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[steve mahoney]

Good things take time.

[steve mahoney]

The reason this build is taking so long is simple – I just haven't been working on it. I tried a few little builds to get me back up to steam but they only distracted me even more. I can't really focus on 2 projects at once, I'm a one track kind of guy. Can't walk and chew gum at the same time.

I've had a few sessions back on the Maui and there has been a little progress. Not as much as I'd like but still progress. You can only eat an elephant one bite at a time, and this build feels like I've still got most of the elephant left in front of me.

At least I've finished the stern fender roll. At last!

The fender has been held on by various methods over the years – wire ropes when I visited years ago. I decided to use a combination of wire and chain. The chain feeds through the hull and is fixed so that it can be released and replaced easily.

Wasn't as easy for me as I had hoped but worked out in the end. Now, more elephant Vicar?

[steve mahoney]

Back to the elephant buffet...

I usually approach a big build like this as a series of projects. That way I can focus on one particular aspect of the build at a time, get something done and feel a sense of achievement. It breaks up long builds into bite sized chunks, and near the end of a project I can just assemble all of the completed components. I’m pretty sure everyone else does it this way. The trick for me is to figure out some sort of order that things need to be done in.

The hull is at a stage where I can set it aside for awhile. Still plenty of deck details like vents, pipes, bollards, etc, to do but they can wait. Next task is the funnel.

Maui’s funnel is quite a pleasing 1960's shape but it has had lots of equipment added on over the years: nav lights, aerials, radar, fire-fighting equipment, horn, rails, vents, drains, etc. There are bits and pieces poking out all over it. Some items need to be dealt with first as they will be difficult to attach later. Some of them will need to be pretty robust as I tend to knock things off on a regular basis.

Relax – I’ve had years to think this through.

[Martin (Admin)]

 Long, slow build Steve, a proper build  ... long and slow! 

[steve mahoney]

Don't rub it in. Good things take time!

[steve mahoney]

I had made the funnel base way back in 2021 and on closer inspection it needed re-shaping. The rear curve of the ‘as built’ funnel was significantly different from the drawings I had. My version was close but not close enough. Easily sanded down to the correct profile.

The rear edge of the funnel top section has a rolled lip all around it. 1mm stryrene rod did the trick. At the top it curves up and under the Y shaped stalks.

There’s a large air intake on the starboard side only. The louvres came from the spares box and were pretty much spot on width wise. Easily trimmed down and slanted.

The exhuast bases go in now as they’ll be too difficult to access later.

The collar is where the mast top section is bolted onto the lower section. So far, so good. Looks a bit like a giraffe at the moment.

[steve mahoney]

Next job is all of the large components that require a bit of work and serious attaching. All comlex and fiddly and each bit took about a day or so. It took ages to cut and file the tiny slivers of brass tube to make the sprinkler piping collars. They are 2mm x 0.7mm. Even tricky to hold onto.

Anti-clockwise from left: engine room vent, radar base, reshaped funnel, fire fighting sprinkler system, hatches, exhuast pipes.

[Martin (Admin)]

 
           

[steve mahoney]

The W47 build is winding down/up so I've made some slow but steady progress on Maui. I've accepted that this is going to take as long as it takes. No point rushing things this late in the day.

The ladder rungs took ages to get right. Each flight is a different width. Would have been a whole lot easier if I hadn’t bothered with 90º step down on each rung.

A little sanding and then some paint.

[steve mahoney]

Now that W47 is all finished I can get back up to speed on the Maui again.
[/size]
[/size]All the pieces from the last post have been painted and attached them to the funnel. These items all need to be securely attached before any mast equipment – and there is a bit of that, can be glued on. The mast arms and FF piping are all pinned into the main mast, and everything has had a light top coat of paint.
[/size]
[/size]The black hides a lot of the hard work but also some of the mistakes. The equipment (radar, antennae, horn, work and nav lights) will add a bit more detail and colour.

[steve mahoney]

The mast has a few pieces of equipment: radar, antennas x 3, horn, nav lights x 5, work light, and some kind of loop antenna that I don’t even know what it is. Could be for mobile phones?

Anyway, at 1/50 they are all small and difficult. So I started with the most difficult – the loop antenna.

Seems simple when you look at it – 2 semi-circles stuck to a hub.

