Old Trafford steering mechanism

[Tony Mattson]

Greetings Mr Badger,

I wonder if you (or other interested PDers) can give a newbie paddler
a few insights into the set-up that you have for 'Old Trafford's
steering.

The plans for PS Reliant indicate that the steering quadrant was
above deck and that the rudder was controlled by steering chains and
rods which worked their way along the channels on either side of the
deck then up the sides of the paddleboxes to the steering engine.

I've had a look through your 'Old Trafford' photo folder but was
unable to tell whether you used a steering quadrant above deck with
some sort of chain driven control to emulate the original.

Or did you use a below-deck steering horn on your rudder to keep the
connection to rudder servo as simple as possible?

On my 1:32nd version I am struggling to achieve a tidy solution below
decks due to the space limitations at the stern of the boat -
Reliant's counter stern is very nostalgic but is such a small space
for rudder horns to operate in!

At the same time I'm worried about reproducing the original and
running a working brass chain and rod steering mechanism over half
the length of my model.

Many grateful thanks for any insights
Tony

[Stuart Badger]

Tony!
I installed dummy steering chains and rods on 'Old Trafford and I installed a dummy steering quadrant on the rudder post. The rudder is actuated, however with a simple servo horn under the quadrant. As you say the steering quadrant is above deck level - but if you look carefully at the drawing you will see that the stern area is actually a raised grating ABOVE the wooden deck - there's just enough room to get the arm and quadrant in, but don't forget I had a bit more room than you will have.
Hope this helps

Stuart Badger

[Tony Mattson]

Hi Stuart,

many grateful thanks for such a prompt reply (and for the wonderful
photos of the original 'Reliant' and your own 'Old Trafford' - a
superb resource, but such a pity that the Nat Maritime Museum chopped
Reliant about as much as they have, to shoehorn her into an exhibit).

I like the approach of using dummy steering chains and rods and can
understand your reasoning behind getting the servo horn into that
space above deck and below the grating but I can't for the life of me
work out how/where you've fitted the actual servo to keep your aft
deck and stern clear of visible steering rods.

Can I trouble you to please elaborate on the servo location and
connections?

Kind regards
Tony

[Stuart Badger]

Hi Tony

The servo is mounted as close to the deck as possible on the forward side of the bulkhead that forms the front face of the grating support. A cranked rod then passes thru a slot in this bulkhead to the rudder arm. You could of course use the scale steering quadrant AS the rudder horn/arm. As you say, there is not much room at the stern - on the model I built the hull is skinned with 1/16th ply at this point to allow maximum room. I have NOT replicated the deck under the grating as this area was open down to the hull plating on the original ship. (NOT a nice place to fall when the grating was off to service the steering gear!)

The servo is connected to the reciever using an extension lead.

Thanks for the comments about the photos etc - for your info Reliant is no longer at the NMM - she was hacked to pieces with welding lances and scrapped a few years ago - criminal!

If you need any more info - just post away. :-)

Stuart

[Tony Mattson]

Cheers Stuart for the fantastic explanation of steering on Old
Trafford - everything is becoming clear.

Interesting re the opening thru the deck under the grating - ain't it
amazing in this modern age what liberties our forebears took with
safety concerns. Are we now a society swaddled in cotton wool or what?

I seem to recall that there was a bit of a fuss when a group of
Americans wanted to buy 'Reliant' to preserve her - the NMM refused
point blank to let her go and the Americans bought 'Eppleton Hall'
instead. If not a criminal act in cutting 'Reliant' up, then
certainly callously indifferent to maritime history!

many thanks again
Tony