Model Boat Mayhem
The Shipyard ( Dry Dock ): Builds & Questions => Working Vessels => Topic started by: steve mahoney on October 30, 2020, 07:17:44 pm
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I’ve been out of model making since the beginning of the year. I put it down to Covid but it’s really just apathy, lethargy and a massive dose of CBA
But my wishlist of tugs keeps growing and these models won’t make themselves, so it’s time to get back to work. Besides, you guys have had enough of a break from New Zealand tugs so it’s time for another one.
Not sure how long this one will take. I'm hoping that I'll get my mojo back when the project actually gets off the ground.First: A little background information...1960 – 2000 were the heydays of tug building in New Zealand. Before that, most of the tugs had come from British makers, to a British desgn. By 1960 the local NZ yards had developed the skills and size needed to compete with their British competitors. WWII had lead to great expansion in the industry and introduced many new techniques and skills in steel boat building. It was also about this time that many Harbour Boards were replacing aging fleets. Good times for all.
By the turn of the millenium cheaper, off-the-shelf, cookie-cutter design tugs from China, Singapore, Vietnam and Turkey had taken over the market. There’s nothing wrong with Damen, Sanmar and Allen designs – but they do lack a bit of individuality and character. It’s like a world with only Toyotas. Now if you visit another port it’s: same boat, maybe different colour, same, same.
1971 however, was a particularly good year for NZ tug builders, especially for Whangarei Engineering (WECO). They had orders for 5 tugs from 3 ports: Tika from Auckland (1st and 2nd photos, my last build); Kupe, Ngahue and Toia from my hometown (photos 3 & 4); and the Maui from New Plymouth. The Kupe class tugs were 31m and the Tika and Maui were both around 17m.
NZ made tugs had a reputation for being very well built. They were all custom made. The 5 tugs built by WECO that year were 3 totally different designs: 4 Voith & 1 twin screw; 3 different engine and towing systems. Even different galley and accomodation equipment and finishes. Even the 3 Kupe class tugs for Wellington all had different winches and fire-fighting systems. No standardisation or economies of scale. I guess that’s what eventually broke the industry in NZ – building a Mercedes for a Corolla price.
But in ‘71 things looked good and the tugs were duly delivered on time and on budget.
All 5 tugs are still working now, almost 50 years later. You don’t get old by being useless.
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Great looking model! What size or scale is it? I'm thinking of getting into tug builds (from helicopters) and considered the new Damen one at Napier near me but it looks a bit chubby for my eye and may go for a leaner shape like the 1907 Stan tug.
Cheers
Nelson
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Thanks Nelson,
The Tika is pretty small at 1/50 – only 350mm long. A bit small for RC on a big pond.
A Damen 1907 at 1/25 would be a great model, although finding hull lines for any Damen is a difficult.
The Ahuriri from Napier is on my 'to do' list – it's a long list! I've got a few other NZ tug models here: https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/member.php?u=102411
and some of the builds are also on this forum.
Steve
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Thanks for the response Steve, and the link to the other art work. I'm really pondering about scale: I'd like to keep to a single scale and start with something not too ambitious in the 50 - 65cm size and later do one of the larger tugs that might be nearer a metre in length. I like Damen because the company has scale drawings on their product sheets. Although as you say it does not include hull section. I actually emailed asking them but was told it was intellectual property not to be given. But the hulls appear to be made of "flat" steel sheet in about three sections each side, so it should be possible to interpolate from the drawings approximately what the crass sections will be. It also raises the option of making the hull from styrene sheet or ply. And even if a fibreglass mould is made, it may be easier to mock it up from flat sheets than carving wood.
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Why not 1:35 or 36 so 50cm and loads of accessories that you can get for detailing!
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Why not 1:35 or 36 so 50cm and loads of accessories that you can get for detailing!
OK. Are you saying 1:35 is a regular scale for parts? I looked on Cornwall models and no scales seemed to be mentioned except for kits.
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1/32 is a standard size for most UK/US fittings. A 1907 at 1/32 would be 610mm long.
You should be able to figure out basic cross sections based on the General Arrangement. I've done this for most of my builds. A hard chine hull like this wouldn't be too difficult. Let me know if you need a hand drawing it up.
Ply is definitely the way to go with a hull like that.
