Homemade RC boat Titanic

Looks very nice.

He is a very small 7 year old.

On Tue, 18 Nov 2008 11:58:16 -0600, the infamous Ignoramus11212 scrawled the following:

Holy moly! Someone (Peter) has too much freakin' time on their hands.

Then he couldn't lift it. Next!

-- Latin: It's not just for geniuses any more.

You can build a large, light boat model on plywood cross-section frames with thin planks lengthwise and a heavily shellacked cardboard covering. You may have to adjust the hull shape to make the stringers bend smoothly. You will need to saw out the frames and attach them to a solid keel and gunwales, then he could fit the (balsa?) planks with a knife. The upper works can be shellacked cardboard.

I added a strong line from bow to stern, running over the mast tops, to my models so I could hook and raise them if they sank.

It's for anyone planning to study other European languages.

Although probably not in the "quick-and-easy" category, the following link to the U.S. Vintage Model Yacht Group has a good link on making a pond yacht using planks over a frame. Not a Titantic, but sailboat. Maybe you can use this technique? For the rest of you metalworkers, some of these old pond yachts used complex self steering rigs made of soldered stainless wire and brass and are real works of art.

ignoring the part about building the boat itself, the RC part is pretty easy - in the simplest form you need one "left'right" control and one "on-off" control. you can buy the RC unit complete and you can buy inexpensive servos.

see for example

and try google with this search phrase "building remote control boat"

I'd suggest starting with some thing cheap and simple and let hte 7 year old do a lot of the work - worry about an accurate model of the titanic after you get a cheap kit unit working

cp.com/usvmyg/

My sailing models were self-steering without a rudder. I balanced the sail and underwater centers of pressure and trimmed the jib tighter than the main, to make the boat sail on a broad reach. The main had more area for thrust, the jib more leverage for steering. With slippage the course was at right angles to the wind and the models would sail back and forth along a line out from the dock, reversing course in surface wind eddies, and sometimes sail right back to the dock.

Jim Wilkins

I agree, scale rudders are often too small. The exception to this rule would be some tugboat models.

Steve R.

swcp.com/usvmyg/

Sounds like fun! I'll bet it took some time to get everything tuned correctly. You may also enjoy:

It wasn't too hard. Tighten the jib sheet, adjust the main so the boat sailed crosswise to the waves. Returning to the same beach was usually good enough. There was a 50:50 chance of sailing to the opposite shore, higher when the wind was light and didn't spin the boat around. I learned to keep the models simple so the waves and rocks wouldn't destroy them before I could row over there.

The best-performing hull had a deep, short weighted fin keel that gave it little directional stability so it responded quickly to the wind turbulence and looked very lively. The inefficient jib made it slow but that is not very evident without a nearby visual reference.

For a model I think tying the main sheet to the tiller is enough. You might have to extend the tiller behind the rudder post as well, depending on whether the boat tends to point or fall off. Then the boat will hold the same angle to the wind on either tack. You could trim the jib more efficiently to make the boat faster, mine version was more looks than speed. That might be better for a basin with other boats to race and access all around.

I've sailed a schooner and found I don't quite have the coordination to hold course, trim three sails to pull evenly and leave a straight wake. I had less trouble holding a light plane straight and level the first time.

Jim Wilkins