Auto paints, electronics for newbies, etc

[Tony Mattson]

Well, well, well, what a site of huge activity PD has turned into
during the Christmas break! I clearly have plenty of reading to do to
catch up on the innumerable pearls of wisdom.

In cruising through the posts I did notice a couple of things tho'.

Auto Paints
-----------
I've used aerosol auto sprays from time to time - particularly the
whites which come in a huge range of shades. Drying time is really
short and after a couple of days curing the finishes seem to be
strong and durable. The key downside for me is that you're limited to
the shades available.

As to dealing with the gloss finish, I generally finish off with a
couple of all-over coats of matt lacquer (my pref is Gunze Sankyo but
that's only from trial and error and plenty of testing for
compatability with local auto sprays). I don't know about long term
yellowing of the overspray but have seen no effects after four or
five years.

One of the really nice things I like about the aerosols is that they
can be heated in a warm water bath before use. Hot tap water is
ideal. I'm not sure of the science behind this but imagine that the
heat increases the propellant pressure and helps create a finer
aerosol spray.

Electronics
-----------
I saw Brett's gentle dig at the use of 'advanced' electronics in
paddleboats. Agree completely that newbie RC boat modellers in
general should follow Occam's Razor by go for the simplest options,
before spending up large on complex electronic options.

But once the initial learning curve has been scaled then electronic
options such as switchers, mixers, sound effects and the like add new
layers of opportunity for modelling.

I'm an electronics pygmy - always have been and always will be
(apologies to any Bushmen on the list) - so the so-called simple
tasks of building additional functions using servos & microswitches,
designing and making speed controllers, etc., have always been more
challenging to me than I care to admit. For me I suspect that it's
better I buy another man's wheel than invent my own!

Catch Up on Reliant
-------------------
After a couple of weeks R&R with friends and family and a few hours
beavering away in the workshop, Reliant's sponsons, paddle boxes and
outboard deckhouses are done and dusted, and most of the hull work is
now completed. The subdeck is laid and bulwarks and capping rails
added. Should have some photos to post in the next week or so.

My laser cut brass paddlewheel frames have gone back to the drawing
board - great reproductions of the originals but not enough strength
at 1:32 scale to give me comfort. I'm considering going overscale by
a couple of millimetres on rims and spokes, moving to a heavier guage
and am also looking at other materials such as steel (oversprayed
with epoxy to stop corrosion) or aluminium.

In the meantime Happy New Year and a great season's paddling to one
and all.

Tony
Auckland, NZ

[Derek Warner]

Hi Tony - don't can the brass laser cut wheels yet - my set of wheels were drawn & cut, then as usual I decided to alter the design
by increasing the OD of the wheels by some 30 mm, so now the paddle boards go outboard of the outer rim rather than inboard

I achieved this extra 30 odd mm diameter by soft soldering 25 mm long sections of 1/16" diameter brass welding wire to each of the
ten wheel spokes - each of the ten 1/16" rods were pre held in place with 1/16" brass split pins & the pins inserted in carefully drilled
1/16" diameter holes near the major OD if the rim, so alignment during soldering was a breese

This also made the revised design of retaining the boards to the wheels greatly simplified in that each board will now be retained by
four 1/16" diameter brass split pins which are in turn soft soldered to each of the 1/16" extension pins

Soft soldering sections of brass wire will greatly increase the rigidity of the rims - I think I mentioned some time ago, that with a bit of
thought & ingenuity the additional 1/16" sections could look very similar to feathering rods etc - if all this sounds too garbled - my
OCT2002 posting of Decoys wheels will clear up any questions - regards Derek

[Tony Mattson]

I like your solution for reinforcing your wheels - any chance of
posting a close-up picture or two of the paddleblade connections to
the wheels as your description intrigues me.

I'm still keen to pursue the feathering option on 1:32 scale but have
accepted that my lack of engineering skills and machinery will be a
major road-block in the medium term. Nevertheless I've allowed for
retrofitting feathering wheels to Reliant should I ever crack this
particular challenge (perhaps I should be more positive and say ...
WHEN I crack this challenge!).

Cheers for now and good luck in the cricket test with India - I can't
believe they took 705 runs for 7 wickets off Aussie bowlers - seems
more like the sort of cricket score Aussie would post against NZ!

Tony
Auckland, NZ

[Paulrjordan]

--- In Paddleducks@yahoogroups.com, "Tony Mattson" <tmattson@i...>
wrote:
[SNIP>
> I like your solution for reinforcing your wheels - any chance of
> posting a close-up picture or two of the paddleblade connections to
> the wheels as your description intrigues me.
>
> I'm still keen to pursue the feathering option on 1:32 scale but
> have accepted that my lack of engineering skills and machinery will
> be a major road-block in the medium term. Nevertheless I've
> allowed for retrofitting feathering wheels to Reliant should I ever
> crack this particular challenge (perhaps I should be more positive
> and say ... WHEN I crack this challenge!).
>

and CRACK IT you will, my son...when you're good and ready!
Feathering wheels are something you might like to GROW into and I
certainly wouldn't recommend 'em for someone who doesn't have a good
machine shop and well developed soldering skills! I can, however,
assure you that a good set of simple radials with slightly oversize
flat buckets will drive your paddler along just fine. You hardly
see 'em in the water anyway and they're so easy to make!. Believe me
I admire any modeler who can build a good set of operating feathering
wheels but I don't think you should hold a model's progress up by
tackling them first. The danger is you might get disillusioned by
them and shelve the whole project. There's nothing quite so
satisfying and stimulating to further progress as seeing a hull take
shape from flat plans on a drawing board to an object of three
dimensional beauty! Always build it first! A preoccupation with
feathering blades shouldn't hold you up at this stage and as you so
rightly say..you can always retrofit them. Just for fun I once made a
radial wheel with "simulated" feathering arms and curved blades and,
painted up oxide red, it looked da*ned good!

Now last thing about reinforcing wheel rims..just like Derek says...
Beef 'em up even it means using a nasty little trick I once did.
Someone I bought a paddler from had equipped it with cast resin wheel
rims!! Come on!!! Everytime the things hit a twig they'd crack or
break. Since I didn't feel like making new wheels, I ACC'd a thin
styrene disc (same diameter as wheel) to the outside edge of each
wheel and attached a strip around the circumference like a tire. I
then cut and filed all the "hollow" areas between the spokes. It
worked GREAT..added marginal thickness to the rims but nothing
serious..and those rims never broke again. So don't junk those rims
whatever you do. Once the hub and solid blades are attached to the
rims, the whole wheel assembly becomes much more rigid.

So good luck and keep us posted, Tony. Love those paddle tugs!

PJ
Victoria, British columbia, Canada

[Tony Mattson]

--- In Paddleducks@yahoogroups.com, "paulrjordan" <paulrjordan@c...>
wrote:

and CRACK IT you will, my son...<


Ummm, thanks dad!

But serially speaking, I appreciate all of the advice given re
feathering - in particular the words of support from Stuart, Paul,
and Down-Under Derek.

Seems like some subjects are perennial favourites and judging by the
wealth of messages in the archives on this subject, we're a rich
virtual group indeed!

cheers for now
Tony