The answer to this problem would be to lower the waterline by removing some of the internal ballast, that is to say, raise the model further out of the water, Looking at the monitor book again, it was clear that in calm water the top of the bulges could be well above the waterline.

Unlike most of my models that have been both propelled and steered by twin screws, the monitor model did not have a skeg between the propellers, so one was promptly fitted to the model as was mentioned earlier!

The handling was however much improved with better steering control at low and medium speeds. The model would still not return to a straight course after entering a turn, but the application of opposite rudder to straighten up soon became a natural action. At full speed, which was still too fast for realism, the monitor tended to wander. Now that I am aware of this characteristic, corrections are automatically given to keep the model heading in the right direction.

Comments made about the full-size vessels handling suggest that the model now behaves much as they did. Only a small amount of water would now arrive on the top of the bulge when turning tightly at speed and it was pleasing to find that the reduced draught had prevented any water entering the hull.

Since then the model has run with no operating problems. The aft superstructure does produce a degree of weather helm, that is to say the model tends to turn into the wind. Again, once aware of this, it can easily be countered with a little differential throttle, but to be fair this is probably not the best model to sail in windy conditions. It would look mightily silly bobbing around in the waves and the shallow draught allows it to be blown downwind more readily than most models.

My favourite sailing involves cruising around the lake at a moderate speed, then closing the shore and coming to rest. The slow rotation of the turret and elevation of the guns can then be used to threaten any spectators.

Alternatively you could slowly sail past fellow model boats and make suitable gestures with the barrels! And the name? Being a freelance type of model, a fictitious but still appropriate name was needed.

The Royal Navy showed some favoritism towards using volcanoes for their big gun monitors. Searching through an atlas failed to locate anything appropriate, but the name HMS Vulcan came to mind. In mythology he was described as a skilled metalworker and the armourer of the gods, providing them with thunderbolts to hurl at anyone who annoyed them.

This name had been used on a Royal Navy vessel before, a torpedo boat carrier of Final thoughts Building this model proved a different and welcome challenge. The hull design proved to be simpler than I first thought, but only after a lot of wasted paper. Being a freelance model also allowed the pleasure of letting my imagination, if not to run riot, at least have more freedom than usual.

This monitor model has its own sailing qualities, peculiarities if you prefer, which need to be learnt. I had noticed that when in a tight turn, the model would heel outwards and 27 a new model that demands effort to master. The working twin gun mounting was a challenge in its own right and the final design has proven to be simple and reliable.

By using a degree rotation servo, the complication and cost of geared motors, limit switches and probably other extra items has been avoided. Having the rotation and elevation under direct control of one transmitter dual axis stick seems to work well. So, in conclusion, this monitor has reinforced the urge to build a model based on a capital ship. Model Boats Website and Forum www. Here you will find all sorts of extras which will enhance your hobby.

Subscription offers for your favourite magazine in print, digital or a combination of both! Sample articles to whet your appetite and encourage you to subscribe! Link to the extensive MyHobbyStore online store with a huge selection of model boating and other projects plus the famous and unique Plans Ser vice with its unbeatable selection for your next model boating project! Direct links to many of our advertisers to meet your model boating needs.

Regular competitions for visitors and subscribers. Calendar of upcoming model boating events. The Forum In addition to all this our Forum offers the opportunity to share your work with like minded modellers and draw upon the huge amount of authoritative expertise offered by other members among whom are some of the best model boat modellers in the UK who are happy to give their advice for free in resolving both general and specific issues and queries. We all had to start somewhere and, as in so many other situations, what seems to be an insurmountable problem when you are stuck in your workshop on your own becomes a simple fix when someone explains the correct technique and gives you that added incentive to see your project through to successful completion.

As well as solving problems, the Forum also showcases new developments in boat modelling by some very experienced exponents of the hobby. We look forward to welcoming you on board. She started life as the subject of a bet between my wife Elizabeth and Sean Stewart, a freelance photographer who occasionally visits Goole MBC to take photo hs for local and national newspapers. The subject of the Loch Ness Monster came up in conversation in June and Sean said that if we could build a radio controlled model of it, he would come to the pond in his kilt and play the bagpipes.

No problem you might say if you build model submarines, but a bit of a challenge if you have never tried it before. I started by sketching out some ideas and Nessie took shape as shown in Photo 1. IP65 is an international standard for Ingress Protection of mechanical casings and electrical enclosures. The 65 indicates that the enclosure would be dustproof and proof against ingress by water jets from any direction.

This had the advantage N 20 1 Photo 1. Initial sketch for Nessie. I had a couple of suitable motors, so I tried out various layouts on the bench until I came up with what looked the most compact option, Photo 2. I did briefly consider other options such as Schottel or Voith Schneider drive systems, but in the end I decided to stick with components I had in stock and probably more importantly, those with which I had some experience.

