OPUS rig kit

Well it’s been a long haul what with the major computer crash and loss of all sorts of important things but it’s a new PC, a new year and a new start

To kick off 2010 we have the new OPUS rig kit available now as pre-production kits. Meaning that I do not have stock on the shelves yet but any orders I receive will be filled in received order as I complete the initial kits, finish the instruction sets etc. These will be the same as full production kits it’s just that you will not get them quite so quickly.

The OPUS rig available initially has 140 sq.in. of area and is a good sized ‘working rig’ for average conditions from light winds up to a good blow.

The kit consists of a pre-assembled carbon fibre/aluminum boom unit which carries the rig pivot and mast mounting stub. The sail will be pre-cut with holes and requires a series of sailcloth loops to be attached along the leading edge to attach it to the mast. The carbon fibre mast tube requires a little epoxy work to attach the carbon fibre mast crane and binding on the lower end. After that it’s just down to tying a few knots and plugging the whole rig together. A mast tube will be included in the kit too. So you will be required to do some work, reasonably accurately, but nothing too difficult to achieve on the proverbial kitchen table

There will be full written instructions (working on that now) to our usual step-by-step standard plus a whole new section on the ScaleSailing Photo CD which will cover all assembly plus a ‘how to tune your OPUS rig’ section which we hope you will find very useful.

The OPUS rig will suit many of the footy designs on the market with the addition of the mast pivot tube included in the rig kit. A little experimentation will be required initially to find the correct position, maybe add a set of three mast tubes to allow experimentation. Once a database of converted designs is collated (with your help thank you) then that information will become available too.

I have sailed the OPUS rig throughout 2009 including taking 2nd place at the 2009 Sheboygan Footy Fest which had a good competitive entry again last year, on it’s first serious outing. It is an easy rig to sail and easy to set up for good performance. I hope that you will enjoy it if you decide to give it a try. See http://www.scalesailing.com/product.htm

Graham

computers computers computers… crash

I have a major virus, or adware attack, I don’t know which because it has disabled all of my scanning software. I am gradually salvaging information and transferring it to a new desktop and my laptop. I have however lost many emails so there may be some of you who read this who have not had a reply etc. from me in the last two weeks. If so please accept my appologies and contact me again at my scalesailing@sbcglobal.net address only please.

 

Thank you,
Graham McAllister

Dragon Tales 2…

The final prototype of the Dragon is being built and this is being documented to form the photo building sequence for the new kit ‘photo. CD’ in the instruction set.

As mentioned in the previous post about this boat the deck will feature a dinghy style spray rail to deflect water from the mast tube. This gives Dragon quite a distinct appearance and for me more of a feeling of the real thing. The rail is tabbed into the deck for easy location. The large hatch gives quick and easy access to the radio control equipment. Construction of the hatch is based on concentric laser cut ‘rings’ of plywood to ensure a good fit. Subsequent varnishing controls just how tight the hatch fits. On the two test boats for this method no fastennings were required, the hatch simply snaps on and has proven watertight even in heavy winds.

Construction will follow our usual clean and simple approach. The forward cavity contains the two part plywood mast tube foot which locates the carbon mast tube and is sealed at the bottom with epoxy. The servo tray/keel support is in the main radio bay. There is lots of excess bouyancy provided by the foam core construction so like the Kittiwake K2, Dragon will be unsinkable

Graham

Kittiwake K2 hits 400+

The Kittiwake design of footy has become something of a standard in the footy world to my immense joy. At the beginning of October K2 number 400  was part of a three kit fleet which went to the Czech Republic and they have become  some of the first (if not the first) footys to be registered in that country.  I hope you enjoy them and the fun racing they will give you and your friends Phillip.

In August three kits went to Osaka, Japan too, I think they were the first K2’s to arrive there too. I should make an up to date list of countries where Kittiwakes create their little wakes, just for fun.

People who are unfamilier with the name have asked me what a Kittiwake is. Well from Wikipedia…

The kittiwakes are two closely related seabird species in the gull family Laridae, the Black-legged Kittiwake (R. tridactyla) and the  Red-legged Kittiwake (R. brevirostris). The  “Black-legged” and “Red-legged” are used to distinguish the two species in North America, but in Europe, where R. brevirostris is not found, the Black-legged Kittiwake is often known simply as Kittiwake. Interesting huh

So now we are looking forward to racing through the 400’s and celebrating the sale of Kittiwake K2 number 500! In the meantime we are going to do something I will call ‘K2: Ten Specials’, every tenth kit starting with KW2:410  will be a little bit different  in having coloured sails  or a mix of colours instead of the standard kit white sails.  These specials will be listed on the ‘Specials’ page  http://www.scalesailing.com/specials.htm  at our web site. As each ‘K2: Ten Special’ kit is produced I will list it there. If no one pre-orders it at that stage it will simply go out to the next customer in the usual numerical order. These will sell for the normal price. First come first serve of course and only on the numbers I list on the specials page so you can’t ask for KW2:480 until that batch is in stock and listed ok

Have fun footying…
Graham

a lovely summer

Well it’s been a lovely summer so far here in sunny Sheboygan, Wisconsin. The lakefront is looking beautiful and the lake itself is sparkling daily. My walks along the river have never been more fun and the Opti’s dancing in the harbour more delightful. The coffee tastes great, the music lively, the arts scene busy and the company is entertaining. So this is where I have been, choosing life!

