Sorry about the hiatus in progress. Weather prevented outdoor work in my unheated garage, and family life has also contributed.
Apologies - Specifically to Historyman
I said that I would show the “bottle-shrinking” technique using this plug; and I havn’t, but I will
Angus the Ogre’s typical modesty has led him to contemplate the possibility that Voooortekkker may not have been the intended worldbeater.
Gary’s series of wins on Sunday’s meeting at Aylesbury suggests that rumours of VTs death are greatly exaggerated (and I aim to confirm this when I can get to some water)
AND Bakers Dozen is (one of) VT’s successors from the Angus pen-of-knowledge so I feel motivated to continue (and in public).
I have made a vac-forming box - pictures will follow
So the plug (after repairs*) will be subjected to:
vac-forming
bottle-shrinking
fibreglass moulding
and possibly depron heat-forming
*three months in the Garage and a couple of droppings has dinged the plug in places - so repair is the first item on the agenda.
I will share the triumphs and disasters with you, and hope to meet as many as possible of you in print, in the flesh and on the water:D
The plug for Bakers Dozen is now repaired - by cutting out the crushed balsa areas and glueing in fresh wood.
Next tasks are:
To make a carrier sheet for the plastic sheet -this will probably be plywood (so that I can use bulldog clips to fix the plastic sheet)
To identify/scrounge enough free plastic to experiment to my hearts content:D
I have an unlimited supply of Correx - polythene twinwall fluted sheet.
I will give it a go - if its good enough for Roger and co, its good enough for me (even though he is not glecit enough to try thermal moulding it)
Aieeya - the footy jobs are piling up!, but having a reliable home-vacuum-forming method will help considerably.
andrew
“please take ticket - our skilled primate will attend to you when he is next in the same space-time continuuuuuuum”
Not wishing to cast nasturtiums on you proposed method, but I would have thought the vacuum forming technique would very likely crush the skin separating panels of your Correx. Still, since you appear to have unlimited supplies of the stuff give it a go, I think the results could be interesting.
Also, most of the vacuum forming videos I’ve seen seem to have relatively large areas of material to cover the pattern, presumeably to give stretchabilty and to avoid the thinning I have experienced with the plain plunge forming method. Your very robust box looks to be not much more than a Footy measuring box in section . . . . .
I await your results with interest, meanwhile trying to find a dictionary with a definition of " glecit " in it. Perhaps I should just pull my finger out and make my own vacuum box instead.
"coat the inside of each piece of balsa with a fairly dark acrylic paint"
The mind boggles with different ideas - you are a mystery writer Andrew!
I wonder why???
Great instruction thanks!
Keith
The plugs had been set aside for a while in favour of building some plugs that actually sail - Blackwatch and Presto!
When I went to the Pirate Footy Festival I carried the plugs with me, and AndyT - GOOD MAN :D- vac-formed hulls from both the plugs of Voortrekker and Bakers Dozen
These arrived thru the post yesterday - and what can I say but WOW and Thanks, Andy.
Voortrekker in Blue at the back, Bakers dozen in red
These are both in 1.5mm styrene
This opens my eyes, and is more crisp and professional than anything I have been imagining - one of the persistant dreams of the footyworld is hordes/classes/gaggles of youngsters turning up and having fun,
This kind of finish and quality just might make a difference
Hi Andrew, I think that rather than “gaggles of youngsters turning up” the real desire is to get r/c sailing to stick with a few of them. Youngsters are much more attracted to action packed, adrenaline pumping activities, a few colorful plastic boats will not make the grade with most of them.
I think that it takes a special intersection of a young person’s interests, talents, and an inspiring atmosphere to capture their imagination with so many distractions in growing up. Its better to concentrate recruitment efforts in grade schools, particularly in science oriented programs. Roger Stollery made an effort toward shop classes many years ago but Footies are so easy and inexpensive to build, I think Bill Hagerup uses the term “kitchen table boats”, that advanced shop skills are not required. The science of sailing, airfoils, lift/drag ratios, waveform and skin friction, all the things that go into making boats move through the water propelled by air, that is something a kid can sink their teeth into and absorb. Best of all, applying these ideas to Footies means getting to see the results of your studies in action!
An aside here, the understanding of sailing dynamics is a discipline that is applicable to real world careers for those gaggles of youngsters, and even those that do not end up in fluid dynamics will benefit from the ways of thinking that emerge from the study of the science of sailing.
Seems like an age since I last made public progress; BUT
The blue Voortrekker hull is now resident in Wroclaw as a little gift to Pawel, and the red Bakers Dozen is making rapid progress on my workbench
In the course of joining the red hull I have discovered how to return the high polish to styrene when you have had to scrape or sand it and remove the shine:
Toothpaste:D
I spent 10 minures rubbing a little toothpaste into the sanded area where the midline seam is, and the shine is coming back. For final polishing I will probably use Brasso, which I know to leave a very fine finish. (for non-british residents Brasso is a metal (brass) polish liquid with a fine polish power suspended in a liquid (partly alcohol))
Pics follow
andrew
I am now going to print a side view of Moonshadow and measure the mast, keel and rudder stock positions so that I can hang them on B Dozen in proportionately similar positions
