Calmac Ferry RUM

I think I have finally solved the plastic to plastic glue problem by using some PVC glue I bought for foam board  Now it's just a matter of getting the mechanism to work  . I think that by pushing on the flap I can lower the main ramp, then later drop the flap. I just have to work out how to make the fittings for the end of the push wire and fixing to the flap.
I could still do with a better 'push rod'. The bowden type cable I am using is really too stiff. Anyone got any suggestions? Ideally it will bend easily through almost 90 degrees. I have tried bicycle brake cable which is even stiffer.



I have also been painting fittings and building the mast structure. Looking at photos of Rhum I find it has four ventilators, and the prominent water tanks shown on the plans hardly appear. I am hoping to use one pair of ventilators to work as turn buttons to hold the upper deck in place.



There will proably not much more done for a couple of days as our new car arrives tomorrow

Barrie

eeded to take a break from trying to understand all the gadgets on the new car - really need a 6 week training course , Also my model cars arrived from China - took only a week.
They are not what I would have liked, but the only 1/48 th cars I could find other than these were detailed diecast models at crazy prices. These are rather too shiny and also left hand drive! They will get a coat of Satin Cote to tone them down.

The bridge structure is done and painted. I have made the mast and will fit it and the railings once the paint is hard. I made some water tanks today ready to be fitted when the paint has dried. I have just ordered a 'snake' to see if that is more flexible than the bowden cable. I still need to make the ventilators into catches to hold the upper deck, then I will refit the props and get it into the test tank. My aim is to take it to Deans Open day next weekend, even if not completely finished. 

Barrie

I look forward to seeing this at Deans next weekend Barrie!!!!

I have currently given up on motorising the ramp so that I can get ready for Dean's this weekend - looks like Sunday will be the day as rain is forecast for Saturday.
I have fixed 5 of the chinese cars to the car deck, completed the mast structure and refitted the props and tank tested it. It required quite a bit of lead to bring it down to the water line.
As for the ramp, I was trying to use a mini servo for reasons of access, but have decided that I need a full size one. This necessitated moving the battery box - the battery now fits across the hull. I need to make a strong mount for the servo, so have ordered some ali sheet to make one that I can screw down to make a firm fixing.
I need to do some painting and re-cut one name for the bow as one of the letters came off the first attempt, then it will be ready for Sunday .

Pictures tomorrow.

Barrie

Rhum is now in a fit state to take to Deans if the weather cooperates
I have finished painting the ramp, the dinghy now has a cover and the crane is almost ready to fit. I have started on the navigation light boxes, but these are mounted on 'poles' away from the wheelhouse, so will take a bit of thinking about  I still need to make (or buy) a couple of bollards and a radar. I have found a flood light which I will fit to the front of the wheelhouse.

Barrie
 

The weather was at least dry, although there was a serious gale blowing over Farcet  It was so bad that Carl was reluctant to put his Ferry in the water. I hesitated before launching the Calmac, but in the end it sailed well - at least in the forward direction. It will not move backwards  Maybe bigger props are required?

Here are a couple of photos taken with my phone so quality is not brilliant.
 

Here is a short video - I hope.



Barrie

Just brilliant Barrie........ I only hope that when I get round to it, her sister ship Eigg pops out of her shell as perfectly formed as yours...........

just great to see these lovely work horses immortalised in miniature..........

I really do think she is beautiful Barrie. well done. neil.

Thanks Neil. I think if you do build yours it will be more accurate than this. I started building it from the Model Boats plans, but then started looking at photos, and its obvious the plans were very much 'stand off'. 

I hope to crack the ramp this week as my Alli arrived whilst I was at Deans this morning. It was good to meet Carl and his Father - his Ferry looks magnificent.

Barrie

A great work of art Barrie well done. 

I'm almost there  I spent an hour or so this morning making a super servo mount, only to realise I hadn't checked it would fit in the boat  . So on to Plan B, and using the ali I made some straps to hold down the servo. There is tremendous force on the servo arm, which I think distorts slightly. I probably need to strengthen it, or find a metal one. However, IT WORKS 
Here is some video. Its a bit quick, and although I could operate the Tx more slowly, I think I will see if there is room in the hull for my Action Servomorph left over from a previous project.
I still have to finish the connection to the 'flap'. I hope when that is in place, I can drop the ramp, then lower the flap separately.

