Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length.

[Locksley]

Thanks Mick.


If you can salvage most of the fittings, the rest should be easily replaceable with plasticard. Did you get any reply from MS regarding a set of plans?

[sharkbite0]

yes i did they want £55 plus postage for the bits but after having another look
its as you say most of it can be replaced using plastic card and using the bits that are left as a template so i should be ok.
most of the fittings are there and reusable so thats a good start
it will be a few more weeks before i start the rebuild what with work and other models i am building
but will do a build log when i do start.
i have to admit model slipway were great with a fast reply. and i just love there kits.
i have a loyal moderator built and it sails very nice and a 10 hatch coaster  im on building at the moment.
but will be following your build as it will be a great help to me when i start mine
regards
Mick

[Locksley]

Had a sudden mojo revival for this, It's by far the largest project I've ever done so as soon as I feel my mojo for it fading, I just put it to one side, otherwise I'll end up rushing it and making a mess.[/size]I managed to get the hull primed and painted while SWMBO was away for a few days, I'm stunned at what a difference it's made to the look of the hull. I'm actually at a point where the hull can be pretty much finished and the electrics installed, the deckhouse is a completely separate assembly.I primed with a Hycote rattle can primer, followed by Tamiya XF-85, a very subtle post shade with a dark grey, and sealed with Klear.There's a little bit of touch up on the red I need to do, mainly from when I sprayed the anodes in metallic a few months back, then I can move onto the deck

[captain bligh]

Looking good    looking forward to seeing her finished.

[Locksley]

Thanks mate :)


Just ordered some fittings and chain to detail up the deck, along with some stuff from Mac's Mouldings (blue plastic drums, pallets etc) just to busy it all up. The deck on the real thing is fairly crowded.

[Locksley]

Realised I'd forgotten a few bits of railing, so I popped those in last night, plus a few other bits and bobs.





I also added some representation of hydraulic (or probably power actually) line to the winch


Then I drilled through for the anchor deck hawse, and the guide wheel for the chain. I also added the little tie down point on the deck which appears in photos with a chain shackled to it. some little D shackles are currently on order from Cornwall Model Boats




Reference photo from: http://www.modelboats.co.uk/albums/member_albums.asp?c=72689

Finally, I decided to stick these guys together. I managed to snag them off eBay a couple of months ago for a good price, they're actually not that easy to come by.






Turns out they make a perfect little vignette around the anchor winch. Unfortunately none of them are really going to be suitable for a guy in the wheelhouse steering so I'll have to have a look round for something else for that.

[sharkbite0]

hi locksley
nice to see some up dates on your conserver she is looking very nice mate.
not started the rebuild on mine yet after parcel farce managed to trash it  (it still annoys me when i look at her)
but she will get done.
following your build with great interest .
regards
mick

[derekwarner]

You obviously have some well trained crew on board Locksley........this chap is holding the drain line hose from the hydraulic motor...so clearly there must have been some internal bypass and an issue with hauling in under load .......

Well done  ........... Derek

[Locksley]

haha, cheers guys :)

[Ianlind]

G'day Locksley,


Nice job you are doing, and with those figures, I used a modified set on my Sirius Cove many years ago.


Like you, there was nothing suitable in the set for a helmsman, so I did some serious abdominal surgery on a couple of the bodies and came up with some standing figures. As I'm in the model manufacturing business and working in Urethane, I'm able to cast what I want.
The one major advantage of the urethane is that you can simply cut off an arm, re-position it and glue it back on with superglue.
These figures are cast armless and the arms can be shaped, to a point, to suit most applications.
The figures are in 4 bits, lower body and legs, upper body and head ( two head positions ) and the two arms. I could probably help you out with a couple, but the postage would probably be more than they are worth. PM me if you want more info.


I also needed a couple of crew for a larger scale pusher tug I recently built and these needed to be 100mm high or thereabouts, so I bought a set of 4 Chinese Kung Foo figures for about AU$10.00 posted. Most poses were totally useless for what we need, but again, surgery and silicone and new figures were created. The interesting thing with these Chinese figures was that the softish plastic that they are made of does not glue or allow filler to stick to it. I did manage to get a mould made before it all came apart!
Damien now has his pushy which he rides to work on, and stows on the after deck while on shift!

[Locksley]

Thanks Ian, sorry for the delay in replying. The offer is very kind but I think the figures I have should suffice for now.

Just a quick update, I thought I had more pics of my progress than I have, but this will have to do for now :p



The deck is now completely painted, along with the railings and the anchor winch. I'm also making a start on getting some details such as equipment and fenders on. I'm also lucky enough to have a work colleague who has a 3d printer so I've now got some of the plastic chemical barrels that feature rather heavily in the reference pics of the deck.

