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[Taranis]

Arno that capstan is magnificent and I think my fuel fillers and vents might need recycling 
Super work


Kim
I am looking at proxxon millers even though I may barely use one
I have the same drill stand and I use very frequently so rather than the add on table I’m erring towards the stand alone machine that I can find for about £240

[swiftdoc]

Thanks for your compliments! As requested the photos of my grilles. At first I did not want to post them as they add nothing new to this blog, being nothing more but a copy of Kim's work. At least they might encourage some builders to go the same route and maybe invest in a lathe and milling machine (Taranis?! ). Both had been on my wish list for a long time but I had not dared a start before. It was this blog and Kim who lifted me to a new level

[Canterbury Coxswain]

This afternoon allowed me to use my small pillar drill to start doing those items at the 'Bridge', without having to constantly move onto a larger machine. The cross-slide also meant that the 'item' being worked on could just be wound forward or sideways to get it into the correct position to drill. This is going to be even more beneficial once I start making the small items with surround frames and lines of holes for hex bolts to be tapped into.

• I marked the first plate out
• drilled the holes with a German Heller 1mm drill [these are the best I have purchased for along time - 0.5mm through to 2.50mm]
• then, using a set of transfer punches [bought twenty years ago and only used once so far!] and the first deck plate as the 'master', transferred this detail across to each of the other plates, acting in a similar manner as a centre punch
• drilled out each of these
• finally using a 1/18th [3.12mm] drill enlarged the central hole in each plate to readily accept the upright rail at each 'station' marked on the deck. I also did the same to the holes on the end of each gob-eye deck plate.

At least I now have a way to fabricate the other deck plates for the stanchions on both the Port and Starboard sides at a later date.
C.C.

[Canterbury Coxswain]

......last few photos.
C.C.

[Taranis]

Super Kim!
I hope you won't mind me saying but the margin between foot and fender looks far too big in proportion compared to photographs.

[Canterbury Coxswain]

Andy,
Many thanks for spotting this 'difference' - you are correct, since I have now gone back and re-measured and each is out by 1.5mm - I know not why! Maybe my mantra should now be 'measure thrice and cut once'. What actually makes it more visible to your eye is that the gap you are seeing is in fact 3mm oversize! Yes, another 1.5mm. This comes from the fact that Andy G. made three versions of the soft cure resin side fenders.

• There was the original when we set out on this Project and I noticed that he had not tapered the last two sections on either side [going from the stern for'ard] - they were made in single lengths for both the Port and Starboard. These were hard to get the air bubbles out from.
• Then came the corrected 2nd version which were made as per the real lifeboats in 10 sections - a suggestion I made, however, they proved to be to labour intensive between preparation, polishing, bolting-up, casting, waiting for the cure to go off, take out and clean and then start the process again. However, there was no problem with air bubbles in these shorter lengths. These are what I have here and also a couple of lengths to use as 'fillers', should they be required. Yet on mine there are differences on the Stern deck lengths whereby some of the overlaps are either 1mm, 1.5mm and even 2mm too short. I will adjust these when final fitting takes place by cutting back into the main area and lengthening the overhang to 3mm - as required. So when my 1.5mm and the 1.5mm that is too short on the Stern quarter overhangs are together the compounded mistake is 3mm,
• Version 3 is what most folk got - single Starboard and Port lengths, correctly tapered and with very few air bubbles.

The little adjustable set-square was given to me years ago by 17-21, along with some centre drills - I think at the Sandown Racecourse Show! This made the job that little more easy!


Again, my thanks for bringing this to my attention. All has now been corrected and as I was about to drill out the 1/8th holes for the handrails, when I looked at your email, I was grateful for the timely intervention. It could have been corrected later, but that would have been even more work than what I just did. I have also measured across the whole deck now and the centres of where the handrails should be now tally with the plans too. It has reminded me that I will have to check and cut back the underside of some fender overhangs though. That task is now on my 'jobs to do' list on the workshop plan.


Anyone noticing the small deck fixing screws in the way - no problem - they will be altered or take away once I have all the deck fittings and stanchions in place with their threaded ends, as per my other lifeboat decks.

I just hope my railings turn out half as good as yours and I will be pleased!