However, Maplins had a range of IP65 rated enclosures on their website, so a suitable box was chosen and www. Trial layout of power unit parts on the bench. Waterproof test of the power unit. These boxes have a clear plastic cover, sealed with a rubber O-ring and secured by four large countersunk plastic screws. The first step was to make sure the enclosure really was watertight, so it was filled with a few lumps of lead and left overnight in a bucket of water, Photo 3.

The following day the lid was removed and apart from a small amount of condensation on the inside of the box, it was completely dry, which was a promising start.

A 3mm ply floor was fixed to the bottom of the enclosure using countersunk screws. The box has a number of suitable attachment points on the inside and outside which can be used without piecing the box itself. All the components were fitted, basically as in the original layout on the bench, using Velcro for the speed controllers, battery and receiver.

The radio receiver was mounted at the rear of the box with the mixer unit on top. Since 2. For the initial trials, the aerial was just coiled around inside the box. Internal layout of parts in the power unit. Each speed controller is powered from the same 7. However I thought they would be adequate for Nessie, driving 30mm three bladed propellers via mm long propeller shafts, which were the shortest I could source.

These were substituted for the MFA units and now each drives a 40mm three bladed propeller, Photos 4 and 5. This is the combination we have in our scale narrow boat and springer tugs and I find it works quite well for low speed models.

The power unit. Overall the system worked well, although directional stability was poor and it was obvious that Nessie would need a keel to minimise her tendency to snake from side to side when trying to steer in a straight line. However, since she is to all intents and purposes a snake, a bit of snaking is no bad thing! Head, body and tail Photo 6. The power unit goes for a swim in the nude. First pond trials of the power unit The completed power unit was ballasted with some small pieces of lead flashing tucked under the rear of the propshaft and initial pond trials carried out.

During later development of the model, a small hole was drilled in the power unit to allow the aerial to exit the box on the right hand side. This was sealed, inside and out, with silicone sealant. The aerial is now routed along the right hand side of the enclosure and retained by self adhesive cable clips.

The remaining section of the aerial is then fed up the tube in Photo 7. Bigger and thicker sheets are available, but this size is convenient to handle and would be big enough to make Nessie, The sheet is covered on both sides with a thin layer of aluminium foil, but this can be peeled off quite easily to leave a smooth, carvable and sandable foam surface.

The next step was to roughly mark out the head and neck of Nessie on a cardboard template and then cut out two pieces so that they could be laminated together to make a mm thick section. The first component was laminated using waterproof PVA adhesive which worked, but was not a totally satisfactory glue for bonding the two pieces together.

The fact that our sheet of Celotex was slightly bowed did not help either and we had to use a heavy weight to hold the two pieces flat together while the glue dried. So, first lesson: Make sure your sheet of Celotex is flat! A second sheet we bought later for another project was much better and easier to work with.

Our daughter Katherine had volunteered to be the sculptor and we went off to Kirklees MBC Gala day early in July, leaving her with the slab of foam, several sharp kitchen knives and instructions to be careful i. We had expected the first attempt to be a bit of an experiment, probably to be followed by a second carving session on another block of foam. However on our return, there was a very lifelike head and neck, about mm high, and a big pile of foam shavings.

After this encouraging start the two humps and tail section were made in the same way. Each of the humps is about mm long and mm high.

Elizabeth then took over from Katherine and sanded down each of the body parts to a final smooth finish, filling where necessary around the mouth, eyes and eyebrows, Photo 7.

Each section was covered with the leg of an old pair of tights and given several coats of Eze-Coat water based resin until the mesh of the covering had been filled. The covering method has been very effective giving a tough waterproof coating that seems to resist bumps and knocks well. After finally sanding smooth, each section was given several coats of Halfords acrylic grey primer, followed by an overall coat in a lighter shade of grey that we happened to have in stock, Photo 8.

The upper surfaces were then given several coats of dark green with lighter green patches applied afterwards with an airbrush. All the painted areas were allowed to blend into each other giving a very realistic camouflaged look representative of a real aquatic animal. Power unit box and keels Elizabeth made the box to hold the power unit from 3mm ply.

The rear wall has two 45mm diameter holes to allow the power unit to be fed into the compartment at an angle from the top and then sit snugly inside with the propellers protruding from the back.

The corners of the compartment are reinforced 9 Photo 8. The humps and tail. Photo 9. The power unit inside its box. The whole box was eventually given a couple a coats of Eze-Coat resin to protect it and coat of matt black primer to camouflage the underwater sections. We had decided that Nessie would have a green LED in each eye and a red one inside her mouth. These are powered from a 9v battery fitted in a compartment at the bottom of the neck, Photo However since the water in our pond at Goole is slightly salty, it is necessary to remove the battery and rinse and dry the connections after use, something I am not very good at remembering to do.

