Naval Tug ? Mk2

[ivorthediver]

Thanks Jim , the most difficult was the radar scanner displays both in setting up and positioning, for whilst there is no strobed line I did hand paint a shore line relief on the displays which with the different coloured lights displays beneath looked quite good to the untrained eye.
Although not shown the other end [ which overlooks the winch deck] I have an LED display which monitors the power consumption and reserve of the batteries on two different monitors feed from the auxiliary supply boards .

The instrumentation is as you suggested a collection of dials and gauges , as I have no pictures of the instrumentation layout that a tug of this era would have , and two joysticks to control the thrust from the two stern drive Kor'ts nozzles made from brass oddments from the gash box

With my limited knowledge of the subject I am happy with how it ended up bearing in mind most tug models are just painted windows , and I also fitted parallel wipers to the screens to dramatise the effect a tad .

Still it is what it is and I'm happy with the improved result from the original bridge structure made previously .

[ivorthediver]

Well despite all the road blocks and police searches for Old pensioners gathering outside their homes we managed to make it down to the lake

Here are a couple of shots of the model delivery to the waters e age and its launch and recovery .

This as said before was born out of necessity due to its bulk and weight once at the venue and to / from the car ....hope it now makes sense to you all and thanks for looking in

[jbryce1437]

Looks splendiferous Ivor and very practical. As well as salvage work you could let the transport bogey out as an AFD, just a thought

Jim

[ivorthediver]

Yes good idea Jim but as I cant pump it dry I would need more than just a truss to drag it onto the shoreline , this bloody thing is enough of a fight

[Little h]

Looks like a damn fine solution to the issues you have previously described BZ

All that you need to do now Ivor - is to make a gi-agnormous version as a 'ship lift' for the QEC Carriers in Pompey

[ivorthediver]

Hi Harry , Thanks for looking in .....

I am very lucky in that other club members help me lift the "Cradle" out of the trolley and on to the ground prior to entering the water , as the launch weight is close to 50lbs once the batteries are fitted [ during transit they are removed from the hull and reinstated just prior to being put in the water ] .

That makes moving her around easier and manageable .

As for the lift it has been suggested that a HiAB would fit the bill but access would not be possible .

[ivorthediver]

Well the last few days have identified a few issues in need of immediate attention

The Tug was taken out last week end having been in the workshop under wraps during the lockdown , so took her out for a wet on Sunday last and was thrown a few curves

Whilst out I noticed the twin Kort drives were slightly offset to my mind but thought I could trim out the defect out whilst on the water by adjusting the trims on my Transmitter and duly put some adjustment in as I left the waters edge .

Whilst out I gave her several good runs and left her in the lake to rest .
When I restarted her she seemed a tad laboured and I needed to apply a lot of starboard rudder to keep her in line and avoid the yachts that were present on the lake

This seemed to become more pronounced so I struggled to steer her but eventually brought her in .

As you will have seen in previous posts she is a big ole girl and although I managed to dock her in her transit cradle in the water I still needed help and as we lifted her onto her transport trolley and once back [ whilst having aid to do this] a pungent Bakelite smell was present which is always a bad sign , so removed the superstructure and saw that the starboard motor was partly melted

The motors each have a cooling Fan fitted to the outer casing[ which was not operational ] and could not be touched and the rear most bronze bearing in the plastic endplate of the motor had fallen out

I removed the fan when back home and binned both the motor and cooling fan which were clearly beyond repair .

On receipt of the replacement motor when switched on the twin drive system failed to work , so stripped out the electronic controls system only to find that the Electronic speed controller [ESC] was only working on the port side but when I applied power to the new starboard side motor with spare fly leads it ran fine indicating that the ESC was defective [ this may also have caused the steering defect on the Korts , as the mixer controls both speed and steering operations via a computer mixing system and are quite expensive to buy .....gulp

As luck would have it I have a spare Twin ESC unit which I used when I sold the Aircraft Carrier I made and the purchaser chose to use his preferred system and returned them
so I dug this out and replaced the ESC with this one and hay presto all was well and responsive again

So a sage example to note here , and remember that not all you see is what it is and you can be mislead and it can mask a tech problem .

So it has cost me a new motor and cooling fan , and the cost of having the old ESC refurbished [ still it was ten years old and has worked well up till now ]

Spent most of the day today tracing and repairing the fault and now the bitter sweet pill of repairing the old ESC after having already replaced the motor and fan unit but at least I am able to return it to the supplier who offerers a rebuild ? repair cost at approx half the price of a new unit ............errrr the cost of going on the water its getting as bad as the RN and the Destroyer refits .......

[jbryce1437]

Trying times Ivor, but nothing that you cannot sort out.

Jim

[ivorthediver]

Indeed Jim , but talking to other members on a modelling Forum they seem to think that perhaps I may have inadvertently ingested debris into the starboard Kort [ which for all intents and purposes is a jet drive by virtue of the fact that the propeller sucks water in one end of the cylindrical shaft and thrusts it out of the other end much like a jet engine on a bird strike does ]
I recall seeing that the banks have recently had the reeds along the edge trimmed back during maintenance of this Private Carp fishing lake , which suggests that this may well have been the case , so I will just have to live with it

During this discussion on the modelling forum it was suggested that a fuse board would be appropriate and it would have prevented it from happening [ which all my models already have in them as a basic prior to fit out and wiring installation ], it went on to recommend self resetting Fues that on load break the circuit and on cooling reset at which point the motor should be saved .........but this is more in your domain than mine and I only have standard blade fuses employed as recommended by the seller and if I start fitting non standard fuses only open up another litigation path

It brings to mind the old adage "Keep it simple", unlike mine which are close to real life with in addition to power and steerage they have lights , engine sounds ,bow thrusters, and a few other customised ship noses / sonar/ morse/ ships bells , foghorns , etc, etc, which I think edges away from an image to realism .....but at a price and greater risk it seems eh Jim .

[jbryce1437]

Yes, bells and whistles come at an extra price. Is it not feasible to fit a fine wire gauze to prevent foreign bodies being ingested of debris?

Jim