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[gregk9]

Parcel arrived today from the manufacturers, its been a long 2 weeks pacing the carpet waiting for this box to arrive I can tell you. And yep, upon opening the box i was like the proverbial dog with 2 **ks ! [ha ha].
the mouldings are very sharp and edges quite square, very little pitting and what there is needs a little knifing putty to fill over. I order the kit to come complete with their own fitting kit, rudders and propshafts and propellers. they have supplied twin 55mm 4 blade raboesch units.
Ive given the items a good wash in warm soapy water and once dry, considering how warm it was today, took barely a few minutes outside, so took a few pictures if anyone would be interested in seeing one of this companies hulls.

[6705russell]

Top quality as normal from Andy...

Russ

[gregk9]

I agree, I just hope I can do the kit full justice by my own attempts at a full build.

I now also need to chat to Dave @ Action, have to talk "motors & noise !"

I just hope the motors he recommended will take these 55mm props ok.
Will find out when I speak to him on the phone..........

[fatcat123]

As for the motors, I used graupner 900 bb's in my waveney on 60mm 3 bladed props and it motors along nicely.

Probably the wrong choice in many peoples opinion but i don't have any complaints with them.

Please post lots of photos of the build as i'd like to attempt this build at some point.

Dan

P.s, id be very interested to see the fittings also!

[gregk9]

I was recommended 900 bb's by Andy, but these motors are as scares and rockin horse ***t ! as even graupner dont have stock, they are revamping and dont have a delivery date even.

but Action rekon their 755 motors should get this boat to, er, "move" its butt when necessary.

Will do some pics of the fittings and post soon for you, no probs.

[gregk9]

heres the pics of the fitting kit, or "part fitting kit" as labelled. I was pre warned that some of the items were not "Mersey", but the majority of items should be ok. One of the most obvious items for example is the screen wiper arms/blades. Mersey has vertical wipers, from top of screen, but they can soon be replicated in plastic.






















appologies pics are a bit "bright", but trying to get  a bit close to show detail, the flash was a bit too high, but they show enough for you to get an impression.

[stubbsy]

looks great, will follow this build with great interest

stubbsy

[gregk9]

I spoke to Dave at "Action Electronics" this afternoon, er  did my best impression of a kid walking round a toy shop !
Lets put it this way, Dave's got  meat on the table this weekend [ha ha].

I simply told him what Boat i was building and left his expertise to talk me in to the rest !

This Lifeboats going to be built right and I want it to last, so its gonna get the "BEST KIT" I can afford from the start.

Pictures of the electrical stuff will be posted once the , er "parcel" lands.
I know one thing, my local postmans getting quite fit now, with all the bits and pieces he keeps delivering, he's already told me its cheaper for him than going to the gym!

I have cut out the cabin wondows today, being as the weather was so nice yet again, plus its a bit of a grotty dusty job, so way better to do outside fresh air.
I first marked the window edges with a soft pencil, to clearly define the "inner" lip edge. then i drilled a series of 1mm holes around the inside edge line of the pencil makr, thus leaving me a tolerance edge for sanding back by hand later, rather than drill a line of holes right on the edge line and then risk "over sanding" to get a straight edge.
Much better and easier to sand a little off at a time, than find its oversize later.

I will purposely leave the final sanding of the windows untill I actually "test fit" the window kit I have bought, so I know for definate, that each window "will fit" and not just fall right through. I purchased a set from "Speedline" along with a set of 3 figures, to make the boat look a bit "busy" later.













* IF you are wondering what the "BLACK STRIP" is its a piece of thin rubber, normally used as a protective strip on vehicle door sills. Sticky on one side, and has the benefit that it keeps the glass fibre safe from the spinning drill chuck whilst i was drilling all the window holes, so no nasty drill marks to fill afterwards.

It beats using several layers of masking tape, but does just the same job. Yes I got caught out once before doing this trick and cost me a lot of repair time later on, having to fill in several drill chuck marks  in a model, so that stuff stays on till the windows have been test fitted and no need for any mor epower tools near the forward apertures!

