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[Neil]

it's the small pieces of work that tend to make the difference.........


the outboard brackets have been sanded down now, and all the seams of jointing on the rib have been filled with polyested filler................and its amazing just how taught and without anymore squeaks or groans the whole structure now is.....very tight indeed.....................just the sanding down now to get it looking into a decent state.............


I am now getting to the point where I have to decide whether to finish her off as the original Atlantic, without the rear mast or as per norm and seen on every other Atlantic 21 with mast and self righting bag on the platform..........this isn't a decision for ease of building but one because I like building unusual boats from unusual prototypes...........this I shall have to ponder over the next few days.

[Neil]

Neil,
So glad you are enjoying that 're-furb' upgrade build! It's looking good - what else would we expect?
I have put my one to one side at the moment [my plastic looks a lot more brittle than yours] - along with the Trent, Arun, Mersey and Solent, as I am too busy 'rivet counting' on the Shannon at the moment!! Like you, enjoying what I am doing though, and that is the key element!
Kim

it certainly is Kim.................if you don't enjoy what you do, then there's no point in doing this hobby, because it can be laborious at timesand become a pain if a drudge.........but I am enjoying bringing back to life something that was so trashed when originally cut and partly built that had someone not done so, it would have probably been scrapped and binned.....and that is why I'm enjoying it.........there are parts incorrect, and a little out of scale but I wanted to use as much of the original as I could.............and at the end of the day.............if others feel I've done wrong by not sticking to absolute scale............raspberries to them, lol


had it been a scratch build or an untouched kit from the box, it would have been right, but it was a pile of junk, so I don't feel so bad............and at least it might give inspiration to others who have bought something that has been messed around with.................they can end up with something presentable and to be proud of.


I have built many kits straight from the box over the years for reviews in model boats, and marine modelling and their derivatives, and none has been totally perfect, but as a scratch modeller moreso, I have learned to adapt and overcome[in the immortal words of Clint Eastwood in Heartbreak Ridge] and this has given me good grounding for this and other kits in the future.


neil.

[Neil]

The outboard brackets have been filled, sanded and glued onto the transom ready for the dummy motors to be glued together, but before  do that I think i'm going to mould one for future use......can make some rubber moulds and cast in polyurethane resin.

And  they were also drilled for taking the locating pin for the outboards, plus at the advice of a friend on facebook, Richard Hale, I will be putting brass inserts into the plastic brackets to save wear and tear on the from the continual movement of the outboard motors which will be used for steering the boat.

[Fred Ellis]

That was a lovey model in its day and you are doing a great job on this one.


The one that I made had eight sub "C" sells in two packs of four and a Bob's board, had a lot of fun sailing her.


Just wish I had it now

[Neil]

That was a lovey model in its day and you are doing a great job on this one.


The one that I made had eight sub "C" sells in two packs of four and a Bob's board, had a lot of fun sailing her.


Just wish I had it now

this is the 3rd one that I have owned Fred, the other two were one incomplete bought from a charity shop for a fiver and the other one still in plastic bags and in a pristine box that I bought from ebay before prices started skyrocketing...............and this is the only one I have ever worked on..the other two went to a guy in sussex who wanted one when I was hard up, lol


but I am really enjoying resurrecting it, and look forward to getting it on the water........going to put a little brushless outrunner into it eventually.


thanks for the encouragement.


Neil.

[Mark T]

Neil that boat looks great and even nicer as its so unusual.  I can't wait to see it with the motors on a a nice coat of paint.  Its one of those boats that looks quick while standing still.  Keep the updates coming 

[Neil]

thanks mark..............its on a rest day today till later, lol.

[Neil]

done a bit more detailing to the centre consol area.....cut in the foot well for the rear crew members, the bracket for the throttles, access panels on the fore port side, the echo sounder body and the face for the consol controls, plus the brackets for the rear towing drum, plus the spare propeller bags onto the sponsons.


plus I had a quick, but very nice guided tour of the cabin of the RNLB Barbara Ann, 13-24 St Annes new Shannon by the coxs'n yesterday morning..........they even laid out the carpet.........not a red one though, and not for me lol.

