Homemade Rudder Hinges

[lamarvalley]

Good day all,

 

With the wealth of knowledge that exists within these pages I know this is an easy one.

 

I'm building the San Francisco II and have come to the hinge/rudder part. I'm not a fan of the bright brass straps supplied with the kit. I want to make my own straps but am having a time finding the right kind of metal to work with. I pounded and flattened both tinned copper wire and copper wire and both have the look I want (after I age them) but neither survive more than one bend before they snap.

 

So, the question: what makes for good hinge straps? (I should say other than brass)

 

Randy

Edited April 13, 2013 by lamarvalley

[TBlack]

Randy, I'm reading that your objection to brass is its shine? Can't you just blacken it or otherwise paint it to remove the objection? The ones in the picture are painted brass.

 

Tom

[dgbot]

For hinges stay with brass strips.  After annealing they can be shaped and soldered to the desired shape.  You can then either blacken them or paint them as I did.

David B

[lamarvalley]

Thanks guys. I kind of came to the same conclusion... eventually. And, you're right, I can blacken them as I did with the cannon. My biggest objection was the generic straps that came with the kit so I was looking for some alternative that I could craft myself. It's hard to replace the ease and versatility of brass tho so...this morning I picked up some sheet brass, rod and tube and am making my own. Never soldered anything so small tho so this should be interesting.

[TBlack]

Randy, in soldering the parts together, if you "tin" each part up ahead of time with the solder, then when you join them and heat them, they'll come right together. I find that trying to keep the parts together in the right place; get a tiny amount of solder placed in the joint; then applying heat is too many things to juggle at one time. So if you apply the solder first to each part and then join the parts...much easier.

 

Tom

[lamarvalley]

Thanks for the advise Tom. A soldering expert I am not so I appreciate the trick.

 

Randy

[von stetina]

If you  heat to dull red or almost that hot and let cool you will have soft pliable brass.  [aneal

 

Von Stetina

[lamarvalley]

Well, I started this thread so I might as well tell of the final product.

The cause of all this was the thin and generic hinge straps that came with the kit. I bent them so many times trying to follow the pin or the rudder that they snapped like metals do when bent back and forth over and over. I appreciate the advise Von Stetina, and it will remain in my arsenal of tricks but fortunately this time I bent them once and only once. It was nice working with a bit stouter brass... it could take a bit of work.

 

I ended up buying .5mm sheet brass along with brass tube and rod. After a bit of trial and error I cut the sheet to appropriate size, filed each strip down to uniform widths and bent them to an initial U shape over a piece of wood the same thickness as the rudder. Again, a few stutter starts and finally got the soldering down. There were 6 hinges, each had tube with 3 of them getting a rod to act as a pin. Pulled out the files and sandpaper and eventually with a blackening I had hinges.

The rest is detailed in the pictures...

 

Randy

[Richard Bradfield]

They look great Randy. Good job!

[lamarvalley]

Thanks Richard.

[mtaylor]

Nice work on the hinges, Randy.

[lamarvalley]

Thanks Mike. I think I really now know what 'bashing' means

[TBlack]

Randy! They look fabulous. You weren't sandbagging us were you?  I mean, you started this thread implying that you were a novice. The results show otherwise.

Tom

[lamarvalley]

No sandbagging Tom, I swear. I am a novice... at model boat building. I know my way around a woodshop tho. The soldering...it wasn't smooth sailing at first... I didn't take a picture of the 4 or 5 that didn't survive... It was a learning experience.

[dgbot]

Nicely done and well thought out.

David B

[lamarvalley]

Thank you David, I appreciate that.

[capnharv2]

Randy,

 

Those came out really nice! I need to do the ones on the Constitution soon, and this has been inspiring!

 

Thanks,

 

Harvey

[TBlack]

Well Randy, whatever, you're a champ!

[Geoff Matson]

Your craftsmanship is outstanding, thanks for the post.

[lamarvalley]

Harvey, Tom and Geoff, thanks. Much appreciated.

[sudomekh]

I did loop steering of copper (strip and wire, thin tube) ... tin soldering

 

the entire sequence is visible in the photo

[Modeler12]

Indeed, nice work, Randy and Sudomekh.

You show that a lot can be done with those details.

 

I am afraid I took the easy way out for my Conny. Since the hinge straps were going to be painted black and the hinge itself would be barely visible, I decided that instead of brass, I would use stiff paper.
I actually used an old photograph print, cut it into strips, painted them and  . . . .

Edited December 1, 2013 by Modeler12

[dgbot]

A tried and true technique.  Looking good.

David B

[HIPEXEC]

The hinges are a work of art, and what little I can see of your planking job, your planks are first rate also.

[pete48]

Hi Randy, Thank you for posting this , I have been trying to figure this out myself for my Herreshoff Buzzards Bay .

 

 

Best Regards,

Pete