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Author Topic: St Cruiser build  (Read 27770 times)

JimG

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Re: St Cruiser build
« Reply #25 on: February 22, 2015, 09:14:42 pm »

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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JimG

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Re: St Cruiser build
« Reply #26 on: February 23, 2015, 10:13:13 pm »

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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JimG

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Re: ST Cruiser build
« Reply #27 on: March 01, 2015, 09:30:59 pm »

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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JimG

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Re: ST Cruiser build
« Reply #28 on: March 08, 2015, 09:47:26 pm »

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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JimG

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Re: St Cruiser build
« Reply #29 on: March 11, 2015, 08:40:38 pm »

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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JimG

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Re: ST Cruiser build
« Reply #30 on: March 17, 2015, 08:36:57 pm »

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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JimG

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Re: ST Cruiser build
« Reply #31 on: March 17, 2015, 08:41:22 pm »

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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JimG

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Re: ST Cruiser build
« Reply #32 on: March 17, 2015, 08:50:39 pm »

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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JimG

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Re: ST Cruiser build
« Reply #33 on: March 17, 2015, 08:58:31 pm »

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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JimG

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Re: St Cruiser build
« Reply #34 on: March 27, 2015, 09:46:55 pm »

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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JimG

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Re: St Cruiser build
« Reply #35 on: March 29, 2015, 09:32:27 pm »

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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JimG

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Re: St Cruiser build
« Reply #36 on: March 29, 2015, 09:46:16 pm »

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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JimG

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Re: St Cruiser build
« Reply #37 on: April 06, 2015, 08:35:21 pm »

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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Martin (Admin)

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Re: St Cruiser build
« Reply #38 on: April 07, 2015, 09:43:38 am »


Ooooo! Nice! Tell us about the jet.    :-)
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JimG

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Re: St Cruiser build
« Reply #39 on: April 07, 2015, 03:01:21 pm »

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: St Cruiser build
« Reply #40 on: April 07, 2015, 03:28:28 pm »

 
Re:  don't have any photos of the complete plane............ that  sounds  ominous!  :((
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JimG

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Re: St Cruiser build
« Reply #41 on: April 07, 2015, 06:12:32 pm »

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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Re: ST Cruiser build
« Reply #42 on: April 13, 2015, 12:01:29 pm »

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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JimG

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Re: ST Cruiser build
« Reply #43 on: May 04, 2015, 12:11:11 pm »

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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Re: ST Cruiser build
« Reply #44 on: May 04, 2015, 12:20:54 pm »

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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Re: ST Cruiser build
« Reply #45 on: May 04, 2015, 12:33:47 pm »

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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Re: ST Cruiser build
« Reply #46 on: May 04, 2015, 12:44:56 pm »

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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Re: St Cruiser build
« Reply #47 on: June 08, 2015, 09:25:43 pm »

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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Re: St Cruiser build
« Reply #48 on: June 08, 2015, 09:38:04 pm »

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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Re: ST Cruiser build
« Reply #49 on: July 24, 2015, 09:51:56 pm »

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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