Calimero's RC Shed - Boats

Description

The Sequana is a springer tug (approx 1/14th scale). Actually a Ramborator kit from German RC models company Aero-Naut.

Here are the "official" pictures for the Ramborator.

Sequana is the gallo-roman goddess of the river Seine. As this is a river boat and I mostly run my boats on the Lac supérieur in the Bois de Boulogne in Paris, it felt appropriate - tough the pond itself is not connected to the Seine ...

I try to name my boats with names of my choosing instead of going for the proposed name from the manufacturer as my boats are not 100% scale models anyway.

Specifications

Type: Springer tug
Kit: Ramborator from aero-naut
Construction: all plywood
- All plywood parts are lasercut and require very little prep work
- Fittings and decals included
- Stuffing tube and prop shaft included
- German instruction manual with detailed pics included. English version as a download on aero-nauts website.
- Manual (German) - Manual (English)
Scale: approx. 1/16th
Length: 455mm
Width: 200mm
Weight: approx. xxx g without ballast
Cost: Around 90 EUR (Jan. 2014)

What you need to make it run

The Ramborator kit comes with lots of parts and fitting. You'll obviously still need to get stuff on your own

RC
- Transmitter, two channels
- Receiver, two channels (or three for lighting remote-switching)
- Standard size servo for the rudder
Propulsion
- Motor: a 540/600 brushed motor, "low" KV brushless motor
- Speed controller with BEC
- Propeller: 35-40mm three or four blades
- Shaft/motor coupling: kit includes a 4mm/5mm rigid coupling.
- Battery: 6V lead, 6-cell 7.2V NIMH or 2S LiPo 7.4V
Primer / filler to waterproof the hull
Paint
Glues
- Most of the gluing is done with waterproof wood glue
- Epoxy resin (5-min, 30-min) can be used for "critical" joints or as reinforcement
- Cyanoacrylate (CA) can be useful to set parts in position before epoxy-ing them
Tools
- Sanding paper (#100 up to #300 or even #600 for paint work)
- Box cutter, modeler knife
- Different kinds of clamps (spring clamp, C-clamp)
- Scotch tape, masking tape: hold parts in place, mask areas when painting
- Wire-cutter (to cut brass wire)
- Pliers (to bend said brass wire !)

Here's a list of materials I used for my springer tug. The build log below also describes some of the tools and products I used.

Build log

I actually failed to take any pictures until the hull and deck were ready as I didn't plan on keeping a build log. I'll try to document further steps from now on.

2014-01-31 : Hull and deck: Hull and deck, with coamings and hatches are ready for assembly. Propulsion is installed.
2014-02-11 : Mock installation of lead ballast: Bath trial with the freshly delivered lead ingots.
2014-02-16 : Hull and deck glued together, first trials: Deck epoxyed onto the hull, cramed a 6V lead-acid battery in the hull and off to the pond ...
2014-02-19 : Bulwark pre-assembled with CA glue: Bulwark and stanchions were prepped, glued with CA but the whole assembly is not glue to the deck yet.
2014-02-23 : Bulwark complete and waterproofed, onboard footage: No pics of the tug but some decent onboard footage from today's trip to the pond.
2014-03-01 : Priming of the hull and deck ...: Plain flat color of primer reveals all of the many flaws in the hull and deck. Nice.
2014-03-03 : Hull and deck paint: Not as nice as I hoped but heck this is a work boat !
2014-03-29 : Letterings and recovery rig: Letterings were applied on transom. Quick trip to the pond to test a recovery rig with tug.
2014-04-30 : Wheelhouse 3D modeling: Why not print the wheelhouse, eh ?
2014-05-06 : Wheelhouse printing: Time to see what it looks like in the real world
2014-05-31 : Interim wheelhouse ...: "I work best under pressure" ...
2014-09-07 : A lousy video and some data: Actual power draw figures from the current brushless setup
2014-11-10 : Dusk sailing and some more data: Power draw with 45mm #174 4-blade Raboesch prop
2015-04-03 : Brushless gimbal: Behold The Thing