Model Boat Mayhem
Mess Deck: General Section => Tugs and Towing => Topic started by: Brian60 on October 28, 2014, 03:47:25 pm
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Well I've posted a couple pics of this ship before but got waylaid with my smack build, now thats its finished I can begin. First photo, 01, shows my two boats, I salvaged the best hull and scrapped the other (shouldv'e put it on Ebay!) The hull was shipped over to our home in Spain where I am now about to start work on it.
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So I got it outside and stripped it out completely, the idea was to do a keel up rebuild, so everything came out, prop shafts,bulkead supports the lot, it left a very rough internal structure. Next was to give the outside a complete sanding to remove as much paint from the grp hull as possible.
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Now the last two photo's show my major problem when my wife said I could have a small workbench in HER artroom I totally forgot about how big this hull is! I'll just have to work as best as possible although I can clear most of the glues and solvents into a box underneath.
So what have I got done so far? I have the stripped out hull I still need to remove the deck supports and install new ones, but I've left the old stuff to add rigidity for now. I have cut out the old moulded in stern roller it always looked wrong, and built a new one that actually revolves. I am waiting delivery of new prop shafts and running gear from the UK, once it has arrived, I can glass them into place with resin and repair the rest of the inside of the hull.
This hull being very close to the classic Smit-LLoyd 120 series of of offshore craft, there are many styles of ship I can actully build, although no decision has to be made until I am actually ready to install decks. I plan on having working sharks jaws by the stern roller, along with many other working functions, so that's it for now, another update once the propshafts are installed, oh yes and the bow/stern thrusters, I'll need to dig those out of storage
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Just a short update from the last couple of days, I know the basics are boring but they have to be done before moving on to the exciting parts...
SO these are pics of the the bow/stern thruster install. I've had these for a number of years and took them from yet another hull I consigned to the scrap yard. The first is the tube cut to roughly the size I needed with the power unit by its side and the second with it assembled.
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The next one is the stern tube roughed in. Then the fourth and fifth photo's are the bow and stern tubes epoxied into place and first finish done, still more sanding to be carried out beforeits ready final primer and top coats. The last one shows a hiccup that I thought would happen at the stern. This part of the hull is so narrow that the prop almost sits at the end of the tube. I have two options for this, the first is to shorten the shaft and narrow the width of the prop itself (from the blades to the rear of the boss), this I think will be the easiest option.
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you have a lot of work there brian ..looking good so far :-)) :-)) ill follow your progress ,itll be a stunning model when finnished regards pad
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Thanks for the comment Pad. I'm in it for the long haul, because it's a refit of an old hull there is plenty of work involved just to get back to decent start point. Once I have the stern roller and thrusters installed I'll move on to internal supports. Then I can sort out knocking the outer hull back into shape, only then will I consider the build really under way as a new model!
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Hello Brian
What a interesting project, these are just mine kind of ship, interesting with a complete rebuild, also like yours way to recycle old parts so they come to alive again, keep us updated, when finished it just gone be super.
Cheers
Jack
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Thanks for the comments Jack. Like my sailing smack build I'll update this every week or so. So you just need to pop back every so often to see the progress.
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Not a lot to add, my prop shafts have arrived! Airmail Cornwall to Alicante area of Spain, only took 12 days %% {-) So I am about to start the grp work of putting those in and patching up the hull where needed with extra glass cloth.
Here are two pictures, the first is the original construction of the Wimpey Seahunter, shown as the Med Sette after she was sold on. Then we have the POSH Venture. I have decided to rebuild her as the latter. Its a more up to date look, the Venture was completed in 2008 whereas the Seahunter was built in 1984. Fortunately it is virtually the same hull, I managed to download plans of the Venture from their website for comparison.
So next update will be the propshafts in place and new deck supports epoxied in- with an explanation of what was wrong with the stern thruster.
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Hi Brian, I'm following your rebuild with interest, you mentioned Wimpey, I worked for them from 1965 to 1976, they were a huge company back then in many industries, from 1976 on I was in the boat/ship building industry probably why I have the boat modelling bug. %%
Joe.
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Wimpey were a huge construction company when I was a pre-teen, I remember a huge new council estate they constructed in Hull between '66 and'70 it was a wondeful playground for kids of my age. I wonder what happened to them? possibly absorbed by and even bigger construction company.
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They are still around Brian, after gobbling up Mc Alpines and John Lang's in the early 2000's they merged with Taylor Woodrow in 2007 and became Taylor Wimpey , who are presently rebuilding a housing estate a few miles from where I live, ironically the estate that was demolished to make way for the new one was one I worked on in 1972 for that's right, George Wimpey &Co.
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A short update as I'm still waiting on the Kort nozzles being delivered. So, when I first built this boat I took shortcuts and not knowing better basically bodged together deck supports.
This time around I am building a proper support that can be dropped into place and epoxied to the grp hull in one piece after all the running gear is added. The beginnings of this substantial piece of woodwork cab be seen in these two photo's. Once the aliphatic resin has glued on these joints I can add the periphery timber that will support the deck edges. I'll post another photo later in the build that will demonstrate this frame as completed for a better understanding of what I mean.
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The next photo is the bow thruster epoxy putty'ed into place and then a layer of grp tissue and resin over the putty. Then a view of the stern thruster likewise epoxied and covered with grp resin and tissue. This photo also shows the internal ends of the propshaft tubes fastened in with grp tissue and resin. The white stuff on the bottom is 25year old resin (with colouring) from the first build. While talking about the lateral thrusters, I had a shock on the Cornwall Model Boat site two days back, while looking at propellors I came across their page with these thrusters on it, £70 each %% I'm so glad I hoard stuff away for maybe a time in the future! These almost hit the bin along with plenty of other stuff when we cleared out the loft space.
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The last two photo's are the external view of the prop shafts, these are 8inch tubes and as you can see there is not a lot outside of the hull. My original plan and also the new one of the POSH Venture shows a length of exposed driveshaft supported at the Kort nozzle end by a large bearing housing. I still had these from the first build so I will use the housings again, along with the old propshafts which are 14inches in length. So the only bits of the new propshafts I am using are the new shaft tubes. The second photo shows the old propshaft in the new housing with the approximate position of the propellor and Kort nozzle.
Oh yes harking back to an earlier post where I showed the stern thruster propellor overhanging the hull edge. I knew there was something wrong as it was all ok on the dry fit. It turned out I had inserted the drive and propellor facing toward the starboard side, when it should have pointed to port. The drive was offset on its mounting so while it would fit faciing either way, I had cut the tube so that it was centred in one direction and not the other due to the confines of the narrow stern section of the hull. The drive housing can just be seen in the tube in the last photo's, the prop now being on the other side!
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Hi Brian, nice going, I can see that she is going to be a really robust boat. :-))
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Again not a lot achieved over the last few days. I am stuck waiting for the Kort nozzles arriving from the UK, I think the Spanish Correos (post office) should rename their version of airmail to snailmail %) So I have made up motor mounts for the bow and stern thrusters, the first photo shows the bow plate in place. I have used Gorilla glue to attach the mount to the grp hull, this stuff has set like concrete in 24 hours. So the question I asked about it in the glue section means I will use the stuff to attach the support frame to the hull as well.
The next photo are the main drive motor mounts, due to how low the propshafts sit in the deck I have had to bond these direct to the hull.
The next two photos are the external openings for the thrusters. Some ships have a safety grille over the openings, in the case of this ship the plan shows vertical bars, so that is what I have gone with, using 17 gauge fencing wire bent into shape. Once the Kort nozzles arrive and I can get them bonded in the hull will be almost ready for paint, just some final sanding and filling prep to carry out.
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So here we have two photo's of the internal framework. This is almost complete now but can't be bonded into the hull because I need access to install the rudders and I can't install these until the Kort nozzles are attached. I haven't incorporated the forecastle deck support due to the massive curvature involved. Once I can get the main frame installed the foredeck supports will be added seprately.
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looking good there brian :-)) :-)) :-))
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It's coming along slowly Pad!
Anyway today started with a trip into town to collect my Kort nozzles from the post office only as Iv'e said before almost a 20k round trip, this time the parcel took 15 days, I swear I could have walked from the UK with them in a shorter time!
Thanks to Mobile Marine Models the Tugnology people, for two quality pieces of casting these can be seen in the first photo. No time to waste and straight into the craft room to get started on the installation. Photos 2 and 3 show the first one mounted on a cardboard disk attached to the propshaft for alignment purposes. There wasn't enough space between the nozzle and the hull to install the spacer that came with the nozzles, so I left those out and drilled direct through the hull and used short lengths of steel rod and epoxied these into holes drilled in the Kort nozzles. Once I have the second one mounted I can fill in around them with car body filler as suggested in the Kort instructions, this will be for the next update.
The last photo is the beginnings of a Becker rudder. The old rudders I removed were just flat brass plates soldered to the shafts. I have plated these with plywood to give them shape and also cut down the trailing edge to add a Becker flap, this won't be a working flap, I can't be bothered to work out the geometry for the pivot point. So the flap will be fixed to the main part of the rudder but will look the part when finished.
Thats it for now, I'll have the propulsion gear fitted in the next few days so another update will follow once that is complete. Of course nothing would be right here unless I mentioned that once again I am waiting the postie, this time for my Kort props, and before anyone wonders, they were ordered from a different supplier to the Kort nozzles!
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OK the last few days have been ones of exasperation. It seems every time I attempt to do something I am not happy with the end result, meaning there has been a lot of procrastination and head scratching. Here's a photo of both Kort nozzles in place, I am not happy with one of them. The one on the left of the photo is out of position by about 2mm, its actually tilted in the fore and aft plane.
I was going to remove it and re-position but it would be a hell of a lot of work, the mountings that came with them were too big to use, so I drilled through the hull and into the top of the nozzle 3 times. I then pushed 2mm steel pins through and epoxied them to the hull and Kort nozzles. It seems on this one that the tape etc holding the nozzle in place had slipped during the epoxy curing period, hence the nozzel has tilted. So before that side is finished I need to put the propellor in (haven't got them yet!) and turn the motor over to see if we are touching anwhere.
So to the mountings, once the epoxy had set I filled the space with car body filler Isopon P38, sanded it to shape once set and then because its quite soft, I used grp resin and glass tissue, and covered the P38, once that had set I filled any roughness with Squadron White. This is a celluslose filler used extensively in the plastic model world, its a very fine filler paste.
I'm going to spend the weekend making up the supports for the Kort nozzles and prop shaft end bearing- again I was going to use the old brass ones for these, except as they are not packed in any of my boating stuff, means I must have disposed of them in the UK!
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Next the old rudders were altered as previously described to imitate Becker rudders. I painted the wood cladding on them with left over grp resin from doing the Kort mounts. They seemed ok and sanded down to a nice smooth surface. Then this afternoon I gave them a quick coat of primer, it seems the resing never coated one of them as well as it looked! So it'll be more of that Squadron white to fill the grain that is still showing, then another good sanding for them both, now the paint is on the top an bottom pivot mounts look too obviously glued on so they need some more work as well.
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Next update:--
I'm still stymied by the propshaft bearings that are located just in front of the Kort nozzles, I want some brass tube of the correct diameter so that I can solder the whole unit including support structure together. Yesterday I made the 90 kilometre round trip to our local :} %% version of B&Q (BricoDepot) I picked up some brass tube of 6mm and 4mm diameter, even that isn't any use for the next job. Those familiar with the model shop brass tubing know that 3mm slides inside 4mm, 4mm slides inside 5mm etc. So would this except you can't get the odd numbered sizes, they had 2,4,6,8, no 10 or 12mm which is what I needed, ho hum.
I can't order from the UK as by the time it arrives we will be back over there for the Xmas period so I will be able to pick it up myself from the local model shop. The support brackets are now on hold until January!
So I have got mounted the rudders. On the upper mount, nearest the hull, can be seen the skegs I have added which would have the Becker arm mechanism. On the lower part of the Kort is the bearing housing I have made up for the rudder. This was not detailed in the original plan or the one I have downloaded for the Venture, So I did what looked 'right'
The first photo shows the mounts epoxied in place and with a coating of car body filler and the second shows it with it sanded smooth. The pink that can be seen is Isopon P38 body filler and the white is as mentioned earlier the Squadron white, plastic kit filler that the plastic modellers use. The brown showing throught the filler is the wooden base. What i haven't photgraphed was the brass bracket that supports the rudder expoxied into the Kort nozzle. The bearing housing you see is not structural but a shroud, but just to make things look the part.
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This is Squadron white. as I said its a plastic filler that is cellulose based, Squadron make 3 types I think, the white is the finest so once set and it sets rock hard! can be filed and sanded to a really smooth finish. depending on thickness it can take a few minutes or a few hours to set up. Too thick and it won't set at all, so best to build it in layers. Another tube on the xmas shopping list!
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Back to the rudder mounts. The next photo's are just for comparison, the first photo are the mounts before any prep work, essentially in the rough. The last photo shows them sanded and with a first coat of primer. I decanted primer from a large spray can into my airbrush. The overspray from the large can would have been way too much at this time of the build. Basically I needed just enough to cover the filler and see where I have to go back and add more filler to cover gouges and holes.
The rudders look the part now and as can be seen from the mount in the foreground, there are a few holes close to the actual hull/mount join to fill before it has an overall spray of the red oxide. Now as I can't continue with this part of the buld (no brass tube for the bearing) for a few weeks, I can however move back inside of the hull. Now the rudders are in place I can add the internal rudder arms to servo connections and finally get the internal strengthening structure bonded into the hull, so that will be the next update I think. Or maybe something completely different, I don't know yet. Anyone who followed my sailing smack build will know I seem to go off at a tangent at times!
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I just realised I had a reference photo of the bearing housing. So for those who are unsure what I refer to, it can be seen in this pic of the Abeille Flandre. Basically its all the bracketry in front of the Kort nozzle that support not only the nozzle but carries the outer bearing for the propshaft. Also of interest in this photo is the propellor. I don't know the age of this ship but it doesn't have what is recognised at the correct shape of Kort propellor, just the standard 174 style running in a Kort nozzle.
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Abeille Flandre was built in Norway in 1978, according to shipspotting.com
Tom
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Brian56.....could be wrong....but the two marked up blade tips appear flattened ....similar to model Kort blade profile......Derek %)
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Here's the two styles, its hard to tell whether its a kort or a standard propellor with the tips machined off. But on looking at it more closely they could be kort props, the trailing edges seem straighter than on the 147 style and definately more so than the 174 style.
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Until I can get back and pick up the right sized tubing I need for the prop bearings, this is what I am working on for now. Mine won't be as sophisticated as this all independant version. I am thinking I can raise and lower them as two pairs however.
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=828956517138665&video_source=pages_finch_main_video
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Right this is what I have accomplished in the last couple of days. The towing pins are taking some working out, not the mechanics of it but marrying the electronics to the mechanics!
I'm open to other ideas before I go any further with this but this is what I'm thinking, I have four tubes now soldered to a brass plate, in the following photo's................
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The brass plate is upside down, the tubes will be inside the hull and the plate will be level with the deck. Other tubes will move up and down forming the towing pins raising and lowering.
These will be pushed/pulled by, in my case short lengths of garden strimmer line. the other end attached to a toothed rack, the rack moving back and forth via a small electric motor and gearwheel acting on the rack. Obviously there will be two sets of each mechanism, one set for each pair of pins.
Now this works great for a pair of pins, however as you can see I will have four, 2 pairs, to raise and lower. These could all work together off one set of electronics, but I want the outer pair to raise and once fully extended then the inner pair raise, its the working out the switches to do this that is causing me a headache.
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Hi Brian and Dereck
As you talked about the prop of the Abeille Flandre, I well know this tug from top to prop. I took this picture of the propeller, off course it's a Kort adapted design
(http://nsa34.casimages.com/img/2014/11/30/141130033604963990.jpg) (http://www.casimages.com/i/141130033604963990.jpg)
Nice refit for your Seahunter
Xtian
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It's been a while and to be honest not a lot has happened. Everything I have wanted seems to be unavailable in Spain, at least that I have been able to locate. The good thing is when we return to the UK end of next week I will have loads of stuff waiting for me.
I need to get the framework installed but I can't do that without the rudder arms, something else that I can't locate. So what I have done is rough out the deck onto the frame and cut the access hatches that I need. The rear hatch will carry all the electric/electronics for the towing pins and sharks jaws.
The first photo is the access hatch with the towing pin guides epoxied into it. The framework for the sharks jaws is resting on the top in its approximate location.
The next photo is the underside of the sharks jaws showing the makeup of the frame. This frame took me 8 hours over the last week to complete. I had sat down with paper, protractor and set square to work out the angles, after a couple of failed attempts I managed to locate a line drawing of an actual unit on a manufacturer website, then it was relatively plain sailing to scale down and fabricate.
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So towing pins what are they? Basically just a set of or in this case two sets, of bollards that can be raised and lowered into the deck. Sharks jaws on the other hand are a pair of plates that fold upwards to trap a chain or cable between them, effectively holding it so that other work can commence.
In operation a chain is brought aboard guided by the towing pins, once the anchor is brought over the stern roller the pins are lowered so the anchor can come inboard, once the anchor is past the sharks jaws they raise from the deck trapping the mooring chain. The anchor can then be detached from the chain in safety. This is a simplified version of the work but gives an outline of what will work on my model.
So the sharks jaws framework, as can be seen in the next photo the underside is soldered together in a 'W' shape. Then I had to make up two flaps, this was done with sheet brass and tube, this was then held in place like a hinge with a pin through each side. These will sit flush with this framework when its inserted in the deck- the last photo shows it resting by its hole in the deck and a closeup of the internal hinge mechanism.
None of this metalwork will be seen in the final model, being covered in plasticardt to simulate the metal deck surface. The towing pins will raise up from sitting flush with the finished deck, as will the shark jaws. The shark jaws here are just a rough framework to carry the actual jaws which will be neatly! made in placticard. The flaps still need a small amount of work, the underside requires a fixing to allow them to be pushed up and pulled down to the deck. So that's all for now and barring some miracle happening, this will be the last update on it until the new year, when I can get back with boxes full of parts.
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Back in Spain four days and I've got a little work done. I've continued with the sub deck planking this is something I began before our UK holiday, it was the only thing I could get on with. So the first two photos show the development of that. The planking is my tried and true coffee stirrer method cut to length with black card shwoing the joins. Its fiddly doing it this way and has taken up quite some time as only a couple can be glued into place at a time.
