RC India

After the very average first boat build (http://www.rcindia.org/boats/first-boat-build-24'-cabin-cruiser/) I was itching to try something more challenging.

So, I pestered VC, and he suggested I download the plans for the Keil Kraft Neptune and scale them up.

This is what it is supposed to look like ( :ouch!  :o)

(http://eezebilt.hobby-site.com/nep1.jpg)

I downloaded the plans (http://eezebilt.hobby-site.com/index.html) and took them to a photocopy shop. The scaling was not perfect; instead of 150% got about 140% and the X & Y axes scaling was a little different  :headscratch: :headscratch:

All the templates cut on the Sunboard. Used 2 mm wherever the plans said 1/32 or 1/16" and 4 mm wherever they said 3/32 or 1/8".

Build in progress. Used Cyano. This material (a first for me) is quite easy to cut and sand; a MAS plane is very useful. Only thing it is heavy, and a little brittle. But overall, very nice to work with.

I had to make a prop shaft tube (sometimes called a stuffing box, although I disagree - a stuffing box involves compression of a media to form a steam leakproof seal, e.g. in steam engines  8) )

I had some Aluminum tube lying around, 7 mm X 9 mm. I found an old commode nylon screw, which too was 7 mm O/D. So I created it. I used 2 pieces about 7 mm dia X 12 long, and drilled a 3 mm hole for the shaft (a bicycle spoke.) Used a set screw to lock the nylon into place, and will keep a bit of sponge soaked in thick lube oil inside  ;D

Build continues. All easy so far. The only thing is that despite cutting the templates carefully many things don't fit. I guess it's because of the photocopying, or maybe the plans had a few small errors. Errors IMHO don't ever cancel out, but add up  ;D

The only part which needs minuscule fitting is the very last - the 2 bottom skins. The rest are all easy.

The motor has yet to be decided  ??? ???

I think a brushed of about 150 W (about 17 A) with about 2000 KV or higher should be OK, this boat is heavy! I do need advice on this though, which will be much appreciated.

I put a lot of hot glue from inside on the joints, hoping to seal the bulkheads and make it as unsinkable as the Titanic  :rofl:



(....to be contd.)

Guruji!

 :D Kaha ke Guru? You are the guide for this  :salute:

can you boat 3D ?


good one anyways

Ahhh Gusty Boss, boats are just 2 D global warmers!  8-)

Thanks for the encouragement. How's the packing going?

maybe you can flip the boat on its side and knife edge xD or make it do a snap roll :P
 but very nice build! when is it going to sail? ::)

Sent from a potato using a lamp

Thanks Aniket! The only spectacular thing a boat does is......sink  :rofl:

It will take me a week or so to complete. I will be posting more build pics, and, hopefully a video of the maiden voyage  ;D

 :goodjob:

I am eagery waiting for the progress.  {:)}  {:)}

Thanks Col. Sanders Sandy  ;D

Construction finished  ;D

Next up: Rudder, Paint/finish, Electronics, detailing

Rudder made from hard wood & a cycle spoke

All cleaned up, ready for the next build  :D :D

.....and he cruelly posted a picture of the boat basking in all its glory with his magnificent workbench in the backdrop. True, he is a sadistic man.............

 >:D >:D >:D

is that a supermarine spitfire kit i see hiding in the corner?? :P

Yes and a Piper Super Cub too.

I've witnessed that workbench in person. It's a builders dream. There is nothing that one cannot find in that workshop except for the light switch, which is hidden at a place only Rai sir can find in the dark ;), so no one eyes-on without his consent :D

Great build sir...

VC, is that wood panelling on the boat? those vertical stripes

Hi - I note that you are making some of the KK EeZeBilt boats from my website.

The idea behind the website was to revive some of the old boats that people in the 1960s were used to, so I'm glad that this is happening, but I'm sad to hear that on occasions you find that there may be errors with the drawings.

The drawings never existed originally - these boat kits were simply provided as a set of die-cut parts. I produced the drawings by getting collectors around the world to photocopy the die-cut parts. They then emailed them to me and I drew the plans from these pictures. Sometimes it was hard to see where the lines were, so it is quite possible that I got some wrong. I would appreciate a bit more information about just what is wrong, so that I can correct it...

