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[BFSMP]

This is a wonderful site with all these fascinating build projects going on.

A wealth of knowledge for such as me to be able to ogle at and tap into once I have spent more time watching.

Your build Mr Gribeauval of this lifeboat is absolutely amazing. Where did you gain such knowledge to put in all that detailing into such a lifeboat.

Were you a crewman on one of these, as the build is staggering.

It makes me even more determined  to acquire a lifeboat model to try to make myself, If I can get hold of one myself at a decent price.

My friend sold the Liverpool lifeboat I had asked him to bid on and bought at the auction for me on Ebay auction site so maybe by Christmas I will have something to get my teeth into. The gent who bought it is picking it up from my friends house tomorrow. You never know.

Jim.

[gribeauval]

This is a wonderful site with all these fascinating build projects going on.

A wealth of knowledge for such as me to be able to ogle at and tap into once I have spent more time watching.

Your build Mr Gribeauval of this lifeboat is absolutely amazing. Where did you gain such knowledge to put in all that detailing into such a lifeboat.

Were you a crewman on one of these, as the build is staggering.

It makes me even more determined  to acquire a lifeboat model to try to make myself, If I can get hold of one myself at a decent price.

My friend sold the Liverpool lifeboat I had asked him to bid on and bought at the auction for me on Ebay auction site so maybe by Christmas I will have something to get my teeth into. The gent who bought it is picking it up from my friends house tomorrow. You never know.

Jim.

Thanks for your comments Jim.

Never been a crewman as I live 70 miles from the coast!!  The details come from visiting lifeboat stations, having as many detail drawings as possible, talking to the mechanics and crew plus about 200 photos of each boat I build ( In the case of Merseys I have about 600-700 pictures of different boats of the class).

I have been building model boats for the last 55 years (about as long as Neil  ) so it's a lot of practice and mistakes made along the way.

Mike

[baloo]

And superb models they all are

[gribeauval]

The holes in the sides of the wheelhouse that take the fuel fillers, main air intakes and vents have been cut out on both sides of the wheelhouse and the appropriate parts made and fixed in place.

The main air intakes that run inside of the wheelhouse and down to the engine room have been constructed from sheet styrene.

Intakes fitted in place.

The rear bench seat and the tables have been cut and fitted in place.

On the front of the hull the rest of the superstructure has been made and fitted in place ready for detailing when the filler had dried.

The large cut out on the port side is where the fire hydrant if fitted.

The removable main section now slots in behind the fixed portion.

[kinmel]

This is one superb model 

So how do I change the rules to our 2016 Mayor's Cup, so as to give others a chance of winning ?   

Maybe it would be easier to ask Rhyl RNLI to hold their Open day on 24th July !

[gribeauval]

Only three pictures today after a full day's building.

The front window panels for the wheelhouse have been cut to size (there are no right angles on any of the panels!!) , the openings for the windows marked out and opened up and, along with the infill panels that butt up to the front superstructure, fitted in place.

The majority of today has been taken up with the building of the central front panel and the watertight door that, on the full size boat, leads into the engine room. It will look a lot better when painted!

Finally the panel has been fixed in place under the windows and makes the front of the wheelhouse a lot more rigid!

[gribeauval]

I have been busy with non modelling related activities today, but I still found some time to make a couple of the most important parts of a lifeboat, without which the crew could not function at 100%.

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Their function becomes more obvious when you rotate the cylinder through 180 degrees and add the detail parts to the 'block'.

Yes it's the water boiler and cup holders that are positioned just inside the wheelhouse door on the Port side. A friend of mine who is a full time RNLI Station Mechanic told me his first action upon entering the wheelhouse to go and start the engines for a shout is to ensure that the boiler in on or mutiny will follow!!!!!!

[gribeauval]

The cup holder is now in place alongside the door, as well as the shelf above it for the boiler.

On the forward part of the superstructure the large access panels, that on the full size boat allow the engines to be removed, have been fitted in place and the hatch openings plotted, cut out and the coamings added.

The interiors of the rope lockers have also been made and glued in place under the hatch openings. The front hatch on the full size boat allows access to the forward survivors cabin.

[gribeauval]

Got a little further along with the build.

The three hatches for the foredeck have been constructed, again from styrene, ready to fit after painting is complete.

The catches that hold them in the open position have also been made using styrene and part of the hinge section from a OO railway coupling as the hook, another example of lateral thinking to solve a problem!! These will also be fitted after painting is complete.

The two consoles for either side of the central door have been constructed and fitted into the cabin.

I have also made the two seat bases that are used for equipment storage, again to be fitted later in the build.

[Big Ada]

Do Lifeboats have Loos/Heads on board?.