In the second photo you will see the white plasticard which represents the steel part of the deck, this also runs along both sides of the deck as well but that isn't in place yet. The clamps are holding one of the access panels in place for the photo's. The keen eyed will also have seen that the starboard side has one more row of planks than the port. This isn't a mistake but is how it is shown on the plans.
As I now have more parts this can go on the back burner for now, just add a row in between doing other stuff.....
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So other stuff.....
I have begun the bearing housings for the prop shaft ends, I found some plumbers pipe reducing fittings that were exactly what I needed. These I have soldered to some brass tube so that a support bearing can be inserted in the 'big' end, the brass pipe needs shortening to size. But this means I can progress and get on with the external hull and finish it off.
Last up some electronic gubbins that I want to begin installing before the rear decking is fastened into place. From left to right are Action twin relay switch, two Action twin fuse holders for the four motors, two main drive, one bow and one stern thruster. Then the biggie is an Arduino Due. ( http://arduino.cc/en/Main/arduinoBoardDue ) This is basically a miniature computer that you program to carry our a myriad of commands from your transmitter. Its complicated for me to explain but I have hopes that this unit is going to carry out a lot of the onboard stuff for me. Some modellers have these units programmed to control everything, with the addition of a gps unit to the Arduino, a ship can be made to sail a preset course, the Arduino adjusting all drive motors to keep it on track!
Thats all for now, next week should see real progress on finishing the prop shafts...
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I've got a bit more done over the past couple of days. First photo is a general along the work deck to show how far I've got with the planking, this is tedious as I can only glue 3 at a time so they can be clamped whilst the glue sets, these will terminate at the last pencil line across that forward access hatch. Don't worry about the wonky black lines on the last row, I have been giving them a rub down after they have set up, so I can see how they line up, that set of planks haven't been sanded yet, so the black paper is proud of the wood. This also has the plasticard 'metal plating' dropped onto the rear hatch but it is not fixed yet as there is still work to do.
Next photo is on to the next stage of the propshaft 'A' frame/bearing housing, in this photo I have added the two uprights, next up for these is to add the two legs that run horizontally to the hull.
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This next photo is not too clear but it shows the shark jaws in the raised position, I have soldered on two triangular sections that act as the opening pivots for rods to push them up from inside the deck, the triangles can be made out with a small hole drilled in them. The next stage for these is to fabricate the plasticard jaws to bond over the brass opening mechanism.
Now on to what has become a thorn in this build, something I wanted to do but now wished I hadn't! The four stern towing pins that raise from the deck. My first problem has been caused by an interfering shop owner in the UK! I went in and selected all the K&S brass tubing I needed to last me a while. He comes over and takes it all from me, because I had selected the pieces on card backing, which was his new stock, he wanted to sell the old loose stock first. I left him to it and he brought back to the counter 'his' selection. Stupid of me not to check, but I put my faith in him. I've now found that the 5mm tube that stopped me before xmas and which I had selected, he had picked out 6mm, aarghhh!
So hunting around the shops here in Spain for something I could use, I came up with 5mm knitting needles 'plastic' so the pack said, except on dropping one it sounded distinctly metallic, they were plastic coated but hollow aluminium tube! So a bit of fiddling but I have now got four towing pins ready for the next part of the build.
In the next photo you can see the shaped tops of the pins, I soft soldered together four pieces of brass sheet, then filed them to the correct profile, then reheated and pulled them apart.
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Now this is where it got fiddly. I had the four tubes that slide into the deck, I had the four caps, but brass cannot be attached to aluminium tube. So I cut four lengths of 4mm brass tube and soldered those to the caps, then coating this tube and the inside of the aluminium tube with epoxy glue I slid them together. This can be seen in the next photo.
So the next photo show one raised and one in the lowered position in the deck plate.
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So on to the last two photo's for now. The first one shows all four towing pins in the deck plate in the raised position on the workbench. In another topic I was asking about springs. They fit over the tubes on the underside of the deckplate to 'push' the pins back down after the servo that pushes them up returns to its 'resting' position.
Then the last photo is along the deck from the stern roller, two pins up and two retracted, the shark jaws in front of them in the raised position.
Now that I have the parts to complete the propshaft 'A' frames I can complete these and get them attached. Then its a proper sanding of the hull and it can be painted in primer, so this may or may not be the next update.
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Despite all the problems you've had getting the materials this is going to look really good in operation, I'll keep watching. :-))
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Thanks for the words of support Joe. I hope it turns out as well as your tug did.
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Well, things never go as planned!
I had hoped to get the hull at least into primer by now but not so. The deck needs to be attached first before that can happen. The reason being that when the old deck was pulled away it actually broke away some of the moulded in rubbing strake from the hull. To rebuild this the best way is to attach the deck and then build up filler between the hull and under deck edging.
So the deck planking continued...... there are 334 deck planks and as many strips of black card sandwiched between them. Each plank is 5mm wide and 33mm long so a scale length of 2 metres. Only three planks could be glued at a time so they could be clamped down until the glue dried, this has taken a good few weeks to do!
The first photo is all the planking completed and with the access hatches dropped into place, you can see the recessed towing pins at the stern and then the sharks jaws in the raised position in front of those.
The next photo (from the bow end) is with the plasticard glued to the subdeck to represent the steel plating. I had on recommendation bought some UHU Acrylit glue for this purpose- it failed spectacularly, even though I followed the intructions exactly by measuring out the glue and powder. I resorted to good old Evo Stik. In the UK this is now a crappy substance that is water based, no noxious fumes to get high on anymore. In Spain however it is still available with the solvent base, this helps because it dissolve the surface of the plasticard helping attain a really strong bond to the ply subdeck.
The plast photo is from the stern showing how I have left a decent overlap to build up the edge of the hull with filler/resin to reinstate the rubbing strake. Once I have done this it can be trimmed down to size. For now the subdeck and the planks etc are still loose on the framework as I have to install the prop shaft A frames- on to the next post!
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So before I get on to the A frames, the shark jaws, though they are completed mechanically, they are getting removed. I'm not happy with the way they pivot, when I made up the frame work for them they were great, I had forgotten to calculate the thickness of the finished deck into the build and now the two jaws foul the deck edge at the pivot, in essence the hinge part is set too low in the deck. I'll have to remove the hinge part and rebuild them.
So the prop tube A frames. I had begun them in an earlier post. The idea being just to make the A frame and bearing housing, the original boat had an exposed prop shaft from the hull to the bearing. I had intended doing this, however instead of just two bearing one at each end of the tube, it would mean four, one at each end of the hull tube and one at front and rear of the A frame housing, just two extra points for the shaft to bind on. So I have decided to join the A frame tube to the hull tube with sleeves. The two photos show the starboard A frame completed, the rear most face of it with a shaft bearing in place and the space around it filled with milliput. Next up is the port side to finish and then they are ready to be bonded into the hull and the tube to be epoxied to the existing tube. I would have preferred to solder these however one tube is brass and the tube in the hull is stainless, so not a possibility there.
So hopefully once again, the next installment will see the hull in primer! {-)
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Another update and still no paint, but we are getting close!
People that know me know that I like to work in a clean uncluttered workplace. The office staff always sat and watched that I would clean up my desk each morning before starting, and even wipe down my screen and keyboard during the day, putting away items I had used ad didn't need for the next undertaking.
So to show the next couple of photo's shows I have been banging my head against a wall trying to solve problems!-- I give you my workbench, tool cabinet and the worst of all sacriliges my wife's art bench ( i did move her brushes and stuff to the back :} )
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What has caused this turmoil?
The workdeck! I cut into it three access hatches, the rear two are finished, the third one would have been under the waterfall winch and inside the winch house, seen in the first photo (hole in the centre) This would have been accessed via a lift out panel in the lower forecastle deck, reaching through this and lifting out the waterfall winch to get to the inner hull.
On studying the plans and then photo's of the ship, it became clear that the upper forecastle deck actually projects over the lower (forecastle) deck from the starboard side and over the centreline of the ship. This has given me headaches as the upper and lower forecastle decks need to be in situ so that the hull can be prepped for paint. Eventually after much measuring and re-measuring I worked out where the inner wall of the winch house would be in relation to the deck head and packed out the sides of the bottom access hatch accordingly.
The problem caused by the upper deck can be seen in the next photo. Originally the upper deck was one piece from the bow to the rear edge where its held up by the clip. I marked a rebate from port to starboard in this deck seen by the pencil marks on it and then cut it away with a craft knife. This will let me insert the lower forecastle deck and do the painting. Later on the upper forecastle deck can be re-attached and all the deck surfaces covered in plasticard.
I had wanted access to this area as it was what I had allocated for a tray to contain all the electronics, I do have access but not enough space for what I wanted so a rethink on that is coming up. I hope I've explained that but if anyone is confused let me know and I can offer further explanation.
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Nice hull, got something similar tucked away in the loft somewhere,
am watching with interest :-)).
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Nice hull, got something similar tucked away in the loft somewhere,
am watching with interest :-)) .
I hope I can act as inspiration for you.
The lower forecastle deck is currently gluing and once done I can then begin to clean up and prep the outer hull for primer, so there is a glimmer of hope to begin this before the next update. :embarrassed:
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'blinking!' Hell. The update I posted yesterday is missing!
All is explained by Martin in Chit Chat section..
ken
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I'm not going to do a complete resume of it, because I can't remember what I posted! I'll just sum up.
The first photo, lower forecastle sub deck in place (all the decks will be clad in plasticard to represent the smoothness of steel. I had to complete the winchhouse bulkheads because they support the deck, so a big hole in the middle.
The sharkjaws are no more! After spending 20 hours re-making them complete with a 3 way pivot, on trying to install them they fouled the motor for the stern thruster. I'm unable to move that motor as the thruster is bonded in, so the jaws had to go, the towing pins are still a work in progress.
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Moving on I have had to build the two tugger winches. They are located behind the rear bulkhead so need to be in situ before the wall can be glued into place. So the photo shows four disks for the drum ends, I would have preferred to cut these with a rotary disk cutter or dividers, I've not been able to find a set, so had to resort to cutting freehand and sanding. Next photo are the four A frames that suppor the drums.
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These don't need too much detail as they won't be seen unless somebody goes in with an endoscope, which by the way I saw on sale yesterday in Aldi for 45€ so even cheaper in the UK, if you need to view in tight places. So the next photo is the two drums assembled using dowel for the drum centres.
Then the next photo shows the A frame completed and bearing supports in place along with a hydraulic pump and pipes for operation
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Even the level of detail I have added is wasted really, here are two photo's of the first winch in place behind the bulkhead-this is not yet fastened into place.
I may add lighting inside these siderooms just to highlight the winches, I'm not sure yet.
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Lastly the first tugger winch painted and with tow rope on the drum.
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Time for an update methinks......
The prop tubes are now in place with bearing housings. The next two photo's I have FINALLY had my propellors delivered 27 days after placing the order! You would think I was living on a Pacific atoll not in Spain. Anyways, I settled for two 174 pattern 60mm 4 blade props. These cost £42 Kort props came in at just over £90, a price I couldn't justify when it shows up on the bank statement!
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In the last photo you may notice what appear to be cable hawsers under the stern roller, these are actually drains for the roller compartment, on the actual vessel this is a series of 5 vents, I used 3 oversize to make sure it drains any water away quickly, the roller box being sealed from the rest of the hull.
Next photo is the beginning of adding detail to the forecastle deck, bulwark supports, snorkel vents, etc. The next two are for your opinions. I bought a commercial winch for the twin anchor chains and warping drums. Although to scale it just looks too small, however putting a 1/72nd figure next to it, and the winch is over head height, just a weird optical illusion. The winch isn't attached just placed their for you to give opinion on.
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Also done this week is the coaming for the main superstructure, this can be seen in the last couple of photo's as well.
Then big fanfare and roll of drums........... the hull has primer on!!!!
It has had a first coat of primer, rubbed down and then any imperfections got filler, then rubbed down again. You see it here with a second coat of primer, which I was happy with outside in daylight. However seeing some of these closeup photo's, I may add some more filler, you can see around the bow it may need more 'flatting'
Next up will be to primer the decks and add the work deck bulwark, when that is in place you just may see in the next photo's the hull in its finished paintwork, but I'm not making any promises %%
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That's looking nice Brian and I think that the winch looks fine too. I would not have guessed that it was not part of the kit :-)) I'm also going to steal your idea of using eyelets where the anchor chains runs through the deck - genius :-))
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OK time for a short update as all will be revealed.
As this has progressed I have realised some external parts are best added before I go any further. So I had a couple of watertight doors to make up as seen in the first couple of photos.
Normally I would make one and then a mold from that so all my doors could be cast in resin and look the same. However I don't have any mold material or casting resin over here, so I had to cut the 6 doors I need from styrene sheet. Then make the hinges and external handles.
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The handes were made by coiling a length of plastic covered .25mm wire around a 5mm rod like a spring. Then slide off the rod and snip through them all the loops at once, giving me the 6 loops I needed. Then a brass pin in the centre of the doors and 6 'Y' shapes cut out of thin styrene for the spokes. I realise they should be 5 spoke but as these are eventually almost out of sight when the ship is completed I decided giving the impression of spokes was enough.
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A substantial part of the superstructure has been added, as explained previously because it was needed as support for the upper forecastle deck. The rear bulkhead is now in place- the green stuff is squadron green filler. You will also see some more detail added to the focsl, three mushroom vents, these have been positioned as seen on a reference photo I have, I thought it odd that they are above the bulwark but that is how they are on the photo.
In the second photo you should just be able to see the engine coolant exhausts. I've not seen it in models before but I'm sure there are plenty out there. When the boat is afloat it will pump water to the two outlets via one of the two onboard pumps, one for these vents and the other for the fire monitors. As an afterthought, I just may plumb these vents through coils around the two 770 motors I am installing- may as well cool whats installed just like the real thing!
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The vents are better seen in this photo. Once on the water a secondary switch can be flipped to turn on this pump secondary to the main switch. A failsafe so the pump is not running 'dry' when the main power is turned on.
I hummed and hawed about adding bilge keels, asking advice down in the research forum, because the plans I had didn't show any. The final proof came from a photo I dug up on t'internet of a sister ship being launched, the bilge keels could be seen. So a late addition was the bilge keels which I have finally finished today.
I made these up from 4mm timber and steamed to the shape of the hull. Then I bolted throught the hull with 2mm brass bolts. I used epoxy glue between the keels and the hull. That set overnight with a thin film of P38 filler to give them some shape. Today I coated them in polyester resin (grp resin) That has set up and has been sanded to profile, so they are well sealed and attached to the hull.
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So I'll leave with the last four photos. First up the port bilge keel with the resin over the filler. Next are the two waterproof doors on the starboard side, the brown is overspray from the first couple of hull coatings along with the green filler on show again. Then llastly the starboard bilge keel.
I still have some supports to add under this deck overhang and then its ready for the final primer all over. All that can bee seen in these photo's can now be primered. Once the red oxide has set up It can be masked below the waterline, and then above can be primered in white, before the top coat of green for the hull and white for the superstructure. Those photos should appear later this week!
I finally feel as though I am getting somewhere with this build!
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The thing I like most about models is detailing, even at this stage I can see yours is going to be good, enjoying your refit Brian, I ll keep following. :-))
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The thing I like most about models is detailing, even at this stage I can see yours is going to be good, enjoying your refit Brian, I ll keep following. :-))
I liken it to art Joe, the hull is just the canvast to add the detail to. I love the detail that is what makes a model and it is what gives me the most enjoyment doing. I hope this turns out as good as your build did!
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I liken it to art Joe, the hull is just the canvast to add the detail to.
Couldn't have put it better Brian. :-))
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A quick midweek update. I am on course to have the hull in its final colour by the coming weekend, I just need to finish a few details first. In the last update I mentioned detail that won't be normally seen when the model is finished- that is unless you are looking for it with a magnifying glass!
The first three photo's are examples of that detail, the 'T' beams that support the overhang of the focsl decl, these were made with 4mm strips of styrene glued to the t shape then cut to length once set. Two of the watertight doors in place along with a companionway (handrails to be added much later)
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The next three shots are of the hull now fully primered as far as I can go, almost ready to have its 'half and half' top paint added, the primer acts as the below waterline red oxide coating. I need to mask off the lower half and then respray above the waterline with white primer and then topcoat, all the steelwork on the decks will be light grey when finished.
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So this is what I have been doing for the last couple of days, making up the workdeck bulwarks and capping rails. These have been cut from styrens sheet and then bonded to the deck. The first photo is half of the bulwark waiting to be lengthened with a second strip.second photos shows the starboard rail on the deck for comparison waiting to be attached, today will be the port sides turn.
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Now the last two photo's for this update. The starboard rail now glued to the deck with its capping rail and internal supports. These struts are another of those details you won't see when finished. Once the towing rails are installed along with their walls and the rail supports they will be mostly hidden from view. I like using the Squadron green putty as filler because of the colour, its much easier to see than the white filler. Most of what you see in the photo's is actually staining, the putty is celluslose based so 'eat's into the surface making for a stronger bond.
So thats it, hopefully the next photo's will be the completed hull :-))
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Lovely work Brian - What colour are you going to paint the top half?
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Hi Mark, the top half is mid green with superstructure in white. Decks and inside of bulwarks wid grey.
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Thats going to look great I can't wait to see the main colours on your build. Good luck with the painting Brian oh and the cleaning up :o That overspray is something to behold {-)
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I'm not worried about the overspray Mark. its all in places that need to be primered anyway so it gets rubbed down before any more paint goes on. When it gets down to the nitty gritty I move from rattle cans to my airbrush. Then when it's ready for clearcoat I'll move up to my 1/4 cup spraygun to get an all over cover- but that's way in the future.
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Sorry Brian I was not thinking about the paint that goes on the boat but the paint that doesn't. The mess I made when I sprayed mine - well I did it indoors so say no more :o Fortunately for me my missus is so understanding as I don't have a garden or shed so its indoors for me or no where! Mind you its nice and warm so it goes on great :-))
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LOL I see what you mean! Fortunately I have plenty of outside space for the rattle can spraying. The airbrush is used indoors but its such small amounts of paint there is not much smell generated, I can keep it down to the spare room. What I tend to do is spray outside, even when its too cold for the paint. Allow it to flash over so it can be carefully handled and then move it inside for the volatiles to evaporate in the warmth.
