Last time I mentioned the Fantail launch, it had just passed a steam test. After this, I've been very busy, so left the remains of the Mamod fuel tablets in the burner pan, thinking they would be fine there.
It seems not. Left to their own devices, they formed these little lumps in the pan, and spread around the outside too. I've no idea how this works, but it's a reminder to clean the pan out in future.
Fortunatly, a bush with stiff, damp, long-handled brush, removed the muck easily enough, I managed to avoid removing the engine as this would require disconneting the couple, and I don't think disturbing the rubber tube is a good idea if it can be avoided.
However, there was another problem. Both connections to the battery box that powers the radio had failed.
Coincidence?
I'm not sure. It's odd that both would break.
Rewiring the box didn't cure the problem either, and a frustrating hour was spend re-attaching wires and changing the reciever. No matter what I did, I couldn't get the servo, or even a fresh servo plugged into the controller, to operate.
At this point things looked a bit hopeless, but digging in the box of spares, I found a new bettery box. I also changed the recieved from a RadioLink to a Planet, wired it all up and got a result! Lots of faffing around, but the boat was ready for the steam day.
On the day, I ran it for 12 minutes, retrieved the model and checked it over. 1/3 of a boiler and probably 1/3 of the two solid fuel tablets I'd put in. On that basis, I think the 20 minutes I've had in the past is achievable.
I'll be careful to clean the pan out before putting it away in the future though!
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