You should worry! I was told I had already answered it! AND got it wrong!!!!
    Roy

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    📝 Question of the Day?
    1 month ago by 🇬🇧 roycv ( Vice Admiral)
    ✧ 69 Views · 8 Likes
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    Oh! No not that one again!
    R

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    📝 Question of the Day?
    1 month ago by 🇬🇧 roycv ( Vice Admiral)
    ✧ 67 Views · 1 Like
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    The repeats are getting closer together!
    Roy

    ▲
    📝 Karoline,
    2 months ago by 🇬🇧 roycv ( Vice Admiral)
    ✧ 61 Views · 4 Likes
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    Hi Rogal, lovely model I like these old period boats and this one looks the part. Is the rudder big enough to cope?
    regards
    Roy

    ▲
    💬 Re: The way it is...
    2 months ago by 🇬🇧 roycv ( Vice Admiral)
    ✧ 154 Views · 11 Likes
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    Hi all I really liked that picture. It is by Joseph Kernon and I found another of his paintings with the same subject including a better view of the small schooner he is holding.

    Maybe a relation or the old fellow next door but the sailing boat looks like it exists. Is the hull in shadow in the other picture?

    Roy

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