Now you have a really understanding wife if she lets you to grp (fibreglass) layup inside! I tend to do this inside at this time of the year but only when she goes out shopping :D When she comes home and plays merry hell about it but its too late then, the smell hangs around for days :}
Get yourself down to the supermarket and ask them for a large cardboard box, this can be used as a mini spary booth to contain your overspray. When its not in use you can undo the flaps and fold it flat for storage!
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Right another mini update- I'm on course to spray the colour coat tomorrow O0 O0 but I thought I'd post a couple more photo's of stuff I'd originally decided to leave out.
First is that for most things a jig is useful! Butt joining plasticard is one of those times, so to join the cap rail to the bulwark both of which offer minimal joining surface as the card is only 0.8mm thickness, I used an offcut of aluminium angle. The card can be clipped to it with various clips as seen in the photo's and then your weld (glue) medium can be added. I use Dichloromethane, this can be had from your model shop under the brand name Plastic Weld- about £6 for a 57ml bottle. Or you can go to Ebay and buy 1litre of the stuff for about £8, because its being sold for industrial use, you know it makes sense! This stuff evaporates quite easily so leaving the cap off a small bottle you will find not much left after a few hours or so.
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Then the last two photo's before the hull gets its colour. Last night I finished installing the port bulwark and then this morning its got its primer on, the second photo shows it with the access hatches dropped into place. Once this has fully cured in the next couple of hours I can mark the waterline and then mask it up ready for paint, I'm hoping to not only get the paint on but also hull markings as well before I post the next update.
Oh yes, I've been given my eviction notice! My wife says I have to clear all my 'mess' off of her art table because she wants to do some craftwork!!
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Ta Daaaaa!!!!!
We finally have topcoat paint on the hull. The hull markings are from BECC Lettering. The large POSH signage on the bows was very kindly done for me by forum member essex2visuvesi when commercial outlets just said no. Thanks once again mate! The names were individual letters that are very hard to come by in white nowadays, they used to be called Letraset, black is no problem to get down your local branch of WH Smiths. Again a commercial outlet wanted £32 +pp for these four names, so they lost business.
All that remains to be done is to add the 'Rescue Zone' markings on port and starboard and paint the stern roller yellow, then the whole thing can be clear coated and wrapped protective tissue to allow the build to continue. No more words, just check out the photo's.........
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Looking really good. Congratulations :-))
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Indeed
I can't believe how much they wanted to charge!
Took me less that half an hour from start to finish...
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Very nice Brian looks great :-))
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Indeed
I can't believe how much they wanted to charge!
Took me less that half an hour from start to finish...
Can I ask what printer you used to do thoes very nice transfers please
john
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Final two photo's. I've added the rescue zone markngs. I learned here not to spray dark colour first. I did the black base and then masked the striped before spraying the yellow. 30+ coats of yellow later I finally had it where the black was not showing through! So light colour first, dark colour over the top.
Now ready for the satin clearcoat which I will complete this week. then on to fitting out the work deck so that can be sprayed in grey.
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"Rescue Zone" - on a Tug, what exactly is the Rescue Zone??
Is it where that tug would pick up and bring onboard those that are being rescued or is it where crew on the particular tug would be rescued from, should the unfortunate happen??
Have seen the designation many times, just never seen an explanation before.
Thank You.
Tug Hercules
Fireman Rick
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"on a Tug.......what exactly is the Rescue Zone??" .......as far away from the prop as possible?........Derek
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It is a designated spot where rescue craft (or God forbid swimmers)know there is the capability of being taken on board. In the case of aht's there is a door situated in the bulwark to facilitate this.
On mine it is on the starboard side- I forgot to add the port side door before paint, so its been left off!
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OK a short update as once again I am short of materials. Fortunately later today we return to the UK for 5 weeks so I have plenty of stuff already delivered to return to Spain with!
First up I've just about finished the focsle, all that is left is to make up the platform grating that locates behind the winch which the crew stand on to operate it. I've made up two more bollards, simply two rectangles of styrene sheet one slightly smaller than the other, bonded together and then drilled for 5mm brass tube- it could have been styrene tube and easier come to that but I only had brass.
The access/escape hatch simply made from a square of softwood, then clad in 0.2mm styrene. The hinges made up from the same and handles two staples cut to length. The warping drums were 8mm styrene tube topped with two 8mm brass shieves. The whole lot then painted in grey and selected items matt black.
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You may notice the speckled finish, obviously I never masked enough when I sprayed white primer on to the winchroom! I had to go back in and retouch the gray using my airbrush.
Most of the work now to be done is on the workdeck before moving to superstructure. I marked out the now painted outer deck and drilled the locating holes for the vertical supports for the cargo/safety rails. The verticals were 4mm brass.
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Then with much shaping I made the top rail out of 6mm brass, I have a tool for bending the tube this can be found at the Halfords car emporium or even Ebay, sold for bending brake lines and small diameter plumbing applications it handles 6/8/10mm tubing.
The final three photos's for now are just views of the starboard rail now soldered to the verticals. This can be removed as I have not epoxied the verticals into the deck yet. This is to facilitate the brass sheet application to the insides of the rails forming a 'wall' the length of the rails. Also there are bracing pieces to add that run from the saftey rail to the inside of the bulwarks all yet to be fashioned. Again you will notice I have to reapply the ships name on this side, masking tape has lifted it off in parts.
All that is for next time, which as I said earlier won't be until the end of April.
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Well its been a few weeks but finally I can get back to building, so here goes......
The first two are where I left off for our return to the UK, it is the focsl deck with mushroom vents and snorkel vents in place and the final two bollards made up from plastic tube but requiring paint.
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The next two are the start of this weeks work, swimbo said she was amazed that I actually waited 24 hours before resuming work! You can see I have fabricated the stand for the winch and a hawser basket, made from 0.5mm stainless mesh. Everything is painted, but I have noticed in the photo's I have forgotten to make up the two anchor chain stoppers. Also to be seen the main power switch, the power switch for the engine discharge pump and the charging socket.
There's a crewman in shot here to give an idea of scale.
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Now the start of some very difficult work, completing the work deck cargo rails. I began these a few weeks back but ran out of brass tubing, now having new supplies the work continues.
The first photo is the starboard rail framework soldered, the second one is with the wall soldered to the pipework. I was making the frame from brass for strength and was going to make the walls from plastic card. However using brass meant I could solder the whole assembly rather than epoxying plastic to brass.
Of course brass sheet only comes in short lengths so it meant joining pieces together, I tacked the sheets into place with a dab of solder and then removed the whole assembly on the bench, its too dangerous having a butane torch and plastic in close proximity!
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The walkthroughs and washports were pre marked and cut out on the bandsaw. Once the assembly was on the bench and fully soldered together I got to work with a file and filed the edges flush to the upright pipework. Then cut the angles and made up the tow rope stopper on the top rail.
Then it was drill a series of holes to take the bracing tubes, solder those in place and then solder the outer support tube to those stubs.
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So 40 hours later :o (been some late nights this week) I am up to this point. The framework is basically complete, I have primered it so it is seen better, I have added the vertical braces to each panel and all that is left now are the outer vertical braces that run down to the inside of the bulwarks. Some more thinking to do about those, they need to be drilled into the deck but then soldering the top ends will melt the plasticard decking and bulwarks-hmmmm!
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Lastly check this out.
Go to your model shop and buy some plastic weld, 57ml for £4.87. Or try your local friendly auction site and buy a litre bottle of Dichloromethane for £8.00 you know it makes sense! It is the same product in both bottles and the larger bottle will last for years of plastic gluing/welding and not just a couple of weeks like the smaller bottle......
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Today marks the beginning of my nervous breakdown %% I've finally finished the stern cargo rail, lots of swearing and throwing things around the room and late nights to boot.
I decided the outer vertical support posts would be brass as well, reasoning that if they were soldered to the top rail it would have greater strength than a plastic support glued to the inner bulwark. The soldering work in close proximity to the plastic bulwark was a nightmare, I blistered the rail in 3 places requiring remedial work.
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I don't think the posts showo too well in the photo's maybe later when they are painted. I am fortunate in that all the rails and walls along with the decks are the same grey colour, so getting a brush in there is not going to be too bad with no other colours to dodge around.
Also completed due to there not being room to do them later are the 4 warping posts and the aft warping drum. I still have to add the storage tank snorkel vents, electrical controls for the warping drums, lighting and of course the discharge pipework for the bulk liquid and powder cargoes, so still much work to do on this side. I have 56 hours invested in this one rail so far- enough to want to give up and throw it all in the bin :o Still once its complete I can turn my attention to the other side %%
As I was collecting detail for the colour of the discharge pipes I came across an 'operational rule' requirement that I have not seen duplicated on other models of this type. The rule says that the 'Rescue Zone' on port and starboard side should be illuminated in such a way that it can be seen from the seaward side. Couple of overhanging downlighters coming right up!
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Looks fantastic Brian and well worth every minute.
What's your method for painting intricate brass work? Had a problem recently with some smaller pieces and paint/ primer refusing to stick
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Brian that brass work looks great :-))
TugCowboy have you tried using etch primer - This works well for me on brass and you can buy it from Halfords
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The brass has to be scrupulously clean. I shoved this rail in the dishwasher when swimbo wasn't looking! When it came out I then rinsed it under the tap using a steel wool pad to key the surface. Then its use an etch primer and cross fingers! You have to be careful not to get a patch that flakes off as the flaking will just run and run no matter how you try to feather the broken edge. Etch primer can be had from Halfords.
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Ha, Mark got in a few seconds before I did. Thanks for the complement on the brasswork Mark, its been a nightmare to solder it all together.
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Yep I can see that Brian - Lots of joints all close together and them all just itching to come undone once more heat is applied %%
Before I paint my brass I do as you do - but I also give it a wipe down with degreaser too. Last week I shaped and painted 4 - 0.5 rods of brass and was pleased with the results. I came home later to discover that our cats had also decided to inspect them and during their inspection they managed to completely reshape them into a ball >>:-( I'l make them again tomorrow {-)
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I have got paint on to the cargo rail now and it as a unit is complete. As I mentioned earlier there are still the associated pipework to install and lighting but that is later in the build. I have learned how I can do things better on the port rail, for instance trying to hold parts together whilst soldering, instead of using bulldog and crocodile clips. I am going to assemble the complete rail, bind it together with thin fencing wire, and then do as many joints in one go as I can. That should cut down on the hours taken to complete it.
So a few photo's to show state of play. This coming week I want to complete the port rail, but I have also started work on the mechanicals of lifting the towing pins from the after deck- that is why it is still white in the photo's, no point painting it when its still being worked on.
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I love the power of close up photos, it shows where you need to touch up paint that normally the eye misses. I see from these I have a couple of spots to cover.
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Well its been a busy week. Building a brick wall in the garden, taking the dog to be spayed and the aftercare, out for two meals with friends, winter pool cover off the swimming pool - I don't know how I've found time to do any modelling this week. But I have! I started work on the port cargo rail, this one has been a right 'mare to do, I'm on the point of scrapping it and beginning from scratch with it, first photo.
As I said in the last update, I was going to begin on the aft towing pins, I wanted these to raise from the deck, so have been working on getting the mechanism to operate. I originally wanted all four pins to raise independently but have settled for them to work in pairs. The blurry video(forgot to change the camera to macro setting) shows how they will come up. These were going to work via a cam attached to servo's but I don't have enough below deck clearance, so giving it some thought, I am now going to use a cable system and pulleys attached to the servo's. The second photo shows the underside of the anchor deck and the return spring and connectors to the towing pins. Hopefully on the next update I can show the full operating system in place.
https://youtu.be/vhApN4u0zwE
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I also have some major doctoring to do inside the hull. I originally had 550 motors in the hull so I was going to use those again and duly bonded in their mounts to the hull bottom. While in the UK apart from buying most of my Action electronics, I also invested in two of their 775 motors, which of course will not fit the old mounts, so now I have to look at getting those out and putting new ones in! Is it time to say I've reached the point in the build where one wonders how to proceed, then ends up procrastinating for days without accomplishing anything?
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Brian, looking at the rest of your work I would have thought renewing the motor mounts would not present too much of a challenge for you, but yes I know what you mean about procrastination when You can't make up you mind about something. %% %%
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Carry on procrastinating. That could have been a 1960's film with Sid James :} Anyway I finished off the portside cargo rail and got it epoxied into the deck. It just needs the bulwark supports making and them painting and finished with! Apart from adding as mentioned earlier the 6inch dry powder and liquid cargo pipework.
There is a lonely crewman in the photo's, sadly he was laid off when the Seahunter was broken up. I think he's loitering around hoping for a job on the new ship O0
So on to many problems I have come up against this week......
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I mentioned in the last post about buying two new motors. Stupidly on my part I forgot to also get the motor mounts! So with not a little trouble I managed to get the 54o type mounts out of the hull and made up a new mount in plexiglas which I have a big sheet of. What I am not happy about and the supplier will remain anonymous ( they didn't come from Component Shop) are the universal couplings. While in the UK I ordered loads of stuff from various sources and when it came by the postie it just got packed away for shipping back to Spain.
Now ready to install the motors I find that rather than having two threaded couplings I have one threaded and one plain insert. So now I need to go out and buy a thread tap and open up a 3mm one from my parts box to 5mm >:-o I also ran out of soft solder during the cargo rail build. I bought another reel from the local chinese shop, have you seen solder catch fire %% heating the brass tube with a small blowtorch, touch the solder to the tube and whoomph, the solder is alight like a firework sparkler! Seems the flux core doesn't like heat negating its use as solder ;D So going overboard I had to break out my reel of plumbers solder and use pipe flux and extra heat hence the blackened parts on the brass tubing.
I hope this coming week brings better luck.
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That scale crewmember is a perfect indication of how the builders are turning out ever-larger OSVs. A real difference from 40 years ago!
He might not be out of work. He might be an Owner's Representative, living in a nice hotel while the ships is being built.
A few years ago, I met a fellow who was offered such a job in Norway. He declined the offer - didn't want to live there for 5 or more months waiting for the builder to finish the ship.
Tom
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I would've loved a job like that Tom.
But getting back to how anchor handlers have grown in size, take a look at this post....
http://www.modelboatmayhem.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,50620.msg517358.html#msg517358 (http://www.modelboatmayhem.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,50620.msg517358.html#msg517358)
It illustrates perfectly how they've grown from the 70/80's to the modern one being built in 2014 (first post on the page)
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Well not a lot has been done in the last week. When I came back to Spain I thought I'd brought every possible spare I could need, not so! So work has ground to a halt really until the postie brings me a parcel from Cornwall Model Boats.
So this is what I have completed so far. The port cargo rail is completed now. I have touched up the paint where I had chipped it. The deck supervisor for P.A.C.C (PACC Offshore Services Holdings) in corporate coveralls of blue/yellow evicting the 'old bloke' in his '80's outfit. The hull as it stand can now be clearcoated, I may do that this week.
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Those paying attention may notice the starboard prop is missing. I had to remove the propshaft to do some work on its tube in the hull, this has kicked up another problem, that is the props are from Raboesch, lovely pieces of workmanship. However the prop body is seperate from its bush. The idea is you can do away with the external locking nut to lock the prop to the shaft. You tighten the prop against its boss to lock it in place.
My problem is the props being inside kort nozzles you can't get a spanner to the boss, or even get enough of a grip on the prop to help lock it into place!
I have also fabricated the support pillar for the deck crane. I have 30mm plastic tube, 25mm plastic tube but no 20mm! I did have some 20mm dowel, so cut a piece to size and then wrapped it in 0.2mm plasticard, it can be seen on the lower focsl deck.
Lastly those pesky motors. I have completed the motor mount and also soldered on the wiring and capacitors. The front view also shows that I have drilled and tapped the top. I aim to make a tray to hold the electronics that will extend towards the stern. Once in place the motors will also be getting a shield over them to help keep electrical spikes from interfering.
So thats it for now. I'll keep pottering and doing the little jobs that aren't worth documenting until my new bits arrive in the post.
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Well I am surprised. Cornwall Model Boats mailed out my parts on thursday by airmail. For once the Spanish postal system operated like a postal system, they were in my mailbox on monday!
This is where it all went wrong. Admittedly CMB could have packed the aluminium rod in a tubs instead of a jiffy back, but that doesn't negate the fact the postie practically folded the bag in half to fit it in the mailbox! First photo is some aluminium rod I had, the others are what was in the package after and ham fisted postie.
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This is a pain in the butt seeing as I needed them straight! I've done my best to knock them into shape but they are still a bit wonky. I also have a package coming from a second supplier who I will name once it arrives. They too posted it airmal on thursday- wonder when that one will arrive!
So this morning I got to work making up the dry powder and liquid distribution pipework, as you can see this travels the full length of the underside of the cargo rail support and terminates at the aft end in self sealing connectors. Once I have three of these on each side there is very little else to do on the cargo deck.
Also tucked into the corner where the pipes are is a ready use locker for immersion suits, I have one or two more of these small boxes to make up for hose reels, control systems etc, but nothing that can't be made out of plastic card. I have also made up in photoshop many of the warning decals that are needed before the final clearcoat is sprayed on. These are printed off on decal paper, I'll take a photo and post it next time.
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No explanations here really, save to say that for bending the aluminium rod I made a simple jig. A block of wood with two lines at 90 degrees, where they met in the corner I knocked in a 3in nail. The aluminium being soft enough to bend around it with my fingers. So these four photos are the completed port side pipes. just need painting and colour bands to show what fluids are in each pipe.
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This is a good build ,I notice you say you are useing decal paper and making your own ,how much of a job is it ,"ie" where is the best paper ,not the cheapest ,did you use a decal fix solution ,why I ask is I want to make some up for my Fairmount build .
Thank
David
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David I sourced my paper from Ebay, not the cheap chinese stuff, it came from a reputable art supplier who also uses ebay, an outlet called craftsnaccessories-all one word if you search ebay. My 3 A4 sheets cost £9 with p&p, the packaging was a stiff cardboard backed envelope to stop them being folded or bent in the post.
Once you have printed the decals onto the paper you need to let the ink dry, then a light overspray with clear laquer to fix the ink or it will dissolve in the water! Allow it to dry and then treat as you do ordinary decals. You need to be aware that there are two types of paper, one for lazer printers and one for standard inkjet printers.
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Love the pipework there. enjoying this build a lot.