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Yup, 1:35 is for loads of crew/cargo such as oil drums etc/odds and sods etc. I.e. all the, generally, militaria suitably civilianised. Crew can be easily got at 1:32 but often the plastic at that scale seems to be "interesting" when you try to get paint to stick and the Mobile Marine Models kits and fittings are all at 1:32.
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1/32 is a standard size for most UK/US fittings. A 1907 at 1/32 would be 610mm long.
You should be able to figure out basic cross sections based on the General Arrangement. I've done this for most of my builds. A hard chine hull like this wouldn't be too difficult. Let me know if you need a hand drawing it up.
Ply is definitely the way to go with a hull like that.
That image was an empty frame to me - is it just me?
I'm tempted to look at styrene sheet.
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That image was an empty frame to me - is it just me?
I'm tempted to look at styrene sheet.
Same for me too npomeroy
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How's that?
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yep that's good I can see it now
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A bit more background:
Up until ‘71 the city of New Plymouth had only had a small exposed harbour, not suitable for large ships. Small rivermouth ports at nearby Patea and Waitara were being phased out and the New Plymouth Harbour Board had big plans for the future (it’s now a large export port and homeport for the local offshore oil industry). The little Maui was the first tug for the newly developed Port Taranaki. At only 17m she’s small. “How small?” you ask. Check out the 1st photo. That's either a really big rubber duck or a tiny tug.
She’s still working everyday, now up north in Auckland. I went onboard a couple of years ago and she’s still in good nick: solid as a rock, comfortable quarters – and rides really well.
While she isn’t beatiful in a classical sense, she is fit for purpose – the same way a bulldog is. She looks like a strong little tug – no frills, nothing fancy.
The Kupe class tugs completed at WECO that year are stereotypical NZ tugs. Many ports went on to have similar WECO tugs and they seemed to be all over the country. They are the tugs I remember as a boy. My son even got to drive the Kupe around the harbour when he was little.
That 31m hull design and Voith system used on the Kupe was refined and used on various tugs until the 1990s when ASD tugs became more popular. The Te Matua and Hauroko have identical hulls and drives systems – based on the Kupe. I have a 1/50 Te Matua that I plan to rebuild at some stage. The Hauroko is very muscular looking tug and I've got to have one of those too.
I’ll be attempting to make a display model of the Maui at 1/50. My usual MO: laser cut components, plank/ply on frame, with some 3D printed parts and PE brass details.
PS. It’s not all bad news for boatbuilding in NZ these days: WECO are still making very good tugs (PT Mary and PT May – also in the wishlist) and the industry has refocussed on high-end yachts and super yachts.
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1/32 is a standard size for most UK/US fittings. A 1907 at 1/32 would be 610mm long.
You should be able to figure out basic cross sections based on the General Arrangement. I've done this for most of my builds. A hard chine hull like this wouldn't be too difficult. Let me know if you need a hand drawing it up.
Ply is definitely the way to go with a hull like that.
Yes I have the GA drawings and intend to work from them. Another long-time scale builder I met recently was very persuasive towards the full line drawings being essential. But he may not have know how simple the lines were on this tug. I'm tempted to do it in fibreglass to avoid needing space-consuming internal framework.
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At 1/32 a 1907 would be 610 long by 240 wide with 110mm below the deck. Even with some space for hull ribs/frames you would still have plenty of room for the internals. Might need to have some of the deck removable for good access though.
Keep us posted with a build log.
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Maui’s current owners let me onboard to take a load of photos and also gave me a copy of the GA so I was able to draw up the parts for laser cutting. These slot together and then the flat sections of the hull go on. The hull is a bit tricky – it’s like a hard chine but with curves – if you know what I mean. Luckily it is very similar to the bigger WECO tug hulls, and I have a complete set of hull lines for the 31m Kupe – a gift courtesy of the Wellington Harbour Board. I made a 1/50 Kupe 20 years ago and it wasn’t too difficult to draw up and amend the Kupe lines to work for the smaller curvier Maui hull. This build will also be good practise for a couple of future projects: Te Matua and Hauroko.
Here are the laser-cut sheets ready for popping out and cleaning of the scorched edges. This is not the display face of the ply, that’s still covered with tape.
...and in the plastic tub are all of the major components needed to build the basic carcase. There’s a tug in there somewhere, I just need to put it together.
So, out with the trusty old building board...
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... and a few hours and a few tubes of CA later.
