RN Steam Picket boat (1900) 1/48th Scale

[wefalck]

I don't know anything about R/C installations, but from a mechanical point of view, I probably would have installed a bottle-screw in one leg of the control lines, so that the zero-trim can be adjusted !?

wefalck

[PICKETBOAT]

Hi Wefalk

I understand what you say.

Adjustment can be made by taking the securing screw out of the servo arm and drawing it off it's splines (with it in the model and all the linkage still attached), centre the servo using the RC, align the rudder astern and push the servo arm back onto the shaft splines.

Minor adjustments can then be made using the RC trim adjustment.

The nylon mono filament has a small amount of stretch in it which has a certain advantage. If the rudder is jammed or knocked against something in use the slight stretch tends to prevent damage or overload of the servo or damage to the rudder itself.

Larger models where rudder linkages are below decks are probably best fitted with rod linkages and some sort of screw thread adjustment as you described.

[Folgore]

Picketboat,

speaking of paint marker. Those nitro based inks
are also available in small sized bottles.
Imagine all the possibilities, such as dip painting!



Sincerely

Chrischan

[PICKETBOAT]

Chrischan

I had no idea that these paints were available in pots. I have applied the gold marker pens contents with a brush which is fine.

The markers are good for applying lines where necessary but as you say larger quantities of paint make "dip" painting a possibility.

[PICKETBOAT]

Hi all

Some of the cast resin deck detail was (by my standards) quite small and fine. The pictures show the ships wheel, a cast bronze fitting on the original vessel, being removed from the base, cleaned up and mounted on a wire ready for painting and installation on the up-stand. Note the fine fret saw blade used for cutting it off, how the wheel was drilled first and how a blade was used to clean up the edges prior to sanding the cut surface. The finished thickness of the wheel is approx 0.5mm but it is still surprisingly robust.

[PICKETBOAT]

Hi all

The internal electrical and RC gear had previously been tried for position, but now came the point where these components were fitted permanently, before the fine breakable external detail was added, and after the bulk of the models paint finish had been completed. The tiny motor was fitted in position with the orange rubber flexible coupling already attached to its shaft (a push fit). I also added a small suppressor to the motor, probably �overkill� on such a small motor but better safe than sorry.

The motor was simply stuck in place, on the vac formed motor mount, with a small blob of silicon sealant. This is a simple and effective method as long as both the motor and mount are grease free. It is strong and acts as a slightly flexible vibration suppressor. Hardly a problem here, but on a larger model it certainly reduces �non scale� buzzing and rattling noises from inside the hull when a model is sailing. If the motor fails at a future date, a scalpel inserted under the motor and slowly twisted will break the sealant.

When the sealant had set (24 hours), the prop shaft was slid into place and pushed into the other end of the rubber coupling. The prop shaft proved to we slightly too long and had to be shortened. Better than the other way around!

The rough non scale sketch shown below gives the positioning of the individual internal components. It�s worth mentioning here that no additional ballast was added even to trim the model. I think this was probably more good luck than good management. I knew what weight the model could carry and had previously weighed the internal fittings and had at that point ruled out fitting 4 X AA batteries.

Re- positioning the twin battery packs would have been a good way of adjusting trim without having to add additional weight.

[PICKETBOAT]

Hi all

Here are some pictures of the internal RC gear installed in the model. The two battery packs (each containing two rechargeable AAA cells) were made up by soldering a thin copper tab to join the cells and then using tape (or heat shrink tube) to rigidly fix them together. Flying leads were also soldered onto each pack to connect them to the circuit.

Each battery pack was fixed in place with a strip of �hook and loop� (Velcro) tape. This tape was also used to secure the ESC and RC receiver to the small plastic tray glued into the hull. Everything inside the hull is therefore secured and not rattling around.

You may have noticed that I have used an old (27 Megahertz) radio set. This was because I am a terrible �cheapskate� and could bear throwing a perfectly reliable old RC set in the rubbish bin. I also wanted to see if this old, rather bulky receiver would fit. It did no problem, and even gave access to the crystal! Remember those things? Obviously if this receiver fits then more modern, smaller receivers will fit easily.

