Fairmount Alpine by George-JK - Billing Boats - 1:75 - RADIO

[George-JK]

Hello All,

I must apologize for my silence in the last couple of weeks, because of the Christmas stuff and work I did't really move forward in the build.

The only thing I did still in the November, I sailed the boat here on a lake before it froze. So I will post a couple of pictures from the trials and in the end describe some plans for the future.

For the conclusion of the trials, the boat is quite stable even in mild waves. The installed engines and propellers are powerful enough to get the hull info planing mode of sail, which is really unrealistic, but I needed to test the throttle response.

I also wanted to check the water tightness in real life, but since I managed to flood the stern deck from  the not so slow decrease in throttle, which resulted in a wave running over the stern and breaking on the opened bulkhead where the tow lines are exiting the hull (no idea if it has some special name..). This resulted in almost 0.5L of water in the hull, so instead of hull water tightness I tested the electronics resistance to flooding, also important test, but completely unnecessary one. 

In regards to the latest displacement, it is 11kg and the hull still sits quite high above the water, it is still almost 10mm to the painted waterline.

In the end I was quite satisfied with the overal behavior of the ship, I learned that it will be necessary to add a seal on aforementioned bulkhead, to minimize the chance of flooding the batteries again, as well as to protect the planned light control unit which is meant to be situated right there.

 

Regarding future post, I am not sure if I will post until after the holidays. So I ask for prolonged patience with following updates.

Cheers George

[Pete m]

Hi George your build so far looks amazing I am from New Zealand and am also building a fairmount alpine,would you consider sharing your files for the interior so I could get them printed out here thanks pete m

[George-JK]

@Pete m

Hey Pete, Yes I would be glad to share them. Just write me what you want. I will have a look for the files and send them to you in .stl format.

Also it is the highest time for me to get back to this build after the winter.

 

BR

George

[George-JK]

So After a long brake, back to the build.

 

I started by finishing the details for the hull, so the different vents, hatches and so on.

For now I will just post a couple of pictures of the details painted, in the following post I will include also when they are mounted on the hull.

The hatches still need the locking wheels added. For this I found a PE sheet with different wheel sizes, which I will use for this. I will include a picture in the following post.

 

Cheers

George

[George-JK]

Hello All,

 

As I said here are the pictures of already installed details.

 

The rest of the finished details is waiting for the main towline guards (the pair of orange tubes running on sides) to be painted orange.

 

Cheers

George

[popeye the sailor]

looking really good George.....looked great on the water!

 

[lmagna]

Nice looking build George. Both your build and your sailing location reminds me of my RC tug days and sailing my tugs here in the Pacific Northwest of the US. It looks like we live in similar climates. 

[George-JK]

Hello All,

@popeye the sailor Thank you, I use these occasional sail as a motivation for the build.

@Imagna Yes I can imagine that the Alps here produce similar vistas to those in the Northwest US.  Although I only seen that part of the world in pictures... I like that spot on the pictures because usually the water is calm there, and since even in Sommer the water does not reach temps higher than 15ºC there are usually no swimmers.

 

Cheers

George

[George-JK]

Hello All,

Just a short update, I need to start making more pictures...

But here are some preview photos of the progress up to now.

Gluing of the rope guide rails with epoxy. Yes the shade of the orange is completely diffident... But it will have to do now.

And some detail painting, first the main mast being painted in the black, and then some miscellaneous details being primed in white.

I must apologize for the composition of the last picture, next time it will be better as I cleaned my table on Sunday. And yes that thing behind is an airplane nosecone waiting to be painted as well.

 

Cheers,

George

[George-JK]

Hello All,

 

Sorry for the long response time, I was doing some different builds for some time.

In the mean time I mostly finished the hull. There should be just a couple of pieces left, that need to get pained and glued on.

I added the life floats on the mid decks on both sides as well as the lights to these decks. The following picture shows the gluing of the life floats, the kit supplied ones are made of brass, they look really nice, but are terribly heavy, so I will see how long they will survive glued on with super glue...

The used LEDs are some cold white 3mm diameter ones with high brightness. I will later paint their tops with silver and white, so that they don't shine just to the sky. Similar to how i did it with the mast LEDs, pictures will follow.

 

Afterwards I added the winches and windlasses, that were still missing, as well as control wheels to the red square things on deck (no Idea of their names).