The bracing is overkill but as this is a display model only I don't need any internal cavities. I'm building the hull the same way I would build a plug for a mould. Quick and easy.
Now to start packing the stern and bow sections with balsa blocks.
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Attached the deck and packed out below it to attach the top chine sheeting. This is 1mm ply.
I haven't really attacked this build with the enthusiasm I would have liked. It is a slow and complex build and I haven't even got to the complex part yet.
So I thought that I might sideline this project for a few weeks and knock out something quick and easy to get me back into the swing of things. I'll start another thread on this new little project. I will get back to the Maui as soon as I've got up a head of steam.
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I have been slowly making a little bit of progress between working on the Tui and Busby builds.
The base plates are attached – this is where the Voith drives will go. It's there only section of the hull that is fairly simple.
...and the bow and stern have been packed out with balsa. Some of the curves around the stern are quite complex. Haven't figured out how I'll attack those parts. The lower curved section above the base plate will be planked and hopefully I can use ply sheet for the hull sides.
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Trying to juggle 3 builds at once is having both good and bad points. The builds are all pretty much at the same stages – getting the hull sorted out, so there seems to be a never ending cycle of fill, sand, prime, repeat. On the good side, if I get bored with one build or hit a problem I can move on to the next one.
However everything seems to be progressing at a snail's pace. Christmas binge eating, maintenance work around the house and 'stuff' have cut down my time at the bench.
I managed to get a solid start on the hull. The base is 2 flat panels, the sides are very regular, smooth surfaces, the bow and stern and lower curves are quite complex. The straightforward sections are 1mm ply. The lower curved section has been planked. What a mess. I made a terrible job of it. There seemed to be no sweet plank at all, every plank needed shaping. I should have just packed it out and carved it. Luckily I could smooth/fix/hide it with filler and paint.
When the planking had reached as high as it would go I gave the interior a good coat of resin and cloth to really lock everything in place, fill any gaps, and to stiffen up the balsa. Slowly starting to get in shape now.
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When I got asked to build the model of the Busby, this one got put on hold back in December, stuck in a cupboard and then packed in a box when we moved town. At that stage the hull was complete with the bulwarks attached.
The Busby build has reached a bit of natural break while waiting for some material so I thought that I’d get this build back on track.
It has been so long since I looked at this project so I took a few hours to re-acquaint myself with the build, plans and photos.
The first thing I noticed was that pretty much everything I had done was wrong.
The skeg was was too simplistic and too shallow. The free ports /scuppers weren’t in the right places. The bulwarks at the bow should have been higher and slope down for the first 20% of the length on the boat. The stern bulwarks are much more square than I had made them. And the hull had plenty of unwanted bumps and shoulders. I had originally marked the bulwark knees/supports in the correct places but for some reason I’d altered them to make a much more rounded stern rail. I can’t figure out why I did any of this – other than not paying attention and assuming that I new what I was doing, and going at it like a bull at a gate – something my wife has been telling me for years.
The bumps were fixed with a few rounds of fill/sand/prime and now I’m down to the 800 grit wet & dry. Quite therapeutic. That part’s looking OK now although the balsa I had used is very poor quality, very soft and dents easily. Hopefully a thin coat of resin or a few coats of diluted primer will soak in and toughen it up a bit.
The skeg now has some proper shape and form – my first attempt looked like I hadn’t really been trying – she says that a bit too.
The bulwarks were more of a problem. I should have removed them and started again from scratch but I’m a stubborn cuss (yeah, I’ve heard that as well) so I persevered with trying to fix what was already there. You can see in the photo the incorrect positions that the supports had been moved to. Took twice as long and twice the stress of starting again but I like to fix things rather than throw them out and get a new one. I should tell her that
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OK, the hull and bulwarks are now looking much better. The freeing ports/scuppers and hawser holes have been cut out (in the correct places), and the skeg looks about right.
The hull is very squat (one of the crew told me that Maui was very comfortable is a heavy sea) and looks a bit big in the bum but that’s how it is in the plans.
Next tasks are the capping rail, rubbing strips, fender housing, hawser hole details, Voith blades, and the protection plate. The plate will need to be made as a separate unit so that the hull and blade units can be attached and painted first. I’ll probably also need to make a new building cradle to work around the protection plate.
