Model Boat Mayhem
The Shipyard ( Dry Dock ): Builds & Questions => Working Vessels => Topic started by: JimG on December 30, 2014, 02:49:50 pm
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I received this kit a week before Christmas as my first boat build for around 10 years as I have been concentrating on flying for the last few years. This will be a slow build as I am not a fast builder although I am hopeing to get much of the major building done while on a 2 week break.
There were a few fittings missing which Mountfleet sent quickly when notified.
The first step was to clean up the hull then fit the stern frame. I soon found two problems with the hull, the first was a large air bubble under the gel coat in the anchor recess. This was easily filled with P38 and smoothed down. The second was that the hull had at some point been sitting on the keel before the resin had fully hardened leaving a curve in the keel with the centre depressed by around 4mm, this left the hull bottom pushed up at the keel giving a hollow contour. Unfortunately nothing can be done at this stage although as this is not seen unless the hull is upside down it is unlikely many will notice the fault.
The stern frame is a white metal casting which needed quite a lot of cleaning up as there was heavy flashing present.Once cleaned it was easily shaped to the hull and once the hull was drilled for the shaft the frame was glued in place using polyester resin. O added a couple of extra pins through the frame and hull for extra strength. The shaft was then glued in place supporting the inboard end with a 3D printed bracket. P38 filler was then used to fair the frame to the hull.
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In the previous photo the motor is just sitting in place and not fitted as I will have to make a suitable coupling first. The mount is 3D printed to fit the motor I intend to use, a 5060 outrunner 290kV with a 3S lipo. The photos are also slightly out of step as they were taken before this thread was started.
The next step was to cut two slots in the hull bottom for the bilge keels, these are 1/16 ply which I first sealed with finishing epoxy and microballoons. This both hardens and gives a smooth surface after sanding. They were then fitted and glued in place with polyester resin and glass cloth.
The inside of the bulwarks were then smoothed, first using a power file for rough sanding, then a light skim of filler and finally wet sanding. This ends up with the bulwarks thinned down from the original moulded thickness. I cut out two of the freeing ports at this stage to see how they would look, I intend to cut them all out as this will show from the inside of the bulwarks once completed. Once a line was drawn 32mm from the top the in-wales were glued inside the bulwarks. 2 layers of plastic strip were used at the bow and stern with wood strip for the rest of the hull. The wood was glued with polyester resin while cyano was used with the plastic. Once fitted a mixture of polyester resin and microfibres was used to add a fillet to the underside of the plastic strips to add some reinforcement.
Jim
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The next step was the deck beams and hatch framing. The instructions didn't say anything about camber so I included a small amount to stop the deck looking too flat. The moulded superstructure was measured to get the positions for the hatch frame.
The wash ports and mooring ports were then cut out and cleaned up.
The rudder was now fitted, this had been left off to stop damage when the hull was being moved around for the previous work. The shaft was fitted through a tube in the hull and a support moulding fitted. The bottom is mounted on a pintle fitted through the stern frame. A length of brass rod was turned down to 4.5mm and threaded, one end was then turned to 3mm and the rudder drilled to fit. The pintle was cut to length and a slot cut for a screwdriver in the threaded end. The stern frame was tapped 4.5mm and the pintle screwed into the frame, holding the rudder bottom. The rudder arm was then fitted and the rudder checked for free movement. The pintle was then fixed to the frame with one drop of cyano on the threads. I have left the rudder shaft over length for now as I may fit the steering quadrant to this above deck and have it moving with the rudder.
Jim
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That's looking good Jim - I also like your building stand it looks very adjustable?
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Thanks Mark
the stand is from my flying side and is intended for holding aircraft fuselages. It holds the hull at a nice height for working on when standing.
Jim
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When checking the fit of the deck after cutting it to shape I thought that it looked rather low compared to the freeing ports in the bulwarks. I have the drawings from the book British Steam Tugs and this shows the deck level with the top of the rubbing strakes. My deck was going to be lower than this so I added balsa strip to all of the inwales and beams to bring the deck up to the right level.
I added an extra central beam in the bows to allow me to fit an anchor hawse pipe to take the anchor stock and allow the anchor to sit in the recess.
All the wood was then waterproofed by painting with finishing epoxy slightly thinned with alcohol. This will soak into the wood and seal the surface. The underside of the decks were also sealed at this time.
Jim
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Hi,
Looking good, nicework keep the pics coming.
Cheers,
Peter. :-))
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While looking at some of my photos of old tugs and some photos in books it looks like many of them had extra reinforceing plating at the bottom of the anchor recess. The hull does not show this but I thought that I would add it to mine. I used two layers of electrical tape to mask off the outside of the plate and filled it with a layer of P38. Once hardened it was sanded down to the level of the tape, finish sanded wet and the tape could then be removed. This left the filler slightly proud of the original moulding.
The rudder servo was then mounted to a wood frame mounted across the hull with central supports to the hull bottom. The linkage could then be made with 3mm rod and clevises.
The last step before fitting the deck was to set up the motor coupling to the shaft. After checking several old models that are no longer used I found a Huco double coupling in an old fast electric. This was then modified to fit the tug. The end metal inserts were threaded 5mm. The motor was fitted with an adapter to take an aircraft propeller so this had to be modified to fit the Huco coupling. This was shortened, the end turned down to 5mm and then threaded 5mm to fit the coupling. The shaft , coupling and motor could then be put in place and checked. There was around 1 - 2 mm height difference which is easily taken up by the double coupling.
Jim
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This is definitely going to be some weight when finished!! %) I thought that I should check out the motor current draw and thrust before finalising the motor fitting. So into the bathroom test tank for testing. It took 3 12V 7Ah gel cells and around 4 1/2 Kg of other weights to bring it down near the water line. (I also had an 8Ah 3S lipo for power.
I borrowed the esc from my fast boat although it is a bit over the top at 160A but it is easily programmed to give reverse and does give good slow running. A wattmeter was fitted between the battery and esc to check the current when running. First impression was that at full throttle its time for drag racing :o . The current was still only at around 8A max and it did have good slow running up to around 1/4 throttle. The esc was then programmed to 50% forward and this gave good performance. Max current under 4A and around 40 watts and at minimum throttle the prop revs were low so should give good low speed and a decent run time. The reverse speed was set higher as the prop seems to be much less effective in reverse.