For the control wheels I found a photo etched sheet with different wheel sizes and used ones that looked appropriate for the scale. Here is the photo etched sheet itself, for each size there are 5 wheels, with 4 and 5 spokes. Since I needed 6 in total, I used two 5 spoke ones for the fore deck, and four 4 spoke ones on the stern deck.

 

Lastly the pieces that are still missing in the hull, should only be the braces between the rope guides and side rails. These are made of brass 4/3mm OD/ID tube. Originally they are to be mady from 4mm round wood stock. However I couldn't find the one supplied with the kit, probably lost it somewhere in the general mess, or just spend all of it on the stern rails, as they are also made of 4mm round sock.

Nevertheless I find making them out of brass is better, as the surface finish is relatively easy, compared to making wood into smooth metal like finish.

 

 

Regarding the Superstructure:

I Started slowly attaching the bigger details as light, and so on.

I went for simplicity and made them non movable, as that would over-complicate the build even more. The black wires are actually functional, I tried to bend them so sort of realistic shape, don't know if it passes...

 

The main and mizzen masts are mostly finished as well. As I mentioned before, I painted the LEDs on them, to make them into the corresponding sector lights. I painted them first with a coat of silver paint, to at least reflect some of the unused light out of the LEDs in the right direction. Aftervards I pained them in a coat of black, to match the masts.

I will try to post more frequently, but with the quarantine I actually have more projects ongoing, so I forget to upload here. Sorry for that.

Cheers George.

 

[popeye the sailor]

nice progress George   where did you find that PE hand wheel assortment?  they look really neat  

[George-JK]

@popeye the sailor

The PE hand wheels are supplied by a Polish model shop super-hobby, they have multiple web addresses, depending where you live in EU, each is in that country language, I use the Austrian one, but lined is the UK shop...

https://www.super-hobby.co.uk/products/Hand-wheels-1-selection.html

They have quite an extensive assortment of things for plastic models.

 

Cheers George

[Mike..]

Hi George, I am new to this forum and just about to start building the Fairmount alpine model. Previously I have been involved in several different hobbies and now I have taken up boat building hobby. I have been following your build log with great interest.I wonder if you could provide me with the link on where you purchased your brass propeller. Im just about to order the bow thrusters. If you would like to message me at my e-mail  alex53@shaw.ca  Would really appreciate any advice/help you could provide.

 

Sincerely Mike Mueller

[Harbourmaster]

Hallo George,

Hope my eMail finds you well in those strange times of global epidemic.

Magnificent build George- indeed.

I like it very much. Alpine and Nordic are my two favorite ocean going Schleppers. 
George please be so kind and advise what type of couplers did you use on your RAY G3 brushless motors. Please help...

Best,

Jerry 

[George-JK]

On 7/31/2020 at 3:04 PM, Harbourmaster said:

Hallo George,

Hope my eMail finds you well in those strange times of global epidemic.

Magnificent build George- indeed.

I like it very much. Alpine and Nordic are my two favorite ocean going Schleppers. 
George please be so kind and advise what type of couplers did you use on your RAY G3 brushless motors. Please help...

Best,

Jerry 

Hello Jerry,

Sorry for my late reply.

I am not sure I understand what you mean by couplers.

If you mean the Electronic Speed Controllers or ESCs (for big machines they are called inverters), then I used a chinese version of these ones: https://www.hobbywingdirect.com/collections/seaking-series/products/seaking-30a-v3-esc?variant=840986853

But any brushless ESC that has a forward/reverse mode should be fine. Be careful if they are sensored as many of the ECS for RC cars that have FW/REV mode are for sensored motors. They don't need to be extremely powerful for these kinds of boats (if you would be building a speedboat, that is of course a different story). 

I hope I understood your question correctly. 

So the main point would be, if the selected brushless ESC has a forward/reverse mode. Additionally if they are waterproof even better, as the brushless ones are really bad with water, know this from personal experience.

 

Cheers,

[Harbourmaster]

Hi George-JK,

I am aware of Brushless ESC’s my question was referring towards something else. 

To be frank with you I was asking for type of connection between G3 Brushless motor and prop shaft. That  Silver joining “coupler” you connect motor shaft with prop shaft. Hope I made myself clear this time. 
Cheers,

Jerry

[George-JK]

9 hours ago, Harbourmaster said:

Hi George-JK,

I am aware of Brushless ESC’s my question was referring towards something else. 