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Many moons ago I built Graupner’s “Parat”. I was Master on the full scale one for a while. There are only three controls on a Twin Voith installation, thrust port and starboard levers ahead and astern and a wheel for transverse thrust (steering). No speed controller required, just a switch, as the rotors and engines turn continuously and the controls only introduce pitch. So, one servo for each rotor, ahead and astern thrust and a third servo linked to an idler (empty) to effect steering. Graupner in their wisdom specified a speed controller and 4 servos. The rotors in neutral thrust take minimal load until pitch is applied. When the lever in the middle of each unit is moved by a servo in one direction, thrust is applied at 90° to the direction of the lever. The rotors are contrarotating, ie. one clockwise tother is anti-clockwise. It doesn’t matter which way. I modified my transmitter so that I had two levers for ahead and astern and a rotary controller knob for the steering servo. Put one lever ahead the other astern and steer in the opposite direction and the boat will move sideways. Hope this is understandable.
Jerry C.
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Thanks Jerry. This one is display only, 340mm LOA at 1/50, much too small for working Voith drives. Making them is way beyond my ability and the commercially available units are big and very, very expensive.
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Understand, I didn’t think. Yes, they are very expensive however, they are very simple devices and with 3D printing around now they could be made for a fraction of the cost. The only problem I ever had with mine was fouling a mooring line for one of the hire rowing boats on the lake but two lads from the local sub aqua club swam out and recovered it for me. A quick donation from me to the air ambulance service at their suggestion followed!
Enjoy your build.
Jerry C.
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I have a 1/50 version of the 31m Voith tug Kupe but with twin screws. I'd like to rebuild it at 1/20 but the commercially available drives are too small and too expensive.
The Graupner Voith drives are over $NZ300 each plus shipping, and the better engineered Bauers are over $NZ500 each. I could never swing that past the boss, and I'm wary of the committing to the Graupner drives as I have a couple of Graupner ASD drives on my SDM tug and they are not very robust (poor design). Can't use them any more for fear of losing a nozzle in the middle of the pond.
I guess that project will have to stay on the back-burner for a while.
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Seve.....is that $NZ 500.00 each purchasing directly on the Manufacturer?......what type of Freight is included?
DHL [an arm of Deutsche Post] is very expensive with their Insurance Costs
[Metric minature hex headed [M1.5 to M+++] brass bolts & nuts are near an exclusive to Germany]
I have experienced a small parcel approx 70 Euro of B&N was beefed up to 112 EURO with DHL freight & Insurance or a 40% of the costs as extras ..the delivery time was 12 days
I have also experienced a similar 70 Euro in B&N from the same supplier with standard Deutsche Post with 12 Euro postagewith a landed deliver time of 6 days O0
However I understand the need for insurance + fully tracked number <*< with higher value individual items such as you Bauer drives
Derek
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Hi,
A contrarotating VSP sounds fascinating but hideously complicated. The single one I have for a project is just about enogh as it is!
Steve we all know you put exquisite static models of this type together, much like Bob W does for sailing ships so happy to watch your builds and watch them coming together.
Rich
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Thanks Rich.
Derek: the NZ micro-dollar is buying as much these days. NZ$1.65 per Euro, plus freight (post) and insurance, plus there could be 15% a sales tax at this end. That all adds up to make it prohibitive.
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After patting myself on the back for fixing the errors on the stern bulwarks I started on the capping rail and fender housing.
The capping rail is steel tube so this was replicated with styrene rod on the now correct height bulwarks. Easy peasy.
The boat was built with a rubber rubbing strip in a moulded channel running completely around the boat, level with the deck. I had built in a flat surface onto the hull for easy attachment of the styrene channel. When I started putting the channel in place it didn't look right. The plans, as-built photos and the current photos didn't match. Stop me if you'd heard this one before... I hadn't been paying attention – again. What is it with this guy? I'm beginning to wonder if my wife is right.
The real Maui has been altered a few time over the past 50 years and the original rubbing strip housing at the stern has been changed to accommodate a large fender roll. This meant major surgery to the stern – again. The transom is now cut/squared off and the stern has also been altered.
It's all sorted out now but not a glowing testament to my powers of observation and concentration.
The next job is the fender housing. The fender roll is held in place by a simple system of ties but this system will be quite difficult to reproduce at 1/50.
I'll have to give it some thought – something I haven't been doing too much of on this build.
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Brian C's fantastic Mauritania certainly puts my meagre efforts into perspective. I suddenly feel very ham-fisted and slap-dash.