Barrie

That's lovely. 

Well done a super piece of engineering.

Cheers

ken

What a wonderful little project,and build sequence.Glad it has all worked out for you. Just one adverse comment I cant see any links,or any way of viewing your videos,which I would certainly love to see please.
Looking forward to your next build and blog!
Mick F.

Mick, Not sure why you cant see the videos. They are embedded, but here are the direct Photobucket links

https://s1371.photobucket.com/user/barrienw/media/VID_20150913_115119570_zpsop0ilohv.mp4.html

https://s1371.photobucket.com/user/barrienw/media/TRIM_20150912_150914_zpsejd8cg9x.mp4.html

Barrie

Was great to meet you Barrie and to see the Rhum 'in the flesh' as it were!!!

A wonderful model and I do hope that you manage to get something sorted for being able to go backwards.....was thinking about this afterwards and it may be that the underhull shape is blanking the force of the water in reverse.  The step where the shafts exit the hull may be too severe as the water (in reverse) is hitting the step and then being forced downwards.  Would it be possible to somehow slope this step?

Here are a few shots I took on the day (sorry for the poor quality of my camera phone....)

Thanks for the photos Carl. I was quite surprised to get the video as usually trying to sail and video is a nono

I don't really fancy trying to alter the shape of that step - the propshafts come through there. I will try with larger props. If that doesn't solve it, maybe it will be a forward only ferry!!

I started work on the final connection to the 'flap' today, but got interrupted before I had finished. I have changed the servo with one with a stiffer arm. but it still distorts. I think maybe a more powerful servo is called for - these are just standard ones.

Barrie

I have decided to try a more powerful servo and have ordered one offering around 11kg. I wont do any more until it arrives - maybe on Wednesday.

Barrie

My new servo plus some new cable arrived on Wednesday but it was only this morning when I got an opportunity to work on Rhum again   After one false start, I finally achieved my goal   The ramp and flap now operate as I wanted and as I believe the full size version worked. It is now possible to drop the ramp approaching the landing ramp, then when it touches drop the flap to complete the access route.
I have used my Action servo slower and end point adjuster, and it now works well - maybe it could still be a little slower, but that can be adjusted. The only jobs left now are to make the navigation light boxes, then check the paint and apply some varnish to unify the paint finishes. I'm not sure if I need to paint the chains - they look rusty to me. Next time I need to order some fittings I will probably add some life belts to go on the ferry, but they are not essential.

 

And a video of it working.



Here's the link if you can't see the video

https://vid1371.photobucket.com/albums/ag293/barrienw/VID_20150913_115119570_zpsop0ilohv.mp4

Barrie

Ripper job Barrie. 

Glad to see you got there in the end Barrie, a nice build, I have been watching with interest

Had it on our lake this morning. The ramp works well - at least it  did after I had unstuck it.   The paint and varnish applied after getting it working had stuck it up, and the flap wouldn't drop.    A bit of lubrication helped, but after getting it home, I found the cable had a tendency to dip between the clevis and the tube, so I have put in another support for the end of the tube.

It still doesn't want to go backwards, and is very sluggish forwards, so I will swap the props for 40mm. I have some but they are all the same hand, so to test it I will reconfigure the motors to work the same way, before buying a new prop with the other hand.

This is the final arrangement of the servo. The navigation lights are built and have had one coat of paint, so the end is in sight .

Barrie

top stuff barrie.

In fact the last photo is NOT the final one  I have turned the support under the cable through 90 degrees, so that the cable cannot sag  Reliable operation new every time 
Tried it again on the water today, but still wont go backwards. I don't think it was any quicker forwards either with the 40 mm props, and having them the same hand made direction control difficult.
 I think the next step is to replace the 260 motors with 280s - I think the can is the same size so should be relatively easy

Barrie

Great build 
I'm just about to build this. So good help reading this. I may scale it up a bit so it's may be 750mm long will see.

if you do scale up mark, i think we would all like to see your build, the more the better. and welcome to the site too.

Thanks very much. Yer I will defanatly just waiting for the plans to come though and I will start it.

Give some thought to modifying the angle of the 'step' at the stern. As far as I can see it is that which is preventing any backward motion. The 280 motors didn't seem to help, and with outwards turning props, I lost directional control on Sunday. 

