Model Maker: Volume 4, Issue 45 – August 1954

atl i Aes 2 VOLUME 4 NUMBER 45 AUGUST 1954 = Thornycroft M.T.B. Model : Radio Regatta at Poole : National Marbleheads : Walschaerts Wrinkles for 00 : “Crested Goods” 0 Gauge Steam Loco : Marine Steam Unit : Model Outboard Motor : Glass Fibre Model Car Body : R.C. Yacht Experiment : Triumph Tiger Motor Cycle Model : TT Railroad. ing : Workshop Hints and Tips Commercial Vehicles in 1/32 scale : Trade- Review : Readers’ Letters iZ FA Presenting two very fine examples of Marinecraft Kits. Models worthy of good working that will reward their builder with outstanding performance. The TOINA mobeEL RACING YACHT BEAM 54-ins. OVERALL LENGTH 24-ins. A most attractive model yacht which will delight you with performance. its : The design is based on the bread-and-butter method featuring all balsa construction, and in view of the moderate size and easy lines, it is ideal for the beginner to build and sail. Complete kit, with detailed plan, step by step instructions, cut to shape parts, tapered mast, finished sails, rigging, moulded lead keel, cement, banana oil, varnish, etc. £2… 12.’.,6 PRICE (including P. Tax) The FIONA ¥RaciNnG MODEL YACHT Grace and Speed in every LENGTH OVERALL 36-ins. line BEAM 9-ins. This magnificient racing yacht will satisfy the demands of all who are seeking a really professional model. With her light construction, perfect lines, and tall efficient sail plan, develops a speed which cannot be equalled by any model of similar length. A most comprehensive kit with fully illustrated plan and instruction, cut to shape parts, tapered mast (brass cross-trees) a beautiful set of sails, all rigging, Braine type steering gear, complete rudder unit, finely moulded lead keel, cement, banana oil, varnish, etc. , a ae PRICE (including P. Tax) Ask your model shop for our coloured brochure featuring all Marinecraft kits or send 4d. in stamps to: a KINDLY ____! MENTION “MODEL 141 STRATFORD MAKER” WHEN) ROAD . REPLYING BIRMINGHAM TO II ADVERTISEMENTS Bee ATION Ya rhlcheads FIRST AT MEETING POOLE . 2. Dorish again with slug 1. Triumph follows Dorish. boat Peda II. 3. Duck Hopalong in heavy water. 4. Wylo runs level with Femima Duck. 5. Most critical board: Dorish and Femima D. 6. Pondside lineup. 7. In the dead water corner. 8. Triumphand Cherie II. 9. Two ducks fight it out—fFemima and Hopalong. 10. Norah III 1. Isa and and Festive in the quaifying division. Peda II in close company . 12. Typical waveform from ¥emima Duck. 13. Divisional frolic—Speculation wets her nose! 14. Snowflake gets into it. 15, Avocet another non-qualifier. 16. Cherie IJ at close quarters. 17. Cherie again with Peda the deal. the issue was beyond reasonable doubt, for five points were vital to the Duck’s chance of success. unless Dorish cracked unexpectedly during the last few boards. The winning boat offers little encouragement Winner W. H. Wareham of M.Y.S.A. poses with Dorish, and Mate Porter on the left icrory of the oldest registered boat, W. H. Wareham’s Dorish, sailing under the M.Y.S.A. burgee in the National Marblehead Championship at Poole may have dealt a blow to the hopes of designers, but certainly reflected the skipper’s superior sailing skill on waters that were always tricky and sometimes completely baffling. From the moment that Dorish encountered her nearest contender, D. A. Macdonald’s Jemima Duck, and secured the best of VY Yacht Reg. No. Skipper Club to builders to copy her, for she is a hotchpotch design, utilising a canoe body attributed to Daniels. keel reminiscent of Sunkiss, and sail plan, deck fittings being the work of her skipper. Sole concession to modernity is the employment of Terylene for sailcloth. Nevertheless, in spite of its somewhat hybrid nature Dorish performed very well, and may, perhaps, bear out the virtues of sailing a boat whose vices, if any, are well known to skipper and mate. rather than a superior craft as yet incompletely tried under all weather conditions. An entry of 30 boats from 20 clubs paid a friendly tribute to the enterprise of the Poole club in sponsoring their first national event. Not (Continued overleaf) Designer After Daniels Points — | Tetal} Place —_— 1 —_—_—_—_, 3/445] 6 | 7|8|9| 10] 1 SS 515/5)5|5)/51/2)}5)]3)3)5| 48 I 5 43 2 224 Dorish W.H. M.Y.S.A. 495 Jemima Duck D.A. South London | Tucker Ps B. Dale G. F. Meir J. Edwards Cc. Adams Dovercourt | Littlejohn Birmingham Tucker Edwards Birkenhead Nelson Gdns. | Adams s|3[5|s|o|5|5|s5/2|s]0| 5)/2/5/)]5)5|0 | Si Ses Sk 0; 3 | Ont 2)° 0-5 (2223 eae ee 2|2|5)3| 0} 0]3 | 2|/2|)5| 482 | Triumph Hopalong 778 486 Wylo 567 | Pahie Wareham Macdonald 624 Eada B. Barnes Vickers- 718 Alexia J. Watts Danson Sil Isa J. A. Fry Cherie Il D. Bateys 791 i 707 | Snowflake 679 Peda II Armstrong & O/D O:)¢3 [0] eS 2. 