[ballastanksian]

Gorgeous model! I like how well the figures work in that setting. It is the bane of many modellers trying to get a hand to actually hold what it is meant to properly. It is like Fijumi knew you would want to do that in the future with these figures!

[Del Boy]

Hi Locksley! I am new to Mayhem and it's delights so please forgive the basic questions. I am looking to build my first scale ship and a good pal recommended the Conserver, hence very interested in your build. Is it possible to see the early stages, hull, deck, set up of RC and motor etc. I can see the thread from Sept 20th but not before. Apologies for what Is probably a very basic 'click'! I must say I do think your build is excellent, I don't think I will be able to match your standard but very keen to have a go.
Derek

[Locksley]

Hi Locksley! I am new to Mayhem and it's delights so please forgive the basic questions. I am looking to build my first scale ship and a good pal recommended the Conserver, hence very interested in your build. Is it possible to see the early stages, hull, deck, set up of RC and motor etc. I can see the thread from Sept 20th but not before. Apologies for what Is probably a very basic 'click'! I must say I do think your build is excellent, I don't think I will be able to match your standard but very keen to have a go.
Derek

Hi Derek, thanks! It's a lovely kit to build, but you have to be prepared for lots of template cutting :)


There are pics from the beginning of the build on the first page of the thread, try this link to get you there, then you should be able to scroll down through the rest:


http://www.modelboatmayhem.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,53129.msg546785.html#msg546785

[Del Boy]

Hi Locksley, thank you for taking the time to reply, much appreciated! It was just my inexperience with the site but that link helped a great deal and I can see everything from the start now. I have to say you have done a wonderful job with your thread, you have certainly given me the confidence to go ahead and buy the kit. Did you choose the motor set or was that recommended? Reason I ask is a long time ago I built a Perkasa and spent simply ages trying to get the right power / scale performance so keen to get it right this time! Thanks once again. Derek

[Locksley]

Hi Derek, really sorry for the mega late reply, I've only just seen your message.

If I remember correctly, the motor and electronics are recommended in the instruction manual so I just went with those. The included motor mount is made to fit that motor too so installation was easy. It should give me plenty of power.

I've actually had her in the water since my last post, she sails very well, however the 7aH battery I have is a bit too heavy so I'll be downgrading that a little. The rudder is every bit as good as it's supposed to be, and she will turn on herself! I'll try an get some more pics up soon as I've almost completed the wheelhouse, and the hull is pretty much finished too.

[Locksley]

Here's some latest pics :) The deck is now painted and weathered, along with the anchor winch and chain. I added some rubber fenders and painted up the Macs Mouldings deck cleaning set.





I then moved on to getting the wheelhouse a bit more complete.






And that's where she is now

[Locksley]

EDIT: Aaaaaand that didn't work lol. I'll edit this post again tomorrow and hopefully get the pics up. What a palaver....






Well, after the Photobucket fiasco I've finally got round to reuploading the photos from this build.



I'll stick the Post # above each section. Hope this works :s These are copy and pasted off another forums so there may be some slight discrepancies.


Post#1

Hi guys, I've been hovering around here for a little while and gained some great inspiration, the quality of builds on here is just top-notch. So I thought I'd lower the bar and stick my build on here lol.This will be my first 'proper' build, until now I've only really converted plastic kits, having been a plastic modeller for around 15 years, and dabbling in RC cars for about 10. I started with the Revell Flower Class as my first attempt which turned out great so I then moved onto the Type VIIC which I converted into a surface runner. After that I wanted to try something a little bigger so I bought a Krick Lisa.M which I thoroughly enjoyed building, but did put me off using wood as I'm just not great with it lol. Again though it turned out fairly well in the end.I've been eyeing up the MS kits for a few months now, but I decided to stick my U-Boat up for sale before starting anything new.