[Fred Ellis]

That is looking good Neil, and so much detail you are putting into it, [size=78%]just wish some one would take up the mantel and sort out a new kit..[/size]
[/size][size=78%]Keep up the good work, looking forward to your updates.[/size]

[Neil]

That is looking good Neil, and so much detail you are putting into it, [size=78%]just wish some one would take up the mantel and sort out a new kit..[/size]
[size=78%]Keep up the good work, looking forward to your updates.[/size]

I wish so too, Fred, and then we wouldn't have to pay ridiculous prices for half full kits like this one, 


anyway, added a few more little bits to it..........the R/T back plate,cover  and facia of R/T have been added with facia detailing to come and fitted to the back of the helmsman's chair......plus the hand held transmitter, extending wire made from fuse wire, plus the engine control throttles.....ever bit of scratch detailing makes for a more interesting model and a bit more individuality.

[Neil]

a request to anyone with an unbuilt/built but intact model of the Atlantic...........does anyone have the 3 crewmen that I could borrow to make moulds of so I can crew my boat with, and then return them....thanks.

[Rottweiler]

I will check my contents Neil,Im almost sure I have them,and of course you will be welcome to borrow them if I have
Mick F

[Neil]

a request to anyone with an unbuilt/built but intact model of the Atlantic...........does anyone have the 3 crewmen that I could borrow to make moulds of so I can crew my boat with, and then return them....thanks.

Thanks mick but I have now been offered a crew from Ryan on r/c lifeboat enthusiasts but many thanks for the offer matey. cheers neil.

[Neil]

Thanks mick but I have now been offered a crew from Ryan on r/c lifeboat enthusiasts but many thanks for the offer matey. cheers neil.

update on that..............Chris Warrilow messaged me so say that a crew for the rib is already for sale from DK figures, which saves a lot of time making moulds, buying resin and then moulding..............thanks to all for their help.


http://www.dkfigures.co.uk/figure/rnli-rib-crew/


 neil,

[Neil]

well.........absolutely flabbergasted.........came to make the back plates for the hand straps for the sponsons, and the 0.25mm thick plasticard needed just wasn't included in the kit all those years ago, so had to raid my own stocks............nor was the thin wall plastic tube that I needed to cut slices from to make the handles......bummer........so had to find a firework rocket tube to do the job.....but after a bit of improvisation I was able to cut the parts and apply them to the boat.


also attached the bracing to the transom for the outboards, the sea anchor and rope throwing line storage......don't know what I would have had to do if these had been lost.............a momentary scratching of head would have been taken, lol.


if you don't look too closely as she wizzes by at a great rate of knots, you won't see the discrepancy in heights of some of them, by about 0.5mm.........but then as I am always saying.................its good to realise my own fallibility., lol......

[Neil]

from this angle you can see the grab handles a little better.


just waiting now for some 4.8mm [ or was it 5mm.....can't remember now] plastic tube to come for the rear structure for the self righting bag, nav lights, radar deflector and main mast carrying the blue flashing lamp......hope it will arrive tomorrow.then I can get cracking on the next  major part of the reconstruction.

[Neil]

And finally for tonight I I added the inflation and deflation valves to the sponsons, the bow fairlead and the foot straps for the crew.........the old ugly duckling is beginning to blossom into a beautiful swan.


I have to say, I have really enjoyed this little build.........something I should have done years ago when I had the untouched kit.

[Neil]

MEN BEWARE!!!!!!! READ YOUR INSTRUCTIONS!!!!!


I spent an hour or more searching yesterday for the white firework tubing to make the loops for the grab handles for the rib, when all the time, they were in front of me in the kit, supplied in a vac form, which I had looked at a  dozen or more times thinking that they were battery trays....................Bah humbug..........that'll teach me...........the plastic was even marked in the correct width of strap..................luckily I got that right at a guess.

[Neil]

I am coming close now to  the last 25% of the build and have been amazed at how comprehensive the kit has been and would have been had all the parts been there and not lost over the period of time that it lay unwanted........in fact very few parts were missing and those that were can be fabricated easily. the only major parts are the structure for the rear flotation bag "mast" and the flotation bag itself, which will be fabricated from some milliput, plastic tubing that I am waiting fore and scraps of plasticard that are offcuts from the main kit vac formings.


