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Macedonian, a British Frigate of 38 guns,c.1812, in 1:36 scale for RC sailing
Initially, I was going to put the same brace-winch set-up in Macedonian that I have in Constellation, but trying to control the tacks of the courses with flat winches wasn't going to work. Keeping the braces on their drums without any gear-shifting (like the derailer on a 10-speed bycycle).
I stuck Mac's pallet with her brace winches in a vice to do something to it, when it struck me to plug a winch servo in and play with the idea of turning the winches on their sides. It seemed to work well, even with significant slack in the lines. I 3D modeled the idea, to figure out how I'd mount the servos.
Recently, while doing some research for a web-page on RC sail controls, I came across a video on Youtube where Georg Reinbold explains the brace winches on his bark Nernberg. The function was as I had found with my experiment above, but it was the way it was built that really appealed to me.
So I drew up a rig specifically to fit Macedonian. I mounted the winch drums for each mast on a single frame because unlike Nernberg, I'm not actively controlling every yard; like Constellation, I'm only controlling the tops'l yard on each mast, and the tacks of the fore and main course sails. The tacks because that what matters when sailing a square-rigger on the wind. The frame holding the drums will sit on a pair of beams fixed inside the hull. The servo mounts will be on a small deck below that, probably resting on another pair of beams. Another 3D model was made to check sizes and clearances.
I looked closely at the construction of Georg's winch drums to see how the braces are attached (and a failed first attempt show in another of his videos). It seems there's a hole in the axle at each drum, and the brace is threaded through and knotted.
I'm concerned the knot could interfere with or snag the brace as the drum turns, so I'm thinking of using a larger diameter brass tube instead of a rod, for the axles. The brace would thread through the hole in the drum and into the tube, and it's knot would be inside the tube.
Hopefully this will allow me to rig the tacks on the courses, and if it all comes together, I'll probably retrofit it to Constellation.
I stuck Mac's pallet with her brace winches in a vice to do something to it, when it struck me to plug a winch servo in and play with the idea of turning the winches on their sides. It seemed to work well, even with significant slack in the lines. I 3D modeled the idea, to figure out how I'd mount the servos.
Recently, while doing some research for a web-page on RC sail controls, I came across a video on Youtube where Georg Reinbold explains the brace winches on his bark Nernberg. The function was as I had found with my experiment above, but it was the way it was built that really appealed to me.
So I drew up a rig specifically to fit Macedonian. I mounted the winch drums for each mast on a single frame because unlike Nernberg, I'm not actively controlling every yard; like Constellation, I'm only controlling the tops'l yard on each mast, and the tacks of the fore and main course sails. The tacks because that what matters when sailing a square-rigger on the wind. The frame holding the drums will sit on a pair of beams fixed inside the hull. The servo mounts will be on a small deck below that, probably resting on another pair of beams. Another 3D model was made to check sizes and clearances.
I looked closely at the construction of Georg's winch drums to see how the braces are attached (and a failed first attempt show in another of his videos). It seems there's a hole in the axle at each drum, and the brace is threaded through and knotted.
I'm concerned the knot could interfere with or snag the brace as the drum turns, so I'm thinking of using a larger diameter brass tube instead of a rod, for the axles. The brace would thread through the hole in the drum and into the tube, and it's knot would be inside the tube.
Hopefully this will allow me to rig the tacks on the courses, and if it all comes together, I'll probably retrofit it to Constellation.