Foggy Bottom

Is anyone else building AMSTERDAM (or any of her three sisters, MALABAR, TENACE, or CENTAUR) ? if there are maybe we should talk about the tips and the traps (I have found several) and errors in the kit .(I THINK the kit was designed by someone who never saw a ship)
I have photos of the 3 sisters (NONE of AMSTERDAM) that I will email if you request)
Also: does anyone have photos of any inboard engined, 21 foot RHIB like would be used as a ships boat?

Xfactory

My Feedback: (3)

I am going to start my Latina Amsterdam as soon as I finish my Mr. Darby, I would be very intrested in what you have found out building the kit.

Foggy Bottom

First, And I cannot say this strongly enough, WASH YOUR HULL!! TWO three times! Use the hottest water your hands can stand and STRONG SOAP! they used loads of mold release an nothing sticks to that, You must remove it!

Second Notch your frames at the bottom so the water can run fron one end to the other (that way you can dump it ,or it can reach the bilge pump.

there are accuracy conflicts: she was built with a steerable kort nozzle, AL removed it for cost control this leaves a large spoce between the prop & the rudder which causes poor steering response. There is no port from the main deck to the chian locker (I guess they juet pile ih on deck huh?) The three sisters have a square recess in the hull for the anchor to pull into (I don't know if amsterdam did or not) the picture below is MALABAR

All in all the kit result is toylike, but you CAN "kit-bash" it into a fine tug.

Foggy Bottom

Another thought:
Do all your in the hull installations BEFORE you install the deck, And make sure you can reach all the adjustments & connectors

Foggy bottom

Xfactory

My Feedback: (3)

Thanks for the heads up, I will make sure to wash it well. I found out the hard way to do all my installations before the decks, in fact I like to do some sea trials in my pool before I install the deck. A nozzle shouldn't be too hard to fabricate. I must admit I haven't even opened the box yet, I don't want to be distracted from the Mr. Darby.
Is this your only AL kit, if not what do you think of the others.
Thanks again for the tips, have any pictures of your model ?

LtDoc

Foggy Bottom,
Try here; http://www.tugspotters.com/
Look under the "A"s in the "FotoAlbum" section, there's a small 'blurb' about the Amsterdam and a (not too useful) picture. I didn't look for any of the Amsterdam's sister ships, they may be there too.
- 'Doc

Foggy Bottom

sorry Doc, thera's nothing there but the opening page and the sponsors pages
Dave

Yakumo

look agai I'm seeing it all

LtDoc

Dave,
If I 'look' using 'IE' I get what you're seeing, nothing. If I use 'Netscape', the various catagoties show up. No idea what's going on, sorry...
- 'Doc

JBoss

My Feedback: (1)

Cant help you with the Ansterdam but here is my scratch biult Northern Clipper Bouy Tender. A work in progress[image

I'll send some more recent pics soon

JimB

Foggy Bottom

Nice Looking boat!
Most of my parts Came and I MAY have the hull in the water before hell freezes over!(Now the superstructure I'm not sure of)
Dave

LtDoc

Foggy',
Don't worry about the superstructure, it's not supposed to be in the water anyway... (O)(-).
- 'Doc

(sorry 'bout that)


PS - Got the kit yesterday! Gathering 'stuff' I forgot about. Got sawdust on everything. Just happier than a pig in mud...

Foggy Bottom

No pictures yet, Just finishing fairing in the kort nozzle & it's mounts. At the same time (while the filler hardens) building watertight (and RF tight) boxes for the electronics(This boat will run on salt water and salt water is very distructive) Motor, bow thruster, bilge pump, cooling water pump, rudder servo all installed.
Like you say , HAPPIER THAN A PIG AT HIGH TIDE"

JBoss

My Feedback: (1)

Hey foggy bottom. Sounds like an addiction to me, And I am speaking from expreience. Just way to much fun. I just installed a RAM deisel digital sound board with a nice 4" speaker. Way cool. When girls say somthing is cool you know you have a winner.

A never finished work in progress

JBoss

LtDoc

Hmm. Just got the stuffing box and prop shaft installed and it seems to be a very tight fit for the shaft, doesn't turn freely. I probably bent the stuffing box slightly when installing it, sigh.

