Paddleducks
Paddler Modelling => Construction => Topic started by: Paddlemex on February 02, 2019, 07:19:11 AM
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Hi everyone,
After years of planning and on and off from this project I finally started building. Several years ago I found a set of pictures of a building report from the German Modell Werft which included a set of drawings. The drawings could be exported as pdf files to my drawing program where I scaled them to size. It was a lot of work because each drawing was posted in 4 parts and there are a total of 11 drawings making for 44 sheets and each one was slightly different in size. I had to resize every individual part, then join them and then find a common scale for the re-joined drawings. You can imagine …
Then a long time of sketching on those drawings followed. I am working on those PDFs copying the outlines and then creating the final design.
I want it to be a generic paddler, I will not name it Strongbow. Still doing research on what existed in the Scottish harbors and then find a name.
AS a first in my modeling career I used a laser shop to cut out the pieces of the basic kit. That was done in less than an hour and much more precise than what I could have done. I have a small CNC mill, but it would have taken ages to cut the parts there. Hoever, the mill will still get its share of work when the rest of the model.
Another surprise was the mess of the lasered parts. The burned edges where carbonized (surprise???) and blackened everything they touched. Didn't know what to do, so I soaked a piece of cloth in paint thinner and washed the edges. That worked, but I am not sure if thats how it should be done.
Here the first pictures.
And the first problem: I installed formers 7 and 8 inverted. I highlighted it in the yellow circle. I noted it when applying the first cover strips and it was too late to remove and re-place the formers. Fortunately the width of both formers was the same and the fix was easy: add some material to the low one and sand down the high one.
Last picture is the hull taking shape.
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Looking really good. :bravo :bravo :clap :clap :beer :beer
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Quote; "And the first problem: I installed formers 7 and 8 inverted. I highlighted it in the yellow circle. I noted it when applying the first cover strips and it was too late to remove and re-place the formers. Fortunately the width of both formers was the same and the fix was easy: add some material to the low one and sand down the high one.
Last picture is the hull taking shape."
As my old Dad used to say "the man who never made a mistake, never made anything!" It's looking great!
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She is really looking very good and promising. A very similar mistake like in the second picture I made with my paddler. But it also wasn`t too difficult to take some material from the frame and add some to the changed by mistake one.
Would be very interesting, you inform us with pictures of step by step progress like I with my paddler "Mindan".
Thomas
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Thanks for your encouraging comments.
@TailUK: I absolutely agree, BUT those who don't work don't make mistakes and will be rewarded and promoted. Anyway, I will make more mistakes.
@Hankwilliams: Yes I will. I just don't want to spam this fórum with every glue joint. I will show progress where there is something to see. Today I will have some time and hope to finish the hull.
I am following your Mindan build.
Jurgen
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Jurgen.....
Your build photographs :kewlpics ..... are just that, we will not think them as spam....please post as many as you wish...we will enjoy them...
I also found informative about the degree of burning/blackening :crash experienced from the lazer......must be a function of heat relative to the moisture content of the wood?. I have seen lazer cut 3mm marine ply and it displayed a blackened cut edge, but no loose carbonised fibers or dust
Derek :beer
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Gentlemen we have a hull.
Now let the sanding begin.
The stern part is solid made by sandwiching balsa sections.
@Derekwarner: the laser cut of my pieces did leave some dust-like deposit. Touching the edges left my fingers as if I had worked with barbecue charcoal. Now I was told that cleaning with a damp rag would have done the job, no need to use thinner. Learned something for the next project.
Jurgen
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I have sanded the hull and applied one coat of fiberglass and epoxy.
I must admit that I was a bit shocked when I saw the result with the cured epoxy next morning. It was all wavy and not smooth at all. See the first 2 pictures.
I then gave it a good sanding and applied another coat of epoxy, this time thinned 20% with isopropyl alcohol. The result is now much better, but still requires a lot of body filler and sanding.
It must be the epoxy. I used a new product because the product I normally use is no longer available.
In parallel to the hull I started to cut parts for the wheel. I will assemble one wheel first to see if everything fits as planned. Then comes No.2.
Jurgen
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I don't know if your aware of this roller for smoothing the resin/glass mix it's roller resembles a threaded rod but is simply grooved very handy for smoothing thicker glass mats quite cheap at resin shops and ebay.
(https://i90.servimg.com/u/f90/16/57/96/23/img_1210.jpg) (https://servimg.com/view/16579623/304)
For 6/10th ounce finishing cloth I made my own smooth roller with some 10mm Brass rod and a wire coat hanger bent to shape it removes 90% of the surface ripple in the resin.
(https://i90.servimg.com/u/f90/16/57/96/23/img_1211.jpg) (https://servimg.com/view/16579623/305)
It saves a lot of sanding I hope it gives you ideas.
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Hi Jürgen,
it seems, that there was too much epoxy or may be the temparature was too low. In every case - sanding and working with spatula will solve the problems.
Regards Thomas
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Damian & Thomas,
Both: too much epoxy and low temp.
It was pretty not-warm that day, about 15°C (not really cold, but not warm either) when I applied the first coat. It took all night to cure. When I applied the second coat I took the wet hull to our Wintergarden and closed the doors. It must have been 35°C there and that coat cured in less than four hours.
This epoxy is a lot thicker than the ones I had used before. The best was Clear & Simple, but that company is out of business for a long time, then I used ZPoxy, but I don't get that here anymore. Now I tried this one, but it's not the yolk of the egg.
I do have one of the small grooved rollers, but I have never used it in 30 years, and don't ask where it might be now. No idea.
Damian: I saw the picture of the trolley you had posted first instead of the grooved roller. I also saw it in the Tips&Ideas section. I have a similar trolley and will take your idea to build something similar to carry the model form the car to the water.
Jurgen
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Jurgen it had to be fold up as it needed to hang on hooks behind the seat of my mobility scooter, i've also built a trailer for carrying up to 2 boats to water approximately 2km each way.
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Damien: Fortunately I only have about 150 meters from the car to the water, but I will some sort of trolley anyway. Those ships tend to get heavier with every step you make.
I am still sanding, priming, filling, sanding … my hull.
In the meantime I began making some parts of the wheels. I have a few spokes and the center hub.
This will be a multi-material wheel. For the hub I used a hard PVC bar which I had bought for another project some time ago. Machines nicely.
For the hub I made a jig to ensure that the grooves for the spokes will be aligned on both sides.
The aluminum center tube is inserted in a hole I made in the base, that centers the whole job.
Then I machine the grooves on one side, still without the jig.
Next step is to add the jig centered on the alu tube.
Now the hub is fixed again upside down and the already machined grooves fit in the jig and will guarantee aligned grooves on side two.
Have to cut more spokes and make the jig for bending the spokes. Stay tuned.
Jurgen
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:clap :beer :clap :beer A good start.
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Thanks Damian-
Here the situation of the hull.
The ripple is gone. The small scratches from coarse sanding will be taken care of individually.
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:terrific :terrific
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Jurgen
what will be the diameter of the wheels? And which deplacement you expect the boat will have?
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Damian: your encouragement is always highly appreciated. It keeps the moral up. :D
Thomas: The O.D. of the wheel is 134mm.
I have not given too much thought regarding the displacement. I estimated 8 - 10kg.
However, given your question I made a quick calculation. The square footprint of the hull is 200 x 1000 mm and the draft (according to the drawing) is at 90mm. That makes for 18 kg for a square box. Considering 70% (very estimated!!) of that due to the roundness of the hull it results in 12.6 kg. A bit more than estimated.
Anyway, I want to install some small tanks (soda bottles??) fore and aft and use water ballast to keep the "carry-weight" acceptable. I plan to use a small pump to fill and empty the tanks at site. I don't know if that will work, but as of now that's the plan.
Jurgen
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Hi Jürgen,
it`s very positive, that our blog now got your very interesting posts about paddlesteamer building. For some time I had the feeling of rather low activitys of our 500 members - Damian, Derek and some others except. But now it seems a fresh breeze is coming.
To your boat: A delta of hull of 0,70 is realistic, and weight of ca. 12 kg is not too much for handling. Will your model get a electric- or perhaps a steam propulsion?
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Your welcome Jurgen :beer
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Hi Thomas,
I think your absolutely right regarding the low activity. I have been going through some of the build threads (not all of them - yet) and most of them begin very enthusiastic and then suddenly stop. Very few builds get finished. SAD (as some character could say).
At this time she will be electric. I have 2 RB35 1:50 gearmotors. They have 100rpm under load and will drive the wheels individually with 1:1 toothed belts.
From what I have researched 100rpm may too slow, I guess 125rpm should be the goal. In that case I can switch to 1:30 RB35's and fine tune by playing with the tooth belt pulley relation.
Steam is appealing, but no an option at this time. First I want to finish the boat and then we see.
Jurgen
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May be rich in meaning to post again some experiences with paddle wheel rotation of my "China" two years ago, the paddle wheels diameter (125 mm) are nearly like your boat:
Hi friends and neighbors,
in the last days I did some trials with steam in my water basin. The boat lies very stable, the draft reaches exactly the waterline, as you see.
Engine was running good, but in the beginning the gas tank became cold and looses pressure. So I made a tank heating with steam. Two minor leaks at the engine were sealed.
After at least 6 hours of trials and improvements it seems all is ok.
There are a few details at the boat which still must be done - the ships name, a ladder to the roof and some more.
The model is very bulky, it seems it will be necessary of assisting by a second person for put it to water at a lake or river.
The rotation of the direct driving wheels: It`s possible to hold 108 rpm by a boiler pressure of 2,3 bar - in the calm water of the basin and with heating of the gas tank. Shortly the rpm can reach more than 160 by a pressure of 3,4 bar, but then the boiler pressure goes down soon.
There is only one problem with the boiler feed pump - obviously there`s no suction when the water level is below the pump - like in the boat. I will watch this.
The duration of running is about 45 - 50 minutes without feed pump, then the boiler must filled again. The triad steam pipe in the front funnel needs a lot of steam, but the sound is nearly original, real phantastic.
Now I hope, you will enjoy the pictures!
Thomas
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Hullo Jurgen & welcome to PD's..... :coffee .....you are correct in the thoughts of only a handful or two of regular members who actually post messages
Our archives prove that over the years we have seen some amazing builds.... from friendly members over a world wide base
Pete from USA, built a functional steam stern wheeler.............his thread was 100 pages long with Q&A along the way,
His steam plant design & actual build was technically and functionally sound, the hull design proved a big question.....so Pete & I spoke about block coefficient & displacement theory & before long a suitable hull was designed to accommodate displacement requirements ....