The only problem I have found is that the shaft does let water through so will need grease or heavy oil added to stop this. It looks like I will need to retrofit an oiling tube.
Jim
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The leak should now be sorted, I have replaced the inner plain bearing with a sealed ball bearing. These come grease filled and have metal Shields on both side so shouldn't let water through. The shaft tube was shortened slightly to allow for the bearing width and a delrin housing was turned to take the bearing and fit over the shaft tube. When the shaft is finally fitted I will add some grease to the shaft before pushing the bearing in the housing. The photo shows the bearing free and not in the housing.
I have used this method before when I replaced the shafts in a Billings Smit Nederland after wearing the originals out in 24 hour runs. I found the original chromed brass shafts were worn out after 2 events and were rattling and leaking badly. The replacement shafts with sealed bearings lasted another two events without any problems. (actually only 1 3/4 runs as one was called off due to torrential rain which left the deck awash and around 1 inch of water in the bottom of the hull after 2 hours.)
Jim
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With the mechanics fixed it was time for fitting the deck in place. This is in two pieces as it would be very difficult if not impossible to fit a single piece deck with the large amount of sheer and the tumblehome on the bulwarks. Plenty of epoxy and clamps meant the decks fitted without any problems.
Jim
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Once the decks were fitted and I was checking it over I saw that I had made a mistake. I had cut out the freeing ports using the depressions moulded in the bulwarks and hadn't measured them. Unfortunately this left the port side ports too low compared to the deck. So the first step was to partially fill in the lower ports and reshape them to make both sides equal. The inner bulwarks could then get a final smooth down to get them ready for painting later.
The next step was to plate the decks with pieces of art paper. No indication of size was given in the instructions so I marked out the deck initially assuming that they were around 10 foot long in full size. Printer paper was used to make templates before cutting plates from the art paper which were then stuck down with a general purpose glue. Some of the deck at the stern and bow were not plated as these areas will be covered in painted ply to represent the bitumen coating on the full size. A neodymium magnet was recessed into the deck at the bows before the plate was added, this will be used later when rigging is added.
Lastly the hatch coamings were fitted after the deck beams across the hatch opening were cut away.
Jim
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It was now time to start detailing the inside of he bulwarks and the deck joint.
White metal riveted sections are provided to represent the deck - bulwark join. These just needed cleaning up before gluing in place, they bent to shape easily with finger pressure.
Riveted plates are then glued on the inside of the bulwarks to represent the plates over the butt joints shown by rivets on the outside.
Mouldings for the mooring hole structure could then be glued in place inside the holes previously cut and mouldings for the ends of the towing beams fitted at the stern.
Finally the inner frames for the wash ports were fitted, I have not fitted the washport doors to the outside yet.
Jim
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Hi,
The riveted angle at the deck bulwark join looks great, when its painted I think it will look better still. Nice work keep it going.
Cheers,
Peter. :-))
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Thanks Peter, its now at the stage where its been sprayed with primer before fitting the bulwark rail.
Jim
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Still slowly progressing although I wasn't able to do much to it this week. The bulwark rails are now fitted and the insides of the bulwarks painted the final colour. The ply deck doublers have been cut out and fitted and have been painted with a black rubberised paint spray to represent a bitumen coating. They have not been glued down yet as a bit of work is needed on the superstructure first and holes will need to be cut in the deck for the deck lights.. A lot of time has been needed in cleaning up and preparing some of the white metal castings.
Jim
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Time to paint the hull now. The waterline area was first sprayed white then masked off with 6mm Tamiya tape. The yellow stripe on the bulwarks was similarly painted and masked off.
After further masking the bottom of the hull was sprayed first using halfords red oxide primer. The bottom was then masked off and the upper hull sprayed first with grey primer then with satin black. The tape on the waterline was left in place during this.
What is it about black that it shows up the slightest imperfection! After a couple more rub downs and sprays I am now satisfied, still not perfectly smooth but then how many full size tugs are. The masking tapes could then be removed leaving a white waterline and yellow stripe.
Jim
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While there are still a lot of white metal fittings to be fitted to the bulwarks and deck I decided to start doing some work on the superstructure. Unfortunately not one of the best mouldings. There were two areas of cracks in the gel coat at the front which turned out to be quite large bubbles which will need filling. The top in the boat deck area has some large blobs where there must have been holes in the mould and some of the raised sections had bits broken off. The mould join lines were rough although these have cleaned up with a carbide sanding drum at low speed. It should all work out OK although will need more work than expected.
Jim
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Fitted the motor mount to the hull, added some white grease to the shaft inner to seal the shaft tube so shouldn't leak in use.
The next step was a lot of repetitive work. Adding the bulwark supports, 55 in total, each made up of 2 parts and needing cut to size.
Once these had all been fitted and painted the openings for the deck lights could be glazed using microscope cover slips. A ply doubler was then added to the front deck to represent the asphalt coating over the accommodation on the original. Most of the remaining deck fittings on the fore deck were then added.
Jim
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Some more work on the details this week.
Mostly completed the anchor winch with a couple of bits of extra work needed on it. The castings generally fit together well with a couple of extra bits needed. The control rod for the break has only a short section to glue to and would be easily broken off so needed some extra work. The rod end was threaded 12BA and the moulded thread removed from the casting. The rod could then be glued in its place giving a more secure joint. The metal castings for the outer drums were very rough and would have needed a lot of work to clean up. A replacement drum was turned up out of Delrin and this will be used to mould resin replacements.
The rear deck had some more detail added, the capstan is mostly resin with a few metal castings and goes together well. The chain drive to the steering quadrant was trial fitted but will have to wait for the copper chain to be blackened before fitting permanently.
Many of the ply parts were sealed and the grain filled with epoxy and micro balloons. While this takes a bit longer to harden it gives a good hard surface which is easily sanded smooth.
Jim
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Made the rubber mold last night and it had cured ready for moulding by this morning. Bought a small scale accurate to 0.1g from Maplin to allow me to get the correct mix for the resin and cast 2 drums this evening. Now fitted and could now finish painting the winch.
Jim
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Looking good Jim, can't wait to see in the water.
Re
JIm
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A few more bits added to the fore deck, basically completing this section.
The main job now for the bows is to fit the anchor into the hull recess. While the moulded anchor provided is good it would need a fair bit of work to open it up for the stock to be fitted. So I've decided to replace it with an old bronze anchor I bought around 30 years ago. Virtually the same size and shape so it should look OK when fitted.
