Newspaper boat!

[thewharfonline]

Hmmmm we had a steamer called the mooglewanke and the wandering jew....very australian i think!

[derekwarner_decoy]

some 35 years ago, Ken Warby was the sales manager for an Australian Company named Warburten & Franki - and they were the importers of MAKITA power tools to OZ in those days

I had the pleasure of a business lunch with work colleagues & listened to Ken W outline his dreams - which came true - I think KW will be up there with the likes of Sir Donald Campbell & Uri Gurigan - [I hope I have spelt the latter correctly] - humble regards to the above - Derek

[mjt60a]

Update; I've tried different two other combinations of materials to make this hull...

Paper strip glued with evostik weatherproof adhesive - didn't actually harden like the PVA, after soaking in water for an hour it became very flexible as the water soaked into the paper but it  didn't fall apart. I'm guessing this adhesive is designed to maintain it's strength in wood that gets wet but is not itself waterproof.

Paper strip glued with craft PVA and sealed with thinned celulose dope -
excellent!, didn't get wet after an hour under water, dries to a hardboard like surface, soaks into the paper much better than sanding sealer did. This is what I'm using to make the hull.

I may try also three layers of paper/PVA then fibreglass (which I think would be best of all) and maybe paper/PVA then tissue/dope (that's what is described in the Modelboats article on Tipstaff but over balsa, not paper), it might work  :?

The construction of the hull is described in a separate topic 'building the newspaper boat'

[thewharfonline]

I looked at the paintshop enhanced version and it looks like you have a good idea going...and it looks very australian mate lol.

I have had no time for paddle steamers at the moment...sadly school is taking up too much time!

[mjt60a]

Thanks, I only hope it won't be too 'top heavy' (should be OK if I keep the rest of it light)
In one of the shops when I was looking for the 'circle cutter' I saw they had another type of craft PVA which (it says on the container) dries to a washable finish, so that could be better than the stuff I used, I didn't have enough money with me (and couldn't be bothered to go to the ATM and back) I'll get some next time I'm there and try again using this stuff (got another idea I want to try out and need a simple inexpensive hull to fit it in    )

[mjt60a]

The show so far....

....not exactly as I'd designed it but close...needs some sealing/painting before it gets wet again! I found a motor to put in it last week, it looks like a '385' type with gearing attached and came from a bubble blowing machine (used by mobile discos) seems to work OK on 6v but is probably designed for 12v, I just need to figure out how to connect it to the paddle shaft....

[mjt60a]

...almost ready to run now, I need to make and attach the rudder and complete a few details/painting  

[mjt60a]

Today I tried out this model in the test tank after Freshwater, it seems completely watertight and though a little bit 'subject to the breeze' should work OK if I fit a motor and R/C  

[thewharfonline]

Looks like a great boat that maybe even i could make lol!

[mjt60a]

wheelhouse painted and some details added!

[mjt60a]

Now started making the rail round the upper deck (this is also practice for how I'm going to do the same area on the Freshwater) also fitted a motor which seems to drive the paddles well enough....


...by the way, it's now named the LEANN (lee-anne - this was inspired by the name of the Emmylou which I read was named after country singer Emmylou Harris - mine's named after Leann Rimes)

[mjt60a]

fitted and painted all the railings...

...closeup of some of the wheelhouse detail...

...I realise it could be better but have used only scrap (or otherwise second hand) parts and materials - just to see how cheaply it's possible to build a boat! Figures used are altered and repainted 1/32 scale 'britains ltd' zoo keeper and farmer from the 1970s/80s, can still be found sometimes in charity shops or on ebay (watch the prices on ebay though, some people seem to think they're collectors items... :?  )

[Eddy Matthews]

It's looking good Mick - I don't remember you posting anything about the drive system (maybe you did and I've forgotten?), but what motors/drive setup are you going to use?

[mjt60a]

I hadn't mentioned the motor before, it's from a 'bubble generator' (used for discos and parties) which I found in a scrapheap. I think it's supposed to run on 12 volt (looks just like a mabucci 385) but seems OK on 6, it has supressors already fitted probably to avoid noise interference when used with a sound system. It has gearing attached to one end so I'm using that with a gear on the paddleshaft. I attached the motor/gearbox to a piece of 3mm ply using a cable tie and glued two triangular pieces of balsa to the ply. This is then glued to the bottom of the hull, complete lash-up but seems to work OK. I now have to sort out the steering mechanism, there isn't much room (not enough to attach a servo arm) so I fitted a tiller which I intend to operate using a home made servo arm from styrene. Don't yet know how well it'll work (if at all!), we'll see...

[steamboatmodel]

Hi Mike,
About the lack of space for steering arms, on a number of my models (including one of the small Lindberg tug kits) I have used a pulley system that works great. I use one pulley on the rudder post, and run lines back to the servo arms, if you include a spring  in the line it gives you a bit of protection in the event your rudder gets knocked about.
Regards ,
Gerald