[I think the estimated BC of 0.7 for your build is very close.....or ~~12.? kg displacement]
More recently, Thomas from Germany has provided thread build also of steam paddlers [I think Thomas has 14 paddlers, but some are stored at his Mothers home]
If we go back 20 years we find works by John Moore [Bog Standard] in the UK & Sandy Campbell from Scotland
All of these people have shared their knowledge openly and freely :gathering.................
We look forward to your continuing build thread...........any question.........just type away
Derek :beer
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Thomas: I read the full China thread. That's a beautiful ship and sails nice.
Derek: I looked for the 100+ page thread, but wasn't able to find it. Can you give me hint by telling me the page in the "Construction" section where to look?
Also it is a pity that in the older threads most of the pictures are gone. It's only half the the fun reading those reports without the pictures.
To all: I need help on how to attach the sponsons to the hull. Are they just glued onto the sides of the hull or are they integral part of the deck? I looked at several build threads, but wasn't able to see much detail, but one thread where they are glued.
I want them to be sturdy because I am a bit concerned that some (not requested, self appointed, spontaneous) helper will grab the ship at the sponsons to help putting her into, or taking her out of the water.
Up to now I am considering the glue version and have designed some sort of corner brace (similar to what I see on the pictures of the John H Amos), but I am not sure if that is enough.
Jurgen
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Jurgen.....here is the thread for Pete in USA......there are !58 postings......
http://www.paddleducks.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=6682.msg37692#msg37692
I posted a thread on the attachment of sponsons.....from our archives in 2005, 13 years ago.... :crash
http://www.paddleducks.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=724.msg2443#msg2443
Essentially it required drilling then filing 4 x mains slots in the hull....1 pair fwd of the paddle box and 1 pair aft of the paddle box
The set up & squareness of the hull is critical to the building board
1. Gluing thru hull timbers
2. Add external reinforcement longitudinal supports to the hull to the far extremities of the respective sponsons
3. Add internal reinforcement longitudinal supports to the hull to the far extremities of the respective sponsons
4. Form, then plank the triangular sponson plates
5. Then and only then, cut out the internal sections of the timbers @
Certainly, triangular Iron bars attached to the ships side to support the sponsons is common, in Australia...some paddlers used wooden gusset supports for this purposed
Are you using the German Plan set?......
6. A riveted triangular sponson support is shown in one End Elevation Drawing
7. Item 13 in another Elevation Drawing could certainly be the position for the same riveted triangular sponson support
A few images follow
Derek
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Yes, there are different methods of stabilizing the sponsons. Following pictures show my kind - may be not absolutely original, but stable and secure.
Thomas
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Derek & Thomas: Thanks to both of you. That was what I was looking for. Your pictures were very helpful.
Thomas: your acrylic test aquarium is a piece of art by itself. That's dedication to the hobby.
And yes Derek: those are the drawings I am working with.
I downloaded the drawings form a page where there was Part 2 of the build report taken from a '89 Modell Werft. Then I copied the PDFs into my drawing program and re-assembled the drawings. Each sheet was 4 to 6 individual PDF sheets and none was exactly the same scale. To make things even more exciting I noticed that there were drawings of 2 different plans.
Re-assembling and re-sizing all those sheets took several days.
Then I re-draw the outlines on the drawing.
Jurgen
Sorry, the attached screen shots are terrible, but you may get the idea.
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I also have some pictures: I assembled partially the first wheel.
Only 4 spokes on each side at this time. I wanted to see if the the theory from the drawing (key)board would adjust to reality.
Good news: it does.
I made a small gadget for bending the spokes. Better seen in the picture sequence.
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And more pictures.
I took the hull off the building board and cut off the temporary supports. Presented the wheel for a first impression.
Then I began cutting the paddles. On the left of the picture you see where they come from and why they are so nicely curved.
2-1/2" thin wall brass pipe.
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Good thinking on the paddles how thick are they Jurgen ?
:clap :clap :clap :clap :clap :clap :clap :bravo :bravo :bravo
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Thickness is 1mm. It's perfect.
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:clap :clap :clap :beer :beer :beer
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Hi all,
Very slow progress here. Visiting friends out of town one weekend, and having friends from out of town at our home the next left little time for the workshop.
I wasn't completely idle however, the hull has had many sessions of primer, filler, sanding. I guess it has 6 coats now and the surface is getting close to how I want it.
One problem is that I when I put on the planking I left the first plank about 5mm short of the deck level. No idea how that happened. Now I am filling that gap but I have 5mm of raw wood on top of the finished part. Means: more primer, filler, sanding, ad nauseum. I will probably fix that when installing the railing. Pics of that later.
I also prepared a little gadget for soldering the paddle levers to the paddle blade. Originally I wanted to silver solder the paddles, but then I looked up the melting temp of aluminum and realized it was very close to the temp of the silversolder. Since the spacer would be alu in any case (because it would not stick to the solder) I deleted the silver solder and will use soft solder.
I was also easier because I could use a wooden base.
After looking at the pictures I ask myself why is that alu piece so big? Too much mass which will take away heat from parts to be soldered. Well, we'll see. I can cut it smaller anytime.
Jurgen
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very precise and exact work. This is really mechanical engineering!
Go on Jurgen!
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Thanks Thomas.
I hope I can get something soldered this weekend.
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I couldn’t see a mention of how the parts where cut?
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Had not mentioned it Geoff.
I have a small tabletop CNC mill where the parts are cut.
Having problems lately, however. The mill is a StepFour and the company is out of business for several years.
The software worked fine on my Windows 7 laptop, which unfortunately passed away last year. Now I have a new one running Windows 10 pro and the software will not install because there is no one to upgrade the software.
A friend helps me finding a solution and we were able to install and run the software on 2 Win 10 pro, one laptop and one PC, however, my new laptop has the latest generation Core i7 and apparently this version has some different structure which does not allow the software to run.
Still working on it. In the meantime I brought back to life an old PC running XP for the mill only. It is annoying, however, because I have no internet on the PC and I have to store the drawings on an USB stick and transfer them from the laptop to the mill PC. Besides it takes away a lot of space and needs even more space for the monitor.
Anyway, I hope that we can find a solution.
Jurgen
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Some progress and several minor mishaps/disasters during the last few days.
The progress is that the first wheel is done (almost) and since everything fitted as expected, I started cutting the parts for wheel No. 2.
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Then I gave the interior of the hull 2 coats of a 2-part polyurethane marine floor finish. And here mishap No.1 struck.
While brushing on the PU some drops fell on the workbench and since I try to avoid problems I diligently wiped them off with a piece of tissue. Then the piece of tissue was gone, OK, no problem, I took another one and continued.
The next day when I moved the hull, guess where the soaked piece of tissue showed up?
Of course under the hull and glued to it.
Was able to sand it, but I am back to primer, fill and sand.
Mishap No.2 occurred when I glued in the reinforcements in the main shaft area. Some how the previously reasonably flush outer skin developed some waviness as on the planks. See pic.3. Since this is in the sponson area I will probably leave it as is.
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The soldering of the paddles blades to paddle levers did not go exactly to plan. I first tried with my 100W soldering iron and a low temp silver solder I use for soldering cables to high capacity Lipo batteries. That did not work. It took over 5 minutes for the workpiece to get warm, but the solder never really flowed.
So I went to Plan B - Small gas torch, 1/8" plumber's solder and good old plumber's solder paste.
That went well. The wooden soldering device suffered a little bit, but it looks worse than it is. I already posted the picture of the paddle parade together with the complete wheel.
Jurgen
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really excellent work!
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Thanks Thomas,
It's a nice feeling when assembling and all parts fit as expected.
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Your Paddle Wheels are really good.
Are you going to leave them brass or spray paint.
Mike.
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Thanks Mike.
The brass looks really nice, but they will be painted, some kind of red. I do not want a shiny just-off-the-slipway model, so a Ferrari red is out of the question. In another thread the Rustoleum red primer was mentioned, some kind of dull red. I will see if I can get that here.
Jurgen
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Some progress, but I always plan too much for a given day and never come to do all I wanted to.
Made the eccentric disk. The plan calls for 5mm brass. Since I don't stock that thickness I cut 2 slightly oversize disks from 2.3mm sheet, soft soldered them together and then milled to the final size.
Installed the floor for the equipment and cut the deck supports. I cheated for the picture, the supports are not yet glued.
Also made the sponsons. I sandwiched 2 layers of 2mm balsa between 2 pieces of 1.6mm ply. The extensions will interlock to the center piece. Still the raw parts, some finish required.
Jurgen
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What do you call all those small to disastrous incidents that happen on the workbench during construction?
In the RC airplane world you refer to it as "developing hangar rash". Like dropping a screwdriver on a perfectly finished wing.
What would that be in paddleduck world? Developing slipway rash?
Jurgen
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This small to disastros incidents also well known by me - for example a M 1 screw falls down on the carpet and will never found. One bore hole is too big...and so on. Perhaps this incidents are inevitable? I don`t know. In every case - they must be overcame, so that the model is growing and will be suceed.
But Jurgen, your work is really awesome and will suceed!
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Thanks Thomas.
And yes, those M1 screws seem to evaporate on the way from the table to the floor. They never show up again.
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Begins to look like a paddle tug.
The sponsons will go in cut-outs in the hull to be flush with deck level.
The deck supports are glued now.
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will be a first class paddler....Again: What are the dimensions?
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Thanks Thomas. I really hope she turns out as I imagine.
Length: 1000mm
Breadth hull: 200mm
Breadth over sponsons: 380mm
Dia. of wheel: 134mm
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Jurgen...........I went back to the Strongbow Plan set [1:50 scale] but could not find a displacement listed in the German text
If the hull undercoat is waterproof, now is the perfect time :whistle to pencil in the required waterline markings, place the hull in the bath and load & record the hull with weights :crash
Knowing this now is important as it will assist you in understanding the progressive build & equipment's to be installed
[if you intended to run your completed vessel in sea water, you could always add a few kilograms of salt in the bath water to attain a more precise level of hull flotation over fresh water etc]
[courtesy of WIKI]
"Because of salinity and temperature variations, the density of seawater ranges from about 1.02 g/cm3 to 1.03 g/cm3.", whereas fresh water is 1.0g/cm3
Yes, this means a 'body' volumatic flotation increase of between 2 to 3% when in salt water over fresh water
Have you calculated/trialed a displacement yet?......from your dimensions length of 1000mm x Breadth hull: 200mm, I am guessing somewhere about 12kg displacement :shhh
Derek
edit.......10kg .... :shoot
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Derek: good idea to do the weight determination right away. I first considered to do that at the pond, but it is probably better to do it now.
Regarding the weight I think you were right at your first guess, before the Edit. Thomas had already asked and in post #17 I came up with just over 12kg considering a draft of 90mm and 70% of the block volume.
Will be interesting to see what the real value will be.
In the meantime I have finished the first wheel and made the cut-outs in the hull to accept the sponsons.
