Model yachting
Encyclopedia
Scale model
A scale model is a physical model, a representation or copy of an object that is larger or smaller than the actual size of the object, which seeks to maintain the relative proportions of the physical size of the original object. Very often the scale model is used as a guide to making the object in...
yacht
Yacht
A yacht is a recreational boat or ship. The term originated from the Dutch Jacht meaning "hunt". It was originally defined as a light fast sailing vessel used by the Dutch navy to pursue pirates and other transgressors around and into the shallow waters of the Low Countries...
s. It has always been customary for ship
Ship
Since the end of the age of sail a ship has been any large buoyant marine vessel. Ships are generally distinguished from boats based on size and cargo or passenger capacity. Ships are used on lakes, seas, and rivers for a variety of activities, such as the transport of people or goods, fishing,...
-builders to make a miniature model of the vessel
Ship
Since the end of the age of sail a ship has been any large buoyant marine vessel. Ships are generally distinguished from boats based on size and cargo or passenger capacity. Ships are used on lakes, seas, and rivers for a variety of activities, such as the transport of people or goods, fishing,...
under construction, which is in every respect a copy of the original on a small scale, whether steamship or sailing ship
Sailing ship
The term sailing ship is now used to refer to any large wind-powered vessel. In technical terms, a ship was a sailing vessel with a specific rig of at least three masts, square rigged on all of them, making the sailing adjective redundant. In popular usage "ship" became associated with all large...
. There are fine collections to be seen at both general interest museums such as the Victoria and Albert Museum
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum , set in the Brompton district of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and at many specialized maritime museums worldwide. Many of these models are of exquisite workmanship, every rope
Rope
A rope is a length of fibres, twisted or braided together to improve strength for pulling and connecting. It has tensile strength but is too flexible to provide compressive strength...
, pulley
Pulley
A pulley, also called a sheave or a drum, is a mechanism composed of a wheel on an axle or shaft that may have a groove between two flanges around its circumference. A rope, cable, belt, or chain usually runs over the wheel and inside the groove, if present...
or portion of the engine
Engine
An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert energy into useful mechanical motion. Heat engines, including internal combustion engines and external combustion engines burn a fuel to create heat which is then used to create motion...
being faithfully reproduced. In the case of sailing
Sailing
Sailing is the propulsion of a vehicle and the control of its movement with large foils called sails. By changing the rigging, rudder, and sometimes the keel or centre board, a sailor manages the force of the wind on the sails in order to move the boat relative to its surrounding medium and...
yachts, these models were often pitted against each other on small bodies of water, and hence arose the modern pastime. It was soon seen that elaborate fittings and complicated rigging
Rigging
Rigging is the apparatus through which the force of the wind is used to propel sailboats and sailing ships forward. This includes masts, yards, sails, and cordage.-Terms and classifications:...
were a detriment to rapid handling, and that, on account of the comparatively stronger winds in which models were sailed, they needed a greater draught
Draft (hull)
The draft of a ship's hull is the vertical distance between the waterline and the bottom of the hull , with the thickness of the hull included; in the case of not being included the draft outline would be obtained...
. For these reasons modern model yachts, which usually have fin keels, are of about 15% or 20% deeper draught than full-sized vessels, while rigging and fittings have been reduced to absolute simplicity. This applies to models built for racing and not to elaborate copies of steamers and ships, made only for show or for " toy cruising."
Model yacht clubs
Model yacht clubs have existed for many years in Great BritainGreat Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, most of them holding a number of regatta
Regatta
A regatta is a series of boat races. The term typically describes racing events of rowed or sailed water craft, although some powerboat race series are also called regattas...
s during each season. The rules do not generally require the owner or skipper of a model to build his own craft, but among model yachtsmen the designing and the construction of the boat
Boat
A boat is a watercraft of any size designed to float or plane, to provide passage across water. Usually this water will be inland or in protected coastal areas. However, boats such as the whaleboat were designed to be operated from a ship in an offshore environment. In naval terms, a boat is a...
s constitute as important and interesting a part of the sport as the actual sailing.
