Paddleducks
Paddler Modelling => Construction => Topic started by: optima21 on February 15, 2021, 10:06:40 AM
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I like the look of this paddle steamer from Hobby's in the UK and can remember it from their annuals 30 years ago.
(https://hobby.uk.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/aa3b0f049e82e9c7bbaca44dff1a2d5c/1/5/1572p.jpg)
and I plan to build something that looks similar but only 300mm long, and this will be my first attempt at scratch building a model boat, so for me it'll be an interesting project and hopefully it will be successful, but at this stage I have no way of knowing.
so the first thing I do was to carve a wooden hull as a prototype to see its possible and Im be constructing the majority of it from styrene.
(https://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/attachments/dsc04208-jpg.271953/)
at this stage it it would float as long as I can keep the weight down should work.
the first thing that I needed to sort out was the radio control. Im using Flysky as I can get small receivers that work down to 3.5V so can be used from a single lipo cell. I plan on using tank steering without a rudder which has meant that I can use a reciever and 2 speed controllers to operate the model by using mixing the channels. I had issues with a new micro receiver and signal converter, which caused it to stop working occasionally, so I ended up using the old recievers that I'd been using on other models and ended up modifying the gimbals on the transmitter so that I could disconnect 2 channels so that I could mix then to do other things. its not as simple as unpluging cable, but cutting a wire and soldering a preset resistor in. Also shown is the final setup that I think I'll be using, The motors are N20 geared motors running at 250 rpm, I did try faster ones but they were just causing the water to cavitate. It also shows a close up of the speed controller, to reduce their footprint and make wiring easier I just stacked them on top of one another (with the receiver in the background). Just for scale the circuit boards are 15mm x 16mm. The battery, motors and radio control gear weigh 35 grams and should give an hours running time.
As I have a hull to play with, I think the next part of this project will be to make some simple paddle wheels with 8 and 12 paddles and different widths to see which will work best. For the time it will take its best to do it now rather than later and find that the paddle boxes are too small.
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:bravo :beer :clap
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This is looking to be a sound plan :whistle.......your thoughts of complimenting the actual paddle shaft speed [via the speed controllers] plus additional paddle blade width is good
You mention the geared motors are 250 RPM 'unloaded', however the actual reduction ration wlll be rather high 5:1?, so with the level of mechanical advantage/torque, the reduced shaft speed in and due to the load induced by the water may well be in the 200 RPM ball park which may still be high enough to cause unwanted cavitation
In our case, paddle cavitation is a lot of huff+puff but going nowhere fast
Without going to the expense of a digital tachometer [$50.00 AUD] a simple elcheapo multimeter [$10.00 AUD] will provide you with current draw which the value of loading on the motor......unloaded = x milliAmp......thumb+forefinger on the output shaft = y Amps :ranting
Keep us posted with your progress
Derek :beer
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The two motors that I'm using are sold as 3v 300rpm motors, and off load are both near enough 250rpm and speed can be adjusted easily via the transmitter. The speed controllers Ive used are Dasmikro 1S5A ones and can handle up to 5 amps and operate down to 3.5V
https://www.dronejunkie.co.uk/dasmikro-1s5a-micro-bi-directional-esc
but as the stall current for these motors is only 0.5A, Im looking to be using 1A speed controllers and and waiting for one of these to try it.
https://www.banggood.com/DOMAN-Mini-1A-Bidirectional-DIY-CW-CCW-Brushed-ESC-Board-for-RC-Drone-p-1649242.html?cur_warehouse=CN&ID=6134703&rmmds=search
these can operate between 3.5 V and 6V so would be able to operate these motors from a 5V supply which means that you can power them from a servo lead which adds to their versatility as Im looking to be using then to make tiny bow thrusters for other models
and for checking power consumption (amps and volts) while under load in water I ended up getting one of these USB power usage monitors, as they can work between 3.5V and 7V and measure upto 3 amps. its not too bad for giving a rough indication, and I end up replacing UBS connectors with battery leads and replacing the plastic case with heatshrink to make it more compact and save weight.
Ive also made some new paddles for testing, the pics show drilling the centres and they are a push fit on the motor spindles. it took me a while to work out a simple way to align the paddles as I was originally going to over engineer a jig but it ended up being a case of drilling some holes on a pitch circle diameter (pcd), and there are websites that can calculate the position of the holes
https://littlemachineshop.com/mobile/bolt_circle.php
then the pins were pressed into place, they were made from 1.6mm welding rods. and the pins in the middle were a sliding fit in the paddle wheel centres.
the paddles were just aligned by eye and were "glued" in place with styrene solvent
I decided that I would try 15mm wide paddle wheels to begin with and have made then with 8 and 12 paddles. the one I have played with so far is the black one and thats 10mm wide. Im not wanting to go too wide with them as they may end up looking like they belong to a paddle tug rather than a pleasure steamer.
now I can have a play and do some testing to see how it performs, and the advantage of small models is that you can do this in a bath
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I had a play with it again and directional stability seems to be an issue, when I first ran it, the weight weight was on top of the hull, so was listing from side to side and the depth of the paddle in the water seemed to make it turn from one side to the other rather than going in a straight line. I also think 150 rpm motors may be fast enough and reducing the speed of the motors through the transmitter wont be as good as using slower motors and using the full stick travel. I also do think that 8 or 12 paddle wheels make much difference at this size, and that could also be because of the inconsistent performance of matching the speed of the motors.