Also made a sponson support to the type I found in the John H Amos pictures. Three more to make.
I will additionally add some of the "stick" supports like the item 13 in the drawing (which I did not identify properly in the beginning).
Jurgen
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Not much progress here. I have most of the parts of the the second wheel, but I am out of 4mm brass. The store where I buy the brass normally will sell less than full stretch pieces, but this time they would not. The guy I normally talk to wasn't there and maybe the sales person I spoke to just had a bad day or was too lazy to come and cut a piece off the full length bar. I don't want buy 3.60 meters of 4mm bar. Will try again later.
In the meantime I am still priming, filling and sanding the hull. Every time I look at it some new dents will appear. Slipway rash!!
I am through 2 cans of primer already.
I drilled the hole for the rudder shaft.
I need a distance of 3.5mm from the stern so I taped and clamped a 7mm tube to the stern.
For the 4mm pilot hole I slid I 6mm tube into the 7mm as a reduction. Then I pressed the 4mm drill into a 5mm tube. Sounds complicated, but I hope the attached picture tells the story.
Then I drilled to 5mm.
For the final drilling to 7mm I made my own step drill from "toothed" brass tube parts. Drilled from above. Again the pictures should explain.
I didn't want to use a 7mm drill because I was afraid the drill would rip the wood too much and probably cause damage to the hull upon exiting.
Result looks acceptable.
Jurgen
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Thomas: I have seen you comment regarding the bore alignment in the "Welf" thread. I guess that should have been here and I answer here.
Actually the bore is pretty well centered. The impression must come from the shadows in the picture. The bore is, however, slightly inclined away from the vertical stern line in lateral view. It is quite minor and I don't know if it will actually do any harm. In any case it can be corrected with resin as you say.
Since I can not finish the second wheel and the hull still requires more detail work I started the paddle boxes.
All went fine until I accidentally told the mill to mill where nothing was supposed to be milled. See pics. I decided that this little mishap would be possible to be corrected later with filler and I continued until … well … looking at the finished part something looked weird.
Upon placing the wheel into the paddle box I saw the weirdness problem. All those little "ventilation" (?? that's what they are for, or just for the looks?) cutouts are moved forward of the wheel center. :41
No idea how or when this happened. Still have to check the drawings and the mill contours.
Still don't know what to do. Maybe I can just replace the piece. However, the glue I am using actually welds the parts together and is virtually impossible to de-glue. Worst case scenario is to redo the part completely.
Anyway, here are the pictures. Please note my nuclear engineering level high tech styrene forming device.
Jurgen
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So Jurgen asks.......'all those little "ventilation" (?? that's what they are for, or just for the looks?'
No not for looks only Jurgen...when the paddle wheels are at scale speed, the wheels lift a huge quantity of water up into the paddle box's....without the vents that splash water outwards, the area in and under the box between the water surface & 12:00 o'çlock of rotation would become water bound and retard the rotation of each wheel
With respect to the axis of the wheel box and the axis of the paddle shaft, certainly most paddlers display a common axis here, however any minor variance will be cosmetic only
Derek
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Hi Jurgen,
very neat and exact work. How many mm are the difference of the axis of the paddle shaft and the center of axis of the wheel box? May be, it`s only less - if it is, like Derek wrote - it`s more a matter of cosmetic.
Thomas
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Derek and Thomas: Well, it was more than just cosmetic. 11mm difference is way out of cosmetic.
I decided to cut out the misaligned part and make it new. For the cut I made a little adapter for my Dremels multi tool attachment which allowed a precise (well, sort of) cut at a constant distance from the edge. Then I glued the replacement piece and fillered the seam.
Result is almost invisible, with a little more filler it will be invisible … I hope.
Jurgen
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In the direct comparisation one can percept that its`s now centric and has the better proportions and impression than before. It`s good to alter incorrect parts - even when only the craftsman notes the failure...
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Agreed Jurgen....you will also sleep better knowing ~~ concentrically is attained :beer ..... Derek
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....you will also sleep better knowing
- even when only the craftsman notes the failure...
Right guys. I would have always seen the lack of concentricity and kick myself for not having fixed it on time.
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Got some work done last (long!) weekend.
Made the second paddlebox and started the superstructure.
A picture of my superstructure "kit". I went together quite well, but I had not considered the slight camber of the roof. Since I glued the side walls perfectly square to the roof the walls now tilt slightly inwards. I guess I can correct that with a frame. Should be easy … I hope.
Begins to look like a paddle tug.
Also was able to find the 4mm brass and assembled the second wheel. Actually I had to buy 5/32" brass, but the 4mm-5/32" dimension is about the only measure where metric/inch dimensions are identical within 3/100 mm so i won't matter.
I made a picture of the completed wheel and the wheel kit for No. 2.
Jurgen
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Excellent - go on Jurgen!
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Thanks Thomas.
I am now working on the shaft bearing/seal solution. Still have no final design for that.
I have seen that many of you use bronze or brass bearings with lubrication devices.
I am considering ball bearings of the sealed type, the 2RS type. What would speak against this?
I think if the seals keep the grease in, they will keep the water out. Are there indications against this?
Jurgen
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Jurgen...
Inexpensive bearing housings in aluminium with a 12.5 bore body bore
They are available with a stainless steel ZZ [stainless double shielded, all stainless steel {400 Series} ball bearings ] to suit common bore sizes.....4mm 6.35mm as shown here
If a pair are mounted just by the hull, they will provide accurate alignment [low rotational friction load] & support for the paddle shaft
The Beaings are lisited low cost, and as ZZ [2RS], so are are not water resistant, but splash proof only :whistle
Pretty sure they are originally from SPD/SI in America....about AUD$20.00 each complete
The relatively low speed of the application and the duty cycle involved also favors bronze bush & compact [o-ring] sealing for the paddle shaft
Derek
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Those are nice housings, Derek. But they would be kind of over-engineerd for my ship. I thought of a flat plywood housing attached to the hull. Or maybe made of aluminum.
However I didn't consider the water proof against splash proof difference. Is the splash(??) inside the wheel housing more than industry splash level?
Maybe I shall go back to the bonce bearing solution. I have some 5/8" bonce bar in stock.
Jurgen
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No bearings yet, but the rudder is installed.
Does it only happen to me? You have a whole day to work on your model. You make a (wish-) to-do list and if you actually get 30% of the list done it's been a good day.
The rudder design is not to the drawing. I took the look from a series of pictures of the John H Amos in Flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/jf01350/sets/72157617231943410 Scroll down.
To be able to have it removable I installed a piece of 7mm brass tube in the hull which allows the 3mm rudder shaft to enter tilted and then align with the hinge pins. The space between the the shaft and the tube is then filled with removable bushing inserted from above.
The pictures tell the story.
First I drilled the bushing only to 1.6mm and used a 1.6mm piano wire to align the hinge bases. Hinges glued with epoxi.
Then the hinge pins are glued with superglue and the bushing bore is enlarged to 3mm.
The rudder blade is silver soldered to the shaft and the hinge strips are soft soldered to the blade.
Jurgen
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Those rudder pintals look very strong & the supports against the rudder blade prototypical Jurgen
I am not a fan of epoxy/superglue on such small size/diameter components, however fully understand the forces will be in shear against the 1.6 diameter wire pin joints.......
My preference would have been all brass construction with 1/16" diameter brass hard drawn wire and brass pintal support brackets and all soft soldered
The captive method/design for rudder removal is also is also quite unique :bravo
Derek
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Really admirable kind of building and precision! May be, you will get a model of really museum quality, Jurgen!
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Thanks to my crowd of followers of 2.
Derek, maybe the pictures suggest that the supports are flat glued to the hull. Not so. The visible brass part is a 6mm square brass rod which has been machined to 3mm dia. 12mm long. All that now invisible 3mm part is glued into the stern. The 3mm drill is still in the Dremel in the second picture. Unfortunately I have no picture of the parts.
Then I needed the support without the pin so I could align with the 1.6mm piano wire. I agree solder would be better, but I didn't want to solder on the glued part, it would have softened the epoxi and ruined the alignment.
An option would have been to cut a thread on the 3mm diameter and screw the supports into the stern, but - no - the epoxi is fine.
Thomas, I know myself and the final finish is not my strength. Museum quality is too high, let's aim for a good stand-off (1.5 m distance) model.
I still want to imitate 3 or 4 rivets on each hinge strip. My thoughts go from a simple dot of glue to drilling and actually riveting. Come time come rivet.
Jurgen
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:clap :clap :clap :beer :beer :beer :clap :clap :clap
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Thanks Damian.
I correct myself: Crowd of followers of 3. :)
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Jurgen......could I suggest that many more of our PD members :gathering view your postings than just the 3 you suggest
We also see that this your #build thread has been opened & viewed 2242 times so...... :shhh
I have caught a snapshop #70 here of your thread today, and also a snapshot of members visiting our site today
So if you see no one has looked at your #build thread for say any one week....then take up a cooking thread :tongue1
Derek
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I'm sorry Derek, the cooking thing is not gonna happen. I have an agreement with my wife: I don't mess up the kitchen and she doesn't build models. :sunglasses
Seeing the views now. :s_cool
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Really a very good agreement...
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She has seen the water for the first time and liked it.
I marked the waterline on the hull and then made the ballast test in the tub.
I marked two lines: one at 92mm draft (as per the drawing) and another at 87mm, 5mm less.
At the 87mm line the lowest paddle is just covered by the water. The pencil lines on the hull are barely visible on the second picture.
At the 87mm line it required 9.83kg of ballast. I didn't add more weight but it will be about 1 or 1.5 kg more to reach the 92mm line.
So the estimates we had made were quite close.
In the second to last picture are the ballast pieces I used. I had packed the very rusty pieces in plastic bags to avoid getting more dirt than necessary into the hull.
Last picture shows the rivets on the rudder. I used the "anchored" glue blob technique. I drilled a 1mm bore about 1mm deep, then mixed some epoxi and with a toothpick placed a little drop in the bore.
Unfortunately they are not perfectly aligned, the drillings looked OK, but it seems that the epoxi flowed unevenly. No action scheduled to correct this.
Jurgen
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Agreed Jurgen.....
You will certainly need that additional ballast to bring her down the extra 5 mm.....so to minimize cavitation of the wheel blades
You may have mentioned hull weight to date :whistle, but what is the total displacement [weight] required to bring the hull draft to this of 92mm?
Derek
PS....all those chunks of metal + the Good Wifes digital kitchen :shhh scales, sure do make ship building easier
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the Good Wifes digital kitchen scales,
What do you mean Derek? Are you suggesting that ….. I would never ……
OK, got me, I used it. How would you know, did you spy on me? I knew it was a bad idea to install Alexa.
And regarding the weight of the hull. I forgot about that. ::) :P
Weight of the hull is 1.05kg. So we are at just over 11kg. Even closer to the estimate.