[gribeauval]

Do Lifeboats have Loos/Heads on board?.

Yes, chemical variety, in the foreward survivors cabin of the Mersey Class.

[gribeauval]

Finally the sun shone this morning and raised the outside temperature by a few degrees, there was no rain for a change, but most importantly the wind was non existant so I managed to get a couple of coats of spray filler/primer on the hull this morning. This has shown me all the tiny pin holes and scratches on the hull and allowed me to fill them with some very fine surface filler. The whole hull will now be sanded down in a couple of days when the filler is fully hard and then the process repeated before adding the normal primers (2 coats) and colours (3 coats).

[dpbarry]

Yes, chemical variety, in the foreward survivors cabin of the Mersey Class.

    Not on our boat!!


Wee willy winky over the stern rail.


I always make sure our local sewage works has been tested before getting on board. 😁😝

[gribeauval]

Two more of the air intake trunkings have been made and fitted to the port and starboard sides of the wheelhouse interior either side of the main consoles.

The big ship boring worm has sruck again on the stern deck!! Luckily only one hole was found this time.

Luckily the 50mm speaker for the sound system was a perfect fit.

Between the bouts of rain and gale force winds over the past week I have managed to paint the hull at last, just the gloss varnish coats left to do.

The rivet details on the engine covers have also been done prior to painting.

[Perkasaman2]

The superstructure is a remarkable piece of careful construction.

[gribeauval]

At the rear of the wheelhouse the metal side grills under the raised upper platform have been cut and fitted. These will also allow the engine sounds from the deck mounted speaker to be heard more clearly.

Inside, at the front, the upper instrument consoles have been made and fitted ready to paint and detail later. The top part of these also forms the supports for the roof section.

The trunking on the walls for the cables has now been made and fitted to both sides of the wheelhouse. These will be used to pass the wiring the upper wiring into the boat as per the original.

[gribeauval]

The locking mechanisms for the three hatches have now been 'welded' in place on the foredeck.

Although they are a little fiddly to operate they do work and hold the hatch open!

At the rear of the wheelhouse the plate decking has been added to the platform and the steps down into the interior.

On the stern of the hull a start has been made on the trim tab ram system.

The wheelhouse has also been given a coat of primer ready to fit out the interior with the instruments, seats, etc.

[derekwarner]

Your scale shipwright/boat builders are doing a superb job here  .....in the real construction, is the assembly of all of the panels shown by stainless steel riveted or metal thread screw construction?

As the only place I can see where you miniature TIG welders have been at work is the vertical U channel sections holding the hinge pins .......allowing the hatches to open

Keep the build images coming along  ..... Derek

[gribeauval]

Your scale shipwright/boat builders are doing a superb job here  .....in the real construction, is the assembly of all of the panels shown by stainless steel riveted or metal thread screw construction?

As the only place I can see where you miniature TIG welders have been at work is the vertical U channel sections holding the hinge pins .......allowing the hatches to open

Keep the build images coming along  ..... Derek

On the full size boats many of the access panels were fastened by stainless steel bolts. A prime example is the on the foredeck where the two large bolted panels were removable to allow the engines to be removed if needed. All the window frames were also removable as they were also bolted in place. As the wheelhouse needed to be airtight to make the boat self righting all these removable items were bolted down onto gaskets. 

Mike

[gribeauval]

As the weather was still nice today after all the rain and wind, the hull was masked off and the deck given a coat of primer, as well as the front part of the superstructure.
 
 
 

 
 The window frames have also been fitted and these will be glazed after final painting is completed.
 
 
 

[Starspider]

very nice work 

[dpbarry]

Nice work indeed 


Its amazing how something is transformed with a bit of grey primer. It makes it stand out more.


Are you going to paint the wheelhouse interior the matt black?


Declan

[gribeauval]

Nice work indeed 


Its amazing how something is transformed with a bit of grey primer. It makes it stand out more.


Are you going to paint the wheelhouse interior the matt black?


Declan

The interior will be mostly pale grey with parts in matt black and wood as on the full size Rhyl Lifeboat.


Mike

[dpbarry]

The interior will be mostly pale grey with parts in matt black and wood as on the full size Rhyl Lifeboat.


Mike

 

[gribeauval]

Over the past week, amongst having to do  "Christmas things" ( Ho sodding Ho) I dug out the silicone mould I made for the seats and cast in resin the several sets needed.

From scraps of styrene I made a jig to ensure that all the seat backs were fixed at the same angle and glued the two parts of each seat together.

A jig was also made to allow the arms, made from styrene, to all be bent at the same angle.

Once all the parts had been assembled and the glues allowed to harden off, the seats were given a coat of primer and a final coat of satin black.

These are now ready to be fitted onto the stands.