Oh, and congratulations on the building - those boats look very good...

OH BOY - THE HOLY GRAIL HIMSELF!!!

Geezer, we are and shall be eternally grateful to you. It is wonderful to see you here, an honour actually. Welcome aboard. What you have done for the boat modelling fraternity is unsurpassed. God bless!

Gentlemen, we have a legend on board. Welcome the Dodgy Geezer. :hatsoff:

The site from where these plans were downloaded:

http://eezebilt.hobby-site.com/

http://eezebilt.hobby-site.com/plans.html

Download, acknowledge and enjoy the builds!

Thanks for the welcome! We're all in the same hobby, and people who put up build logs like yourself are doing just as much to spread the word - if not more. Take a salute, VC!   :salute:

I do what I can, but I'm not a skilled technical draftsman, and so any feedback on the plans is most useful. As a tip, the later plans are going to be better drawn, because I will have had more practice...

DG

Really wonderful to see you here Geezer, and welcome aboard; the fount from which the build has sprung!

I, and many others here are grateful to you for putting in the effort to transfer these kits into buildable designs. There are a few glitches, but so far in my only build they have really been nothing too significant.
My own building skills, or lack of them, create more problems  ;D I cut the skins a little larger and trimmed to size after gluing, which was necessary.

Wonderful to have you here, and looking forward to plenty of participation from you  :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Very nice build, :salute:
and many thanks for referring the original plan site.  :hatsoff:

Thank you very much sir! These words coming from a master are high praise indeed!

rai sir
great going,wonderfulllllllllllll to see a nice build. but wish to see comments from VC Sir and roopesh sir to comments on this EXPERT build.wish one day i would make such a babe
regards
joe

Thank you Joe, for your very kind words.

People like SB Maharana, VC, Roopesh and so many others: they have built fantastic stuff, we are but infants in front of them

I think that all the original kits had the skins a bit oversize - because if you get the hull slightly incorrect, a skin which is just the correct size would leave a gap - so trimming is expected...

What I am most interested in is occasions where slots or tabs are in the wrong places. It is easy to misread a scan of a piece of balsa, and I would like to correct any mistakes that people find.. 



I have quite a lot to do!

At the moment, I am trying to set up a forum for collecting old Vintage plans for model boats and distributing them, on the Model Forum RC GROUPS. I don't know if any of you belong to RC GROUPS? If you do, we could really do with some 'Yes' votes on this page:

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1899907&page=4 (http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1899907&page=4)

I hope to put up a web page covering ALL old model boat plans rather than just the KK EEZeBilt models - but that will take a long time to complete...

Dodgy,

There were no issues with slots and tabs, except on the keel, where I 'played it by ear'

I have voted 'Yes' on the RC Groups poll. This is a noble effort on your part.

I can understand your being busy, no doubt you have a lot on your plate right now; nonetheless, do drop by sometimes :D

You are a lucky man Rai Sir! Your build has resurrected a Maestro boat builder (who has been in hibernation) from Eastern India and another who is the Creator of this build from a foreign land.

Modded (sic!) to gain the acceptability of the OP! ;)

Do you mean Dodgy Geezer is from Eastern India?

You missed the conjunction Sir!

From Eastern India and Creator.....I'm lost. I'm a morning man and it's already 30 minutes past my bedtime :D

Modified reply # 34. Hope it self explanatory. Good night Sir!

When I was younger I spent a few years in Durgapur.. but I normally live around London..

Thanks for the voting - I am trying to revive the idea of building model boats from plans rather than buying ready-made hulls from China, and so making old plans more available is part of this endeavour...

Holy Smoke! The Dodgy Geezer IS from Eastern India!!! What a coincidence. Dodgy, welcome back home!

Dodgy, care to comment on my scaled up build logs of the Mermaid and the RAF Rescue 'FIRE' Boat?

awesome!!! I'm from east too! what a coincidence!