Regards,
Kim

[Taranis]

Happy to save you filling holes 


I'm sure your railings will shine like all your work


Having done these twice the best advice I can offer is to form these identical first.




Then clear the deck and turn them over to find the rest of your bends directly over your stanchion holes



If then successful matching the final bends to the last stanchions the rest is easy just filling in



I imagine most modellers completely overlook the extra kick in the rails here and below to both sides

[Canterbury Coxswain]

Andy,
Yes, thanks, I had looked at your build and unlike the ones I have done on my Trent class and my Arun class lifeboats where the rails follow the curve of the transom / stern deck camber [and there is not only a 'kick' where you point it out and that is quite clear on the RNLI plans], unlike these two, the Shannon also follows the 5 degree inclination down to the rear of the wheelhouse - so each upright rail also shows a 'kick' downwards for the top and middle rails on the plans. This is not the same on the Trent and Arun where the handrail is parallel to a flat deck. That should be fun!


By the way, I had a Damascus moment just now - like Saul of Tarsus - that small 1mm to 1.5mm 'error' I was out and could not realise why.......was I had made an allowance for the thickness of the heavy duty double sided tape used to keep the fenders on temporarily!! So, back to square one and I have repositioned the plates back. That added to the thin undercut accounted for the 3mm out to 'the eye'. Hey-ho.


Time for food, but thanks for the 'heads up'.


Kim

[Canterbury Coxswain]

My fifth day on the trot out in the workshop......hasn't been like that for over a year, wonderful!


The postman brought a number of 'modelling' parcels today and amongst them were my square brass tubing selections from Albion Alloys. Remember I suggested to Andy W. that the windscreen wipers with box section extrusions might make a good 'project', which he promptly cracked on with and produced a very neat first one and the many parts to further this, as mainly ten pieces are required to produce the five complete units.
I decided, whilst in the mood, to order my metals. These came and with a very small amount of 'fettling' the 1mm square rod [actually 0.98mm] soon went inside the 1.6mm tube. This will make a challenge for the end of arm pivots, but I am always up for a challenge! Like Andy I will use the three lowest configured sizes to get nearest to the actual scale size [rivet counter], instead of four sections in all [like the real vessel]. I then went to put them away in my 'Shannon' materials 'Really Useful' box, only to find that I had already bought them!! That must have been at least three years ago........and there were other sizes in there too. Oh well, as my wife sometimes says when either large or small items are purchased for the future.....'it's like money in the bank'.


Yesterday I drilled out the gob-eye reduction cones and main rod to 1/8th" to accept the 'start' of the handrails and also the 1/8th" holes in the deck for the stanchion plates and those on the gob-eye plates. Then came:

• the marking off of the first and second bends with marker pen and this consolidated with a 'pinch' with my Knipex cutters. This gives a slight indentation to show where things should happen and not get wiped off in the handling process. From here these marks can either be sanded off with wet & dry when all is finished or continued around the circumference [gently] to show the junction points for the handrail components that are given on the RNLI plans.
• the first bend was put in on the small vice and overlaid on the plans to confirm accuracy and then the second was made using the Robbe tube / rod bender to get the 12mm inner radius.
• I then put the rail in the gob-eye and it held itself nicely in place with no help from elsewhere - this will not be the case once I start the soldering, later.

So, still a pedestrian pace, but now to stop this writing and attempt to make the mirror image piece for the Starboard side!


C.C.

[Canterbury Coxswain]

More of the same, this time the Starboard side.

• do not take any notice of the gap between the gob-eye entrance / exit - this will be adjusted when they are soldered into place [it should be 4mm on the model - as on the plans]. At the moment both are just sitting in their holes without any aids.
• also the 'smidge' of difference in height, this too will 'self right' when the final fixing is done.

Another step forward - hopefully more tomorrow, that's my plan, but you know what they say about them!!


C.C.

[Canterbury Coxswain]

A couple of short forays into the workshop have led me to consolidate work already done, make a couple of amendments and then move forward......very slowly.