Alex
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I admire the pipework young sir. Very tidy job indeed. :-))
Cheers
ken
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I admire the pipework young sir. Very tidy job indeed. :-))
Cheers
ken
Cheers Ken.
Right after a week or so I now have my mojo back and have done some work- those pipelines really got to me!
First up I will show a couple of pics of my latest buys, A set of plastic pipework bends and handwheels, these are 1/72 but the nice thing is that on ships, pipes come in all sorts of sizes so they would be good for most other builds as well. Also a couple of shipping containers with some nice detail on them and some oil drums. The drums came as a set of 10 but as I need about 30 of them I will use the cast metal ones as masters to make up a few more in resin. The service from the company in the photo's was second to none, I got them from the UK in 4 days!
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As promised a few posts ago, I had bought some decal paper and here are my results. The paper comes in two types, laser and inkjet- get the right sort for your printer!
I made up a master sheet in Word, resizing images that can be found on google, these are warning signs etc as can be seen in the first photo. Notice I printed them right at the top of the sheet, this paper is expensive so I have maximised the useage, it means next time I can slip what is left into the printer.
This is what I found with using the stuff, it prints ok and then you overpaint with a thin layer of clearcoat (laquer, varnish,polyurethane etc) I used my airbrush and gave them two coats. This layer forms a barrier to actually carry the ink. Then its cut them out and use like commercial decals.
In practice this is how it went. The instructions say to use on glossy surfaces, I concur with that. I applied my first two on top of satin cote clear enamel from Humbrol, the decals stuck immediately, allowing no adjustment at all.
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so here are a couple of them in place.
Remember if you decide to use decal paper yourself make sure the surface is shiny, wet and slippy. On my application I had even rubbed a drop of washing up liquid to no avail, you will see that the safety first lettering is off centre and the corner actually split when I tried to move it across.
IMDG is international marine dangerous goods, and the two small ones are for immersion suits.
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A couple more, just various warning signs and lifebelts. They all need to be overcoated with more laquer so they blend in and are fully protected.
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So overall it was a learning experience, I'm fairly happy with them but they could have been better applied if I had realised there was no room for adjustment on my paint. Somebody using glossy paint would have no problem. Also the effect is better on lighter paint colours rather than dark and if you are putting them onto all white backgrounds, you can actually get the paper in white rather than clear as I have used.
OK back to building. I have decided that all the deck detail is going to be completed before I move on to the superstructure, so the next few posts will be about sorting that out. I have begun the deck crane, as mentioned in another topic, it is built in the far east (as was the ship) by Plimsoll. Plimsoll have a parent company that also owns Palfinger, which was opportune seeing as the only diagrams of the Plimsoll equipment are not available.
I have used a similar deck crane diagram from Palfinger and have been taking measurements from that,albeit the boom on my actual ship is longer so I have made allowance for that.
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Also I have made the boom 2mm deeper and 2mm wider to compensate for the extra 40mm in its length, I didn't want it looking long and spindly! Next up for this is to make the inner extending 'sleeve' that carries the hook and the hydraulic ram. Then on to the operators platform, access ladders and all the pipework on it. These are for next time.
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I have now finished the crane, there not a lot you can actually say about it really. Its just a series of boxes and tubes made up with plasticard. First photo is making up the carrier plates for the shieves at the business end. Then the next four are just photos of it in various stages of assembly, on the bench and mounted on a piece of dowel for ease of turning.
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The boom is made to look as though it extends but it doesn't, the safety fence was made from brass wire soldered, the access ladder is plastic which made things difficult when it came to attaching the brass cage to it, I have some epoxy smeared on the ladder which I couldn't see until I saw the painted finished item. The first photo is just a quick jig I made up so that the brass rings of the safety cage were spaced correctly, next one was a trial fit on the boat, I had not got the boom fully horizontal, so I cut off the hydraulic mount and repositioned it. Then three and four are shots of the working area, with the hydraulic lever controls in place, you can also see the mesh floor of the work area.
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On to the next couple of photos, these show the crane in finished state, all I need to do is apply the decals and clearcoat. The hydraulic hoses were made up from telephone wire, being very fine plastic coated copper wire they can be bent into shape and they will stay there. For the control levers I just cut away the insulation from 20mm of the wire, glued it into the box and then trimmed all the bare ends level. Again this works for when a hose joins a steel pipe as may be seen along the hydraulic ram.
So thats it for the crane, I now need to make up the intermediate platform for its tower, you may have noticed that the ladder does not go all the way to the deck on the photo of it on the boat. That's an hours job for monday then!
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I've done a little more, finished off the crane. After looking at the photo's I noticed it looked wrong. Comparing it to my reference photo's I had made a couple of mistakes! The first was in lengthening the boom as mentioned earlier. By the time I had added the shieve block to the end, the boom actually became too long, so I had to cut it and take out 15mm and glue back together. Otherwise the length of the boom would have interfered with the RIB fast rescue craft hoist on the starboard side. The next mistake and a biggy if you know the ships. The POSH Venture had a sister ship (sold on) called POSH Vantage. I used a photo of the Vantage as I went along- the problem is that the access platform to the crane and its controls are on the wrong side! On the Venture the platform is to the rear of the crane tower, on the Vantage it is to the fore of the tower. So technically mine is at the wrong side, but it is staying where it is now, far too much work involved to alter it.
I jumped back to finishing the work deck area, not a lot to add, just some snorkels at various places and the deck lighting. The first photo is what I wanted....
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These are commercially available items to 'OO' scale, so 1/72nd for railway modelling with a suitable price- £10.25 each, I need 16 :o :o So me being me sat and thought about it for a while.
Then I came up with what is shown in the next couple of photo's...
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I shaped the end of some lime to give the shape of a floodlight, then cut a corresponding hole in some ply. Taking a square of 1mm plasticard, I held it over a gas flame until it softened, then placed it over the hole and inserted the piece of lime. After a few attempts I started turning out shells that may just do the job!
These photo's are of the plastic trimmed down to size and with a surface mount led inside.
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Certainly four of them will make the decklights, as these are obscured under the pipework at each side and shine through the gaps in the cargo rail wall onto the deck.
The next couple is my test light, painted with a glazed front and connected to a supply battery. I have started a topic on a problem with the smleds in the electronic forum further down. The basics are they are too bright and overheat the resistors when used singly, photo 2 is on 6v supply, photo 3 is on 12v supply. They are from a strip of leds that you cut of, the minimum being 3leds with 2 resistors. The two resistors total 300ohm splitting the 12v supply to the 3 leds. Anyway, thats another problem to be discussed in the electronic forum below.
So next up finish this deck, then it looks as though I will be moving up to superstructure- or railings for the upper and lower focsl decks, not too sure which yet.
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Clever idea, nice floodlights!
Hama
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Thanks for the compliment Hama.
Right what have I been doing for the last week or so? well I have mostly been throwing things around, spitting my dummy out and generally having kiddy tantrums.
The reason for all of this has been soldering sm led's not standard ones of course but micro ones. So carrying on from the last post, all I have managed is bulkhead lighting down the port side cargo rail- three lights and two floodlights in a week!
The first problem I encountered was the fact I had not made allowance for the wiring earlier in the build. Not being able to source a 1mm long shaft drill bit- it had to be about 75mm in length to manouvre down through the pipework to the deck. So I made one with a piece of piano wire that I made a rudimentary cutting edge on the tip, it was only going through plasticard and 1mm ply subdeck so it did the job.
Then came time to solder the smd's, I used a tip from another forum member but it was still a nightmare to do. So taking some 1mm copper wire I wrapped it around the tip of my soldering iron with a short length protruding, effectively making a new finer tip to the iron.
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Then many hours of trying to hold something so small while also attempting to juggle soldering iron and wire to the smd. I used solder paste so I didn't need a 4th or 5th hand in the mix as well %% But working with these is a lesson in patience! The wire I have used for my leds is telephone wire.
Telephone wire is available by the metre, has 6 to 10 strands in an outer casing, each strand being colour coded and is a solid copper wire of .5mm capable of handling 50vdc. Its a cheaper option then buying lengths of similar cable in individual colours from somewhere like Maplin. I strip the outer plastic covering off so I have the individual wires.
However with these smd;s even .5mm thick wire was too much, I had to use indivdual strands of wire unwound from a length of multistrand cable, so the thickness was down to .1mm. Attaching these as 'legs' onto the smd's and then soldering the legs to the thicker wire.
These tiny smd's are shown against a toothpick for size. I'm using them because without any other work they are the ideal size to use as bulkhead lighting, once stuck in place all the need doing is the edges painting with a two hair brush, yep I have made a two hair brush by cutting the rest of the hair away!
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Once I had them made they were superglued to the cargo rail wall and the wiring completed through to the underdeck, where it comes together on a distribution board.
This is simply a piece of veroboard with the correct size resistor soldered to it and then wires run from that to the led's. There will be one of these under the deck port and starboard.
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And so to the finished effect. The first two photos are the bulkhead lights on the port side, I still have 1 more to wire in on this side.
The second two photo's are the deck floodlights I made up in the earlier post. There are two to port and two starboard, only the port ones are shown here.
So that's it for now, more swearing and throwing my teddy about while I finish the starboard side, but as I have now developed a technique it should be easier and faster.
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Superb bit of engineering. :-)) I've certainly learnt something here and hope to copy your ideas. Thanks for showing us.
Aren't Led's a good invention. :}
cheers
ken
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They sure are Ken and wait until I get around to using the fibre optics in the wheelhouse to illuminate the desks and computer terminals! But that is quite a while off at the moment.
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That fore & aft deck planking looks pretty realistic & and very well illuminated too...... :-)) ..... Derek
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What have I accomplished in the last week? Not a lot, we have been wilting here in 44c temperatures. On top of that I have had to install a new bigger cold water storage tank- 1000litre replacing a tiny 300 litre one, and being stung 5 times by wasps, of course the wasp nest is no longer!
OK so this is what I have got done. Lighting installed on the port side, both deck floodlights and bulkhead lights on the outside walkway/safety refuges...
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I'll take a better photo of all the decklights on for next time. I also completed the aft end of the upper focsl deck. This extends over the double drum winch house. I have made it removeable so that I can reach inside, lift out the lower deck complete with winch attached and access inside the hull- this is where I'm hoping to keep all my electronics safe. As you will see, it has an overhang on two sides, this meant making the 'sandwich' of platicard deck/1/16th plywood/plasticard underside. Once the underside was made up I used L beam plasticard to make up the support beams for the overhang.
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So these two show it in place..
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I mentioned in the posts from last week I was going to make up the handrails for this part of the build. I cut some brass sheet into 2mm strips to form the plate stanchions and using jigs drilled holes for the crossrails. I made up a small section roughly to make sure I was on the right track, as you will see, next to a scale figure it is way out of proportion. Not the height, the stanchions needed to be cut to height and be shaped at the bottom to fit in the pre-drilled holes in the deck.
It is the width of them that is wrong, they are too wide, check it out next to the figure. To be in scale they need to be 1mm wide or 3inches in real life, I can't possibly make up a 140 of these at 1mm wide with 3 holes drilled in them! I had another go using 1mm diameter brass wire as stanchions. While it looked better than the plate, it still looks wrong. So it looks as though they are going on the back burner while I decide whether to have them professionally photo etched, or find a supplier of 17mm- 1/72nd scale stanchions that doesn't require me to take out another mortgage.
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This is my simple jig for getting evenly spaced holes in the deck edge for the stanchions. Just a couple of pieces of timber glued to an 'L' shape, then drill guide holes the required spacing apart. It can then be used anywhere on the model knowing that all your holes will be the same, both from the edge of the deck and distance between stanchions. Drill the first hole and place a spare drill bit in it, this holds it in place and allows the drilling of the other holes. Once you reach the end, lift the jig away and replace making sure to locate the guide drill bit in your last drilled hole before continuing.
That's it for this week. I am re-doing the crane pillar, or more to the point the access to it. In earlier photo's I had made up a access platform between the deck and the jib control platform. This is correct for the POSH Vantage. However On the POSH Venture this is not there, it actually has just an access ladder attached direct to the pillar and rising all the way to the control platform. Again when referring to photo's and drawings don't take for granted fittings between sister ships will be the same.
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Hi Brian,
The vertical brass strips could be thinned from 2mm down to 1mm by using a fixed belt sander with fine grit, whilst being held in pliers. The holes have to be drilled first so each side could be reduced to match a thinner hole. I use 6mm single thread electrical copper wire to go through the holes which is 7mm, so there enough metal support left over.
I may be wrong but the height looks a little tall against the crew. I have this problem on my 1:72 scale as well. I figured that 00 gauge folk are actually 1:76 according to real time measurement of their height.
As I mentioned in my blog, I thinks it's best to keep the little folk way from the railings. :}
cheers
ken
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I might give that a try Ken. come to think of it I have a bench mounted disk sander :-)) Those aren't the railings I am going to use, I knocked them up to test for size against my crew. Railings should come in at around 4ft or 16mm in our scale. If you have bought 'OO' scale figures from a railway shop then yes they are 1/76 which means your crew are going to be around 5' 6" tall. No problem for me cos I'm only 5' 7" myself :}
However if you look at the various plastic soldiers you can buy- my crew are japanese ww2 infantry from revell, they can be chopped about- guns removed from hands etc and they are most definately 1/72nd scale, so come out around 6ft in real life. If you want an easy life for figures though, have a look at the Preiser range.
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Yes to that. I have been researching but not yet found suitable characters.
Cheers
ken
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So what have I accomplished? Well I have finally made up my first length of railing. After not being happy with the first lot of stanchions I made, then trying just round wire for them which just looked wrong, I attempted to get some etched ones from Germany- good price at 14 centimos each (100centimos to 1 euro) I filled out the online order form only to hit the dreaded postage and packing, 29€ to ship from Germany to Spain <:( SO back to the drawing table :D
I cut more lengths of brass strip, then using my jig I drilled the holes along a complete length, then I put the length into my desktop vice and draw filed the whole length down to the required thickness. Draw filing is moving the the file in the direction of the arrows in the photo, you hold each end of the file and gently go back and forward. This brought them down to the required thickness, then I cut to length and by inserting a pin through the top most hole I held them together while I filed a locating pin on the bottom ends. Its worked quite well, there are 20 in the photos, I only need another 120 to complete the entire superstructure!
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So my first piece of handrail is in place and painted. I have the deck supervisor in the photo for scale example at this point. They are a pain to paint, the stanchions and bottom two rails being dark green and then the top rail being white, keeping the green of the grey deck and the white of the green stanchions is quite a laborious task.
I have also redone, the safety first warning decal, I wasn't happy with how it applied the first time. Also on the aft deck surface. first time around I couldn't get the dangerous cargo decals to stick to the rough surface even though it had several clear coats on it already. So I sprayed 3 more coats onto the timber, rubbed it back with 1500 grit wet/dry paper then two more clear coats. The decals have now stuck and have been sealed in place with more clearcoat. There is a mistake with these in my haste to print them off I only realised when applying them that I had spelled Dangerous Cargo when it should be Dangerous Goods- ah well, its staying now!
Jobs for next time, I am making up some bulkhead storage boxes for firehose, breathing apparatus etc. I am re-doing the access ladder to the crane, thats why the paintwork on it looks rough at the moment, also the bulkeads adjacent to it need to have final coat paint added and the deck to wall join neatening up. More railings and the handrails on the companionways to make up. Then on to the twin drum waterfall winch for the winch house.
I have made the decision to complete this part of the build before moving on to the intricate superstructure so that is still a week or two away at the moment. That's all for now.
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Lovely railings. I'm glad I didn't use two tone colours on mine. You must have a load of patience. Well done so far. :-))
ken
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Yes, as you know Ken the handrails are a right nightmare to cut, drill and solder in place. I have given some thought to these and I might try another way of getting the rails level.
I also picked up this tip from a German forum as well. When soldering close to your deck where there may be a problem with melting. Have a bowl of water handy and tear into pieces sheets of toilet tissue, allow it to soak and it turns to pulp, then push a small wodge of the pulp around the base of what you are soldering to absorb excess heat. This can also be used when soldering complex structures like masts.
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You noticed. {-)
I use the trick of not placing them deep in their slots in the deck before soldering. Start with the top row's soldering and then the middle row etc. Finish with the bottom row. This cuts down on heat distribution. I then hold each one with flat pliers as a strengthener and tap them down to line them up with a persuader.
ken
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More cutting, drilling, filing. I've so far made 62 stanchions and quite frankly I am bored of doing them <:( I have almost got the upper and lower focsl port and starboard completed now. Just 5 more on the port side and the two companionways from upper to lower decks. Like Tug Kenny, here's a few cut and drilled with a pin and toothpick for size comparison.
Also a roll of the brass wire I am using for the rails, available from ebay, this is 0.4mm, I had 1mm for the top rail but although in scale it looked too heavy so I went with 0.4 for them all. Cut a length off and then holding each end in pliers pass through a flame to take the curl out of it, as it cools it remains straight.
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The next three are the beginnings of the safety cage to attach to the ladder up to the crane working platform. Formed rings around an 8mm former then attached to the vertical rod. these will be given more shaping and then soldered to the ladder.
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Nice work Brian - I have to admire your patience with the metal work but the result looks great :-))
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The next four photo's are the beginnings of adding the first lot of rails to the lower focsl deck, then the companionway rails and then finally all in place and painted. You can also see the safety cage is now in place on the crane tower, a crewman to show the scale of things. I thought I was being multi ethnic when I painted this guy, trouble is, as the ship is out of the far east (irrespective of its flag) it seems the deck crews are Malays and Singaporeans.
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You are correct on the metalwork Mark. Its making me %% but my jig does 6 at a time, so I do six, put it aside and do something else.
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So more photos to show progress. The one from the cargo deck facing forward shows the port side done and the starboard side not. It also shows the new deck marking decals I made. I wasn't happy with the yellow painted line, so out with Photoshop and make up some yellow and black diagonals and then print onto decal paper.
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The starboard companionway from upper to lower focsl deck under construction. Because of the way the rails wrap around three sides of the hole in the deck and then down the ladder, I measured it all out on the bench and then pre bent the rails. I'll then slide on the stanchions and glue those in place before soldering. For these intricate parts, in fact all of these stanchions I have used solder paste.
