Model Boat Mayhem

The Shipyard ( Dry Dock ): Builds & Questions => Lifeboats => Topic started by: Neil on August 11, 2014, 08:25:22 pm

Title: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: Neil on August 11, 2014, 08:25:22 pm

It's that time of year again, to order some grp products and get cracking on a new mould.

This time the hard work has been done for me.........the making of a plug to take the  mould......

And what a beautiful job Mike Pendlebury (aka Gribeauval ) has made of it.

this mould is for the 50' Thames class lifeboat and will consist of a two part mould for each cabin, and a three part mould for the hull, including a mould for the deck.

I'll detail the moulding once started

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: Rottweiler on August 11, 2014, 09:32:07 pm

Thats what I like to see! Back to Lifeboats! Cheers Mike for giving him the incentive, the mould looks good.That should keep him busy for the winter months,and give us something to follow.
Dont suppose you sent him a spare chuck key by any chance? Hes been away and has no chance of finding it lol
Mick F

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: morley bill 1 on August 12, 2014, 09:56:37 am

Neil will you be selling mouldings when it/s finished......Bill.....

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: Neil on August 12, 2014, 10:20:31 am

that is an undecided quantity at the moment, Bill............but if I did it wouldn't be until after I have finished the ferry for my daughter...........and that is also an unknown quantity in time......sorry. neil.

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: morley bill 1 on August 12, 2014, 11:09:38 am

Neil if you decide to make the thames available please pm me the time is not a problem as I have a Waveney class to finnish and a Flowerclass corvette that's only at the halfway stage so no hurry.......Bill......

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: Neil on August 12, 2014, 11:28:54 am

so, to the preparation..............

I usually give my plugs 6 - 8 layers of mould release wax......this is from Glasplies in Southport (as per BBC other suppliers ARE  available, lol) and is  none silicon BASED WAX............FURNATURE POLISH AND ANY WAX CONTAINING SILICONS CAN AND DO AFFECT THE POLYESTER RESINS IN GRP.

But before I can wax up the fore cabin, which has been built with the rear flying bridge protection wings which I wish to include in the mould for strength and a good level flow of the  line of cabin, I have to block up the "gap" ( for want of a better word) between the wings.............and so Mike supplied a formed piece of foam ( resistant to polyester resin) to blank that gap and this is going to be held in place with 2 sided sticky tape ( obtainable from a garden centre craft centre........always available near you). And this was stuck to the recess of the plug with the outer cover still in place...........the reason for this being that I am going to wax up that recess to avoid any seepage of polyester resin and gelcoat whilst moulding, from sticking. Once it has all been waxed n up the outer tape will be taken off and the block of foam will be stuck in place before it is also waxed up.

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: Neil on August 12, 2014, 11:29:35 am

Quote from: morley bill 1 on August 12, 2014, 11:09:38 am

Neil if you decide to make the thames available please pm me the time is not a problem as I have a Waveney class to finnish and a Flowerclass corvette that's only at the halfway stage so no hurry.......Bill......

no probs Bill.

neil.

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: Capt Podge on August 12, 2014, 04:59:59 pm

This looks interesting - I'll just tag along... :D
 
Regards,
 
Ray.
 

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: Neil on September 07, 2014, 07:59:42 pm

thanks Ray............and I think it's about time I started to get cracking on this in order to get some mouldings out for Mike when we meet at the Blackpool show.

so here goes......think I'e explained, the mould will be in three parts......the deck as one moulded part and the hull in two longitudinal halves......

And it is the deck that I will start with and as such will be moulded in one piece. As such it will be moulded literally to the level where it meets the hull side, with no overlap. I needed a flange to go the full way around the hull in two halves as the fore and aft deck are on two levels.
However the problem was how to keep it at the level of the top of the hull and fixed until I had at least got the gell coat on.as it would be very fiddly and I think I would need the arms of an octopus to hold it whilst I stuck it to the hull with my usual blutack and plastecine...........