Jim
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The main work has been to clean up the superstructure. The moulded joints were smoothed down with a carbide sanding drum at slow speed on a Dremel then finishing with a sanding stick. The holes in the gel coat and chips along the bottom opening were filled with P38 and sanded. This has lost much of the moulded rivet detail but that can be replaced later using PVA dots.
The superstructure was then fitted in place and the metal angles could be shaped and glued in place to hide the joint with the deck.
The housing for the steering engine at the rear of the superstructure was supposed to be made from a wooden block provided in the kit. Unfortunately this was way too small according to the plan so a replacement was made from plasticard.I wont glue this in place yet as it will be too easily damaged when the main structure is handled.
Jim
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A bit more work on the superstructure moulding. The engine room hatches were cut out leaving some largish holes. The moulded hatches were cleaned up and the guards bent using the jig provided. They were then fitted and glued in with a small drop of cyano before trimming flush with the bottom of the hatch.
The hatches could then be glued to the moulding, the central brackets for the towing beams were added at this stage as well.
Jim
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Its time for a bit of real building after a lot of just adding fittings. The wheelhouse is built from four printed ply pieces. These were first sealed using an epoxy and micro balloon mixture. This sands down to a good smooth finish.
These were cut out and trimmed so that they are the same external size. The windows and doors could then be cut out and an internal structure added from 2mm square strip.Once all of the strip was added the window pieces were thinned down slightly to allow for the thickness of the glass cover slips I intend to use for the actual windows.
The four pieces could then be glued together making the wheelhouse structure. An internal liner will be made from more thin ply sheet to complete the inside.
After spraying the wheelhouse with primer and rubbing down I then scribed plate joints on the outside using the plan as an indication for their positions. Riveting was then added using PVA glue before a final coat of primer.
The ply bridge deck could then be glued onto the top of the moulded superstructure.
Jim
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Trying to do at least some work each evening gave just enough time to make one of the small pieces.
This is the meat and potato locker which will be fitted onto the boat deck. The parts are cut out from printed 1mm ply sheet before gluing. Aluminium mesh is provided for the doors. Legs are cut from 2mm square strip. Once completed it was varnished with some shellac varnish which also darkens the ply.
Jim
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Didn't get that much done this week as I've had a bit of a cold. This weekend has been spent fitting the bridge bulwarks. These have been made from the 0.8mm ply provided with the addition of some thin mahogany strip . The bulwarks are double skinned and the strip was used to separate these. After sanding down the joints the wood has been painted with the usual epoxy and microballoon mix to seal it. Once they have been sanded smooth the bulwark rails will be fitted.
For the third picture the wood deck and wheelhouse have just been put in place, they will not be fitted until after painting.
Jim
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A bit more woodwork this week, fitting the boat deck extensions and completing the bridge bulwarks before spraying on the first primer coat. White metal supports were fitted first before the ply sheet extentions were fitted to the boat deck. These have a moulded pin which goes through the glass sides, these were strengthened inside with glass resin with some microfibres added for strength.
The wheelhouse and some of the parts were sat in place for one of the photos but are still to be fitted permanently.
Finally a hole was cut in the boat deck to allow for possible fitting of a smoke unit in the funnel and a few more white metal fittings added to the superstructure rear.
Jim
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Some of the crew members have now reported for duty to help with the construction and fitting out.
These are some of the CMK resin castings from Cornwall Model Boats and are some of the best detailed castings I have seen. There are two more which have not been assembled yet.
Jim
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Better weather on Saturday meant that I was finally able to get flying for the first time this year so the work on the Cruiser has slowed down a bit. Mostly completing some small parts and adding more metal fittings to get it ready for painting the superstructure..
The sliding doors for the wheelhouse were needing built so last weeks work started with these. They are made of 2 layers of ply with the glazing sandwiched between them. The first step was to clamp all 4 pieces together to sand to shape and cut out the window opening. This gave 4 identical pieces making sure that both doors would be the same when made. The outer layers were then stained and varnished. On one side a layer was removed around the window to allow the glazing to fit flush. I am using a glass slide cover slip as the glazing and this was glued to the door where the ply layer had been removed. The second side could then be glued on and the glass trimmed to size. I find that this very thin glass is hard to try and cut to size before gluing.
Jim
One problem with using glass is it is rather fragile, one of the windows was broken when trying to remove a bit of a fingerprint from it. <:( looks like I will be making another door.
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The next step was adding the last of the white metal fittings on the superstructure sides. The door steps , hand rails and a few other pieces meant that it is almost ready for priming.
The boat deck was primed with red oxide primer before masking off ready for priming ther rest.
Jim
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The last parts to be fitted were the lifebelt racks, these are made from thin iron wire.
6 sets of parts were bent ready to solder together A piece of card was measured and used as a template to make a jig from thick balsa sheet. The template was later used to drill the mounting holes for the racks.
Two pieces of preshaped wire were fitted to the jig and the join was soldered. I used some old Fluxite paste flux on the join as this seems to give better solder joins with iron or steel wire. Once all six racks were made they could be fitted to the correct positions and superglued in place.
Jim
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The final stage today was to give the superstructure a spray with white primer to get it ready for the final paint.This will be using Humbrol enamel paint so the primer will have to be left for the solvent to fully evaporate to stop any interaction between the paints.
Jim
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Finally got the superstructure sprayed after a delay to get another can of airbrush propellant and some more paint. (A little over a full tin of Humbrol needed to give a good coverage.)
After all the masking was removed then the boat deck could be painted over the primer and then some of the detail painting could be done.
Jim
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Yet more details to be added to the superstructure.
The first stage was to fit the hold downs on the engine room skylights. These are provided in white metal with a length of threaded section and a wing nut. The moulding method does not produce good threads so the mouldings had to be modified to fit some 12BA bolts. The threads were cut off of the wing nut, this was then drilled 0.9mm and tapped 12BA. Doesn't seem much but doing 24 of them takes up quite a bit of time. 12BA bolts were then fitted from underneath the glass moulding and the wing nuts could be screwed onto them. After painting the nuts they could then be screwed down tight and the bolt cut to length.
Jim
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The next step was to make the rack for the fire buckets, this is again all white metal with a top and bottom separated by `turned` pillars. The pillars were a bit out of round so were first turned using a Dremel, a sanding stick and a half round file. The rack could then be assembled using 5 min epoxy.
