Hi everyone,
As I said in my first post, I've resumed the build of a Robbe Odin kit after a 15 year "delay".
The Robbe Odin kit is based on German tugboats built by Mützelfeldtwerft (Mützelfeld Shipyards) of Cuxhaven.
The closest surviving one I've found is the Gruno V (IMO: 6907171).
Also very close is the Taucher O. Wulf 5 (IMO: 6907169) from Otto Wulf (a Towing services company also in Cuxhaven). Both were built in 1968.
Model is in 1:25 scale. Around 110cm (42-43") long.
As my build won't exactly match either, I'll probably keep the "Odin" name (or maybe "Wotan", to keep a reference to the original model while changing it).
I went to my parents' (where the boat and workshop are !) mid-November to assess the situation and do some basic work but that was only a three-day stay.
When I came back in Paris (where I live), I took some "homework" with me: there's a hatch giving you access to the rudder servo. The hatch itself is molded ABS. But on top of it is a duckboard (not sure with the English term). Duckboard is basic (just small wooden pieces glued with cyano). And then some brass wire to top if off !
See attached picture.
Took me probably 20 hours overall to finish that assembly (damn it I'm slow). And it's far from perfect. Instead of soldering the brass wire (I feared the plastic hatch would melt) I cheated and used some plastic tubing as a "sheath".
I also painted the small rigid-hulled inflatable boat, a single injection molded part. Well actually if was more like : 20 minutes of painting, 2 hours of masking and then again 20 minutes of painting.
I spent Christmas and New Year's Eve at my parents'. I had almost 10 days I could dedicate to the tug.
Here's where I'm at ...
Hull and deck were assembled 15 years ago. It's an ABS hull. Anything above deck wasn't touched, back then.
Motor mount, rudder servo mount, propshaft, kort nozzle and other "lower deck" items where all installed/glued.
There were a few problems though.
The deck paintjob looked quite horrendous. I don't remember how we painted it. Probably with a paint brush. Both the color and the finish looked quite bad.
Back in November it was thus decided to sand down, prime and paint the deck.
Now, in December, I had just finished masking the hull to ready it for painting the deck when I noticed that the paint from the hull would actually peel off .... It seems that we weren't much better painters below deck ....
I scraped the old paint off the hull. It was done in as little as 30 min ... The hull was smooth as a baby's bottom. Obviously we hadn't sanded it, let alone primed it before painting.
So we sanded the hull with fine grit paper. Then I primed it with plastic primer. Then I used universal primer (which is thicker) to "fill" / get a better surface. And then ended with the red hull paint.
I used acrylic based paints from Dupli-Color (spray cans) because they are easy to find, have a half-decent selection of RAL tones (I wanted "standard" colors) in satin/mat.
Boy the number of cans that were needed .... Spray cans can get you a decent finish but half - if not more - of the paint actually ends up on the floor and covering every surface from your painting area.
Dupli-Color offers different spray nozzles. Of course, I only decided to get their nozzles assortment halfway through the painting. The wide spray nozzle really helps when painting large surfaces like a boat hull.
And of course, when I bought the last two cans in Germany (my parents are 10 mi from the border, on the Rhine), I noticed if was 1/3 cheaper there ...
Anyway, the hull was painted. I now had to trace the waterline. Not so easy, especially at the stern. But using a wood block and a L-shaped metal "stand" I managed to get the right height for my pencil.
A good hour and a half to apply masking tape and I could then paint the freeboard black.
By then I had gone through a 50m roll of 50mm masking tape, and a 50m x 19mm roll. Ha ha ha !
I also decided to redo the paint on the bullwark: outside is black, inside is grey like the deck. Again, sanding, priming, painting, masking, more painting ...
I used or will use the following colors:
- RAL 7001 "Silver grey" : deck, upper deck, stairs to upper deck, rear hatch. A little darker that I thought but still good.
- RAL 9005 "black" : freeboard, bullwark, small parts. Well, black is black...
- RAL 9010 "pure white" : superstructure/engine room, wheelhouse, winches, radar
- RAL 3020 "traffic red" : hull, FiFi equipment. Maybe a little bright for the hull (for a 1960s tug) but I didn't want to use two different tints for the hull and FiFi equipment
- RAL 1023 "traffic yellow" : mast. I haven't tried it yet so I'm not sure how it looks.