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So the last three photo's for now. Showing the starboard side completed except for the companionway. The gap in the rails is for the mounts for the liferaft containers. The rear part of the upper focsl deck has the jib mounting for the fast rigid inflateable. I'll be concentrating on this and the watefall winch as well as adding extra deck detailing over the next week or so.
Thats all for now.
Oh you may notice the plain timber blocks. This is for the rear of the superstructure. Its not needed but I thought best to put it there just for a bit of extra support- it keeps the rear of the superstructure square.
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Love the Logo!
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Made for me by one of our members Martin.
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Just a little done over the weekend. My son arrived from the UK carrying goodies!
First up was a pair of these ordered from the USA, pipebenders to handle 1/8 and 1/4 brass pipe or their metric equivalent. A couple more standard servo's which aren't worth photo's. Another electronic module from Component Shop (action) and these little boogars.....
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I've put the ruler in there for size purposes, they are TINY! What are they? They are of course linear servo's, that is, instead of going round and round like a servo, they push/pull a rod. These have 10mm of movement which is going to be ample to lift and lower my towing pins at the stern of the workdeck. I am going to need to experiment with just how much pressure the can of course take - not much by the look of them. They do something on model helicopters of which I know absolutely nothing, but they will do the job I want.
So at some point in the next week or two hopefully I can get the towing pins working, albeit with the return springs removed depends on the pushing power of those linear servos.
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SO here are two more photo's of the final hull with all deck railings now finished and in place. There are 72 of these handmade stanchions and the last week or two they have driven me mad, but they do look good now they are in place. Only another 80 to fit on the superstructure {:-{ %% The bare timber as I mentioned last time is to secure the rear of the superstructure housing which is in fact the crew rest area, as opposed to the recreation area. The first is basically the dirty area where overalls are worn etc for breaks off the deck. The rec area is buried down in the hull under the superstructure and has all those amenities like telly etc - of course I have not been mad enough to build that into the ship,although the portholes will be lit eventually.
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Well I spent yesterday building a piece of plastic trash >>:-( That is I began work on the FRC jib - fast rescue craft. It took some doing as I was butt jointing plastic, made worse by not having square tube of the correct size. I took U channel and glued a piece of plasticard over the opening to form tube. Then cut everything to the size of the plan I had printed out and by last night I had the basic framework built, as per the photos. But something didn't look right...........
Yes it pivots and works correctly even looks the part, but something was not right............
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Plonking it on the upper focsl deck there would be no room for a crewman to pass between the rest room and the framework of the FRC jib. Back to the workbench and do some more measuring, its actually come out at 1/50th scale not 1/72nd {:-{ Not sure what has happened but between rescaling it in Photoshop and the laser printer it scaled back up somewhat %%
So this is now trash and I will begin a new one. Tomorrow's a new day so new plastic will be on the bench. What I will say is Thank God for the internet. Its amazing how much information - in the way of plans and diagrams, that you can download to build miniatures from! This jib came from Palfinger for instance.Next time I hope to have this finished and the liferaft pods made and installed.
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Well the new FRC jib is finished and ready to be installed. The first photo's are the old oversize and the new correct one side by side. as you can see there is an appreciable size difference.
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So I have added on the air cylinder on the fore part, Not too sure what this is for, it could be built in safety redundancy ie, the hydraulic pump fails so it can be switched to pneumatic operation, or it is fully pneumatically operated for the in/out swing of the jib?
The control panel has been added along with the winch drum as well, all that is needed to finish it off is some thread to form the lifting cable on the drum and over the pulleys and of course two outrigger supports to hold the outer most face of the fast rescue craft once it is on the hoist. I began adding hydraulic pipes and electric cables, but then I thought where do you stop in detailing a piece, especially when they will not be seen when finished.
So the last photo is the jib set in its place on the deck, not yet glued down yet as I want to attach the boat to it first - yep got to make the boat as well.
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Looks just the part. :-)) Nice workmanship
ken
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Cheers Ken. I've moved on to the anchor handling/towing winch now. Thats hidden away under the rear superstructure but as it can be removed to access the hull, it will get the same detailing.
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OK strap in this is going to be a photo heave instalment. The last few days has seen me hard at work on the double drum waterfall winch. I have about 40 hours work in it at the moment, I know she who must be obeyed has been moaning like Hell because we have our son visiting and I'm couped up in the hobby room!
Anyways lets begin. Its a double drum waterfall winch with active heave compensation, which would be really great if it were operational, but it isn't its just a static model. Remember how I said way back in the beginning not to get carried away with detailing when at the end of the day the item is not going to be seen? This is one of those items. I'm detailing like mad, yet it will be hidden away inside the winch house with a roof over it. The only time it will be on display is if it has to be removed to access the electronic modules under the deck!
So first up, is the piece of removeable deck and on to it I have built the base of the winch, this has been built up using U channel plastic strip and sheet. Then to add detail I used rows of pins all the way through as securing bolts, the other side pointy bits trimmed off flush.
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Then I cut out the side plates, I needed four of these all the same shape. I made up a sandwich of inner and outer plasticard with 3/32nd ply in the centre, to form the sides of the winch. In the first photo you can see the outer plates in place, then the second and third show the sandwich construction. More detail was added with L shape plasticard, these were copied from the photo's I have.
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Next up was to fit the centre drive spindle and its gearwheels, the two coloured plastic rods will be the drive spindles for the drums, these were kids lollipop sticks from our local bar, never miss an opportunity!
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Now for the difficult part, all the end plates for the winch drums and the guards to drop over the gearwheels. This is how I did it. I marked out a series of circles using my compass on to 1mm sheet plasticard. Then I went for my circle cutter - which is missing in action, so then turned for my trusty dividers - which are also missing in action, I can only assume they never got packed when the move happened.
So I turned to an old trick, this works better if your compass is all metal, mine has plastic lower legs so is open to movement. Take out the graphite drawing bit and replace with a spare pointy bit that is very pointy and sharp. Then using slow light strokes circumscribe the circles until the point cuts through the plastic. Being heavy on the pressure will only make the point wander and not give a good cut.
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OK some more detailing. I added the two hydraulic pumps that drive the centre gear shaft which in turn is coupled to the the two drums. Also on the other end of this shaft is the anchor chain gypsey, only one on this, some winches have two. This is very large as it is used for pulling in rig mooring anchor chain and not the standard mooring chain of a ship. It has also been given a primer coat of brown. This is so that I could see any flaws that might need attention on the outside, but also to leave this brown on the inside surfaces.
Once the winch drum assemblies are in place it will be impossible to reach any of it with paint. So contrary to how I like to paint my parts - at the end when all is assembled and finished I am having to do this part by part. The outer surfaces will be finished in the same green as the hull.
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Next up start assembling the drums/drive gears/brake drums. The first photo is making up a 4 mm thickness to look like the brake drum for the assembly, the drum on the left end of the shaft and the winch drum itself, two end plates and the centre made up with some 22mm tube I had lying around, this will eventually carry the wire rope once finished and painted before final gluing into place. Then on the far right is the gearwheel with its guard in place over the top. I was unsure whether to add this guard or not. I have a fair number of photo's of various winches as reference, some have a guard, some don't. This may or may not be removed before final assembly, again what's the point of adding the gear wheel if it is then hidden!
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So the last three for today. The brake drum now has all its actuating arms and hydraulics added to it and mounted on the drum shaft. Also more detail added with lubrication pipework to the various bearings etc and my deck supervisor added for a sense of scale. I now have to finish the front drum and add more detailing before final paint and adding the wire cables to the drums, then job done and another item to be ticked off the list.
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A lot of work there. :-))
Looking great.
ken
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Cheers Ken. I have stopped viewing it as a ship, more like a series of small assemblies - ignore the big picture and do something small, finish it and move on to the next small part.
My mind is on the installation of the electronics, trying to make a jumble of parts look neat and tidy and all in one place. That will be approaching soon as I want to get the towing pins operating shortly.
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That's the view I take as well.. Each module is like a modelling course of it's own. :}
The last two weeks I was Crane builder and soon I'll be the lighting technician. {-)
Keep going ....... you are an inspiration.
ken
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OK the winch is now complete (almost) and ready for installation. Today I finished the front winch drum and brake mechanism. Its been given its final coat of paint, all that is left is to wrap suitable towing cable on the drums and then fasten the drums in place with the four bearing caps. I did in fact remove the gearwheel covers as mentioned in my last update, I decided it was better to see the gearwheels rather than hide them. So here are some photo's
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Now I've mentioned this time and time again but i still never learn %) Don't bother adding detail to parts that can't be seen! This is where the winch now lives, as you can see or can't as the operative word! %%
first photo the top of the winch house, the second photo is the winch in place and the last two from the work deck. As you will deduce after all that work there is not a lot on show - just like the two tugger winches at each side of it (the two square openings) Even worse, there is the spooler mechanism to be built yet which actually stands between the winch and the square opening!
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Excellent job Brian ... love the winch.
Tom
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Brilliant work Brian! I do like the winch a lot and think you can see enough to be proud of your detailing efforts. Its a big'n isnt it.
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Thanks for the compliments guys. Ian, the winch is on a par with others fitted in various ships, the drums can each take 1500 metres of 76mm cable and have a stall pull of 300 tonnes and a brake holding pull of 450 tonnes. The latest crop of anchor handlers, the X-Bow types have even bigger up to 650 tonne winches :o
When you are handling rig anchors or indeed moving rigs across oceans, power is everything! O0
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Three inch cable! That must cost a few mounds per meter (Excuse the crossing of measurement systems) Thanks for the information Brian, you cannot imagine such dimentions, but given thought, large things like platforms etc are huge and need equally huge kit to handle them.
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The first photo is for Ian, A couple of workers assembling a towing winch. This is a small one 150tonne pull capability but still shows how massive these things are.
Then the others are my completely finished winch, with bearing caps holding in the drums and with the cable now wound on to the drums. I've had to use orange as that is the only stuff I could source locally, I would have preferred white, but it may turn out ok in the long run. I have been sent by a 1st officer of an anchor handler (facebook is a wonderful place) a photo of the Venture showing it with what appears to be a dirty orange sleeve over the towing cable for abrasion protection.
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Thanks Brian, they are definitly not for mounting on landrovers! I would have thought that a sleeve would have provided snagg and tangle issues in the hawses and mechanisms, but I suppose modern polymers prevent this.
Lovely work Brian, Face book is indeed good if used sensibly and it allows you to have a good rant unlike Twitter.
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Well after the disaster of last week ( in chit chat forum) the grp has set up on the plug of the fast rescue craft, but it has distorted badly. SO its now in the bin and back to the drawing board with that. At a crossroads I felt like giving up - I seem to have been at this day and night for months. SO I moved on to simpler things.
I was in the plumbing section of our B&Q type store (Leroy Merlin over here) a once a month outing as its an 80 mile trip there and back, so gets lumped in with SWIMBO doing the big shopping at a Tesco type store (Al Campo) %% I had been at a loss how to tackle the liferaft pods, then I saw these plastic inserts that push into the ends of plastic central heating pipework before clamping the compression fittings on, Ideal!
10mm in diamter and about 20mm long. All I needed to do is cut off the flange and reduce them down to 15mm. Then plug the ends with Isopon P38 car body filler. Once it had hardened a quick sanding to a flattened dome shape and I had the basic shape.
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Then trimming down some .05mm plastic sheet into 1mm strips I glued them around the length of each to form the opening lip of the container, then wrapped another around the diameter to make it look like the reinforcing bands..
Then it was on to the racking for them. I made up six of the first photos. Measuring off six lengths 80mm of 1mm diamter brass wire. The top loop was formed by making the 90° bends simply marking off the centre and holding in mini pliers then bending both sides down. The next bend along, all six were lined up in my vice and bent together. I held them all at the same level using a piece of sellotape.
The next bend in what would eventually be the leg of the rack in the same way.
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Once I had the six bent to shape the next problem was holding them while I soldered the cross bracket in place. I got a scrap of wood and as the photo shows, placed the cross piece in to drilled holes in the wood. Then slipping the brackets under it, marked where the legs should be and drilled similar holes. That held them allowing soldering to go ahead. The last two photos show the finished brackets.
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So that was the brackets completed and the pods completed. I just needed to marry the two together. I dabbed each item with superglue and they - fell apart! No way would the round pod glue to the round rail. I ended up filing grooves in the underside of the pods to increase the surface area for the glue to adhere to. Then to make doubly sure I dabbed a couple of drops around the bracket and pod interface as well, as its underneath it can't be seen especially once painted. In the photos you can see the first side complete and the next 3 pods waiting for sanding and attaching.
All that was left to do was add some thread to similate the securing bands on them.
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so to the final photos for now. They show the first rack installed on the port side with the securing bands also done, each end of the handrail should be a chain to the rear leg of the rack, to stop crew walking off into the sea. I'm not sure how to do this yet, Its looking like costume jewellery again, but I'm not sure I can get fine enough chain, it may just end up being a strand of fine wire.. Now its move on to the next job, so far I'm not sure how I am going forward, so it'll be a surprise what the next update brings.
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Ingenious. :-))
It's never easy to glue two opposing curved surfaces without 'flattening' one edge. The binding will help with the support. Very tidy.
Cheers
ken
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Indeedly Brian, they add much to the whole build if the intricacy of the railings and winch was not enough!
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Yes guys its beginning to take on the look of a ship now these little things are being added. Now how to make a series of U shackles that are between 5 and 10 mm long! I must say I am considering buying some, but as I need 4 of each 5, 7 and 10mm it could be expensive!
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Get the brass rod out and make your own. They will be cheaper and you will have the warm fuzzy feeling from having made them all your self.
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I am sorely tempted Ian. But its getting the ends of the shackle flattened and drilled through to take the eye bolt that has me stumped at the moment. I have two of the commercial ones and they are a work of art that I can only dream of getting close to.
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Brian, could you anneal the ends of a brass rod and then squeeze them in a vice to flatten. Drill and tap whilst the rod is straight and then bend. I haven't done it but that is what I am going to try for shackles on my tug.
Or ... a piece of brass rod larger than the size you need, mill the end flats, turn the middle bit to size, and then bend?
Just thinking out loud here.
Tom
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Hm, sounds like a difficult one Brian. I cannot think of an alternative method to Tom's idea, so definitly worth a go.
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I'll give Toms method a try. They are only for 'decoration' so won't be under any strain.
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Well I've been a busy boy this week.
I turned back to the fast rescue craft and began again. I scoured the kids toyshops hoping to find a plastic hull that could be used but no luck. So I knuckled down and made another plug. This time instead of using foam and protecting it from the effects of the resin, I turned the clock back 40 odd years to my school days and used what we did there - a block of solid beeswax. I don't have photo's of this bit I was too eager to crack on. But basically I carved the block to shape with knives etc until happy with the result. Then flash over it with a blowlamp to soften any sharp carving marks. Job done one plug! There is no need for release agent or anything else when using beeswax and resin, the natural oilyness in the wax makes separation easy.
Then using the result as a plug, it was lay up a gel coat and then glass tissue, I had asked advice for an alternative to tissue the best being nappy liner type material, but that was as thick as the tissue. Once it had gone green ( semi hard) I trimmed off the excess and pulled the plug of beeswax out. Then the shell which now became my mould was given the inside a quick polish there is enough residue left to act as the release agent. I again put in a gel coat and two layers of tissue then left overnight. Next day I had my miniature hull.
With it being tiny it meant I still had a little patching and leveling out to do. I even put a smear of filler on the inside to smooth out the rough side of the glass.
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Giving it an all over sanding and filling of pinholes etc then more sanding inside and out I had a reasonable hull. Next up was the engine cover driver seat combination for the inside. This was simply carved from a piece of lime wood. This was attached to the inner hull with some epoxy and then the whole inside, wood and grp was given another gelcoat brushed on thinly. This served to level everything out and also give the wood a smooth surface so the grain didn't show through the later paint.
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I added some plasticard rubbing strip to the outer edge of the hull using superglue, something I am not fond of but sometimes you just have to use it. Then the front splash plate was added using more plasticard. Then a coat of primer and then topcoat.
Its rather bright! I wanted to hi vis orange but nothing like that exists in the shops here, its hi vis flourescent orange :o I'm hoping it will tone down a shade or two once I add the clearcoat, to which I will add a touch of black toner. Then I added some real strips of polyurethane foam as the rubbing strips - just like the real craft!
Then on to the detailing, a steering wheel, the grab rails and the safety cage at the rear which carries a flotation device (still to be added) that will right the boat should it turn over. Finally a bit of tube stuck in the stern to represent the waterjet drive unit.
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So its now complete. These last photos show it mounted on its davit and also in place on the hull, yet to be glued in place as I still have some work to do and don't want to damage it, so it can be removed and put in to storage for now.
SO once again I'm not sure what I am moving on to, tune in again for another surprise.
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Wow .... That came out well. I'm impressed with your method and may have a go myself, if that's alright. :-))
It's certainly orange. 8)
ken
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The wee boat looks the part Brian. Very interesting method you used to build it.
Tom
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Ken be my guest use whatever I come up with if it suits your build.
Tom just some old school tricks taught to me in the woodwork/metalwork/fabrication unit when I was at high school. Of course kids of today don't get schooling like that. No wonder they can't get (tradesman)work straight out of school.
I'm glad you both like the end result. It works but it could have been better.
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Beautiful work mate - just simply beautiful :-))
You know I had exactly the same issue as you when fixing the life raft canisters to their mountings and I also used the same fix as you too! Yours have come out nice and straight which is difficult to do and as for the small life boat it looks great fitted in place. Keep it coming!
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Brilliant work Brian, I can see it being a good seller if you ever took the plunge!
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Brian, I have sent you a message.
Tom
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Message returned Tom, hope it helps you :-))
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Thanks Brian
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Shall we start with some expletives? You know the good old English profanity? Mast! yep thats a good one, Anchor! thats another good one %)
I'm still working out in my head how to tackle the attachment of the linear servos to the towing pins, once I have that set then all of the aft end of the ship is complete and I can move on to the final leg and get on with the superstructure.
So in the meantime I have made up two of the Stevpris anchors which are just decoration for the work deck. I started out with cutting the anchor flukes from plasticard and then putting the shape in them by scoring and bending....
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I had decided on four anchors, so that mean cutting eight shanks, the shank is not solid but made up of two side plates. I cut one as a template, drilled holes in each end and then bolted 7 more rough cut pieces to it. once secure the rest was trimmed and sanded away so I had eight the same.