Add to that whatever it requires to get the additional 5mm of draft.
Jurgen
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Some progress here. Parts are coming together.
I made the decks and glued the sponsons.
I stained the decks but I am a bit concerned that I went too far. But anyway, I want a used coal burning tug and not a cruise ship.
Jurgen
PS. Damien: Sorry to read about your Volcano. Before binning her you might have asked if some one was interested to adopt her, postage paid. The hull looked beautiful.
Good luck for your new projects.
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Jurgen...before you glue the deck down, you may wish to consider
1. a light coating [sloshing] of thin glassing resin to each and every inner hull surface between each frame. This will strengthen the entire hull structure immeasurably
An option here is to cut glass tissue into strips and bed down into the resin between each frame to make it unbreakable :crash
2. the underside of the deck must also be coated now, as you will never get the practical chance later......you may also choose either a polyurethane coating a traditional varnish or glass resin. This will also dictate they type of adhesive you use to glue the deck to the hull framework
Pretty sure the Strongbow plans showed coaling scuttles on deck......so you could experiment [on a scrap of wood] with some graphite powder around the scuttles to simulate spilt coal dust before you seal the upper deck surface
Derek
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Thanks for the comments Derek. It's always nice to count on external observers who help to avoid forgetting stuff which is difficult or impossible to fix later.
The inner hull has received 2 coats of a PU marine floor finishing resin some time back. That should do it. I didn't glass the interior because the hull was glassed on the outside. It wouldn't have been too difficult to put some glass in while PUing, but it's too late now.
The decks are already glassed on the underside. I had some resin crawl to the top without noticing it. That's why there are some clear spots on the deck because the stain wouldn't penetrate the wood there. Will deal with that later.
I will still coat the deck supports (the whitish wood in the pictures) before gluing the decks to the hull.
Interesting point is the coal scuttles. I have no idea where they loaded the coal into the bunkers. The plans don't mention any coal feed openings and an afternoon of googling didn't enlighten me either. I found some drawings that show the coal bunkers to be located midships at both sides of the engine room, but no hints to how or where they were filled.
Jurgen
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Jurgen......here are the coal scuttles on Strongbow, 2 each...Port & Stdb...... but behind the wheel box's you don't see much.....the are on a steel floor so again a little graphite powder before the final seal would be OK......
I think traditionally the scuttle lids were a heavy cast iron and a 1/8 twist/turn to unscrew then a T bar to lift off the deck......
Derek
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There they are, Derek. Thanks.
I had searched the drawings and didn't see them. Proves again how helpful the additional eyes in the forum are.
But they are hidden behind the wheel housings. It must have been a pain to load there. Looks like they had to carry the coal in buckets by hand or with a trolley at best to get to the scuttle lids. Ergonomic design looks different.
Don't know if I will include them on the model. They are hidden too much.
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The difficult decision of Name Finding.
Ever since I started this build I knew I would not name the ship Strongbow. There are already enough Strongbows around.
So what now? I have been investigating the few still existing similar tugs like Eppleton Hall, John H Amos or Reliant (well, the latter sort of existing), but they all have significant differences to my build so those names do not fit.
Looking at the names we have all kind of references: a city hall, an owner´s name or a strong adjective, and it seems anything can be used.
So I decided to name her Morangie Castle. I know there is no castle anywhere near the famous Glen, but who cares? It's also some sort of dedication to the fine product of that area.
Still don't know if I will register her in Invergordon or in Inverness. As far as I could find out there were tugs in both harbors.
Jurgen
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Only small progress on my model. I feel that I spend a lot of hours, but there is very little to see.
Have glued the decks. The middle part is styrene which is the metal part on the real tug and will be painted black.
Also made the motor mount.
Jurgen
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There is no clock that truly represents time spent :darn
Those contoured A frame sponson supports look good :clap ......
The motley irregular tones of the decking could be overall, a little dark? :thinking, may need a very light sand down with 1000 grit W&D paper if you want to represent a weather bleached appearance
Derek :beer
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Thanks Derek. I'm really happy how the sponson supports look.
Regarding the color of the deck I agree with you. I already had mentioned that I feel that I went too far.
I have tried your suggestion with the fine grit sand paper. It actually lightened a bit, but I feel that it is the fine, white sanding dust which deposited in the pores. I guess that when I go over it with a damp cloth (haven't done it yet) it will be as before.
Since it is a water/vinegar based stain I will try to dilute it with a sponge and water. I might work.
Jurgen
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Made the bulwarks. Before I can glue them to the deck I have to fix the paddleboxes in their final position.
I will make the paddleboxes removable.
Tried the sponge&water method and it didn't work. After the decks were dry again I sanded a little more and I begin to like how it looks. Pictures of that later.
Jurgen
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And on goes the activity (apparently the only activity in the forum) on the Morangie Castle.
I have added styrene parts to the wheel boxes which hold them in place. These parts fit snugly in the sponsons with almost no play at all. Final attachment to the sponsons will be with screws or magnets. I tend to use magnets, but still no final decision is taken.
The portside bulwarks are in place.
Just before gluing the forward bulwark I realized that there was a gigantic design flaw, because if glued to the deck the rounded part next to the wheel housing would not allow the wheel housing to be removed. I cut off the rounded part and glued it to the wheel housing -> problem and lots of anger avoided. Pictures should explain.
Jurgen
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I have now glued all bulwarks.
I am in a bit of a hurry now because I will leave for 3 weeks of holiday next week. Since I want to make a test-drive (test-sail??) next Sunday I will need to put in a few night shifts to have her navigable. Need to install the motor and make a provisional radio installation.
No paint or finish at this point.
Jurgen
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Build at your own pace Jurgen
......in the real world, any ship rushed :hammer.... to meet a completion date always returns to dock for rectification
Derek
PS...enjoy your :vacation
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I am aware of that Derek.
I didn’t mean to be sloppy, I just plan to put in some extra hours.
Ir I get there : Great. If I dont no problema.
Thanks for your good wishes - I will.
Jurgen
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I made the "inner bulwarks" (?). They will hold the superstructure in place and should (!!) avoid eventual water on the deck getting in the hull.
To get a tight fit I fixed the walls to the superstructure with magnets, let them stand over a few mm and tack glue the walls in place. Then - after having removed the superstructure the walls are glued with a generous bead of glue.
Jurgen
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:clap :clap :clap :clap :clap :clap :clap :beer :beer :beer
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No, it's not Proud Mary but the wheels on my Morangie Castle have turned for the first time:
https://youtu.be/o6iy6Ipi13E
I have put together all the pieces I have built and the wheels turned with motor and belt.
It looks OK. The portside wheel wobble is within my tolerance, but the starboard wheel needs some correction. I hope I can fix that with some gentle bending of the whole assembly.
Also there is some clack-clack I don't like.
On the downside I have abandoned the goal of sailing her next Sunday. So many details left and I completely forgot about the splash guards inside the paddle box in the bearing area. I have already made some sketches, but no way to cut and install those parts.
So she will have to wait until I am back to see real water.
Thanks for the applause Damien.
Jurgen
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Jurgen....excellent...I would not be concerned with the click-clack....
1. in the water the sound will be minimized
2. the sound is semi prototypical
3. the slow speed control is such many real steamer modelers only wish for :shoot
The more you watch videos of real paddlers, the more you see a degree of wheel run out. Remember when your Strongbow is in the water the only part of the wheel you see is that 25mm between the water and the bottom of the sponson
The bearing sleeves & caps you have manufactured are totally fit for purpose :beer
Derek
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Hi Derek,
The problem with the water splash is that the bearings are inside the paddlebox. And there is an open space in the deck where the shaft crosses the deck. It can be seen some posts back where I show the "inner" bulwarks. Last picture of Post #92.
This open space has to be covered because too much water would get into the hull there.
I'm not really concerned about water getting through the bearings, even though at this time I have not installed any O-ring seal or similar.
Could be added later if necessary.
And yes: electric has an advantage regarding low speed, but steam is the real thing.
Jurgen
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… where the
rain water gets in.
To solve the splash issue I came up with this little add-on.
It should cover the part behind the bearing (and the bearing too). Does it work? We'll see.
At this point the positive aspect is that the wheel still turns freely and the housing can be removed and reinserted with no problem.
Now the slipway will be closed for 3 weeks due to :vacation
Jurgen
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:clap :clap :clap :clap :clap :clap :clap :clap :clap :clap :clap
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Yes, Jurgen, this should be the right way to solve the splash of the paddlewheels.
Thomas
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Beautiful work!
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Hello everyone, I am back home and resumed work on the ship (yeah the other work too …)
Thanks kno3.
Didn't do much. Just the pulleys for the steering cables.
Mass production of pulleys. The not-centered wire is there only to catch the cut-off piece. They tend to jump off the lathe and vanish.
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Coming along beautifully! Have seen the plans for this one online before so keen to see what they translate to!
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Looks verygood, Jurgen!
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Thanks MrP and Thomas. I hope my translation renders OK.
Been busy the weekend and made the cable rudder drive. The servo tray is not yet fixed. I realized that if I install the servo tray permanently I will not have access to the rear servo fastening screws. Since I am not a friend of permanent installations I will have to find a solution here. Maybe some sort of guides that permit sliding the tray & servo forward for maintenance.
Also made the wheelhouse. Not fixed yet either. I want to leave the roof removable to have access to the interior in case I decide to add some interior details. Need to make some parts for that.
Last picture is the high tech bending device for the wheelhouse front. Wetted and left there overnight it kept the radius.
Actually I had to cut the front twice. I cut the first piece without considering the wood grain. The grain was horizontal and the part was impossible to bend. Second one with the grain direction vertical bent quite easy.
In fact the rear and laterals also have the grain horizontally. Left it that way and I hope it won't show too much after staining the wood.
Jurgen
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:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)
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Thanks Damien. Hope you are OK.
Decided for the sliding tray for the servo installation. I still have to make some adjustments, like the brass protection tube where the cable crosses the deck, but I left it as is for now because I want launch her on Sunday. I also will move the tray about 7mm to stern which will align the servo arm with the (future) protection tube.
The whole installation works as expected: servo moves cable => cable moves rudder arm.
Also made and installed the splash guard inside the second paddle box. No pics here.
Jurgen
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Hi Jurgen,
the connection servo to rudder is very close to the original, but I think it will be more secure to enclose the wire at least at the rollers beside the servo. Like it is now there may be danger that the wire will jump over and the boat looses his steering ability. At my "Mindon" (picture) I enclose the wire at the rollers.
Thomas
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Fully agree Thomas. It is on the to-do list.
Jurgen
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She has seen real water and liked it even better than the bath tub.
My splash guards worked better than expected. I did expect some water to get inside where the shaft crosses the deck and placed some rags under the those areas, but not one drop got inside. Rags totally dry after more than 2 hours of sailing.
