Moving toward the end of the Project.

I see that my last blog was 18 days ago, and time seems to have slipped by unnoticed.

Although I spoke of the finished cabin last time, I did not relate about fitting the glazing to the window frames and the frames to the cabin sides. The kit supplies a printed template of the window shapes and as the acetate supplied is film coated on each side, I was able to glue the templates to the window material and cut around them. I used PVA glue for this, but they had to be cut before the glue was fully dry otherwise it peeled off the material.
With the expected accuracy of these kits window was a bit oversize for the frame aperture so was easily trimmed to get an excellent fit. The completed windows were easily fitted to the cabin sides after any excess paint had been removed from the inside edges of the aperture.

No one said that fitting the rubber surround to the deck would be easy, and my first idea was to use contact adhesive, applied to the hull side and the rubber tubing separately, and then at the coming together of both, the glue would grab the rubber and would create a permanent and sturdy bond. Not so! It stuck to some extent and held it in place but there were patches where it sagged and was by no means secure. So, I resorted to cheap superglue, two tubes for 99p from Home Bargains and this ran into the gaps and gave a now inseparable bond. Alright perhaps not with the elasticity one would expect from the rubber but as far as the model is concerned it looks ok. (It seems to me that the cheaper the superglue, the more tenacious it is!)

Moving on to fitting the gear, I am using a separate RX Battery to power the Rx and servo and fan for the motors. I had designed a little console panel to house the switches for the Rx, Fan and ESC switches. I wanted to leave the 4.8 Rx pack in situ so have connected a charging point to it. Originally the wiring was all connected to the switches for fan and Rx (I wanted the fan switched separately from the Rx so it could be left running if need be, after the radio was switched off.) But this turned out to be such a rat’s nest, that a piece of Printed circuit board was cut to connect all the wires and seemed a much neater and reliable installation.

After all this, a led voltmeter was purchased, and connected to a spare output on the Rx, so shows the battery voltage being seen by the Rx when switched on. The mini fan was fitted to the underside of the forward hatch and gives a downdraft directly onto the twin motors.
The rudder servo was connected to the rudders.
Prop shafts and props fitted.
The two 2000NIMH 7.2 packs will be mounted amidships as a trial position for a starting point.
Just waiting for the champagne to arrive now for the launch.

Regards Geoff.

At last the day of the launch came yesterday and as luck would have it I had the run of the Woodbridge model Yacht pond to myself. The Pilot boat was gently placed into the water and seemed to be sitting about right. The model powered by two Thumper brushless motors, each with a separate 7.2 HmNIMH and ESC. The onboard radar was switched on and off it went, gingerly at first.

It was responding well to the twin rudders and turned neatly at slow or top speed, it is a very responsive model. The fan running above the motors may not have been necessary as the motors and ESCs remained quite cool, but it appeals to the fans.(Sorry)

The pictures were taken by my wife who was pressed into the job and I hope can show the action of this model on the water.

In summary, another HAKits model completed that does exactly as it should, please the builder and the onlookers as well. I think that the models turn out to look much better in the wood than they do in the company's advertising.

The Pilot Launch can now be added to my harbour. Thanks to all who have followed this blog and I hope it has been interesting.

The next one will be of a different tenure so watch this space.

Regards Geoff.

PS the afternoon was spoiled by the fact that when I got back to the car I had a parking fine, not because I was out of time but because I had missed the last character of my reg. no on the ticket.
Have challenged the fine and been let off with a caution, and 2 years probation!!!