30ft 1890's navy steam launch 1/6th scale

[tghs]

seeing the mounts were all prepped decided to work on the thrust box,, the casting halfs were filed flat and loctited together,, milled and drilled for the through bolts, drilled for the mounting studs,, fitted a thin brass tube in place of the shaft to use as a drill guide,, drilled the box and then finished up things with the reamers.. the box is mainly for show but will provide some shaft support.. a condensate pump  driven by an eccentric will be outboard of the box..

[tghs]

spent some time today with the opti-visor on making the cylinder cocks,, wanted to make them as small as possible trying to keep the scale look.. they still need the drain hole drilled but will do that when they get installed so it will be correctly positioned..(I'll make a nice brass spanner to work them) made up the fitting for steam admission on the HP chest top. polished the valve faces of the block and the valves.still have to make the travelers for the box links and the brass side and top panels,,

[tghs]

a bit more of the the small stuff,, made the valve shafts with some silver soldering.. the link sliders were made by cutting and filing some brass stock(had to mill it to correct thickness first) when the crescent shaped piece fit in the groove of the extra link stock it was drilled (using the stock as a holding fixture) the the separate guides were cut..lot of small drilling and filing, but it feels good and moves smoothly.. may have the grind down the bolt heads of the rod bolts for clearance along with the lock nuts on the back side..

[Johnmcc69]

 
 Looking great!
 
 John

[tghs]

still working on the final few things,, slim is happy as today he can get a handle on things..waiting on a BA threaded order of nuts, screws and bolts.. going to try to get the engine brass side covers in the next day or so.. thanks all..

[crueby]

Looks great, can see why Slim is happy.

[tghs]

slim seems to like shiny objects,, gave him a big one today  work on one of the engine shrouds is being fitted,, lots of fun forming some sheet brass,, made a pattern with a piece of heavy-duty aluminum foil.. still have to make the other side and decide if they will be soldered together at the top center seam..

[crueby]

Wow, that really changed the look of the engine. Did you make a wood form, or just bent over the engine? Very clean result.

[tghs]

used a few pieces of round and square stock to get the basic side shape,, marked for the top bends and used a bench anvil and stock in a vice to work those into shape,,marked and trimmed for the cylinder tops,,  it really does change the look.. the foil pattern helped greatly..

[tghs]

finished the other side shroud and it was soldered to the other,, kind of just set everything in place to get a good look at things,, there are a lot of parts involved here.. will have to get started on a boat frame section for a test stand..

[crueby]

Looking fantastic!   




Oh, and don't forget to make Slim  a 'life' jacket, unless you fatten him up on cookies he won't float to well!

[tghs]

slim might get upset to find out a more "fleshed out" crew will get this engine once it's in the hull,, Kind of worried I can't tell if he is smiling or scowling,, I do have an idea for another long term 1/6th scale project that he could get command of..scaling it out calls for a 4cyl IC engine 5-6" long, hull would be at 56" long,, I'll tell him a reduced weight driver would be a "good thing".. crew for the cutter is getting inspiration from period photos..

[crueby]

You could build him something like this too - I've seen them done with a, um, skin-impaired person, like Slim, as the rower. There is a guy in England that makes the RowBot controller that drives the servos for the oars. I have mine set up for Captain Jack Sparrow. Four servos, two for each oar, takes RC input on two channels so you have Fwd/Rev throttle on one stick, steering on the other, and the RowBot box coordinates the four servos.

[tghs]

I have photos for most of the navy boat book 1900.. this was the plan book used by the boat yards so putting together a rowing type boat could be fun,, right now I'm looking hard at the idea of having servos inside a 1/6th scale crewman so he will have his hands on the regulator and way lever,, a couple of packets arrived,, a few tools for the mill and lathe, the assortment of BA stuff,, 2 weeks from order to mailbox for this order,, coming from the UK can't complain at all,, looking closely at the stuff I think stuart may be using them also.. all looks great..

[ddmckee54]

You build Slim a copy of the Thousand Island Y.C. One-Design class boat, and the next thing you know he'll want a copy of Gar Wood's triple engine Miss America.  Or maybe a its' rival the Miss England, if Slim's originally from that side of the pond.

Don