55155] Sess 3 eGesn oa 4| 3 4 36 24 | 5= 24 | 5= 24 Macdonald 0} Macdonald x yes ia ay 4 | 0) 5:10: 2223) eee | 22 | 5= 8 0}; 0]|0;/0|3);3|3)]3)] 20 9 1e 13 10 Brighton Daniels Sis Brighton Littlejohn 0:12) 0)21.0) Littlejohn Larssen 2|o|o|}o| i7 | WI 2|2\|0 | 0| 0| 3 0 | 14 | 12 2|0 2 0 | 3,2 0 Hove & Hove | E. Ladbrook | Dovercourt | Cc. G. Orpheur | Southgate 436 5 | Gh 2n572 port, took second place, notching up yet another success for Littlejohn’s celebrated Elusive only did the host club stage an excellent dinner attended by over 100 competitiors and supporters, but they also completely rebuilt their boathouse, and, in general, acted as perfect hosts This large entry throughout the meeting. necessitated preliminary sailing in two divisions, design. Barry Barnes was not quite up to his usual form with Eada, formerly Macdonald’s Saida. Another boat to these lines, Alexia, was in the final, and is reported as giving complete satisfaction to her skipper-builder. Slug boat Peda II was one of the most interesting, being beautifully built in polished planking, with an which resulted in Dorish heading one with 53 points and Jemima Duck the other with 55 points. The next five boats in each section made improved and simplified sliding mast gear up the final complement of 12. developed by skipper C. Orpheur, of Southgate. He also utilised Woolworth’s curtain rail for most of his brass, which looked really high- The finalists provided no surprises: all the boats expected to qualify duly obliged, though local man, L. C. Rogers, with his magnificently built and finished own design Blue Eagle would have been a popular qualifier, and, indeed, would easily have merited the position had his first day’s sailing been anything like his second, class in its chromium guise. Boat was from the lines of Selmar Larssen’s famous Broom V. Cherie II skippered by D. Bateys, of Brighton and Hove, was another Elusive model. E. Ladof Dovercourt, mated as usual by Mrs. brook, when he headed the day’s points. and took “Jimmy” Edwards, from Birkenhead, had his Ladbrook, was sailing better this year, favoured two or one from points cted would unexpe all and own design Wylo in the final, boats, with his Snowflake. have been delighted to see him in the winning brackets. Particularly as he announced that this will probably be his last season of competitive racing at National level. He finished equal fifth, and showed some of the youngsters real craft Competitors were united in their appreciation of Poole’s facilities, but one and all detested “Davy Jones’ Harbour” a patch of dead water to enter which spelt the ends of all hopes of winning the board. Even local boats got caught in it so there seems no trick solution for its avoidance. Generally, winds were variable, so that run and reach changed ends during the event, and there were even radical changes during the course of individual boards, which most skippers were not sharp enough to profit by. Prizes were presented by the Mayoress, Mrs. Reeves, including consolation awards to the runners-up in the two divisions who just failed as he ambled along beside his yacht; “walking it off’ for a considerable distance, on one memorable occasion! Jemima Duck did not enjoy the light airs that slowed down some of the boards, being at her best in stronger winds. Another finalist duck was G. F. Meir’s Hopalong, from Birmingham, a third and aptly named Bombay Duck by V. Crean, of Guildford, did not qualify. Ducks took second and fourth places so must be con- sidered as doing well in trying weather. Triumph, skippered by B. Dale, of Daven- to make the final. ie —— RADIO REGATTA AT POOLE (Continued from page 435) ( The electric section of this event went to PRIZES FOR Py READERS Readers are reminded that Model Maker are awarding a prize of £5 for the best ‘Crested Goods” O Gauge steam tender loco, now being described in these days: while Myford Engineering have offered a further £5 worth of Cummins and Martin, proving a walk-over for the I.R.C.MLS. In the radio sailing events, Col. Bowden won on handicap with his 10-rater from George Honnest-Redlich’s A-class boat, with J. C. Hogg’s Marblehead in third place. George turned the tables later to win in the open race with his A-class against the Colonel’s. A number of really lovely boats were on view, including ex-car modeller Batten’s .75 Millspowered Veron Police Launch, with proportional controls; Johnny Nunn’s_ beautifully finished Marlins; George Nurthen’s Jone; Mey- goods to the winner. Glass Fibre experimenters are encouraged to submit the results of their efforts with the offer of Five Guineas for the best article on its model use received by November Ist, which will be in addition to editorial payment. Wealso want to extend our Readers Write… feature and include a Readers Hints and Tips Page, and shall be offering special Spanner Wallets for ‘‘shorts’’ included in these features. “ rick’s ill-fated tug and many others. 