A ship that I served on 1966 - 1969 Scratched Built. (Sails well)
Wiesel German Torpedo Boat was given by a family who had dropped it and smashed completely had to rebuild(persons were going to dustbin it + radio and engines SAVED( and sails well) HMS Daring sailing at Maunsell Lock 18th Aug 2019 also Bismark making its Maiden Sailing after many trials in the Bath Great Day Out with Tone Valley MBC
I spent some time in the Middle East on H.M.S. Nubian ( Tribal class frigate)
H.M.S. Relentless ( Daring class) followed us back to UK. I remember days and days of watching her just behind us in the Bay of Biscay, which lived up to it's reputation. I always thought the Daring class was the last warship that really looked like a warship with her twin forward gun turrets.
Mind you I think you would have wet feet 24X7 on her waist decks.
Short video of the first test of the new vacuum table
I built this vacuum table and heater mainly to make a large canopy for a project scratch built plane I was building, (plus I thought it might be handy for other things). I had to use 1mm PTEG (same stuff they make coke bottles/packaging etc out of) as no one in the country stocks .5mm so the result was not the best, (need to get it very hot) Heater box uses the guts of a 2 bar halogen heater in the bottom, plus a 500w halogen work lamp in the side (1500W total) but still needs to be hotter. Will try and do a build post later.
That was just a quick test, - did have about a 5mm spacer on it, but the one I did for the plane had about 30mm. Depends a lot on how thin the material is as well and you have to allow for trimming. .5 mm would have gone around a lot better. You also have to have holes through the plug as well so it pulls around the plug.
The CKD furniture company I worked for (largest in the South Pacific) pioneered round edge vinyl covered table tops in NZ using a big German press which they modified. Germans said the thin Vinyl that the company wanted to use would not work,- took them a year of experimenting and proved them wrong. Machine used a large silicone blanket and oil heated platen.
Probably one of the reasons Red, also they were apparently trying to compete in a saturated market after the war. They upgraded the motor a number of times (as you would have seen) and a few other mods but couldn't compete, - pity as it could have been a ripper little plane, better looking than a lot of others and faster.
As you said, tandem is not conducive to families, and a lot of companies were advertising their 4 seaters as an extension of the family car. Gone a bit the opposite these days, not many making small planes now, mainly the Chinese, (probably count them on 1 hand now) The Streak would probably fit in the sport plane class these days.
This very large Vosper RTTL was active at the Oxford Model Boat Club open day on the 7th July. At aprox 6 feet long, it is the work of Terry Gregory (hull and electronics) and Paul Izzard( superstructure). It is a spectacular performer and beautifully finished though the enormous wake means that it is normally run solo on the water.
Made this in about 6 weeks for my son who was not interested so I now use it for general on water filming etc. It was scratch built from a few photos and is all balsa construction, sealed and painted. Powered by a single 12v 380 motor with a 28mm 3 blade prop. Runs flat out at around 15,000 rpm.
I haven't run nitro boats for a number of years now Doug, same with the planes, everything has been converted to electric long ago, (all the nitro planes included.) No more mess and smell of burnt fuel in the house, no having to take a roll of paper towels and soap sprayer and wash your plane or boat before putting it in the car, and no more having to put a plastic 'nose bag' on the planes to hang them up so you don't get oil dripping on your carpet!
Re- Graupner 'Premium Line', certainly sounds like their quality has dropped, you couldn't fault them in the 70s, gone the way of all the others due to competition from the home of Oolong tea by the sound of it.
"everything has been converted to electric long ago"
Know what you mean John.
I've still got a 5ltr canister of pepped up glow fuel kicking about in the cellar.
Probably degenerated into uselessness by now🤔
Maybe I'll stick in the car or use it to start the barby😊
Re Premium line-
Belfast wasn't so bad, but had the same crappy plastic props held on with grub screws.
So she's getting threaded shafts and brass props from Raboesch 😉
On Graf Spee though I noticed a lot of resin casting faults, evidence of air bubbles and smudged detail, as well as over / under-spray in the painting and lifting of the wooden decks.
Had to inject liquid CA glue round the edges to stop it peeling ☹️😠
Best thing on both ships were the faultless hulls with double skinning!😉
One thing surprised me with Belfast though-
the recommended SLA batteries don't fit! I couldn't get them in any which way 🤔
Not to worry, they go in my 1:72 destroyer with ease 😊
BTW I prefer lapsang souchong 😋
This is my latest build and first time at scratch building. Other than the hull I've done everything else so far and learned a great deal in scratch building. The hull was built for me by John Elsy of Newcastle as I had no experience of lifting details from the basic layout plan I had, but will learn this soon. Various stages in the build to date. it has a Graupner 500 ECKO motor pulley drive. Motor sits above the propshaft on special engine mount and the shaft has an oiler. 2 ch Futaba `T2ER 40 MHz radio which is all hidden under the false planked aft working deck. it will run on a 12v 7amp gell cell battery with a FR30HX Electronize ESC. Currently building one of the cranes.
This is my model of the KG5. Futaba 2 ch, electronize ESC, 12v 7amp gell cell battery. The motor is from a Ford radiator fan and pulls 1 amp current. Scratch built in the 60.70s and revamped in the 90s by myself. it is 1/96 scale @ 72 inches long and a width of 14 inches.
Foredeck Detail.
Anyone looking for details of Hood's foredeck equipment can't do much better than this photo I just stumbled across👍 While looking for something completely different of course🙄
Doug
Hi again,
You should find this link useful Peter.
It's to the HMS Hood Association and their review of the Trumpeter 1:200 kit, with lots of detailed improvement suggestions with appropriate photos!
Cheers Doug 😎 Schlaf gut 💤💤💤 http://www.hmshood.com/hoodtoday/models/trumpeter/trumpeter200.htm
H.M.S. Relentless ( Daring class) followed us back to UK. I remember days and days of watching her just behind us in the Bay of Biscay, which lived up to it's reputation. I always thought the Daring class was the last warship that really looked like a warship with her twin forward gun turrets.
Mind you I think you would have wet feet 24X7 on her waist decks.
Why not under it's own name and thread??
😎