I also tried it with 50 grams of ballast stuck to the bottom and that seemed to stop the listing from side to side, but directional stability.
so my next plan is to make a styrene hull with a shallow V below the waterline hopefully that will help, and this will be my second scratch built hull, and my first one was in steel and was 46cm long, this was done so I can test a steam engine when I get round to designing and building it
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Ive started on a styrene hull, but progress is a bit slow, with the main structure of the hull being made from 1.0mm styrene with a shallow v at the bottom of the hull to help with stability. Im trying to keep the weight down of the hull and am hoping for a weight of 100-120 grams with paddles, motors and radio gear, which will also alow me to add some ballast to the bottom of the hull to help with stability, but only time will tell as Im making this up as I go along. Im thinking of building from the deck down rather than the keel up as its a nice flat surface. I'll cut the keel after I've finished the hull, it'll be too deep but I can clamp on to it if necessary. where the keel piece joins the deck along its length there are 1mm pins on each side if it to keep the alignment correct. due to the thinness of the styrene sheet, steel and rare earth magnets are good for clamping. there will be a small mast on this model, so I ended up making that section of the framework wider to provide additional support. and here are a few pics of the construction so far
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Hello optima. you are doing well!. A few years ago the now defunct Marine modelling published a book entitled "model ships (or boats) in styrine". . The authors name was Webb. It was full of information with a feature article on building a nice model of PS Princess Elizabeth with loads of very practical information including building a set of feathering wheels. I am sorry I no longer have my copy otherwise you could have had it!. Worth searching for.Our good late friend Hans Freund made me two sets of Routed) wheel frames in styrine suitable for a paddler under 36 inches. If you look at the site photo gallery PADDLER DAYS you will find a very good picture of them on his Edwarian paddle steramer sitting on his model case marked PADDLEDUCKS ON TOUR. My model stuff is in lockdown in our clubhouse. When I have access I will send you a set. Regards Walter.
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Hi Walter,
thanks for your encouragement, and I've got that book and as you say its a good introduction to styrene modeling, with the advantage that styrene is much lighter than metal, and as boat models get smaller weight is much more of an issue. I do like the look of the edwardian steamer you're talking about and definately be influencing how mine will look...... thats if I get a hull that goes in the direction I point it. The paddle wheels I'll be using will be less than 50mm diameter, and having seen discussions about feathered vs non feathered paddles on here, I think for me using solid paddles may be the better bet as the advantage of feathered paddles may not be worth it due to the additional complexity of the making of them, but there are some knowledgeable gents on here that can point me in the right direction.
I dont know if I said it before, but the framework for the hull is being made from 1.0mm styrene sheet and the plating of the outside of hull will be 0.75mm styrene.
and here's my method of making the frames
1) use sticky labels on the styrene to draw the parts you're making on, unless its very simple as pencil rubs off styrene too easily
2) cut the slots for locating in the transverse frames onto the keel. drill a 1.0mm hole and cut the sides of the slot a bit narrow and then open the slot out to be a sliding fit on the keel. as the slot is thinner than a file, I opted for using a large diamond coated wheel for use in a dremel.
3) fit the frame to the keel frame and cut the sides of the transverse frame to the width of the deck
4) draw the inside of the transverse frame so that can be cut out to reduce weight.
5) drill corner holes on the inside of the transverse frame
6) join the holes by cuttting with a hooked blade. its more accurate than my use of a piercing saw, but if I was using thicker styrene or doing curves I'd use a saw.
7) file the edges of the hole to the drawn lines, when I use this vice and sit down to do the filing, the part Im filing is at roughly eye level to easier to see what Im doing
the a finished transverse frame
also shown is how the profile of the hull will change and the deadrise angle will increase to the bow.
hopefully that makes sense, Im not too technical on the parts of a boat yet, but well see how it works sooner or later.
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the frames are now finished, no.1 is the bow end, and glued in place with styrene cement, the frames will be a bit wobbly until the sides are glued in place, so some 1.5mm dia styrene has been superglued in place to support the frames and stop them flexing when the hull sides are glued on. hopefully I can remove them when the hull sides have been glued in place.
