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Author Topic: Alice Upjohn my 3rd build  (Read 64033 times)

GEC

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Re: Alice Upjohn my 3rd build
« Reply #100 on: March 19, 2012, 11:00:51 am »

Greetings from Christchurch,NewZealand.
I am a new member to the club and have built mainly Yachts over the years.
At the moment I have a radio controlled meter long gaff sloop that I enjoy sailing in the local boat lake(now repaired after earthquakes ripped the bottom open and the water was lost.)
Why on this topic?? I also own the real full-size Ex RNLB "Alice Upjohn" which I am at the moment repainting and doing a minor re-fit.
 I have seen the models of my boat produced by Metcalf Models and must point out that she was built in1977 and as such has the
fwd hatch set off-center to the port side and has a few other minor changes from the previous builds so if you're building to scale
would be nice to get right. Regards, Gerald
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thebackways

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Re: Alice Upjohn my 3rd build
« Reply #101 on: March 19, 2012, 01:26:36 pm »

Good afternoon Gerald,
Its good to know that the original Alice Upjohn is still around, however how on earth did it get to New Zealand.
Would you be able to post some pictures on to the forum for all us builders to work to, as there is very little details available on the web?
Best regards, Dave (thebackways) %%
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Neil

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Re: Alice Upjohn my 3rd build
« Reply #102 on: March 20, 2012, 08:40:25 am »

Why on this topic?? I also own the real full-size Ex RNLB "Alice Upjohn" which I am at the moment repainting and doing a minor re-fit.
 

You lucky man........I for one am very envious of owners of classic lifeboats.........roll on me winning the lottery.
neil.
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furball

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Re: Alice Upjohn my 3rd build
« Reply #103 on: March 20, 2012, 10:08:38 am »

Quote
however how on earth did it get to New Zealand

As deck cargo...

The Royal New Zealand Coastguard Federation bought quite a lot of ex-RNLI boats for use as lifeboats. Several Rothers and Waveneys were shipped out.


Cheers

Lance
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tt1

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Re: Alice Upjohn my 3rd build
« Reply #104 on: March 21, 2012, 12:28:10 am »

Hi Gerald, thank you for the info, unfortunately I've passed the point of no return re the hatch now, yep! it's in the centre as drawn - I wouldn't know otherwise.
Now we're up and running again, have plenty more of my build to post soon.  Good luck with your re-fit.                    Regards, Tony. :-))
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tt1

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Re: Alice Upjohn my 3rd build
« Reply #105 on: March 21, 2012, 05:57:49 pm »

A few pics to "test the water" following Mayhem's mayhem  <:(
    Painted parts building up nicely.










Gave the anchor and support assy a coat of looking at next. A bit of juggling was needed to get the anchor to sit comfortably, look balanced and at the right angle to make the locking assy's look as though they would work. I also filed a flat angled face on top of the support bars that helped a lot, and yes - I did break the original white metal latches!




The plan shows two blocks of styrene for supporting each end of the anchor, I used a simple design of my own.  All the parts were drilled and pinned for location and a template made for transferring the positions to the deck.




Finally for now, it's always beneficial when making the build stand to ensure the end supports are clear of any parts that are later added to the hull, I pre-empted this.............................. but NOT this close! lucky me eh? better buy a lotto ticket.  Ta ta for now, Tony. :-))




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thebackways

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Re: Alice Upjohn my 3rd build
« Reply #106 on: March 21, 2012, 06:23:07 pm »

Good evening Tony,

It's good to see you and the mayhem site back :-))
Your build is looking really good and I'm looking forward to the next installment

Regards

Dave
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Capt Podge

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Re: Alice Upjohn my 3rd build
« Reply #107 on: March 21, 2012, 07:26:53 pm »

Hi Tony,

This is the first time I've looked at this thread - some great tips being passed around - I'll have to go back and read through it again properly though 'coz I was mainly viewing the photo's  :embarrassed:

Looking good.  O0 O0 O0 :-))

Regards,

Ray.
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tt1

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Re: Alice Upjohn my 3rd build
« Reply #108 on: March 22, 2012, 01:36:32 am »