The thinnest rod that I have is some Albion Alloys 0.2mm silver nickel. Almost ideal size for the semi-circles, but it’s very difficult to bend into tight curves. Very.

I made several jigs to try and gently and smoothly bend the rod to the right diameter. The first attempt was to make a semi circle with radiused ends. Easy to do one but very hard to get 2 completely identical. Easier said than done. At this size half a mm difference stands out like the proverbial. Made about a dozen before throwing in the towel.

The next idea was to make a circle around some correct diameter dowel, solder a piece across the middle, and then cut off the excess. Yeah, nah! Messy.

Next attempt was to form a semi circle, clamp it into a jig and solder the cross piece. Went through about 5 different jig set ups before I eventually got one that worked. Very small, fiddly and frustrating work – but, bingo! Two semi-circles almost identical. Close enough.

It’s the larger one on the right. The other one is for another project.

After finishing this I decided to try and find some 0.1mm rod and re-make it.

[steve mahoney]

By comparison the radar, horn, deck lights and nav lights were almost a piece of cake. Almost. The black paint hides a few sins.

In real life there is a chunky collection of messy wiring all up the port side of the mast. I'm still undecided if I'll have ago at that.

In real life the radar has no maker’s logo.

The antennae (yes, they are all different lengths) are not glued in yet. That won’t happen until the mast is attached, and that won’t happen for awhile. First, I need to tidy up the superstructure, attach any items that can’t be painted later, then glaze the wheelhouse, and then attach the roof – without messing up the glazing. Once the glazing is done and the bridge roof is attached any filling and paint retouches on the superstructure will be very difficult. Should be done by dinner time.

[Umi_Ryuzuki]

I could learn a thing or two, about taking the time to make jigs. 
 
Great work on the mast and all those fiddly bits.

[steve mahoney]

Thanks Aimee. Making the jigs doesn't take any time – they are short term, one time only use. They look rough but work fine. Some are more complicated, some very basic. Makes repetitive work, and delicate stuff much easier. On a long build I end up with more jigs than an Irish pub. Must be in my genes  .

Learning how to do 3D printing, like you, would probably make all of this even easier, every build needs lots of identical or very similar items. I hate to think how many lifebuoys, life rafts, anchors, vents, and nav lights I've had to make over the years. Did I mention that I hate making nav lights?

What's an easy starter 3D drawing program? Got to be free, and Luddite friendly.

[Umi_Ryuzuki]

I have been using Fusion 360 for the hobbyist.
I can't emphasize enough, Free for the Hobbyist, as Autodesk wants you on a free Trial, which will expire.
https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showpost.php?p=51312135&postcount=21

I also just found out that Blender is a free open source software. I have seen a lot of
great things produced by people using that software, but have yet to check it out.

[steve mahoney]

Before I start any glazing, the roof section needs to be ready to just drop into place once the glazing is done. I need the roof off to do the glazing. It’s a tight fit and not much leeway for painting once glazed so I’d like it just to drop into a very tight fit with little or no filler and airbrushing.

The ply base gives it a bit of strength and keeps it straight and true, the styrene skin gives a good surface to work on.

The deck, inner of edge lip, and the stanchion bases are all same colour. The circle is the binnacle base. This needs to be painted before being glued in.

The colour is the same as the hull orange. I painted the hull 4 years ago and didn’t have any paint left over, also, I never wrote down the formula. Had to mix a few trial colours before getting a good match to the hull. Yes, I mixed plenty this time. And wrote down the formula in case I’m still working on it in another 4 years.

[steve mahoney]

Great to see the forum back in action. Had me worried for a minute. Thought it might have gone the modeltugforum route. Stay healthy Martin!

Slow but teady progress on the build. The superstructure is at a stage where I can add a few bits and pieces and give it a light top coat of paint before I start the glazing.

Various vents, doors and window frames ready to be painted and attached. Some of you may have spotted that the 'wooden' door in the first photo is different to the door used in photo 2. The real door has a much bigger pane than door 1 so I needed to make a new door out of 2 spares. No biggie.

Everything secured and ready for glazing.

[steve mahoney]

Glazing is never easy or relaxing for me. I’m either holding my breath while doing it, or swearing. Very stressful. Nothing a few gins afterwards can’t fix. Luckily this all went together without any problems. Friday as well, slept like a baby that night.