• Firstly, the 'legs' that go inside the gob-eye reducer sections were too short to make the dry fit assembly, at this important stage, easy. So I cut 2 x 7mm 1/8th inch brass pieces and soldered these back onto the ends. This facilitated the process better and I was able to continue in a much calmer mood! It took a little while to come to this conclusion, but was worth it in the end!
• I then decided to mark the centre line in a vertical position on the rear of the wheelhouse and also mark out where the two Harken telecommunication tower slides would be positioned either side of this. This would allow for a 'symbiotic' comparison to be made with the gob-eye's centre line and that of the stern towing bollard also. It cannot be stressed too much at this point, just how important it is to get all of this correct - otherwise it will stand out like a 'sore thumb' at some later stage. The time and any adjustments made at this point will pay dividends later.
• A 4mm piece of teak wood was cut to size and the 95 degree stern deck angle was added to its bottom edge and it was then placed on the centre line using two very small pieces of Blu-tac.
• The handrails were then re-positioned and small adjustments were made to get the angles right. NB - the window apertures in the wheelhouse door are not finished and these will be corrected across the weekend, including the addition of some small details for the door. This is just one little item that gets picked up when comparisons are made in the progression of the build.
• I cut two lengths of the brass rail, against the plans [not shown here], put a 3mm thread on the end of each and also filed a dip in the top edge to accept the top handrails shown here. I cut these by hand, using the die holder that fixes into the tail stock of my mini-lathe, turning the three jawed headstock by hand and turning the tailstock handle to keep an applied pressure. Throughout I used cutting fluid to both make the job easier and importantly [as every engineer that I have got to know over the years has told me] to preserve the quality of the cutting edge of the die. It also stops the high pitch 'squeak' that can be produced. The fluid used on the occasion was Templex Blue Foam - I have two others in bottles, given to me by  engineer friends, which I apply to smaller jobs using cocktail sticks or an old cheap Chinese version of a 'Swiss' file, which helps hold back the flow of fluid onto the piece by means of the patterning on the file's end.
• One small practical point. When handling the headstock like this, do give a light coating of machine oil afterwards on the metal surfaces, as the amino acids which exude from the pores on the ridges of you fingerprint ridges will burn into the surface and leave 'rust marks'.

I have, again, added a lot of detail on my methods here, as i know there are a number of builders who are using and following this build as they too make their first model boat [Shannon]. One of my friends says it reads more like a book [I think he uses it to send him off to sleep at night!!].


C.C.

[Taranis]

Looking great Kim.
I never measured the gobeye gap but I have noticed some finished models where a crewman is in danger of falling through 
I was prompted to measure mine by your post and I'm at 4.14mm so I'm near enough 


Regarding the other bends in the rails as they work their way forwards. I never made any further bends but maintained the height off the deck with the stanchions which effectively does this anyway by forcing the rail to stay parallel to the deck camber.

[Canterbury Coxswain]

I have progressed with the Starboard top stern deck handrail. Do not be misguided by the close-up and wide angle shots, as these distort the upright supports. Suffice it to say that all has been measured off the actual RNLI plans, has been constantly looked at against numerous photographs of the same angles and with two very, very minor tweaks tomorrow - I am pleased.
The rail has been bent both in an 'Y' and 'X' axis to achieve what is in reality on the vessel. Not easy, but the time has been worth if [so far!]. This is all 'dry fitted' so far, except the one joint at the top when the gob-eye rail becomes the handrail. This I have 'tacked' in place with a dab of Bondic UV glue.
Just got the Port side to do now and then fill in the centre rail, which goes against the actual build of these rails - they have two in parallel, with supporting bars [rails] welded in place between the deck and centre and centre and top rail. Will it notice, I hope not.
Lastly, I added a 5 degree wedge under the set square to bring the angle of the deck to the 'right' position.
C.C.

