Now that I have started writing here I would like to show you one of the latest projects which I have finished. My first thought was to build an open sloop with an one cylinder steam engine, almost like the African Queen. The idea came when my friend gave me an old Stuart engine for which he had no use. First I thought to have it working with real steam, but that would need a working boiler & other components which I didn't want to build or buy. I was more interested to build the boat itself, not the machinery for it.
And then I started the project in a common way, purchased plans, wood materials etc. and started building the hull of mahogany strips on plywood bulkheads. The scale was selected to be 1/6 to be able to use commonly available action figures as a crew. The plan was to build a RC boat and to use electric gearmotor as a main power source, and to use the Stuart only as a mock-up. In this way it would be easy to control the speed of the boat with normal ESC instead of servos, steam valves etc.
And so I did. I installed a simple electric gear motor on the common axle with steam engine, built on it a dummy boiler out of plywood, which had enough space also for RC gear. And finally a grey bearded captain with his girlfriend were added on the benches, and voila, project was considered as finished.
And then I started the project in a common way, purchased plans, wood materials etc. and started building the hull of mahogany strips on plywood bulkheads. The scale was selected to be 1/6 to be able to use commonly available action figures as a crew. The plan was to build a RC boat and to use electric gearmotor as a main power source, and to use the Stuart only as a mock-up. In this way it would be easy to control the speed of the boat with normal ESC instead of servos, steam valves etc.
And so I did. I installed a simple electric gear motor on the common axle with steam engine, built on it a dummy boiler out of plywood, which had enough space also for RC gear. And finally a grey bearded captain with his girlfriend were added on the benches, and voila, project was considered as finished.