Thanks Dave & Ray, more soon. Ray I notice your post total looks original, did you have to re-register? only I'm sure I did more than 3 O0 {-) {-)
                                Regards, to both. :-))
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GEC

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Re: Alice Upjohn my 3rd build
« Reply #109 on: March 22, 2012, 04:06:25 am »

Hi, Gerald again--as Lance says --boats brought out here as deck cargo on P&O container ship(s).
Alice Upjohn was dumped off in Wellington Harbour and motored down to Greymouth in South Island (West Coast) saving a couple of
yachties  who got into trouble and had to be towed into Nelson.
I have taken a pile of photo's of the boat inside and outside that I'll put up if you want.
I also have quite a lot of Mahogany 3"x3" that I have cut out of the forepeak that I thought could be cut into thin slabs and polished
(by you) to put name-plates on etc.Just an Idea if anyone is interested.
Regards, Gerald
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tt1

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Re: Alice Upjohn my 3rd build
« Reply #110 on: March 22, 2012, 10:54:07 am »

Hello Gerald, would love to see your photos especially with them being of the real thing  - by the way We have a little 24' narrowboat if you'd like to swap?! {-) {-) {-)
                           Regards, Tony. :-))
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Neil

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Re: Alice Upjohn my 3rd build
« Reply #111 on: March 22, 2012, 01:11:17 pm »

be a bit rough going round the Cape in that tony, lol
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Norseman

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Re: Alice Upjohn my 3rd build
« Reply #112 on: March 22, 2012, 07:39:06 pm »

Hi Tony

Just managed to find you again - not easy finding all the threads I was actively watching.
Nice anchor work.

Dave
(lost all my posts too but I think Martin put my post numbers back up)
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tt1

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Re: Alice Upjohn my 3rd build
« Reply #113 on: March 23, 2012, 12:57:28 pm »

Decided now to revisit the rudder and its controls again. Although I'll be using a mixer from Action I was determined to get the most rudder throw possible and to incorporate some very good advice received from John 44. There is very little throw at best and made worse of course if there is a build up of slack so did a bit of revamping to remove any play and make the whole caboodle removable if necessary.

The servo box works a treat and providing the housing top plate can be removed, the servo can accessed and lifted from its box using long nose pliers through the top housing, and taken out from under the deck by hand. 





To make the top plate removable, fixing studs were positioned either side of the housing making sure the rudder arm didn't foul. I think the dome nuts look acceptable.





To improve tolerances I re-bushed the top and bottom holes in the skeg and housing with brass tube and lined the top face of the skeg with brass while I was at it.





To be able to remove the rudder post, which would come upwards and out through the top housing, the top post bearing (white metal) had to be removable so a little redesign was required. I first tried a placcy prototype and then produced it in brass.







Not really necessary but made the centre bearing removable also. This is supporting the rudder - I'm not sure if this is how it should be, I thought the norm would for it to be supported by the skeg as the plan (seems?) to indicate, but in that case the plates on the stern post between which the centre bearing is fitted would be the wrong length, either that or the depth of rudder is insufficient, or the spread and position of rudder support arms is wrong, but am at the point now where I can't be a***d faffing anymore so it stays as is - it could all be down to me going haywire somewhere, ah well.



I lined the rudder support arms with a little brass box section to give a nice close tolerance sliding fit with the rudder post, and this now enables the rudder post to be slid up and out through the top housing.






For a more reliable drive to the rudder post from the servo arm, as John suggested a square bit of brass box section was soldered to the top of the rudder post and a corresponding square hole was cut to match in the servo arm , a nice snug fit without play is important here and the locknut is then only required
to keep the arm seated rather than to be relied upon for rudder drive.




And finally for now - a check to see how much rudder throw we get and if it's equal to both sides.








A lot of effort but well worth it- very pleased with it now.  :-)) :-)) cheerio for now, Tony.
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furball

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Re: Alice Upjohn my 3rd build
« Reply #114 on: March 23, 2012, 03:07:22 pm »

That's about as much as you can get on the real thing.

Mary Gabriel has so much slop that you can get hold of the rudder and waggle it about 4" either side. Makes going astern 'interesting', from what I've heard.