The Kittiwake business is not being neglected though, sales have been good this summer and enough to keep me busy with those rather than any new additions to the fleet. A batch went to Canada for a youth construction project which I hope is going well. I had the first Kittiwake K2 go to the Czech Republic a few weeks ago and a batch of three will be leaving for Japan this week. Supplies have been challenging though, my usual source for carbon extruded tubing has been very slow fulfilling a current order. This is not impacting the K2 kits but it has stopped me being able to start production of the OPUS rigs just yet. Hopefully this will be resolved soon, no doubt there is a huge shipment on it’s way across an ocean somewhere.

Dragon continues to sail well and will be having one change before the final production version, a larger rudder. I have come to the conclusion that the una rig is a little more reluctant to tack than a sloop rig as on the K2 and a more powerful rudder will bring it back to the snappy tacking I think these footys need.

Other news is that the 3x cell battery boxes with integral receiver switch are selling very well. It’s a nice simple solution, I convert the boxes with a servo lead so that they plug directly in to your receiver without a seperate switch harness. Three of the Lithium Energiser dry batteries give plenty of voltage (they are marked as 1.5v but give more like 1.75v even under load) for operating a footy. I have been using the 3xAAA box in the Dragon prototype and it just seems to keep on going and going!

Other other news, my daughter in England just bought her first house so I’m ’chuffed to bits’ for her about that. So I’m told I need a plane ticket to go and help with the painting and decorating. Cheap accomodation, I can camp out on the job . My MGB engine work has just been completed so I’m looking forward to getting my hands back of that and starting assembly intead of stripping things apart. That looks like an over winter rebuild now but I’m determined to have it ready for the spring. Of course my daily runner Ford, isn’t, running that is. But it’s a Ford right, pity it’s only a 4 cylinder or I could get it ‘clunked’!

Anyway, I hope your summer sailing is proving to be fun too. If you are in the northern parts like me, enjoy it while you can, get out of the basement

Graham

Sheboygan Footy Fest ‘09

Sheboygan Footy Fest 2009
May 17th. Wood Lake, Kohler, WI.

Our third annual Footy Fest is in the book and a good and enjoyable event it was. The weather was good with wall to wall sunshine and around the mid 50’s F with a light to moderate NW wind. The forecast was for W swinging to SW but that didn’t happen unfortunately because it would have given us a less flukey wind.

I was there bright and early about 8am to set up and we had our first arrivals after 8.30. Measuring and registration was an easy affair with no controversy to deal with, we don’t do controversy here anyway. I must thank Frank Thorley for the loan of his excellent perspex measuring box, it is so nice to see what is going on in there. We had a good mix of boats and ideas to look at this year with Frank’s new assymetric sterned boat ‘GoldFoot’ and the ‘JimBobs’ from the Tanglewood (FL) guys. It was nice to see a bunch of Kittiwakes come up with their owners from Chicago from the Fleet 4 Commanders club. Three very nicely built boats named ‘Huey’, ‘Louie’ and ‘Dewey’, made me smile. We were running a little late having had some technical difficulties with the bouy launching system so after a friendly skippers meeting we got underway.

The first race went to Graham McAllister with Frank Thorley second and Toby Vetting third. I was sailing my new ‘Dragon’ design with Laser dinghy inspired una rig for the first time competitively so this was an encouraging start. Then ‘Fast’ Frank (GoldFoot) got into gear and took the next 4 races with second and third being shared by Toby Vetting (Kittiwake), myself (Dragon) and John Gallenburger (JimBob). We took some longer breaks between the first couple of races so that we could take a look at the boats which had struggled in the first race and see if the experienced guys could breathe a little more speed into them. This is part of what this Footy Fest is meant to be so it was good to see that the slower boats did improve and were later finishing just a leg or so behind.

After a good lunch break at Quizno’s Subs just along the walkway we were back bang on schedule with a restart at 12.45pm. I took the first race again with ‘Dragon’ with Frank second and John third. Toby Vetting was fourth, Larry Tregear fifth, Larry Schleis sixth, Dick Chvojka seventh and Don Powell eighth. Then ‘Fast’ Frank did it again winning four in a row with Graham, John, Toby and Larry S. sharing second and third. The last race of the day was a very slow affair but fascinating non the less. Graham won this final race with John second and Frank third. During the last two races the wind had dropped very low and some floating weed which had been held against the bank by the wind started to encroach on the course. I came ashore and pulled weed and relaunched in those races as did others so it was becoming very tense as weed avoidance became a part of the tactic. As a result of the weed we called the eleventh race as the last, just one short of our target of twelve races.