The real boat’s panes are recessed quite deep. Made it a bit easier for me.

The glazing will now be covered up for protection from now on. Still plenty to do and plenty of chances to stuff up the 'glass'. It won’t be possible to fix/repair them later without major surgery.

The superstructure can now get a bit of a tidy up.

[steve mahoney]

There are a few items that can now be attached to the superstructure: vents, life buoys, doors, grab rails, and hatches. These won’t be easily knocked off so they can go on now. The real boat has a mix of old orange, and bright red new lifebouys, mine are all red.

The insides of the vent covers have been white, and red, over the years, and the seals have been black, and red. I’ve gone for white covers, red seals.

The grab rails were pretty simple. The single length bow section curves around the bow in a big 'U' shape. The rail sits out from the side by 2mm. I soldered it in place and then removed it for clean up and painting. That required a bit of delicate repositioning. Using spacers and having most of the supports only go into the superstructure about 1.5mm really helped. The ends and the supports on the bow corners, and a couple in the middle of each long sections are much longer and allowed the thing to fit around the superstructure snugly.

[steve mahoney]

There are still lots of things to go onto the superstructure: vents, pipes, nav lights, aircon unit, life raft, emergency fuel cut-off, hatches, PA speakers, work lights, etc, etc. The more delicate items will be attached once the railings are attached. The bigger items like the crane, life raft & cradle, aircon and fire monitors will take a lot of time to make.

The flying bridge has 5 antennae attached to the top rail; a binnacle/pelorous/emergency steering position – not quite sure as it is covered with a tarp in every photo; a searchlight; and a fire monitor. This monitor is very complex – not looking forward to that, at all.

The bridge deck has a crane, a simpler monitor, aircon unit, life raft & cradle. All fiddly. Originally there was a 4 hydrant fire pump just behind the funnel. Long gone by the time I got onboard for the photographs, although I am tempted to re-install it. It’s the same as the one on the 31m Kupe which was built by the same yard in the same year. I’ve got some reasonable 30 year old reference photos of that one. Maybe?

The list of the big items left to make is already quite daunting so I took the easy route and decided to do none of the things above – and knocked out the railings. The flying bridge was straightforward. Well, maybe not where the railings attach to the funnel. Worked out in the end.

The bridge deck railings are not the same P&S, quite different stanchion positions, with missing sections of the lower rail. It’ll make more sense when some of the equipment is in place. There’s a lifebuoy and emergency ladder on the starboard side, work light and PA speaker on the aft rails. I’ve soldered some mounts in place for these.

A couple of afternoons soldering and filing. Very therapuetic. The stanchions are PE brass – makes it so much easier.

[steve mahoney]

The railings can be put aside for awhile but I’m still avoiding the difficult things. I hear this a lot at home.

I figure that if I knock off the easiest job first, then the next item to make will then be the next easiest. As I work through the list, easiest next, the last item left (which is now the most daunting) will then be the easiest thing left to make. Genius!!

I spent a couple of afternoons making various bitts and samson posts out of styrene. The bow bitt was quite complex. Not sure which I prefer more – an afternoon soldering, or an afternoon working with styrene.

A few more items of deck equipment, windlass, vents, etc, made, and painted. Repetetive but nothing too stressful or difficult. I really should start thinking about experimenting with 3D printing for bits like this. The price of a reasonable resin printer is almost in affordable range.

All the deck fittings finished and attached.

[Martin (Admin)]

Nice work Steve !   

[Capt Podge]

Hi there Steve, I've just spent a couple of hours having a slow read through your build and find it quite fascinating. Really appreciate your sense of humour and how you cope with mishaps etc...


I'll certainly be looking in as and when updates appear.


Cheers,


Ray.

[steve mahoney]

Thanks Martin.


Thanks Ray. I should read it through from the start as well, to see how many lame excuses I've come up with for stringing the build out for so long.

[steve mahoney]

The last of the deck fittings, all done. These FF hydrants can be attached now as they are tucked into the bulwarks and aren't likely to get knocked around too much from now on.

They have been repainted many times in the past 50 years and now they are pretty much all red – easy paint job for me. You'll hardly be able to see them when the superstructure is attached.

So, all of the vents, etc, along the bulwarks P&S are finished and attached. The stern bitts and a couple of little capstans that are in the middle of the aft deck won't go on just yet. That would be asking for trouble.