So with U-552 now under a new Kaleun on the sunny Isle of Man, I took a trip to the guys at Model Slipway, who are conveniently only around 30 mins drive from where I live in Sheffield. After a good chat with Jackie and Lawrie, and a look around their amazing workshop, I parted with my cash and left with a rather large box.
  [/font]Photo:  http://trawlerphotos.co.uk/gallery/data/506/medium/0_-_Conserver_Grangemouth_A400_54_056v_A2_cr_ps_Sx2_x_wp_15.JPG I elected to go for the MV Conserver. The original vessel was built in the 80's for the Forth Port Authority and operated out of Grangemouth. Primarily used for hydrographical survey work and buoy handling, it features an unusual wheelhouse offset to the Port side to allow the winching in of buoy and mooring chains for inspection, and also has a large HIAB sea crane midships to haul in the buoys themselves. It's now in the hands of Seahunter Marine, operating out of Granton near Edinburgh, who use it for various tasks including salvage, fishing, towing etc. It was also this year's hospitality boat for the Royal Forth Yacht Club's Edinburgh Gin Regatta.The Conserver was one of MS's earlier kits and actually dates from 1994. Their newer ones feature CNC cut styrene parts, however this kit, along with 4 others, are built the old fashioned way, with templates, plans, and an optional styrene material pack. This was something that originally scared the bejebus out of me but I've kind of come round to it as I love the look of the thing so much.So, the kit:In the box, we get a one piece GRP moulded hull, a materials pack which contains a few sheets of 1.5mm and 1mm styrene, as well as a pre printed sheet of parts. A selection of styrene lengths, brass rod, and a vac formed sheet of parts for 3 buoys.Next up, we also get 2 sheets of full size plans, 2 sheets of parts templates, a very comprehensive and well written manual, and lovely box stuffed full of resin, white metal and vac formed fittings.In the fittings box:1. Anchor/mooring chain winch2. Vac formed lumps and bumps for the anchor hawse, and radars.3. Vac formed life raft canisters4. Motor mount5. White metal hoist kit6. Macs Mouldings resin deck crane kit7. Wooded shaped dowel for the mast8. Rubber rubbing strip9. White metal rudder10. Loads of white metal parts including interior bits, stanchions, grilles, vents etc.The running gear:1. Mabuchi 555 motor2. Action Electronics Indicator fuse board3. Action Electronics P80 Condor ESC4. High torque metal geared steering servo5. Receiver6. Receiver battery pack7. 50mm M4 4 bladed brass prop8. M4 prop shaft (included in the kit)9. Universal joint10. 12v 7Ah Sealed Lead Acid battery11. On/Off switch12. 20amp car fuse holder.I managed to get the gear all wired up yesterday, using the Action Electronics gear makes it a breeze as all the connections are screwed in. I soldered a capacitor set onto the motor, followed by the wires. This setup should give some good torque, and the 7Ah battery will ensure a good long runtime.Onto the build: So, I'm following the manual to the letter as I'm kind of diving in at the deep end here, but luckily the instructions are second to none and outline every little step needed, and anything you need to look out for along the way. So, I made a modest start tonight by drilling a 6mm hole, 31mm from the stern to accommodate the rudder tube.

 
Once in place, the next job is to construct the keel, made from 4 1.5mm styrene parts.[

 

 
These were cut out, transferred to styrene and carefully scored with a knife before snapping out. Once together the strange cut out forms a notch into which the white metal rudder skeg sits, and the edge which will eventually be the upper part forms a trench for the prop shaft to sit in. This keel then sits right up into the hull after cutting a slot for it to slide into. Unfortunately I don't have the tools to hand in our flat to cut this so I'll be doing that on saturday at my parents house.Finally, I assembled the 'Schilling' rudder which is a pleasingly weighty white metal casting with 2 separate sections on the top and bottom. This type of rudder is apparently extremely effective both on the real vessel and the model, and enables it to turn on it's length. It's very similar to an aerofoil in its shape.So yep, that's where I am up to now. Hopefully I'll be able to get the holes cut and drilled out of the hull at the weekend then I can carry on fitting the running gear, electrics, deck supports, deck and rear steps before the hull will be ready for paint.Stay tuned!

Post#8:

Little update on Conserver's progress Got the prop shaft and keel installed.I flooded the keel joint from the inside with Gorilla glueI then got the deck beams installed. These are made up from 3 pieces of 1.5mm styrene which I then Gorilla glued into the hull. You can also see I fitted the motor mount and motor.The final bit of cutting to the hull sees the stern steps installed, which are made up from 4 bits of styrene. These fit together well but the hull takes a little bit of work to sand down to the correct profile.

 
Final job today was to fit the lifting eyes. These are 4 white metal castings which need a little cleanup, but as with all the fittings they are very nicely done. Again,these are glued in place and clamped.So, next job will be to place the deck support strips around the inside edge of the hull, and then I should be able to get the deck fitted  Apologies for the rather boring post, trying to get all these mundane tasks out of the way.

Post#16

Getting back into the swing of it now, managed to splash some paint on the hull over the weekend 

 
Laid down a few coats of hycote primer after slightly keying the hull.
 

 
I then made some sacrificial anodes from plasticard which can just about be seen on some pictures of the real thing.
 Once the anodes were in place, I prepared the hull for the antifoul red. I began by mottling the grey primer with some white Stynylrez primer, followed by more mottling with Zero Paints black. Finally, I laid down a good few coats of Zero redNext job will be painting the upper hull black.