So the day was about over and a few guys had already started on their way home so the group shot is missing a few. Jan and I conducted the prize giving in the foyer of our lovely venue at Woodlake. Jan McAllister made the three trophies this year as stained glass plaques which we hope the winners will enjoy owning. The final results were 1st Frank Thorley, 2nd Graham McAllister and 3rd John Gallenburger. The full race-by-race results should be posted somewhere closeby. We hope that everyone who came along felt that they were a winner in some degree, whether they picked up a few tips, made new friends or just had a good day out. It was particularly good to see a young man among the fleet at his first Footy regatta, Adam Zimmermann from the Chicago area. Well done Adam on your 8th place and we hope to see you here again, all it takes is practice and you will be beating us older guys as you have youth and good eyesight on your side!

I would like to thank again Paula Williams of ‘The Shops at Woodlake’ without whose help and encouragement we would not be able to have the use of this lovely venue. Mark Klarkowski who was dragged away screaming by work but provided our bouy set and tug boat launching system. Jan Mcallister for making the trophies and standing all day watching the starts and scoring the finishes. ScaleSailing for sponsoring the trophies and event which keeps this as a ‘free entry’ regatta. Don Reimer who rose literally from his sick bed to help us set up in the morning. Don took 4th place the last two years so would have been a tough guy to beat with his new boat had he been able. Frank Thorley for his Footy Box and encouraging other of his Tanglewood Club members to come along too. And last but not least everyone who came along and took part, first or last, a regatta needs you all.

Full race-by-race results can be seen here

We hope to see you all again next year.

Graham McAllister
Sheboygan Area MYC

 

 

 

 

change of ScaleSailing phone number

We have just changed our phone system here at ScaleSailing and as a result our new phone number is (920) 208 1652. Remember if you have any questions about our kits or need advice about building or sailing our boats, just give me a call 9am to 3pm weekdays.

Graham

Dragon tales…

Lurking below the OPUS rig which has been getting all of the attention lately is my new hull design, the Dragon. Construction is a hybrid form of my usual system, EPS foam core, balsa wood sides, stem and transom with a high density foam bottom. The bottom is 5mm thick and this allows the chine to be easily sanded to give a nicely radiused ’soft’ chine. The deck will be 1/32″ laser cut birch ply and internal structure to our usual pattern, which means simple and as little as possible.

 

The Dragon shape is changing a little from the prototype seen above, the stem or bow will be 1/4″ deeper and the transom 1/8″ shallower. This gives a little more reserve bouyancy at the bow and increases the deck rake a little, the transom angle is being increased too. The trailing bulb is an important feature of Dragon which allows the weight to move aft without compromising the distance between the fin and rudder, and therefore rudder efficiency. As the kit version is being built I will be adding a dinghy style spray rail and a lift off wooden hatch as has proved so effective on the recent Pond Sprites.

Production version of the Dragon foam core. 

The Dragon is a long hulled (fits diagonally in the measurement box) ‘new rules’ boat. She is designed to use a 3x AAA cell battery box for race performance but is definitely capable of carrying a 4x AA battery pack in a standard square battery holder. Being designed for and alongside the new OPUS una rig that is how the kit will be set up.

I am really excited about this project and will be moving ahead with it at full pace. As a result I am going to move forward with this boat ahead of the Pond Sprite project. I also intend to trial the Pond Sprite with the OPUS rig because I know that some people prefer a wider, 12″ long plywood boat and if the combination works then Pond Sprite will be a nice beamy alternative to Dragon. More news as it happens.

Graham

housekeeping

I have been doing a little reorganising around here so I thought I should explain. There is now a new tab or ‘page’ at the top called ‘the OPUS rig’, this is where I will collate all of the information about our Scale Sailing OPUS una rig. Some content will be copied from the normal blog postings so as to keep the information easy to find. All new information about the rig, using it and tuning it will appear on that page so please check it out and watch out for updates.

racing battery boxes

I have secured a supply of 3 cell battery boxes with integral switches. These boxes are in AA and AAA battery sizes. I am converting them for RC Footy use by the addition of a universal receiver plug.

These battery boxes make for a neat installation and save the space and weight of a seperate receiver switch. However you must use ‘Energiser Lithium’ batteries to provide enough voltage from 3 cells rather than the usual 4. These boxes are available from ScaleSailing at $5.90 for either size (AA or AAA). Using any battery size and type you wish is now legal under the new 2009 Footy Rules.