Luckily Mike had put on some belting on the fore deck and aft deck at deck level on the hull sides for the belting...........and I am going to use the lip on this to hold the flange..............the diagram shows that I am going to glue so brackets on to the underside of the flange that will lip under the belting and I'll be able to then hold the flange in place with the blutack and plastecine....they will also hold it down to the correct sheer line as well.

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: tugs62 on September 07, 2014, 08:02:52 pm

Looking forward to seeing this at the lake  :-)) :-))

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: gribeauval on September 07, 2014, 10:02:31 pm

Hoping to bring the early shape version to the show at Blackpool, if my burnt fingers recover in time!! :-))

The model in front is the plug that Neil is moulding. The model at the rear is the first version the RNLI tested.

Mike

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: Neil on September 07, 2014, 11:19:07 pm

 :-)) :-)) :-)) :-)) :-))

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: essex2visuvesi on September 08, 2014, 06:52:09 am

Well if this is anything like your last projects, this will be a cracking model

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: Neil on September 08, 2014, 07:50:39 pm

Quote from: essex2visuvesi on September 08, 2014, 06:52:09 am

Well if this is anything like your last projects, this will be a cracking model

I agree, Mike is a master of his game where unusual lifeboats are concerned...............and there aren't many more unusual that the Thames class.

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: gribeauval on September 08, 2014, 09:01:40 pm

Quote from: essex2visuvesi on September 08, 2014, 06:52:09 am

Well if this is anything like your last projects, this will be a cracking model

If you want to see how I ended up with two versions of the same boat then the build is documented here:   

                                                     http://www.thercmodelboatforum.com/t853-50-ft-thames-class-lifeboat (http://www.thercmodelboatforum.com/t853-50-ft-thames-class-lifeboat)

Mike

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: Neil on September 08, 2014, 10:50:49 pm

the flanges ( made from hardboard...shiny side to the mould) have been added to the easy bits, the two cabins............and all edges have been filled with plastecine.......the flanges were held in place with wodges of blutack to begin with and filled in with plastecine to make secure.

the foam filler block has also been added into the rear of the main cabin and held with double sided sticky tape and then the gaps also filled with plastecine.

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: Neil on September 09, 2014, 10:08:15 pm

the brackets to give some support to the flange for the deck mould have been added..............whether they will work or not one can only hope, but this is new territory to me, so it's a case of !"make it up as you go along"..

watch this space. neil.

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: gribeauval on September 11, 2014, 02:49:24 pm

Bit of incentive for you Neil, the prototype version as she is this lunchtime.

(http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff300/gribeauval/50%20ft%20Thames%20Class/Overall-03_zpse7f81398.jpg) (http://www.modelboatmayhem.co.uk/forum/[URL=http://s242.photobucket.com/user/gribeauval/media/50%20ft%20Thames%20Class/Overall-03_zpse7f81398.jpg.html)]
 (http://s242.photobucket.com/user/gribeauval/media/50%20ft%20Thames%20Class/Overall-03_zpse7f81398.jpg.html/URL)

       Mike

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: Neil on September 11, 2014, 03:59:47 pm

cost me a fiver yesterday in whitetak ( blutack equiv) just to stick the flange on, lol...........going to have a bash tonight at setting it on to the boat. neil.

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: gribeauval on October 03, 2014, 06:37:28 pm

Looks like I'm winning at the moment Neil!! {-) {-) {-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&list=UUqJV1xEzcYZ0-t3Zy3hLV3g&v=ouAuYPIHqpY (https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&list=UUqJV1xEzcYZ0-t3Zy3hLV3g&v=ouAuYPIHqpY)

See you at Blackpool!

Mike

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: Neil on October 03, 2014, 11:07:26 pm

I am having horrendous problems just getting the first flange on to layer the deck up...........struggling but will overcome................it'll be plain sailing once I hae done that............might have to eventually do it in stages as it's hard to anchor it and keep the full flange in place long enough to put the blutack under it to hold it.

there are so many different bends and  sweeps in it. neil.

