Byzantium by qwerty2008 - Scale 1:20 - RADIO - based on the Pride of Baltimore

[qwerty2008]

The mold was made from some sort of plaster that came with the house which didn't conform to the shape of the master. If I make a mold again I will attempt to get proper mold making supplies.

 

 

Lextin.

[dgbot]

There are several tutorials on casting out there. The principal will be the same whether using resin or brittania. The mold can be a 2 part rubber mold or from modeling clay. Alumilite is one of the main suppliers. I also believe there is a tutorial MSW that will help you get started. The great thing about resin is it will show everything that is on the master including the fingerprints.

David B

[qwerty2008]

For now I am going to move on, I will revisit the cannons later. In the mean time I will be working on miscellaneous other parts.

   Since my last post I made the chain plates and the cross trees for both mast. Oops looks like I forgot to take pictures of the cross trees, I will try to post some soon.

 

 

Lextin.

[qwerty2008]

I haven't been working on the Byzantium as much as I would like lately because the Black Pearl but I will hopefully be getting back the Byzantium soon here are some pics of the progress since my last post. First I did some rearanging and made room in my closet for the Byzantium.

  I decided to go with bowsies for the shrouds instead of deadeyes but the bowsies were kinda ugly so I will be disguising them as deadeyes. I also have started making the sail templates from masking paper.

 

 

Lextin.

[JerryTodd]

Those hoops look a bit snug there, they should be a little large so they can travel easily and not distort the sail by binding.

[dgbot]

Mast hoops were always made a certain percentage oversized so that the sails could be lashed to them and they could travel the length of the mast without binding

David B

[qwerty2008]

As you have already noticed I made the hoops for the sails. They are made from paper and soaked in C.A. and yes they are a bit small will probably be remade later. if they don't work.

 

 

Lextin.

[qwerty2008]

I ordered the servo(Hitec HS 785 3.5 turn) for the fore and aft sails today. Which sails should be slaved to which other sails? I have a 4 channel Tx/Rx one channel is being used for the rudder the other 3 are available for the sails.

  I picked up a sampler pack of hemp cord at Wal-Mart and was wondering what the pros and cons of using hemp on a RC model are?. The hemp is strong and has no stretch to it and seems ideal for the standing rigging also its looks better than synthetic materials for rope.

[qwerty2008]

I tried my hand at sail making today and came up with this, I tried attaching the bolt ropes but it didn't come out very good so I removed them, because the hem at the edge is so bulky I might leave off the bolt ropes altogether. I like the look and feel of this material for the sails but it is rather difficult to work with, if I went with a synthetic material I would be able to skip the hem and just cut the material with a hot knife to keep it from fraying.

 

 

Lextin.

[qwerty2008]

I knew I was forgetting something  , ah that's better  .

 

 

 

Lextin.

[Littlebob]

Nice work on the sail.

[qwerty2008]

My servo arrived today (weird because I wasn't expecting it for another two weeks) its bigger than I thought it would be. 

 

 

Lextin.

Edited May 23, 2014 by qwerty2008

[qwerty2008]

I made the main course and finished the boom.

 

 

 

Lextin.

[qwerty2008]

I added the hoops to the sail and attached it to the gaff.

 

 

 

Lextin.

[qwerty2008]

I made the first block and also made some polyester rope, I am very happy with the look of both but I am having problems with the rope wanting to unravel (if I were to cut the end [currently held with CA] the whole rope would unravel within a few seconds) were did I go wrong?.

You may have noticed the top corner of the sail is severely mangled this is because I made the mistake of hardening the corners with CA which made the already weak cloth brittle. I will most likely get some better material later on and replace the sails so right now they will just be place holders and when I get the new material I can use them as templates.

 

 

 

Lextin.

[DSiemens]

Great work.  She looks like she'll be a lot of fun.  

[qwerty2008]

I made the rest of the blocks for the gaff but forgot to becket one of the double blocks . 

 

 

 

Lextin.

[qwerty2008]

now that I have the servo and a sail almost ready to be rigged I am wondering if someone could point me in the right direction on how to rig it. I made a mark on the boom approximately where the sheet will attach then swung the boom out until it was touching the shrouds (or at least would be touching them had they been installed) and measured the distance between the two ends of the sheet which is approximately 24" or two feet which means that with the ~2.5 turns I get out of my "3.5 turn servo" I will need a (pulls out calculator) ~3" diameter drum on the servo. I already plan on making the drum from CDs but am lost on what to do from there, closed system? open system? if I do go with a closed system would I need to make a second hatch towards the stern for maintenance? if I went with an open system how would I maintain tension so the line wont come off the drum? I have many more questions but don't want to spend hours writing this post. 

Thanks.

Lextin.

[qwerty2008]

I made a case for around the drum and also have been working on making a system to double the pull of the servo by putting a pulley on a track. I still need to make the supports for the track and run the rudder control around and out of the way.

Lextin.

[qwerty2008]

I did a test and my servo only has abought 1/4 the torque that it should have, I think this might be because my battery which is 4 cheapo AAAs in a pack meant for AAs, I will try to get a new battery/charger and see if that fixes the problem.

 

 

Lextin.

[qwerty2008]

Based on help I got on RC Groups I will be getting a 6 volt, Sealed Lead Acid battery and charger.

The spectra arrived today and I will see if I can ropewalk it tonight as it is currently to thin to use for the shrouds.

 

 

Lextin.

Edited June 6, 2014 by qwerty2008

[qwerty2008]

I made some rope from the spectra and it works nicely but is kinda glossy. 

 

 

Lextin.

[qwerty2008]

I made a a special block for the main sheet and took a video of how everything works. I am not very good at making videos so be warned it is kinda crummy.

 

 

Lextin.

[qwerty2008]

I made a brass block for the main sheet to replace the wood one shown in the last post.

 

 

Lextin.

[qwerty2008]

I ordered the battery yesterday it should be here within the next few weeks. I also took some better pictures of the block which is my first successful piece of brass work. The problem I kept having was that the solder didn't want to stick to the metal. Turns out that I was getting the metal to hot, when I lowered the temperature the solder worked perfectly.

 

 

 

Lextin.

[mtaylor]

Very nicely done on the block, Lextin.  Looks great.

[qwerty2008]

The battery arrived today so I did some test and got the winch servo to lift 9 pounds of lead, 3 times what it could lift on my previous battery pack. If I had more weights I might have been able to get close to the 12 pounds it says it can handle. I did a test with it in the hull hooked up to my pulley system and it ripped out the eyebolt the end of the sheet was tied to.

 

 

Lextin.

[qwerty2008]

here are some pics of the battery and my new servo tray layout marked with sharpie. I could not get the battery beneath the servo tray as per my original plans so I put it behind the main mast, it will be difficult to get in and out but it will have to do.

 

 

 

Lextin.

[qwerty2008]

The Byzantium is now sporting the latest fashion, white gun port stripe black rails and red bulwarks. I still need to apply another coat of red to the bulwarks and do some touchups.

 

 

 

Lextin.

[DSiemens]

Great work. I'm curious. What are you using to water proof the hull? I have been toying with the idea of making an rc model for a long time and that's one thing I've often wounded about.