Lance
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tt1

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Re: Alice Upjohn my 3rd build
« Reply #115 on: March 24, 2012, 04:43:15 pm »

Just the the slipway keels to be fitted now to finish off the bottom of the hull before starting to paint. I wanted a belt and braces fit with these so added some square placcy box section to the inside faces and glued brass pins within. location holes drilled to suit and cyano'd in, and then ran a small bead of cyano down each side of the contact edges and a quick blast of accelerator so it set and looked like welded seams, worked well.  Sound as a pound - or is that a contradiction in terms these days? {-)
             






Now to the side deck handrail stanchions and kicking boards.  I was a little apprehensive about these, my association with white metal hasn't improved that much, and I think if hand rails don't look just right, they can really detract from the finish of a model no matter how good the rest may be.

For more reliable fixings all the cast location pins were removed and replaced with brass pins and the triangular base plates then added.  The stanchion hole pins that the chain shackles connect to, and that weren't broken by me, were poorly cast, deformed, or all ready broke so I filled the stanchion holes with chemical metal and re-drilled them and used small brass eyes instead.





As there are no dimensions to work to, the stanchions were spread to be visually acceptable and locating holes drilled in the side decks to suit.   On the starboard side, the anchor and associated parts need to be considered so the location holes for these were pre-drilled using a template, the stanchions are again spread to visual satisfaction whilst keeping in mind there are kicking board support brackets to be added in between the stanchions on both port and starboard sides.



The kicking boards are shaped (pretty well as marked) to follow the curves and sweep of the decks and a suitable bit of placcy used to set the height.



Although unsuccessful on the front deck, I again decided to try and make up all the stanchions and kicking boards as complete assy's that can be removed for painting and be out the way of my clumsy mitts when doing further work. They may well be the very last items to be fitted before trials.  So, the boards were positioned and glued against the stanchions in situ on deck, they were then removed and the stanchion brackets glued in place. The verticals were ok but the brackets for the angled bracing stanchions needed some rework which afterwards, made the holes at the top look a bit iffy - a dollop of thick cyano and blast of accelerator made an acceptable fillet of weld :-)).  It would have been easier if the kicking boards were placed lower down, but then they would of fouled on the spigot of the triangular base plates and not sat tight against the stanchion, the gap between the boards and deck would also be minimal.







Although there was very little room for error, I managed to drill, pin and glue the board support brackets in position from behind the boards having previously  filed the bases to the correct angle to suit the deck and then glued brass pins in the base.





A bit of care needed when handling now!  O0





Phew!- am well pleased that it worked this time ............... well at least they stayed together long enough to be painted anyway O0 {-) {-) {-)








Hope to catch you later, bye for now.
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Capt Podge

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Re: Alice Upjohn my 3rd build
« Reply #116 on: March 24, 2012, 08:05:35 pm »

Thanks Dave & Ray, more soon. Ray I notice your post total looks original, did you have to re-register? only I'm sure I did more than 3 O0 {-) {-)
                                Regards, to both. :-))

Sorry for the late response Tony - I did have to re-register and initially started with a fresh count of 1  >>:-(
however, after a few fresh postings it shot back up. Guess the mods' are slowely bringing things back to normal.

New subject: Cracking job with those stanchions / kickboards  :-)) The slight gap you mention might assist with water clearance if you get a few "goffers"  %%

Regards,

Ray.
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thebackways

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Re: Alice Upjohn my 3rd build
« Reply #117 on: March 26, 2012, 02:46:21 pm »

Good afternoon Tony,

All looks very good.  Do the toe boards as printed on the styrene sheet follow the curve of the deck well or did you have to cut these differently.  The reason for the question is that I am making mine from sheet mahogany and will use the others as formers.

Cheers,

Dave
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tt1

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Re: Alice Upjohn my 3rd build
« Reply #118 on: March 26, 2012, 03:00:11 pm »

Hello Dave, yes they were pretty close but having said that I made sure by positioning them and seating them directly on the decks to make sure they followed the profile, any slight alteration on the bottom edge were mirror imaged on the top.  Always cut a template if unsure though as your hull / decks may differ slightly.