[gregk9]

I have recieved my "toy shop" order Supplied by Dave from Action Electronics. I now have ALL the electrical gear to install in to the hull. I will also be fitting operational navigation lights and rotating radar, the radar will be using a similar micro motor as I used in my Egrete Pusher tug build.
I am still working on the underside of the hull, it had a coat of primer, which has highlighted a few more blemishes, so they have again been filled with knifing putty. Unfortunately, my outdoor workshop is out of bounds today, due to the very high winds, so unable to proceed with any flatting or sanding today.
I have also recieved some 1.5mm ply for the main deck and also to enable me to create a cabin interior. I have to say many kind thanks to Steve from Model Boat bits for dropping off at my home "en route" from a delivery. THANKS STEVE !






The "toy Box" contained a dual esc controller, power switch, fuse panel, twin battery protector,p11 "noisey thing" and Amplifier. A 4" speaker and a pair of Dave's 755 motors, which he assures me will be sufficient for this  build.
I also topped the order off with the usb p/c link kit so once ive got used to the "noisey thing", i can then add/modify the boat sounds. Not something to do straightaway i will add, but once its finished and i get bored...................................[ha ha].............. And before the NEXT project of course!

[Dan.Lord]

Looking really nice so far, keep up the good work. 
I got the same set up from Dave for my Waveny, lovely stuff to work with, enjoyed fitting the boxes to the units etc. The sound is excellent too. I'll look forward to seeing her progress. Cheers Dan.

[gregk9]

Thanks for your comments Dan.
this is my first "full fibreglass  project, Ive completed similar with my Sun Tug, but this is more of a challenge being as so little is supplied, as basically, you only get the hull and the cabin shell, nothing else, so loads to construct here.
The hull looked quite good, I did a little bit of filling hee and there, but it was not untill I sprayed with a coat of grey primer did all the minor blemishes and pit holes really show up. So its a case of fill/dry/flat/recheck/reprime/check again.  And do this several times untill nothing is visible through the primer. Then i can wet flat the primer to get a decent level base for the top coats. I want it as a working boat, so I can enjoy sailing it, but also would like it at a standard I can place it on a table and let others view it statically too, so it has to "pass" my exacting standards at each level [ a challenge in itself] !

[gregk9]

I have finally got past the primer stage on the underside of the hull. It has taken many hours, but I was not going to leave any blemishes visible under the paint.
So I have managed to get a coat of white paint on the lower hull, up to the water line. once this has dried, it will get a second coat, prior to painting the darker colour and remasking.

[gregk9]

I have now got a coat of pain on to the hull. I have to admit the hull did take quite a bit of work to fill in a few flaws and blemishes, plus wanted to build up a few layers of paint to add "deepness" to the colours.
I sprayed the white on first, finishing with the deep blue as second coat. I still have to "trim" the pain edge between the two colours, as these pics were taken barely 2 hours after removing the masking.

[stubbsy]

looking good Greg

is the wheel house painted in grey primer?  i did read somewere on here that white primer make the orange brighter and grey makes it very dark.

you are making great progress

stubbsy

[fatcat123]

I can vouch for that aswell in regard to the primer.

Made that mistake on my Waveney.

Looking good though!

Dan

[Number 6]

Hi there, prime it with white, DON'T use grey it'll come out WAY too dark. Here speaks the voice of experience, made that mistake myself once.   Looking great by the way, Dave. 

[gregk9]

Thanks for the comments about the grey primer guys, but what I do "from experience" is do all the marking and cutting/filing work in grey primer "state", I find the grey primer helps to highlight more marks in the surface than white ever does, "untill too late that is". So I leave in grey primer untill complete and ready for paint, then I will use white primer before the colour coats.
The hull was fully sprayed in grey primer and the white colour came up ok on that by the way!
The hull was supplied "in white" and I have to say it was only when I sprayed it with grey primer all the flaws and pit holes showed up, so thats why I prefer to start with grey and work back up to white.