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Then just the assembly to do. I glued up the first one and it looked pretty damn good. This is where it went awry, I put it on the work deck and these things are big, ranging in size from 1.5 tons all the way up to 35 tons :o However even this looked wrong.
I took it back to the workbench and took some measurements, it came out at 1/48th scale not 1/72nd. Now that is odd because this happened with something I scaled only a couple of weeks back. Well it seems that SWiMBO had been doing some printing and changed the printer settings to 'largest fit to page' hmmm. I reset the printer to normal and printed off another set of diagrams and began again from scratch %% This time I was only going to make 2 anchors, these two photos are the original with my crewman alongside.
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Right all that is left of these is to show the second lot of anchors, done exactly the same way as the first ones. Now in their finished colours with decals in place.
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Lastly a couple with them on the aft deck, there is a 20teu container to the same scale to show just how big these things are, and a real life photo of them with people alongside as well.
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OK next profanity- mast.
As I am putting stuff away for the moment it seemed like a good idea to complete the mast structure so that it can just be added later on. The idea for this was to have all working navigation and towing lights on the mast using the brass tube as the ground and running the live wires up the mast itself.
Problem one raised its head when I couldn't get more than 3 wires up the centre anyway :(( So I hit on another idea (later) I therefore began cutting all the brass tube I needed to size. The first thing was to drill the mounting holes for the cross pieces, I clamped it to some aluminium and ran it under my drill press.
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Then a clean up with steel wool and a drop of flux then assemble before soldering. Heating the tube with my mini blowlamp some cross pieces would solder no problem the other side would just turn black and the solder run off. This caused all sorts of problems throughout the assembly and I still have no idea why except to think the flux was overheating and burning?
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In the end I turned back to my hottest soldering iron and a tub of solder paste which did the job admirably, its just the solder paste is expensive and I can only obtain it in the UK not over here.
So two full days it took to assemble this thing. I wanted to make the radar antennas one of which is mounted to the mast working, I have the two 5mm pulleys I bought for this job but I can't find any elastic bands small enough to actually drive them, the bands themselves would need to be only 10mm in length in their stretched state.
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So on to the final photos for now. The mast is now complete except for the addition of the led lights. I am still using the base material to conduct the ground signal, but the power signals are going to be run up the outside of the mast itself, I am waiting delivery of some 0.25mm enamel covered copper winding wire. The polyurethane enamel will keep the signal wires from touching each other and side by side four of them will only be 1 mm thick, So I can run the 9 wires I need up the mast with no trouble and being so thin will look part of the build once final paint is on.
Apparently I am having a day off from building tomorrow and friday, SWiMBO has dictated I take her for a meal and then monthly shopping on friday. So it looks like next week for a photo update!
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Nice job sir! :-))
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Thanks Martin.
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Well Done Brian! The mast is excellent and the anchors certainly look the part ... I'll take two in brass and 1/38th scale. Any drawing of them?
Tom
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Very nice approach to your problems. Twas interesting reading. :-))
Regarding the elastic bands of a small diameter, try the toy shops for those bands that were the rage last year by children to weave bracelets. Can't think of the name, but they were sold everywhere.
Cheers
ken
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Loom bands. I saw a little girl had spilt a load over the end of my street so if I can find any not abraided by tyres, and not peed on by dawgies, I can send you a few if they are still there Brian?
That is a superb mast, the ladders really add to the piece.
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Well Done Brian! The mast is excellent and the anchors certainly look the part ... I'll take two in brass and 1/38th scale. Any drawing of them?
Tom
Drawings of what Tom? the anchors? I have the drawing in 1/24th scale I could forward you a link, or send you the webpage I got them from.
Very nice approach to your problems. Twas interesting reading. :-))
Regarding the elastic bands of a small diameter, try the toy shops for those bands that were the rage last year by children to weave bracelets. Can't think of the name, but they were sold everywhere.
Cheers
ken
This is what I like for ideas, cheers Ken I never even heard of those, I'll store the info for later!
Loom bands. I saw a little girl had spilt a load over the end of my street so if I can find any not abraided by tyres, and not peed on by dawgies, I can send you a few if they are still there Brian?
That is a superb mast, the ladders really add to the piece.
Thanks for the offer Ian, It's too late for this build now, unless I do some more soldering work to make the radar bracket in brass rather than the plasticard it currently is.
Thanks all for looking in, it makes the work worth it when it is appreciated by others.
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Ian. Way back in reply 195 we were discussing sheathing on the tow rope.
I came across this item this morning in an article on recognised towing practices for anchor handlers/tugs....
Movement of the vessel in heavy weather will cause the tow wire to rub on the stern roller. The wire will slide constantly from side to side. This action will damage the tow wire, eroding strands and weakening the wire. Use of towing shoes, a metal or neoprene sheath which is bolted around the tow wire preventing direct contact between the wire and stern roller, will prevent damage occurring. If a towing shoe is not used then the area of contact on the wire will have to be changed on a regular basis. This is known as freshening the nip. Depending upon the severity of the weather and amount of movement of the wire on the roller the tow wire length will be adjusted by a small amount every hour in cases of excessive movement or up to every 6 hours when towing in calm weather.
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Hi Brian. Yes, it is the anchor information I am after. I would like to make a couple for my tug to carry about.
The article you found on the tow rope sheathing is interesting. We didn't do that on the west coast of Canada, but we did "change the nip", or as our skipper called it ... "Give her an inch or two will ya".
Cheers
Tom
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PM me your email address Tom. I'll send you the PDF of the brochure which has various anchor patterns at the end, but is an interesting read in itself. Also the PDF of the parts cutting diagrams if you can't be bothered to lift them from the brochure :}
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Thanks Brian, I imagine that 'freshening the nip' has been in use for many centuries especially with the older hemp and coir ropes.
I popped up on spec and most loom bands had been washed away in the rain we had Tuesday with the remainder having been distressed, so I reccomend looking at loom bands in toy shops or looking for elastic bands from other sources perhaps surgical?
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Ahh surgical sources. That takes me back to the early '80's and my first modelling stint. I worked for the NHS and wanted for nothing. Scalpel blades? sure just nip along to cssd (central sterile supplies dept) they were happy to hand them out along with small tweezers/forceps.
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I read the first bit as 'Surgical success' and it got me wondering what you had done before I read the rest!
I can imagine it was like alladin's cave. If they used the acrylic resin for broken limbs then, you could have had a cheap/free source for hull cladding!
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Saw some loom bands in Poundstretcher yesterday.
99p for 1200 %%
They looked about 15mm unstretched so too big.
Silicon O seals should be available to suit.
Ned
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Brian how have I missed the last few updates :o I have completely missed your posts and now I am seriously jealous :embarrassed:
I have been messing around with rig anchors and my results have been pathetic to say the least. The anchors look great on the deck; you've done a really nice job their mate - they look so real :-)) Cracking mast too. I'll try and keep up a bit better than before!
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Wait for this weeks update Mark, I had a failure that I couldn't get around and had to accept I was beaten. <:(
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Hmmm ... this sounds interesting. Brian, would your failure have anything to do with shackles?
Tom
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No mate, operating radar :} Nor done the shackles yet, still waiting for 2mm brass rod to arrive in the post.
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Hi Brian
Just started reading your posts, have you thought about O rings? they come in small sizes, both diamieter and length, local engineering supplies have stocks.
Mark
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Tried O rings Mark no go, small enough but far too strong- not enough give in the rubber. I'll document the reasons in my next post tomorrow.
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Two wheels, one with a rubber O ring or tyre?
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Wow! Fantastic work!! As for pulleys, I used the rubberbands Ken mentioned. My daughter has hundreds of them in different colours. Pardon my sorry excuse for a mast compared to yours but here's a picture of it. You could also try a shop for things for horses, my daughter also had a bag of rubberbands for making braids?? on the mane?? and the tail of the horse. They may be in a different size.
Keep up your excellent work!
Hama
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Before I post today's selection, Hama that is almost exactly the setup I was going for! You can see in the diagram what I was attempting to do. The reason I have had trouble is the fact the mast itself is only 4mm in diameter so I was working with small stuff!
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As you can see because the mast is small in diameter I was going to run a 1mm drive shaft close in to the mast but on the outside. I made up the brackets in brass strip to take any strain that plastic couldn't handle.
This is where it all began to go wrong.
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The 'motor' drive of the radar was made up in 4mm timber with a brass sleeve for a bearing, the shaft going through it and the mast bracket to a pulley wheel, then another pulley wheel close to the mast end with the drive shaft.
The pulley wheels were 3mm in diameter! with a gap of 8mm between the pulleys. Even a loom band of which SWiMBO found a pack in a local shop for me (50 centimos, about 30p) were too large. I cut a section out of one (10mm) and glued the ends together with superglue, it worked! except the band was to thick in section to actually fit the groove in the pulleys.
Another band, section it by 10mm and then very carefully split it lengthways with a sharp scalpel and glue together again, success, it fits the grooves.
The brass bracket was then clad in .5mm plasticard so it looked like a true mount and it all fell into disarray. Once the plasticard was added the bracket became much wider than the diameter of the mast and just looked plain ridiculous and wrong!. I made 4 incarnations of this over the weekend and nothing worked!
So I gave up and decided the mast mounted radar would be static :embarrassed: I would make do with the lower roof mounted one working and not both of them. You can just about make out the mast radar, its the grey bar lower down. During all of this I managed to break off the anemometer I had carefully made at the top of the mast. This was three hemispheres just .5mm in diameter and has really peed me off because it was an age to actually cut and assemble.
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Hang on surprise coming up shortly but the dog is insisting I play throw the ball, I have her claw marks up my shin! Back in 10 minutes.
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Interlude over- she gets bored easily {-) Anyway another impasse, I have been waiting a week for supplies arriving from the UK, so in order to progress I moved on to.......................
THE SUPERSTRUCTURE TA DAAAAA! the moment some have been waiting for.
This is rather a challenge, I have a dozen photos to work from and a set of GA plans. Because its a complicated shape I tried to break it into sections and build a 'box' at a time. It soon became apparent that this would not work.
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If there is one thing I hate its cutting mitres and only one thing is worse than that and it is compound mitres! This superstructure has compound mitres all over it!
I started with the front 'box' and added the rest on to it a piece at a time, building around the coaming that I had in place. This gave the lower section of the superstructure. All good so far, well no it wasn't. The sides of the superstructure wrap over and across the bridge deck to a depth of 15mm. Hmmmm...
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So I added the lower bridge decking and then built up the sides over it from aft to front. This now gives the base for the actual bridge deck and bridge itself to be built on. Which is next on the list. As this goes up I am also having to sub divide the internal structure to allow lights in some of the cabins but not them all, so I will end up with something akin to a honeycomb when it is completed.
The green stuff is surface filler. As there are lots of joints in the plasticard, I have sanded as I have gone along and then applied the filler and sanded again. There appears to be lots of green because this model filler (squadron green) is cellulose based and stains the surface of the plastic even though it is sanded away for the most part.
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Crumbs....... that would try the patience of a saint. looking better by the minute.
Go play with dog again, it does you good. :}
Cheers
ken
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Go back to post 253 and photo 2. I have also added on to the mast all the 3mm led's for the lighting. Only one leg is soldered on to the mast, this is the cathode (-) of each led, I'm using the brass mast as the common ground for them all. The led's are clear glass but are a mixture of white, red in colour once energised. The other legs will be bent and soldered to my enamel coated .2mm wire when it arrives and then can have its final coat of matt black paint all over. The leds I have filed the tops from a dome shape to a flat this will enable paint to partly obscure them so it looks like a casement.
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Crumbs....... that would try the patience of a saint. looking better by the minute.
Go play with dog again, it does you good. :}
Cheers
ken
Certainly correct Ken, a couple times this week I have felt like giving up on it all.
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Brian, you are doing an excellent job. The houseworks are coming along fine. I have all that to go through yet and I am not looking forward to it as I haven't worked with plastic at all.
A question ... where do you get the green filler. A quick google search didn't net me much.
Tom
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Tom you should be able to pick it up really easy in Canada, its a U.S product for the plastic kit makers, usually available in model shops. Its called Squadron Green and ebay and amazon have tons of links. There is also a Squadron White, much the same stuff except white %) The white is supposed to be finer but I can't tell the difference except the white seems to dry up in the tube a lot quicker and becomes useless.
You can also use car body stopper. That is not the normal 2 part body filler, its a fine compound for spreading into sanding marks to level up the surface, both body stopper and squadron products are cellulose based, body stopper for the quantity usually works out a lot cheaper to buy.
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Thanks Brian. I find that one of my local hobby shops has it or can have it by next week for me. so I have ordered some.
The car body stopper you mentioned is available about 5 minutes from home. Only problem is it comes in a 3lb tub ... nothing smaller. I would never use all that and it would dry out quickly I suspect. Excellent idea though if I needed to use a bunch in a short time (smoothing the inside of a hull or a planked hull).
Cheers
Tom
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Well there's a product I have never seen before! I will get me a tube of that. I saw that Amazon had 'Finnisage' stopper in a kilo tube. Ths sounds more managable £3 for the product and £3 for shipping (UK).
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Let's have a few more of the superstructure progress. Now we are up to the complicated bit, all the compound mitres. But first a mistake.
As I began to add the bridge deck to the lower superstructure something looked off, after checking and checking, it was only a view from above that showed the error, I have put an arrow to the corner which is wrong, but as it is easier to take material away rather than add it, I will cut the opposite mitre to the same dimension. Overall it is out by 2mm, this wasn't noticeable until the addition of the bridge deck, you just might be able to see a pencil line I have drawn in ready to make the cut.
The second photo shows roughly in pencil where the internal structures like desks, seats etc are located.
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Next up was a stairway to below bridge deck. This is one of those items that will not be seen even by viewing close up via the windows. However if it were just a hole rather than having the stairs it would cast the shadow of a hole and be very noticeable.
Now on to the framing sections. I have carefully cut the windows out of the sides wrongly! I'll elaborate - the front three sides have smaller windows than the side sections after the doorways. Unfortunately I had measured these and used the measurment for the front three sides. Resulting in the windows being too deep. I corrected it by cutting a 4mm strip and adding it to the bottom of the frames.
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As I worked my way around the starboard side cutting each frame out of the plastic then cutting the mitres I became increasingly bothered that the uprights didn't look good. This is a result of trying to cut thin uprights, the plastic flexes and moves away from the knife no matter how much pressure you apply to the straight edge, the result is you are left with wonky frames.
In the next updates this will be corrected. I am going to cut out all the uprights then replace them. If I cut one continous strip off the edge of a full sheet of plasticard this will make all the uprights, as the strip has the support of the full sheet behind it the strip remains a constant width.
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So just a few of the superstructure in place on the hull before I finish of this part. It is certainly looking more and more the part each day now. I guess if it was the chinese shipyard she originated from the real ship would be complete and handed off to her owners by now!
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For what its worth, I find that you can cut the frames in one piece as long as you cut all the frames out at the same time leaving the oblong waste in until the last moment. The bowing often happens if you cut them out one by one; the waste plastic oblong acts as a support.
I took the liberty of doing a little diagram for cutting windows/apetures in styrene.
(http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/903/0P45MY.png) (https://imageshack.com/i/p30P45MYp)
It is for a basic rectanguar window/apeture with added section for if you want rounded corners that are quite simple to make.
The markng out diagram is to show that tidiness of drawing is not neccessarily good, as you cannot always guess where the cut is meant to end until you have cut to far with subsequent time spent having to reair the piece you were cutting.
However you cut your windows out, you will have a little tidying up to do around the edges. I found that cutting the uprights separatly means you have to be extra accurate in getting them perpendicular. Its all fun:O) I have made loads of mistakes and it never fails to be a bloomin nuisance especially when an assembly is well progressed. You have to decide wether to make a new assembly or see what you can do to rectify and modify the piece.
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Thanks Ian, I've never had much success with windows, I'll give your idea a try later today. I'm also setting up my Dremel drill press with a 2mm router bit to have a go at routing them out as well. The windows should have rounded corners, but at the moment its a heck of a lot of work just to get them straight!
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Well if that wasn't difficult enough I am now at a stage where I have to add along the top all the way around another row of windows but 12mm deep and leaning inwards!
But these photo's show where I am up to at present. I have to sit and ponder the next stage, I have made up all the bridge furniture so far, the chart table, front consoles the two funnel structures and a stairwell, the rear consoles are on the bench. The starboard funnel has a second 'box' to it, this is a toilet :} its on the plan so it got added!
I can't glue them down yet as I'm not sure how to proceed. The inner frames need painting, but then its going to be the devils own job to get the glass to stick. The floor of the real ship in my photos is laminate timber, so I need to reproduce that effect, again the consoles won't glue on top of paint. There are holes in the consoles if you look closely, these are for power to the flat screen monitors (yes really) and fibre optic warning lights.
I still have to work out how to make 3 sofa chairs and a couple of pot plants yet :embarrassed: as I said earlier they are in the photo of the bridge I have so.....
So here's the photo's
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Oh I forgot to add, the funnels have holes in the bottom. The port side will run the cables up to the mast lights etc, the starboard side will take the water pipework for the fire monitors.
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Well this is where we are at for the week, not a lot!
I made up the bridge consoles and other furniture, the map table, sofa, captains chairs etc.
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This is where I encountered my first problem. I was going to make the lcd computer screens illuminated with fibre optic strands. In the end I gave up as I couldn't get such a small piece of clear acrylic to stick to the plasticard without marking the acrylic with glue, I even tried canopy glue from the plastic model brigade, The screen just wouldn't transmit enough 'glow' via the fibre optic strands.
I was still using them to make buttons on the consoles coloured though as they could be cut flush with the console surface. Then I found out they were plastic fibre optic the hard way >:-o 7 strands in one console, underneath. I gathered them together and slid some shrink tubing over them, then heating lightly the shrink tubing to hold them together, they all melted into a mess. This was how I found out the strands were plastic.
So simulating wood laminate flooring. The deck received a white primer then two base coats as seen in the photo, a solid buff colour and then streaks of a second colour then allowed to dry overnight. The second colour was applied when the first paint was still wettish, so they could be blended together.
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Next day a dark surface coat was added and then a stiff clean brush dragged across the surface to achieve the 'streaky' effect. Once sealed in with gloss varnish it will hopefully convey the effect of laminate wood. The consoles are in these pictures for effect, they are not yet glued in to place.
