Topic: HMS Solebay build

[radio joe]

Your quite right Manxman, the weather conditions this morning could not have been better I got to the lake and it was like a sheet of glass,not a breath of wind and sunny, I lowered Solebay into the water with the slings I made a few months ago they made it so much easier , and proceded with a few tentative manovers, she turned in about one and a half times her length with 1/3 throttle and hard over and with just the right amount of the classic warship lean out. I then did some straight runs at full ahead and she is fast, cuts through the water like a hot knife through butter A nice clean bow wave and not much wake, she took everything I threw at her, full throttle figure of eights turns, fast runs up and down the lake about 100 yards, full ahead to full astern, she well exceeded my expectations.
and after all that cruised around for 55 minutes and the batteries still showed no sign of running out, to summarise after a very enjoyable build her performance was the icing on the cake.
I read Deans instructions on producing flags using tissue paper and admit I was a bit sceptical , but did it anyway and have to say was quite pleased with the outcome.

[karlgalster]

In general a single rudder between two props does not scale down to models very well - perhaps HMS Cossack is the exception to the rule. My HMS Kelly with its original rudder had a poor turning circle so I had to fit a new overlarge rudder to improve things. Not completely convincing so yes perhaps you might have to resort to independent drives for each prop. Z38 on the other hand has the rarity for a destroyer of twin rudders and is reasonably manouverable despite its length. Good enough for steering regattas in any case. Used it last year with some success. Will be using HMS Kelly this year despite its inferior handling. The only real positive for a destroyer in steering competitions is its narrow beam. You can at least work out the best straight line course thru an obstacle
Robin
PS Glad you enjoyed your first sail - looks very nice on the water.

[colin]

yup she does look nice... 
and the Flags turned out very good as well 

hope to she her at the Deans Open days

[mikearace]

Well done Joe.  Nice on the water.

[paul swainson]

Joe,

When I got my kit I ordered two speed controllers, so that each engine is controlled through a Mixer which the engines controlled by the rudder.  As I turn to port the mix reduces the power to the in board motor and the ship turns very well.   I used the same set up on my Perkasa with three 480 motors and two rudders.  The Mixer can take three ESC and controlls the power to the motors when turning.  Hope this helps with your Ship.   Paul

[radio joe]

I had considered a mixer or separate control of motors but after trials today I'm more than happy with the setup IE. two esc's on one stick the turns look natural and right for a 4 foot model.

[radio joe]

Put some crew on board just for that final touch, and she has her commissioning pennants so I consider her well and truly commissioned, IE. finished. I am going to think about the next Deans kit for a couple of months, and let the wallet recover a bit, Solebay turned out better than I had thought it would and I'm really looking forward to my next build,

[Jeremy]

Good job ^^^I particularly like the crew. I think they make models come alive. Ive always tried to get people into my models. The hardest bit is finding the right people at the right scale. These look just right.

[alexanderb]

I have just started to build solebay. Problems from the start with templates. No drawing showing where they go by name. The instructions also give the impression they are used to make plywood templates, but then say plastic must be level with the line.
In one drawing showing templates they are nothing like the plastic templates. Is the " Iron Deck " the forward raised deck. A photo or drawing showing the templates in place would be very helpful. Can anyone help me Thank you alexanderb

[radio joe]

Hi alexanderb.
Yes I know what you mean about the templates, you will find the aft one too big and the others not a good fit, I just used them to help make 3 mm plywood ones the main thing is to make sure you get a nice fair line along the hull at the edge to the deck when the ply formers are in place, Here are a few photos that should help you, I did not post them at the begining of this log, and if I can help you in anything else just let me know.  Joe

[alexanderb]

Hi Joe
Thanks very much for your reply,the photo`s are great.The templates do go where I though, but they are such a bad fit I though I must be wrong.I feel a lot happier now.
                     Thank you once again Alexanderb

[paul swainson]

Hi Joe,  I am getting the paint together to do work as I go along.   I am going to use Humbrol and was wondering what was the paint make you used and what was the colour number of the grey you used for the hull and superstructure.   I see it was Matt and the instructions just say grey!  Sea Grey (27) in the humbrol range is too dark.   Your advise please?

[radio joe]

Hi Paul
I used an acrylic grey spray primer from Halfords and let it cure for three days, and Humbrol acrylic paints to finish (brush on) two coats of each, the hull is 129 GULL GREY satin, the hull bottom is 70 BRICK RED matt,  which I think looks better than bright red ,  the iron deck is 53  GUNMETAL metallic, the forward and aft decks I mixed paint to look like redlead, the rest of the decks are 88 DECK GREEN matt, looks a bit dark when applied but looks right when dry,the black areas are 85 COAL BLACK satin, the walk way along the iron deck is a yellowy/brown mix to simulate matting, mine is a bit too light,  Humbrol acrylics applied with good quality soft brush didn't show any brush marks in the finish
hope this helps,       

[paul swainson]

Thanks for that Joe.   I want to See if I can get the Hombrol Acrylic water base colours so that I can use the airbrush and this will save thinners and other miss happs.   The very fine detail would i think be covered by the good old brush.   I am just primed my Perkasa after a refit from single drive motor and two 12 volt dry gel battery's to a three  480 engines with three ESC each with its own power supply 7.2 volts 3300mha, with a mixer and receiver.   Water tested  her and found to much weight to the rear so will have to move the battery's forward, then wire all together and then paint with the finish colours.

[radio joe]

Hi Paul.
I have two 4500mah 7.2volt batteries in solebay and my pilot boat both boats have been run for over an hour with no sign of battries running out , though I always wire them in a Y lead so they are both feeding the esc's at the same rate, as only one esc powers the receiver if that esc had it's own battery that battery could run low and shut down the model even though the other batteries still had power, but of course this is just my opinion.
Thinking of building MGB 77 similar in looks to Perkasa but quite a bit smaller, hope you are enjoying building Solebay.