Anyway, have started on the wooden framing in the hull today. There is plenty of "shape" towards the bows and also across the stern, so to ease the wood in to shape i simple made a load of 3/4 deep saw cuts in to the wood, every 10mm. I then attached the parts using stabilit express as you cant beat the stuff for its ability to stick anything to anything! Once this has fully dried I will mix up some cascamite and brush this in to all the saw cuts to fill them back up and reduce the "flex" in the wood.

[gregk9]

I have started construction of the rear section of the upper cabin. I am making this out of styrene, purely for simplicity and ease of construction. I am using 1.5mm sheet, so similar in thickness to the glass fibre main cabin walls.

[gregk9]

Bite more work on the stern end today. adding some more side panels to the boxes, made up the throttle control plinth and navigation panel above the wheel position.

[stubbsy]

at this rate you will have it finished before i have all the bits for my severn

good work

stubbsy

[gregk9]

I dont know about having it finished before your Severn Build ! [ha ha].  Im having to cover the lounge floor with pictures and plans to get sufficient detail and measurement for each piece i make with this one.

in some respects a speedline kit would of been better, but, " at a cost", which i simply can't afford, so have to make the best of what I could [and can] afford.
So its a test of my scratchbuilng skills on this tyke !

I already know of one major "challenge" on this build and thats going to be the internal seats.
tables, desks, radio units i can fabricate, but those seats will have to "Look" right through all those windows !

[Dun1227]

Hi.
What glue are you using to join the styrene to the fibre glass.

Seeing this build has given me the encouragement to finish mine which I have had for 3 years.

Some photos from the Dungeness Mersey cabin showing seat construction - if it helps.

Alan C

[gregk9]

Thanks for the pictures, they do "help"  a great deal.

As for the glue. I find Stabilit express does the trick, but remember to sand/abrade the "glue side" of the plastic/styrene to give it something to adhere to. remember glue does not really like a fully flat surface, so where poss, put a small thin "trim strip" in too, just to give it a bigger surface area to bond.
Thie interior surface of the glass fibre is well rough, so does not need any "roughing up" to get the glue to adhere.

plus the stabilit express takes  approx 10 minutes to start to "go off", "firmly dry in about an hour. set like concrete in 6 hrs!
Once dry you can sand it , drill it, even run a thread through it.

[gregk9]

not had much time today to do much to the boat, so decided to have a "go" at one of the easier jobs. I have started making the pieces for the rear cabin door.
First piece is the main outer frame, with 2 sections cut out for the window panels. I purposely left in the "centre bar" as the centre door support bar is fitted internally. The outer glass retention frame was cut from a solid piece of styrene also, then after drilling holes for the inner corner radii, it was cut out with a sharp blade.

I will cut a piece of clear styrene for the glazing and this will be "sandwiched" between door and frame, to add the depth to the panel [as original]. then to replicate the bolts holding it all together, i going to opt for plastic micro rod. i will drill a line of holes all around the frame, then cut pieces of rod to pass through all the pieces, to get a bolt head impression on both sides of the door panel.

I thought this method would be far easier than trying to cut ultra thin slices of styrene rod and glue them to each side seperately.

i will post pics as thuis stage is processed, as its "theory" for now ! [ha ha].

[gregk9]

Have now done some more work on the stern access door. Firstly, by cutting a second "skin" to add some more depth to the door shell, so it is now  approx 3mm thick.I then painted the window panel edges before clamping all parts together, save me trying to paint against the clear perspex later [and missing].
 I did not have any thick clear perspex in stock, so had to cut 2 thinner sheet panels and laminate together. these being sandwiched by the outer frame trim.I did as I said I'd "try", so I drilled a series of "through holes" around the outer trim panel, then cut some 1mm plastic rod and passed through the holes to "simulate" the bolts/nuts holding the glass panel in. Its not painted as yet, nor fully sanded, so may look better once in colour.