Managed to capture some video of Brian Clewes' live steam TID tug on the lake this Wednesday 19 October. First chance for a proper sail and a bit more ballast needed.

Had a little trouble getting my sound to work properly but with a little fiddling got it working a lot better had to reverse motor leads & switch transmitter forward -reverse switch so it would work in forward direction .

Second test was slightly better, using the aluminium spiral cut universal which came with the jet unit. As you can probably hear, it was horribly out of balance (even with cable ties to reduce it). It was not even drilled centrally and the spiral is right hand when it should be left hand, (like a spring twisted against the wind, it wants to deform). Slight improvement in speed on the first test (no slip this time) but the noise was horrendous.

Have pulled the jet apart and found that the 3 blade prop is around 1 mm too small for the hole, causing cavitation (see loads of bubbles in the jet stream) which is causing loss of thrust. The prop is the wrong type as well, with rounded blades, so I have modified a larger prop with more pitch to fit snugly in the unit to hopefully increase thrust. The shaft is also wrong, with a flat cut almost half the diam and carrying on through the bearing, allowing the grease to fly out.

I actually saw a Chinese site on Al Expr stating that "some dimensions on the product may be different due to the number of machines and operators involved in its' manufacture," SERIOUSLY!!??? their quality control must be utter crap and the operators not skilled enough to eat their lunch😐 Why bother having a dimension at all?? Little wonder nothing fits properly.

Unfortunately, most model shops sell the very same stuff, unless you want to shell out muchos dolleros for European stuff. I have just ordered some 4mm silver steel to make a new shaft, so a coupling or silicone tube will fit better. Also ordered some solid connectors to try. Vibration is wasted energy so it needs to be eliminated. Hopefully the mods will improve things and allow the motor to run on 4s rater than 3s. Worked out that the motor is only 1200KV, so it's only doing around 13,000 rpm under load. Probably will need around
18,000 rpm for proper performance. Onwards and upwards (or forwards as the case may be.😁)

Sorry about the blurry vid again, but my camera lens is knackered.

I finally managed to get out and do a video of SY Minnow. This was taken at Cheddar Steam Club and Jane and I were the only people there so had the water to ourselves. I have increased the displacement a little which has made her more stable in the wind. Although it doesn't look it, there was quite a breeze that day and you can see the boat heeling to the wind on occasions. I was very pleased with the mist unit as this was the first time I have seen it operate properly. I will do something about the masts being out of alignment!

" Elsa ", is a steam dredge barge built by Buxton Model Boat Club member Dean Ratcliffe.
She is roughly 1.24 scale, approximately 43 inches by 8 inches and is made from recycled and up cycled materials wherever possible. She has a single rudder and propeller, powered by a single motor from a drill, and two 6v lead acid batteries. She is a totally freelance design.

Found a way of pulsing the water using the pump of a dead smoker (Hen Long smoker that is) In this test I used a pump to prime the smoker pump (smoker pump on 2s) and the rest is just syphoning through the pump to the smoker. You can vary the amount of 'spitting' from the exhaust by running the pump at low voltage or maybe using a peristaltic pump with a small flow.

I did not connect the fan powered smoker unit as I ran out of silicone tube, but the result should be the same as the last vid but with 'spitting' water. Using the smoker pump for water is not perfect as it would need sealing properly, and it's cumbersome, but you will get the idea. I have ordered a couple of small air pumps, so might have another crack when they come. I'll use them at the exhaust to disrupt the water flow if they are powerful enough, rather than use the smoker pump.

Ahoy Maties! it's been a long time since my last posting. Happy 2019! I just completed my new scratch-built boat "Electric Barbarella". I tried to recreate (with some liberties) one of my favorite boats of all time, the 30-footer Chris Craft Sportsman built during the 1970s. it measures 24 X 8.5 inches. it is powered with a 9.6 NiMH 4200 mAh battery "nunchuck" pack (like the one used for paintball guns), brushless motor attached to a 30A Mtroniks Hydra controller and a 30mm M4 3-bladed brass propeller. The hull (my own on-the-go design) was made out of Balsa wood which later I fiberglassed. For the superstructure I utilized 2mm ABS plastic sheet material. To my surprise the boat turned to be a very stable and forgiving platform. I really feel a very close connection to this vessel as it is my first own hull design.😁

I am continuing to try to learn the way this forum is properly used. I want to publish here my photos of the construction of my sailboat Carina from scratch that I am publishing here. I will limit myself to photos that are useful to get a general view of the topics I am publishing

Trying to learn to use this forum properly I am publishing a video that shows an experiment I did to find out how fast the stepper motor could turn. I am using in my model of the sailboat Carina 2 stepper motors like the one shown in the video to work as a winch to control the position of the sails in a system solution where I am realizing this my own way to implement the sheets as shown on the original sailboat Endeavour. This requires my sheet control system to control the length of the sheet of the mainsail i.e. over a range of 8.3 meters. This requires the drum which is turned by the stepper motor to make 21 full turns. Details will be published in my report from scratch of building my Carina.

Just converted this 40yr old twin brushless model (scratch built from a Vic Smeed plan) to a proper independent twin system plus a sound unit. Started off with a 70s Futaba ESC on 27mhz, then on FM, then replaced with an Electronize unit on FM, then to 2.4 and now on 2.4 with twin ESCs and converted TGY S6 (twin throttles). Maneuvers a lot better and makes a better noise.

no longer available from Harbor models given to me by Norm Rusinow
oar propelled East Coats Dory

I found this hull at thingiverse last year. I printed the hull from a local shop and rest was handmade.
Firstly I bought a 2426 4200kv brushless 2-3s which was too powerful and too heavy for the boat size. The length is 38cm.
And the 30Amp esc was also too big for it's size.
After that I tried small 180 brushed motor with 20A brushed esc w/brake. it was perfect (still it's heavy😂).
The bridge and deck is made by 1.75mm pvc,torpedos are made of wooden pencil.
Small battery space takes a 2s 500mah lipo. 30mm 3blade propeller.

YouTube video link is here: