bensid54

Received the heavy duty servos today they have a torque of 15.5 kg per cm or if you prefer 30.45 lbs. per 1/4 inch approx. they are quite heavy so I think I will have to lean towards a broad beamed boat. I'll check out that Jon boat see if it will work for me.

Progress on his head to date, I plan on covering his head and neck with a stretchy black cloth so it can hug the contours of his head and move when he tips or turns his head. Next will be the neck.

Roger when I think of a barge I think of those that carry heavy equipment or concrete, what exactly did you have in mind?

I would move it to scratch build Mark but I have no idea how to do that.

Work on his head, drilled eye holes, mounted the camera lower so the electronics for the eyes would fit. Mounted the camera  then filled in the gap above the camera with wood putty now I have to wait for the putty to set before I can make the workings for his neck which should be fun.

That's it Mark thank you! I have tried to copy and paste but for some reason this website won't let do that. 

OK because I can't download video on this website could someone get my video from You Tube type in "Willie watts Charon" and you should find it

Patrick if you're still around I have a video on You Tube about the electronics of Charon could you download it for me please.

I agree but this is as close to precision as can be done by the human hand and by no means was that meant to be an insult as I see some will take it. So please excuse me for my misleading previous post I apologize for that.

I found my 250mw camera transmitter powered it up and let it sit in my shed for an hour to see how warm it would get. After an hour I checked the heat of both the camera and transmitter and found them warm but not too hot so I have my answer as far as needing cooling goes, the less I have to put under his cape the better!

Nice work it almost like it was done with a 3D printer because everything is so precise. Is there a tutorial for this sort of build on the website other than this thread?  I would like to save it to my computer for when the time comes for the Charon the Ferry mans vessel to be built.

Checked out my camera equipment last night and the transmitter creates a fair bit of heat, so I'm going to my hobby shed to find a transmitter with half the mw and see if heat will be a problem with that one. If the other one is still too hot then I will have to come up with a means to cool it, heat exchanger or fan I'm not sure how I can do it. I'm not really fussy about using a fan for fear that it can cause his cape to flutter or be sucked against something when it should be hanging loose. Here is a picture of my Fat Shark camera gear without the goggles in the picture.

Altered Charons head to fit the Fat Shark camera, all the workings in the back will be hidden by the hood of his cloak.

The start of Charon, reason I'm starting here with his head is I have to fit a camera in his head then reduce it's size to just fit the camera because the size of his head will dictate the size of the boat. Here is the start of my build.

Thanks for your thread I'm going to use your technique to build the boat for my Ferryman of the river Styx I have always like a clinker build boat with no clue how to do it!

So that's the correct way to do this, beautiful work you must be very proud! My builds are always seat of the pants, I'll wing it here and there to see if it will turn out OK plus I take forever to get them done. Thanks for showing us your technique it will come in handy down the road.

Thanks Mark and Patrick it has been well worth the journey.

Pictures of the Bireme with oars in place. I tried out the function and I will need to do some work to make it pond ready such as removing some wood that gets in the way of the oar racks.

Thanks Clare my next big buy will have to be a better camera or clean the lense!

Planked Bulwarks at stem and stern then glued vertical poppets on bulwarks. With the first group of poppets I cut them longer than needed and glued them into place, once the glue dried I started cutting them to size with a hobby knife. While cutting them to size I thought this is way too time consuming, so I looked for something better which I found in the form of toe nail clippers. With clippers I could cut them straight and true with very little need for sanding or any other means for that matter to make them fit properly, you can see the end results in the pictures. 

I started this at work during my coffee breaks while I was building my Greek Bireme at home. I'm almost done planking the hull next is wood putty for the imperfections then sand it all smooth.

Thanks uss good to know. Patrick if you're around can you post my first video of the Ferryman, I would if I could, thanks in advance.

Thanks Bob I saw that one and the more I watch the video the more I pick up, I noticed it has a small battering ram at the bow and is shielded like the Bireme, the stern is loosely based on the Bireme too. For hull style I think I want to go with the type used for Viking ships as I've seen in some renditions. The Ferryman uses the pole to push the boat across the river so my one idea will hold water, I'm really starting to lean in that direction. The Ferryman himself will have all the mechanics and electronics under his robe so I think he will end up being a foot tall which will make the boat almost three feet long.

uss frolick my favourite of those songs is "Too Much Time On My Hands" back in day I could relate to that song because those were recession years and work was scarce even for a tradesman, my favourite Styx album was "Pieces Of Eight". I'll have to check out that ship you mentioned.

Thanks for the info Steven, I guess like many things stories and legends change or become altered to make them more interesting. I'm looking for the shock factor here. I think it will be great fun to put on the Fat Shark goggles and paddle by people beside the shore and have him look in their direction, red LED eyes and all.

Thanks jbshan that was the ballpark I was looking for and yes he can be bigger than six feet or even shorter and hunched over. I was also debating whether I should give him a skull and skeleton hands or just have every part of him covered by his cloak except for the LED eyes.

I'm going to see if I can find pictures of the Charon that they used in the 1981 version of Clash of the Titans so if anyone has any leads that way I would appreciate the help. 

The best rendition of Charon I have found is the scene from the Clash of the Titans (1981) in that scene he uses a pole much like what I'm proposing. Now size is a question I have, lets say Charon is six feet tall based on his height how long do you think his boat is?

I really have no idea what the scale will be yet Bob, it all depends on the size of the mechanics once I've built them. One thing I would like to know is how big would his boat be so I can get an idea on how big my servos etc. should be. I have a programmable control board on order that should do the trick for paddle angle and a gear reduction motor on order too but I forgot to order the speed control. I may just have the servos do all the motion but that will depend on figuring out how to use the board, lot's of engineering ahead to be sure but I am leaning in the direction of servos.