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:clap :clap :clap :clap :clap :clap
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finally got round to making it something that looked more like a hull today, rather from working from the keel up, I decided to work from the deck down. As Im having a flat deck that was a nice surface to be working from. The first thing I did was to make an mdf spacer that could also be use to clamp to the deck to stop it flexing. I also used some metal blocks to place the deck sides the right height above the deck, the flat parts of the hull sides were then glued in place. at the stern, the transom was held in place with a small elastic band taped in place. the top of the hull sides were then drawn in place. then a couple of pics showing the hull sides in place. Next is half of a hull bottom being held in place with elastic bands. then the stern part of the hull was glued in place. once the outside of the hull was done I decided to box in where the motors to power the paddles will go as the sides are 0.75mm thick so can flex. shown is a before and after photo. next there are 3 pics of the hull before final sanding of the edges. and finally the hull on the scales, I was hoping I could make it and weigh less than 60 grams, but this hull weighs 50 grams which is less than half the weight of the wooden one. should be able to test this hull next week and hopefully, it'll perform better than the wooden one I started with
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Ive now made a couple of temporary paddle covers so In could try the hull out and see how it performs. As you can see there isnt too much space around the motors, but they fit so thats plenty of space. where the motors are screwed to the hull its still a bit flexible so I'll probably glue a 0.5mm stainless steel plate on the outside of the hull to strengthen that up.
The hull, radio gear and paddles weighs less than 100 grams, but I was using 10 pounds of ballast in it......well thats 10 £1 coins or 88 grams, so will allow me not to worry too much about the weight of the superstructure.
as for performance its goes in a straight line now but turning is very slow, so the V hull helps with the directional stability. maybe I didnt need as much deadrise and would have been better off using a 10 degree angle rather than a 17 degree angle. I may remove the keel at a later date though, but I try it out on a pond before I make a final decision.
next I'll be making some paddles, Ive got 3 sets so far to play with,
1) 8 paddles 10mm wide
2) 12 paddles 15mm wide
3) 8 paddles 15mm wide
and there 15mm wide paddles work better that the 10mm wide paddles but there doesnt seem to be much difference with between the 15mm paddles so looks like I'll be going for wheels with 8 paddles 15mm wide and will be going for fixed paddles rather than feathered paddles.
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Hi Optima. Its looking very neat and practical. I have found over the years on small paddlers that the water carried up on the blades can "stick" in the top of the boxes causing a list. I have got round this on three old edwardian paddler kits I have built that a couple of small holes drilled in the top of the paddle box allows the air to suck into paddle box top which causes the water to unstick and aerates the paddle box. This can be disguised with a grating or walkway. The PBM Edwardian paddlers were terrible for leaning into a turn and the water being unable to drain down. The breather holes soon fixed it! Incidentaly if you compare the PBM kit with the hobbies paddler kit You will soon notice that the hobbies kit is identical but shortened! The hobbies kit illistration even uses bits off the edwardian paddler to enhance its looks. The hobbies kit even uses PBM plastic paddle wheels in the illustrations. I got the last few paddle wheels from Patrick and Blunt when they ceased production! Regards, Walter.
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Hi Walter, thanks for you advice, and yeah water in paddles isn't an issue in static models. Im thinking of having a walkway above the paddles so I'll looking at having the paddle boxes venting from the top. and this is all a steep learning curve for me. I also suspect that having open sided paddle boxes that I've been using so far wont show up this issue.
after seeing the quality of others recent pictures of making paddle wheels recently, its my turn now, and I'll be making mine from styrene sheet. I did start to file them but wasnt happy with the standard of finish so thought Id mill them using a rotary table . Ive done this before on small steam engine flywheels and a good read if you want to try this is this link
https://rick.sparber.org/FWp.pdf
as Im using straight spokes my calculations are much easier and the paddle wheel sides are made from 1.0mm thick styrene and its the first time that Ive milled styrene and wasnt sure how it would work. the milling was done with a 2mm 4 flute carbide cutter with centre cutting flutes at about 1200 rpm (I also drilled the holes at this speed too). I wasnt too sure what speed to use but thought it best to go on the slow side as the styrene will melt if heated up, so sharp cutters are also required.
so first I drew out half the wheel and the dimensions are in mm not inches :D
and from that I worked out where the holes needed to be drilled and the angular dimensions are in degrees and minutes (as my rotary table has 10 minute divisions on it)
and the slots, both radial and linear. All of the slots were milled using conventional milling rather than climb millling, which is why the radial slots go in opposite directions and you also need to account for backlash in the rotary table, in my case this in 20'. the straight milling was using using a digital readout so was taken as read (literally).
I used 1mm thick styrene sheet screws to a piece of MDF as a backing. the screw head was roughly centred as the centre hole will be enlarged and drilled as the final part of this. the 4 corners were clamped in place, for this I used repair washers on top on hexagonal studding connectors. not much clamping force is required and it worked well and gave decent visibility
and then drilling 56 holes in the corner of the slots
and draw roughly where the slots will go
I decided to cut the curved slots first, roughly cut then 0.20mm underside, by overlapping plunge cuts, having the corner holes cut you know where to stop and start cutting. this was also done with the straight slots
and then the final cut was done taken in a single pass, it does look like a rough finish, but its not.
the centre hole was then drilled after first enlarging the original hole with a end mill, so the final drilling would be accuratly centred.
and then clean up by removing the edge with a blunt scalpel blade
and 4 sides of paddle wheels
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:beer :bravo :beer :bravo
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hope Im not going into too much detail with the way I make things, but I think its good to know how others do things, and I'm fairly new to this boat modeling and scratch building from styrene, so if I go into detail I can look back and see how I did it last time :D ohh and tell me where Im going wrong too please. :)
To machine the outside of the paddle wheels I decided to sandwich then between some MDF discs, the one being held by the tailstock centre was counterbored so that it would only clamp the paddle wheel edges, and the the one driving the paddle wheel used a drill shank as the spigot for locating the centre of the paddle wheels. and the mdf is mounted on a small faceplate held in the lathe chuck
then its a nice easy turning job for turning the wheel down to diameter.