Sent from a potato using a lamp

East born = Genius Q.E.D. :giggle:

:iagree: :giggle:

Sent from a potato using a lamp

Darn mysterious inscrutable Orientals, these Wise men of the East :D

Dodgy: nice to know your India connection. Were you associated with the Steel/Mining Industry? Durgapur has a lot of that

I was a little young to be working on the steelworks at that time!  My father was a troubleshooter working for Shell Oil, and took me out there for a few years. I see on Google that Benchity is now part of the town - it was a small outlying village as I remember it...

I have been looking at the Sunboard models - very impressive! I had not thought of using that material, and of course the earlier model kits were never designed with this in mind. One point I might make - the 50+ range are boats intended for modern radio control - the original range were never intended for this, and so often need to be bigger. But just increasing the size can lead to problems - you may need more internal support, for instance, if you are building in balsa. Sunboard actually looks better for 'expanded' EeZeBilts - and it's probably better for waterproofing as well...

The Neptune is pretty alright structurally.

What is meant by "50+" here?

BTW: Sunboard is technically Compressed PVC Foam  :)

Sorry, I found the 50+ on the EzeeBuilt website :D

Sunboard will be much stiffer than 1/16" balsawood, which was what the original kits were designed with. So I suppose you are able to increase the size without too many problems....

The original range of kits were designed in the late 1950s, and were intended to be starter kits to introduce young children to the hobby.  When I looked for some similar kits to give to my children in the 1990s, I found that they could no longer be bought. I was unhappy, because if young children are not brought into a hobby, it will eventually die. So I asked around on the web, found people who still had these kits, photocopied them and drew up the sets of plans you see now. So these old kits are no longer lost - if you want to give one as a present to your children you can cut out the balsa for yourself and give them exactly what you could have bought in 1960.

Now, the old kits were never designed to carry radio control, and modern kids might like to include this. So I drew up a separate set of plans which were intended to be as simple as the original ones, but a bit larger. I did this 50 years after the originals were first designed, in 2009, so I called the 'new' range the '50+' series....

I wish there were more people around like you. No one wants to share. People are selfish. For example, believe it or not, there is NOT A SINGLE large size plan available ANYWHERE on the net of the PT boats or the Vospers. People have them, but will not share them. They would rather peddle them at exorbitant prices on ebay.

Dodger, that is really wonderful  :bow:. Only problem is how to drag today's kids away from electronic entertainment like video games and TV. Have to start them young I guess  ;).

That will be up to the parents, of course!  I'm trying to provide the basic resources. I'm wondering if I can get a school interested in doing boat-building projects with their children...

I know a dozen schools who are interested and am struggling to provide the very basic resources  :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

btw vc i got wat u meant by eastern india
really both of them are gems of boat making
no offences to anyone

regarding plans, why dont you build them yourself? ;D i do! ... you can start of with google sketchup! its an awesome tool for 3d modelling, and you also have access to a huge resource, ie: the 3d warehouse, just download a model from there,recreate it in sketchup with fewer polygons etc, export a vector and LASER CUT! (or manual cut, whichever you prefer)

hope it helps

One Maestro is in Eastern India (in Odisha) - who is the other one that you are referring to?

@i know that , i meant  no one else

Aniket - there is something called scale accuracy. Each and every aspect of the actual boat has to be reduced to the scale size - EXACTLY. Not possible with Google Sketchup - I may not have the requisite knowhow to do it.

Just so that a boat looks like a boat is not enough. It has to be an EXACT replica. We have had boat modellers on this forum who have pretended to be "Scratch built SCALE modellers" and they have churned out hundreds of inaccurate models which look NOTHING like the original boat. In fact, they ended up producing models that look like cheap Chinese toys that moved fast in the water. That is NOT what boat modelling / scratch built scale modelling is all about.

@ Shauviks - "really both of them are gems of boat making" - what did you mean by 'both'?

@vc one from easttern india maharana sir and the orher sir geezer from london


:P:P

How sad that you did not include me in this August company........... :giggle: :banghead: ;D

 :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'(

@vc lolz :P:P:P

 :'( Still......... :'(

I also want to be a recognised Maestro / gem of boat making ......... (:|~

work harder bossssss

Poor Shauvik is wondering "Oh hell - what have I gotten myself into?"