Anyway, I seem to be back on track – at last. The fender housing is all attached. The fenders will be attached after final painting.
The anchor points for the stern fender roll at the base of the housing are some brass eyes from the spares box. They will be hidden by the fender when it's in place.
The hull is pretty much completed, although I always seem to find a few spots that need attention whenever I look at the photos.
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The hard work has all been done on the hull so now I can start on the mock ups of the Voith drives.
These are surrounded by a protection/skid plate. I've made this as a seperate unit that can be painted and stuck on after the completed Voith propellers have been attached to the painted hull. This piece was relatively simple and straightforward. The struts have a brass rod core with a styrene covering so it's pretty strong and attaches to some solid points on the hull and keel frames.
The plate on the Maui doesn't have the 2 forward outer struts that are used the larger 31m version of this hull type as you can see in the B/W photo of the Maui beached for survey, and the last few photos of the 31m Kupe (the red one) and Hauroko in dry dock. You can also see how the original 1971 hull shape on Kupe was developed and simplified to the Hauroko's hard chines in the 1980s. Hauroko is a big beast of a tug and I hope to build one, and rebuild Te Matua (both are based on the same hull) in the future so this is good practice.
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Lovely work Steve, I do enjoy reading about your builds
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Thanks MLJ
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Not too much progress to report this time.
I had planned to paint the hull but the warm weather has kicked in and my workspace in the garage is suddenly becoming an oven. So much so that the paint coming out of the airbrush was pretty much drying on contact. That meant a very course, grainy coating – even when well diluted. It was also fouling the nozzle on a regular basis. Slow and dissatisfying with much wet & dry repair work. I also managed to drop the paint reservoir bottle and break the cap with the tube/attachment clean in two. Glue won't fix it as there's always a lot of solvent sloshing around in there. A new airbrush is in
So the hull has taken a back seat for a while and I started on the superstructure, and assembled the basic carcass out of ply. The GA that I have is not exactly 100% accurate and the curves on the front of the superstructure are much flatter than on the drawings. Same for the wheelhouse/bridge sides: they are flat/straight with no forward radiused corners in real life and curved with radiused corners on the plans, as you can see by comparing the photo with the GA. Fortunately these issues were easily fixed before I got to far down the wrong track.
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Things have been progressing, slowly.
There always seems to be a sequence that a build has to follow. With the hull now ready for painting it's: paint above the waterline, then paint the deck/bulwarks, then attach the rubber rubbing strip, then paint below the waterline, then attach Voith blades and protection plate, then retouch the paint, then attach the stern fender. Sounds complicated but there is is a method to the madness – do the jobs with the least amount of fiddly work and chances of having to do major re-work first and the delicate stuff last.
So the theory goes...
I'm at the painting the deck stage at the moment. In the meantime I added some details to the superstructure before its fist coat of paint – a small lip around the edges of the upper deck, the porthole surrounds, recessed port power panel. There are plenty more details to go on after this has been painted.
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Between painting sessions I made a start on the funnel/mast. On the real boat this is a simple but elegant piece of formed steel (photo 1). Easy to do if you have some basic metalwork skills – so I had to figure out another way to do it.
Usually I would skin the funnel with thin styrene and I've had success with laminating styrene into complex curves before. Not this time, the forward curve of the mast is too tight and the styrene wouldn't hold its shape. After a few frustrating attempts I resorted to 0.8mm ply set around a removable frame. Worked out fine – genius! Although if you've been following the build you'll know that it was more by good luck than good management.
I made 2 masts at the same time, to slightly different widths – the dimensions on the GA just didn't look right when made.
To sand the lower curve of the mast/funnel an airbrush paint bottle was exactly the right size to use as a sanding block. Managed not to drop this one.
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And a couple more...
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It has been awhile since the last update and I don't really have any excuses for the slow progress. 2020 seems like a wasted year, in model building terms. Moved house 3 times and another in 2 weeks, boats in long term storage, plus a 4 month COVID lockdown, and the hottest summer on record has turned my workshop into an oven. Haven't been able to work in there for weeks. Happy days.
Nevertheless I have managed to make a little, slow progress since Christmas, once I had single handedly demolished the Christmas ham.
The hull is now completed and has had the two mock 4 bladed Voith units and skid plate attached. It's all painted and now ready for the deck vents, bollards, etc. The "rubber" rubbing strip has been attached but the stern fender will be quite a complex job so I'll put that aside for awhile.