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: gribeauval on October 03, 2014, 11:30:54 pm

I have every confidence in your ability to make an acceptable lash up !!! :-))

Now we know why the RNLI said "Sod it let's build Aruns instead" after only two Thames Class boats !!!!! {-) {-) {-) {-) {-)

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: Neil on October 05, 2014, 07:48:45 pm

I refer to the pictures of the flanges in post 16.............what a load of c*** they were..............
I have struggled and fought with them for nearly 2 weeks off and on.....feeling more dejected with each try......trying to get one side on whilst the other was falling off...................and eventually last night whilst loosing b***** sleep over a model............."not the two legged type either  {:-{ {:-{ {:-{ {:-{ >>:-( >>:-( >>:-( >>:-() I had a brain wave...........and that was to cut the flanges in half at the bow centre and the stern centre and to trim them down radically to relieve the weight of them,.......... and to mount them one at a time onto the boat.

I also am going to lay up a quarter of the deck with a securing gelcoat and one layer of matting before mounting the next corner of the flange............... that's the plan, and from the test with just 4 bits of plastecine I think it might just work..............this deck is a bar steward to mould, but once the four corners have been secured, the whole of the deck can then be gelcoated and laid up, and also laid up to the edges of the flanges...........the hull will then be easy peasey............will start tomorrow morning. neil.

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: gribeauval on October 05, 2014, 08:28:12 pm

And you told me whilst I was building the plug that moulding it would be a doddle !!! {-) {-) {-)

Still I knew that you would solve the problem eventually when the big light bulb in the head goes "PING". That happens to me all the time, I wander around the house muttering away to myself until the bulb lights up.  :-))


Mike

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: Neil on October 05, 2014, 10:08:16 pm

it's about 1 candle power in my case matey, lol {-) {-) {-) {-)

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: Neil on October 06, 2014, 10:33:56 am

the moulding process has started, and the first quarter has been successfully fitted, held with plastecine, blutack and masking tape..........to make a none too sturdy fit, but it has worked.....filling between flange and hull with plastecice, and then laying some gelcoat onto it................

there is absolutely no strength in gelcoat what so ever and should I attempt to do the next quarter a gentle knock on this flange even would crack it................so as soon as the gelcoat has gone off I will lay a couple of thin layers of chop strand matting over the joint between flange and hull and allow to go off before fitting the next part of the flange.

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: Neil on October 06, 2014, 12:24:03 pm

well..........it's going better that expected.......the first quarter been laid up along with the flanges of the two cabins to give them some strength..........

the second quarter has had the flange added and will be gel coated after lunch.......


so hopefully by tomorrow evening the most difficult part of the job will be complete, and the cabin halves also moulded.............I mix enough resin/catylist to do the hull and cabin halves.....which will be done within the next couple of days.

the hull will follow.

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: Neil on October 06, 2014, 01:16:13 pm

second quarter gelcoat laid up and the small patches where the masking tape helt the flange and have now been removed, have also been gelled up to take the matting eventually.

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: Neil on October 06, 2014, 04:11:28 pm

Now that both sides of the fore deck flanges have been secured by laying down a couple of layers of matting the final part of this process was to remove the remaining pieces of masking tape holding the flanges to the hull.....these small areas have been gel coated ready for some matting, before I start on the aft end this evening.

all gaps between the flanges and the hull were pre filled with plastecine to give a good "no gap" fit of the moulding.

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: U-33 on October 06, 2014, 04:35:19 pm

Now stop mucking about making lifeboat hulls, Neil....I need a radio box building.   ;D


Rich

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: Neil on October 06, 2014, 06:31:59 pm

was once asked by a mate of mine who is a member of the Magic Circle inner wheel.to make him a replica of the camera boxes we see on the road sides.......he had a routine, during one of his comedy acts.......but in the end never got round to it.......that would have been fun, lol................as for radio boxes, mate.................wouldn't have a clue what you mean.

