My build is still on paper… due in part to my workshop being filled with surfboards and full size sailing gear (the boat, sadly enough is relegated to outdoors life) and a totally insane school schedule. however, i am starting to get the tingly feeling in my fingertips that foretells a footy building spate… so, we shall see what becomes of it… 
either way, i am excited, this is gonna be a cool build.
‘Torpid Troll’ sits waiting for launch day on saturday. While I cannot reveal too many details it’s unique ‘flex rig system’ will allow infinite rig changes in seconds. the idea alone should put fear into the competition. Sadly, the boat has one serious flaw. In its previous reality it was 'Titan" bold, brave and totally out there. So was the paint job, bright yellow. Now as ‘Torpid Troll’ it is still very yellow, and I mean, how can anyone take a yellow troll seriously! But what can I do ! I can’t peel paint off depron without compromising the structure, won’t paint over because as we all recognise every milligram of weight on our so precisely crafted and carefully tuned Footy’s is critical. This is a crisis which I may not weather, it’s so … humiliating…
Mudd,
A Yellow Troll, and Torpid, to boot!
If I had anything so indelicate, I would be lmao:D
Come on over the bridge, little billy-goats, you will see the Troll before he gets to you.
Do you ever race in Lemon-groves?
andrew
well at least the silence of hibernation is broken by the lightly heaving shoulders of the readers!
Footy building goes slowly when you don’t know what you are doing. I made my hull pretty quickly, but I know very little about rigging a footy so I am moving along a bit less briskly now.
I made the rig, (McRig) though I didn’t trim it down to final size. I am putting three tubes in the hull so I can move the entire rig fore and aft a bit to experiment with. Since this is my first footy I need some wiggle room in the design.
I’m using two pieces of 5 mm square tubing from Hobby Lobby for the structure of the fin and will probably use a piece of helicopter rotor blade for the rudder. Dunno about the lead yet but that becomes obvious as the time approaches.
I’m glassing (0.7 oz cloth) a 1/16th bulkhead that will hold the fin tubing on one side and a servo platform on the other and will probably become an anchor point for the rig pivot tubes. (or do I just say “step”)
I am having a lot of trouble with the tape that held the hull together while I CA’d things together. Sanding tape and glue off 1/64th ply is not fun.
Still a bit uncertain about how all the moving parts will be set up, but the ideas are beginning to gel.
What I really want to do is get this thing in the water and try it out so I can move on to carving a hull and making a mold. I have a better idea of what I want in a rounded hull than I do working with a chine hull. I am definitely headed in a slightly different direction, and when I carve I will stick to my crazy theories and not cave in to convention. Worst case I will have a nice hull to base a footy square rigger on!
Pete (back to being silent (for a while))
Pete,
Sorry to disturb your silence.
<<I will stick to my crazy theories and not cave in to convention. Worst case I will have a nice hull to base a footy square rigger on! >>
Great.
Don’t, whever you do, cave in to convention
Race you to the first square-rigged footy! Hull done, rig done (in my head) looking for a micro-winch
One lead option (very simple) pictured
andrew
jag vil sova nu: trollet
Very interesting, that scalish square rigger hull.
Mine, (if it comes to that) will be a lot more makeshift.
I am thinking that a strong servo with a wide arm that extends each way from center and has a lot of holes can be used for both square sails and the fore and aft sails. The total sail area is probably in the same range as a standard footy so the servo doesn’t have to be a lot stronger.
Here is a crude (no tech drawing software available on this computer) drawing of how I am thinking of setting up a square rigged sail control system. A friend of mine made a Brain gear controlled sailboat a bunch of years ago and the little hooks worked very well, so I would use them for the sake of easy adjustment.
The fore and aft sails might take a bit of thinking, but basically they can work off two lines as well, though it might be better if the line of holes for them were less than 180 degrees apart to allow some slack to develop on the windward sheet.
Pete
pete,
To save you re-inventing the wheel - there was much discussion (and doing) of combi square and F&A sail control off one servo in brooks thread;
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=761962&page=10
if you read the pages before this one you will find brooks’ sketches as well
andrew
Thanks, I will check it out.
As far as the wheel goes, I am at the octagon stage, and trying to figure out why it works better than my square and triangular ones. I think I am onto something important.
I really would like a square rigged footy, but I am hoping that my hull will be successful enough not to have to make a character boat out of. Maybe I’ll go whole hog one of these days.
There is a huge (seven foot??) square rigger in Central Park. I’ve only seen it once. It is not RC but it holds it’s course pretty well. I am a fan of the Aubrey Maturin series and naturally I will have to model Surprise one of these days.
Not this one, unless I win the lottery.
http://www.modelsailingships.com/ships/hms.html
If I do win the lottery I will buy a lake to sail it on though.
Pete
Pete
Hae a wee keek at
http://www.symaltesefalcon.com/index2.asp
does this set the adrenalin flowing?
Praps we need to transfer this to the radical thread.
andrew
I saw a picture of Maltese Falcon when I backed up on the thread about square riggers on RC Groups.
I am going to send this link to my friend Bob. A zillion years ago Bob bought a bare hull and spent three years making a boat out of it. The hull was 25 feet overall, built by Kaiser. He got free space in a boat yard. He would have paid but the owner felt he owed Bob something for all the artwork he did for his advertising. Long story short, after sailing it for many years he bought a country house to retire in and sold the boat. Both subsequent owners were real sailors, but the second new owner did a lot of work on the boat and single handed to Bermuda and eventually europe. The boat came to a sad end at the hands of its fourth owner.
