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[Andy M]

I decided that I am going to use the voltage booster, but it left me without a switch, so I made up a switch harness and fitted the switch.
 I think I have enough coats of varnish on my cabin roof so I fitted it and the mast and sails, which pointed out a slight problem, the sail winch pulley arrangement is going to hit my mast stays as they go from the deck fitting onto the cleat on the mast. I have thought of a solution though. I will bind another loop fitting further up the mast, then run the says up to the loop(s) then back down to the cleat, missing the sail winch pulleys. Hopefully.
 I will check it is going to work before I do anything permanent.
 I like the new sails, better than the first ones with taped on lines. The pattern is certainly different.

[Andy M]

Forgot to mention that I fitted the windows as well, even though its hard to see them from some angles, it is definately progressing nicely.

[Andy M]

New fittings are the lower loops in the mast top pic, and they work well, keeping the mast stays well away from my winch pulley system. Probably not the correct nautical way of doing it, but it works for what I want.
  I will move onto perfecting the winch pulley bit soon.

[Andy M]

Not had a chance to have a look at my winch pulley fitting, the main boom pulley is on the outside hole of servo arm, this gives the exact travel required for full movement, the jib pulley is closer to the centre of the servo arm, its a couple of holes closer as the jib doesnt need as much movement as the boom, I can check this and adjust it as soon as I make up fittings for the lines to go through and another couple for the fixed ends of the lines. Unless I can do both jobs with a single fitting for each line. I dont want any chance of the moving line chafing on the fixed ends.

[JimG]

Looking at your photo showing the pully system on the sail arm there looks to be a very high probability that the sheets will come off of the pullies as there is no retaining system. Would it not be better to replace the pullies with simple eyes mounted on the arm, If you use flexible line for the sheets it will go round the eyes without a problem. In the size you have built there will be so little strain on the lines that there should be little or no wear on the lines or the eyes. I have used sheets going through eyes on yachts up to Marblehead size with no problem.
Jim

[Andy M]

Hi Jim, I am still undecided about this,I was getting the rest done before I put my full attention to it. I agree totally, the sheets would probably fall off the pulleys pretty quick or get jammed underneath, I thought about using eyes to guide the sheets onto the pulleys but it would end up looking like an overcomplicated mess and would still probably jam or fall off.
 I did think of just using eyes and no pulleys but wasnt sure how they would cope with the sharp angles that the sheets will come in at.
I will take your advice and get some eyes made up, the pulleys looked far too big anyway but the overall length from servo centre to outside edge of pulley is perfect for the travel I need, so I need to keep this distance the same if I use eyes, they would hang off the end of the servo arm by about 5mm.
I was contemplating making a ply arm arrangement for the servo instead, as I dont like the look of the black servo arm, it doesnt fit in with the varnished wood on the rest of the boat.
You have given me a bit of reassurance that the eyes will work so I will give them a go, it has to look better than the pulleys.

[Andy M]

Having decided to ditch the pulleys after Jim's confirmation of my worries about the sheets just falling off them, I glued a bit of 1/16 ply to the top of another servo arm, after sanding it flat, sanded the ply to the shape I wanted, but still over length.
 2 brass eyes were made up, the ply was trimmed to correct length and I bound the first one on for the main boom, then at a position slighly closer to the servo centre screw hole, I bound on the one for the jib. It isnt much further in than the boom one, maybe 2 to 3mm, but that is 4 to 6mm sheet travel.
 A coat of varnish to seal the ply and my winch arm is complete, once the varnish dries I will take my receiver out of my Rorqual and get my end points set up for the winch. To fit the receiver involves removing the mast and sails and unscrewing the roof. There is never a huge job on a tiny yacht though😁
 The last jobs were to make my fittings for the sheets to attach to and run through. I had to use paperclip wire for them as the small brass eyes I have were not long enough once they were straightened out. I made the one for the boom first, getting it right first time, the one for the front took a few attempts though, the first attempt was ugly, the next one had the loops too big, meaning it wouldnt fit on the roof centre strip as it was too wide. Next go was the right spacing with nice loops, then I realised I had wound it the wrong way for what I wanted, so I made up the final one, perfect after all my practice. Holes were drilled for these to go through the roof centre strip, ends pushed through, folded over and superglued to fix them solidly to the roof.
 Cant wait to try the winch once the varnish has dried, it may need more varnish but I can give it more coats at any time.
 I think it looks so much better than the pulley arrangement, I may even try painting the black servo arm a wood colour to help it blend in more. There is no way the sheets can jam or jump off so it should be 100% reliable, which I like!
 I have really enjoyed building this little yacht, its a fully functional tiny version of its bigger predecessors. It has had its own challenges to work through, but they are solved now.
 I found that working out the rigging and making all the little fittings was really enjoyable, you dont get to do that on speedboats, and I got to do some lead casting too.
 Many thanks to Vic Smeed for this lovely design, thats 3 of them I have made now, one is one third scale, one is full scale and one is three times full size!
 Even if this little model just sits on my shelf as an ornament, I have had my enjoyment from it already, sailing it will be a bonus.

[JimG]

That looks much better, nice neat job.
Jim

[Andy M]

Cheers Jim, I was never that happy with the way the pulleys looked, far too bulky and out of character with the rest of it, it is still to be set up and tested with the receiver. I did work out the throws required with the receiver in it, so I dont foresee any problems, about 10 minutes work to fit the receiver and battery and get the mast and sails on and it will be ready for its maiden voyage.
I might fit the rx and battery and give it a bath test to make sure it floats level, I have some space to move bits about, but its obviously not a lot. It is a compact wee thing.
One job I nearly forgot about.... I have still to make up my curtains 😁

[Andy M]

Bath test for the tiny Starlet showed a slight list to starboard, the metal geared winch servo, voltage booster and receiver are on this side. The battery and plastic geared rudder servo are on the port side.
 I used a 500mah lipo for the bath test but I will try a bigger one for actual sailing, to see if the extra weight can get it to float level.
 I am very happy with how it turned out, even the wife likes it! Not enough to let it live on the mantlepiece though. Probably best, it could get swept off there during a feather duster attack.
 It was moving quite easily with me just blowing on the sails, and the rudder is effective. Just the slight list to deal with, I am sure it wouldnt affect the sailing too much as it is, but I will fit bigger battery anyway.