I was looking into making the paddle wheel axle from abs, but when testing the bond strength between abs and styrene found it to be quite weak, so laminated some 3mm sheet street strips and used that instead. so far in this build I've used Revell Contacta Professional cement as I find the tube allows accurate application. for the laminating I used Tamiya cement as the brush in the top makes it easier to give an even coating to both surfaces before clamping together.
the paddle wheel centres were made slightly long and then the other end was turned to shape.
and them the holes for the grub screws were drilled and tapped. although Im only using one grub screw in each wheel, I dilled and tapped 4 holes in case I strip one as its easier to now rather than later
the paddlewheel sides were glued to the centres which were checked to make sure they were running true before the styrene cement had set
and the completed paddle wheels (which I think came out pretty well)
and on the model in the water.
the wheels are 46mm diameter, 17mm wide, with 8 paddles 15mm long x 8mm deep and the completed wheel weighs 3.8 grams. I was thinking that it might be necessary to pin the wheel centres to the wheel sides but the bond strength of the cement is good so its not required. the new paddlewheels are slightly heavier than the original 8 paddle versions that I made, but think these will look better on a finished model.
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Too much detail?...... :gathering ....we think no not at all....new member/builders can look in detail or scan the images & story to see what is what
From your posting on the 22nd, could we ask if you used Log Tables or Slide Rule for the calculations? :whistle
The depth of paddle wheel blades immersion may be a little trial & error....trying to minimising cavitation, but still maintaining thrust
Looking forward to the build posts
Derek :beer
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my calculations are basic trigenometry, I used log tables in school in the early 1980's before we were allowed to use a calculator......Im guessing log tables are a thing of history these days though :D
the internet makes life easier for us though, with sites like this, put in 2 variables and it throws out all the dimensions you could ever want. now I dont have to remember if its a sine, co-sine or tangent these days.
https://www.calculator.net/right-triangle-calculator.html
Ive had another play today and at least I know it should work when I've finished it. and the boat complete so far is weighing less than 100g ready to run and in its current state uses 136g or ballast, so I know that I should able to build a superstructure that will allow me to keep some ballast in the bottom of the hull.
I decided to try out the new 1 amp speed controllers. show here with a larger 5 amp speed controller and a standard servo plug (which shows how small they are).
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001708134135.html
using the 5 amp speed controllers the motors are running at 240rpm full speed, but with the 1 amp speed controllers as standard they only run at 170 rpm (which was a bit disappointing). but adjusting my transmitter to 120% of stick movement it would give 195 rpm, but that didn't work with channel mixing so my paddles are running at 170rpm max.
Ive also shown the wiring on one of the speed controllers
and a couple of them with the receiver in the background (I'll rewire them again when Im ready to do the final install).
I ran the boat continiously for an hour in the bath tonight, tank steering has its advantages and you can so laps of the bath or figure 8's without touching the sides and straight line speed will be 1 to 1.5 miles per hour at a guess, so for a boat that's is only 30cm long thats fast enough. The edurance was pretty good too, the battery I was using was a single lipo cell rated at 350mAH, and after an hours running was 3.97V so nothing to worry about.
so at this stage its looking pretty good, if I can get it to look like a boat, I know that performance shouldnt be an issue, as long as I can keep the weight down, so that I can use ballast to keep it stable.
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the hull around the motor mountings were a bit flexible as the hull sides is only 0.75mm thick so I decided to use some 0.50 stainless steel sheet that was slightly springy, they were also grit blasted to key them to be stuck in place with epoxy resin. to hold them in place while the epoxy set I use modified a modified M6 cap head screws that were reduced to a M4 thread with a straight section, so that if any excess glue went into the centre hole it would have set to the finished size and a hex wrench would have made it easy enough to crack the adhesive bond. I didnt have any issues though, when a simple screw and nut would have done instead.
Ive also started on the paddle boxes, and wasn't happy with the accuracy of me drill holes for the slots in the sides, so co-ordinate drilled them, it took me ages to work out the positions though ad the small holes are 1.0mm diameter and the large ones are 2.5mm diameter. the slots were then cut with a craft knife. the side was then laminated with another piece of styrene, which was cutoversize.
I was wondering how to hold the sides of the paddle wheels to the top and thought it would be best to make a jig from MDF to do this, shown here being machined on a rotary table. if it was larger I would have sanded it freehand on a disk sander.
pins were then stuck in the side to help align the sides and screws were put into the top so the sytrene could be held in place with magnets. the corners were also chamfered to give clearance to the styrene cement when applied.
the side was then taped in place like a hinge so that the styrene cement could be applied.
and the glued in place.