In any case, Bob would love this. He is way inland, but has a pond on his property, just right for Brett’s smallest boat, and lakes nearby. I visit occasionally and usually bring an RC plane with me. Next trip it will be planes and boats.
My footy is getting closer to finished. Little by little I add stuff and the next step becomes more apparent as there is less to do and more places to attach things. I am only mildly off the beaten track with this one, but I really look forward to carving the plug for the round hulled one.
I am using two 5 mm square CF tubes glued together for the structure of the fin. I’m planning to form some balsa on the front and back for the fin shape and then glassing it with 0.7 oz. cloth. I have to decide on exactly how I am going to ballast this. I’d like to find some lead sheet, but I think I will wind up melting lead shot into a form of some sort.
Pete
I saw a picture of Maltese Falcon when I backed up on the thread about square riggers on RC Groups.
I am going to send this link to my friend Bob. A zillion years ago Bob bought a bare hull and spent three years making a boat out of it. The hull was 25 feet overall, built by Kaiser. He got free space in a boat yard. He would have paid but the owner felt he owed Bob something for all the artwork he did for his advertising. Long story short, after sailing it for many years he bought a country house to retire in and sold the boat. Both subsequent owners were real sailors, but the second new owner did a lot of work on the boat and single handed to Bermuda and eventually europe. The boat came to a sad end at the hands of its fourth owner.
In any case, Bob would love this. He is way inland, but has a pond on his property just right for Brett’s smallest boat, and lakes nearby. I visit occasionally and usually bring an RC plane with me. Next trip it will be planes and boats.
My footy is getting closer to finished. Little by little I add stuff and the next step becomes more apparent as there is less to do and more places to attach things. I am only mildly off the beaten track with this one, but I really look forward to carving the plug for the round hulled one.
I am using two 5 mm square CF tubes glued together for the structure of the fin. I’m planning to form some balsa on the front and back for the fin shape and then glassing it with 0.7 oz. cloth. I have to decide on exactly how I am going to ballast this. I’d like to find some lead sheet, but I think I will wind up melting lead shot into a form of some sort.
Pete
Does the rest of the world watch the Superbowl too? I understand that 110 million Americans are glued to their TV sets right now, but it feels as if there’s a complete vacuum on the boards. Same story on Yahoo. Oh sorry, I’m just a foreigner who wandered into this country 15 years ago, but I don’t get it.
Muddauber
Dinna fash yersel’!
I came to NA in 1947, and while I usually watch the Grey Cup, I never watch the Rose-super-whatever Bowls either. I, too, do not get it!
Now a good game of Rugby or cricket might be different
Rod
Cricket goes on way too long to be televised and is a poor cousin to Baseball. Rugby is just a bunch of men grappling in the mud with little or no organization. I find soccer pretty dull too.
The difference between the American games is that they are far more strategic, and reset after each play. That should be make it pretty staight forward to follow even for non-natives. Foreigners frequently complain about not “getting” the US sports passions because they don’t know how to watch them. If you have been living in this country for more than a decade and still don’t understand or appreciate our games then you have not assimilated. Thats too bad.
Hi Niel, did you enjoy the game, I did, my wife used to live in Boston so was yelling for the Pats, I always go underdog. We used to have season tickets to Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami when the Dolphins were in their heyday, we stopped going because we got tired of the drunks who sat behind us spilling their beer on us and getting agressive every week. I played rugby for 15 years I still enjoy watching a good, open game. Same goes for football (soccer) the European game can be boring but watch a game in Latin America and see the sparks fly. The North Americans are a distinct minority in their opinion. It’s the most popular form of football in the world. As for cricket I used to agree with you but, I watches the West Indies play one day matches against various international touring sides when I lived in the Caribbean. Talk about electricity, baseball is tedious by comparison. But what I don’t get is why more Americans watch the Superbowl than vote in Presidential elections.
Truth be told I was more of a professional sports fan when I was younger. Football is a much better game viewed on television. I wouldn’t appreciate it as much though if I hadn’t had my initial exposure to the game watching the Giants play at Yankee Stadium with my father. He played football (among other sports) at Harvard so I learned how to watch the game from him. The key to understanding football is to concentrate on the blocking patterns and the defensive reaction to them. My dad used to liken the game as two choreographed dance groups on the same stage. Collisions are bound to happen.
Baseball on the other hand is only really interesting seen live, or played yourself. I used to be an active Mets fan in my youth. I would only venture into Yankee Stadium if the Mets and Yankees were playing or for Giants games.
I was more of a basketball fan than any of the other pro sports. The Knicks have been so bad for so long that I don’t follow basketball until the playoffs, where real teams play.
Mostly though it is the inflated contracts turn me off. The money beyond a reasonable wage that sports franchises pay their players would go a long way to helping communities confront their problems.
Most Americans are like the folks sitting behind you at Dolphins games. Thats why they don’t vote, and that might be a good thing. The US is a disparate collection of regional interests. The view that the system here doesn’t work is more a function of shear size than anything else. Size is hard to move in any direction, and this inertia is particularly ill-suited in the internet age where events happen so quickly.
I think that it is about time to turn this thread back to Footies, so enough said on other sports.