Relax Pal, as far as these two are concerned, they are in a league all by themselves. NO ONE can share their status.

Dodgy Geezer is a man with an international mission - out to help the world wide boat modelling fraternity, the other is a self taught Perfectionist/ Maestro. End of story.


Edited - to suit the name of the earlier poster....even though we are all known here by our posted handles, he is an exception... :giggle:

@vc sir hell no i am not thnking that
and my name is shauvik not shauviks
@anwar sir how to change my profile name
hahaha end of the story

At last, some one who calls a spade a spade.

You bet boss. Give me a few more months. 4 models in the offing. We will talk after that.

I sincerely admire your candid observation / comment. :thumbsup:

thnx sirrr

The original designer of the KK EeZeBilt kits left KK to become a teacher, and became Head of Art at a British school.  The plans he created are surprisingly easy for a child to make on their own - this is important, as it encourages a child to achieve something with minimal adult help. Learning to do something for yourself is an important part of education, and something like this should be particularly useful for India - which will need more and more technically-skilled people in the future....

ok vc sir, challenge accepted! ;D you give me a boat, and I'll design the plans for it

Sent from a potato using a lamp

by boat as in name of the boat...
and elaborate what all needs to be scale...
 thanks
aniket

Sent from a potato using a lamp

Go for it Aniket & VC! We guys will share the spoils  :giggle:

Aniket: Vector images only no rasters) so it can be directly cut on laser - file => job

Aniket, that is a fantastic offer / idea. I am going to give you a tough one. I was planning on scratch building it, but since you offered, here it is : Google 'Adastra yacht' and start working. The model should between 42 to 48 inches in length. You can calculate the scale from that. All the best!

wow.. that's cool! that'll be fun to design!

Sent from a potato using a lamp

OK, here goes


http://www.yachtadastra.com/gallery/images/3-IMG0034_jpg.jpg (http://www.yachtadastra.com/gallery/images/3-IMG0034_jpg.jpg)

Specifications
    Rig   Sloop-Rigged Catamaran
    Model   Jeanneau Lagoon 57
    Year   1998
    Refit   2008
    LOA   56 ft. 3 in.
    Beam   30 ft. 2 in.
    Draft   3 ft. 11 in.
    Auxiliary Engines   (2) 50 HP
    Generator   12.5 kW
    Fuel Capacity   190 gal.
    Fresh Water Capacity   265 gal.
    Watermarker Capacity   1200 gal./day
        
    
Sail Types:

Mainsail
        Self Tacking Jib
        Spinnaker
        Screecher (Light Wind Sailing)

(http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/E1IQ000CV23Aml.KfsaMdw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NTt3PTYzMA--/http://media.zenfs.com/en/blogs/technews/mw-630-adastra-launch.jpg)

(http://)

(http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/rIooe5vwsAFia_6g89SiJQ--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NTt3PTYzMA--/http://media.zenfs.com/en/blogs/technews/mw-630-trimaran-.jpg)

Looks like something out of Star Wars :D. VC, it's all yours, I have put my tail between my legs and run ;D

where's the mast?

Sent from a potato using a lamp

That is for VC to tell  :rofl:

Yeh boat badi hai Mast Mast.....................

how do you hoist the sails?

Sent from a potato using a lamp

Back to the Neptune 8) :D

I've finished the base paint. Now for the detailing  :o

Stunning beauty!!!!

 :thanks:

The model is complete.

Bathtub trials are successful, now on to the lakes!

Before I go any further, it's time for acknowledgements:

1. VC - for giving the idea, providing plan links, suggesting the material, providing the 500 speed motor (donated to the cause) being a sounding board, and just generally being there!
2. Arun Srikalam: for very kindly donating a 20 A Brushed Esc
3. Nithinraj Kotian, for sending me some motors
4. Anand Paranjape, for offering a 30 A Brushed ESC
5. Rooster (Shrikant) from whom I got the flex couplers

and, of course, Dodgy Geezer, who created the plans, sniffed out the build, and joined in the discussions with valuable advice

and all those who followed this thread

To all, a giant   :thanks:

Boy oh boy! That's a beaut!!! {:)} {:)} {:)}

Made the small parts from Brass brazing rod and scrap balsa

Rudder tube & servo tray

Motor mount

Used clear lacquer with brown stainer, ball pen, followed by clear PU Varnish for the faux planking

Pics of hardware & electronics arrangement

Individual compartments

And this is just your second boat build................... :salute:

Aft

Aft

Thank you VC! It is, although I was a master at paper boats in school :D

Ready for the water!

