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I agree, I have never seen a factory geared motor that I really liked the ratio they offered. I have done gear drives, belt drives, and chain drives and to be honest I prefer direct drive if possible. My only experience with the Blue Devil was the Lindberg one and you already know how that one turned out. Too top heavy on a narrow hull and flat bottomed all combined with no prior knowledge to speak of. It was only a matter of time. Your Blue Devil is much larger and with careful placing of all the heavy stuff low in the hull should be OK. I think you may have some power problems due to small props and motors and may have to think way ahead of the ship especially when going at full speed, but stay out of heavy weather and away from solid unmoving objects you should be OK. One of my favorite ships I built many years ago was the British navel tug Storm King. It was about four feet long and somewhat narrow for what you would think a tug would be. Pretty much built it from scraps laying around the house as I was much younger and pretty much broke. Ran that boat in all kinds of weather for years, even did a little ice breaking with it once but that was a little hard on the hull so never did it again. I do have some old VHS tapes around here though showing me running in scale North Atlantic conditions. WOW was that fun! When you slow the speed of the movie down you can see the bow cutting through the higher waves and the flying water going over the bridge! And the rolling in the turns was something else! I would have given almost anything to have had one of the modern day VR cameras installed in the bridge and been able to be "On board" so to speak. I showed the footage to an old Coast Guard officer and all he said was "I've BEEN in weather like that! An even larger ship like yours will be impressive to watch doing destroyer like things with a high bow wave and water piled up at the stern. I do hope you have a place to run where you have plenty of room, as you have done a fantastic job of building and deserve to get the fun part afterward of watching your creation act like it's full sized counterpart. Lou

Hi Brian Good to see you still making excellent progress. Remember, old age and perseverance will always overcome youth and ability. Lou

Hello Eugene I also greatly appreciated seeing your work on the Avos. Just like Chucks Cheerful it is a welcome addition to the small vessels of the 18th and early 19th century. I am certain that it will be a very popular kit in your ship line up. I hope you continue with your excellent kits by providing the world with high standard subjects to choose from when deciding to build a ship model. Lou

Hi GAS Thanks for the information on the motors you are looking at. They do seem to be somewhat milder than what I was thinking you were talking about. They should be able to drive the small props you are considering without much trouble. It would be nice if they published the amp rating but with the batteries you are considering you should still get OK running times. I still think I would prefer larger motors and props for a ship this size but that may be a personal bias and has no place in proper design considerations. You are right in that these motors are certainly inexpensive, that's always a plus! As always I will be following your progress with interest. Remember when you get it into the water the red side goes down! Lou

Hello Eugeny I am glad to see you here. I already own the Phoenix and consider it a superior kit. I am looking forward to other Master Korabel kits and Syren/Master Korabel joint kits or projects. Lou