Construction and rigging
Traditional models are constructed of some light, seasoned woodWood
Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...
, such as pine
Pine
Pines are trees in the genus Pinus ,in the family Pinaceae. They make up the monotypic subfamily Pinoideae. There are about 115 species of pine, although different authorities accept between 105 and 125 species.-Etymology:...
, preferably white pine
Western White Pine
Western White Pine, Pinus monticola in the family Pinaceae, is a species of pine that occurs in the mountains of the western United States and Canada, specifically the Sierra Nevada, the Cascade Range, the Coast Range, and the northern Rocky Mountains. The tree extends down to sea level in many...
, white cedar
White Cedar
White Cedar may refer to several different trees:* Cupressaceae:** Chamaecyparis thyoides – Atlantic White Cypress** Cupressus lusitanica – Mexican White Cedar** Thuja occidentalis – Eastern Arborvitae* Meliaceae:...
or mahogany
Mahogany
The name mahogany is used when referring to numerous varieties of dark-colored hardwood. It is a native American word originally used for the wood of the species Swietenia mahagoni, known as West Indian or Cuban mahogany....
free from knots. The hull
Hull (watercraft)
A hull is the watertight body of a ship or boat. Above the hull is the superstructure and/or deckhouse, where present. The line where the hull meets the water surface is called the waterline.The structure of the hull varies depending on the vessel type...
may either be hollowed out of a solid block of wood, or cut from layers of planks in the so-called bread-and-butter style, or planked over a frame of keel and cross-sections. The first two methods are used in constructing dugout
Dugout (boat)
A dugout or dugout canoe is a boat made from a hollowed tree trunk. Other names for this type of boat are logboat and monoxylon. Monoxylon is Greek -- mono- + ξύλον xylon -- and is mostly used in classic Greek texts. In Germany they are called einbaum )...
models. Hollowing out from the solid block entails a great deal of labor and has therefore fallen into disfavor. In the bread-and-butter style a number of planks, which have been shaped to the horizontal sections of the model and from which the middle has been saw
Saw
A saw is a tool that uses a hard blade or wire with an abrasive edge to cut through softer materials. The cutting edge of a saw is either a serrated blade or an abrasive...
n out, are glue
Glue
This is a list of various types of glue. Historically, the term "glue" only referred to protein colloids prepared from animal flesh. The meaning has been extended to refer to any fluid adhesive....
d together and then cut down to the exact lines of the design, templates being used to test the precision of the curves. In the planked, or built-up model, which is generally chosen by more expert builders, the planks are tacked to the frame, as in the construction of large vessels. Hulls may also be formed from modern plastics, which may be purchased from a manufacturer as termomoldings or fiberglass layups or fabricated by the modeler, by first making a positive model from clay or plaster (or using an existing model's hull) and then creating a negative mold from fiberglass or plaster. Models may be exaggerated cutters, so far as their underbodies are concerned, or, more often, are fitted with fin-keels weighted with lead
Lead
Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...
, after the manner of full-sized yachts. They may have any -rig, but schooner
Schooner
A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....
and sloop
Sloop
A sloop is a sail boat with a fore-and-aft rig and a single mast farther forward than the mast of a cutter....
rigs are most common, the latter being the favorite for racing on account of its simplicity.
Mechanical sailing controls
For uncontrolled sailing craft some form of steering control is required, since with a fixed rudder position the model will turn into the wind.Three kinds of steering-gear are used, the weighted swinging rudder
Rudder
A rudder is a device used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft or other conveyance that moves through a medium . On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to counter adverse yaw and p-factor and is not the primary control used to turn the airplane...