She has no bad habits. After correcting a little listing by shifting the ballast pieces she sailed perfectly stable, no listing at all in the turns.
I would like to have a bit more speed. Maybe I will change the actual 1:50 RB35 motor by a 1:30. In the video I go full speed most of the time.
Previous to the launch I still modified some issues I had already mentioned:
- Move the servo 7mm to stern
- Install the protective tubes where the steering cables cross the deck
- Make something more appealing to the eye for fixing the steering cables to the servo arm
- Glue some mini magnets to attach the wheel house roof
Heres the video of the test drive.
https://youtu.be/q5F1LC3pnV8
Jurgen
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Congratulate Jurgen! The boat seems to has very good nautical qualitys with the wide hull and the relative big draught - I suppose, there will be no tendence of list.
Thomas
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Does everybody get the terrible video quality on YT I get?
The original on my PC has good quality.
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Jurgen............the clarity and quality of the attachnement is excellent....colours, stability all OK...I have viewed on an 8 year old desktop and a 5 day old laptop.......both video cards obviously different however both display the quality I mention
The vessel appears to be at or possibility a little below her intended draft.......obviously you will need to be critical of her additional to weight
The sedate speed of the vessel appears what we could imagine of a vessel of this class
https://youtu.be/q5F1LC3pnV8
PS...[the venue also appears interesting with enough water surface to make realistic scale waves,and whilst the water at first looked brown....later we see a submarine clearly [@ 1:45 minutes] below the surface....the sky is blue, so the bottom of the pond/lake must be dirty]
The variety of different craft is also interesting
Derek
Derek
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Thanks Thomas and Derek.
It was a nice day last Sunday with a larger crowd than usual.
The sub appears 3 times on the video: at 0:23 it passes submerged to the right of me, then at 1:06 it passen in front, only the turret visible and then at 1:45 where you saw it. We had 3 subs on Sunday.
The quality thing is weird. On my PC I still get the lousy resolution I was complaining about, but on my iPad and the laptop at home it shows fine. It's not the first video I edit here and this has not happened before. I don't like computers :crash
Jurgen
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The paddleboxes have grown a dino back.
Made the steps of the stairs up the paddle boxes.
The steps are not glued yet, I placed them only for the picture.
Also glued the supports for the sliding doors.
The wooden parts have been sanded a lot, but I am surprised how rough they look in the close-up pictures. Guess I have to do more sanding.
Jurgen
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Coming along nicely Jurgen well done. :clap :clap :clap :clap :clap :clap :clap
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Thank you Damien. :D
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Didn't get much done this weekend.
Cut the parts for the small attachments to the deck like companionways and ventilation hatches.
Upon arranging the parts I realized that made a few mistakes and will have to re-do some pieces.
The worst mistake is a classic. Shown in the second picture. Who sees it?
Hint: It's not the piece with the missing edge in the lower part of the picture.
Jurgen
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Drat darn *********** happens to us all frequently to me lol
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Ha ha .. yes .. you meant to do a mirror image.
I have made such mistakes countless times on modelling projects and even on instruments I have built. There it is extremely costly as I can testify from personal experience!
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Yeah, one feels kind of :( :-[ and then ::)
Anyway I fixed it, didn't see any option to cutting new parts.
Now I can put it all together.
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:clap :clap :clap
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Thanks Damien.
Have been distracted with other issues, but I'm back now. Seems I have become the sole entertainer here.
I filled the gap in the deck where the shaft crosses. During the test sailing I had placed some rags under that area but no water at all got in.
Anyway, I feel better having the gap shut.
I smeared some Bondo in the gap, then slipped a piece of 7/6mm tube over the 6mm shaft and pressed it in place. Then screwed down the shaft until the Bondo had just set. When it was becoming solid, but before hardening completely I could remove the shaft with very little resistance.
Now the shaft has 1/2mm clearance to the filling.
Also installed the magnets which hold the paddle boxes in place.
Jurgen
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Put the hand rails on the bulwarks. It's the jobs that you think you can do in a moment that result in taking a lot of time.
Guess now I can start to think about painting the hull.
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Ready for some paint.
Masking the model is not my favorite task in modelling in particular with all those bulwark stays.
Jurgen
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Painted the white part and forgot to make a picture.
Then some more masking work and applied the black paint. Unfortunately the black paint can decided to declare emptiness just when I had finished 80% of the second coat. Will get a more black today.
Jurgen
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Paint of the hull is done.
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It will be a really masterpiece, Jurgen.
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:clap :clap :clap :clap :clap Outstanding. :clap :clap :clap :clap :clap
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Thanks to both for the appreciation and applause.
The ship has a name. I am not too happy with alignment of the stern letters. It doesn't look that bad alive, but when I saw the picture I may consider doing that again. Also there seems to be missing a piece of the T in castle. Have to check that on the ship. It was complete when I applied the letters.
Also made the planking for the sponson platforms.
Jurgen
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Glued the steps to the paddlebox.
Then I experimented a bit with the finish. Remember the parte of the first paddlebox I had to replace because it was cut out of center? I used that part to try the finish.
For one part I wanted to see if the paint I applied from spray cans would harmonize with the thinner I will use with the airbrush for the finish. It does!!
I want a no-glossy satin finish but I can only get full matte or high gloss lacquers and only black or white matte in cans. So I mix matte and gloss to get some sort of satin finish and use the airbrush.
I don't know if lacquer ages with time, what I have is about 15 years old but is still perfectly liquid, it got somewhat dark, however.
In the third picture is the test piece. I like the somewhat yellowish taint it got, however, I'd like the finish a bit more matte. I will make another test.
Jurgen
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:clap :clap :clap :clap Looking great. :bravo :bravo :bravo :bravo
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Thanks Damien.
Progress begins to slow down when it comes to the details. I have only managed to build the chimney and the machine room grating during my last few working sessions.
Jurgen
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a really masterpiece with a very exact and neat impression, Jurgen. But one question about the original I have: Is "Strongbow" a fictive or a really historic vessel like "John A. Amos" or the other paddle tugboat in San Francisco Maritime Museum? In the net there are only some informations about a screw tugboat of this name. I also own the very exact and realistic plan of the paddler "Strongbow", but I didn`t find some information about the original.
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Thanks Thomas,
I have been looking for information too but I also only found the screw driven Strongbow tug and it seems that our Strongbow is a fictitious model-only paddeler inspired by the real vessels you mention.
The ones I found are the Eppleton Hall (San Francisco, semi-restored, but no public access), the John H. Amos (Chatham, in very deteriorated condition, waiting for funds) and the Reliant (sad story of restoration, scrapping and partial re-restoration at 2 different museums).
I am building mine from the H.J. Scholz drawing I found years ago on the John-Tom page, but just recently I realized that exactly that drawing is available here in the download section. Saw it mentioned somewhere in the RC Groups forum.
I guess that the Graupner Glasgow is also based to a great extent on that drawing/model.
Anyway, I didn't want to have another Strongbow and my build was already too advanced to make a scale model of any of the above so I gave her a different name.
BTW: The mentioned drawing was published originally in Modell Werft Magazine 9/1989. On the John-Tom page is the complete article of the magazine, but it is Part 2. Does anyone have Part 1 of that article? Or a link where I can find it. I have been searching a lot but unsuccessfully.
Jurgen
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Thank you, Jurgen. The "Strongbow" correspondents in every detail with the british tug paddlers. In this coherence it seems not very important, whether she is a historic or a fictional construction, but she is a technical interesting one. You now will not need too much time until finishing an excellent made functional model.
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:beer :clap :beer :clap
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Thanks Damien.
Slow, slow, slow progress and some disasters to report here.
I made the stern grating, painted the funnel and spilled some paint.
The stern grating work went without mayor difficulties and looks OK to me.
Small disaster: During the painting of the funnel some of the blue paint did not pass the masking-tape-test when I had masked that part for painting the black top and lower cone.
I tried to mask off the cone to repaint just the blue part but that turned out to be very complicated and I could not get a straight line. So I opted to raise the black part and paint the damaged part black.
I am happy with the outcome.
Big disaster: When prepping the wheels with my precious zinc-chromate primer I managed to tip over the paint can and spill most of the paint. :c002 It is precious because I use very little and was able to purchase a 1/4 liter can a few years ago - still was 3/4 full. Now no one sells any broken quantities any more and I will have to buy 1 liter. At the speed I am using this primer that will last for over 100 years.
Anyway see the pictures.
Fortunately no feathering paddlewheels were harmed in this incident.
Jurgen
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Some small details added.
Companionways and skylights front and stern.
Still need to cut the window frames.
Jurgen
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I have been held up by weather. I want to give the hull a coat of satin clear but when I am in the office the sun is out and it's warm, but when at home it gets cloudy, windy and rains.
For some time I have been thinking how to make the cowl vents. I had been looking for hollow brass spheres, but couldn't find any. Then I thought of plastic or acrylic. I found some acrylic semi-spheres, but they were solid.
I cut a ping-pong ball in half, but it was too flimsy.
Then yesterday my wife found the solution. Hollow and 40mm in diameter. Picture attached.
Will cut one in half and see what it looks like.
Jurgen
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This may be a good idea, Jurgen. Another possibility may be measure spoons like this.
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The measuring spoons would have been a good alternative, Thomas. Didn't think of them.
Anyway the christmas baubles split quite easy since they were made in halves and then glued together. A little gentle force applied with an Xacto and the split cleanly.
I made the cylindrical part from a 1/2" PVC pipe (O.D. 16mm) and the resulting cowl vent looks quite good.
I still don't like the surrounding lip. I used the isolation of a cable, but it looks uneven and is too thick. This still needs some improvement.
Also made the windows of the skylights. Looking at the picture I see that the roof is not centered. But, no problem, it's not glued yet.
Jurgen
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Great job well done. :clap :bravo :clap
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Looks really good, Jurgen!
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A good idea Jurgen. :clap
It is all coming along well.
Mike
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Thanks to all for the applause.
It's been some time, but I have not been totally idle.
Finally I was able to give the hull a coat of semi-mate clear. It went well on the hull, but not so good on the paddle boxes. The paddle boxes ended up all covered with lint - embedded in the finish coat. Sorry, no pics. Don't know how that happened. I painted the hull and the paddle boxes the same time on the same desk.
I always clean the parts to be painted with a rag with some alcohol. My theory is that maybe some static was created when cleaning the parts. I had cleaned the hull the day before but cleaned the paddle boxes just before painting. The static on the hull may have disappeared in that time, but remained on the paddle boxes.
Anyway, now I'm back to be Mr. Sand-a-lot.