The stokehold ventilators were then assembled. These are not the usual cowl or mushroom vents but are wedge shaped. The general arrangement drawing has them marked as fans.The ends as provided are left open but I fitted a mesh grille to the opening as they are low down near the deck and might easily pick up any debris nearby.
The final step was to fit the inner section of the davits and the gratings along the boat deck. The davits are quite large and would be easy to knock off so they are being bolted down with 10BA nuts and bolts for strength.
Jim
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Not that much work done since last time. :((
With good weather predicted for the Sunday the Cruiser was relegated from the stand to get the jet ready for flight. :-))
I did manage to make the water tanks for the boat deck. As there were two of each I decided to make up one example of each from the printed ply then mould them in resin.
Jim
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Ooooo! Nice! Tell us about the jet. :-)
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Hi Martin
I might put something up in a more appropriate place. Only problem is I don't have any photos of the complete plane.
Jim
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Re: don't have any photos of the complete plane............ that sounds ominous! :((
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Martin, the plane is still complete and flying, :-)) just that I haven't taken a camera with me when flying it. It's too big to try and photograph it indoors when it is assembled.
Jim
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A bit more done this week. After moulding a pair of each water tanks they were completed by adding bent brass rod for pipes and then painted, they could then be put in place on the deck. The handrails at the rear of the boat deck were made up, painted then fitted.
the funnel was then cleaned up ready for adding the fittings to it. This took a bit of work to get the join lines right as there was a slight misalignment which needed sanding and filling to stop leaving a flat at the joint. Some of the moulded rivets then had to be replaced as they were removed by sanding. the rungs at the front then had to bent from the wire provided, a moulded jig was provided to keep them all the same. They were then fitted using a wood spacer to keep them the same depth.
Once all of the metal mouldings were fitted to the funnel it was primed in white, masked off and the top and bottom sprayed satin black. Impatience let to some over spraying needing some runs sanded back, a second spray then gave the finished result. Once the paint had dried the masking was removed to give the finished funnel. This is just sitting in place for the photo as the steam whistle and safety valve relief pipe are still to be added. I left these off for spraying as they would have greatly added to the complexity of the masking.
Jim
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Things have been rather slow for the last few weeks although there has been some work completed.
The steam whistle and safety valve pipe were fitted to the funnel, the safety valve cover box was made from plasticard and fitted to the deck. The funnel could then be glued to the deck, for this I used polyester resin with a little microballoons added to thicken, this allowed for any imperfection in the fit. Once the resin had set the join could be reinforced internally. Four L brackets were provided moulded in white metal, these were glued in place with a resin and microfibre mix. Holes were drilled in the brackets to key the resin mix to the metal. The mixture was then used to make a fillet around the inside of the joint to give added strength.
Jim
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Time to start on fitting out the inside of the wheelhouse, I had originally intended to use large microscope cover slips to glaze the windows but had to give up this idea as it was proving impossible to cut them to size without them shattering. I had to use the clear plastic provided in the kit, this was scuffed in places so the windows had to be cut from the clearest sections. Thin plasticard was first cut to fit the upper half of the wheelhouse interior before the windows were glued in place. The plasticard could then be glued in as the interior wall. The lower half of the walls were cut from thin ply and glued in place. The plasticard was then painted before lining the play and varnishing it. While this may not be as original (and there is no indication of how the wheelhouse interior was finished) I think it looks better than all ply or all painted surface.
Jim
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A little bit more on the fittings. The forward towing bow is provided as white metal mouldings but this also needs some more work. A strip of thin ply was glued on top of the metal casting, the ends look rather prone to being pulled up if they are caught so were held down with a 1/32 brass rivet fitted through the casting. ( The last two of some bought many years ago now.) A length of 1mm wire was then glued on top of the wood to finish before painting.
The tow hook support was then fitted to the rear bulkhead, this had 10BA bolts added to make it more secure and not relying on the glue joint.
The rear of the boat deck has a voice pipe and engine room telegraph so these were now fitted. (The opportunity was taken to complete and paint those for the wheelhouse as well.)
Jim
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Time now to add the doors to the superstructure, most of these are painted so they were made from plasticard. They are all the same size so are easily cut to shape (the galley door had to be cut in two). The moulded hinges could then be glued on before painting and fitting the door handles. The forward doors are wood so were cut from thin ply , lined with pencil then varnished. The doors could then be glued in place on the glass moulding, this had lines moulded into it to show where the doors fit. As the superstructure had already been painted I used Evostick to glue the doors on.
While I had already made the companionway that fits onto the front of the boat deck i was not happy with original ply part. I therefore remade it in plasticard which was much easier to finish ready for painting. Once painted another ply door was fitted, the ports were glazed and it could then be glued in place.
Jim
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It's been a few weeks since the last update as much of my modelling time has been taken up with flying.
The flying club had a weekend fly in so models and camping gear needed preparation and while I did not crash anything a couple of planes have needed maintenance and some rebuilding taking up quite a bit of time.
After buying some suitable turnbuckles the funnel stays were added and painted. The kit provides some beeswax to remove the fluffiness from the rigging thread but I soaked the thread in thinned PVA instead. This stiffens the thread when it dries and should make it look more like wire rigging.
I had previously made the davit arms for one side so these were fitted and the davits completed at this stage. These were bolted to the deck for strength as they are vulnerable to accidental damage.
Jim
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The next stage was to fit out the inside of the wheel house. The first job was to assemble the binnacle, this is mostly white metal with the stand from wood. The stand starts with a length of dowel fitted to the base and top plate then planked. The kit uses thin ply for the planking but I used some spare walnut planking from another kit. After painting the binnacle was fitted to the wheelhouse floor then the engine telegraphs, voice pipes and wheel could also be fitted. The wheelhouse was then glued in place and the external telegraphs fitted (these are linked to those inside the wheelhouse using brass rod). The roof / flying bridge supports could then be fitted. They seem to be at a strange angle but this is determined by the metal castings provided.
I'm not sure when I will be able to do much more as I have just bought a new engine (9cc petrol) and will be building a new plane for it before I can do much boat building.
Jim
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OK the plane has been built and test flown and a Fun 4 built so time to get back to the Cruiser.