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So on to painting the internal superstructure. I took a liberty here and painted the front end pale blue. But having looked at it for a day and now seeing the photo's I think I'm going to change it to white.
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So the last three photos for this week, just more views of the bridge from various angles. The blue really does look odd, so don't expect it to stay in later photo's! I have also painted up two heavily modded figures to act as bridge crew, these really make the bridge come alive.
This coming week will get the glass added and the inward leaning part of the superstructure all round the top edge of the walls (hopefully)
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A lot of work there Brian. Looks very nice. Yes indeed, get rid of the blue. What does the original ship have ?
Regarding the filament wiring, do you have any pictures please. I'm surprised they don't produce enough light to penetrate a screen. I thought they were blinding when viewed 'end on'.
ken
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The original has what could be described as dove grey Ken, mid way between light blue and grey. They do produce enough light end on, but the fibre optic comes in from the bottom not the back (they don't like to bend, especially tight bends!) I even cut the tip off at 45 degrees to get a broader angle of light.
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Good thinking bringing the fire monitor plumbing up the
starboard funnel uptake. You will be able to take a feed to the
flushing loo you will be installing :D
Ref the backlighting for the monitors I think
Uni has posted a method on here somewhere.
Ned
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Am I the only one that think the blue colour looks right??
Anyway, really enjoy seeing this build!
Hama
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Never thought of that Ned! Hmmmm maybe I could just ;D I have all day without swimbo tomorrow, I'll sit down and see if I can redo the monitors I wanted lit. I have also given the blue a second coat and it is staying!
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Well not a lot of progress this week. I have finished the superstructure. It now has its 'inward' leaning wall added around the walls that were already there. I have a rough blank roof cut, that is dropped on to the superstructure for the photo's.
I could not get the fibre optics to work in the bridge consoles, nothing to do with the led system I had worked out, but the fibres themselves, they were not true fibre optic but just strands of plastic, as I needed to get a 20mm radius in some of them, instead of bending, the plastic developed fracture lines across the circumference of the radii which emitted the light in bands along the radii.
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I'm not saying I couldn't achieve it, just that it was a diminishing return as far as adding to the aesthetics of the finished build. Now the roof is on they would not be very noticeable unless of course you were peering through the bridge windows with a magnifying glass!
So for the next couple of day I have to add external paint around the window openings, I'm adding the glass to the internal walls, I'm going to use double sided carpet tape for this rather than glue. The glue would just affect the internal paint so I'm giving double sided tape a go. Then the 'lid' can be glued down and attention to the rest of the bridge top deck, funnels etc. Then detailing the whole superstructure with what is required.
Unfortunately at the end of the week we have to visit the homeland to keep the Spanish authorities happy ( you can't be here for more than 180 days without becoming a Spanish resident) although many don't bother we prefer to comply with the law. So for the next couple of weeks, I'll be around the forum but I can't update this build until we return.
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Enjoy your break back in Blighty and I look forward to seeing your progress once you return. I think you underestimate the amount of work you cactually did in making the details and trying out lighting techniques, the detail is wonderful and adds much to the model even under a roof.
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Wasn't on the forum since awhile (too much work)
Your ship looks just wonderfull, a super job !! :-))
congrats,
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Thanks guys for the compliments.
I am remaking the control desks at the moment. It seems I was overthinking the lighting by using fibre optics, On another forum, a post dating back to 2009 I saw how Umi had done a similar trick. I am now going to try her method, hopefully it will be successful and I will have lighted desks, I'll posts details once I have tried it, but as above, its going to be 3 weeks or so before I post photo's.
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Brian - I take my hat off to you. Your attention to detail shows how familiar you are with your subject. I must now hold my hands up and plead "Guilty" to not having even looked at this build until just yesterday. :police: <*<
However, having read through the whole lot to date, I am pleased to say I didn't miss out on this one. There's loads of ideas, techniques and setbacks (and how you have overcome them), all of which will be useful in future.
I'll be paying attention to the rest of this build - that's a certainty. :-))
Regards,
Ray.
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Just for info Brian.
Boyes have extended their range of modelling goodies.
Ned
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Brian - I take my hat off to you. Your attention to detail shows how familiar you are with your subject. I must now hold my hands up and plead "Guilty" to not having even looked at this build until just yesterday. :police: <*<
However, having read through the whole lot to date, I am pleased to say I didn't miss out on this one. There's loads of ideas, techniques and setbacks (and how you have overcome them), all of which will be useful in future.
I'll be paying attention to the rest of this build - that's a certainty. :-))
Regards,
Ray.
Glad you enjoyed the read Ray. I must say I can;t wait to get back to the build but I still have another 10 days before we head back to Spain.
Just for info Brian.
Boyes have extended their range of modelling goodies.
Ned
Cheers for that Ned. I'm calling in at Maplins tomorrow, there is a Boyes along Hessle Road a bit further up so I'll see what they have - I do need some more Humbrol and a couple more 20g bottles of superglue.
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OK Guys I am back in Spain and progress can resume!
There will be more build pics by the end of the weekend but for now I will show you what I have brought back from the UK to add to my electronics for this craft. Some have been seen before but I've assembled them all on the desk so I can run through what there is and what they will do.......
Starting top right and moving down,
2 allegdedly self priming water pump ( I already had a third and it doesn't!) One for the fire monitors and the second is for the coolant disharge outlets in the hull side. All boats discharge cooling water from the engines and other plant, so for the sake of a pump and some plumbing my model will have it too.
Next is the P94 dual esc from Action- all the main components are from that company.
The main power distribution board again from Action.
Across the bottom clockwise are two fuse boards, for the 4 driving motors, two main and a fore and aft thruster.
7 position switch- not from Action. This cycles a command signal from the transmitter, flick a tx switch and it turns on position 1 on this board, flick the switch a second time and it operates position two etc. Until reaching position 7 which then turns them all off again. Ideal for sub system work like lighting.
Then two 10amp relays, I'm thinking of using these on the thrusters, I'm not needing to finesse the thrusters via a esc, just on or off at a reduced voltage so the motors are not working flat out.
Moving upwards left side, twin relay switch from Action, this was for the thrusters but I'm not sure of the amperage of the relays- must read the intruction booklet!
An array of lever switches for end stop movement of various items, I got a bag of 25 from China for around 3 quid, far cheaper than any shop in the UK.
Then some pin connectors for the circuit board I am building.
Across the top, voltage regulators to pull down my 12 volts to 3.5 volts for the linear servos. I only need one, but as they were 90p each and I had a minimum order of £5 to deal with I thought having a couple extra is always useful for the future.
Next is a 556 twin timer chip, standard is a 555ic. I know I have a timer circuit in mind at the time of ordering but at the moment I can't remember what it was going to do!
Then 4 linear servos, these are to push/pull my aft deck towing pins up and down. Quite tiny they are for indoor quad copter use, but as I couldn't locate anything slightly larger these will suffice.
Down the centre is an Arduino board. This was going to look after all my onboard functions for me through some clever programming. It was superseded by the tiny PICaxe board below it, this does everything I wanted the arduino to do, but the best bit is, the person who gave me it for free also did all the programming and sent me a copy of it as a file as well. Can't get better than that! So the Arduino will go into my next build which I plan on having gps dynamic positioning on board %%
I didn't identify the toggle switch, this is a momentary type to add to my TX and of course a multi plug/socket which will make the connections from superstructure to hull. Also in the photo is bag of LED's, 1.2mm ultra brights, cost me an arm and a leg, well about 3 quid for the bagfull from a workshop in Beverley on the outskirts of Hull. These I'll keep quiet about for now until I have them assembled and hopefully I might be able to sell some of the finished article!
Also missing from the photo's are a plethora of diodes, resistors and capacitors to help me build my circuit board. Stay tuned for the electrical side of the build coming in a couple of weeks.
But in the meantime it's back to building the superstructure, update at the weekend. Bye for now.
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Crikey Brian, that is a veritable stealth ship worth of gizmology! No wonder you forgot what some of the bits are for, I worry about my boat electrics,, and I have a fifth of what you have to nail together there %% %%
Still, it should all give you a dynamic model with pumps and illuminations.
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Trouble is Ian I am rapidly losing interest in this build. Some things haven't gone right with it lately and its been offputting.
Having already amassed quite a bit of data in the way of plans and parts for my next two builds I am raring to get going on those! This will be finished first though. This is the stage where you want to rush things and get it finished, its controlling that urge to limit future cockups.
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Pace yourself as she is a lovely model and will be a credit to you once complete. I can see it now sailing about wherever you sail your ships in Spain:O)
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Glad to see you back at it Brian. It looks like you put your time in England to good use.
Tom
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I think I chose my words wrongly Ian, what I was trying to convey is that having two other builds in my head and on paper I am chomping at the bit to get started on those, so this build is holding me up. But I don't want to cut corners with it yet still a lot to do on it!
Glad to see you back at it Brian. It looks like you put your time in England to good use.
Tom
I did Tom but not as you'd expect. Most of the electrical stuff was ordered online and sent to my father in laws house, so not much running around for that. Nope we went home for a break and ended up working the whole 10 days!
Our house in the UK which is empty and up for sale (fully furnished) we called round to check and found that a rain gutter above the bathroom window was blocked with leaves and other detritus- big damp patch on the internal wall ruining the decoration which was only done in April! So we had to sort that out and then our son who had been lodging with his gramps, decided to move into an apartment. So we spent most of the time moving his stuff in a small hatch back car while he was at work.
Glad to get back to Spain for the rest {-)
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I bet! Bloomin gutters.
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WOW Uncle Brian. {-) You're gonna take some keeping up with.
If I side track for a brief moment, can I ask about the switcher please. I have considered these but have not found out their exact operation. I appreciate you can flick the switch through the connections but have not found out if they 'stay on' and then go off when the next in line is chosen, or do they stay on until the sequence is run through again. ?
Looking forward to the next instalment. :-))
ken
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The 7 position switcher Ken was sourced from Hobby King. You change from one position to the next by using the far throw of your tx levers or one of the supplementary channels on it( like the switch dedicated to raising/lowering aircraft undercarriage) First flick switches on channel 1. Second turns on channel 2 etc etc. They all stay on until the last channel (7) and that turns them all off.
So 1 could turn on your lights, 2 could turn on the fire monitors, 3 could move the crane jib etc etc, but they will all still be working or on until you reach position 7 to turn them all off.It's worth noting that you don't have to use all the channels, you could use 1 and 2 skip the rest until 6 say, this is done simply by not connecting anything to the outputs.
This particular unit cost I think, about £7 so worth a punt even if its no good for what you need.
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First flick switches on channel 1. Second turns on channel 2 etc etc. They all stay on until the last channel (7) and that turns them all off.
That's a subtlety I never appreciated. Sounds just the job. I assume you don't continue up the bank, once switched, but leave the control till later. ?
Thanks for that info
ken
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Ok back to building with a short update....
First up casting! yep I have dabbled with casting some parts and I think in future where I need more of the same item I will do this, its such an easy process- if you do it your own way! Many will tell you that silicone is needed to make a decent mould, wrong! In these photo's I have used plasticene, remember that from when you were a kid? for the non UK residents, plasticene is kids modelling clay.
I'll start with the easy bits, lights, I rolled out the clay squashed it flat and then pushed an existing light unit in to it to form the shape, then insert the 1.2mm leds in to the form.
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Then it was on to some exhaust/intake grilles, I would have liked photo etch brass for these but I didn't have a spare arm and leg, so a bit more shaping of plasticene.
I flattened out a piece on the bench and then using a handfull of Stanley blades (boxcutter blades) I pressed the blades into the clay at a 45 degree angle. When you are doing this you have to think backwards. Anything that is recessed needs to be raised in the mould. So after the blade treatment I then made a deeper impression with a strip of wood to form the frame around the grille. On this piece of clay is six vents, but I only need four so I have two for the spares box. Once the impression was made, I rolled out another strip of clay and formed a wall around the edge. These are now ready for resin to be poured.
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So these two filled with resin and waiting for it to cure. A note about this resin, this is water clear as my primary use of it is to cast floodlights/lamps/spots etc etc. I'm using it for my other castings as I have a kilo of it, normally for 'non glass' parts a cheaper casting resing would be used. The manufacturer thoughtfully didn't include a syringe to measure the catalyst which resulted in me visiting the local pharmacy for an insulin syringe. The measurement is 0.1ml of catalyst to 1gram of resin. So far I have used 20 grams of resin in my castings so a tiny syringe is required!
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Oops one of those didn't have resin but I'm not going back to edit it out! So on to the finished results, I even used the spare resin to cast a tyre I had, just to see how it would turn out as I am 5 short for the final additions around the hull.
As you can see the results are pretty good for a first attempt.
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Next up on the casting front is four of the five bridge consoles, I am casting these in resin and embedding leds for the console lighting, I'll show these in the next update.
So on to some wiring, here is one of the spotlights for the bridge roof, one leg of the led is shrouded with brass for strength and with shrink tube for insualtion, the second is bent and formed so as to look like the mounting when it is painted. There are four of these on the roof, two forward and two aft of the funnels.
Lunch is ready, further posts in 30 minutes
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So on to a little construction. The roof panel with the funnel and battery rooms added along with the spotlights glued in to place. This panel will need on the inside surface a reinforcing pad as the plastic is tending to curl around the edges, some of this will dissapear when glued to the final structure but adding the reinforcing will make it appear totally flat when finished. I've also added brass tube to simulate the funnel exhaust vents.
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Lastly for now can be seen with the roof sat in place, still not fixed as there is more wiring to pull through once the mast is mounted and of course the fire monitors need to be made and attached to their water supply. Hopefully in these can be seen the port navigation light and one of those intake/exhaust vents I cast in resin earlier, attached to the lower funnel.
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That is an inspired idea casting LEDs integral. You only then have to paint the rear of the lamp body silver and then overpaint with your chosen colour and you have a lamp with bulb and relector!
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Its not my idea Ian, I ordered some lights from Germany and this is what I received. Far easier than my making lamp shells and then putting a smled inside and sealing with clear acrylic, it's a brilliant idea I just copied it. There is no need to paint them silver first the head of the led is bent at 90 degrees to its legs so points forward out the front. There is more than enough luminence to not require a reflector. In fact I have painted mine black to stop light passing through the finish paint! Then the top colour is painted over the black. I'll post some photo's in my next update.
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Yes please Brian:O)
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Thanks for the update Brian.
I had a similar problem with light showing through the top of my Port & Stbd nav lights on my Pilot boat. Likewise, I painted the lamp casings black then "brass" colour over the top - that did the trick. :-))
Regards,
Ray.
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I can't offer much in the way of a build update this week. I started last weekend with rebuilding the control consoles. After the failure of illuminating them with fibre optic and failing miserably I had decided to leave them. But then no, a break in the UK I decided to remake them in clear casting resing, in other words rather than a shell of plasticard, they now became a solid block of resin - with an led embedded inside. Essentially becoming a giant bulb. During the last week they got 3 coats of matt enamel black and two coats of blue, the surfaces getting 3 coats of light grey. The light still shines through in parts!
So they were cast and epoxied in and the rest of this week has been spent installing wiring for all the bridge illumination, rather a lot of it! The photos show the wiring for the consoles and the stern and p/s nav lights.
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I've found that doing jobs like this, 30 minutes or so is enough at the bench or mistakes are made - yep I made a boo boo. I had installed two yellow led's one is lighting the stair well, and the second is the chief engineers cabin - port side front corner. As I had gone along, wiring the leds in series of 2, I had also added the requisite resistor, except it was missed. On attaching the battery to check they blew! requiring new ones to be wired in.
Doing these sort of jobs you can never have enough different leds and resistors! I like to use solder paste, its less messy than standard solder, joins quickly and can be used for railings as well
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The first one here shows the bridge roof with yet more wiring, this time its for 4 floodlights to illuminate the workdeck and 4 searchlights, all this wiring is fed down the funnel shells which run inside the bridge. On top of the funnels is yet another deck this time to take the mast and its lighting along with the two fire monitors, that is the plastic thing with two black tubes sticking out of it in the foreground.
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Not much to add really, just a few photos taken this evening of the lights working. I can't show them all as they are wired in pairs at the moment. Once all the wiring is completed they will all terminate in a single 2 pin plug and then I can show them all working together.
So first up the orangey glow from the stairwell, and then the p/s navigation lights. I'm unhappy with the green as it isn't as bright as the red, but should be! I may change them this week.
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Now the bow or driving :} consoles, as you can see there is still some light seepage, I'm unsure whether to give them more paint or leave the ethereal glow at floor level. The the stern navigation lights, yellow above white, for a tow in excess of 200metres. The white is rather brighter than the yellow, I'll fix that this week as well.
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Lastly the aft consoles, again with some light seepage. The various dials and gauges were sanded with an emery board to remove surface paint and then lightly touched with red/green nail polish - borrowed from swimbo while she was out! It gives the effect of various buttons etc which is what I was after. The dissapointment for me though was the computer screens, they were supposed to light up as well. Light was showing at the bottom of the drilled holes but obviously hasn't made the transition through the superglue and up the screen supports.
So thats it for now, hiopefully I'll make better progress this week.
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I forgot to add this last night for BallastanksIan..
Its self explanatory, just showing the different sizes of led's available. At the ends are two floodlight housings with the led embedded, these are made with waterclear casting resin, using plasticene as the mould. Just make up one master floodlight. press it into the plasticene for however many lamps are required, insert the led - the legs on mine are bent to 90degrees so the led faces out the front for maximum light. Instead of doing this you could bend them parallel to the led so they come out of the sides, then pour in the resin and allow to harden! The advantage of doing the second way is once the lamp is removed from the mould you will have the housing with a leg sticking out of each side. Bend them downwards and they can be disguised as the lamp bracket!
Mine come out the bottom or top whichever way you hold it, because I wanted to bend them backwards so they insert through bulkhead walls.
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OK I've got through a lot of work this week but not much to show for it.
As I mentioned above I have finally got all the control consoles in place with some lighting working. For some reason and I am thinking it may be oilyness on the surface of the consoles from the plasticene moulds, the paint doesn't like to cover certain areas. But as they are epoxied into place I can't do anything about it now. So here's a couple of them lit up and the navigation lights showing as well.
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So once I realised there was no solving that problem I moved on. Next up was wiring all the led's on the mast so it could be attached to the top of the funnels/exhaust vents.