Have started the handrails. I did not like the idea of just bending the ends towards the wall, I wanted something different. Coincidence brought one of my wife's little hobby material boxes to my eyes and there were all the hand-rail ends I could imagine. They are glass with a 0.8 mm center bore.
Also finished the cowl vents. I had complained they did look kind of irregular. Well, they were irregular. Some sanding on a flat surface and now they look OK. Still have to glue the lip and align the ends of the lip.
Jurgen
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Excellent work, Jurgen. But when the ship is finished, it may be good, to make some parts like old - not too much, only a llittle bit rust at some small parts of the superstructure. I have seen some locos of the railway modelers, which are made like long in use, also not too much, because the model should`t be look like a scap loco. The "Strongbow" tugs were working boats, not excursion boats.
Many regard from Münsingen
Thomas
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Thanks Thomas.
Of course the model will get some weathering here and there. As you mention: It will not be a cruise ship. :D
I have painted the wheels in red. Since I am lazy I didn't disassemble everything and painted the complete wheel. To avoid having the paint stick the moving parts together I gave it several very light coats of mist. This also rendered a mate finish which was exactly what I was looking for.
Jurgen
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Yes Jurgen
Well, for a homemade wheel, your builds are extremely well detailed :bravo ....I had reservations about the composite material for the hub, but my fears have been dispelled
Painting in this manner [moving part surfaces free] will over time add tarnish to the exposed surfaces and add even more realism
Best wishes for the Festive Season
Until next year.....Derek
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Thanks Derek,
I have used this material before and is very tough. It can be threaded, accepts paint very well and behaves better than aluminum on the lathe. Good to hear that your fears were dispelled.
All the best for twentytwenty.
Jurgen
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Last small detail added in the old year.
I don't know what this mesh is for, I can only guess it is to avoid birds or other flying objects getting into the funnel.
I my wife's jewelry tool box I found this wire bending jig and lots of pegs. I wound some thread around the pegs and applied some CA and then several coats of pore filler.
Only when I was about to remove the mesh I realized that there were pegs of different diameters and the mesh is quite irregular. I am gonna leave it for now, maybe I make a new one someday later (probably never ::)).
Have a good twentytwenty everyone.
Jurgen
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Nice work, any progress in the new year?
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Not much progress kno3, but I have not been completely idle. I was able to give the deck the long awaited for coat of satin clear and then mount the wheels again to the hull. Last Sunday she sailed again.
https://youtu.be/KDuw_Ib2YBo
I also made the tow-rope winch and the funnel has received its guy wires.
Jurgen
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She looks good on the water, keep up the good work.
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Thanks kno3.
Now working on the mast and beginning the handrails of the upper deck.
I'm also working on the the anchor winch and just realized that I completely forgot the passage for the hawse pipe. I'm afraid opening up that passage on the finished hull is gonna hurt.
And on the same subject: Somewhere in this forum I saw how someone made the hawse pipe exterior, that oval shaped rounded pipe end where the chain exists the hull. I remember that he made it from a piece of pipe (or wood??), then cut it half an re-glued it upside down, or something like that.
Anyone remember what thread that was in?
Jurgen
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Can't help with that but I saw some ready made metal parts for the hole where the chain exits he hull. Look on ebay.
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I found the thread with the hawse pipe exit. It's in Geoff's Duke of Devonshire build on page 18. I re-read the whole build report, wow, tons of extraordinary build tricks there.
Here is how it's done. Actually I repeat the pics Geoff shows in his build.
- Take a dowel of appropriate size
- Drill a hole in it
- Cut a slice at 45°
- Cut the slice in half
- Turn one half over and glue to the other part
- Sand
I probably will make another one. This one is kind of too thick and a little piece broke off when cutting it in half. On the other hand I may just sand it down …
Also started the life boat and the wheel house windows received the "glass".
Jurgen
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I have been playing around … conducting an investigation with LEDs. LEDs have the bad habit to emit light only to the fron/top of the unit, but very little light sideways. For the position lamps I need the LEDs to shine forwards, not upwards.
So I tried to remember what I (should have) learned in light refraction class. (Dark side of the moon comes to my mind, don't know why).
I flattened a LED 45° and the covered the inclined section with some aluminum foil. Looks promising.
The pictures actually do not give justice to the real result. The light is really quite powerful to the front.
Jurgen
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I received a comment that the first and last picture attached in the last post were all black when clicking on them.
I didn´t reduce them because the were within the limits KB wise, but even when I tried myself to open them in the thread I didn't find the LED in that large black area.
Here again, somewhat reduced.
First pic is the standard LED seen from the side, second pic is the modified LED seen fron front.
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You might be better off with model railway signal bulbs?
They would be non-directional and much brighter...however they would be 12v and probably generate more heat.
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Actually the position lights I have come with bulbs. But bulbs eat 100mA each and LEDs settle for 4mA. For 10 lights that's 1A against 40mA.
I do also consider using PLCC LEDs, but the installation and isolation of the solder points in the brass light cover will be complicated.
Jurgen
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Yes, point taken...it is a trade off. Those 1A lights might need a separate power supply too if you were to use them?
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Since Corona has dramatically reduced social engagements (my wife is not happy) it gives me time to turn again to important stuff like the workshop.
I wasn't too happy with the flattened LED experiment, so I tried something else.
I turned to a PLCC-2 LED. Like all LEDs a current reducing resistor is necessary. In this case I used a 2K SMD resistor soldered directly to the LED. Then instead of normal wires I used enameled copper wire which I have in different colors for my N scale trains.
A small piece of heat shrink tube over the resistor covers the solder points.
Then the assembly is placed with a drop of glue in a piece of 4/3mm brass tube which fits perfectly in the 4mm opening of the light cover.
It works OK, but I made a mistake when calculating the resistor, the light could be brighter. I considered 4mA for the LED, but when checking the spec sheets it turns out that this kind of LED can take up to 10mA. So I will make another test with a 1K resistor.
Jurgen
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But that's not all I did, I also worked on the life boat.
Unfortunately I messed up the interior with glue and the stain would not do its work over the glue. Will see how I can fix that.
I will still add some more planks on the floor.
Jurgen
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Since Corona has dramatically reduced social engagements (my wife is not happy) it gives me time to turn again to important stuff like the workshop.
Jurgen
Lucky you Jurgen! My partner dragged me to the local DIY shop to buy kitchen floor tiles today - Guess what I'll be doing for the next few days!!
Regards
Eddy
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Yes Jurgen, this model is really a piece of art!
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Guess what I'll be doing for the next few days!!
What can I say Eddy? It's a difficult guess. Play with tiles and mortar?
Thanks Thomas. I am having fun. :)
Jurgen
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Today the captain came aboard to overview the work. He wasn't pleased to see that nothing had been done in a month.
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:a102.....no wonder he couldn't see any progress Captain Peg-leg doesn't have any eyes :picknose...
I can just hear the Crew saying :gathering aye-aye Sir.....
Derek
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The white lines are bushy eyebrows Derek. :sunglasses
I'm looking for an ultra micro paint brush. Maybe he'll get eyes after all.
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Been working on the davits and finished the life boat.
To make the conical part of the davits I used the normally annoying effect that small bar stock gets pushed away from the tool when you move away from the chuck. Here that effect was wanted and worked quite nice.
Then using a small file the spherical end was formed. On the second picture I already had started to file the front when I remembered to take the picture. Sorry for the finger, but the camara refused to focus on the small sphere unless something larger was in the area.
For the bending I squeezed the bar between the tool holder and a 2" metal piece and bent it by hand.
Then after some drilling and inserting small parte the davits look quite nice. The captain overlooks the installation with his eyes which I had to add after getting an observation from eagle-eye-Derek. :P :D
It's a shame all this beauty will disappear under a coat of black paint, but she shall be a work boat.
Jurgen
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Continued hanging the life boat.
First pic shows the captain inspecting the life boat and in the foreground the davits for the anchor crane.
The life boat didn't pass the test showing some serious leaks, but the work continued anyway.
I will probably redo the crossed protective fenders. The look somewhat too massive. But I may use this material to make the fenders on the sponson edges. It's shoelace BTW.
Jurgen
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Nice work on the davits there Jurgen [images 39R & 55R] :clap.......and it's good to see that the Captain has his eyes [back] and firmly inspecting the shipyard workers progress :hammer
Shipwrights are usually pretty trusted worthy, but whatever you do, don't let the Painters & Dockers get too laxed or they think you employ them in a :vacation Camp
Derek
[PS...agreed.......your brown shoe laces are just a tad too thick & wide :whistle ]
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I started the anchor winch and it is growing into a project of its own.
I started cutting a side piece of 5mm ply so I could bend the frame over it. That worked quite well.
The frame is soft soldered to the side pieces.
The re-enforcements for the shafts are styrene and glued to the sides. I was afraid that if I used brass and tried to solder them, the frame solder would fall off. After painting the styrene will not be noticed.
Jurgen
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That's a nice winch.
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Thanks kno3.
Added some parts to the winch.
The brakes are functional, the thread is M1.
Jurgen
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Winch is almost done. The "pistons" move nicely when you turn the gear by hand.
Maybe I should think of adding a small motor under deck?
Jurgen
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Very nice Jurgen.......just one point,.... :whistle
I trust you have installed Asbestos-free brake material in those drum bands
With respect to motorizing the winch.......just thinking a continuous rotation servo mounted below deck with the same eccentric offset as the winch drum eccentric connected by a link [of any extension] and a speed controller could provide the necessary winch drum axis rotation [an exercise in parallel motion :hammer]
Derek :beer
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Well, sort of Derek. You know, this is an old vessel so the material used is low(!)-asbestos brass on the drum bands.
… and the boiler ignition engine :a102 runs only on leaded gasoline.
Jurgen
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So I finally encouraged myself and drilled the deck and hull for the anchor chain passage which I had forgotten.
It went surprisingly well. I started with a 2mm drill and worked my way in 0.2mm steps up to 6mm. These small steps avoided tearing the wood which I was so concerned about.
The upper lip is a piece of 1mm copper wire wrapped around the brass pipe, soft soldered and a lot of filing/sanding. I can see it's not perfect, but the beating the lips have taken from the chain have left their marks. ::)
And the winch is finished.
Derek: regarding the motorization I had similar ideas like you. One is the continuous motion servo or a small gearmotor. The advantage I see in the servo is that it has the ESC "preinstalled". The gearmotor needs a separate ESC but may be less noisy. We'll see.
I may extend the piston rods under the deck (the pistons are already drilled through) and install a second crankshaft under deck. I think I will need to extend both piston rods to be able to overcome the top and bottom dead centers.
Anyway, this is for "later".
Jurgen
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All very scale like & tidy Jurgen :kewlpics
...will look s little more used when the Gypsie and Chain Drums are blackend or rusted up a little........Brass Black patina is available for Brass [frame or chain].....must be a fluid aluminium? :whistle
Derek
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Thanks Derek,
Patina/weathering is planned for the winch. I still have not decided if I use the chemical stuff (which am I sure it is available somewhere, but I don't know where) or the classic way using paint, sponge, dirt wash and dry brushing.