I tried it out at the local pond over the weekend, and it worked, ripples in the water wern't too much of an issue, but it is incredibly slow, but there isnt any rush so I can live ith that......ohh and it didnt sink either.
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due to the construction of this model, the paddle boxes and sponsons will need to be removable so that the paddle wheels can be removed in case the motors need to be removed. If you hadn't noticed, Im designing this model as I go along, and thought I would fix the paddle boxes to the Hull using M1.6 cap head screws, and I stengthen the hull at the end of the transverse frames as it would be stronger there and flex less. the paddle box sides are 0.75mm thick (as are the hull sides) so stuck a 1.00mm thick strip of styrene there to and strength and tapped the holes in the paddle boxes after spotting the holes into the hull side. this meant that the gluing jig for the paddle boxes needed to be modified to allow clearance for the thicker section at the rear of gthe paddle box.
and the completed paddle wheel and paddle box assembly on the model. the paddle wheels are 17mm wide and the inside of the paddle boxes is 19mm wide.
I've also tried some new speed controllers that I got though the post but couldnt the neutral position to work with my radio gear, so the'll be resigned to the bin (the elelctronics inside a servo worked better as speed controller). Last week I tried it at the local model boat club with the motors running at 170 rpm , but today I changed back to the original speed controllers and rewired them. the motors are on the left, the reciever is in the middle and the speed controllers are on the right.
and there are a few pics of the hull in action, and it seems to work pretty well, it goes in a straight line, doesn't tilt to one side, the straight line speed seems slow but its as fast as it will go, at 240rpm I was getting some cavitation, but at 170rpm I wasnt and there isnt much difference in speed. the turning seems to be a bit slow so may reduce the size of the hull later and hope it'll stil go in a straight line, although it is easy to correct .
so at this stage I think I'll call it a success, its a sidewheeler, that is 1ft (300mm ish) long so is on the small side and works on open water in a pond without any major issues (other than being slow and hard to see), all I need to do now its work on the aethsetics to make it look like a boat. I think this will end up looking more like the "paddleducks on tour" edwardian paddle steamer though, rather than the one at the one at the start at the opening of this thread as the construction will be simpler and I dont have issues with the paddle boxes needing additional ventilation holes.
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so now its time to add the sponsons to the paddleboxes, a layer of pvc insulation tape was put on the hull sides to stop the styrene cement from sticking the paddle box /sponson to the hull.
The inner wall of one of the paddle boxes started bow inwards so I clamped them together with a steel ruler between then to limit the movement and then some styrene on the back face to hook over the side of the hull to stop moving.
the hull sides for the cabin area and front and back panels were cut and then the sides were glued in place. The deck was then cut to size, so that when finished the boat will have a sealed hull.
the front and back cabin sections were then glued in place. I would have glued the deck section in place inside the cabin area, but cant do that until most of the model has been completed for working out how much ballast is required.
and I've done the electrics again and used some new speed controllers
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000430408686.html although I understand that normal radio gear as has a pulse width of 1000 to 2000 micros seconds, these are quoted as having a pulse width of 700 to 2300 microseconds so wont be giving me full speed , but the power loss is minimal for this application. I'll have to try it on an oscilloscope one day
I heat shrink the receiver / speed controllers and then coat the bottom with car body filler (bondo) to get a flat base. I'll let this set on pvc insulation tape as the filler wont stick to it. I'll then stick the the reciever/speed controller in place with double sided tape.
ohh and is looking a bit more like a paddle steamer now.
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you have done well, small paddle steamers are prone to being tender and not good sailers
a mate and my self built similar small models but have found problems, i had more draft on mine and it seems ok, but model not finnished
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yeah so far its going pretty well, the bare hull with radio gear works well, and there is more ballast than boat so far, but Im building the boat as light as I can so that I can try and have the weight as low down as I can to help with stability.
time for another update, I seem to have spent more time thinking about what Im doing with this model rather than making it, but I'd rather get it right rather than rushing it.
Im happy with these speed controllers
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000430408686.html
but when I tried it on an oscilloscope I was expecting a square wave output rather than having an output like this, so I guess there can be more heat build up in the speed controller at low speed, but at full power on standard radio gear there is only a tiny reduction in full power output, and in reality I cant notice it. (the blue horizontal line is 0v and the waveform is with a free running motor ).
the one of the M1.6 mm holes in the sponson/paddle box has stripped (which I expected) so they were all drillled out and 4mm long threaded styrene inserts were fitted.
I needed some small vent cowls and think they look pretty good once I'd worked out how to make them. the tops are 6mm wide and the vertical tubes are 4mm
so first I ended up making a form tool to form the radius on the end of the 6mm styrene rod. this was a piece of rusty 3mm gauge plate so I drilled and reamed a 6mm hole in it, and stoned the top face to give a nice sharp cutting edge....ohh and because it was being used on styrene, I didnt harden it, it was just used in its annealed state.
Then cut 10mm off the end of the rod, turned it round in the chuck and drilled it 4mm to remove most of the inside material
The round end then had a flat bottomed 4mm hole milled in it so a 4mm tube could be glued into it.