The mast being brass I used it as the earth/ground/negative wherever you are in the world. The lives were run up the outside using enamel covered copper wire used for motor winding! It came in .1mm diameter and I now have a bobbin with 350metres still left on it {-) I hope to get them grouped together up the mast so it looked natural, but every so often a strand escaped from the superglue.
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The idea I worked on here was that they would once the mast was mounted, the wires would be joined in pairs to a resistor hidden inside the what on the real ship is the battery room, that is the room between the funnel structures.
Then I cut the roof of this structure in ply and then clad it with plasticard. Work commenced on the fire monitors, for ease of build I bent two pieces of brass tube to the correct angle. Then made up the curly bits by warming plastic rod over a flame and twisting around 5mm brass tube. These were then cut and sanded to fit then epoxied to the brass tube. The photo's show trial fitting of the roof so that any fiddling could be done before its all glued together.
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OK the bit you've all been waiting for, the mast is now in place on the roof . Remember earlier when I said that each light was wired in pairs? well for some reason the lower port red and the starboard spotlight are now not working! I can do something about the towing light but nothing can be done for the spotlight.
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Almost done with this update.
A few more from aft of the roof, showing the four floodlights for the work deck illumination and the two searchlights all working.
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Looks real good.
Thats a real pain when you test ever thing before fitting then some thing stops working when fitted . Check your joints on the leds ,you might get lucky .
john
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This is ready to be fitted to the superstructure now. But before I do I am going to add as much as the extra/small detail as I can, that is the external feed pipes for the monitors, the ladders up to the funnel deck, the railings etc etc.
So thats it for now, except to say this build is dragging on. When I started it I thought it would be all done in 6-8 weeks, 8 months later and I still can't see the endgame. Don't ever ask me to cost out a time/labour job for you %%
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I did that John, took it off and resoldered it, still no joy. I think I might have severed its live feed when I glued the roof into place on the funnels. I'll get out my test meter tomorrow and check to see if I have voltage coming along the wire. If not I just run another one.
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She's coming on a treat Brian - when things go wrong, just walk away then come back when you've had time to think.
Regarding the light showing at the bottom of the consoles - I was thinking that perhaps some thin black plastic, to represent floor to console trim, might be worth a try.
Regards,
Ray.
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Don't worry about the quality of the work you are doing Brian as the consoles and controls look brilliant to me. I am sure tht once you put the roof on, you will not see any light seepage. Re your naughty spot and navigation light, I hope you manage to find the fault and rectify it as she looks a dazzler.
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Looking really nice Brian - I bet it will look great on a night sailing with all of the lights lit up. All of those wires though - I've got this to look forward too %%
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Looks a real treat Brian. I appreciate your misery with the missing light. Once wires are down a pipe, it is all very nerve racking when movement comes into play.
ken
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Well not a lot accomplished lately. The weather has been half decent so we had the front acre ploughed over again and I've been busy planting fruit trees, olives and almonds. It's a blast digging with a picaxe, kango (SDS)drill and spade, the ground here being so stony they are the only way to do it bar getting Salvador back with his tractor and drill, but at 30€ an hour spanish farmers don't come cheap!
So what little I have got done I'll present now....
First three photos just all round shots of the roofline, I have cut and drilled another 28 rail posts, bent up the rails and soldered them into place. I think on the next build I am going to actually etch these as I would get a more uniform size and holes.
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The brass foghorn has been soldered to the mast, two domes cast in resin, for satellite navigation etc, those are the red things on sticks. In photos 13 and 14 you can see that pesky deck worker in shot again to give an idea of scale.
I have added two air conditioning units made simply as boxes and some grille behind the holes to represent the fan intakes for cooling.
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Almost done, next up the lower radar had been fabricated and added, and the safety cages soldered to the ladders up to the funnel tops, these can be seen better in the second photo. The water monitors have been finished with the addition of the foam generators to the top of the water nozzles.
All that needs completing now are the bottoms of the searchlights, they need a circular motor housing clamping around the square pillars which will be challenging, my own fault for not using round tubing in the first place.
The last photo is a bottle of Maskol, a humbrol product that forms a latex barrier for painting. I'm going to paint over the lenses of all the lighting with it then spray a primer coat over the whole unit. Hopefully it does what it says and protects the lenses and peels off like rubber afterwards!
Thats it for now, next update may have it actually bonded to the superstructure!
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Nice Innit?
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Well it was. It cost me the grand sum of 7€ so about £4.70. For that I got 19 useable tyres for hull fenders, the rest of the truck has gone in the bin. Now that might seem like a waste, but the tyres actually worked out cheaper than buying them from a hobby shop!
Anyway back to the build, it might seem like not a lot has happened this last week but believe me its been nothing but hassle. First up, it was the risers for the water supply to the fire monitors. These were made up using a mixture of extruded pipe fittings, styrene tube and aluminium rod.
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This is them now located on the outside front of the funnel structure.
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Now this was complete I turned to the railings again. another 30 or so stanchions cut from a sheet of brass and drilled for the rails, this was then C.A'd into the top of the funnels and the top rail led down to form the safety cages on the access ladders.
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Oops missed the photos :} Anyway now that was complete the mast was given it's coat of black paint along with the funnel tops, the railings were painted green and the company decals added to the outside of the funnels. Once the paint was dry it has taken 4 days to actually get the bridge roof bonded to the bridgehouse. Its surprising just how warped a flat sheet of styrene can get once you add other structures to one surface, even though the underneath had 3mm plywood laminated to it!
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In the last photo you can see I have begun to add the spray wall for want of a better description to the fore and aft of the bridge roof, blending it into place again with Squadron green filler. The fire monitors have been finished and painted red and now my attention turns to super detailing.
I have another 64 railing stanchions to cut and drill, window wipers to fabricate, some more ladders and safety cages to add and a lot of drench pipe to bend and add. Drench pipe will only be decorative not operational! This pipe work is run around superstructures and other vital areas, in the case of getting up close and personal in a fire, the monitors flood the fire with water/foam, but what protects the ship? these pipes are arranged to spray water over the superstructure to keep it cool.
So that's it for this weeks post... oh one last thing. I used the Maskol on the lights, it will be ok on flat surfaces, but tends to run off verticals, I had to apply it several times over the led's to get enough protection, but it does work and leaves a nice clean surface free from paint. I'll leave you with a couple of photo's of the superstructure on the hull so you can see what it looks like.
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:-))
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Wow, wow, wow!! :o
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Wow, wow, wow!! :o
I've got to agree with hama - That really does look great :-))
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Cheers guys. It's coming along slowly, but getting close to the end now.
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Excellent job sir! :-))
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Smashing job. Has it seen the wet stuff yet ?
Cheers
ken
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I can't really give an update this week, been rather busy! I had ordered a new toy/tool/precision equipment, take your pick. What I received was an EXPENSIVE piece of junk! So rather than getting on with my build I have been trying to sort that out with numerous phone calls and emails to the supplier. Now it gets complicated in that it was ordered via ebay UK supplied from a warehouse in Germany from a Chinese trader and sent to Spain. Yep I don't make things easy for myself. Anyway the new piece of equipment was a LASER CUTTER! which arrived with the laser optics bent and broken due to very bad internal packaging. So while I await new optics I can't use it, but it has taken up a lot of time this week sorting that out.
So back to this build, I managed very little that can be seen at the moment, what I did do, was wire together all of the lighting fitted up to now and connect them to a 6v battery so you can get an idea of what they look like. Some of them are 6v (internal and mast) but the searchlights and floodlights should be 12v and brighter than shown.
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These are with it in place on the hull. Yes I still haven't sorted out the lower red on the mast yet, and one of the forward searchlights will have to remain off as I can't access the wiring to it any longer, so it may be that I don't make the final connections to either of the front ones.
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Looks good there Brian.
The Funnel Floods are very effective.
Ned
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As far as finishing the lighting I need to add bulhead lights around the superstructure, once again I was going to embed some surface mount leds in resin to make these, however after numerous attempts to solder these ( I should have learned by now the amount of times I attempted these) I gave up and admitted defeat, 2mm x 2mm is about the smallest the human hand/eye/magnifying glasses can attempt with reasonable success. These 1mm x 1mm are just too small, I have shown one with the eye of needle for comparison size. So my lighting on the bulkhead may be a little overscale when complete!
Anyway there may be more to show next week, once I'm over the disappointment of not attacking some materials with my laser as soon as it was unpacked.
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Looks good there Brian.
The Funnel Floods are very effective.
Ned
Cheers Ned. Yes they need some more work. I painted the outside of the leds black and also the inside of the safety rail, you can see the splodge through the plastic! The led is still bright enough to show through it all. So I'm thinking of lining the inside of the rail with some aluminium foil (baco foil) and then painting it again to stop the light showing.
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Brian......please se my PM on the nav lights.............. Derek
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Apologies for such a long duration between updates, I had to have a break from building I was going doolally with all the fiddly bits. Even now I still don't have a lot to show for it. So this is what has caused the hassle, I have so far cut 45 of these and I still need another 33 to finish the railings.
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So these next couple of photo's show just how much railing I have got in place up to now, I've been adding paint as I go along, albeit much of it will have to be redone. I've used Humbrol enamels on all my models since I started with Airfix when I was a pre teen back in the '60's. Over the last few years they have gotten worse due to the reduction of voc's (volatile organic compounds) and the latest ones I bought appear to have so little in the way of pigment they are translucent. So I will be looking out for different paints in the future.
Along with the railings I have also added the access ladders to the bridge roof and radio aerials. Some of the drench tubing has been made up using 1.5mm solid copper wire with the insulation stripped from it. Another fiddly part was making the 3 wipers for the front windows, some more to make up for the aft set as well.
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The wipers and glued into place on the screens....
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Lastly this years xmas pressie from my wife. Last year I received an Arduino board from my son. This year albeit I had to order it all myself, she paid for it, is a DLC.
This little card of magic is a digital light controller, from a rather nice chap in Germany, who had I believe just 3 of these left for sale, with postage it came to around £32.
What does it do? well hopefully I can get it connected to all the lights over the weekend and put a video demonstration on here for it to be viewed. Basically it makes your led lighting behave like the real thing. SOme can be shown like a flourescent light flickering, others with the brightness of xenons and the way they die out slowly when turned off etc etc. very realistic.
So tune in sometime on sunday and see if there is another update of it in operation.
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That is becoming a star model Brian. And I thought warships had lots of detail!
How are you getting on with the cutter or are you still waiting for an intact part to arrive?
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I took the gantry apart and repaired it with some 3mm by 40mm bolts Ian. I finally yesterday got agreement from the company to refund me 100€. After 22 emails over the same amount of days! I've not used it in anger yet, been getting to grips with coreldraw and drawing up parts. I've cut a few paper/card things, but as I am waiting for a decent fume extractor I don't want to ruin lenses, mirrors etc running it without one.
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That DLC sounds an amazing bit of kit
for the money Brian.
Will be waiting for the demo vid.
I notice it has a demo mode for shows etc.
Very handy :-))
Ned
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It is amazing Ned. I've wanted one for the last two years since I saw it working, but never had a contact with the inventor, but thanks to Umi who put me in touch I've finally got one. I'll demo it on this model, but as the wiring has come together piecemeal instead of being well planned, it terminates all over the place. I'm actually going to put it into storage, for my next supply ship build in the new year.
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I'm actually going to put it into storage, for my next supply ship build in the new year.
Now, that's what I call a common sense approach - good decision Brian. :-))
Regards,
Ray.
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I hope you now have a speedy resolution of payment.
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beautiful build.watching in awe...a suggestion.i have been reconverting my boats lighting(I was inspired by yours) and have gone to surface mout leds and resisters.i have found that the solder paste avalabe on e bay invaluable..put the paste on touch a hot iron on and bingo..also double sided tape to hold them inplace.... I have been using 1206/0806/0403's along with some 5050's for my sodium halide decklights. a 3 in one led so 3.4v and 100 mv x3 and 47 ohm surface mount resisters
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beautiful build.watching in awe...a suggestion.i have been reconverting my boats lighting(I was inspired by yours) and have gone to surface mout leds and resisters.i have found that the solder paste avalabe on e bay invaluable..put the paste on touch a hot iron on and bingo..also double sided tape to hold them inplace.... I have been using 1206/0806/0403's along with some 5050's for my sodium halide decklights. a 3 in one led so 3.4v and 100 mv x3 and 47 ohm surface mount resisters
Roadrunner I've tried all of that with smd's, I've mentioned it a few times. I have no problem with them at 0806 or even 0403 sizes, I don't even have to resort to double sided tape to hold them, in fact the rear deck lighting and cabin lighting are 0806 smd's. Get down to 0201 size and it's definately not something I as a human can solder. On the odd occasion I have managed it they are as bright as the larger size but and absolute pain to work with.
Watch your solder paste. For the quantity you get it is expensive stuff! It has a propensity to dry out, that is, unless it is all amalgamated in the bottom, ie some of it is left on the sides of the container after removing excess from the toothpick, it will dry and go hard making it unuseable - I've tried! Even mixing the drier stuff in with the paste at the bottom, it doesn't mix, just stays lumpy. If you try to use it, the stuff melts but won't join parts together.
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yes the paste needs mixing every other day to stay good and sealed..i have been experimenting with k&s brass #8159 brass rod to attach the 0403's to as it is .020 and the double sided tape to hold the rod in place after tinning .and position the 403's on it as all my magnet wire is to big for them.i did get some copper clad bord but have found it to hard to cut into strips narrow enough with the meager amount of tools I have on hand(being a technition for Cadillac you would think tools would be abundant. they are but most all are to big for hobby use.love my new table saw but looseing a 1/4 inch at a time due to blade with is a waste I can't afford when competing with shwnbn's scrapbooking addiction).so having something to solder the wire to has been a problem..i cant picture 0201 size I will have to check them out...I found the 5050's and 1206's hard at 1st then worked my way down to 0403's...I was wondering how you hold your leds if not using double sided tape?
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..i cant picture 0201 size I will have to check them out...I found the 5050's and 1206's hard at 1st then worked my way down to 0403's...I was wondering how you hold your leds if not using double sided tape?
Have a look at the last photo on page 14 of this topic, there is a 0201 next to the eye of a sewing needle for comparison %%
Holding them I have a couple methods, all basically the same just different items. first is a pair of spring tweezers, or a bulldog clip or a womans, hair clip, each will hold the edge of the smd while allowing it to be raised off the workbench, they also act as half decent heatsinks for the smd as well. I've put a couple of photo's as UK terminology is not always the same as US ones!
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whoa and I thought 0403's were tiny..i will have to try this out.since I have 2 daughters&the wife thoses shouldn't be to hard to find hahahha..might get in trouble if seen on the workbench though haha..
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Do you all remember this ugly duckling from 11 long months ago?
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Well here she is in her almost completed state. I still have some small details to finish but to all intents she is ready to sail, as I don't have a sailing water within 40 miles, its going to have to wait a month or two for those photo's. I can't put her on the swimming pool as it has its winter cover in place until March, so here you are, ask any questions and I'll attempt answers.
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Time to move on to my next build now.....
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From ugly duckling to elegant swan in less than a year; that's brilliant progress Brian.
That winch was an interesting installment to read about last year.
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Superb results. What a beauty. :-))
Well done Brian.
ken
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Thanks guys, what I won't miss from this build are the stanchions for the railings, I eventually cut 162 of the damn things from sheet brass and then drilled 3 holes in every single one. Next time its going to be etched brass, especially on my next build which are only 10mm tall with 4 holes :embarrassed: {:-{
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Lovely job :-)) The detail just looks so good its hard to believe its the same boat!
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The last few photo's. Any more and it will be when she is on the water later in the year.
All complete except for a few mushroom vents, the crew is now aboard and at work, the oxy acetelene thermic lance is scratchbuilt just as everything else is. Most of these photo's are just to demonstrate the entire lighting rig now operational, I particularly like the bridge consoles showing through the windows and I still have that pesky red mast light to sort out.
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I can imagine the hum of machinery, the odd crash of stuff being lugged about and perhaps the squelch of a radio on the Bridge!
If anyone asks Brian, an engineer will be along shortly to sort the light out:O)
It has been another interesting journey well worth the read.
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WOW...just wow...what an incredible build, and the detail, well I can only hope to get anywhere near this beauty.
Well done and many thanks for sharing the trials as well as the tribulations. A totally awe inspiring build.
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A super build Brian. She looks lovely
Well done and thank you for the blog. :-))
Cheers
ken
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Looks Brilliant Brian. :-)) :-)) :-)) :-))
Regards Dave.
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You should be proud of the finished tug, the time effort and shear bloody mindedness. Shows what you have achieved
Mark
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Totally agree with what's been said, now looking forward to see her on the water!
Hama
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A very good result. She really looks the part with all the lights blazing and has been said, it's easy to imagine the sounds.
Cheers
Tom
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Really enjoyable read and she does look good all lit up :-))
Dave
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I can imagine her on the lake for an evening sail, and she looks incredible. O0 :-)) :-))
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LOOKS BRILLIANT<
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Bonjour,
I confirm, such a beautiful boat deserves a night navigation, a friend of mine did one with a similar boatw ith all lights functional like real supplies HERE (http://) at 7' and THERE (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XS6DjfxvVw).
HERE (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08tU5ru52pI) a presentation of his boat.
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Just read this build from start to finish and WOW your skills are something I can only admire too :o what a lovely looking ship :-)) and thank you for sharing that epic refit
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Just read this build from start to finish and WOW your skills are something I can only admire too :o what a lovely looking ship :-)) and thank you for sharing that epic refit
Thank you Paul. I have another similar build at the moment, this time its in the other group called 'working boats' scan down the main page. Look for Stril Barents, the real ship is currently showing as my avatar.
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Thank you Paul. I have another similar build at the moment, this time its in the other group called 'working boats' scan down the main page. Look for Stril Barents, the real ship is currently showing as my avatar.
Thank you I'll have a look now, Shame you got rid of the spare hull of the Seahunter though I would have loved to have bought that one and made another one from it although after seeing this my skills wouldn't do it justice
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A thread like this sure does help fill in the gaps whilst offshore! Thoroughly enjoyed the thread, great build and a great looking model too.
Any photos on the wet stuff?
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:-)) Have you caught up with my current build, Stril Barents? Its in the workboat section as its more a supply vessel than a anchor handler.
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Yes Brian, I have had a read of the Stril Barents thread and again another great build.