To be frank with you I was asking for type of connection between G3 Brushless motor and prop shaft. That  Silver joining “coupler” you connect motor shaft with prop shaft. Hope I made myself clear this time. 
Cheers,

Jerry

Hello Jerry,

 

Thanks for the clarification.

The "silver" joiner is a aluminium hard joint that was supplied with the propshafts. Simply they are Alu rods with 4mm hole dia and 4x M3 grub screws, two per side. They are good if the shaft-motor axes are concentric, then they are the best solution, as they minimize the noise. I think I had to drill the holes, because they are supplied in 3.2/4 mm size, typical for the intended brushed motor shaft of 3.175 mm. I believe one can get even a 4/4 mm ones in the aftermarket parts.

Then regarding the motor mount itself, the bigger Alu part, is a "600" size motor flange, this is taken from the size of the standard brushed motors. This is dependent on the hole spacing of the used motor.

the entire shaft assembly is build by the Czech company MP-JET, here is the link to their website with the prop shafts: https://www.mpjet.com/news/index.php/en/boat-parts/compact-boat-shafts

 

I hope this answered your question, I am glad to be of help to you.

 

Cheers,

[Harbourmaster]

Hi George,

   Thank you for taking time to reply to my post. Yes , you nailed it right in the head this time.
Will try to order those shafts from MP-Jet. But G3 motors and shafts are from Czech Republic , so for me it will be a challenge to get them in the States.  Thanks again for your help. 

Regards,

Jerry 

[George-JK]

6 hours ago, Harbourmaster said:

Hi George,

   Thank you for taking time to reply to my post. Yes , you nailed it right in the head this time.
Will try to order those shafts from MP-Jet. But G3 motors and shafts are from Czech Republic , so for me it will be a challenge to get them in the States.  Thanks again for your help. 

Regards,

Jerry 

Hello Jerry,

I am glad the information helped you. I understand your issues. Well at least the motor can be anything you can get in the US, the only requirement are the mounting hole placement, and the KV number (the number of revolutions per Volt, lower is better). The propshaft can be a bit more tricky, as I haven't seen anyone else do the same design, even though it is the best way to ensure that the two shafts are coaxial, motor/sropshaft.

 

Cheers,

[Harbourmaster]

Hi George,

Since I will try to copy your set up in my Fairmount Sherpa  please let me know how long the shafts are. On MP-Jet web page there is several different lengths provided. I assume they are 4 mm with M4 screw but how long? 
If I order wrong size it will be a expensive to return them back to Czech Republic. 
Your comprehension in this matter will be truly appreciated. 
My Best,

Jerry 

[George-JK]

On 8/5/2020 at 2:52 PM, Harbourmaster said:

Hi George,

Since I will try to copy your set up in my Fairmount Sherpa  please let me know how long the shafts are. On MP-Jet web page there is several different lengths provided. I assume they are 4 mm with M4 screw but how long? 
If I order wrong size it will be a expensive to return them back to Czech Republic. 
Your comprehension in this matter will be truly appreciated. 
My Best,

Jerry 

Hello Jerry,

 

I measured the shaft, only roughly, but they seem to be the 255mm variant, which would fit their size quite well.

However I suggest once you start building the stern, you do a quick measurement from the rudder shaft axis until the inner side of the wooden shaft pass-through. This would give you the minimal length of the shaft itself, without the engine flange. I think this distance is something less then 200mm, so I opted for the 255mm shafts as I was not sure how long the shaft flange is.

 

What I mean is these two holes, naturely when the bulkheads are on the keel, properly spaced:

 

I hope it is clear what I mean. Do not forget, all the hole, through where the shafts are going, need to be bored to 8mm if the MP Jet shafts are used.

 

Cheers,

[Harbourmaster]

Hi George,

Thanks a lot Man ! Truly appreciate you input and willingness to help me. 
My Best,

Jerry 

[George-JK]

Hello Jerry,

 

I am glad to help you.

 

Cheers,

[George-JK]

Hello All,

A short update on the progress of the build.

It is still ongoing, but very slow. The reason is that I miss 20 rail stanchions to finish the bridge railings, and since the Graupner, company that made the ones I used, vent bankrupt, again. There is no stock anywhere of this tipe of railing stanchions.