The "bowl" top of the vent was then parted to length, and the parting tool is 0.6mm wide and this was then glued to the vertical tube.
and then the inside of the top of the vent was created using a 5mm ball nosed milling cutter to create the curved interior, but how do you hold it? mill a recess piece of wood using a 6mm ball nosed cutter and mill a 4mm wide slot for the tube to sit in. and then hold it with tool makers clamp to keep your fingers out of the way.
and a completed vent next to a half done one
I need a couple of small ladders so bought some plastruct ones
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/372912365451
which are 5.4mm wide so I narrowed them using a 0.15mm wide slitting saw to 4mm wide. the ladder was stuck to a lollipop stick with double sided tape and the lollipop stick was stuck to a ruler with double sided tape. the side that was cut off was then cleaned and stuck back on.
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One of the issues with making a small boat is trying to make small windows, and for static modelling, there are modelling versions of pva glue that work well like this
https://www.scalemodelshop.co.uk/product/50ml-glue-n-glaze-deluxe-materials-ad55/
and how to use it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RmBRZsZ7to
but they have one issue with a r/c model boat is that they are not waterproof and go milky if they get wet, so not much use to me.
I tried some clear epoxy resin but with mixing it had issues with small bubbles in the mixture and a better option was to use clear gorilla glue
https://www.scalemodelshop.co.uk/product/50ml-clear-gorilla-glue-gorilla/
which worked well, and is waterproof (left in water overnight but with no issues). but has microbubbles in it and has a pale brown tinge to it, but not enough to notice on a model.
so that lead me to looking at using UV curing adhesive, so I got some fairly cheaply off ebay
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/393248007797
I also got some tape that is used for casting the resin on, but its just to use as a smooth surface for casting the window on, you can use insulation tape if you want a slightly frosted look.
so this is my method, the window i "made" was 10mm square which is twice the size of those that I need.
take a piece of the smooth tape and cut it out slightly larger than the window required, this was then put on some masking tape sticky side to sticky side. then stick that over the hole that you want to glaze.
then turn it over and fill the recess with the UV curing adhesive using a cocktail stick to get it into the corners, its is self levelling and air bubbles are easy to pop.
when you're happy leave it in a sunny place for a while (30 minutes for a first attempt) in a horizontal position and thats it , job done. this is the second lens I tried to make the lens its 6" away from my phone and the lens is 6" away from the tape roll, so its not too bad.
I also go a UV torch too
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/184754000377
and found for a window it caused the resin to set too quickly so wasnt as clear as with sunlight as the activator. also as the leds have a specific wavelength there is an issue of the surface remaining tacky , and the answer to that is to leave it in sunlight for a short while. but you can use the resin like superglue but with a worktime of 30 minutes unless you leave it in the sun of shine the torch on it for 30 seconds, and its waterproof and much thinner than epoxy resin so may have other uses too.
back on with the sponsons now I needed to make some extensions to the paddle boxes to cover the mounting screw threads so made some , but they looked too "square before fitting them, so I decided they would look better if the corners were rounded, so I cuts some triangular sections from 2mm styrene sheet with a 0.15mm wide slitting saw. I also made some portholes too, the tool in the lathe is 0.6mm wide. and then the extensions are glue to the paddle box / sponson. the insulation tape is to stop it being stuck to the hull, and finally a picture of the two completed sponsons and there are 22 separate pieces of styrene in each one.
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:clap :bravo :great
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Lovely work and good photo's too. :clap
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thanks for your kind words guys :) and this is the only place where Im posting this project. I've done some CAD work on the boat with solid modelling.......when I say CAD, that's Cardboard Aided Design. ;D
so here's roughly what it might look like when its done, but can still change at any time. I ended up getting a few cheap books off ebay for inspiration, and they'll end up in the local model engineers / boating club library. as then others can use then too rather being stuck on my shelf and not being seen again. I find it so much easier handling a book rather than trawling the internet looking for pictures etc.
ohh and Ive got a deadline of 7/07/21 to to get this finished for for an open day at the model boating club.
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Hi guys, hope you've had a good Christmas, and its time for an update, while I planned to have this finished in summer it didnt happen and this model was put to one side. The local model engineers/model boat club were due to have a club exhibition early December, so I thought it would be good to put this in show half completed with some paint on it. The exhibition didnt happen due to Covid, but at least it got some paint, so now its no longer a blank canvas. fI made some brackets to stick some magnets to to that the the top section of the boat can be removed to get to the radio gear, and then these were stuck in place
I thought I'd stick some rubbing strips on the side as I didnt think a completely smooth hull would look right, so I stuck so 1mm half round styrene there
and after a bit of light filling, its ready for paint, when I say paint, I mean primer so that I can sort the surface imperfections out. and fiddley shapes were ultra sonically cleaned before painting.
the key to good painting is literally that, you need a good key to stop the paint falling off, and because of the difficulty in abrading the paddle wheels, I decided that the best option would be to grit blast them at low pressure (25psi) and then just airbrush them with enamel without any primer and this came out well.