, the main-sheet balance gear, and the steering vane, the object of each being to keep the model on a true course, either before or against the wind
Wind
Wind is the flow of gases on a large scale. On Earth, wind consists of the bulk movement of air. In outer space, solar wind is the movement of gases or charged particles from the sun through space, while planetary wind is the outgassing of light chemical elements from a planet's atmosphere into space...
. Models are often sailed without dynamic control of the rudder, but although a perfectly built boat will sail readily against the wind without steering gear, it is almost impossible to keep it on its course before the wind without some contrivance to check for divergence. The setting of the steering gear and sheet positions must be adapted to the wind conditions and this is a subtle art to master. These controls are the traditional methods, for more than 100 years before the advent of radio control and they continue to be used worldwide.
Weighted rudder method
This is accomplished by the weighted rudder, which falls over when the vessel heels and tends to counteract the force of the breeze. There are two varieties of the weighted rudder, in the first of which the weight, usually lead, is fixed to the edge of the rudder, while in the second the weight, usually a ball of lead, is made to run on the tiller above the deckDeck (ship)
A deck is a permanent covering over a compartment or a hull of a ship. On a boat or ship, the primary deck is the horizontal structure which forms the 'roof' for the hull, which both strengthens the hull and serves as the primary working surface...
, so that it can be placed further forward or aft, according to the force needed to overcome the influence of the wind. The weighted rudder is almost universal in the British Isles
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and...
. Weights are also incorporated into the other following methods.
Main sheet balance method
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
uses the main-sheet balance gear, in which the boom is connected with the tiller in such a manner that, when it swings out with a pressure of wind, the rudder is automatically pulled round sufficiently to keep the yacht in its course. This will usually involve some sort of return spring so that the mechanism is responsive to the wind. This apparatus is particularly efficient in sailing before the wind. More modern, computer-based RC transmitters often have mixing circuitry integral to their design, that can "mix" the sheet-balancing, operated with a sail control servo, internally in the transmitter's computerized encoder unit, with the rudder control.
Wind vane method
Radio control
Radio control may be used in many locations. Typically two controls are provided for sailing yacht models, a general–purpose small servo for rudder control and a specialized sail winch to draw in the mainsheet and jib. Motorized craft control rudder and throttle, and perhaps other functions such as reversing, lighting, and mechanical novelties. Other radio controlled watercraft hobbies include the operation and battle engagement of scale model warships (with gas-operated guns intended to sink opponents), and various high speed racing craft driven by powerful engines.Model yacht basin regattas
These occur within a specialized pond or rectangular pool, in which a pole–person will walk down each side of the basin carrying a pole, prepared to push the yachts into an opposite tack before collision with the edge. The operators will usually work one side and a single turner, called a "Liverpool boy" will work the opposite side. In some locations the yachts are adjusted so that they will change tack at some point and so allowing the craft to be operated from one side of a wide pond.
Open water regattas
They take place upon sufficiently large bodies of water to allow a course at least a quarter of a mile in length, which is generally sailed twice or three times over to windward and backward. Triangular courses are also sailed. Racing rules correspond generally to those controlling regattas of large boats, and there is full scope to exhibit all the proofs of good seamanshipSeamanship
Seamanship is the art of operating a ship or boat.It involves a knowledge of a variety of topics and development of specialised skills including: navigation and international maritime law; weather, meteorology and forecasting; watchstanding; ship-handling and small boat handling; operation of deck...
. The yachts are followed in light skiff
Skiff
The term skiff is used for a number of essentially unrelated styles of small boat. The word is related to ship and has a complicated etymology: "skiff" comes from the Middle English skif, which derives from the Old French esquif, which in turn derives from the Old Italian schifo, which is itself of...