 %% %% %% %% %% %%

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: Neil on October 06, 2014, 06:39:52 pm

and back to the model................well, when I started this this morning, I never thought how easy it would actually flow, and have just laid up the third quarter of the boat.......and quite possibly the hardest of the four sections.........as it is one of the longer sections, has a step in it at the break of the deck and was trial by error.....the last one I'll have learned by my previous trials and mistakes..........and that one will do tomorrow, as my back is now killing me and am going for a hot bath............high as a kite on fumes and  giddy with success.

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: U-33 on October 06, 2014, 07:17:40 pm

 Back to radio boxes for a second...it's a long narrow box, with tapered sides and ends, and a top flange cut out to have a clear lid screwed down on it.


Rich

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: Neil on October 07, 2014, 09:44:36 am

this has got to have been the most unorthodox method of laying up the first part of a mould I have ever done, but after weeks of frustration with the flanges, it has finally worked and the last quarter of the surrounding flange has been added and gelcoated up to.............with the strengthening matting going on in around an hour's time..........then it will be a quick fill where I have missed any of the area and then down to lay up the section of the mould to thicken it up to working status.

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: gribeauval on October 07, 2014, 11:55:21 am

Well done Neil, I knew you would crack the problem!!    {-) {-) {-) {-) {-)

Lateral thinking is the only way to go.


Mike

P.S. I have started thinking about another one off the RNLI had in service, ON 725 from the 1930's.  :-))

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: Neil on October 07, 2014, 12:45:47 pm

would that be a nice little harbour class boat with hb as intitials %% %%

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: gribeauval on October 07, 2014, 02:25:19 pm

Nope!   64 ft Thornycroft, a one off built for Dover, served there 1930-40, requisitioned for Air Sea Rescue in 1940.

Can't find much info about her design or lines for the hull at the moment.  :(( :((

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: Neil on October 07, 2014, 04:51:03 pm

you could ask the editor of model boats mag where ( I think ) Brian King built a model of her........but someone did in the 1980's and it appeared in the mag...................so there must be lines around somewhere. neil

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: Neil on October 07, 2014, 07:50:43 pm

well, never have I farted around so much laying up one part of a mould in my life................but it has taught me something......that with (as Mike says) lateral thinking, a lot of patience and much perseverance, you can mould almost anything, even if it is in stages, bit by bit...........

and after 2 full days I have finally managed to mould the deck for the Thames class lifeboat in entirety...........just hope it will come out of the mould easier than it went into one.................tomorrow I will thicken the mould up with a few layers of matting so that it will be durable for a good few mouldings in the future. Once this has been done, the mould will be left in situ so that the hull itself can be moulded up to the deck ( splittable of course).

the surface has been sanded free of lumps and bumps so that the future layers will have a good flat key to adhere to.

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: Neil on October 08, 2014, 04:42:19 pm

first parts of moulds all trimmed, cleaned up, flanges taken off and waxed up and now waiting for the second part to be laid up..........that is, all except the bare side of the smaller rear cabin which seems to have taken badly to spillage of resin on the untouched side........will have to clean this before I proceed any further with it............but only a little time will put it right.

the trimming up of the grp was done with my trusty jig saw fitted with a diamond tipped blade................cost a fortune but worth it as gives a good clean cut and goes through 1/4 inch grp like a hot knife through butter.

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: Neil on October 09, 2014, 09:06:56 pm

the flange for the hull split mould has now been added in the same way it was for the deck and the starboard side of the hull has been laid up with gelcoat........the first side will be laid up with matting tomorrow morning.