think the paddle boxes look better in grey than white and so does the hull, with the hull I was hoping that the sides would be nice and smooth, but now think it looks better that you can see the frame that the hull was made on and its part of the character of the model. and then there is putting some tiny fillets on the paddleboxes to finish off the preparation for painting colour. I decided that I would paint this model with revell / humbrol satin enamel, as I didnt want it to be too shiny.
the top of the hull and parts of the paddle boxes are airbrushed white and then masked off to do the main hull colour of green
and after the green is the masking for the black on the paddle boxes (and top rubbing strip on the hull), tamiya masking tape is all you need to think about, its in a different league to the household stuff.
and after the black has been painted
and then the underside of the hull
and then the white rubbing strip.
now with some colour on I think I can see that it only needs a simple cabin section etc and to keep the lines as clean a possible.
and a few pics of how it looks assembled so far......
and over time its been evolving to look more like this one that appears on the home page every now and again. (and thats the reason I did green hull sides instead of blue.
(http://www.paddleducks.co.uk/smf/gallery/2/4_25_10_09_7_33_05_21.jpeg)
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Good morning to you Optima- its starting to look very good. You are making a very thorough job of it. (Any name for it yet- or have I missed it.?). The smart paddler in the photo was built by our late friend Hans FREUND specificaly for one of his visits to our club Paddler Days and in the photo it is unfinished, hence the rather smart carrying box, It was built from the old PBM Edwardian paddler kit- probably the best paddle steamer kit ever produced- simple and a real builders model. Hans loved this kit and I believe he built three of them. I have built two of them. Carry on the good work!. Regards, Walter
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Hi Walter, thanks for your kind words, I dont normally name things I've been driving the same cars for the last 15 years and normally refer to one as the green one and the other as the smiley one......on the case of this model I was thinking of calling it Polly...... because its made from styrene :D :D but I just call it the paddle steamer to those that know what one is.
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Hi guys, its been a while and time for an update, as it should be at its first event tomorrow, but one advantage of a boat this size is that you can try it out in a bath to see how it will perform (more about this later). Its been a steep learning curve with certain aspects of this and one of those was how to make small railings. Im guess soldering wire together can be done, but I decided that I wanted to make styrene ones to save weight (as styrene is roughly 1/8 the weight of brass) and would use styrene rods between 0.5mm to 1.0mm diameter. To stick them together I decided to use styrene cement and my prefered choice was Revell as the delivery tube made pin point delivery easy and was stronger that the "instant" type solvents. For the main railings, I used 1.00mm rod for the handrail, 0.75mm rod for the stanchions and 0.5mm for for the lower rails. As the railings are only 8mm tall (including mounting) I decided that I needed a jig to align the pieces of styrene rod, so I cut V grooves with a carbide 60 degree engraving bit using my milling machine, and where the styrene was stuck together, there needed to be a hole so there was nothing else for the styrene to anything else as the cement can get anywhere due to capillary action. to cut the pieces of styrene to length I used rectangular (or square) pieces of metal, held it down over the rod and cut both sides of the metal with a scalpel and ended up with a styrene rod of the correct length.
the railings were made in 2 processes, first the handrail and stanchions were stuck together then after a few hours the part finished railing was removed, turned round and the lower rails fitted. for scale the masking take holding the rods in the grooves was 3mm wide. So thats how to make nice straight railing and seems pretty easy so far, I wanted at least one curved railing,, and a small amount of heat can allow styrene to be curved. the first few attempts were messy but the way that worked as to gently for the railing for the edge of something circular (in my case a jar lid), hold the railing under a piece of paper and then stick it down with high temperature "kapton" tape. I then shoved that in a pan of boiling water for a minute, then took it out and stuck it in cold water and to leave a curved rail. the high temperature tape is important of else the adhesive gets destroyed by the heat and makes a gooey mess.
After a bit of handling the railings both (straight and curved) ended up cracking which wasn't suitable for a working model, I thought this could have been due to bad preparation so degreased the rods first and also tried thin and gel superglue as an alternative (well I was desperate). it turned out that both the superglues were in a different league to the solvent adhesive, and so much stronger that I decided to use the thin one. to apply this I cut the end off a small dressmaking needle and half of the eye to leave a U at the end. The U is the dipped into a drop of glue and is used to apply it where you want it. I also left the rail for a few hours in water and the superglue didnt dissolve either.
now that I could use superglue it mean that I could the handrail on after painting it, because if I had to use sytrene cement it would have worked as a good paint stripper. also and the solvent dried out over a few days with styrene cement, the space between the stanchions reduced, which wasnt a problem for the first couple of stations but when the handrails are 13cm long the railing was 0.2 to 03mm short, but with superglue there wasnt any shrinkage.
hope that makes sense,
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After I'd made the first railings (cemented together) I made the piece that would become the decking, and I thought it would look wrong with a flat area of brown so I decided that I needed to scribe some lines 1mm wide to give a basic plank effect, and to do this I used the engraving bit (used for the railings jig) in my millling machine but keep the cutter stationary and move the milling machine table backwards and forwards to scribe the planks. now that was a boring job, but I thought if I used a scriber/craft knife and ruler, there is no way I would do it accurately and would eventually slip. my method of mounting the styrene sheet for scribing was to stick it to a piece of MDF with double sided sticky tape, but to put masking tape on the MDF and styrene first so that it was easy to remove when I'd finished it. also by using MDF as a backing, I could co-ordinate drill the mounting holes for the stanchions (and other holes too).
