A daily updated blog typed by someone with painty hands, oil under his fingernails and the smell of solder in his nostrils who likes making all sort of models and miniatures. And fixing things.
Thursday, February 25, 2016
Now cut a big hole in the hull
Normally, model boat building starts with holes being made in the hull for the propshaft and rudder. With that challenge model, the biggest problem is that there isn't anywhere to put these holes.
The hull appears to be a clinker built dinghy so no provision is made for powered drive.
To fit this in, I had to hack a great big chunk out of the back of the hull and fill the holes in with plastic sheet. My plan involves a 40mm diameter propeller and some rough measurements showed this could fit with relatively little effort if the prop tube emerged from the keel.
There was also the rudder to allow for - this could have hung on the back but fitting to the bottom is easier.
The photo makes the angle of the prop look steeper than it is in real life. Ideally you want all the thrust to go backward but some downward is normal so the tube can be angled up into the hull to find a motor.
A brass propeller looks nice by the way but is ruinously expensive for a "fun" project at 13 quid or so. Sadly, Graupner who make plastic props went into receivership in 2012 so supplies of the cheap version are disrupted.
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