I also got some small pots of Tamiya acrylic paint in similar colors for small touches and small parts (handles, screws ...).
I essentially spent a week to get back to step one: a painted hull. Yay !
It looks better know and the paint is significantly tougher. All in all, no really a waste of time.
In the mean time, my father had put together the engine room/superstructure. We still need to finish it but the base is ready.
I completed the winch assembly for the rear part of the deck. We decided not to make it functional. I probably wouldn't have much use for it. So it was mostly painting, a little soldering and so on.
Most of the deck equipment (anchor windlass and brake, rear/main winch, rear hatch) is painted/ready and just needs to be glued or screwed in place.
The bullwark is also ready to be glued in place. I just have to file two notches to get some clearance for the main winch.
Another thing we started is the mast and all the lighting. Of course, we replaced the supplied bulbs with LEDs. LEDs are not perfect as they are directional while a bulb can illuminate "all-round". I got some wide-angle leds (110° supposedly) and the result is very decent. Significantly brighter than the bulbs.
There will be 6 light "channels" or "groups":
- deck lights, maybe on in the wheelhouse
- searchlight (on the roof of the wheelhouse) with a more directive/brighter LED
- under way: masthead, stern light, side lights red/green
- towing in progress: two mastheads (yeah I only tow > 200m
), yellow sternlight
- restricted maneuverability : red / white / red
- anchor lights
I'll use a RCD3003 multi-switch. Not perfect but decent enough. If I really want more control, I'll probably look into a small Arduino board to do whatever I want with the lighting.
The basic wiring of the mast is done. Before we complete if, will glue all LEDs and wires in place. The lamps which go on top of the LEDs are painted (black, inside and outside to make them completely opaque).
We'll use JST-XH Lipo 6 cells balancing cables to route the lighting cables. Connectors are small and offer 7 poles (6 channels + Gnd), so that you can easily remove the funnel/mast, for example.
I also replaced the rudder servo (a good old Graupner C507) by a newer digital high torque servo. It's wicked fast. I've added some heavy 'exponential' to my rudder channel.
I've also been able to test my smoke generator, a "Super Smoker v4" I got from some nice chap in Australia. The smoke fluid is ... quite smelly (outdoor use only !). Produces huge amounts of smoke under max voltage. I know diesel tugs only output smoke for a few seconds when throttling up. And well, diesel smoke is black. But anyway, I think smoke is still fun.
Plus the smoker is hooked to an ESC. I can adjust the "idling" smoke with a knob on my radio. And I can mix it with the throttle to get more smoke when going full throttle. Very flexible.
The smoke itself will be installed right under the funnel, in the superstructure, with some 10 cm tubing to connect if to the actual engine exhaust.
Big issue currently: we've lost the wheelhouse. The wheelhouse was an injection molded clear plastic part. You'd just mask the windows and paint it white. We haven't recovered it despite intensive SAR efforts.
With all the 3D printing craze these days I tought: hey ! why not look into this ?
I decided two nights ago to google things up. I had heard of the RepRap open source printer a few years back and It seems it has come a long way. I decided to try and 3D model my wheelhouse. Apparently one of the easiest software for basic non-engineering modeling is SketchUp which is free for personal/educational use. I downloaded it last evening and tried to "extrude" a shape similar to my missing wheelhouse. Hint: never get into this as 10 in the evening when the next day is a work day ...
I've replicated the basic shape and just "cut out" two of the windows. See the attached view.
I uploaded it to sculpteo.com , a French 3D-printing ("additive manufacturing") startup. There systems automatically comes up with the price depending on raw material, colors, shape... Dang ! More than 150 Euros .... Ouch.
I went to the post office next to my workplace, one of the three French post offices that have experimental 3D printing capabilities. They're a partnership with ... sculpteo.com (surprise !) so I didn't expect much difference in pricing. But I got to show them my crude model and ask about the windows and other openings I needed. When there's a "hollow" part, the printer actually switches to a soluble "supporting" material. Once the part is complete, it is soaked with solvent to get rid of the "temporary" material.
Well, at more than 150 Euros, it is impractical at best. I'll try and see if there's a private RepRap owner willing to help, ha ha !
If 3D printing isn't an option, I would revert to my original idea: using polycarbonate/lexan (or styrene ?) sheets and bend them in shape. Fun times ahead.
Well all this reporting is a little dry. I forgot to take pictures. Will do some next time I go to my parents'.
See ya !