Id also tried to co-ordinate drill the holes for the curved railings but they didnt line up correctly (which I later worked out to be shrinkage, so I needed to make a drilling guide for these holes, so I ended up rolling a thin layer of blue tack between some lollipop sticks and pressing the railing into that and drilling holes where the stanchions left an impression.
and this guide was used to drill the holes in the deck
after this I then changed to making the railing with superglue and the second set were more robust and didnt have shrinkage either, I also decided that I could make the handrail separately and glue it on afterwards. and somewhere around this time I had a rethink about what would be on this deck and made a cardboard and toothpick design.
the lower part of the railings were then stuck to the deck using thin superglue using a modified needle. the deck was held against a steel plate with magnets as the easiest way to hold it for aligning the stanchions
the hand rail was then bent to shape and held in masking tape for alignment. and being able to bend the styrene rod in the corner should make them stronger than having glued corners
these were left too long and mounted on lollipop sticks for painting
and then this was stuck to the stanchions again with superglue and using the masking tape for alignment
I think the deck "planking" and railings worked out well, but wish there was a quicker way to do them
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I needed to make a couple of cabin, one for the bridge and one for the deck, and they had the sides aligned using square tubing and magnets.
then I started on the bridge assembly, the deck had been planked as before and holes were co-ordinate drilled. this was cut to size and the cabin was checked for fit. the ladders were also trimmed to length and used 2 x 8mm square toolbits as a guide
the windows in the cabins were glazed using sheet plastic, I tried using UV curing adhesive but struggled to get the tape to seal so the adhesive leaked out.
and then I needed another set of railings and another jig was made to hold the pieces together gluing then togther, these railings were made from 0.5mm styrene rod. on the left are the parts of the railing and on the right they are assembled and glued in position.
the ladders were then glued under the bridge wings
and the handrail was bent freehand and glued in position, and this worked out first attempt, I was expecting it to take a few trys.
the bridge cabin was then glued in place and the other 3 handrails were added. the lolipop sticks were used to align the bends
to mount the vent cowls (and deck cabin) to the deck I used some short spigots and loosley held then in place while I glued them in place.
and the vents that I made earlier were cut down to length (these are hollow so a drill was used in them to stop them collapsing.
and the final deck assembly which covers the radio control gear and is held in place with tiny magnets, and the whole assembly weighs in at 13.25 grams, which I think is about as light as I could have done, and was all made of styrene to save weight, and would have been a few grams heavier if I had used metal for making the railings
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You have really done a great job on this project! Well done!
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Looking forward to seeing her on the water......looks superb :bravo
Derek
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Thanks for your kind words guys ;D
At this stage I had something that was looking very boat like, and needed to sort the ballasting out for it, and at this stage I started playing with it in the bath, and used 90 grams of car wheel weights in the hull and while it gave a slight increase in freeboard, became so unstable that it would easily capsize, so wasnt happy about that. at this stage I also stuck the wheel weights under the hull and found the stability increased, so then thought about having a weight stuck under the keel to give the stability I wanted and slight increase in freeboard.
These sense prevailed and I tried the original ballast that I used the paddler was painted and that was 135g of 1p and 2p pieces, and this gave the stability I wanted at a slighly lower freeboard (as the boat was now heavier). I then filed some lead weights for ballast at a reduced weight of 124g and that seemed to work as well stability wise and have a slightly higher freeboard.
and the lead weights glued in place
the deck parts were then glued in place, and so the hull was then sealed. this is why getting the ballast right was important as once the decks were in place they couldnt be removed. this also shows battery to power it, the two geared motors to operate the paddles and the reciever and two speed controllers
and some pictures of the paddler, at this stage I havn't decided if it is complete or not, I like the simplicity of the design as it stands but still thinking if I need to fit some seats on the rear deck and lifebelts, but then it would look more cluttered. I had made some lifeboats but they wont be fitted as they will make it look too "busy" for my liking.
and for you Derek, here is is in water, both static and under power.
Im glad to say I think it turned out quite well, in both in terms of looks and being able to be played with in water. It looks different to how I first would have made it, but the construction ended up being simpler, and Im getting good at using tweezers for holding things now. These days I tell people that if a model cant fit in a carrier bag, its too big......or else I'd end up being like this guy ;D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMS6p3tIz3A
when I get my pladdler out on a lake, I'll try and get some photos to post here.
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Very good.....now that ballast....could be worth its weight in Gold
...and those sacrificial anodes [big blocks] will surely keep corrosion away for more than a lifetime
Derek :whistle
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and out on the water today, sorry about the quality of the pics, but it generally looks lost in a photo.
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:clap :great :bravo :