438 ome OLIVER AFLOAT! JOHN OLIVER EXPERIENCES CONTROL OF ig may possibly be a surprise to our many model race-car friends, to find the name of Oliver associated, in an amateur way, with radio-controlled boats, but from early youth, model sailing boats have appealed to me even more than mechanical amphibious contraptions, though clockwork, electric, and ‘“pop-pop” craft have all had their day. A 3 ft. yacht, which the whole family had a hand in making, gave us more lasting amusement than all the machinery, but we did so wish for remote con- trol, even at the expense of some mechanism. With this in mind, I bought an early pattern Cossor transmitter and receiver, but the degree of reliability obtained by the average modeller and my total lack of electronic knowledge, rather frightened me off the project, for a time. As the old three-footer was considered to be too small for the purpose, we decided to scout round the local Model Yacht Club for a more suitable boat. Here we found the 10-rater Invader, a 5 ft. hull with nice lines, reasonable sails, but with a rather poor finish. Several evenings work in stripping and _ cellulosing improved the hull beyond recognition. In the fluky winds prevalent on inland lakes, we felt that the three position or “bang-bang” actuator would hardly be the ideal method of controlling a sailing boat, also we wanted a method of sheet hauling, to be complimentary to, and independent of, a sensitive rudder control. Here, my close association with Geoffrey Pike was of infinite help. He freely gave me permission to make and use his new truly proportional control system, together with RELATES HIs WITH RADIO AMODEL YACHT inertia switch, as none of these items were then marketed. Sufficient problem for many night’s work, but greatly facilitated by Geoffrey’s ex- perience and advice. We had also to decide where to house the machinery ! An E.C.C. receiver, in a water-tight box, was mounted below deck in the bows, with the aerial carried up the forestay, well away from the possible influence of steel wire shrouds. To avoid sawing away deck formers, we made do with the existing small hatch, to which cover was mounted the rudder servo unit, switch and meter socket.on top, with sheet-haul mechanism underneath, reaching well into the bowels of the boat. Batteries were housed below the water-line. As the Fenners-Pike servo unit will have been described in these pages by the time this article appears in print, there is no point in covering the ground again; but a short description of the sheet-haul arrangement, as used by us, may be of some interest. It will be appreciated that the inertia-contactor secondary control on the servo unit passes only an intermittent current. To make this into a positive switching action, a relay with a delay condenser is introduced. A small but strong clock mechanism, with spring escapement and first gear removed, forms a reduction gear-box, which enables a Mighty Midget motor to develop sufficient power for sail-hauling. With the motor working off 3 volts, the winding spindle takes 20 seconds per complete revolution. A stout shaft and crank fitted to this slow-speed spindle engages a slotted lever, which is pivoted below the . With the big-end of the crank runa pulse speed operated second control system. , assembly slot, the motion is converted into a the in ning ssince patented and marketed as the Fenner suitable form for sheet-hauling. To simplify Pike servo unit. n sail position, a rotary switch is fitted This system enabled me to use a single selectio ft. This switch stops the mechcranksha the to money of saving uent channel set, with a conseq positions: —Run, Reach, Closethree in anism over the alternative three-channel layout, but haul and Run, in that order. The effective tip the g makin of m proble we were faced with the and secondary of the lever moves only six inches, so that a 2/1 actuator, sheet-haul mechanism 444 AUGUST, step-up pulley block is required for the full tange of sheet-haul. Inside the top of my Cossor transmitter was fitted a pulse unit, which consists of a motordriven contact breaker, with variable point gap. This “variable” being operated by a large external knob, which in this application, becomes the “tiller”, or rudder control. A press-button to reduce the pulse speed for sheet-haul operation was also fitted. Thus, the transmitter is self-contained, with no external leads, or odd bits to forget, when going out for an afternoon’s quiet fun. “Light Airs” prevailed on the day of our first test, which was made, such was our impatience to sail, on rudder. control only, without he refinement of the sheet-haul tackle, then unfinished. The set was duly tuned and found to be doing all the right things, on dry land at any rate. So we heaved her onto the water, switched on everything on and let her