I am very new to paddle and keep making tedious mistakes, I am hoping someone can take pity and point me in the right direction.
I now have a hull and paddle boxes, I also now have a pair of paddle wheels, the next major leap is for the motors and the drive.
I have looked at the MFA site but its all numbers, do I go for a pair of geared motors or reduce via an external train, belt or gears ?
It's my first boat so I am looking for simple answers that won't cost me a fortune.
The boat is the paddle tug Forceful and she is just under 39'' long.

A bit like the paddles that I made from a drg. by Dave Metcalf, 1/8'' sq brass he suggested, I gave up after an hour. I found an article here about making them from styrene, so I did using 2mm thick sheet and a circle cutter (use it backwards - the rear is like a chisel, the front a knife) Also turn the material - not the cutter, also a carpenters scratch gauge for the parallel strips, they took me about five hours and cost me £1.50 for the pair.

Colin

sinjon

this installation may interest you. motor and gearbox out of a kids toy truck. originally 7.8 volt running on 6 volt in paddler. the lower gears go down to to the electric motor and the upper gears are coupled to 2  imitation steam engine cylinders sitting on a can painted to imitate a boiler. looks good and runs great.

regards  grumpysumpy from downunder

hi grumpy ,
do you have any close up shots of that instalation please?
i like the idea of the dummy cyl.
would like to do something similar with my scratchbuild sternwheeler.
thnx in advance
                                gr from The Bombus

Hi Grumpy

Thanks for the pic, I too would like to see an enlargement.
My tug is diesel electric, but I do like the idea.

Regards
Colin

hi guys

club member paddler. will get in touch with him for more photos

grumpy

Hello Grumpy,
Any news on those close up pictures yet ?
Would be nice to see how someone else figures it out
The more ideas the better
Greetings from The Bombus

sorry about the delay

completely slipped my mind

will make a supreme effort to get to the sail day and chase down the paddler

gordon

modeller on holidays in qld
will chase him down when he returns

Hi Guys

photos as promised

Hi guys finally got the photos

email: grumpysumpy@gmail.com for the set as my ISP keeps dropping out during upload

Hi I am considering building the Forceful can you give me any details of what to look for or what to avoid.
Regards,
Norrie