The level of detailing on this kit is amazing, and after fabricating the rear mast, I just have to make the facias for the main controls, the rear "compartment radio transmitter facia, and then install the prop shaft..............oh yes and reconstruct and repaint the outboards after I have made a mould for replicating them..............you never know when one might drop off, knowing my building. lol.


and then it'll be to the paint shop.......my workshop for spraying.. below are some shots of the detailing including the brackets on the outer transom wall to take the legs of the mast, and all the other detailing...


first shot is however, a strip of angled plastic to clean up the meeting of the deck and the silicon rubber seal under the sponson.......glued in place for a little neatness, and the best I can do after what I had been left with by a previous builder...........looks ok from 10 paces though,

[Neil]

and if you haven't got one of these in your tool box, it's invaluable..........probably now costing about 7 quid......inflation from when I bought mine 15 years ago at £3.35....a compass cutter..............cuts plasticard, paper, lithoplate and makes nice little circles for anything you desire...........don't use it often, but when I do, perfect for the job.

[Paul2407]

this would look perfect on the back of that https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Graupner-820-Brushless-RC-Boat-F1-Outboard-New-Boxed-Tunnel-Hull-Model-Boat/263531040408?hash=item3d5bac8e98:g:ENkAAOSwKp1aoSbK

[Neil]

this would look perfect on the back of that https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Graupner-820-Brushless-RC-Boat-F1-Outboard-New-Boxed-Tunnel-Hull-Model-Boat/263531040408?hash=item3d5bac8e98:g:ENkAAOSwKp1aoSbK

thanks Paul, but not at £150 quid for the two, lol.


anyway as I moaned earlier in chitchat about the plastic rod that hasn't arrived, I thought I'd make a jig for bending it when it finally does arrive, so made one this afternoon from ply...........it certainly didn't work using a hairdryer to warm the plastic, nor when I reheated and straightened it out did it work using boiling water to heat it up.........I ended up with flatspots on the bends. So I'll wait for a windy day and then go and relieve Fleetwood beach of some fine wind blow sand,pack the tube with it and then reheat and make a third attempt!


in the mean time I decided to crash on and make a couple of mould boxes for the outboard motor in the eventuality that one might always defy the laws of "it wont happen to me" and fall off the boat at some stage.


I removed the outboard signage, stuck it onto some plasticard and can photocopy to go on the refurbished outboards.

[Neil]

now!!......back to the rear framework, or as they call it in the instructions."rollbar"..........I have always got better results by using brass tube, and at bigada's recommendation this evening I went to B&Q  and bought the last two small bore brass tube at 4mm and 5.5mm x 1mtre length, for £5.95 a tube.....cheaper as well than K&S tubing....... I have used the 4mm tube, annealed it on the gass cooker bent it and cut to length, and ready tomorrow for the cross members cutting and then silver soldering. I prefer silver solder to soft soldering as it is much stronger, and after a little practice with the torch and liquid flux, far easier than soft soldering also.....

[Rottweiler]

So whats the procedure with the moulds then Neil? I suppose the outboard parts are only slightly pushed down into the plasticene base,to hold them in place,and then you pour liguid rubber into the mould and let it set?
Then do you seperate the rubber,and pour resin into that?
If thats so wont they be on the heavy side,or have I got the procedure wrong?
All looking good though
Mick F

[Neil]

So whats the procedure with the moulds then Neil? I suppose the outboard parts are only slightly pushed down into the plasticene base,to hold them in place,and then you pour liguid rubber into the mould and let it set?
Then do you seperate the rubber,and pour resin into that?
If thats so wont they be on the heavy side,or have I got the procedure wrong?
All looking good though
Mick F

hi mick.........yes, rubber poured into the box to cover the outboards.............but because the halves are hollow and contain detailing allowing a rod to be passed down the centre locking the finished motor onto the bracket...........the plastecine is then removed, vasceline layered onto the rubber mould surrounding the half motor to act as a release agent, and then the second half of the mould is laid in..........giving a perfect impression of each half.............simples...........even a halfwit like me can do it, without a 3D printer, lol............I did actually make a mould for this once but I think it went with all the Clyde moulds to dave Metcalf, and eventually with the vac formed tooling of the Dclass to andy grigg at models by design, but he says he hasn't got them........