Naval Tug ? Mk2

[ivorthediver]

Well all went well and she didn't let me down , even recovered a small pleasure craft to boot

Hope to be off to the "Warwick International Model Boat show" in early November, all being well, with some of the club members, so try to take a few pictures if I go .

[jbryce1437]

Well all went well and she didn't let me down , even recovered a small pleasure craft to boot

Hope to be off to the "Warwick International Model Boat show" in early November, all being well, with some of the club members, so try to take a few pictures if I go .

Great stuff Ivor, did you use the radar to find the small pleasure craft?

Jim

[ivorthediver]

No Jim I used exactly what you would have used mate .........The mark 1 regulation eyeball [ navy issue ]

[ivorthediver]

Sorry Iv'e been absent for awhile but been busy overhauling the electrical system on the tug and rewiring sections to assist in access to various items .

One of the bains of my models in striving to impart as much realism as possible has been the installation of lighting .

This is easy enough until you have to trace a fault in the system , and as they were added piecemeal the problem of tracing wiring when a bulb popped was localised but of late my patience has been sorely tried .

As you will recall the system is based on a 12volt supply and where lights were needed I opted for some purchased spotlights which came with a 3v bulb as a sealed unit .....great until it blows

These were wired in daisy chain to i.e. 4 x 3v =12 , hmmmm to make matters worse the wiring was all built in out of sight and I tried to conceal the cable runs which is great until you get the need for repairs

Yes you can replace the original bulbs ....or replace them with L.E.D.'s which run at a slightly lower voltage working with resistors of a suitable value ..or...a voltage regulator which can be pre set at the desired voltage to run the lights in question .

With the amount of lower voltage items I needed to supply I opted for two of the voltage regulator's which are so cheap now-days and can be adjusted as needed , so I set about rewiring with gay abandon and tested each light prior to wiring onto the busbar and then once powered up ....disaster set in .....in a collection of 6 floodlights and three search lights some failed to light up .....no big deal you say just check the wiring ......Ahhhh there lay the problem as all the cables were either red or black leads housed in shrink wrap to enable me to blend them in with the structure .Hmmmmm

What I should have done on reflection was colour code the wiring so I could identify which wire was which in each of the lighting boxes

So I'm a reasonably patient man and I received the six different colour cables and shrink wrap today so that I can rewire it all again

I did a trial run on one of the flood lights which are 18mm x 6mm and the cable is 29swg and a little thicker than a strand of hair ........so it only took me about 90 mins to do one !

This was purgatory to me....... with hands like legs of pork .....so tweezers, forceps, and all done with magnified lens and a powerful light to show the[ 7 strand wire 1.6 mm thick] up enough to solder which in turn reflects the light better and fit heat shrink at every joint to maximise adhesion at every joint , however they advise when using a 15 watt soldering iron to refrain from applied heat for more than three seconds as it will melt the fitting being worked on

Perhaps next time I'll just tywrap a torch to the bridge

[jbryce1437]

Well done Ivor, as well as being a honorary Stoker, you are now a honorary Greenie, keep the WD40 handy

Jim

[ivorthediver]

Reaches for the circuit tester and fusses


Well bless her she performed well today , even in a choppy swell, whilst the sail boats were going in all directions , , funny when its good they all love Sailing , and when its not they bemoan the Power craft [ until they need towing ashore that is ]

One thing raised a smile ....was the completion of the Sound card and system ............when I set off for the centre of the lake where a few Seagulls had alighted , and I put on the Seagull Sounds ........at which point they took off in all directions ....... there again I have no idea what the shrieks and cries were in Seagull lingo ........could be .......".grub up on the foreshore"..... or......." chips spotted at 20 yards".......or...... "Lets crap on Ivor" like "Shitehawks" do ......anyones guess..... but they took offence and re- landed further over..........there again it might have been ....."Did you hear Sunderland have won " as there was a lot of screeching

Well tomorrow its back to rewiring the spotlights .........again !

[jbryce1437]

Pleased it went well Ivor. I think the seagulls were at action stations.

Jim

[Little h]

Well done Ivor, as well as being a honorary Stoker, you are now a honorary Greenie, keep the WD40 handy

Jim

Praise where praise is due Ivor.
Yes; multiskilling always scored high(er) during my 'job evaluation final appeals panel' days - does that make you a 'GreenKer' or 'StokNie' Now what we want to see is:-
- a) a couple of flashing signal projectors 20", 10" or 5" Aldis portable signal lamps would suffice.
and
- b) some aerial arrays on a well replicated mast with audible morse code or RATT emanating from the sound card

[ivorthediver]

Ha ..Ha.. Harry .....hoist by your own petard....... dear friend .....the current sound card has the following sounds installed and although linked to a 25w amp they tend to distort after about 10-15w

One of the searchlights could be converted via a switcher unit and a spare channel on the TX/ RX to a signal lamp [ but then I would need to go on a Bunting tossers course as well

SOUND CARD
1/Ships Whistle
2/Foghorn
3/Bonk [ sound of a engineer banging his head and shouting ouch !]
4/Puck [ sound of someone throwing up all over the deck]
5/Ships Bell
6/Anchor chain-running out
7/Whoop-Whoop-Whoop......Tim's Destroyer
8/Sonar - pin gar...pin gar
9/ [loop breaker]
10/Morse- various messages
11/Seagulls [on loop until another sound selected]so can run on top of the engine sounds which reduce in volume
12/Engine Start -tickover [twin MAN Diesels ] ----runs unless another sound requested
Engine run [ increases with speed -forward and reverse]
Engine stop [once idle for two minutes ]

Thats as many as I was able to get on this card .....but just as well as the others were bordering on offensive and certainly no P.C. by todays standards

The mast on the Tug has a full set of I.D lights to common current spec ...wired / but not operational

Will that do or does it mean I will be relegated to a" Green" /Wheel spanner by the mods

[Little h]

Ha ..Ha.. Harry .....hoist by your own petard....... dear friend .....the current sound card has the following sounds installed and although linked to a 25w amp they tend to distort after about 10-15w
One of the searchlights could be converted via a switcher unit and a spare channel on the TX/ RX
10/Morse- various messages

Oh no no not at all 'hoist by my own petard' Ivor ye olde StokNie, because I remembered you had already advised......

In fairness this is a very old sound module[ 12 years old now ] and was replaced with a newer all singing dancing sound card one,.... but sadly [ yes you guessed it ] that went down with the previous Tug that sunk after having a fit with the Amazon cheapo "Genuine manufacturers " receiver I bought but we won't talk about that one will we

.... so this sekrit squirrel surmised that the current Naval Tug ? Mk2 would have at the very least the same standard of all singing/all dancing sound card - or an even better one