I had previously fitted the port davits so time to fit the other pair. These are assembled from 7 white metal castings. The main arm needed a lot of cleaning up as they come with a substantial ridge at the mould joint, this had to be mostly carved away with a blade before finally filing them smooth. The other castings were much more easily cleaned up as there was very little flash from the moulding. The foot is intended to be glued to the base of the arm but I also fitted 12BA bolts through them to give a stronger joint. The deck plate this fits too is again intended to be glued to the deck which I altered to a 10BA nut and bolt fitting for strength. After assembling both davits they were painted first then fitted to the boat deck.
Jim
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The next step was to add some more detail to the inside of the wheel house. The only detail on the plan is a simple plan view showing the location of the parts. At the rear is drawn a rectangle which is labelled as a table with drawers under but no more details.
This is my interpretation of this. A suitable sized balsa block was sheeted with thin ply to give the basic structure. Drawers were then drawn on the front with a pencil and the ply was then varnished with shellac. The top was painted green to represent a suitable surface. I googled for and found an image for a chart for the mouth of the Tay so a small version of this was printed, trimmed to fit and glued down onto the table.
A couple of moulded mugs were provided so these were painted and added to the table before fitting it into the wheelhouse. There is still a space at the left of the table which should allow for a dummy radio transceiver.
A white metal figure is provided for a helmsman so this was the next job. After cleaning up then assembling the parts he was then painted ready for fitting. As the figure is not as high quality as the resin ones I bought I decided that he would be in the wheelhouse and not on the flying bridge. The small windows don't allow the cruder details to show up. He does have a pin moulded under one foot so a hole had to be drilled for this, when glued in it gave a secure fitting, once his hand was glued to the wheel he shouldn't come loose and fall over in rough weather.
Jim
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Morning Jim......you have some exquisite detail in your build :-)).......keep posting images as you go...... Derek
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Thanks Derek, it's a slow job but getting there. I'll try to show as many pictures as I can for you.
Jim
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One of the last pieces of work on the wheelhouse was to fit the doors. Thin ply was used to laminate the top and bottom mounts and once painted these were used to fit a door each side. The port side ended up non sliding due to a bit too much glue. >:-o The starboard side was OK and still slides although it will normally be left open to allow you to see into the wheelhouse better.
Jim
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An important job to be done before fitting the roof to the wheelhouse was to add some lighting.
I had previously bought 2 LED lights which have 16 surface mount LEDs set up as 4 sets of 4 in series, this is intended to be powered by a 3s LiPo so each will be 3V (no resisters on board). The lights are mounted on an aluminium disc allowing each LED to be cut off and trimmed to size. Thin wires could then be easily soldered to give individual lights. (I have found that an easy way to test them after soldering is to use the resistance setting on a multimeter. This gives just enough voltage to allow the LED to glow.)
One was mounted under the cross bar in the wheelhouse, I had used wood with a channel for this so the wires can run through the channel out of view. To bring the wires down to the floor then through this a section of alloy tubing was used with the wires run through this. This way the bare wires will not show.
I then added an LED for each navigation light then fitted lights under the boat deck extentions and under the bridge wings. These will light the deck on each side.
The wires from the lights will need to be connected together to complete the lighting circuits and I am thinking of using some veroboard to allow this.
Jim
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I found a piece of what I think is prototyping board as it doesn't just have the parallel traces of normal veroboard, it does however allow for a common neutral on both sides of the board. The LEDs presently fitted have been connected to the board with at present three separate circuits. Once all lights are fitted there will probably be 5 or 6 circuits, each separately switched on the positive lines.
I am using a 2 cell 2200mAh NimH battery and this is giving around 47mA for the 9 LEDs fitted. This will probably double once all of the lights are fitted and all are lit.
Jim
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With the wheelhouse interior nearly complete it's now time to get on with the flying bridge so this will be ready to fit when needed. The original ply part had warped so I used plasticard for the wheel house roof with the printed ply "planked " deck glued on top.
There are quite a few 3 hole stanchions round the bridge so a jig was needed to keep the rails the same. The jig was made from 1/4 inch ply with some small nails fitted to hold the wire in place when bending. The wire provided bends easily but is not long enough so the rails had to be made in 2 pieces, joining in the centre of one of the stanchions. Once 2 sets of rails were made (the upper rail is rope not wire) the stanchions and rails could be fitted to the deck, care was needed to keep the stanchions straight as they bend easily being made of white metal.
Once these were all fitted the upper rail was added from some heavy thread and they could all be painted. At this stage the binnacle , voice pipe and telegraphs were fitted. The wheel will have to wait till the bridge is fitted to the wheelhouse as there is a rod link between it and the wheel in the wheelhouse.
Jim
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There were a couple more details to add inside the wheelhouse before the roof and flying bridge could be fitted.
There is a signal flag locker mounted to the rear beside the table. I decided to try a 3D print for this to reduce the amount of work needed in producing the multiple boxes for the flags. The design didn't take that long to draw up in the simple CAD program I use, this was then then converted to the correct format and sent to the printer. It was printed in 0.1mm layers to give the best quality so took a lot longer to print than design. Once printed it could be painted to represent wood before fitting.
The last step was to produce a suitable radio transceiver and this was based on a design found by googling. This was made from part of a spare resin casting with a few details added then painted before fitting.
Jim
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Before gluing the flying bridge deck to the wheelhouse the weather cloths had to fixed onto the rails. For this a length of white solartex was provided. This was trimmed to width to fit the rails( It only goes up to the middle rail not the full height. It was then time for work with a needle and thread to lash it to the rail. (This is where you find out that it would have been easier if this was done before fitting the binnacle etc. :D ) Once fully fitted a heat gun was carefully used to slightly shrink the tex to remove slackness before painting.
The deck could then be glued on top of the wheelhouse and the wheel added after adding a length of wire down to link with wheel stand in the wheelhouse.
It was now time to make up and fit the stairs from the boat deck to the flying bridge. This is provised as cast metal sides which needed the steps made and fitted. The steps were cut from thin ply making sure that they were all the same width before gluing in place. After painting the steps could then be fitted in place, handrails still have to be fitted.
Up till now I have been using the model plane stand to hold the boat so it is time to make a suitable boat stand which could be used to carry the completed model. I used some 40mm thick high density foam sheet for the uprights as it was easily cut to shape to fit the hull yet stiff enough to hold the weight. (The original weight was as packing for a motorcycle battery sent through the post.) The base is from mahogany strip I was given several years ago. (This was scrap wood from Miller's boatyard in St Monans in Fife so has a good boatbuilding history.) Straps were fitted to the base for carrying.