Bathtub test - no visible leaks, slight list to the right (wonder why  :headscratch:) corrected by moving the battery slightly to the left

Overpowered, for sure, with that 500 speed brushed. Held it down firmly (like, braked) and applied full throttle for a minute. Used about 400 mAH and the motor got hot enough to smoke, which is bad for my health!

General pics

General pics

General Pics

Maiden voyage this weekend at Dumdamma lake. All welcome.

Next build - Baby Bootlegger 37"

Bollards from HXT connectors?

Yup! I had these 4 mm bullet connectors soldered to some batteries I use, and I preferred 3 mm, as they are good upto 80 A. So I had cut them off, and had them lying around :D

You can see the solder in  ;)

I also made some wood bollards, used for battening down the lifeboat

Sanjay sir, melt that solder, introduce brass brazing wire into one of those and hoist a flag :D

What an idea, sir-ji!  :giggle:

wowww superb sanjay sir  :bow: {:)}

Thank you Nitinraj!

Great build sir.

Sent from my GT-P3100 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

Thank you Karthik

Superb Sanjay Sir  :hatsoff: :hatsoff:

Thank you Rohit :D

Awesome build ..waiting to see this beautiful boat sail
Looking forward to the video.

Shreekant

Thanks Shreekant. Probably this weekend :)

I'm looking for a place for trial runs before the lake. Anyone know of such a place in Gurgaon? No, my club guys say no for the swimming pool

Google Earth can be helpful.... :giggle:

Maharana sir, if only Google Earth would show the water depth, reeds and weeds  :D

Sanjay bhai,
Samundar mein chalan lagane wale, dariya se kya daar na ….
looking forward for nice maiden of this boat.... :thumbsup:

Kyaa baat hai sir-jee!

We'll have a fantastic maiden! :D

And the maiden is fixed for this Saturday morning, thanks to Girish Sarwal who has very kindly been conscripted volunteered to help out. Girish is coming in his swimming trunks.......just in case ;D ;D

Hey here are my two cents on the above..
On a serious note Please please do not think of going after the boat swimming in case( God Forbid) it gets stuck in the middle of the lake. It does get extremely tempting to swim to retrieve but refrain.
I might sound a preacher but had to mention this.

Shreekant

 

All the best Sire! You have inspired me to restart the boat builds in earnest. Work progressing rapidly.

Rooster - this has happened to me more than once - once in a lake, then a pool and then once in a pond. All three occasions there was good Samaritan nearby. I've never learnt to swim. ;D

Sanjay sir, most gladly coming in on Saturday. Jumping in the lake should ideally be in the buff but since we will have people around so the swimming shorts are essential :D

VC sir, I happen to be in the same boat, I never learnt swimming too, so here's my conscripted plan: Without Rai sir's knowledge, I'm going to tie a fishing line to Rai sir's boat and if I've to do the rescue, I will strike a pose (again, not in the buff) and pull it out :D....lol

That's a good idea. I'll take my fishing stuff along! If the boat doesn't work, we'll fish :D

Had a rather successful maiden this morning  ;D

Many thinks to Girish Sarwal, he supported, and also took the pics

Congratulations! How did she perform? Did you manage to shoot a video?

Thanks VC.

Performed pretty OK. The stern was a bit low in the water, and I hadn't waterproofed the back battery compartment, so I kept her till half throttle.

Video will be posted later, have to download some software, can't find the CD  :banghead:

All said and done, most pleasing  ;D ;D

Some more pics to follow

Looks nice Sanjay sir.. Waiting for the video :)

Very nice set up boat looks good to
I wish I could keep my work space that clean mine is in-need of a really goo clean up

Here is my work shop under my house in a very messy state lol but it is also the envy of many

 

Thanks Punty, Stuart.

