For those interested, I bought a set of plans of the real thing at great expense £10/plan from a company in Glasgow.
Photos show the rudder and steering mechanism for the sail driven boat.
Future plan is to convert the model to sail.
This may be a step too far but we'll see.
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For those interested, I bought a set of plans of the real thing at great expense £10/plan from a company in Glasgow.
Photos show the rudder and steering mechanism for the sail driven boat.
Future plan is to convert the model to sail.
This may be a step too far but we'll see.
No need Bill!
My post was before Hilly posted the plan excerpts, so I couldn't have made such a comparison😉 I agree with you though.
Hillro,
Comparing your layout with the plan:-
I think your rods are too long and I don't see the guide brackets you have fitted in the plan?
Having two fixed points means that the rod has no freedom of angular movement to follow the curve of the servo arm. Hence it has to bend and probably binds in the tubes you fitted in the bulkhead. Plus the friction at the hull opening as mentioned below and by Bill.
Try replacing those short toobs with just round fairleads in the bulkhead, and remove the brackets further aft, to give the rod a chance to pivot slightly on the fairlead.
That and plastic hawser pipes on the stern should smooth things out nicely (I hope😉).
Cheers, Doug 😎
Good morning Peps.
Following your advice I have modified a few things.
A-Put a flex point on the servo linkage to reduce the effect of the non linear drive of the servo. I.e. A bit of flexible plastics hose. I put blobs of solder on the end of the rods to ensure a good fit.
B The chain hole through the hull , coated it with superglue and when set filed as required for a smooth finish.
C - Lifted the rudder arms slightly.
Now running very smooth with no snatching. Woopee!
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Good morning Peps.
Following your advice I have modified a few things.
A-Put a flex point on the servo linkage to reduce the effect of the non linear drive of the servo. I.e. A bit of flexible plastics hose. I put blobs of solder on the end of the rods to ensure a good fit.
B The chain hole through the hull , coated it with superglue and when set filed as required for a smooth finish.
C - Lifted the rudder arms slightly.
Now running very smooth with no snatching. Woopee!
Well done Hillro. Works well👍
For the final touches I would recommend that you fit round fairleads to the hull breakthroughs as shown in your plan. See attached extract.
Small brass belt eyelets are good for that sort of thing (drapers shop). I also use them for porthole frames😉
That should stop the chain accidentally sawing the stern off!😮
Slide plates under the chain to protect the deck finish? 0.5mm brass strip?
Or a piece of metal foil from one of Martin's marge' tubs??😁
Cheers, Doug 😎
Hi Ian,
I'm sure your suggestion works for larger bit sizes, IF one has appropriate precision grinding tools. Although I have my doubts about modifying a twist drill, especially one of 1mm or so.
Flat ended OK. But it would then still have only two 'cutting' edges, with sharp end points which tend to dig in and jam.
1mm end milling bits (Dremel, Proxxon etc) with multiple cutting faces cost not the earth!😊
Don't quite see how the 'D bit' prevents skidding off a thin hard rod.
But wadda I know? I'm just a dumb electrickery man!
Cheers, Doug 😎
Put together with stuff from the scrap box. Although you will not see a lot inside the bridge when complete, I had a go at carving a seaman,and fitting a chart table. Still have to make and fit handrails, life belts, etc.
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Put together with stuff from the scrap box. Although you will not see a lot inside the bridge when complete, I had a go at carving a seaman,and fitting a chart table. Still have to make and fit handrails, life belts, etc.
It's been a wee while since the last post but I have not been idle.
Fitted the back to the wheel house and fitted all the handrail, etc.
Made up mast and spars from dowel tapered by sanding, various hardware fitting from brass wire and sheet.
Don't have a sewing machine, so called up a favour from a friend to make the sail. Fitted the eyelets myself. Assembled the mast, spars and sail. This was a very fiddly task.
Have arranged the mast head lighting with guide wires. This will be used to power up the lanterns. This was a deviation from the plans however I think a practical solution to allow lanterns to light up.
Still to fit a few things like water tank, skylights, etc.
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It's been a wee while since the last post but I have not been idle.
Fitted the back to the wheel house and fitted all the handrail, etc.
Made up mast and spars from dowel tapered by sanding, various hardware fitting from brass wire and sheet.
Don't have a sewing machine, so called up a favour from a friend to make the sail. Fitted the eyelets myself. Assembled the mast, spars and sail. This was a very fiddly task.
Have arranged the mast head lighting with guide wires. This will be used to power up the lanterns. This was a deviation from the plans however I think a practical solution to allow lanterns to light up.
Still to fit a few things like water tank, skylights, etc.