Jim
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The handrails for the stairs to the flying bridge were carefully bent from the wire provided then fitted and painted.
The tow hook assembly comes as 5 metal castings, these were first cleaned up and suitable holes drilled for bolts to hold them together. I used a mixture of 8BA, 10BA and 12BA for this. After priming then spraying matt black the parts were bolted together.
Before fitting the tow hook to the superstructure I cut out most of the bottom of the bunker hatch, this will be the access hatch for the switches for the lighting. The hook assembly is glued and bolted to the superstructure for extra strength although the white metal will not be strong enough for serious towing.
Jim
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The ESC and Rx were mounted and wired up ready for use. These are held in place with Velcro. The current rating for the ESC is much larger than needed but it is easily programmed using a programming box and gives good slow speed running, down to around 50rpm.
A ply plate was fitted to the hull bottom, this will keep the weight of the ballast off of the hull bottom which is not flat.. The main ballast is an old motorcycle battery and an old 7Ah gel cell. Both are near dead and no use for providing power but do provide a lot of weight. The actual power is an 8Ah 3s lipo (I have 2 of these so may have both in parallel giving 16Ah in total, should have a good long run time).
Jim
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The open bunker hatch needed to be covered so planks were cut and fitted to represent the removeable hatch cover. Two square strip stiffeners were added to the underside for strength. To hold the cover in place I used some Neodymium magnets, these stick on magnets are only 1mm thick but have a 50g pull so hold the cover securely.
To switch the lights I used a dip switch with 6 switches, this was removed from the circuit board of an old modem (now totally obsolete). As the LEDs I am using don't take much of a current the switch should cope. I have used a dip switch before to switch grain of wheat bulbs on a Smit Nederland used for 24 hour running where the lights were on for around 9 hours at a time. Once the switch was soldered to a piece of board and wires attached it was mounted under the bunker hatch. I am using a 2 cell NimH to power the lights and this was mounted with the small magnets in front of the hatch. This allows the battery to be removed and replaced through the hatch without having to remove the whole superstructure.
At the moment I have 3 separate lighting circuits, navigation lights, deck lighting and wheelhouse. The towing lights and accommodation lights will be switched separately.
Jim
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Adding a bit more of the scale detail to the rear deck today. The steering chains were made up and then fitted. A bit of a fiddly job getting the linkage behind the bulwark supports and through the pulleys.
The stern grating could now be added, this is from two layers of thin ply with moulded metal gratings added.
The final job is to fit the cover plates over where the steering chains would have run to the steering engine at the rear of the superstructure.
Jim
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Hullo Jim...I have been following this thread since day one..... :-))....
Something puzzle's me with the steering quadrant and the chain engagement as shown....is the chain not designed to be fixed and secured to the quadrant in the mid-ships or straight ahead position?.......as any slackness in the chain due to corrosion and stretch would cause the chain to fall from the quadrant and a loss of steerage
This fixing of the chain on the centre of the quadrant would then cause a different line of arc and cordal length to each port & stdb pulley as the fixed point reached the extremity of movement
Will you be using this chain for actual rudder movement or just simulating the floating chain above deck? ....
The reason I ask this, is that I intend to use a prototypical chain driven rudder in my paddle wheeler build and have been considering all of the consequences...so whilst it is totally different, I have added an image of my planned rudder build as the geometry 'with the fixed point' is essentially the same......
With the addition of the fixed point allows for the chain to naturally fall slack, and does not rely on a taught chain or a potentially troublesome chain tensioner......Derek
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Hi Derek, as far as I can tell the chain linkage is as shown in the photo. What is missing however is the heavy duty spring in the solid rod part of the linkage. This would keep the chain tensioned in use. The spring is not included in the metal parts and as I don't have one suitable I didn't include it. Also the spring is of square cross section so harder to represent in model size.
The linkage is fixed and the quadrant does not attach to the actual rudder linkage. I had thought of making it working but decided that it would be too fragile.
I have found a couple of photos showing the spring on a couple of old steam tugs, unfortunately the quadrants are hidden away under the stern gratings.
Jim
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Thanks for the image of the rudder steering chain to wire tensioner Jim.....I have read about such components in steering systems but had never seen such an item
I suppose where I was coming from was the rudder steering quadrant & chain attachment that is depicted in vessels such as the VIC32........or steam drifters ... Derek
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Seeing the steering system on this build it has made me wonder how hard it must have been for the engineers building the real thing. Skills I doubt that are even rarer now!
Lovely build Jim keep it coming :-))
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Thanks Mark,
things have slowed down a bit now but I am trying to get a bit done every week.
Jim
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The next step was to make and fit the rear towing bow. The end sockets have already been fitted to the bulwarks so only the bow itself needs made. The first step was to bend up the two supports from 1.5mm brass rod. These were first painted then fitted to the deck. The bow is made from 2 layers, first a strip of 1.4mm ply then a second slightly narrower strip of 1mm plasticard. The instructions say to cut the ply strip across the outer grain of the ply to give more flex but I found that it was too easily broken so I cut it with the grain along the strip. This does put more strain on the end joints but is stronger overall.
I took the opportunity to check for the positioning of the ballast inside the hull. The home test tank was filled up to the overflow and the hull floated. The ballast could then be fitted and the correct position marked to allow it to float level. It is still slightly light and floats with the waterline above the water but looks OK like this.
Th power batteries fit in the rear of the hull beside the propshaft. These are two 8Ah 3s lipos which will be connected in parallel and should give a good running time.
Jim
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The final ballast was weighed and turned out to be around 10.5kg :o .
The next step was to add a bit more light to the rear. An LED was fitted inside the spotlight before the lens and cover was fitted. The thin enamelled copper wire I am using to wire up the LEDs gave a good representation of flexible wires when twisted together and painted. The spotlight was then mounted on its upright with a 12BA bolt and fitted to the rear rail on the boat deck. The spotlight is portable and the full sized version could be moved to the front of the bridge where there were sockets for the upright and the wires.
Another LED was then fitted under the engine room cover facing downwards. 3mm Depron sheet was then used to block off the light from the inside of the hull with only the engine room hatches being lit. This light goes on with the navigation lights and is separate to the accommodation lighting.
Jim
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On to start work on the masts, these are quite a prominent part of the model. They are made from wood dowel provided which has to be tapered. The wires for the navigation lights will have to be laid in grooves carved in the mast but as the mast is painted these can be easily hidden.