go, hopefully. For two fascinating hours did we sail up and down the river, only touching the boat to alter sail trim, returning home well-pleased with the boat: and ourselves. The following week brought much more wind and we were to find one or two snags which had not been apparent on the first outing, for instance it was found that she would luff up into heavy puffs and no amount of rudder would hold her off. Hardening in the jib did not balance the boat, as we had hoped, she now bore away in heavy gusts, finally flattening with the rudder mostly out of the water. It was fairly obvious that a bigger, deeper and preferably balanced type of rudder would be Héading : Deck-mounted sheet-haul equipment pow- ered by Motor Mighty giving Midget Run, Reach, Closehaul and Run. A clockwork reduction enables the gear small box electric motor to develop sufficient power. On the right: mechanism The whole removed from the boat to show clockwork gear-box slotted and lever. detail The of the Mighty Midget can also be seen in this picture. (Photos by G, D. Pike) 1954 required for control in moderate heavy conditions. Even partial control became somewhat hazy after about 90 minutes of floundering, this was traced to the relay going out of trim. Also a good deal of water had been shipped through the mast slider, and was swilling around the batteries in a distressing manner. Continuous pulse work is extremely hard on the type of relay originally fitted to our set and application, for which it cannot be blamed for defaulting. A polarised relay has been substituted, since which 12 trouble-free months have ensued. With these teething troubles sorted out and the sheet-haul added, the boat is really great fun and can be sailed round a course, or where you will, without any attention whatever. The batteries, with the exception of the L.T. are the originals and these must have done about 30 hours’ service, with no apparent sign of failure yet. The L.T. Battery would seem to stand about 6-8 hours’ use. Batteries. Ever Ready Radio H.T. Batrymax B101. Radio L.T. D 18. Servo Rudder. Two 800 twin cells. Sheet-haul. One 800 twin cell. Transmitter pulse. One 800 twin cell. Equipment Sheet-haul. Motor. | Victory Industries, Pulse unit. Mighty Midget Motors Transmitter. Cossor. Receiver. E.C.C. 951A E.D. polarised ray. Fenners-Pike (type) Servo unit. 336 MODEL MAKER HYPERION A NEW 10-RATER BY JOHN LEWIS T HE new design illustrated this month is a development of MHalceyon via _ her It also successor Moonshine. serves to demonstrate some of the points mentioned in my recent notes on yacht designing and although no radical features are incorporated it is thoroughly up to date. i 5aaa Se ser ie mil carry a successful rotating mast and I feel that as waterline lengths increase the value of this device also increases. LEAD 19-5 LBS. va To those who are familiar with Halceyon it will be noticed that the new boat has a longer waterline; this, of course, should result in a higher potential speed. In choosing 55 in. L.W.L. I have reverted to Jay, a boat I designed and built in 1950, which proved to me that we had by no means reached the ultimate length for 10-raters. Jay was the first boat of mine to The other main difference between Halceyon and this new boat are that displacement has been reduced to 28.5 Ib., this has come about by softening the shape of the cross sections, particularly in the after half of the hull. The result should mean a more easily driven hull but I doubt whether sail carrying power has been maintained. DAA HERTS. PLANS SERVICE warromo 80 COP mGHT OF : CLARENDON MODEL MAKER CLSIONED 10 RATER DESIGN JOHN LEWIS IM) HYPERION 5 However, Halceyon was excep- 472 tional in that respect so a little sacrifice is permissable. The C.B. has moved forward slightly as might be expected. The profile of the canoe body is of similar character to Halceyon but the forward overhang is a little longer than aft and the overall length has gone up to 72.25, this being due mainly to the extra 3 in. on the L.W.L. The profile of the fin keel and skeg is very AUGUST, similar to Moonshine and represents a reduction in wetted surface over Halceyon. The keel is not tion to the mainsail. It is difficult to assess the merits of the large jib under all conditions but if this design is going to be used on pools where the wind is mainly light and variable I would be inclined to increase the size of the mainsail and reduce the jib accordingly. A ratio between jib and main of 7 : 12 does, I know, give satisfactory results under most conditions. With the so thick as Moonshine as I was not trying to obtain any extra displacement. The skeg and rudder assembly is of a pattern that I have found very effective after considerable experiment. The balance of the hull has received careful attention and the C.B. does not move to any appreciable extent when