In these pictures the rudder servo has been installed, but the nylon mono filament linkage to the tiller has still to be connected.

I tried to keep the wiring loom as neat as possible tying it all together along the starboard side with small wire ties. The single loose wire (arrowed) is the charging point on the harness. This will be tucked away till needed as I wanted to ensure it did not interfere with the moving rudder linkage.

[Neptune]

Wow, that's some really neat RC'ing. What a tight fit and it's even balanced like this? I prefer to have a 20kg/40lbs ballast ship so I have ample space and weight to play around with. This is really something special. So small, yet still functional.
How about the stability of this boat? Did you take that into account before you started/designed it, or are you just going trial and error on that? I suppose the batteries are still the largest weight, so I assume it's stable?

[sandy]

Very neat, Steve.

I am sure you have done the calculations, but.....

Does it float?

[PICKETBOAT]

Hi Neptune

Thanks for the comments.

Yes the model is small but nowhere near as small as some of the plastic kit RC conversions that some modellers build. It was a little fiddly connecting up and tidying the internal wiring but I considered everything else fairly straight forward. The access gained by the removable boiler room roof was quite generous.

Working out the ballasting and stability was mainly based on previous experience with smaller working models plus some guesswork. The golden rule is always to build light and keep the battery weight low down in the hull, all common sense really.

What I wanted was a small functional RC model, of the same scale (1/48th) and historic period as my other models, plus one that was reasonably buoyant and stable so could be sailed with reasonable safety even on larger lakes. This little picket boat ticked all the boxes.

What was interesting was that the model performed pretty much like the real vessel. It really rode over the waves very well and not surprisingly is very manoeuvrable. More on the sailing details later in the build.

And by the way as Sandy asked, the water tight integrity is good so no it has not sunk YET.

[PICKETBOAT]

Hi all

The last few jobs listed here are just before I permanently fixed the forward crew accommodation roof and the aft cabin and cockpit unit in place.

The port holes were glazed using clear acetate sheet. Each disc was punched out using a hole punch before the little clear discs were glued onto the inside of the port holes using �canopy cement�. The square aft cabin windows were glazed the same way with two rectangles of acetate.

The hand rail along the edge of the boiler room roof was made up from 0.5mm tinned copper wire for the uprights (stanchions) and 0.25mm copper wire for the horizontals. The holes were drilled for the stanchions which were then pushed in tight protruding underneath slightly. A little CA glue on the underside fixed them permanently. The height gauge was cut from plastic card and they were all trimmed with side cutters to the correct height. The 0.25mm copper wire was drawn tight across the top and soft soldered (quickly) to the tops of the stanchions.

[PICKETBOAT]

Hi all

These vessels were all fitted with folding funnels. This, one assumes, was to keep the funnels out of the way whilst the vessels were being hoisted in or out-board, from their parent vessel. It also meant they could be folded down out of the way whilst other boats (stored alongside on board the parent vessel) where being hoisted and swung in or out-board. One of the pictures below shows a contemporary shipyard model giving some idea of how these picket boats were stored on deck. These are single funnel vessels and there are two, one port and one starboard.

The hinge mechanism was at the funnel base, and some sort of locking pin was withdrawn before the funnel was folded.

The picture shows the funnels on the model with the hinge forward (arrowed).

Contemporary pictures show a cradle that each folded funnel sat in. The picture below also shows some sort of metal frame or wire joining the top of both funnels. I have not seen this on any other pictures. It could be some sort of additional cradle or rest, but might also be for carrying navigation lights. I�m open to anyone�s observations. These little boats were manufactured by a host of companies and there was much variation in detail.

The funnel cradles on the model were made up from 0.5mm copper wire, bent to shape around a drill shank the same diameter as the funnel body, and soft soldered together.

[Glen the Rotorhead]

That mystery bracket is maybe for attaching block and tackle to raise the stacks together? Probably also for stability since if the stacks are hinged, they can't be all that stable at the bottom.

Really enjoying your build!