I started with the rear mast as this has a rigid strut to the funnel so is less reliant on rigging. The rear mast is in two parts fitted together like the upper and lower masts on a tall ship. The lower mast was thick enough and stiff enough to taper in the lathe. It was turned in steps which could then be fair-ed together with sandpaper while turning. The upper mast proved to be a softer wood which flexed too much for turning so had to be tapered by planing then sanding.
Once shaped the metal mast fittings could be added and the LED for the navigation light fitted before the light casing could be mounted. The wires were laid in a groove which was filled before painting.
The mast is mounted through the deck and is braced with two printed 90 degree braces. Once the brace is fitted between the mast and the funnel it becomes quite rigid and shouldn't be easily knocked out of line.
Jim
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I've been having a bit of a break from building but time to get back at work.
The rear mast has now been rigged and the gaff fitted. I have to confess that the gaff should be tapered but mine is straight. Rather than spend time tapering a section of dowel I have used a piece of carbon fibre tubing. The pulley I am using for the ensign on the gaff is rather historical. It is one that I was given by a clubmate and originally came from the modelmaking workshop at the Caledon shipyard. I am using this as the white metal blocks provided are rather crude.
The fore mast was made from the dowel provided, first turned in steps on the lathe then sanded to a smooth taper. The taper is set by the cast mounts for the navigation lights. Two grooves had to be cut into the mast for the wires for the lights, keeping the ve and -Ve wires separate. Once the lights were fitted these grooves were filled and sanded before painting. The metal bell and a pair of cleats were fitted lower down the mast before painting.
The mast was then fitted in place, again a couple of printed braces were added under the deck. The wiring for the lights could then be connected .
Jim
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The rigging for the foremast was the next step. The shrouds were easily set up to the flying bridge deck with dummy turnbuckles although the rigging line provided needed colouring black first. The line provided is brown which is OK for rope running rigging but not for the wire rope used as standing rigging. I used some matt black spray paint, sprayed into a poly bag with a length of the line in it, this coloured the line and left it stiffer which helps in setting up the rigging.
The fore stays need to be removeable to allow the superstructure to be removed. Some of you may remember that a neodymium magnet was recessed into the deck at the bow. Two dummy turnbuckles were fitted to a cylindrical magnet using wire soldered to the magnet. ( the magnet comes chrome plated which takes solder well using a touch of Fluxite flux paste) After spraying some line was added to the turnbuckles then with the magnet in place on the deck the stays could be fitted to the mast. The final step at this point was to fit a line from the funnel to the fore mast, this had two more of the Caledon pulleys strapped to it, these will be for the halyards for signal flags.
Jim
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The next step was the chimney for the stove in the forward accommodation. This comes up the front of the superstructure and is braced to the front of the main mast.
It is made from 4mm aluminium tubing with some metal castings. The braces to the mast are 1.5mm brass rod.
I have added a not very good photo showing the lights illuminated. The simple camera I use doesn't focus very well at such an overall low light level.
Jim
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One of the last of the main jobs is to fit the lifeboats. I have decided not to fit out the interior but just leave them covered as in the instructions.
The boats are provided as glassfibre mouldings so the first step was clean them up before fitting hinges for the rudder. After painting holes were drilled along the top below the rubbing strake and line added to represent the hand ropes. The line had first been painted with white primer which stiffens it to help it hang better, the line is just push fitted then glued in the holes.
A length of 5mm square wood was fitted along the center of the hull top and two eyes glued into the wood. A piece of the solartex provided was used as the cover, this was glued using a modelling iron to the edge of the hull after cutting to shape. The tie down strips were then added and line tied to them to represent the full size. The lifeboat was then glued onto the davit base ready for the rigging to be added later after the cast blocks are detailed. The next step is to complete the starboard boat as well.
Jim
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The second lifeboat has now been fitted out and fitted to the starboard side.
A bit more work done on the mast rigging, now only the scale aerial wires to be added to complete this. The line for the steam whistle was added, this is much finer than the other rigging and doesn't show up well in a photo. The lowering housings for the spare oil navigation lights were made up and fitted to the mast as well to basically complete the fore mast. These are white metal fittings made up of 3 parts and glazing had to be added before the bottom could be added.
A bracket for the upper mast was made from alloy tube and cast eyes before fitting to the mast. Two lines could then be run from the bracket to previously fitted eyes to give the lines the lights run on. The halyard for the lights was then run to a cleat on the wheelhouse front and another on the mast.
Jim
ps. the photos are a rather unusual shape as I was using my new mobile as it's phone gives better close ups than my point and shoot camera.
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After a bit of a break it was time to get some of the last of the work completed.
The front towing bow could now be fitted to the superstructure, I had been putting this off as it has to be removeable with the superstructure and I was waiting till this was completed and rarely needing removed.
The first step was to glue a magnet into the fitting on the bulwarks. This was half of a 10 x 5 x 1mm neodymium magnet which was easily snapped in two. The bow was laminated from two strips of 1mm ply which held the curve once the glue set. Another magnet was glued on each end to hold them against the bulwark fittings. A strip of 1mm styrene was then added on top and the complete laminate could be spray primed. It was then glued in place and pinned onto the white metal fitting using some brass pins. Once trimmed and filed smooth it could then be painted the final colour.
Jim
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On to completing the rear deck fittings. There is a cowl vent for the crew accommodation under the rear deck, a cast metal cowl was provided which was rather out of round at its base so a resin cowl from caldercraft was substituted. This was fitted onto a length of plastic tune I had from an old kit and a base made from styrene sheet and some Tamiya masking tape. Once painted it was fitted to the rear deck. I had earlier made a stove pipe from alloy tube and a metal casting. This is not glued in place but uses an alloy tube peg into the deck as it will get in the way if towing.The next step was to make and fit the folding gog eye. This should have been fitted long before now but I had unfortunately managed to lose the origins cast metal base and hadn't got round to making a replacement. I found some electronics prototyping board and cit the base pieces out of that. The cast shackle could then be fitted using a 10BA bolt. After painting this was then fitted to the deck using a 10BA bolt through the deck to give it extra strength.
The final job for today was to complete the rigging, this involved fitting the aerials. The cast blocks provided for the rigging were not that good as blocks but did make good insulators for the ends of the aerials once painted in gloss white.