Jurgen
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Made the handrails for the bridge. The captain wasn't amused to find out the the temporary ladder was removed while he was upstairs.
I will install the ladder this week.
Nothing has been done regarding the weathering of the winch, but I test fitted the anchor chain. Looks good.
Jurgen
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Jurgen
This studded brass anchor chain looks good.........are the individual links fully welded/fused?
If so, could you please confirm?
Wire size
outer length of oval link
outer width or height of the oval link
Who supplies this [name & WEB link] and a cost per metre
Derek
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Hi Derek,
The studded chain is from Krick Modellbau, item 65403. I purchased it some time ago, but a quick check in the net tells me that Krick apparently doesn't carry this item anymore.
The studs are somehow soldered/welded/fused, I don't know the exact process, but they're not just glued.
Dimensions are 5.3 x 3.1 x 0.8mm, but there are (were?) other dimensions.
It seems that Elde Modellbau and Aeronaut also carry studded chains, but I don't have my catalogues at hand right now. Will check for you when I can.
Price should be around 15 to 20 euros/meter.
Jurgen
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Derek: Here is what I could find:
Aeronaut item 5627/28. Same dimensions as mentioned above.
The smallest chain from Elde is slightly bigger
https://elde-modellbau.com/epages/bd40fd5d-0ba8-443f-857a-537621b491ae.sf/en_GB/?ViewObjectPath=%2FShops%2Fbd40fd5d-0ba8-443f-857a-537621b491ae%2FCategories%2Fdb2f40f24260bc41db48d82d5e7abf1d%2F89b5b54051e589a0a0b7dd472cbbe660
Jurgen
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Hi Jurgen,
this anchor chain and winch are very close to the original, but what´s a little bit disturbing is the glittering brass color. This parts in original shows a rusty brown-black coloring. It`s possible to attain this with brown and black spray color or with chemical coloring matter. Otherwise your boat shows a museum quality - it`s as well as for example the models in Glasgow Transport Museum.
Thomas
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No worries Thomas. The glitter and shine will not stay this way. The winch will be weathered with paint. For the chain I'm still looking for the required chemicals. Now I found a hint to look in stores for jewelry making tools.
Jurgen
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The winch now looks used, but in the picture the weathering looks exaggerated. It must be an effect of the camera because the real thing looks quite realistic.
The captain was aboard to check the installation of the ladder. He also brought some friends, but they were not interested in the technical stuff and decided to take some pictures.
Regarding the chain I have tried all blackening methods I could find in the internet, from covering in grease and torching it to submerging overnight in vinegar. No effect at all.
I still have to try the chemical alternative, but so far I have not found a local source for that product.
Jurgen
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I began to work on the towing rails (is that correct?) and after converting to scrap several pieces of 6mm brass tube I decided that I need a tube bender. I started a Google research for DIY pipe bender and surprisingly fast I found a picture where someone had converted a small machine vise into a bender.
So that looked easy and fast to realize, but:
1.- the jaws of my vise resulted to be hardened (well, most are ::) ). No way to drill and tap here.
2.- removing the jaws and drill and tap the cast iron parts would not permit to obtain any reasonable radius because even completely screwed-in the jaw bases would stay too much apart.
So I made new jaws from soft steel and drill/tapped them. Made the rollers from aluminum. Nice side job from the ship building.
It works very well. So far I only have brass tubes as bearings and it is a bit hard to push/pull the tube when pressure is applied. That's why the is a small chuck fastened the end of the workpiece. The chuck serves as an handle.
If I need to make more parts in this device I will add ball bearings. I may also add a crank arm to the middle roller.
Since I had scrapped several pieces of brass tube I only had material for one towing rail left and I made the second from aluminum. Couldn't make 2 from alu because there was just this piece left.
The alu is 1/4", but I don't think anyone will note the 0.4mm difference.
Jurgen
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What do they say?...'Mother is the sole of invention' :whistle ......you probably would end up with a more uniform bend here that with a hand held tube bender
Naturally the advantage with brass is that this can be soft or silver soldered.......if using the K&S brass tube, it is hard-drawn so should be annealed well before & part way during the bend ...just to save flattening & the crinkling
55 years ago, I commenced an apprenticeship [Fitting & Machining] with Australias largest Non Ferrous tube & wire producer........[bees wax lathered onto the tube rollers will help with ensuring a smooth transition on the outer radius of such bends]
Derek
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..'Mother is the sole of invention'
Mmmh. I remember the mention of necessity in that saying … but maybe it's different on the other side of the world. :picknose
The towing rails are painted and installed. Can you tell which one is 6mm and which 1/4"?
The brass was not K&S and was not that hard. I learned that K&S is hard-drawn when I ran out of 4mm brass rod and purchased some 5/32" K&S rod to finish the second paddle wheel. I had made lots of M2 threads in those previous parts and on the last 2 pieces from K&S I broke 3 drills and one tap. Only later I realized that it was hard brass. ::)
The vertical rail supports are soft soldered to the brass rail and given the much stronger wall thickness of the aluminum rail they fit tightly without any further action. Anyway I applied a small drop of CA.
Have also wired the lights on the mast. It was much more difficult to thread the thin wires into the mast than I had expected. Took quite some time and :ranting but finally all 6 wires were extracted unharmed.
I don't seem to convince my cellphone camera to focus on a light when it's dark. It gets blurry, but the lights are clearly distinguishable on the real thing. The last picture is with flash.
Jurgen
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Yes...the real phrase is I believe ...."Necessity is the Mother of Invention" ...I just changed it around a little :hehe
No, I cannot distinguish the 0.4mm difference between the towing rails
The clutter on the quarted deck adds to the reality ...all very good :clap
Derek
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Big advance, at least for me. The foredeck bow area is declared done. Most clutter removed, Derek, but I may add some again. :evil
Many small parts I had been making are finally installed.
Also the chain is aged, but I can not tell what I have done because I tried so many concoctions that I can't tell what finally worked.
Vinegar + salt, baking soda solution, vinegar vapors overnight and a 'Silver & Copper Patina' my wife had among her jewelry miracle liquids. None of the above worked by itself, but when I tried the Patina after one (or maybe several) of the above (who knows in which order) the chain darkened.
So I take the result and ask no questions.
On all of the Strongbow pictures I have seen on the net both anchors are fixed to the the deck. I don't know if that is as it was handled on the full size tugs, but I find that is not practical, since when you want to drop an anchor you had to unbolt and hoist it over the railing before dropping it.
So on my tug the starboard anchor is pulled up through the chain passage, ready to be dropped any time and the portside anchor is fixed on the deck as an replacement.
If anyone knows better please let me know. I can move the starboard anchor on deck anytime.
Some rust stains still to be added at the outlet of the chain passage.
Also rigged the mast and added the pipes for overpressure and steam whistle to the funnel.
Jurgen
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All looking good Jurgen.......
Whatever the chain weathering is, it appears excellent....and the patina over the windlass housing frame and drums makes it appear as well used
Did the Crew lift the Port anchor up on the Davit, the shackle it down to the deck?....& whats Old Blind-eyes looking at? :whistle
Is that a spare anchor chain in the Stdb side deck box?
When will we see her on the water?
Derek :beer
oh.....I don't think they painted any braking or emergency stop foot buttons RED in earlier years
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Thanks Derek.
Here my explications to lighten your doubts:
Yes, the Port anchor was lifted over the railing with the davit, then the shackles were re-attached to the deck and the hook attached to one of the shackles to avid excessive swinging.
The captain (don't be so cruel … he's an old man… ) is checking that the starboard anchor is securely bolted to the deck.
On the water? … Who knows. Most everything is still closed down and we haven't been sailing for months.
And the red thingy … c'm on, Derek, I'm sure you know better … that is clearly the handwheel of the steam valve which operates the windlass. It is painted red because it get very hot. The 'Caution - Hot - Wear Gloves' sign must have been lost.
Jurgen
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I have to apologize to the experts for having mixed-up Starboard and Port. You were very kind to not point that out and writing in capital letters.
The Portside anchor had been placed on the deck and shackeled to the deck, meanwhile the Starboard anchor had been lifted overboard.
And yes, the anchor chain in the box is what was left over. I may leave the box&chain to add "clutter" to the deck.
Jurgen
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Jurgen....where you see a Modify Command, it is totally acceptable to go back to your post, the use the following process to correct an error..eg.,
Edit......'then the shackles were re-attached to the deck' 'mast'
This then doesn't confuse readers, but clearly allows them to read and understand the correct text or fact
Derek
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I know of the Edit possibility, Derek, but since more than one day had passed I didn't want to change history. However, indicating the edit in red is something I had not considered. Will use it in my next mistake.
Made the lateral sponson fenders. Here I am recycling the shoelace life-boat bands shown some posts back. I didn't like them because they looked much too thick and wide. Already have a possible replacement for those bands. Stay tuned.
For the fenders I slipped a piece of foam rubber into the shoelace section. That is quite easy when you squeeze the foam rubber into a 5mm brass tube, then slip the tube into the shoelace, once in hold the end of the end of foam rubber and pull out the tube. Voilá: the foam is in the fender.
Then a loop of the holding rope is inserted and the ends are wrapped with thin yarn. I fixed the yarn with some CA.
Jurgen
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:clap :clap :clap :clap :clap :clap
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Thanks Damien, Hope you (and all others) are OK.
Now I have become a rope-maker also. When attaching the side fenders on the sponsons I needed a rope a bit thicker than what I had available. I looked-up rope making in the net and found a lot of videos on that topic - all using more or less complex arrangements with at least 3 strands, gears and cranks. Too much for a few lengths of model rope.
But …. if it works with 3 and more strands, what about using just 2??? :thinking
Well, it works.
I fixed a piece of yarn on a nail in the workbench and the other end in a hook in my power drill.
Then I un-twisted the yarn until the individual strands were visible.
Then I changed the end of the un-twisted yarn (which was on the power drill) to the nail. Both ends on the nail now and the mid-point of the yarn on the hook. Length is now half of the original length.
Then I reversed the direction of the drill and re-twisted the 2 strands of yarn. I holds perfectly without any self-un-twisting.
In the picture the brown rope at the top is just doubled from the original yarn. That is used for the sponson fenders.
The clearer rope at the bottom is 6-fold re-twisted yarn. Looks good as a towing rope, but maybe a bit too much as a mooring rope.
Also learned how to splice an end-loop on the rope.
Jurgen
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:bravo :bravo :bravo :bravo :bravo :bravo Outstanding Jurgen. :bravo :bravo :bravo :bravo :bravo :bravo
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Very ingenious way of making fenders send they look great. Thanks for showing.
