RC Playmobil ships !!

[Playmodschungel]

If you buy good parts in a model making shop they are that exactly made that no water enters the ship. The parts are glued in with a 2 component glue made for model making.

[Andy R]

i have some "moral" doubts though on adding an engine to a sailing ship (i am a sailing sailor and tend to despise motor-boats). 

Hmmm...lol, I too have "moral" reservations about adding props to a sailing ship, lol, even for a playmo toy.

I have no such computations.
When I was living in Sacramento, there was a pond about 02 blocks from my apartment (Southside City Park) which you could not, swim in. I wanted to sail my boats there, but without some way to control them (return them to me), I’d have to wait for them to just sort of decide to come home.
One in particular is STILL stuck on the island, where she got caught in the thick foliage and worked her way into the island (unless they’ve removed her sometime in the last year). I will never recover my RESOLUTE, nor her entirely custom crew (and custom outfitting).
I’m all for letting them sail (or just drift) for as long as possible, but when they time comes fro them to return to port, or to avoid danger, I want to know I CAN control them.
(I very much hope someone at Playmobil reads this, BTW, and takes a hint.)

[cachalote]

even if you overcome all moral issues the sad truth is that playmobil saing ships are lousy sailors.
i'm posting some images of some "good" rc boats so that you can better understand my reservations.
the hull shape is not meant to be hidrodynamic, the sailing plan is no more than "schematic", the position of the ballast is too high, the keell almost non-existant, the rudder impossible to efectively customize, all the centers (weight, rotation, sailing) completely ridiculous.

this doesn't mean i don't like my playmo-ships - in fact i love them - it only means they were not designed to go out to sea.

customizing a playmo-motor-boat will no doubt be easier.

[Andy R]

I was able to take my Playmobil ships out and sail them. Granted, it was fairly protected waters, but they’d sail none the less.

[cowabounga]

Hey guys.
I happen to have been a model boat afficionado for quite a long time before. Me and my brother used to build the entire hulls and riggings of our wooden models. We mostly built static models but also some dynamic ones. Either motor or sail boats.
It is true that the Playmobil pirate ships aren't seaworthy but, I think you can add a few actuators to move at least the bottom square sail, the jib and the "latine" sail at the aft, plus a rudder. You won't get a nice schooner, it won't sail fast and you'll have to anticipate the trajectories a lot but, on a wide and sheltered (no waves) surface it might work.
Practically, you'd need three actuators: one for the jib, one for the rudder and a stronger one for the two bigger sails.
Your pirate ship might just be able to sail and come back to you, no more castaway customs on Sacramento Islands!
Cheers.
Arnaud

[BlackPearl2006]

Hey guys.
I happen to have been a model boat afficionado for quite a long time before. Me and my brother used to build the entire hulls and riggings of our wooden models. We mostly built static models but also some dynamic ones. Either motor or sail boats.
It is true that the Playmobil pirate ships aren't seaworthy but, I think you can add a few actuators to move at least the bottom square sail, the jib and the "latine" sail at the aft, plus a rudder. You won't get a nice schooner, it won't sail fast and you'll have to anticipate the trajectories a lot but, on a wide and sheltered (no waves) surface it might work.
Practically, you'd need three actuators: one for the jib, one for the rudder and a stronger one for the two bigger sails.
Your pirate ship might just be able to sail and come back to you, no more castaway customs on Sacramento Islands!
Cheers.
Arnaud

Well, to sail back to us even if the wind is blowing away, we'd have to at least add some sort of functional keel to the ship so we can tack against the wind.  Most of the sails including the spanker can probably be slave rigged to one actuator (I've seen it done).  I think we'd have to install a real flag made of light whispy fabrik atop the mast so we can tell what the actual wind directinon is in relation to our ship more acurately (that way we can adjust the sails and rudder accordingly to stay on course).

Functionality is no problem.  It's stability and a keel that needs work if we're simply using wind.  With full canvas, the boats are easily capsized in my experience.  Motor or not, the one thing for sure I'm installing on my 3286 is a keel.

[Andy R]

One thing I simply can NOT understand is why they don’t make the ship’s counterweight/stabilizer (part #3Ø 67 167Ø, et el) into a remote control system; It’s more than big enough to do the job as-is (make it a little longer and you could even fit a D-Cell battery for longer sailing time)…
Just FRUSTRATING, seriously.

[WarriorOfToys]

One thing I simply can NOT understand is why they don’t make the ship’s counterweight/stabilizer (part #3Ø 67 167Ø, et el) into a remote control system; It’s more than big enough to do the job as-is (make it a little longer and you could even fit a D-Cell battery for longer sailing time)…
Just FRUSTRATING, seriously.

That would be REALLY nice.

[cachalote]

maybe you can help me with this "objection".
how can you sail a playmo-schooner (as an example) close hauled? it has (like all its bigger sisters) a square sail.
as i see it, the only way to make it sail (with "moveable" sheets and rudder) would be to launch it so that it would sail in reaching.
otherwise, you will never get it back.
  am i making sense?  am i wrong?

[BlackPearl2006]

I think to tack against the wind on the schooner you'd have to draw the square sail and rely on the jibs and lanteen, mainly because on the playmobil ships the shrouds get in the way of the square sail being able to pivot much more than a few degrees, and the square sails cannot be tacked.  Regardless of being able to use the square sail or not, to tack against the wind we need a true keel, long and true.  You cannot sail close hauled without a keel to negate lateral forces and redirect them in the ship's forward direction.  Otherwise the playmobil ship is nothing more than a bowl floating aimlessly in the water.

As far as getting her back, in either case, even with a motor, I would attach a line to her stern (up high so as not to be entangled with the propeller, if you have a motor installed) so you can pull her back if she gets too far away.  My other idea on this would be to let her sail free, but use a remote control tug to taxi her back to shore if you have to.  Or eliminate the tug altogether and install props to act in a tug's stead.

I see no shame in adding a motor for backup purposes; even modern tallship replicas like the Lady Washington have motors for taxying and when the wind is not ideal.  I do know, however, that the Lady Washington relys on the wind majority of the time, which can carry them at times even faster than their on-board engine at full speed.