[PICKETBOAT]

Glen

That's an interesting thought. It's probably nearer the truth than the "bracket thing" being anything to do with navigation lights. Most of these little vessels seem to have had brackets and stanchions either side of the funnels (mounted on the boiler room casing) to take the port and starboard nav lights.

If you think about it these twin funnels would have had quite a bit of weight!

Glad you are enjoying the build.

[PICKETBOAT]

Hi all

Well here are some pictures of the model as it looked at this point. The cabin/cockpit unit has been glued in place.
I had previously made sure the cockpit was a neat fit into the hole cut through the deck. This had taken time and a bit of careful trimming, but the advantage was that when the cockpit was in position I could run CA glue along the joint using a fine nosed applicator. The glue was allowed to capillary along the joint and fix it in place, at the same time giving a water proof joint. This is important as I wanted to make sure the hull was water tight. The forward crew accommodation roof has also been stuck down.

The model has really started to come together by this point and was only missing the fine detail.

You will see that the cast resin gun mounting rings have been fitted. The one on the cabin roof was originally for a Nordenfeld gun but from 1900 would have carried a Maxim. I hope to model the Maxim at 1/48th scale and fit this at a later date.

[PICKETBOAT]

Hi all

As this is a working model, and will eventually be sailed on lakes and ponds up and down the UK, it was important that all efforts were made to exclude water. The plastic card coaming, around the edge of the main deck aperture worked very well keeping out water, as it tucked up neatly under the edge of the boiler room roof.

The boiler room roof, even with the addition of the resin fittings, weighs very little and I worried about a gust of wind lifting it off while the model was out in the middle of a lake! It needed to be secured in place while the model was on the water, but access to the inside of the hull still needed to be easy.

This was achieved with a securing spring, a technique I have used successfully on other working models.

A small eye ring has fitted into the wooden keel timber just aft of the rudder servo mount. A wire hook was bent to shape from some 1mm soft steel wire. This hook was CA glued into two holes drilled into the underside of the cast resin ventilators. A small tensioned spring was measured and fitted so that it was looped (securely) onto the eye ring down in the bilges. The other end of the spring was pulled up with tweezers and hooked on to the wire hook. This pulled the boiler room roof down tight, but still allowed it to be lifted and turned through 90 degrees when it came time to charge the battery pack. Any maintenance which needed better access was achieved by unhooking the spring and lifting the boiler room roof off completely.

[Folgore]

Hello Picketboat,

I am a little late. Sorry for that!

hmmm... I thought I've seen a photo of such an arrangement somewhere, but I can't find it anymore.

Anyways, here is a drawing (a German TB, 1882) of a similar construction. It clearly shows some sort of navigation lights. Obviously it was multifunctional?
Last but not least, HMVS Childers had a similar arrangement aswell.


(taken from: Schwarze Gesellen, H. Fock)

Great ''spring lock''. A very good idea!

Sincerely

Chrischan

[PICKETBOAT]

Christan

Brilliant. Well I guess that pretty much answers what the strange bracket was for. Yes probably multifunctional too. I think I shall install this bracket on the model but leave off the navigation light.
I must get a copy of Schwarze Gesellen, H. Fock.

[PICKETBOAT]

Hi all

Looking at the old photographs it was possible to work out how the ensign flag staff was mounted in the stern. Obviously it could not interfere with the movement of the tiller. Four sockets were mounted on the transom and the flag staff, which had a forked end located in these sockets.

The sockets on the model were made up from bent copper wire. They were formed around a fine drill shank and then CA glued into place in holes drilled into the two vertical plastic card mounting plates already installed.

The ensign flag staff was made from some stiff brass wire, the forked base being bent and soldered to the upright. The two stay bars running forward were also brass wire.

Here I hit a problem as they interfered with the movement of the tiller. I had to cut the end of the tiller back slightly so that it cleared.

In fact I had not been paying attention and these two stay bars should have been fastened to the back lip of the cockpit, not into the deck! This was common sense really and I should have changed the model, but as I had already drilled the deck I decided to leave it as it was.

[Folgore]

Some sort of "custom repair" I guess