It was easy to drill a hole up through the foam from the base to the back of the mouth using a length of brass tube mounted in the chuck of an electric drill. A cross-drilling from each eye socket into the mouth allowed all the wires to be inserted. It was a bit of a fiddly process, but some stiff wire was used to pull through a length of fishing line and then this was tied to the LED wiring and they were all pulled into place. The tongue was made from a piece of red satin and the fangs from small pieces of white styrene sheet glued into slits in the foam of the head.

A second hole was drilled up inside the neck and head from the base and a length of plastic tube inserted and glued into place. Gorilla Glue is a foaming adhesive activated by water and it worked really well to fix each of the foam body parts to their respective ply base. A hole was previously cut in each corner of the box lid to allow any air trapped inside to escape, Photo The lid is fixed to the sides of the box by a single screw through each side which engages a captive nut on the lid.

It was attached to the base of the box using two pieces of aluminium angle which are fixed onto the underside of the box using short countersunk screws, Photo The keel weight is made from lead flashing strips, and Model Boats February trial and error testing was carried out with them clamped to the keel until we had the right weight and position. They were then bolted in place with a couple of 6mm stainless steel bolts. I was uncertain where to position the keel on each piece as I was concerned that the individual sections might wander around as the head towed the two humps and tail.

In the end I fixed the keel and weight just aft of centre on the head section, Photo For the two humps the keel was made from a length of aluminium strip with the lead weights attached to form an L-shape under water, Photo The theory was that if the hump yawed to one side the lead weight would act like a rudder and straighten it up.

The tail end tends to wag around a little, but overall the effect of Nessie sailing through the water is very realistic, not that I have ever seen the real thing to compare it with! Each of the sections is joined together with short length of curtain wire engaging in hooks or eyes at the front and back of the sections. This method was chosen for two reasons. First, it gives a bit of stiffness to the connection so that as Nessie slows down, the back does not concertina or overtake the front.

The second reason is that it is much less likely to foul the propellers in a tight turn when Nessie winds herself into a spiral. The box lid prior to fixing the neck and head. The battery compartment for the LED eyes. Photo The complete head and neck section. One of the completed hump sections. Attachment of the keel to the box. Nessie sailing. The main 7. The lid of the power unit is then fitted and the four corner screws tightened to pull the lid down on to the O-ring seal. If required, the 9v battery is also fitted into the base of the torso to light up the eyes.

The torso and lid is then attached to the base unit using two screws and each of the sections fixed together with the curtain wire hooks. It takes two people to put Nessie into the pond in one piece, but if necessary this can be done by one person by sequentially connecting each section in the water.

Nessie sails remarkably realistically, Photo 15, and has attracted a lot of attention when sailing at club events or at our local water sports lake. The use of a mixer unit and differential propeller thrust for steering works well in this type of model.

It is difficult to synchronise the two motors over the whole throttle range, so there is some lead or lag between the motors when accelerating and decelerating. To some degree this effect can be minimised with rudder trim, or by setting the neutral for the two speed controllers to slightly different signal positions. However the slightly wandering behaviour is not out of character and adds to the appeal of the model.

Dogs seem to find her very worrying and usually growl, bark or run away! Onita, one of the trainee hearing dogs that we have socialised, was very wary of Nessie when she was taken along for the maiden voyage, Photo 16!

The idea of a power unit in a self-contained box is quite a versatile concept. The power unit can be used in other models with minimum work and cost. There are lots of potential applications such as a duck, swan, crocodile, turtle, shark, submarine or whatever wacky idea your imagination can come up with. Nessie is an awkward shape to transport and store, so she now has her own box which keeps all the parts together, protected by foam pipe insulation and bubble wrap.

Because I find it difficult to remember the right packing sequence, probably a result of old age, we fixed four photos inside the lid for reference, Photo Overall Nessie has been a very unusual and interesting model that has given us some new challenges. It was an excellent family project with the work split three ways between my wife, daughter and myself. It is probably the fastest build time of any of our models being only four weeks from start to finish and we are really pleased with the end result.

The storage and transportation box. Nessie at dusk in the garden pond. Our daughter Katherine and trainee hearing dog Onita.

These boats had a small forecastle, a room for the crew, a boiler room and a cabin. It represented an improvement of the existing boats and has remained relatively unchanged.

With a skilled and experienced crew, this vessel can carry out the most demanding of rescue operations. She was designed by Hercules Linton, whose ambition it was to outstrip the Termopylae, the fastest ship of the times. She was bought in by Jacques-Yves Cousteau, and after extensive changes and modifications has become a fully equipped ocean research vessel. Prices are correct at time of publishing. Full control of the ship can be maintained from this position on the port side of the bridge.