                    Kind regards, Tony. :-))

P.S. will post again soon - am just rectifying a couple of minor disasters  :(( - all to be revealed O0
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tt1

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Re: Alice Upjohn my 3rd build
« Reply #119 on: March 27, 2012, 03:35:55 pm »

Well I did say I'd tell it like it was, so if your watching dicky here's a couple of cock ups for you ;)
          Despite thinking I was happy with the rudder set up as was with no intention of making anymore alterations, it was still gnawing at me as to why the rudder was being supported on the centre bracket instead of the skeg.  The rudder had only ever been trialled whilst the hull was on its stand, after some chin scratching and staring at it like I was watching paint dry, the penny dropped - the rudder was so low it was below the keel!  The bottom support arm was way too high by 14mm, still can't figure out how on earth I'd got it so wrong - here we go again. :((

This is how it was   

This is how it should be 
 
So............
Replacement under way






 After that little escapade time to see what bits were left to make, marshalled all the painted parts for a roll call then I found this:

I felt gutted, this mast had looked fine for weeks but now all the paint on the styrene parts had cracked away. All other parts are fine and I hadn't experienced this before, it could only be bad surface preparation I think, and to boot, it couldn't be on the worst assy possible.  Tried all sorts to strip it off but boy was this paint hard and nothing I know / had would touch it without damaging the styrene. Being so hard and brittle actually worked in my favour, after a full day scraping, flicking , sanding and filing I finally got it back to base, except that because of the ammount of handling I cracked one of the legs - spose that was inevitable knowing me O0 so off they came and another repair made.




        To try going forward again I think a few simple bits were the order of the day. Started with a few bits to carry the fender, wanted something a little more robust than the white metal bits supplied so knocked up a few of my own.

          The fender itself is supplied as resin moulding and cord to be crocheted (yes that's right - I looked it up! {-)) around it ..............it was easier to buy one! I wanted to use the end fittings so inserted a length of brass wire through the fender which helped maintain its shape and gave me something to fix the shackle ends to.

          Made the boat hooks at the same time.

The lifebelts needed the usual bit of filling and dressing, but the brackets supplied would not support them correctly even with a couple of mm packing behind them and as usual they would not give a little either, yes I broke one trying  :o :o so made new ones from brass.




       Think I'll do some paintwork next, bye for now.
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tt1

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Re: Alice Upjohn my 3rd build
« Reply #120 on: March 27, 2012, 06:18:45 pm »

One I forgot to post - the modified fender in place.

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Neil

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Re: Alice Upjohn my 3rd build
« Reply #121 on: March 27, 2012, 07:35:56 pm »

The fender itself is supplied as resin moulding and cord to be crocheted (yes that's right - I looked it up! ) around it ..............it was easier to buy one! I wanted to use the end fittings so inserted a length of brass wire through the fender which helped maintain its shape and gave me something to fix the shackle ends to.

now then Tony......you've just missed your chance to learn a new skill...........yer mates would really have been impressed if you'd have knitted your own...... {-) {-) {-) {-)
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tt1

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Re: Alice Upjohn my 3rd build
« Reply #122 on: March 28, 2012, 12:21:39 am »

I did actually give that some thought Neil  O0.................................for about 10seconds! {-) {-) {-)
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DickyD

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Re: Alice Upjohn my 3rd build
« Reply #123 on: March 28, 2012, 12:37:22 am »

New you would figure the rudder out without me saying anything Tony.

Try Fairy Power Spray to remove paint from plastic.

Would have liked to have seen you crocheting though.
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tt1

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Re: Alice Upjohn my 3rd build
« Reply #124 on: March 28, 2012, 09:23:44 am »

Hello Rich', knitting? me? your 'avin a laugh {-) it's a lovely made fender though, bought it from a chap at Ellesmere show his mum makes them excellent quality and very reasonably priced.
           Tried all sorts of sprays / oven cleaners etc. to strip the paint, even one a good friend bought especially for me (Cillit bang?) anyway nothing would make it even frown, it was tetrosyl acrylic spray and set as hard as polyurethane and gave a lovely smooth finish, there such a range of modern acrylics now and probably all have a different recipe, no matter sorted now.
           Oh by the way, you could have put me out of my misery re the rudder earlier you so 'an so!  {-) {-)  Always happy to learn and accept constructive criticism in good faith me.

                               Hope you are both ok, speak soon and regards to Gill.

                 Love the animations!
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