Post#17

Hi guys, had another break but I'm back at it now.
 
 


 

 

 
I got the bulwarks cut out and attached. These are all on the pre-printed styrene sheet so it's a piece of cake to get them cut. I actually glued the vertical supports to the bulwarks before gluing the entire thing to the bow, foolishly going against the instructions. It wasn't a total disaster but I did have to remove and reposition a few. Finally I attached the topper and sanded it all smooth. Rather than filling smooth the joint between the bulwarks and deck, I used a raised bead of Vallejo filler to simulate welds. Doesn't look too bad I don't think.
 
The anchor/buoy winch was a joy to assemble after a little bit of sanding, and it looks ace on the deck. I haven't glued this down yet btw, so it's not in it's final position.
 
Next up, I have a little more fettling to do in the Starboard bulwark, then I need to decide what to do next. Maybe the rear engine casing thing that sticks up off the deck.

Post#19

Another small update. I got the stern deck housing built up, along with the lower wheelhouse. Gotta say, everything fits like a dream. It's all going together beautifully. A credit to Model Slipway's quality.
 

 
The stern housing, I made some slight changes to the shape of the vent, these come round but looking at recent pics of the vessel they are now more trapezoid in shape. I just squished it with some pliers tbh. I also wrapped some styrene strips around it, again according to recent photos.
 
 

 
And the lower wheelhouse. So far pretty much to the instructions, though they say to cut out a large sheet of styrene to wrap around the front section, I found this didn't quite work so instead cut 3 sections for the sides/front, then glued strips around the curves. These will be filled and sanded smooth.

Post#20

Another quick update.
 

 

 
Put the front hatch together and got it glued to the front of the wheelhouse. I added the clips/locks to it to reflect the real one as again, this is slightly different.
 
 

 
I also made a start on the stern railings. Tried soldering but I only have a little battery soldering pen thing to hand so decided to just super glue for now. I'll reinforce the joints with some milliput too I think.
 
 

Post#23

 


 
Stern railings basically done, just the hand rails for the steps and the life belt holders to make up. I also glued the chain stantions in place and added some jewellers chain.
 
To attach the bollards, I drilled 2 small holes in the bottom and pinned them through the deck. Hopefully this should be strong enough for some very basic towing, and also to hold fenders.

Post#27

Had a sudden mojo revival for this, I've found it's such a large/expensive project that as soon as I feel my mojo for it fading, I just put it to one side, otherwise I'll end up rushing it and making a mess.

I managed to get the hull primed and painted while SWMBO was away for a few days, I'm stunned at what a difference it's made to the look of the hull. I'm actually at a point where the hull can be pretty much finished and the electrics installed, the deckhouse is a completely separate assembly.



 

 

 


I primed with a Hycote rattle can primer, followed by XF-85, a very subtle post shade with a dark grey, and sealed with Klear.

There's a little bit of touch up on the red I need to do, mainly from when I sprayed the anodes in metallic a few months back, then I can move onto the deck

Post#30

Realised I'd forgotten a few bits of railing, so I popped those in last night, plus a few other bits and bobs.



 


I also added some representation of hydraulic (or probably power actually) line to the winch



Then I drilled through for the anchor deck hawse, and the guide wheel for the chain. I also added the little tie down point on the deck which appears in photos with a chain shackled to it. some little D shackles are currently on order from Cornwall Model Boats



 

Finally, I decided to stick these guys together. I managed to snag them off eBay a couple of months ago for a good price, they're actually not that easy to come by.



 

 


Turns out they make a perfect little vignette around the anchor winch. Unfortunately none of them are really going to be suitable for a guy in the wheelhouse steering so I'll have to have a look round for something else for that.

Post#35

Thanks Ian, sorry for the delay in replying. The offer is very kind but I think the figures I have should suffice for now.Just a quick update, I thought I had more pics of my progress than I have, but this will have to do for now :p


 


The deck is now completely painted, along with the railings and the anchor winch. I'm also making a start on getting some details such as equipment and fenders on. I'm also lucky enough to have a work colleague who has a 3d printer so I've now got some of the plastic chemical barrels that feature rather heavily in the reference pics of the deck.

Post#41

Hi guys, got a decent bit of progress done on the Conserver so thought I'd stick some pics up.

The deck is now painted and weathered, along with the anchor winch and chain. I added some rubber fenders (which incidentally are only half the price of actual, full size, 1:1 scale fenders...) I also painted up the Macs Mouldings deck cleaning set which includes a resin mop, brush, bucket, and wellies.



 

 

 



I then moved on to getting the wheelhouse a bit more complete.







 


And that's where she is now