 

But none the less here are a couple of progress pictures.

I worked on the superstructure, assembling the main mast and the bridge roof.

Gluing of the mast onto the roof, I fastened the roof in a Dremel vice top to hold it on its side.

A big cable mess coming out of the mast, through the chimney down the bridge.

Finished the connector soldering on all the lighting on the roof.

 

And the "finished" superstructure. By this time I already managed to knock off the top LED once, but luckily it was a relatively easy fix.

 

 

A couple of words for the intermediate conclusion.

First let me mention a couple of things I found the KIT can improve upon:

1. The plans of the vessel in any part of the included building instructions, and the big plan DO NOT SHOW the picture of the LEFT SIDE of the vessel. I didn't manage to find any reasonably good pictures online, to see where to place all the details on that side of the boat.

2. Some details are not mentioned in the instructions, where they go to, presumably they are meant for the left side. But also one piece on the hull going on both sides (a stripe of wood 1x1mm by 40mm long) just appears on one detail in the plans, easy to overlook, just like it happened to me...

 

Maybe it is me being incompetent. But I find the the instructions, for a KIT quite incomplete... I have build, successfully, the HMS Pegasus by Victory Models, yes there are master-full build logs on here featuring this model, but still, the instructions had all the necessary information to build the kit.

 

 

Other issue, completely my fault is that, the model does swell in the water, I didn't correctly seal the wood.

As I found out acrylic and lacquer paints do not seal the wood, who would have guessed. So whenever I sail the boat, everything, that was not epoxied swells and cracks.

I should have used an enamel based primer, which would solve the problem, however it is too late for that now.

That is also the reason why the build is taking so long, I don't know how to move on, as the boat, meant for being in water, can't really go in water for longer times.

 

Cheers,

George

[robdurant]

Hi.

 

I've really enjoyed reading through your log - Your model is coming together brilliantly. Your mention of the lack of stanchions made me wonder whether the following might suit (1:72 rather than 1:75, but perhaps close enough?):

 

https://fleetscale.com/store/gb/etched-fittings-/898-original-jrh-560-stanchions-x-200-172.html?search_query=stanchions+&results=25

 

(I have no connection with this company - I've just used them for fittings on models I've built in the past)

[George-JK]

Hi,

 

thank you for the suggestion!

Can you send me, post here a detail of the stanchion? Also how tall are they, the ones I used are 14mm 3hole ones, if these are similar in size, that would be perfect.

 

Thanks!

Cheers,

George

[No Idea]

Hi George - The build looks great.  For stantions I used billings own 3 hole brass ones that can be purchased from Cornwall Model Boats if that helps.

 

Here's a link to nearly 700 photo's of my build just in case it helps you.  

 

https://modelboatmayhemimages.co.uk/album/bXv

 

Mark

[robdurant]

2 hours ago, George-JK said:

Hi,

 

thank you for the suggestion!

Can you send me, post here a detail of the stanchion? Also how tall are they, the ones I used are 14mm 3hole ones, if these are similar in size, that would be perfect.

 

Thanks!

Cheers,

George

Hi George. 

 

I've only used the 1:48 stanchions but I would imagine they scale... so the 1:48 ones  have 22mm showing above the deck, so that would make the 1:72 ones 14.6mm?

 

Do check they are even spacing... perhaps this link might be better

 

https://fleetscale.com/store/gb/etched-fittings-/337-1-72nd-rn-3-bar-stanchion-set-etched-brass.html?search_query=stanchions+&results=25

 

Rob

[George-JK]

Hi Rob, Mark

 

@Rob:

Thank you for the link, the stanchions from the second link look exactly right. Many thanks!

Even if they are slightly off, it will be fine, as long, as they have the correct shape,which they do.

 

@Mark: 

Many thanks for your build images! I actually once found these pictures, and decided to go with the Fairmount as well.

However I lost the link in the passage of time. So thank you for posting the link here.

 

Cheers,

George

[Harbourmaster]

Hallo George, 

before you proceed please kindly check this guy in Germany. It’s called Ätztechnik Saemann and Mr. Gerhard has railings in 1/75 scale exactly the one you are looking for. Hope this will help a bit just give him the shout. 
Regards,

Harbourmaster