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Wow. Very clever. I must try. :bravo
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Thanks for all the applause.
In the meantime I have taken up knitting too.
It's for a good cause - not that I'm thinking of leaving the paddlevirus.
After doing some research in the www I made myself a knitting tool for the front fender.
Again I used the rubber foam stuffing method.
I'd say 'looks OK' but there is an enormous possibility for improvement. I'd like the mesh to be much tighter. More to investigate.
Jurgen
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Made the gangplanks at the towing hook.
The supports are soldered brass, the plank is from an automotive air filter and the frame is a styrene C beam.
Jurgen
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Really excellent, Jurgen!
Thomas
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Thanks Thomas. Almost ready.
Jurgen
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In post #171 I had shown the crossed protection fenders for the life boat. I really didn't like the looks so I re-worked the whole rigging of the life boat.
The boat now is suspended from a small chain instead of the suborn black yarn and the crossed fenders are narrower and look more appropriate.
In the last pic is the additional rope (required to lower the boat) wound up and hung to the davit.
Jurgen
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Good job with the rope work Jurgen it looks very profesional, I was thinking about making/buying some side buffers for my model boat so I might just copy your ideas.
Robert
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Great to see that you liked my side buffers, Robert. If you make some show us how they came out.
The Morangie Castle is seaworthy now. The life boat has received some oars and can save lives.
Jurgen
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This weekend we had the first gathering at our pond under "new normal" conditions. Only a few daring (or unreasonable ?? ::)) attended. Anyway, we kept our distance, used masks and had fun.
The Morangie Castle sailed again very nice. I also have a few minutes of video which I still have to edit. That will take a couple of days.
Jurgen
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I am not a fan of 'white' painted superstructure, but the subduded effect you have achieved is excellent Jurgen
........don't need sunglasses :sunglasses to view the model in bright sunlight
Looking forward to the video......enjoy sailing your Morangie Castle at every chance
Derek :beer
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Looks great Jurgen :clap :clap :beer :beer
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Really ecellent! It`s a pity, that it will not possible to take the model in the aircraft to Germany, when you will visit your family, Jurgen. This is a built of really museum quality, also the presentation on water.
Thomas
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Thanks to all for your kind words. … but modesty aside 8) … yes she looks great on the water.
Thomas: possible yes, but very expensive :( , so no, I will not take her with me.
Video until next week.
Jurgen
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Finally I edited the video of last week's sailing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OgKsNayzhM
Enjoy.
Jurgen
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Look great Jurgen well done. :clap :clap :clap :clap :clap :clap :clap :clap :clap
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Thanks Damien :)
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Not much to do anymore on the Morangie Castle so I am moving on to other projects. However, some details still remain.
I have added a small bridge over the engine room's bull's eye windows. When working on the tow hook sooner or later someone would have stepped on the bull's eyes … so to avoid any damage ….
The pictures show the before and after situation.
I am also trying to find a way to connect the position lights on the removable wheel housings to the battery. I don't want a male-female connector solution, that's so common :sunglasses
Instead I tried magnets. Put 2 magnets on the removable wheelhouse and another pair on the fixed deck and let the magnetic force pull the contacts together.
I have some 2mm dia. 1mm thick neodyme magnets and somewhere I read that if you place the magnets in a shallow metal dish, add a little water (not cover the magnet!) you may solder a wire to the magnet without damaging the magnetic properties.
Well it didn't work for me. Three out of four magnets lost their magnetism and the one that remained magnetic lost the wire when I pulled a bit harder.
Then after some :thinking I came up with the brilliant idea to use a 2mm ID brass tube, solder the wire to the brass and then press fit the magnet to the tube. That worked OK, but for some reason the electrical contact is not reliable.
So here is still some research to do. I may add a little spring somewhere to further push the contacts together … but then I may not need the magnets … ?
Jurgen
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Long time since my last post.
I have been trying several solutions for the connection of the position lights. Made some prototypes which did not work and finally got back to the magnet alternative, only that I combined the 2mm dia. magnets with a pair of 3mm dia. magnets. That finally gave reliable contact results.
I also made the brass "housings" longer for added stability and glue surface.
The lower magnets are "floating" and can move a few mm vertically limited by a M1 screw. That allows for some tolerance.
The upper magnets are glued to the wheelhouse and the covered with a piece of styrene to look like some kind of connection box.
The cables are routed on the inside of the wheelhouse to the LED.
Finally I smeared some silicone sealer on the cable and connection points.
Here are a lot of pictures of the step by step evolution of the installation.
Jurgen
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Hi Jurgen - I've spent the last hour or two reading your "Strongbow" build log and learning several tips on how to proceed with my much similar build. In reply #78 you say you "made the decks". How did you make the decks, are they individual planks fastened to a false deck or are they laser etched into the false deck? If they are individual planks would you please post more info on the procedure on my build log. I am experimenting right now on how to proceed with the decking of my hull before starting on the superstructures. Thanks, any information would be helpful.
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Hi Steve,
Glad you liked the Making-Of of the Morangie Castle.
The decks are not planked. I used 1.5mm plywood and cut the plank lines on my tabletop CNC mill. The lines are 0.5mm wide and 0.5mm deep. Then I stained the wood and let an generous amount of stain flow into the grove which made it darker than the surface.
Additionally it helped that the cutting depth just cut into the second layer of the ply which was darker than the top layer.
Before gluing the decks to the hull I covered the inside (under side?) with epoxy finishing resin and light fiberglass as a protection against moisture.
Individual planks is a lot of work and since I'm lazy I preferred to let the mill do the work.
However, I have seen in other threads that you can obtain the black caulking lines between each plank by inserting strips of black paper between each plank. Once sanded smooth you get very fine black separation lines. But that's not for me …
Jurgen
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I understand and wish I had a milling machine. I bought an artist's carbon pencil and have tested it by rubbing it along the edges of some thin strips that I cut from some veneer. It looks pretty good so I may go that way. I know what you mean by a lot of work, but I have lots of time before the ice melts of the ponds.
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Here is what happens when you think you know the basics about circuits but do not considera all factors.
I am installing the lights and use 3 LEDs for the lights in the superstructure. Calculated and soldered the required resistor for the circuit, switched on and after a few minutes a funny smell came from the interior of the hull.
See picture.
For ease of wiring I had connected the LEDs in parallel and after checking my numbers I realized that the circuit required the resistor to handle 0.6W and I had taken a "normal" 1/4W resistor. OK, nothing serious happened and the funny smell was gone after 2 days.
Now I am redoing the wiring and will connect the LEDs in serie. That requires only 0.12W to be dissipated by the resistor.
Jurgen
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ooop's been in this situation several times :16
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Thanks Damien, I believe we are not the only ones to have experienced smoking wires. ::)
Replaced the resistor and now it works.
The picture is not very good because mast lights are much brighter than the position lights. I'm not the photo shop wizard and when I try to lower the intensity in the picture the 3 mast lights become visible as 3, but everything else disappears. So please be forgiving.
For the contact from the lower part to the superstructure I tried something different because the magnet solution is very complicated.
I used thin self-adhesive copper foil. It is used to make stained glass windows and the adhesive supports liquid solder very well.
A strip on each side gives a very reliable contact area.
The wiring of the LEDs is not final. I will do some clean-up and route the wires nicely.
Jurgen
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Hullo Jurgen.....I am progressing on very slowly
Could you please confirm [with photographs] of the method of waterproofing or eliminating water from the splash of the wheels from migrating along the paddle shaft into the hull :nono
I am moving the paddle shaft axis from above the crank axis by 20mm to below the crank axis by 40mm [yes 60 total]
This then elevates the complete steam plant considerably [~~45mm] and so will be far more visible .... I will post a few images in my Saito Engine page
Derek :beer
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Hi Derek,
If you go back to post #97 on page 7 I have shown pictures of the "splash-guard" I built to cover the bearings. It is not completely tight but has worked flawlessly - not a drop of water inside the ship. It covers from the splash from above.
Drawback: it requires the wheel housing to be removable.
The bearing itself has no further seals like an O-ring or similar. It doesn't seem to need any.
The bearing is a simple bronce bearing and the shaft is a 6mm stainless rod I bought in a shop that sells parts for DIY 3D printers. The material is incredibly hard, I needed 3 of the Dremel cutting disks to cut the shaft to size.
A drop of oil seems to be enough for sealing and lubrication.
Jurgen
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So I finally have my color laser printer back in working order. Last time I had ordered new OEM toner cartridges the printer would no accept 2 of them. The contact to the service was not satisfying at all, so the printer sat there for a couple of years.
But last week a friend was able to hack the printer and make it accept the cartridges so I'm back in business and finally could print the decals for the machine telegraphs.
The captain is not very happy because the unit doesn't have a handle and he can't send any orders to the engine room.
But that's another story because I tried to make the handles as photo etched parts. That went thoroughly wrong.
I purchased a special paper which allows any print to be transferred to copper or brass by applying heat. Then the part is submerged in some acid which eats away the non-covered part. Well, the print wouldn't stick to the metal. My guess is that I didn't use enough heat, because in some parts it did transfer and stuck very well, but out of 6 which I had printed none was complete..
More testing will follow.
Have a nice holiday and a better (can it become worse?) next year.
Jurgen
Be positive to stay negative.
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:bravo :clap :bravo :clap Looks great Jurgen.
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Fine model! Did you already check, if it will swim and light enough?
Andreas
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Thanks Damien.
Hi Andy,
Yes she has been in the water and behaved well. If you go back to Reply 216 on the previous page I have posted a video.
Light enough? All the oposite. She needs almost 10kg of ballast.
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Hello,
It's been some time, but I'm still here.
After some quite frustrating atempts to make photo eched parts for the machine telegraph bracket I decided to leave it and do someting else. Like building a plane and repairing others.
In the meantime a fellow modeler made me an offer I couldn't refuse for the model. So it's not mine anymore, but she still sat on my slipway and required to be finished.
So I went back and cut the bracket on my mill. That went surprisingly well, I didn't think that 0.1mm brass would cut cleanly without crinkeling.
The first lever was glued to the bracket but that didn't hold well so I changed to a small solder point. That holds . :azn:
I also added some interior to the wheelhouse. I don't know what the red lamp on the table is for, but saw something similar on a picture in the internet and thought it looked good. Maybe it's for some emergency use.
Also added flags.
So now I declare the model to be finished.
Jurgen
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Very precise, Jürgen. It looks like not as a model, but a real ship.
Thomas
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Thank you Thomas.
I didn't mention that I also changed the cabin lighting to smaller LEDs. Looks much better now.
Normally we have a late meet in the dark at the pond the first sunday after changing to winter time. Since the ship stays in good hands I will still see her and make a video at the night sailing.
Jurgen