s, and may not be touched more than a certain number of times during a race, on penalty of a handicap. Racing measurements differ in the various clubs, but all are based upon length and sail-area. In Great Britain the regular Yacht Racing Association rule has been generally adopted, and handicaps deducted from it. In America models are divided into a single schooner with a maximum load water-line of 63 inches, and three classes of sloops, the first class including yachts with water-lines between 48 and 53 inches, the second class those between 42 and 48 inches and the third and smallest class those between 35 and 42 inches A yacht with a shorter water line than 35 inches must race in the third class. It was previously found that yachts of smaller dimensions possessed too little resistance to the wind. However, model development means that the tiny Footy
Footy (model yacht)
The Footy is a very small radio-control sailboat whose length is a mere 12 inches . The hull can be made from a fiberglass mold or simply with thin sheets of plywood fitted together. Two servos are used, one to control the sail and one for the rudder.-History: Magazine]]"...
class - 12 " long and a boat in your briefcase - is now recognised by the Model Yachting Association in Britain and the American Model Yachting Association in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
as well as being sailed in such countries as New Zealand, Canada, Malta, Sweden, Belgium, Brazil and Denmark.
Powered yachts and scale working craft
With the advent of radio control it has become much more practical to operate motorized craft. While some are powered by water-cooled internal combustion engines and can be very powerful and fast, the noise and fast operation is discouraged in many park settings as too disturbing to patrons, waterfowl and other wildlife. Electric power and low pressure steam engines are popular, with many amateur machinists building engines from castingCasting
In metalworking, casting involves pouring liquid metal into a mold, which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and then allowing it to cool and solidify. The solidified part is also known as a casting, which is ejected or broken out of the mold to complete the process...
kits. Specialized regattas for radio-controlled motorized craft are held that include rubber duck
Rubber duck
A rubber duck is a toy shaped like a stylised Yellow-billed Duck , and is generally yellow with a flat base. It may be made of rubber or rubber-like material such as vinyl plastic...
herding and the simulated rescue of ships in distress by a team of operators controlling a pair of tugboat
Tugboat
A tugboat is a boat that maneuvers vessels by pushing or towing them. Tugs move vessels that either should not move themselves, such as ships in a crowded harbor or a narrow canal,or those that cannot move by themselves, such as barges, disabled ships, or oil platforms. Tugboats are powerful for...
s.
Organizations
- American Model Yachting Association
- British Model Yachting Association
- Footy Class Association
- IOMICA - The International Class Association for the International One Metre Class
- ISAF-RSD The Radio Sailing Division within the International Sailing Federation
- ARYA AUSTRALIAN RADIO YACHTING ASSOCIATION (Inc)
Sailing Classes
- East Coast 12 Meter Class - The EC12 Class is chartered by the American Model Yachting Association
Clubs
- Hove Lagoon Model Yacht Club - West Sussex, UK
- San Francisco Model Yacht Club
- Southwold Model Yacht Club
- U.S. Vintage Model Yacht Group
- Windsor Model Yacht Club - Windsor, ON, Canada
- Canberra Model Yacht Club - Canberra, ACT, AUSTRALIA
- Western Reserve Model Yacht Club - Painesville, OH, USA
See also
- HobbyHobbyA hobby is a regular activity or interest that is undertaken for pleasure, typically done during one's leisure time.- Etymology :A hobby horse is a wooden or wickerwork toy made to be ridden just like a real horse...
- Ship modelShip modelShip models or model ships are scale representations of ships. They can range in size from 1/6000 scale wargaming miniatures to large vessels capable of holding people....
- Wooden Ship Models
- Radio-controlled boatRadio-controlled boat- Fun Sport :Electric Sport boats are the most common type of boat amongst casual hobbyists. Hobby quality boat speed generally start at around 20MPH and go up from there, and can be just as fast or faster than their internal combustion counterparts, with the latest in Lithium Polymer and Brushless...
- Southwold Model Yacht RegattasSouthwold Model Yacht RegattasSouthwold Model Yacht Regattas is model yacht racing club based in the town of Southwold, Suffolk, UK.SMYR was formed in 1894 and the Southwold Regatta has been held every year since. The event is open to all, but radio-controlled boats are prohibited...