RC Benchy

[ddmckee54]

My u-joint finally showed up.  It only took 3-4 un-answered e-mail attempts, almost giving up, deciding to write off my loses, and finally deciding to Never buy from those guys again.  Then about a week later I got an e-mail from their shipping department  that they had been informed of a miss-shipment and asking me to confirm that I had received a miss-shipment.  They couldn't understand this, since nobody had ever contacted them.

That just rubbed me the wrong way, so I sent a rather Snarky reply back to them.  This included a copy of the e-mail that I has sent to both the shipping department AND the sales department, the dates of the follow-up e-mails, along with the comment that I was seriously considering just writing off my loses and NEVER buying from them again.

2 days later I got my u-joint.  I guess the squeaky wheel DOES get the grease.

After I get the yard-work done this weekend I'll see about getting some more work done on Benchy, maybe even getting some paint on the hull.

Don

[ddmckee54]

Benchy is VERY monochromatic right now.  Apparently he didn't get the memo that the Great White Fleet sailed YEARS ago.
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It's just the primer, the various greys and blacks, and other colors will soon follow.

Don

 

[ddmckee54]

Benchy's getting a nameplate for his transom.

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It's only in white primer now, but I couldn't resist seeing what it would look like.  It needs some flat white touchup around the edges.  SOMEBODY tried hand sanding a couple of the more stubborn letters and that was the result.  The highlighter is there for scale.

Don

[ddmckee54]

A sneak peek, before Benchy's completely grown his teeth.

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The black outline around the top of the mouth is next on the hit parade, along with the black below the waterline.  The grey areas that you can see will also be painted black.  The black that you see through the anchor ports is the inside of the bulwork.  When everything is assembled what you should see through those ports is the grey of the pilot-house, or the turret.

Benchy is starting to need his Kodachrome!

Don

[ddmckee54]

Benchy is mostly painted and assembled, no pictures yet so I guess that didn't happen.

BUT...  Mario is no longer monochromatic, he definitely needs his Kodachrome.
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When I get home, if I remember it and before it gets dark outside, I'll try to take Benchy outside and get some pictures.  He's got at least a 6 foot finish - maybe even a 10 foot finish.  For those of you that don't know what a 10 foot finish is, if you're farther than 10 feet away from it, about 3 meters, it looks good.  If you get closer, you start to see the flaws.  If I go outside I can stay 6 feet away, so the paint job should look good.

Don

[vtsteam]

An evening finish can reduce a ten foot noon finish down to a six footer, I find.

Mario looks ready for action.

[awemawson]

Soft focus lens works wonders !

The late Rob Wilson had a magic camera that made all his weld beads look superb and his turned work spot on - or maybe he was just bally good at welding and turning 

[vtsteam]

Gosh an actual telephone! How does that work, anyway? Some kind of wire system?

[awemawson]

That's not a proper telephone - were is the dial ?

[vtsteam]

Dial, you mean the crank?

[ddmckee54]

The phone is on my desk at work.  I'm just a low-life contractor so I don't rate a real phone.

As to how it works...  Not very well at times.  Apparently our phone system at work is feuding with the phone system at one of our local suppliers.  About half the time when I call them using that phone I get sent off into La-La land, at which point their phone system hangs up on me.  When I call them on my cell-phone that never happens.

I got some more pictures of Benchy, I just haven't re-sized them yet or loaded them on to my on-line album.  Been busy doing wurk-type stuff.

Don

[ddmckee54]

OK, the pictures didn't take as long to re-size as I thought they would.  Of course the fact that I could only use 2 of them might have had something to do with that (SOMEBODY shakes too damned much and only 2 of the pictures were usable.)

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This is more or less a side view.  The "smart" seagulls know that the aft turret is hidden from Fire Control's wrath by the radome for the Search radar - so that's where it's safe to perch.  Of course if Fire Control turns the Search radar on -  roast seagull just MIGHT be the Cook's menu for dinner.  The NOT so "smart" seagull lands on the forward turret where Fire Control can do their best to repel all boarders.

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I assumed that where the curves changed direction in the 3D print was where the waterline was supposed to be.  So Benchy's visible teeth start there and I will ballast the boat to that level - that level is about 1 inch below the scuppers.  At least I hope I will have to ballast the boat to get to that level.  The designer said he had to add over 1Kg of ballast and I think he had his boat sitting higher in the water than where I plan to have mine.  I haven't installed the drive-line yet so Benchy still isn't quite water-tight.

Don

[vtsteam]

Wurk comes first!

(posts cross)

Hey, cute!!!! 

I mean in a non-threatening threatening kind of way from front view.

[ddmckee54]

Yeah, I was just looking at the front view, wondering if I could find some Googley-eyes that were the size of the openings?

[tom osselton]

I thought it was the sharks nostrils.

[ddmckee54]

Benchy's first "sea trials", floating in the kitchen sink, did not go well. 

The good news, he didn't leak...  And with my intended 12V battery, I still needed ballast to get down to the waterline.

The bad news, there's WAY too much weight ABOVE the waterline.  Once he starts to roll, he just wants to turn turtle.  (Probably didn't help anything that SOMEBODY added not just one but two turrets, a chain gun, a Captain, and a radome.  All high above the waterline.  My 12V sealed lead acid battery's gotta go, just too much weight above the waterline.  When I took that out, I was able to ballast Benchy back down to the waterline and get some stability, no more trying to turn turtle anyway.  I've got a 4S Lipo ordered, a 3S with its' 11.1V was just cutting the 11V minimum for the sound system a bit too close.

Don

[awemawson]

I seem to remember vaguely that there is the 'centre of gravity' and the 'centre of bouncy' to consider one having to be higher than the other.

The story is told, and I really hope that it is true, that a British Naval shipyard strongly suspected that their designs were being stolen by a foreign power to build their own ships. Several designs were 'doctored' by altering plate thicknesses so that an inherently unstable vessel would result, and sure enough on launch day said foreign power had a ship turn turtle.

. . .I do hope that it's true, but even if not it's a good tale !

[vtsteam]

I guess a fair amount of weight low in the hull will be helpful, as there's a lot of top hamper and weight above the waterline. Can't see the underbody, but form stability doesn't look like a strong point. She'll like lots of batteries, maybe even, dare I say it, NiCads for weight.....

And the safety factor of NiCads (NimHs, actually to be more precise) vs explosive hobby quality LiPos in a water setting is a further advantage.

Of course you don't need either for flotation, stability and waterline tests, just add convenient weights to the hull to see how she will float, and handle pushing around, then decide which batteries you need by weight, or if the design is feasible for what you want to do.