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liteflight

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About liteflight

  • Birthday 02/24/1949

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  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Melbourne, Australia
  • Interests
    Scale sail, model flight

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  1. Fascinating build log, Steven, and the direct cause of me learning a New Thing ( despite being careful). I found more about the barracouta, and found it’s the same fish as Snoek, which anyone with a UK or South African background will have heard of. It’s Sunday name is Thyrsites Atun, which suggests a relationship to the Tuna/ Tunny/ Atun family, but anyone who has seen one would conclude it’s a distant relationship, as it’s common name of Snake Mackerel suggests My hat is well and truly off to the fishermen who ventured out through the Narrows each day to fish in the Bass Strait.
  2. Well understood! I was not suggesting the the paddles were motorised ( but great idea!) I just mount the solar pump beneath so that the jet points backwardish and the craft imitates the actions of a squid in jet mode
  3. Late, but pursuing! In UK English the very top end of the chuffed scale is “Chuffed to little Naafi breaks” Dont ask, as I don’t know. For non-UK citizens: NAAFI is the organisation who dispense “tea and wads” to the armed forces Presumably in time of war a rest in the vicinity of a NAAFI van was a relatively wonderful time great models, Steven. Good plan and well executed Note: the wee models would run on a flat floor on their paddles; could be motorised, and if ballasted could perform in the bath. BFO: solar fountain ( as used in all my birdbaths to prevent mosquito larvae) reassembled to put solar cell on roof and pump attached beneath boat gives steady silent solar propulsion Might be eye catching as a sales aid in a small round basin near the point of sale
  4. Mmmmm. Scrappee requires very light radio gear and servos and flies on a single lithium polymer battery ( 1S, or a nominal 3.7volts). Your Heli gear may well be “standard” radio, where the servo plugs alone weigh more than a micro-servo ( about 1.5 gms) Unless you are seeking the ultimate in lightness, the equipment does all plug together, and probably requires no soldering at all. For anyone interested, all the equipment to fit out Scrappee is available on the Microaces website as well as the rest of their model range I’m an indoor flyer, but have no relationship with Microaces, other than as a future customer ( I fancy their DH Dragon Rapide) andrew
  5. Amusing; close, but no cigar! Named after lord Melbourne (?) Brit foreign Secretary, who took his title from the village of Melbourne in Derbyshire. Melbourne means the place of Melde Melde is Chenopodium Album, commonly known in UK as Fat Hen, and was cultivated in the Middle Ages as a vegetable and eaten a bit like spinach. Note: there are dozens of Melbournes in Britain, as the stuff grows everywhere It could have been worse. He might have taken the title of Lord Fat Hen! sorry to have hijacked your thread, Steven. I’ll climb back under my flat stone andrew
  6. Steven If your travel plans included Melbourne* in the foreseeable future, I have about a pint (imperial) of Matt Acrylic Medium, and you are welcome to a dollop ( as well as a box of box) I believe that the pouring medium is relatively very runny, and so contains a lot of acrylic solvent. The Matt medium is more pasty than liquid, and for the application of seams to sails would have to be diluted a bit ( acrylic thinners) or applied with a weeny roller Fwiw, I use a satin acrylic varnish as an adhesive for tissue/cloth, etc, . Most probably it comes as a matt version as well * As far as I am aware the only State Capital named after a vegetable. I exclude Brussels as that was t’other way about andrew Pumped from looping a Concord model today, indoors and by accident!
  7. In a Blinding Flash of the Obvious I have just realised the wakeboard is the modern embodiment of the green plastic foot-base on toy soldiers! Steven’s comment above triggered the BFO The rudder/tiller combination is fully reversible - all wave forces, shocks and running into dead second-hand hippppopotomi will kick back into the tiller and the steersman’s ribs if the stance is correct. Big regular forces (waves) could probably be resisted by a good lateral stance. Additionally there would be frequent small shocks from the hydrodynamic forces and possibly these would make the steersman’s ribs painful, calloused or both None of the above is unique to the trailing tiller system, it is just that ships of this era had, essentially, very short tillers (compare with the length of tiller of say a Naval Cutter or Brixham Trawler) which would make the steersman’s strength a necessity. As a spokesman for the Department of Useless Information (DoUE) I can observe that the an old term for the Steersman was Gubernator ( Latin) from which we get the terms Governor (US) fly-ball governor ( engineering and frequently US) “Guvv’nr/ Gov” ( London Cabbies) Parthian thought: you could carve yourself as photographed*, Steven, to make the model truly distinctive *with or without wakeboard andrew