Our first picture for this month brings us into the bridge and the main helm and control console. The Voith Schneider Propeller VSP drive units are a series of vertical 26 blades that combine the functions of propulsion and steering in a very precise way. The wheel in the centre of the console provides VSP lateral control whilst the green and red levers to the left of Photo 1 provide VSP long pitch.

The propulsion system generates thrust in all directions as necessary. To the right of the picture are the bow thruster controls. Moving now away from the bridge and having a close look at the mast from starboard in Photo 2, this shows the top of it and the upper yard with the cluster of lights at the masthead.

At the very top there are a side-by-side red lights; beneath that double side-by-side green lights and below them a further double side-by-side set of red lights.

On the extremities of the lower yard port and starboard are a further set of lights. The UHF sensor is the familiar candle stick array on the upper yard. The head of the mast showing the various navigation lights. Also, most of the halyards from the two yards lead to a position close to the flag locker. So, with that thought in mind I would also like to focus attention on the base of the mast to starboard, which shows an access door, which that is not fitted to port, and some of the surrounding detail, Photo 4.

I always have the impression that the Sandown class epitomise the old adage of trying to get a pint and a half into a pint bottle! Moving further aft, by the funnel Photo 4. The base of the mast from its starboard side. Photo 3. A wood ladder is used to gain access to various sections of the mast and its fittings. On 01 deck, the housing supporting the mast has a huge number of surface fittings.

A starboard side view of the funnel and the various fittings, lockers and vents surrounding it. Looking directly at the rear of the funnel and its air intake grills. These contain survival suits in the larger boxes and the smaller ones are for life jackets, Photo 6. Also to the right, in the foreground, is the starboard amidships mini-gun, its operator being protected by a Kevlar shield. Photo 7 is a rear view of the funnel casing including the louvre vents.

Note the number of loudspeakers which seems to a bit of an overkill! Immediately behind the funnel and below it, there is an opening in the deck which you can just see at the bottom of this picture and Photo 8 is looking forward and down into it, but from further aft. The object Model Boats February Photo 8. The open well on 01 deck is above the decompression chamber. The entry hatch of the decompression chamber, seen here from the port side and looking forward to starboard.

Starboard side, 01 deck, looking forward towards the bridge wing. In the centre of the picture are a number of ready use lockers for storage of such items as pyrotechnics etc.

Divers are routinely used when mine hunting and all mine hunter vessels carry these chambers in case of accidents or emergencies. Photo 9 is an end view of the decompression chamber and its access hatch. Returning to 01 deck and moving over to starboard, Photo 10 is looking directly forward towards the bridge which has a slightly different arrangement on this wing to that of the port side. Moving on to Photo 11, this is a close-up picture of the lockers on the starboard side of the funnel.

The locker design is pretty much standard across RN warships and rather prominently in front of them is the satellite communications dome! You can also see the additional outboard test tank, centre picture. The crane is to port and if you refer back to the heading picture of the vessel in Canning Dock you will have another view of it all.

Notably in that earlier picture, the ship had both Avon workboats stowed. A busy after section of 01 deck with the tiered stowage arrangement for the two Avon mine clearance workboats. Same area as in Photo 11, but a different viewpoint. Note the design of the lockers! Looking aft from the bridge towards the mine clearance workboats of which there are now two again! Note the propeller guard on the outboard and the unusual curved device fitted on the prow of the lower of the two boats is part of a device for deploying mine detection and recovery equipment.

On the port side is the crane and Photo 15 is of its lower part with numerous wheels and hydraulic piping. In the foreground is the covered control panel on its pedestal. Adjacent to all this is the petrol can stowage rack, Photo 16, from which in an emergency all the cans can be speedily jettisoned.

At the extreme stern end to port on 01 deck is a crane for the two mine clearance boats. In the foreground is the covered crane operator control panel on its pedestal. Photo 17 shows the hydraulic crane for transferring these devices into the sea. Patio Heater - detailed. Robert Pearce, AIA. Antique camera. Hot Tub.

Derek D. Featured Catalogs. Schneider Electric. View all brands. Featured Commercial Models. Woody Floor Lamp. LEDS C4. Noway Pendant. Veneto Pendant. Trip glass.

PCMesh Internet Cleanup. How to open MSG files on Mac. How to share files on Windows How to download all files from a Cloud storage. How to transfer files from a Mac desktop to an external hard drive.

How to Recover Deleted Files on Mac. Twitter Facebook. Coho folding kayak Compare. Boat builder killed. Popular Tags Blog Archives.

Rowing catamaran boat. Rowing catamaran boat Rowing solutions, Rowing solutions catamarans are used by national teams and over universities, schools, rowi Texas dory boat plans. Texas dory boat plans Links dory boat plans, free dory boat plans , Dory boat plans in no particular order.