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Thread: Working Sailboat Model

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    Escondido, CA
    Posts
    6,224

    Working Sailboat Model

    My son the computer just asked me to collaborate with him on a remote controlled sailboat. I would do the model building and he would do the electrical parts and moving components. He wants to design our own but I would love to start with tried and true design. It could be framed or solid wood.

    Have any of you done this or know about designs?

    Complexity or simplicity are fine. We don't have storage room or a truck so something that could fit in the back of a sedan and sit on a desk. 5' tall maximum??
    Last edited by Brian Kent; 04-24-2014 at 2:25 AM.
    Veni Vidi Vendi Vente! I came, I saw, I bought a large coffee!

  2. #2
    This seems like more a euro thing. In the UK property including the small rivers and lakes are more likely to be private, so a lot of folks get their boating kicks from the park pond. These magazines used to be for sale at my local newsagent, but since 08 the variety has been greatly cut back. There are class sailing boats, as with real sailing. Some of the euro yachting mags have ceverage of the model scene on occasion.

    http://www.modelboats.co.uk/

    http://www.marinemodelmagazine.com/issue.aspx?i=4792

    Of course you can take plans of real boats and knock them out in wood. When I was starting out, I made models of some of my first boat projects. I just purchased aircraft ply and used it to make the models.

  3. #3
    Roderick is right, if you know how to use an architects ruler and the concept of lofting to take measurements, then there is a world of possibilities. You didn't really talk about what it is you would like to build. Big difference between building a tall ship replica and a Cape Cod Cat boat with one mast. Proportionally speaking, a model is the same as a boat, but you need to make sure you weigh it down with ballast.

    JKB
    Jackbat

  4. #4
    Brian,

    Take a look at http://www.rcgroups.com/boats-54/ Just pick your favorite style of boat.

    This group is almost in your back yard, they can provide you with a lot of help and advice
    https://www.facebook.com/pages/San-D...22593784471393

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Sep 2014
    Location
    Northern Florida
    Posts
    638
    I hope I'll be forgiven for re-activating a fairly old thread, but it's still near the top in its sub-forum. I'm new here and in a former life I knew something about sailboats so....

    Sailboats do not scale well because the various forces do not change in direct proportion to each other. This is hinted at by Jack when he says "Weight it down with enough ballast." When you make a design smaller, it becomes less stable.

    The "Law of Mechanical Similitude" (you can probably find it through Google but I didn't have to because I have it in a book - remember books?) says that the heeling pressure of wind on the sails varies as the cube of LWL (Length on Water Line) but the stability varies as the 4th power of LWL. This means that stability increases faster than heeling moment as you scale a design up. The boat gets less stable as you scale it down.

    This is why you see model boats with dis-proportionately deep keels with weighted bulbs at the bottom. So the advice to look at model boat designs is good but scaling down a full-size boat might be a challenge.

    That Law says more than that and anyone interested might look it up. I have it in Skene's Elements of Yacht Design, which is relatively readable and interesting although nothing in my copy is newer than 50 years or so.

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