To Everything there is a Season (with apologies to the Byrds)
It’s early Fall and, all of a sudden, we’ve come to the end of another sailing season. It’s been a pretty good one too. We’ve had some meetings appropriately managed to conform with health requirements, we’ve had some really good weather and sometimes it’s even been a bit too hot! There have been the usual disappointments when motors or servos didn’t work, and there have been a few necessary rescue missions at the pond (and thank goodness it is a pond and not the open lake). On occasion, the cattle have looked on from the surrounding bush, clearly considering our antics as just one more human oddity! We are fortunate to have access to this wonderful place and our thanks to Don and Stan for making arrangements on behalf of the club. It’s been great that Joe has often joined us when we’ve been at the pond and we greatly appreciate his continuing interest.
Visits to the pond, special events and of course our meetings provide us with a wide range of member opportunities. This year, meetings have been few and there will have been no special events; casualties of the Covid 19 pandemic. Most recently we’ve heard that the Belleville Christmas train show will not take place again this year, and that is a big disappointment. Apart from talking to our many friends at the show, it’s so much fun explaining our hobby to the kids and parents, and putting on a great display. However, thinking on the “plus” side, we’ll have that many more new items to put on display ………… and lookat what we might have in the works for the next show!
OK, now to the fun part! It’s good to see that our Commanding Officer can be just as perplexed as the rest of us about where he put the “whatzit” last. Fortunately, as we get back to the rigours of winter dwelling, our days of search and find (or not) will be known only to ourselves and our significant others. On the other hand, we’re going to miss the after-meeting goodies, rare as they were this year. Ray carried the sail theme well and presented a formidable challenge in the form of his sailing eggs.
Not to be outdone, Joe T. gave us a educational link to episode 1 of “Impossible Baking” on Netflix (courtesy of his kids interest in exploring the Culinary Arts). If you haven’t seen the episode …………. you’ve missed seeing the wonders of chocolate! As Dirk said, stability of a ship depends on the position of centre of gravity vs centre of buoyancy and as long as the centre of buoyancy is outside the center of gravity the ship is stable. When a ship is designed correctly and it heels it dips more displacement at the low side which shifts the centre of buoyancy outboard. Ballast plays a big factor in lowering the centre of gravity (engineers on the show seemed to have forgotten this but some of their partners fully recognized the value of chocolate, as ballast)!
John McK is also considering how to build a “paper puffer” as a fun project, over the winter. Having consumed the content of a bottle of Dimple Haig many, many years ago, I am now left with fulfilling its other intended use. Not at all a simple task, given the narrow confines of the neck and the need to accurately determine the dimensions of the bottle’s interior space. Hopefully, I will get to report on progress with this venture, but I am by no means certain of that! The chosen ship to model will have to have some very special characteristics for this "venture".
The following images and their captions should bring us up-to-date with construction in our members' yards, and related activities.
Keel laid and frames set for the "Puffer"
A few days at the pond ..........................................,
Now I really have to admit that I've gone a bit overboard with these two guys and their traps (yes you've seen them in earlier posts), but you've got to admit they are well posed and set up, and that's a pretty good trap!
Not a beer to be seen, nor even a Tim Horton's coffee; just boats and bits of boats and some pretty intense discussion!
Joe T's "Blue Devil," and look at those drive units; top speed well over 30Kn with those motors. However, without water cooling the're kept nice and docile. Just as well, I'm not sure the model could make the high speed turns in the space of the pond.
And sometimes it's a family affair......................
but we still have to get the boats ready
Both John H's Corvette and Clair's Kyle Rhea
made the pond, too.
With limited access to our favourite hobby stores (and recognizing that some may not survive the effects of the pandemic), it looks as if we may be seeing more kit-modelling in the club.
Don has spared no effort in constructing his model of the Ark Royal and, of course, he continues to be a master of the "fiddly bits".
Bow and stern inside partial decks
Lifeboats below the flight deck and the first Swordfish aircraft "line up" near the flight island.
The fiddly bit stuff ............. but what I really like is that little Swordfish coming up the lift, with it's wings folded. That's neat!
Now how about some riotous colour and really over the top carving ................... and a truly crazy excess .............. where it should not be. Goodness knows what the stern castle did to the weight distribution and windage of the ship but if the main idea was to create a visually overwhelming impression, it succeeded (almost beyond belief). Edward you have surpassed yourself, I can say no more, The "Royal Soleil" is an amazing model and we're all looking forward to the next images of your progress.
As you have said: "The various base coats of paint, weathering and oil stains went on well so happy with the overall effect. More ornamentation to come both on the bow and stern".
Royal Soleil, fore and aft views
Details of the main deck
The ship's stern ............... not too much freeboard for those cannons on the lower deck!
I'm pleased to say that sea trials with the tug "Lac Erie"" (modified Tanac, working out of Hamilton, ON from the late 60"s) are complete and the boat works well and lies close to her actual draft.
Like Bob's "Puffer", the design of the full-size boat required a horizontal shaft. In the case of my model, the only way to do this was to use a micro gear motor and direct coupling. Apart from having to strengthen the hull immediately beneath the motor (because the it was so thin at that place), the biggest problem was to deal with the very noisy 12v motor (R/F interference). After considerable trial and error, this was sufficiently supressed by fitting the motor with capacitors, and winding each of the RX output lines around small ferrite clamshells. I note that Bob has mounted his motor for the Puffer immediately above the shaft, so I presume there will be some form of belt drive. Good luck Bob, I will be interested to hear how that works out.
As a further contribution, I'm adding some of Ray's boats that we haven't seen before; in order, they are the WW 11 aircraft carrier, USN Hornet, the battleships HMS King George (and the USN Missouri, behind), and the German Navy's Schnellboote S10 (built before WW11) and the battleship Graf Spee.
As a final note to this blog, I'd like to say that, very recently, a replacement for the Wolf Island Ferry (Kingston) has arrived in the Bay of Quinte and will be undertaking shakedown trials before moving to full time service. The ferry is electric and provided with rapid charge batteries that should be capable of recharge between service runs. When delivered, a second, similar ferry will provide service to Amherst Island. It will be very interesting to follow the trials and service of these new vessels. John H. are you thinking of a new build, the vessel design is quite good looking?
The two ferries, Wolfe Islander II and Amherst Island II are scheduled for operation in Spring 2022. They were constructed in 2018 at Damen Shipyards Galati in Romania. They are designed to operate in the winter and can travel through ice up to 60cm thick at temperature of -25C. The total cost of both vessels is $94 million, the Ontario Government covered 70%, with the Federal Government the remainder. The Wolf Islander II is 98 metres long and can carry 399 passengers and 85 vehicles. The Amherst Islander II is 71 metres long and carry 299 passengers and 45 vehicles The vessels will able to recharge their batteries while reloading. Power required is around 6MW and can fully charge in 10 minutes. The system is fully automatic and features motion compensation technology to maintain stable connection between ship and shore in rough weather
(The full article appeared in the "Wellington Times" Oct 20th, Don). Thanks to all, the Author.