  8. Wire will make the strongest, especially if you use steel wire. I’m not sure of the diameter of the stanchions and rails but at the scale I would guess they would be in the 1 to 1,5 mm region, You could consider different materials like plastruct extruded sections ( ABS material ) which can be joined by solvent welding, but they might not be strong enough take even light handling. Brass is easy to cut, solder and finish. If you use steel wire - do not use the wire available in model shops, as this is Piano wire ( music wire to our US cousins) which is high-carbon, very hard and stiff and therefore quite difficult to cut to identical lengths, bend to repeatable curvatures, etc. Engineers would say it is almost glass-hard. Soft iron wire is probably too soft, but is easy to work, bend and solder*. Samples are florists wire and some fence wire. Bunnings do big hanks of garden wire - might be worth a look. Piano wire can easily be tempered back to a useful hardness - same as your Uhfbert sword, but much faster ‘cos of its thinness. Heat to dull red and allow to cool in air will produce very soft temper *With the correct flux! Sorry, I have rabbitted on too much. soldering easily learned - especially when shown the method. Probably Pat’s resistance soldering setup is readily controllable and he might share his wisdom about it 4 secrets** of good soldering: Cleanliness Cleanliness Right Flux Cleanliness Enough Heat! **. Like the Garden of Five Surprises
  9. Yes, but the staples then rust. Me, I use masking tape to hold the covering material to frames made of 1/4 square hard balsa ( 6 mm in newfangled money) I have heard of people buying old pictures in Op Shops ( Charity Shops, Thrift Shops) and scrapping all but the frames. If made in the last 30 years the frames themselves are probably Ramin Thank you for the glimpse into carving real chaps from fruit-wood. We can just hope that you find a source of boxwood. I like the photos of You-as-steersman. Good way to visualise the stance. I do wonder how much the tillers would kick back in choppy weather and do the steersman’s ribs a power of no good. He would also probably ( my speculation) need one foot thwartships to brace him against the kicking of the tiller Were there two steersmen, one per rudder? And how did they communicate and coordinate the steering? Two independent quarter-rudders make it possible to get considerable braking by turning both inboard (or outboard, but that would require longer arms!)
  10. Nice idea of the jig ensemble - it works in principle even if it may need modifying in detail. AND At least the frame squarifying jig will work on any future ship that has frames and a reasonably parallel keel.
  11. Lovely work Steven, and fascinating research and evidence from the massed ranks of MSW stalwarts. My belated tuppence worth: All that has been said about curved keels is true and very valid. I can attest to the fact that even the slightest rocker in a keel improves turning ability enormously ( I used to race R/C yachts for amusement) Better turning = less rudder movement to get the required turn Less rudder movement = greater boat speed I remember reading the detail of the keel of one of the big, excavated Viking burial ships (almost certainly Oseberg) and learning that the main keel member was a single riven oak log. What boggled my tiny mind was that the overall length was iirc over 80 feet ( 24M) with over a foot ( 300mm) of rocker. ( as well as the complex cross section to accept the garboard strake) Good jig for the mast steps! andrew
  12. Steven, Blast from the past, which might be answered while you are gathering your equanimity The shallop/ chaloupe/ ships boat. it appears to be about the size of a ladybirds wingcases ( ladybug to our US cousins) could you give me the overall length, please. I have just looked back through your build and the wonderful pics of the finished boat. Judging by the scale on your cutting board, and the VAST match, it seems to be close to 45mm long I have a sudden fancy to (try to) make one, or more. Once I have a form, I aim to try planking with thin pine (0.007”, 7 thou), paper and perhaps papier-mâché, oh and plunge-forming. tia, Andrew
  13. Steven The cloth of Gold sails are magnificent, they will be the eye-catching “stars” of the show ( and probably outshine Hal) I’m sure you have documentary evidence for the Tudor clothes-peg andrew
  14. Pat This supplier stocks the Bergeon range of Watchmakers supplies, might be worth a call after the holiday. https://www.australianwatchclocksupplies.com.au/tools.html andrew
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