When is a Billing Banckert not a Banckert?
When Jason Pilgrim get his hands on a kit!

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   Part 1  
I’ve done some work on the Banckert tug of late and it’s coming along pretty well. I’ve made a lot of the structures from other materials to simplify the cutting out and strengthen it. The 2m ply is a bit tricky to cut into tiny shapes as it’s not laser cut and just has the lines printed on it. I’ve used some block balsa and other things. The end result looks the same so I’m happy with that.

     I started with a ‘Dick Smith’ motor and plastic hose drive but it wasn’t a success so I lashed out on a Uni coupling and a 400 motor with a brass prop that I reduced the pitch on and it pushed the side of the bathtub for ½ Hr. without too much heat. I’ve used an Msonik ESC, which I’ve had a good run with in other boats.

The little fan is out of my nephew’s old laptop. (Don’t tell him) I fitted a mini servo and switch that’s hooked up to a little Tooter for now, but will eventually have a proper horn simulator.

     The boat had it’s first sea trial (Lake trial) a while back on one of my Scope client boating days and my mum was driving it round and round in circles. The rear hatch was just sitting on and not waterproofed yet, so on hearing her ask if anyone could see the tugboat, I jumped in cloths and all and rescued it as it was going down for the last time. The tip of the bow was just visible! I took it home and stripped everything for a service and it’s all cool. While it was afloat it went very well. The reverse steering is a bit slow due to the Kort nozzle being fixed with 2 rudders aft of it, but it was otherwise quite fun to drive. I put the tug build aside for a few weeks as a guy I met at the lake asked me if I’d restore his late grandfather’s Pond Yacht that he built in a German POW camp! I jumped at the chance and it’s going well too. I’ll send more on both of these as it comes to life.



 

   Part 2  
I’ve gotten underway with the Tug build and so far, I’ve made a fibreglass hull and deck using the kit plastic ones as moulds. It worked out well and I’m very pleased with the finish. I’d highly recommend this to others as long as you keep the resin layers thin and seal the plastic well with a moulding film and wax etc to prevent perishing of the styrene. The glass is much tougher and doesn’t need all of the reinforcing that’s required for the plastid deck etc. I’ve fitted the prop shaft and some frames and I’m now starting on setting up the motor and other electrics.


 

   Part  3  

Dear May hemmers!

The Tugboat is finally finished. It’s had its ups and downs over the past months. Literally! I sunk it twice during testing by having the hatches less than waterproof. She’s a bit different from the original kit version in that the hull and deck are GRP. (Fibreglass) and she has an extra bit of keel on the bottom with some very high-tech ballast in it for stability. (A cold chisel) Jimmy Barnes’d love it!

I changed the battery set-up too, by replacing the 6v lead-acid with a 3300 mah NIMH pack. This and the ‘high-tech’ keel helped with the stability a lot. I decided not to put the white stripes on the hull as I like it all black and it’s not a true scale build anyway. The performance is quite impressive now and it puts up a nice bow wave and turns pretty well.

See a video clip at: http://www.magpieyachts.com/files/TugBanckertGrandLaunch.MPG

The range isn’t that good though. The lighter batteries are a compromise. I’ll just have to schedule my boating days to have my tugboat fix first and then move on to the yachts or the sub I’m building.
That’s another story; I love all kinds of models and I’ve decided to have a go at a U47 kit from ‘Robbe’, with a ‘Modelbrass’ brass etched deck kit and a few other mods that will no-doubt come to mind during the build. I can’t seem to stick to rules and plans aye? Funny that, it must be my up bringing. I got the cuts most days at the Tech school.
If I find I can afford it, I want to add an Engle ballast tube too. They dynamic dive pretty well, but they won’t let you sneak up on ducks and scare the hell out of the old ladies feeding them, or surface under targets (The dark side’s term for surface boats). I think I’ll make a good Gunther Prien (U47 Captain WW2).
Once I get under way with the sub, I’ll send some more ravings.
Regards
Jason


 

All for now.

Regards,
Jason Pilgrim


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