At last after 8 months I've finished my Vietnam River Gun Boat.
I've built this vessel using a made up fibreglass hull that pretty much measured up to the 1/9th scale with some modification that I wanted.
I will post photos of the build of the build over the next few weeks and answer any questions as they arise.
These pics show the initial hull modification underway.
Interested in your build of the Pibber River Gunboat. I have the Pro Boat version which performs well. Would like a bit bigger hull as there is not much room for normal size batteries.
Which hull did you use?
Also interested in the Patrol Craft Fast ( Swift boat)of the Vietnam era
Using the modified fan forced Heng Long smoker box, and a dead unit pump to pulse the smoke. This version is a 'dry stack one', which would look good on tugs and work boats. Still working on perfecting the 'wet' version.
Told you to get on with a new project before you sank the ship........ Interesting that Bluebottle is still around - so which one are you ??????? Next thing you will be talking about Iceland Parrots (aka wheels-up) . What were you putting in the smoker ..............
Hi Peter, if you meant what am I using for the smoke,it's baby oil, or if you meant what am I putting this system in - nothing as yet. have to reduce the size, but I could fit it in the Fairacre or the Maiami as I have enough room in both to fit something.
JB
Hi Martin ,ref Juno - here is a response from our club member Dean who built "Juno"
Juno is quite a basic flat bottomed boat, mainly due to my very basic modelling skills, and is intended to be a bunkers barge. 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, but I took inspiration from Humber barges such as the Humber Princess, which I used as a rough plan for the deck layout.
Purchased original Rojair Mickey Finn from Ashton Models 35 years ago - hull suffered damaged so made a F/G mould before repairing and sailing. Made spare hull from mould and there she sat for 35-40 years. Original Mickey was sold many years ago but as retirement approached the burning desire to fulfill old challenges re-emerged.
So , after putting out calls for help, diagrams, photos or information on the model boat forums, thanks to "John Dowd" and a couple of other guys, I finally got round to resurrecting this fantastic little yacht.
Finally, had a decent day (if you can call calm but fully overcast decent) and managed a try-out of the ST. Unfortunately had the pleasure of some yappy kid asking a thousand stupid questions, then his grandfather started, while I was trying to set it up. Got so distracted I ended up breaking the mast while trying to grab the boat and answer rapid fire questions. Trying to do a video and the kid's yelling behind me, and the grandfather just let him carry on.??😠 Don't mind kids being interested at all, but some are just a pain in the 'transom'
Anyhow, enough grumpy old man stuff, -boat went pretty much perfectly and is plenty fast enough, and also very economical on the batteries, (Vid was twice as long before editing) and when I stopped they were still at 3.9v/ cell (they are only 2200MAh 2s ) and were only 4.1 at the start. All in all, distractions and a bit of mast damage aside, I'm quite happy with it, (did hit the jetty at a 20deg angle at 2/3 throttle while taking photos, - going for that last shot -😀 bounced off without a mark, - lucky the jetty piles are slimy and I build tanks !)
I get easily confused in my old age Doug😐 I've got 2 cars, an auto and a manual, - I've noticed lately, when I shift to P for pass there are funny noises, (noticed the same when shifting to R for race) and in the manual, why does it make funny noises when I pull the stick back to drive off?😮
Confused😐
Finally managed to get this to come out the right way up on You Tube (didn't like MP4,- came out upside down). Running the 2 boats from an HK 6ch 2.4 radio (slight crash and jostling by the Maiami at the start) . You'll get sick of it in a few minutes and fall asleep but I've put it up anyhow😁 If this doesn't make you seasick, nothing will!😊 Hit a Koi carp (Chinese sub) at 3.01!
"Koi carp (Chinese sub)"
Er ... that's the JDF, Japanese Defence Force sub JB.
Didn't get seasick, but it did 'make me eyes go funny' 🤓
This can never work for more than a minute or two cos you'd need to have absolutely identical performance of ESCs, motors and rudders (perhaps also hull forms) in both boats.
I tried it once with my destroyer and Sea Scout - no chance!
Had more luck 'escorting' a same scale (1/72) Flower Class corvette around the lake in the Olympia Park, Munich ca 3 decades ago 😉
😎
This vid is cut down from around 20 mins Doug. Each boat is totally independent of the other as one is on the left stick using one RX (elevator and rudder channels) and the other on the right stick using a second RX (throttle and aileron channels)
I think everyone has the idea that they are on the same stick? The eyes do go a bit wonky as the camera is only a small keychain camera (pre Go Pro days) which we used to mount on planes etc, and the boat movements are quick.
You can always change the playback speed (on the left of the You Tube logo)
JB PS I'm sure I saw a red star on that carp!
Running 2 models at once with 2 TXs for a bit of fun for a video. No one else to steer so it was just me, (not particularly coordinated though!) Sorry about the video, YT seems to stuff some of them up even though they are the correct format, (sound almost disappears as well)
Re - Well what do you expect livin' on yer 'eads
Probably something to do with the space time continuum Doug, did you know the water runs the other way down the plughole down South (or up South if you want to be contrary) Mind you, the blood running to the top of the head makes us think differently (same with the Aussies, although they think slightly more left than us😊
JB
Using the Hobbyking Swamp Dawg as a platform for my Gopro action camera.
Managing slide, drift and wind rotation was a challenge in varying conditions, to help tame the beast we tried a few basic options !.
40" Seaplane Tender, new build. Quest for the correct engine sound
Found a sound by accident which sounds quite a bit like the sound of the GM Detroit 453 2 stroke diesels fitted to this boat (still has these today) Vid from cockpit is the sound I discovered while mucking around with some old electric motors, and my new voltage controllers which just turned up.
I'll add the link to the real engine for comparison (next post here). Sounds to be revving really high but being 2 stroke it's only doing around 2800 rpm!
And the prize goes to..., perhaps if I (thr) hum along Doug?😊 (see reply to Martin for answer) It's real hard to get just the right sound to match a model (the sound units I have are not too bad) but there must be ways of doing it without having to spend lots of money on complicated sound units with set programmed sounds. In the case of my sound units, they are real engine sounds, programmed to be proportional on internal SD card but they don't quite match the model). A lot depends on the internal volume of the model (resonator), sound unit and speaker/placement.
The search will continue for a cheap alternative.
JB
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.
Which hull did you use?
Also interested in the Patrol Craft Fast ( Swift boat)of the Vietnam era