25 year old scale Neptune

Often forgot about but boats are a great way for the youngsters to get into radio control or even the oldies!
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bluejets
Posts: 316
Joined: 19 Jun 2019, 04:09

25 year old scale Neptune

Post by bluejets »

Few photos of the little scale Neptune I built ages ago.
Engine is one of George Punters castings (block and rear cam casing) all else built as my first engine back then.
7.5cc water cooled head four stroke, individual cams at the rear. Carby was from a small old OS engine from the 50's. Idles down great with glow assist and 4:1 methanol/castor. Used to be a line of kids up down at the local pond when my 2 boys and I would go sailing.
Other kids waiting for a 2 minute "can I "ave a go"

Boat started out as a foam plug for a mold but took so much time I decided to sheet the inside and fibreglass the exterior.
One can see the difference between the auto laquer finish and the spray can colours how the latter changes over time.
Bit dusty in the pics as they were taken in my kitchen just after the 2013 flood here that destroyed a life time of work.
Currently putting finishing touches on a 1940's Rivierra with a 4 cylinder engine I built. Started when my grandson was born and told him I'd have it finished by the time he was 6. Turned 15 a few months back :)
I'll poke some pics of that in later.
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Neptune_engine.JPG
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Wayne_H
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Location: Temora, NSW. Australia
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Re: 25 year old scale Neptune

Post by Wayne_H »

Very nice ;)
Cheers,

Wayne
Once a Retrobate, always a Retrobate............ ;)
bluejets
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Re: 25 year old scale Neptune

Post by bluejets »

Phil_G wrote: 24 Jun 2019, 18:10I've just treated myself to a DragonForce 65 but the assembly instructions are written in boatese so I have to look up every single term!
Cheers
Phil
Been looking at similar myself lately.
Purpose built lake from the 90's has been put off limits to any and all powered model boats by the local council here.
Now just a big duck pond.
Recently built a Chinglish piper cub from Hobbyking that had a similar manual.
Luckily there were a couple of different versions with a manual on Google so between the 2 it helped ( sort of).
The rest was down to prior experience. :)
Colonel Blink
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Location: Ilkley, UK

Re: 25 year old scale Neptune

Post by Colonel Blink »

Phil_G wrote: 24 Jun 2019, 18:10......but the assembly instructions are written in boatese so I have to look up every single term!
I inherited a part built boat kit as well - a Lesro trawler 'Odette' if I recall correctly - and had exactly the same problem....."False rebates" anyone...??? I was also quite shocked to be using nails in the construction as well!
:lol: :lol:
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RON
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Re: 25 year old scale Neptune

Post by RON »

That door in the second picture looks so real, I can just imagine someone walking through it.

Very nice.

Ron.
G0MBV Class A Radio Amateur, North Yorkshire
Martin
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Re: 25 year old scale Neptune

Post by Martin »

Very nice. How does the water cooling work? What causes the water to flow? Is it a closed circuit and the water would eventually boil away?
Tobe
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Re: 25 year old scale Neptune

Post by Tobe »

...I'm guessing he has a pick up just behind the propeller and but before the rudder and that is normally more then enough.
Cheers,

Tobe
Martin
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Re: 25 year old scale Neptune

Post by Martin »

But the cooling pipes seem to be connected to that 'tank' in front of the engine. What is that?
bluejets
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Re: 25 year old scale Neptune

Post by bluejets »

Martin wrote: 25 Jun 2019, 17:22 But the cooling pipes seem to be connected to that 'tank' in front of the engine. What is that?
Water cooling indeed comes from a pickup tube near the prop. It can be seen in the prop photo.
Upsweep of the home built brass prop forces water up the tube.

Brass tube carries water supply up to the engine area and then green tubing into the head.
The brass exhaust tubing is coiled to allow for engine vibration.

From there the water flows out of the head and into the exhaust pipe to make sure it is cool as it passes through the hull.

Latter also serves as the usual "tell-tale" that cooling water is actually flowing.

Brass tank also has green silicon tubing up to the carby with another tube as vent leading to the outside of the hull.
To refuel, line is slipped off the carby and fuel fed in until it squirts out the vent line.
Runs about 20 minutes on each refill.

Maximum speed is a little over walking pace with an idle to kill for.:)
One can actually see the pulses from the prop at idle in the water.

Running lights and interior lights also work well for night time running.
2 channel radio with a glow assist unit I used to make here for aircraft.

My mate always said that when making a model be sure to put plenty of little things for people to look at.
Some may not be actually scale but..........
bluejets
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Re: 25 year old scale Neptune

Post by bluejets »

Engine run after service ......

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