Barrie

Yer I read what you had put. Will look in to that

What scale are the plans anyway ?

1/48th - have you actually bought them yet? You could buy mine for half the Model Boats price.

Barrie

Yes I have unfortunately. Should be here tomorrow.

Today I tried it with 2 x 280 motors and the original 30 mm props, but turning inwards. This gave a good turn of speed forward, and great manoeuvrability, BUT it still wont go backwards. This of course is a major problem for a ferry designed to sail onto the slipway and back off

For the moment I am going to leave it. The only idea I have is to change the angle on the prop shafts and try to bring part of the props below the hull. I would probably need a pair of 40 mm props for this.

A final photo showing the 'ramp' to guide the cable into the sheath. 

When I return from holiday I will start my next model.

Barrie

Still not had my plans through. 
 But looking at your hull..I think I'm going to lessen the angle of the part in front of the probs. Or like you say angle they slightly different .

So ha e been awayfor 4 now back and going to crack on with it.
Justquick question how did you work out the angle of the front bow as in the plans its.not clear at all yours looks more angled in than the plans

Im going for 1/35 scale as well

good scale...........plenty of fittings available on the maret if needed.

Markrider wrote:

So ha e been awayfor 4 now back and going to crack on with it.
Justquick question how did you work out the angle of the front bow as in the plans its.not clear at all yours looks more angled in than the plans

Good question! I think I went 'wrong' by making the bend in the sides vertical. It isn't clear on the plans, but I think it should be angled - there is a dotted line on the plan, maybe this is the bend line. It would be worth mocking it up in cardboard to see if that is correct. My model certainly has a narrower ramp than I think it should have.

Barrie

Barrie I used nylon cord bricklayers and carpenters use to show levels to good effect for raising and lowering the ramp on my Landing craft Tank perhaps worth a thought.

Damien.

Where do people get there ply from ? 
Also yer I saw the dotted line and wondered that not very clear is it.

I get mine from a balsa/ply supplier in Sth Australia really good quality and reasonable price. I'll have to look them up again I lost all links when my hard drive took a dump last week.

Found it  http://www.balsacentral.com/about-us/

Mark - are you in the UK? I got mine from Maldon in Essex as its not too far away from me. Balsa Cabin is the name of the outfit. SLEC in Norwich also sell liteply as do GD Models in Nottingham, although I think they call it Lightply.
If you need web sites I'll get them for you, but have to dash now.

Barrie

Hi Barrie
Yes I'm in Kent. 
 What size ply did you use. ?

Mark,

I used 6mm for the hull. The original was built from 3/16th ply which I thought a bit heavy. I will scan the original article from Model Boats if you would like it. If so let me have your email address. 
The rest of the model was built from various materials including plastic card, foamboard and other thicknesses of liteply.

Not sure if there are any liteply suppliers in Kent. Balsa Cabin and SLEC do mail order.

Barrie

HI Barrie that would be good. 
I will PM you my address

HI Barrie I have sent you an email on.here

Mark

Taking advantage of having the test tank set up for the Tug, I decided to see if the ferry would go astern if I kept the revs very low. The answer is yes - at least in the tank. Not sure what would happen in the lake with wind blowing. However, I think it is worth fitting a pair of larger props - a proper handed pair this time - and trying that. Next time I send an order to CMB I will add a pair.

Barrie

Ar ok yer worth a try. 
Ihavnt started mine yet but straight after Xmas will get started. I have all the wood so ready to go. 

Mark

As I mentioned on another thread, I have been experimenting with an Arduino microcontroller. The task I set myself was to 'automate' the ramp movement. By that I mean get precise motion without precise movement of the Tx control. Ideally I would like a three position switch on the Tx, but failing that, putting the stick fully up sends the ramp fully up, put the control in the top half of its movement sends the ramp down, and putting the control below the half way point drops the flap. All these movements are carried out slowly.
The cost of the equipment in the boat was £3 - cheaper than a Servomorph. 
I'll get some video soon.

Barrie

Hi Barrie 
oh that sounds intresting , i have just started to looking in to Arduino  as every one seems to be talking about it,
looks like a cheap way of doing good things,
i have started my Rhum now i have put the build blog on here also on another site :-)
 its coming along and i want to think about the ramp now before i get to far can you post some video of it and some infomation


many thanks
Mark