Hi GNS Let me see if I can do this right and make some sense for a change. First off I have to say that I have been out of the electric RC stuff for a while and I must admit I am not sure what size a 500 motor is. If you are looking at 7000 RPM @6V then I will assume you are looking at RC car or possibly aircraft motors. If so then you are looking at high amperage motors that put out a lot of power in a small size but will draw a battery pack down pretty fast. The ship you are building is 6' long by 8", (?) with a draft of 3" (?) and like the Blue Devil model and not like the prototype is pretty much flat bottomed. I would have to look up the formula in my old stuff somewhere in the basement in a box but I want to say that you will need the ship to weigh somewhere in the 45-55 pound or more to float right. Getting that weight going and getting it stopped will take some power and as large a prop as you can fit. Since you need so much weight to float right anyway and you clearly have plenty of room why not think bigger and heavier? Larger, higher voltage motors will draw far less current as a rule depending on what the motor was designed for. If you choose to use something like a starter motor for an automobile then you are again back in the high end draw short term use motor. But I have seen people use 12V windshield wiper motors successfully. Still a little high draw for my liking but doable. The motors I prefer are motors taken out of equipment like photocopiers and stuff like that. They tend to be reasonably high torque 18 or 24V high quality motors with low EMF properties, (Another important factor to consider in RC). They run quite well at 12V and can turn a surprisingly large prop without running up the amps. i personally like to use a motor that has about the same diameter or more than the prop you are going to drive. I also think that if you are able to provide 7000 RPM directly to the props that they would tend to cavitate and not provide thrust at all unless you back down on the throttle. The other part of the system is to get away from the quick charge 7.5V battery packs and go to the gel cell batteries you can get for use in home alarm systems and back up systems. They are much easier to charge and much safer to use to say nothing about cost. If you know someone in the commercial fire alarm system business you can most often get batteries from them that have had to be pulled from alarm systems for liability/insurance reasons but still have tons of life in them for modeling uses. They are heavier but like I said you need the weight anyway. Again i need to remind you that i have been out of the hobby for a number of years and the largest ships I ever ran was a 4' ocean going tug and a longer but much shallower draft China River Gunboat, (Panay). But I do know of other people who have built in your size and displacement range and they did much the same as I described. If you want I could make a couple of calls and see what the modern uptake on the engineering aspect of large displacement hulls is and if it has changed from my day. The offer for motors still stands if it turns out that they are what you are thinking about after all. Hope this is useful. Lou

Hi GAS I used to do a lot of RC stuff and over the years accumulated a fair amount of stuff, including motors and drive gears etc. (It's called hoarding now days) I think I have several motors that may meet your needs to power your Blue Devil. No problems handling the 2" props direct drive. What I found in years past with the larger props, (3-4") was not getting the motors that I had to work but getting the universal joints to hold up when slamming the throttle from full ahead the full astern. The ears of the nylon dog bone connectors would sheer off almost every time! What I ended up doing was to make the dog bones out of brass with steel cross pins. I was able to make them using a hand drill and files. I used the collets made by Dumas on the motor and prop shafts. This arrangement has lasted for years on several ships. I think I could supply you with motors that would be very well suited to your needs, (You would need to give me a little time to dig them out from storage and ship them to you) The dog bones and other stuff would be up to you. Let me know by PM if you are interested. Lou

Looks like you managed to measure once and cut twice AND came out with more rather than less! That's quite and accomplishment! Lou

Hi Patrick Glad to see you back at the very first of the new year and hope that your's goes well for you. As for your Sultana I personally think that you are doing a fantastic job and need not make excuses for anything you have done OR anything you have not done. If you feel you have modeling limits and chose not to attempt to exceed them on this build then it is far better to keep the kit at your level and nicely done, (Which you have done) rather than exceed your abilities and blotch your beautiful model up with junky looking work, (Which you have not). Besides not everything suggested by the kit manufacture is gospel. They obtained their information from the researcher/designer and his work could be both inaccurate and have included best guesses based on what was available to him and then Model Expo kept what they could use in a kit and skipped over what they could not. So by the time the kit got to you it already had been hashed over by many people and limitations accepted for a number of reasons. If it was a newly designed and researched vessel and manufactured using up to date equipment things could have been different if the effort was made. As you have noticed neither are true in this kit. This is considered to be a moderately easy beginners kit and concessions have been made all the way down the line. I further support your KISS decision on the fact that this was a small relatively unimportant vessel at the time it existed and according to Hahn didn't cost all that much when purchased in 1768 and as such it would be sensible to assume that many elaborate embellishments would be missing or not replaced if damaged or rotted. Just a view of one who is enjoying your build immensely. Lou

Mark Should be between 4 and 6 AM our time. I'll probably be awake, my youngest is already counting the hours. (He got a watch for his birthday this year and times EVERYTHING) Merry Christmas to all. Lou