The intention was to make the boat from wood from the scrap box. I made the hull mold as in the photographs however when trying to make the ribs, they kept breaking. Tried various methods and woods with no great success so I turned to plastic. The result I am very pleased with.
I would be very happy to hear on techniques to build a ship's boat in wood.
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The intention was to make the boat from wood from the scrap box. I made the hull mold as in the photographs however when trying to make the ribs, they kept breaking. Tried various methods and woods with no great success so I turned to plastic. The result I am very pleased with.
I would be very happy to hear on techniques to build a ship's boat in wood.
Your ship's boat looks fine to me. I always work in wood, but have found building a dinghy/ships boat difficult, so have used good quality card for the planking but a wood keel, stem, transom and thwarts. I found it quite easy and a couple of coats of paint on completion makes it quite strong.
Spent some time thinking about the fitting of batteries,fuses, esc, and lighting circuits.
I made up two battery boxes, one for either side of the drive motor. These were mounted but still allow for removal of the batteries, with a bit of fiddling. Recharging is accommodated by plugs on battery leads.
The fuse board (from Halfords) is mounted in the forward access hatch with a common negative busbar.
On the positive side two fuses for the battery, one for the speed controller (esc)and another for the lights.
The fishhold holds the on/off switch,and speed controller which also supplies power to the radio receiver which is installed in the rudder compartment.
This is to allow the radio aerials to be put in the wheelhouse if required.
Dry run test went well.
Oh I did do a float check in the bath,with batteries mounted and had to add some weight to the bows.
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Spent some time thinking about the fitting of batteries,fuses, esc, and lighting circuits.
I made up two battery boxes, one for either side of the drive motor. These were mounted but still allow for removal of the batteries, with a bit of fiddling. Recharging is accommodated by plugs on battery leads.
The fuse board (from Halfords) is mounted in the forward access hatch with a common negative busbar.
On the positive side two fuses for the battery, one for the speed controller (esc)and another for the lights.
The fishhold holds the on/off switch,and speed controller which also supplies power to the radio receiver which is installed in the rudder compartment.
This is to allow the radio aerials to be put in the wheelhouse if required.
Dry run test went well.
Oh I did do a float check in the bath,with batteries mounted and had to add some weight to the bows.
Did this when the better half was out!!
Very pleased with the stability of the boat, no fear of capsizing.
Also was very surprised at the performance of the prop. I thought it was quite small for the size of boat but I think it will give a good turn of speed in the pond.
Very happy boy!
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Did this when the better half was out!!
Very pleased with the stability of the boat, no fear of capsizing.
Also was very surprised at the performance of the prop. I thought it was quite small for the size of boat but I think it will give a good turn of speed in the pond.
Very happy boy!
Pleased to hear you are satisfied with your Zulu's stability, looking at her from above, in the bath, I can see why you are pleased with her. Hopefully we will see pics of her on the lake somewhere before long, I'm looking forward to it.
Just thought I would record how I wired the boat.
Not sure how the photo will turn out.
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"yes I could have paralleled up the batteries but"
If I'm not very much mistaken, or the diagram is mislabelled, that is exactly what you have done Hillro!
Both positives are connected via the fuses and both negatives via your negative rail.
If you MUST do that then you have to make sure that both batteries are identical.
That doesn't mean just the lables!
It means that they both must have the same actual voltage and state of charge.
Otherwise the stronger will start to try and charge up the weakest, which can lead to some excessive current and associated heating 💥🔥😭
To prevent that Schottky power diodes should be inserted into the + leads of both batteries.
A simple and neat way to do that, if you don't want to do the soldering yourself, is the Parallel Connection Board from Action Electronics (Component Shop). https://www.componentshop.co.uk/p103-parallel-power-board.html
And yes, F3 and F4 are back to front😮
Cheers, Doug 😎
Made out of brass sheet, and soldered up.
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Bill
My post was before Hilly posted the plan excerpts, so I couldn't have made such a comparison😉 I agree with you though.
Hillro,
Comparing your layout with the plan:-
I think your rods are too long and I don't see the guide brackets you have fitted in the plan?
Having two fixed points means that the rod has no freedom of angular movement to follow the curve of the servo arm. Hence it has to bend and probably binds in the tubes you fitted in the bulkhead. Plus the friction at the hull opening as mentioned below and by Bill.
Try replacing those short toobs with just round fairleads in the bulkhead, and remove the brackets further aft, to give the rod a chance to pivot slightly on the fairlead.
That and plastic hawser pipes on the stern should smooth things out nicely (I hope😉).
Cheers, Doug 😎