Princess Elizabeth build...

[djcf]

Mick,
Paddlebox/sponson area looking very smart indeed.

As far as I can understand, from looking at various wheels, the outer portion of the arms are angled differently to allow the floats to feather without obstructing the arms at any time during the revolution of the wheel

regards
Clark

[mjt60a]

That sounds about right but until I attempted making one it hadn't occured to me that, if the wheel spoke was straight, it would restrict movement of the floats' top edge (top edge when it's entering the water while running forwards that is)

[mjt60a]

Almost completed the 'outriggers' now and cut out the part of the sponson deck that's part of the bow-section so I should soon be able to start fitting the edging...
...also had a little mess around with some model rail street lamps I bought to use as the swan-neck lights on the landing platforms, they will need a few modifications before I'm happy with them...

[mjt60a]

I made up one side of a paddlewheel just to see how it will look and if it fits into the paddledrum - it looks like this might actually work!
just have to make 3 more (2 of them a mirror image of this one) plus the hubs/attachment to the shaft and figure out how to mount the floats and feathering mechanisms (I have some ideas on that)...
also completed a bit more of the sponson decks....

[mjt60a]

I've left the wheels for the time being and done some more on the sponsons...
all the 'outriggers' were fitted during last week and strips of thin ply between them to help support the I-beam, and this weekend I added the styrene I-beam round the outside. Painted part of it first that I find difficult to paint after fitting without getting paint on the deck planks then glued in place with araldite (roughened the inside with sandpaper first so the glue will grip better, used railway track pins to nail it in place while the glue sets - they will be impossible to remove once set so will stay there)

[mjt60a]

The piece that runs under the paddlebox will be removeable as it will have the feathering mechanism on it, haven't fully figured out how to do that yet...but I will when the time comes 

[mjt60a]

well I fitted the styrene strip inside the I-beam today and it looks much better (than it did with white showing) had to carve out some cavities with the 'expo' drill for the track pin heads to fit into, then used styrene cement to attach it. I now have an idea how to make the middle bit removable (more on that when I start making it)
Also tried out the motors using a car battery charger and they work just fine (if a little noisy with the metal gears) speed of the output shafts is about 250 rpm so should be able to gear it down at the connection to the paddle shaft using a couple of meccano pulleys or similar...

[Eddy Matthews]

Just one quick point Mick, if you ran the motors on a battery charger, it was probably kicking out around 20 volts (or more) with such a light load on it, so don't base any speed calculations on the RPM you had using it as the power source.

Regards
Eddy

[mjt60a]

I had thought of that, though I expected the output to be about 14v my main concern was that seeing how many sets of gears there are inside - and that it came from a model tank - it might be too slow for a paddler, needn't have worried. 250rpm was just a guess by looking at it running, I later did another test using the actual battery I intend to use and put a bit of masking tape on the shaft and counted the revolutions in 15 seconds. It was 70 - so more like 280rpm with no load except friction in the gearbox. I'm sure it will be adequate

(* just saw this.... 'Car batteries and valve-regulated-lead-acid batteries (VRLA) are typically charged to between 2.26 and 2.36V/cell. At 2.37V, most lead-acid batteries start to gas, causing loss of electrolyte and possible temperature increases......
......Charging a 12-volt battery (6 cells) at a cell voltage limit of 2.40V, for example, would require a voltage setting of 14.40V....)

[mjt60a]

not much progress this weekend, I made another paddlewheel rim/spokes but didn't photograph it as it's identical to the first one, now need to make a couple that are mirror images of them...

[mjt60a]

....I intend to have the doors open at main deck level (waverley and balmoral always seem to have them open as does just about every photo I've ever seen of a paddler sailing) so some interior detail will be needed....photos when they look presentable 

here are the 'visible' areas in the forward end painted and doors fitted...

[Stuart Badger]

Looking VERY nice Mick!

Stuart

[mjt60a]

Thank you, I still need to paint the floor.... on waverley, the interior floor (ie. inside the deck shelters) appears to be put together in the same way as the exterior deck but is stained and varnished so I want to do the same...kind of!
it isn't all that easy to see so I intend to leave it as styrene but first need to make some tests to see if it's best to paint it matt white,yellow like the walls, or light brown then use coloured varnish/one-step woodstain...or just use shiny brown paint...

[mjt60a]

by the way, not sure if there really is a double door between the stairways but the shape on the outside suggests there would be a companionway there to the lower deck (where the port holes are in the hull) and I tend to just build something believeable if I can't find out for sure!

[mjt60a]

fitted the external doors today, two (non-working) sliding ones on the front wall and the 'half height' ones (also non-working) just ahead of the sponsons....