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: Neil on October 10, 2014, 02:24:53 pm

as promised last night I laid up a bonding strip and 1 layer of grp onto the gelcoat...........some recommend doing this onto gelcoat within 12 hours, some say 24...........but I always try to get my first layer on at the latest within the 12 hours so that it will bond into the gel.........and succeeded in doing this before 09.00 this morning.........then took pooch for a walk so that it could cure, and then this afternoon I laid the full working 4 layers of matting up to give the mould some substance............and here are the results.

you'll notice that the flange has been pulled over to one side by the heat and contraction of the resin whilst curing..........it hasn't gone too far so the mould will be workable once the other side has been laid up to the sloping part..................haven't had this happen to such a degree before but I don't intend to do anything about it at this point ..............should it have been a major problem I might have got my hair dryer onto it and tried to pull it over whilst hot...............but hey ho!! it's not an insurmountable problem.

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: Neil on October 10, 2014, 07:33:27 pm

A bit of a cock up.............trimmed the grp off and removed the flange, to find that that the grp flange had taken a lean away from the keel of the boat so much that there was a gap of around 1/8th inch between the flange and the keel.....

not insurmountable n the grand scheme of things as I could fill the gap with some plastecine................but I decided to give it a go and try to bend the grp back into place by heating it up with my hot air gun firstly and clamping it in place to cool down.........hopefully it will reset itself once cooled down...........if not back to idea 1.

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: Neil on October 11, 2014, 10:46:48 am

last night I heated up the flange whilst it was still in the curing stage to eradicate a gap of about 3mm that had opened up between the keel and the flange when the flange moved during moulding, and cramped it up.

removed the cramps this morning to find success....the gap around 2 inches long had closed up to around 0.5 mm which I have now filled with plastecine, ready for moulding...........I'll later wax it all up and then start on the second side of the mould.

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: Neil on October 12, 2014, 05:08:11 pm

last part of the moulding now in progress...the remaining half of the hull and the two cabins have been laid up with the gelcoat.

a little tip here for anyone wanting to do some of their own fibre glassinf for the first time.....

the glass matting comes in different weights....they now sell in grams weight, but I have always worked in ounce weight, and bar stating the obvious, the lower the weight, the thinner the matting..............and for model boats the thinner the matt, the easier it is to mould, because the usual instruments for rolling the resin into the matting such as the parsley and ribbed rollers are very hard to  use in a tight space of a small hull.............but the thinner the weight the more expensive per square metre it is...............so I normally buy a 1.5 or 2 ounce matting ( or gram equivalent.

I then cut it into manageable sizes for the mould I am laying up, and then I split the layers just as one would split slates for roof tiling............I then get twice the coverage for a minimal extra outlay of money for the same square meterage.

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: Neil on October 13, 2014, 10:15:11 am

the moulds are now all but finished................

the cabin moulds have both been laid up both halves and just need trimming and then drilling of the flanges with a 6mm bit to take the 6mm roofing bolts that hold them together.


the hull has been trimmed and drilled. the flange for the deck to hull has been drilled every 300 mm space approx., .............done this way because it will not be bolted to the hull except for storage purposes and therefore to keep it from twisting.

However the flange between the two halves of the hull has been drilled at 100mm spaces (approx.) so that it can be bolted together when laying up a hull moulding.

The drill holes on the deck and hull flanges on both mouldings will be masked off before waxing up to stop any ingress of resin or matting into the hole.

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: gribeauval on October 13, 2014, 01:46:01 pm

It's just like Christmas!!  Can't wait for the "prezzies" to be unwraped.  {-) {-) {-) {-)


Mike

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: Neil on October 13, 2014, 03:27:58 pm

it's that first crack of the mould parting with a moulding in it, Mike......the anticipation, the trepidation as to whether you've laid it up properly.........will it pop out without damage............all thoughts going through my head now...........and won't know till Wednesday................ooohhhhh, just got to grit my teeth and bare  the anticipation %% %% %% %%

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: Neil on October 13, 2014, 07:17:47 pm

well, that was one hell of a struggle to split the mould of the hull.........especially with the deck also playing against the hull halves...........and finally on removing the deck mould, there was slight damage to the gelcoat on the fore hatch which will have to be filled and sanded down, with a small amount of gelcoat to fill the hole.

the paint work on the hull plug has been damaged, but little else in the process, but because of the hull shape, especially the tumbleholme on the fore bow area it has been a tricky mould to separate from the plug.