Patrick I think that we may be living under the command of the same Admiral! Unlike you though I KNOW she isn't listening. In fact she hasn't listened to me for the last forty years! "Yes dear, that's fine dear" is just another way to say "If it doesn't sparkle and fit around my neck or on my ears, how could it be important?" At least you get a second cup of morning coffee! Lou

Great job Patrick. Can't wait until the next installment! She is truly going to be a model to be proud of. Lou

Nice work Denis Lou

Great looking job Denis A number of years ago in a galaxy.......... whops wrong movie. Way back when I built the Billings St. Canute and it was assembled the same way. each side separate and then join the two halves. At the time it seemed to go against all tradition but I gave it a go and I was amazed at how fast it went and how well it turned out. Very clean planking look and no warping at all. You might want to give it a try. Lou

I have looked at that site a number of times over the years and I agree it can sometimes contain some pretty interesting stuff. The only problem I have with the site is the lack of photographs on the models they are selling, and it always seems that the sellers for the models I am interested in have a super high opinion of how much their older model is worth! Like I said it could just be the ones I'm interested in, others may have better luck. Lou

Steve Interesting on your final choice on this hull. I agree on much of your historical choices/reasoning mostly because when these ships were built they were under a very strict deadline and getting them done in time probably promoted more than one 'get-er-done' and 'good enough' decision along the line in order to make them battle worthy in time. As for possible corrections to the finish you were unhappy with or with any other finish for that matter, have you ever considered trying normal household bleach? I have used it in some furniture refinishing projects in years past to deal with things like rings left in the wood even after stripping the finish. Never tried it on pine but it might work the same way. Lou

Denis That is the second time you have tossed me a curve ball about the 1/96 Spanish Galleon when we discussed the Revell 1/96 kits.! Once in email and now on the forum. Somehow I can never remember that it was ever made. Getting too old Lou

Hi Mike I may not be doing the search right, but there seems like there is really very little available about the Master Korabel kits on MSW except Daria's build and to be honest If my build ends up looking as good as her's is at this point I will be very happy. She is doing work that is as good or better than many people much older than her can do. Lou

Hi Mark I very well could be wrong but I think the only other ship that could be considered a sister ship to the US and Constitution would be the President. There were some changes in the President as well but for modeling purposes she was probably close enough for Revell to use the name for the same kit. I don'r know if it was ever done Lou

Hi Denis I also looked at your blog and the scanned pages of the main instructions. If Seadogrich blew them up enough he will be able to see that the kits are the same except as you say, no interior cabin details and a couple of other things that are in the same area. I have never built the US so I was not completely sure until now. Lou

Another possibility is if you are looking for the Revell kit instructions you can go here: https://www.revell.com/support/instructions.html If it is the rigging you are looking for then you can scroll down to 85-0398 on the left column. They are listed as for the Constitution but should be the same. Click on the right hand column and you can download a PDF file of the original kit instructions. In the same location and number you will also see the instructions for the hull and mast construction of the Constitution. They should also be the same as the United States except for the stern cabin and transom areas. Hope you can find what you need Lou

Mike You would think I would take my model of the Brigantine Phoenix out and look at how Korabel does their kits. That is one of the reasons I am following Daria's build, so she can show me the right way to build a kit from this company before I try it myself. Thanks for the information. Lou

Mike It looks to me that the markings on the sub-deck could come in useful for keeping the planks straight when Daria does the deck...... ? Lou

Greg I have lived in this mild climate for so long that if we reached temperatures in the 40s I would just be a puddle on the floor with eyeballs sticking out! In fact most people in this area do not take heat well and not many even have air conditioning except in their cars. Luckily the ocean breeze helps us avoid most of that kind of heat. The highest temperature for my city that I can find is 36.6 in June of 1955. It does get a little hotter a few miles from here in Seattle because of the way the ocean breezes blow. Lou

Interesting temperatures. They are about the same as our hottest months, (July/August) for about 3 or 4 pm in the afternoon. The rain and stuff in your forecast looks about the same though. Lou