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The Panama ports/fairleads are exactly the same size and shape as the ones I had 3D printed for my YTL625 build a few years ago. By pure fluke I had 3 left over from that build – just right for this project.
The photos of them on this project are a bit too dark but they look fine in real life. The last photo shows them a lot clearer on the YTL.
I'm trying to spark up some enthusiasm for this build but it's hard to get back on the horse. Yesterday I was checking out the previously painted superstructure housing and managed to drop it from full height. Instinctively I put out a foot to try and break its fall before it hit the concrete floor. A bit to forcefully as I only managed to hit it on the volley and boot it into the wall. Was never able to do that on the footy field! Doh!
It didn't do too much damage apart from a dent in the deck/wall/rain lip joint. More remedial work...
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Some fine Steve. O0
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I look forward to following some of your builds Steve. :-)
Garry
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Thanks Garry. I'll have to get this one back on track. We have moved house 4 times in the last 18 months and workshops haven't been an option in our temporary homes. One last move to go in the next month and hopefully then I'll be able to get everything out of storage and set up a workshop again.
I must say that I have certainly missed time at the bench.
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Yes moving around a lot is certainly very disruptive, I hope you are able to settle down soon.
Where are you?
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Left Wellington for Auckland, then Orewa, then Northshore now back in Wellington looking for something permanent. Crazy time to be buying and selling houses.
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That is a lot of moving about Steve, was it for work?
I'm down in North Canterbury.
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Well, it has been awhile since I did anything on this one – 2 years since the last post. However, this build won't finish itself so it's time to get back to work.
Recently I've knocked out a couple of little builds to try and shake of any rust. They turned out OK but this one is a little more complicated.
The basic hull is just about finished – only the deck pipes & vents, and the stern fender left to do. The hull markings will be some of the last things added.
The real fender is made up of cylindrical sections of rubber strung along a central core. I made these out of various bits of styrene tubing. These were laid out around a template to check the size and fit.
Yes, they are all different sizes.
Small spacers to keep the sections the same distance apart were cut out of styrene tube.
Looks OK so far.
I have photos of the fender over the past 20 years and the way it is attached has changed over this time. When I visited the boat it was held on with wire ropes, but they have also used chain, woven straps and a mix of all 3 in the past.
Chains are probably the easiest at 1/50 so they might be my preferred option. Plus, I have some chain in the right size. Sounds easy.
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Great to see you back at it Steve, she's looking good.
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Thanks Garry, gently easing back into this one. No point rushing it now.
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Yes, looking good Steve. I've just got back to my Damen 1907 project and to looking at the forum again.
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Good things take time.
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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?
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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.
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Long, slow build Steve, a proper build ... long and slow! :-))
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Don't rub it in. Good things take time!
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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.
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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.
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:-))
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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.
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Now that W47 is all finished I can get back up to speed on the Maui again.
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[/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.
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[/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.
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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.
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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.
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I could learn a thing or two, about taking the time to make jigs. ok2
Great work on the mast and all those fiddly bits.
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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 ok2 .
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Nice work Steve ! :-))
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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.
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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.
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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.
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The easiest next item on the list was a toss up between the airconditioning unit, and the liferaft & cradle – so I built them all in tandem.
I had thought that the aircon base (going from a rectangle top to a small circle base, photo 1) would be difficult. A perfect job for my little desk disc sander. Only an afternoon to make, and another to paint. It can be put aside for awhile, and won’t be attached until the final stages.
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Same with the life raft and cradle. Some fiddly soldering but nothing too difficult. Although after a couple of days to look at my results (pic 1), I rebuilt the cradle (pic 2). The first attempt was just too chunky/clunky. Looks much better now. This all goes into the box of bits that will be attached later.
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That second attempt at the liferaft cradle looks great Steve, sits lovely on the superstructure as well - good job :-))
Cheers,
Ray.
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Thanks Ray. These photos are twice the size of the pieces. They look much better in real life.
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The Maui has a Seematz 1000w halogen searchlight mounted on the top rail of the flying bridge. A fairly recent addition. This one is styrene, with brass brackets. Went together without any problems. In the box. Easy! I’m on fire!
These Seematz searchlights are usually a pale beige/light caramel colour, although the one on the Maui is all white. Even easier. Smokin’!