Stuart, your workshop is really nifty! Love it!

Video of the maiden  ;D (I have a bigger grin at the end!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UD_5s_2BE6Y&feature=youtu.be (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UD_5s_2BE6Y&feature=youtu.be)

Watch it in full screen :D

pics

Punty not very nice I'm far from angry and aggressive nor am I short   :(

 :headscratch: :headscratch: :headscratch:

Now what was that?  ???

Ditto!

Rai sir, or sanjay the sailor sir, your great captaining saved me from jumping in the lake...it was fun

Ahhhh Girish, you were ready in your trunks :D

Great pics & video buddy, thanks

You Tube is taking ages  :-\ :banghead:

Some more pics

You replied by saying thanks punty, stuart  ???

Oh dear :)

You missed the comma in between, Punty had posted a reply before you, and I was thanking both of you - in a single post

Punty is probably Oz slang for something not very nice?

Oh dear sorry for taking offence but the word PUNTY in English is an insult

 :hatsoff:

Yes it is not very nice in OZ to be called a punty

we can all smile now knowing it was not intended as an insult

Sorry PUNTY  that your name in an insult in OZ

Well, now that that is sorted out  ;D

Talk about semantic gaps in communication. I've learnt something new that I will surely use during my Training workshops in future.

Love your new boat great scale speed to

it's amazing what punctuation can do to a sentence lol

If the member at our club has his boats like yours I will get some photos tomorrow as he has built some really nice Rivera boats

That would be great Stuart

Excellent Sanjay bhai, {:)} {:)} {:)}

Wrong placement of comma:-
Once a Judge sentenced “hang him, not leave him alive”  
typo “hang him not, leave him alive”

Lol! :D

Thank you so much Maharana for the compliment. Coming from you it means a lot  :bow:

Nice work sir.

Sent from my GT-P3100 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

Thank you Karthik!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADLIpu4VD7w&feature=youtu.be (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADLIpu4VD7w&feature=youtu.be)

Second Video (watch in full screen!)

Third Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WI0bGpIajt8&feature=youtu.be (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WI0bGpIajt8&feature=youtu.be)

I've been struggling with uploading the last video on You Tube since yesterday! It's a big file, some 700 MB. Hopefully will get done today.

On another note, I found a bronze bushing on the floor of my engine compartment ???

Sir, please stop uploading these videos.

Mermaid, RAF Crash Tender is still incomplete - the Carbon Speedboat is yet to start - the Schnellboot has gone into cold storage  :'( -AND NOW I WANT TO BUILD A NEPTUNE.  :banghead: (:|~

Very stable craft and a nifty sailer. Very well done Sir!

I suggest you build a 48" Neptune :D

Use Carbon Rod reinforcements

Finally....the fourth (and last) video

You can see here that if I open the throttle the stern nearly goes under. Useful speed governor!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GTRQ4I2pJI&feature=c4-overview&list=UUQhf5Pkzb8t7lzTwN0AIYEw (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GTRQ4I2pJI&feature=c4-overview&list=UUQhf5Pkzb8t7lzTwN0AIYEw)

This was actually the run right after the trial, when I was trying to see what it could do.

Post first sailing (total around 20 minutes) I checked and found one of the bronze bushes had come out.

VC's sound advice was take it to a repair shop - which is exactly what I did! There is a shop near my house, and the guy repairs Mixies etc. Will get it tomorrow, fingers crossed!

No luck with the repair :(

Anyone know where I can get a 500/540 brushed motor?

At your service Sire. Supplier located in Mumbai and item ready for shipment! 555 size motor - 12 V - 22,000 rpm, no load current 1A, Max current 4 A. :salute:

:D:D tell all

Sent from my GT-S7562 using Tapatalk 2

Received the motor today, and fitted it. Thanks VC!

sir where did u get boat prop?

From Hobby King. Also now in RC Dhamaka.

thks because i am thinking to build one and using brushless motor and one question pvc sun board can curve easily?

Yes

VC, sir can I get the suppliers contact from Mumbai.???

servoelectronics@rediffmail.com

Thank you, Sanjay sir.