the boat is heeled. JT consider that a movement aft of 0.13 in. to be sail plan indicated I would employ a rotating mast with a maximum blade width of at least very reasonable and the whole boat should not 1} in. so that a certain amount of free area ‘is gained by the mainsail. This free area is particularly useful when running before the wind in light airs. The big foretriangle also permits a large spinnaker to be used. Most skippers have their own ideas as to sail plan and it is very exhibit any vices that are not manageable by the beginner. The shape of the canoe body should be easy to carve on the bread and butter system or to build by the planked-up method. To obtain the full 19.5 Ib. of lead ballast it will be necessary to be very careful of weights during building and every attempt should be easy to work out an arrangement to suit oneself. I have merely shown a plan which is pleasing to made to keep to this figure. In the suggested sail plan I have indicated arrangement which uses a 1954 me but if anyone does build to this design and would like an alternative sail plan I will be very pleased to be of assistance if required. large jib in propora —_ b TUCKER’S TOPICS ‘THE largely with Mopet MAKER deals highly technical subjects, and since it is impossible for any single person to possess an intimate knowledge of all of them, the Editor appointed “Consulting Editors”. I was honoured by the Editor by being asked to act in this capacity fer Model Yachting. One privilege of any Editor is to air his views. I accordingly suggested to the Editor that he should give his Consulting Editors the opportunity to do so. * Bd Recently I heard that a provincial Model Yacht Club has a library of yacht designs to Classes it caters for, which Members can inspect and borrow for building purposes. Copies of all published designs (including those in the Model Maker Plans Service) are purchased, but before these are placed in the library, they are examined by the Club’s experts and their verdict endorsed on the designs. This examination includes checking the balance by Admiral Turner’s well-known M/C Shelf system. I was told that many published designs (including a proportion of those appearing in this magazine) prove unsatisfactory. Some of these were named to me, and as it happens, are designs I, personally, am not enamoured of. On the other hand, other pub- lished designs are highly experts. Naturally, commended by the Club I was gratified to hear that my own had received good marks! The idea is to save members wasting time and money by building boats to an inferior design. The value of this service is obvious, providing the “vetting” is done by sufficiently knowledgeable people. As I do not know who does it for the Club m question, I cannot express an opinion, but it certainly shows the right svirit when more experienced members use their knowledge for the benefit of clubmates. % * a * 473 This brings me to another point. Major G. B. Lee, after acting very successfully as Editor of the “M.Y.A. News” for some years, has resigned . I am sure all model yachtsmen him for what he connection. However, will join me in thanking has done for I am the equally certain sport in this that he will not mind if I put forward an opinion that differs from one expressed issue. in his He writes:— last “Editorial” in the June “It seems to us that if A takes a set of lines by B and modifies them to his own ideas, the result should be considered a joint design by A and B, and both names should appear in the Rating Certific ate.” _Against view. this The let true me put the Designer’s designer creates his point design as of an entity, and any major alteration can entirely change the character of the boat. Major Lee instances as alterations that can easily be made, alterations in the spacing of sections, waterlines or buttocks. These are major alterations, and the designer should be consulted as he may not wish his lines to be cut about. Of course, there are minor alterations that cannot affect a yacht’s performance, such as a slight change in the sheer line, and about these the designer is not greatly concerned. As a designer -I have on occasion been blamed when my entire design has been ruined by the builder or some local wiseacre who has advised alterations. On occasion, an alteration may greatly improve a boat, but it entirely depends on who makes it and what it consists of, To my way of thinking, whenever a major alteration to a design has been made by anyone other than the original designer, the fairest and safest way to deal with it is to style it as being “After Daniels” or whoever was responsible for the original lines. I also commend to those responsible for race reports, the desirability of naming the designer of leading boats, and if these are to well-known or published designs, mentioning the fact. H. B. Tucker.