As long as this kit has been around I'd think 'A.L.' would have corrected a few of the obvious 'boners' by now. The platform for the rudder support is a real 'kludge', doesn't fit anywhere near 'right'. The solution of bracing it with silicon is really nasty looking, but I'm too lazy to 'fix' it. The over all quality of wood/parts isn't bad at all, so if that's my only complaint I guess I should just shut up. Aggrivating, though.

I also learn best by making mistakes, unfortunately! Before painting, seal the wooden parts! I'll probably have to sand and add ~several~ more coats of paint. Some spots on the wooden panels absorb paint better than others. As in, "Where the @#$% did the paint go?" (LOL)!

Oh well, that's what makes it so much 'fun'...
- 'Doc

JBoss

My Feedback: (1)

Here is the latest Picture of my Bouy Tender.

JImB

Foggy Bottom

Doc if you only bent the box a little, you can coat your shaft with toothpaste, and work it till it feels free, then wash it well and lube it (I use CV joint grease.)
Other parts of life have forced their way between me 'N my boat but I Do get SOMETHING DONE every day . tomorrow (After the doctor, I will add yet another coat of filler and measure out where the "portholes" go Not as miny as are on the kit though.
the kort nozzle is installed 7 lookin' good as is the rudder. I'm fabricating the electrolytic plates (but I WILL letter them in english.)d
I'm fabricating a water resistant box for the reciever, both speed controls, the sound board, the bilge pump controls, and the switch module. The camera and it's tranrmitter will be in the superstructure.

LtDoc

Foggy Bottom,
Toothpaste! I didn't think of that. I'll try it!
I'm progressing about 'normal', meaning that I wish there were more hours in the day. I've gotten most of the superstructure done, sort of. Painted most of it and installed the windows. Didn't think far enough ahead, so am going to have to hand paint it again (can't figure out how to mask the windows to spray paint it). The rounded portions of the stacks was a real pain. (I know why the thing is going to weigh so much, must'a used half a pound of 'plastic' wood to fill the gaps/dents/goofs so far.) Running out of glue again, rats (does CA come in gallon containers??). Oh well, that's what makes it fun...
- 'Doc

fgroza

My Feedback: (2)

I'm in the process of build one of the Latina kits. Nice cutting on the supplied wood. I'm running a 5 blade brass prop driven by a very large ballbearing 12/24vdc motor. I did all of the "internals" before glueing on the deck. I should have it finished this winter. I plan on adding a lot of lights, sound and detail. This should be a great boat to take to the pond.
Frank

pro27

I've had my Amsterdam since last fall but didn't start building it until early this spring. Fitting it in between other projects.

Other than one 'easy-built' scratch built ship from plans, this is my first 'scale' ship. I am enjoying the challange. I am building according to plans as I'm not too concerned as to scale accuracy this time around. Also, not having built something like this, I'm shooting from the hip. I'm pleased with my efforts so far.

The hull is completed and am currently working on the superstructure. It's set up as a basic two function right now (rudder and speed control). I may add a few things later on if I get the urge.

Here are a few pics....

pro27

A couple more pics. It's hard to make out the rounded front edges of the superstructure, but I cheated here...and the results were wonderful.

pro27

Here is the superstructure corners. Filler has been applied. The upper portion has ben sanded smooth already, the rest yet to be done.
Instead of the ramin strip wood, I cut an approximate shape from 1/16 a-grain balsa (very bendable) and CA'd one side in place. Then I bent the balsa over and trimmed the other edge to fit flush and then CA'd that into place. The back sides were then saturated with thin ca to stiffen the balsa. Filler applied to the seams. After final sanding, the outer surface will also be saturated with thin ca to stiffen and harden it.

pro27

The funnels were also done in one piece balsa. They turned out great..... and require a lot less sanding and filler to get them to shape.

pro27

I do have one big problem though........

The supplied prop managed to get dropped on the workshop floor and then stepped on...[X(]
One blade is broke off.

I now need a replacement that won't cost big $$. Nylon/plastic would be fine, (and cheaper), brass is $$. I measured it at ~60 mm diameter (2 3/8"). It is also for a 4mm thread.

Any suggestions ?

fgroza

My Feedback: (2)

Mark,
email me your address and I'll send you the one from my kit. I have a brass one for mine. No charge!!
[email protected]

Frank