Mike Pendlebury, aka Gribeauval made the plug, and with my agreement used polyurethane varnish to finish the hull plug............I now wonder in hindsight, even though the usual release agents were used, may be the polyester resin in the grp might have acted as a bond to this rather than a barrier and that is why it took so much brute force to separate the mould from the plug.

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: gribeauval on October 13, 2014, 08:07:31 pm

I'm just releived that it came out of the mould at all!!  :-)) :-)) :-))

As you said in the beginning all the wax would need removing so removing damaged paint is no problem at all mate.

Mike

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: Neil on October 14, 2014, 09:53:48 am

checked the moulds this morning..........a little bit of damage was done prizing the moulds from the plug, to the gel coat on the moulds..........particularly on the very tight overhangs and undercuts.............but this can't be helped on such a tight and intricate mould with all the belting and combing moulds................so

this morning I have filled these little areas of damage with some gelcoat which will be later sanded down before preparation is made for taking some mouldings out of them.

Sadly the moulds for the cabins look as though they won't come off the cabin plugs, because of the nature in which they were made..............no problems about how they were made but Mike was going to use them as his working cabins on one of his boats, and so were made from thin mdf for lightness. Have spoken to mike and with his permission it might be the case where I have to remove the plugs from inside the moulds rather than the moulds being removed from  the plugs, in which case the plugs will be sadly damaged to a great extent.

but this process won't take part till the hull moulds have cured of the damaged areas.


to tell the truth, I am a little disappointed as to the way the mould has come out...................hope the mouldings come out better! {:-{ {:-{ {:-{

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: Neil on October 14, 2014, 01:30:11 pm

what a difference a day makes..................last night I was tired and peeed off because the hull moulds took and age to separate, and when checked this morning there was slight rippling in places in the gelcoat needing fixing...............

last night I couldn't separate the moulds from the plugs on the two cabins for love nor money.......... this lunch time with a bit of trimming of the edges and moulding lines they popped off with minimal damage to the plugs themselves...............a bit of gluing and filling will make them very serviceable............and only a little damage to the moulds.........

However....................I must be getting old or loosing my marbles................or perhaps both.................It would have aided separation of the moulds from the plugs, IF I HAD PAINTED ON  my  PVA release agent after the waxing but before applying the gelcoat....................duuurrrrrggggghhhhhh.............totally forgot to do it..................and boy oh boy does it aid separation...........what a numpty.

and on these moulds I have also filled any small blemishes and air pockets on the moulding line edge with gelcoat.......will now leave that to cure and harden till tomorrow morning when I will sand to level, then wash all the moulds and start waxing in preparation for making some mouldings...............not forgetting this time the PVA release agent.

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: Neil on October 16, 2014, 11:06:11 am

well, I have never had a struggle with a mould as much as I have done with this one.............I don't know what happened as as much care was made with this as with any other mould I have made over the years...

and yet every time I found an air pocket under  the gelcoat and filled it, ....then sanded down I found another B****** hole and had to fill that one.............it has set me back 3 days..........but I have finally eliminated all imperfections ( I hope, and have now started to wax it up.........3 coats so far..........

off to the vets with pooch for flea and worm check up now and then back to waxing..........hopefully I will be able to get the release agent, gelcoat and a first mould laid up by late tonight.........but will be working late, lol.

Thinking of handing the moulds over to a friend once I have got the 4 mouldings out that are spoken for, as I NEVER  want to see it again, lol..........in fact I think this will be the last mould I make.............let someone else do the hard work in future, and settle for building kits............I have been so peeeed off with the way it went...............bit demoralised over it...............might make a difference if the  mouldings start popping out without problems.