Jim
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With the Cruiser almost completed some thought was needed to decide on the next model for next years build. Another Mountfleet kit was decided on and ordered. This has now arrived and the box is sitting ready for Christmas. (It is related to the Cruiser although a much simpler kit and will be much easier to build.)
Jim
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I had thought that there might have been a bit of interest in the contents of the box, but no comments so far. It is the Mountfleet Lighter No. 7 . ( A tug needs something to pull!)
First impressions :- a good hull moulding although a couple of thin areas where light comes through.
Wood provided looks good and the white metal fittings are up to standard.
The instruction booklet is lacking, just over 3 A4 sides of text. 3 pages listing parts, a page showing deck beam fitting and 3 A5 photos. There is a full size plan which is basically a scale drawing with no modelling details.
I might do a build thread if there is any interest.
Jim
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Yes there is interest, it is an unusual subject with none so far.
Bob
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The Hobnobs and X'mass cake are to hand O0 Build away Jim :}
Dave
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On with some more of the last fiddly bits of detail that I haven't got around to yet.
The first re the fire buckets that mount on the boat deck. These are metal castings that needed a couple of holes drilled and a handle made from brass wire and fitted. They could then be painted an appropriate red colour before labelling with the finest brush I have. They could then be fitted to the rack already fitted.
There are also 6 lifebelts to fit, these are again metal castings although the grab rope round them is not moulded, only the rope wrapping round the belt. I used a 0.9mm drill to drill angled holes each side of the wrapping to allow a line to pass through. I used a doubled length of thin brass to pull the line through the hole. The ends of the line were glued into one of the holes after it was evenly spaced round the disc. It could then be painted before fitting in place.
Jim
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Love all the details, what a beautiful tug- and that's from someone who's not a big tug fan.
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Thanks Boathound, I think that the older steam tugs have much better looks than the modern ones.
Jim
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Hi JimG just looking at your model tug cruiser, fab model may i ask you if i can use your photos for Reference to my tug build as i am restoring a 1/24 scale model of a birch class tug. Empire Tug as many of the fittings were similar, ROB.
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Hi Rob, thanks for the comment, feel free to use the photos for reference if they are any use. Show us your rebuild as I'me sure you can help others with the way you do things.
Jim
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Just a little bit nearer to being completely ready for the water. The captain has now joined the ship. This is an excellent resin casting from CMK obtained from Cornwall Model Boats. He was intended for railway use but looks right for a tug. He was painted using Vallejo acrylic paints, these are really easy to use and as they come in dropper bottles you can use just a few drops at a time. I have 3 more figures to paint and add although at least one of them will be added to the Mountfleet lighter,
A pin has been glued into one leg, this will be glued into a hole in the deck to give a stronger fitting.
Jim
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Another crew member now joined, again another CMK resin casting, I'm still not sure just where to place him or just what he will end up doing.
I recently bough a set of rust paints intended for vehicles so decided to do a bit of weathering around the anchor. The anchor is an Aeronaut metal casting, initially painted black before adding some rust in the areas most likely to have damaged paint. The anchor recess was also rusted where the paint was likeliest to be damaged on raising and lowering the anchor.
Jim
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Found a job for the new crew member, some paintwork needing touched up so time to give him a paint can. This was made from a section of alloy tube with a plasticard bottom. A handle was made from brass wire and some Plasticine was added inside the can to fill it up. A fine hole was drilled in the figures hand to allow him to carry the can. A paint brush was shaped from some 2mm square wood strip and painted with acrylics, unfortunately too small for my camera to photograph. The can was painted on the outside then some Humbrol gloss white was added to the inside and the brush balanced on top.
The figure was then fixed going up the steps to the boat deck. A wire was glued into the leg the glued into a hole in the deck to give a more secure fixing.
Jim
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Today I decided to try out something different. My intention is to have a camera fitted to allow filming from the boat while it is running. The camera I am using is the Runcam HD which saves the video onto a microSD card but also has a video out which allows it to be connected to a video transmitter.
I bought a 25mW 5.8GHz video transmitter to use with this camera and it needed a suitable mounting for this. I decided that the Tx mount would fit in place of the coaling hatch on the rear deck, it will be held in place using more small magnets. A new hatch was made using 1/16 ply with the Tx aerial mounting through the hatch. The transmitter module was mounted on top of the hatch and was raised up to allow air flow for cooling as the module does become warm in use.. The transmitter is powered by a 3 cell 950mAh lipo which is fitted in place of the battery for the navigation lights, again using magnets.
To see the video I have a suitable 5.8GHz scanning receiver which is connected to a 10inch LCD monitor. At the moment the monitor uses a wallwart transformer to provide 12V but this will be replaced with a 3S lipo once I get a suitable connector. The lipo will power both the the monitor and receiver. This setup does not give sound onshore although the camera will record sound.
Jim
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Now that flying weather is here there hasn't been much boat modelling done, some poorer weather has allowed for adding a bit more detail.
The rigging for the lifeboats needed to added so it was time to fit this. The cast blocks provided are rather rough and look somewhat oversized so rather than spend a lot of time reworking them I bought some metal ones from Cornwall Model Boats. These are from the Cap Maquettes range of working metal blocks. As they come they are rather shiny so were first painted with a mixture of silver and black acrylics to give a metallic grey finish.
Brass wire was used to make the fixing of the upper block to the davit and hooks for the lower blocks. Once the upper blocks were fitted into holes drilled through the davit the upper rigging line was fitted.
The lowering tackle was then fitted through the blocks and tied off at cross bollards behind the boat. This is when waiting to do this at the end proved to be a major disadvantage. Running the cord round the bollard proved to be very difficult due to the amount of other rigging and fitting getting in the way. The ends are just glued and cut short at the moment and will need coils made up and fitted over the bollards.
At the moment only 3 of the lowering tackles have been fitted as only three of the lower blocks were available and the last one will have to be bought when they come back in stock.
Jim
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After quite a wait the Cruiser finally made it to the pond last Sunday. It proved to sail well and Edmund managed to get a video of it on the water. Thanks Edmund.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnSI60Tu9Vo (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnSI60Tu9Vo)
Unfortunately after about 10 minutes running the motor mount broke loose from the hull causing drive problems. The resin used to bond the printed mount to the hull did not stick well to the PLA plastic used and it appeared that the torque of the motor was too much for the bond. I'm now looking for a more suitable glue to use for this tat can take the strain.
Jim