Got a bit distracted (again)

Okay, so whilst I've been championing the "Do Something else...." mantra (and then promptly did some work over the weekend, but it was by choice, not pressured), I managed to hookup the equipment that I had for my old radio controlled boat.

Now, I confess, I did not build this boat.  I did have a boat that I built when I was about 14-ish, it was a 4ft massive beast that I built with my grandad, he managed to get hold of an old glow-plug engine that baffled me and before we had the chance to fit it, I returned home and the boat never got finished.  Then when I was about 21-ish, I sold the boat to my sisters husband (at the time), who was an RC car enthusiast, he rebuilt the engine and got it working, but never fitted it into the boat - I then bought the boat back and was going to get the radio gear and finish it off......then it sat in a cupboard for many many years until I eventually decided it should go to someone who will finish it off, yep, I put it on eBay and it went for a mighty sum!  mainly because it was original and wasn't finished - apparently very desirable.  If you take a look, you'll see such boats selling now for around the £750 mark...wow.

Anyway, roll forward until a couple of years back and I wanted to do something with robots and autonomy, as you can see from my history, I'd built Arduino robots, visual recognition processing etc... but I wanted something a little bigger and different.  So, whilst at an antiques fair, I stumbled over this lovely looking old boat.  Now, it's about 1/2 the size of my old boat, but it was at the same stage, someone had got to fit the prop-shaft and rudder, but nothing else.  I got it for a super bargain price of £35.  It needs a repaint and re-sanding, if you're after perfect, but as it is it's absolutely fine.

I ma de a temporary stand for it and went off on a mission to figure out what "bits" I needed to make it fully radio controlled.  I bought a Reflex Stick Pro 3, 2 channel, BEC system radio controller that came with a BEC receiver and a little servo.  I did some research and purchased a Mtroniks Viper Marine 20 ESC.  What's that?  well, it's a little unit that you plug everything into in the boat - a bit like a car ECU.  I also purchased a DC motor (although I don't have the box details anymore).



These then sat nicely in a box on the shelf under the boat for, let's see....maybe 3 years now?  Yep, I would see the boat every time I worked from home as I had to pass it to walk out of the office.  I did spend from July 2018 until about December 2019 working away from home, so it was fair to say, I could have worked on it over the weekends, but I had no reason to go into my home office.

Anyway, long story short, I made a comment to my manager that, "hey the COVID-19 lockdown, might actually get me to finish off my boat".  So I thought, why not.


It took me about 10 minutes to figure out how to connect the radio gear and get it working (outside of the boat).  wow, I should have done this sooner!  then I realised I didn't have a prop-shaft coupler, so ordered one online (it should arrive soon).  However, I still need to make an engine mount platform (okay, that's another 10 minutes).  Then the boat will be done.



(Not quite sure what the whining noise is when the power goes through to the DC Motor, but I'm sure I'll figure out if it's something serious or not!)




Proof that the radio kit works using all the components.

Now, as I say, just waiting for the prop-shaft coupling and I can put it all together and go test it out in Pond#2.

I've decided that pond#2 is too small, pond#1 is 1/3 the size of that one!  So, Pond#3 is now under design and construction.  The previous builder who lived/built the house I live in, made this lovely decked area down the other end of the garden, with a nice little hut/house thing that we put the hot-tub/spa inside, but the rest of the space outside of it is just decking.  It's a bit odd, I've been wondering what to do with it.  I've lifted up a few planks and it's about 2ft deep, already got (old) pond lining to keep out the weeds, so I'll lift the rest, it's probably about 12ftx8ft wide, so I'll make it into a boating lake!!!  Then, if I'm feeling more adventurous later in the year, I might connect the 2 ponds up with a canal way between them, we'll see, that's a stretch goal!

What it'll mean is that I can use / test the boat out whilst we're all still in lockdown.  There is a proper boating lake in Warminster, I know, I've been there before on a Sunday morning and taken a look.  It's rather large, so will be more than enough for my boat - but that's for POST-Lockdown!



So, what was the distraction....well, I was in the garage prepping to replace the battery on my old 1959 Austin A35 (the +ve earth strap is corroded away and causes the car to stop) and I looked up to the shelf above and I saw my SHERMAN TANK - it's radio controlled and fire's BB-pellets etc... it's a 1/16 scale I believe.  Anyway, I was thinking to myself, I wonder if I could make that autonomous too.... I've got the Raspberry Pi's, got the cameras, got the WiFi, got the processing power, how about doing something useful with it....

I ummed and arr-ed and I was thinking, it's a bit small.  It might have too much issue driving around the garden, so what I need is a bigger one.  Obviously I went online and found 1/6th scale versions - awesome!!!!  Wow, look at the £2-3000 price tag!  The 1/16th one's are still going for £2-500 though, so not cheap.

I decided, what I really want it one big enough to sit on.  Then I found this man!  and he has answered the question that I haven't asked.  But the answer is "yes".


Oh, this is going to potentially be an expensive lockdown, but it could end up being a lot of fun!









Instead of the lawnmower engine and gearbox, I was thinking of a mobility scooter, electric engine....y'know, eco friendly and all that.  let's see.  although as research has shown, their might not be enough torque, oddly enough, which might be true.  Might need some EV motors from something larger, like a Nissan Leaf or a Tesla!



UPDATE: just stumbled over this guys website (he's not that far away from me), I was looking to see if there were any plans that I could purchase and I'd build the rest.

http://www.mark-1-tank.net/NewMark1/mark1tankhome.htm

and of course, these people do similar 1/6 scale tanks for sale: https://www.armortek.co.uk/



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