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: Neil on October 16, 2014, 03:00:40 pm

Waxed up, without finding any more holes in the gel coat, and 5 coats of wax too............

applied the PA release agent, and just waiting for it to dry,( didn't forget it this time), and then I will bolt the hull and cabin halves together and start with the gelcoat before tea..........hope to get the hull and cabins laid up tonight with any luck.

If all goes well, might even get the deck mould laid up as well......who knows?

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: Neil on October 16, 2014, 03:02:26 pm

 :-))

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: Neil on October 16, 2014, 04:35:26 pm

clamped together, PVA dry, now ready for the gelcoat............going on after tea.

I use 6mm dia roofing bolts and flat square nuts to bolt them together rather than hexagonal nuts as they give a slightly better surface area clamping.

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: Neil on October 16, 2014, 08:41:29 pm

got my gelcoat on, and realised then what a cavernous hull the 50 inch long boat is......acres of space to do most things in.............just hope once I have put the matting on tomorrow that the hull comes out clean,

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: Neil on October 17, 2014, 05:37:56 pm

first set of mouldings are now curing in the moulds, and hopefully will be removed from them this evening.


You might have  noted that I haven't moulded the "wells" in the deck mould with matting, nor have I moulded the back of the main cabin, as all three of these areas would be cut out eventually anyway, and so would be a waste of both matting, resin (albeit a very small amount) and labour..............and with this I am all in favour of saving labour, lol

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: Neil on October 17, 2014, 08:07:59 pm

And finally......................after all the trials and tribulations of the moulds needing work on them, they finally paid off........


and with a decent coat of PVA release agent, the first mouldings popped out like a dream.......absolutely no frustrations of the plugs from the moulds, no damage, no refilling......they are as sweet as can be, and hopefully good for a few mouldings in the future.

I was so frustrated the other day I offered them to a friend of mine in the business, but think I'll have a shot at producing a few sets myself................after all the fittings for her, mostly generic with the 44' Waveney "Scout" can be bought from Metcalf Mouldings to almost complete the Thames Class.........

I'm a happy little chappie again..........

what a difference a day and some release agent make, lol........

so in the immortal words of Mel Blanc....Tha tha that's all folks!!!

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: gribeauval on October 17, 2014, 10:48:35 pm

Greatly relieved that it all came good in the end!!  :-))

I have been hopping from one foot to another like a demented frog all day waiting to see if they came out of the moulds OK.   {-) {-) {-)


Mike

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: Neil on October 17, 2014, 11:16:19 pm

they came out sweetly Mike.................will start laying up the second one tomorrow............they'll be nicely cured by next weekend.

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: Martin (Admin) on October 17, 2014, 11:53:38 pm

 
Posts Merged!   :-)

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: Neil on October 18, 2014, 12:01:42 am

thanks Martin.  :-))

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: Tim B. on October 18, 2014, 02:48:47 am

WOW !

What a Great lot of work you are going to here, these conspicuous talents you have are Not going unnoticed over here on the Far Side ~

I will be following this with rather keen interest ...

Mate Tim in California ( the New World )

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: Neil on October 18, 2014, 09:20:44 am

thanks Tim........but that's me done now apart from moulding a few sets for those who wanted them..............I don't plan on building a Thames anytime soon as have got too much on with my ferries for my daughter..and she wants them finished for next summer................ %%

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: Neil on October 19, 2014, 12:52:23 pm

and here you go Mike.......your two sets of mouldings ready.  :-))

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: gribeauval on October 19, 2014, 03:45:46 pm

Nice one mate!! See you next Saturday with the finished prototype version.  :-))


Mike

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: Neil on October 19, 2014, 05:16:29 pm

 :-))

I'll be able to get back to my CalMac ferry for the daughter now, lol :} :} :}

Title: Re: A 50' Thames class lifeboat....A new lifeboat mould.
Post by: spongie on October 23, 2014, 01:44:22 pm

I can not wait for my 2 sets!!!

one for me and one for the real boat!
www.50001.org.uk