Strongbow type tug

[Paddlemex]

Great to see that you liked my side buffers, Robert. If you make some show us how they came out.

The Morangie Castle is seaworthy now. The life boat has received some oars and can save lives.

Jurgen

[Paddlemex]

This weekend we had the first gathering at our pond under "new normal" conditions. Only a few daring (or unreasonable ??  ) attended. Anyway, we kept our distance, used masks and had fun.

The Morangie Castle sailed again very nice. I also have a few minutes of video which I still have to edit. That will take a couple of days.

Jurgen

[derekwarner_decoy]

I am not a fan of 'white' painted superstructure, but the subduded effect you have achieved is excellent Jurgen

........don't need sunglasses  to view the model in bright sunlight

Looking forward to the video......enjoy sailing your Morangie Castle at every chance

Derek

[DamienG]

Looks great Jurgen 

[Hankwilliams]

Really ecellent! It`s a pity, that it will not possible to take the model in the aircraft to Germany, when you will visit your family, Jurgen. This is a built of really museum quality, also the presentation on water.

Thomas

[Paddlemex]

Thanks to all for your kind words. … but modesty aside  … yes she looks great on the water.

Thomas: possible yes, but very expensive  , so no, I will not take her with me.

Video until next week.

Jurgen

[Paddlemex]

Finally I edited the video of last week's sailing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OgKsNayzhM

Enjoy.

Jurgen

[DamienG]

Look great Jurgen well done.

[Paddlemex]

Thanks Damien 

[Paddlemex]

Not much to do anymore on the Morangie Castle so I am moving on to other projects. However, some details still remain.
I have added a small bridge over the engine room's bull's eye windows. When working on the tow hook sooner or later someone would have stepped on the bull's eyes … so to avoid any damage ….
The pictures show the before and after situation.

I am also trying to find a way to connect the position lights on the removable wheel housings to the battery. I don't want a male-female connector solution, that's so common 
Instead I tried magnets. Put 2 magnets on the removable wheelhouse and another pair on the fixed deck and let the magnetic force pull the contacts together.
I have some 2mm dia. 1mm thick neodyme magnets and somewhere I read that if you place the magnets in a shallow metal dish, add a little water (not cover the magnet!) you may solder a wire to the magnet without damaging the magnetic properties.
Well it didn't work for me. Three out of four magnets lost their magnetism and the one that remained magnetic lost the wire when I pulled a bit harder.
Then after some  I came up with the brilliant idea to use a 2mm ID brass tube, solder the wire to the brass and then press fit the magnet to the tube. That worked OK, but for some reason the electrical contact is not reliable.
So here is still some research to do. I may add a little spring somewhere to further push the contacts together … but then I may not need the magnets … ?

Jurgen
 

[Paddlemex]

Long time since my last post.
I have been trying several solutions for the connection of the position lights. Made some prototypes which did not work and finally got back to the magnet alternative, only that I combined the 2mm dia. magnets with a pair of 3mm dia. magnets. That finally gave reliable contact results.

I also made the brass "housings" longer for added stability and glue surface.
The lower magnets are "floating" and can move a few mm vertically limited by a M1 screw. That allows for some tolerance.
The upper magnets are glued to the wheelhouse and the covered with a piece of styrene to look like some kind of connection box.
The cables are routed on the inside of the wheelhouse to the LED.
Finally I smeared some silicone sealer on the cable and connection points.

Here are a lot of pictures of the step by step evolution of the installation.

Jurgen 

[Steven S]

Hi Jurgen - I've spent the last hour or two reading your "Strongbow" build log and learning several tips on how to proceed with my much similar build.  In reply #78 you say you "made the decks".  How did you make the decks,  are they individual planks fastened to a false deck or are they laser etched into the false deck?  If they are individual planks would you please post more info on the procedure on my build log.  I am experimenting right now on how to proceed with the decking of my hull before starting on the superstructures.  Thanks, any information would be helpful.

[Paddlemex]

Hi Steve,

Glad you liked the Making-Of of the Morangie Castle.

The decks are not planked. I used 1.5mm plywood and cut the plank lines on my tabletop CNC mill. The lines are 0.5mm wide and 0.5mm deep. Then I stained the wood and let an generous amount of stain flow into the grove which made it darker than the surface.
Additionally it helped that the cutting depth just cut into the second layer of the ply which was darker than the top layer.
Before gluing the decks to the hull I covered the inside (under side?) with epoxy finishing resin and light fiberglass as a protection against moisture.

Individual planks is a lot of work and since I'm lazy I preferred to let the mill do the work.

However, I have seen in other threads that you can obtain the black caulking lines between each plank by inserting strips of black paper between each plank. Once sanded smooth you get very fine black separation lines. But that's not for me …

Jurgen

[Steven S]

I understand and wish I had a milling machine.  I bought an artist's carbon pencil and have tested it by rubbing it along the edges of some thin strips that I cut from some veneer.  It looks pretty good so I may go that way.  I know what you mean by a lot of work, but I have lots of time before the ice melts of the ponds.

[Paddlemex]

Here is what happens when you think you know the basics about circuits but do not considera all factors.
I am installing the lights and use 3 LEDs for the lights in the superstructure. Calculated and soldered the required resistor for the circuit, switched on and after a few minutes a funny smell came from the interior of the hull.
See picture.
For ease of wiring I had connected the LEDs in parallel and after checking my numbers I realized that the circuit required the resistor to handle 0.6W and I had taken a "normal" 1/4W resistor. OK, nothing serious happened and the funny smell was gone after 2 days.
Now I am redoing the wiring and will connect the LEDs in serie. That requires only 0.12W to be dissipated by the resistor.

Jurgen