[Canterbury Coxswain]

I am still working on the stern handrails and trying to get the 'symbiosis' correct from all angles. I have taken over 2,500 photos of this lifeboat and am looking at every angle and the relationship of other fixtures and fittings both on the deck and the wheelhouse. This does not always agree to the plans in the way that they are drawn. The photos shown [with Natalie the Coxswain's daughter here on the stern deck at Ramsgate, when they first got the boat and needed to do some 'coming alongside' training - something they cannot do on the shingle beach at Dungeness] will show just what I mean, a little. The main areas are the upright rails with the upright lines on the wheelhouse [wheelhouse door, surround plate to the vent in the wheelhouse corridor. Then the cross [horizontal] rails with items such as wheelhouse roof, the steps to the upper steering position and the Port and Starboard upright stanchions. Also the deck furniture, like the stag-horn bollards which point outwards with the slope of the deck from side to side. There's a lot more than this, but it gives the gist of what I am trying to get right.
Then during the middle of this one piece of brass railing snapped!! And from a very reputable source [engineering supplier] who I have dealt with many, many times. That is where I am at at this moment - taking the snapped large portion and making the end square again, then re-bending a new end section down to the deck and silver soldering that back into place! It's all good fun [liar!] and adds to the model making experience. That said I have cut the 3mm [M3] threads on the end of each upright.
I hope this might help some folk. Done all of this on a number of other 1/12th lifeboats and not all of those went 'to plan' first time.
C.C.

[Taranis]

I find that the plan has a limited contribution as things that are out of my control cannot be changed.
The fenders dictate the position of the cleats and the windows cannot be moved. These are all relative to other fittings so compromises have to be made as sympathetically as possible where they disagree which they most certainly do.


 

[Canterbury Coxswain]

Spent a little while back in the workshop today, mainly to rectify the snapped section of the handrail. Using silver solder, for a very solid join, that worked well. You can see that I used a set-square and some engineers' parallels to hold the items steady and at the right angles - also some cut-off paper clips.
Then I wanted to:

• re-check the important 'symbiotics' that I had listed earlier, as so many get this wrong and certain items then just jump out 'like sore thumbs'. It's easy to both see and rectify. When I have judged at boat Shows the first thing I look for are the windows and the stanchions - if those are right it's worth looking beyond........
• in doing the points above I noticed that the base for the stern towing bollard was at the wrong angle, so use the Proxxon delta sander to remove the stern facing area and create an angle that finished at the deck level [as per the plans], rather than a small height from it. That done, other items now 'fell into place' with each other.
• I soldered the items together - not my usual neat finishes here as I wanted to make sure that the joints were both hot and robust, before rubbing back to the correct joint profiles.

Tomorrow I hope to firstly correct two minor angle 'tweaks' [one shows in the last photo] and then tidy the whole of this rail section up by cleaning off the excess solder. On this occasion I have not used silver solder as the whole assembly is quite intricate and I did not want to undo silver solder joints if angles were wrong!
C.C.

[Canterbury Coxswain]

Had an update from my younger German 'twin' yesterday, who is busy with work at the moment, and he has agreed that I can post his progress.

• the filler caps have been sprayed with Alclad chrome paint, I believe........
• and the wheelhouse corridor ventilation inlet for the engine room has been fabricated, then the 'fins' made from Knupfer 0.2mm x 3mm brass strips, the weld lines added using the PVC glue method and then sprayed with Alclad semi-matt aluminium.

All in all some very neat scratch building!


I'm back to my stern rails.................................


C.C.

[Canterbury Coxswain]

Time spent cleaning up the solder work today, before moving on. Just two more stanchion deck plates to be cleaned and then I will start on the mid-rails, before moving over to the Port side.


However, thought I might just give a few tips used here as I know there are quite a number of builders of this model watching here and on Andy Waters' build thread too.


Not wanting to catch [snag] a stanchion and break it off whilst cleaning up I  .......:

• used an old piece of wood [like we all have on the work bench - 'old friends'] and drilled out two sets of holes to accommodate the threaded feet of the railings to give support when putting a little pressure on the brass work.
• used 'swiss' [chinese] files to remove the main excess of solder and then the little Proxxon finger sander + emery tape on the end of a small file and then finished of using Scotchbrite scourer to give a final finish. So far quite pleased with this.

The masking tape across the back of the wheelhouse is just to 'pull it together' as it is still a dry fit and nothing properly glued. There is just a 1/16th of an inch of spring in the GRP flex. This then allows for the accurate cross reference of parts to each other.
C.C.

[Canterbury Coxswain]

Yesterday I drove down to East Sussex to be the guest speaker to the monthly Club Meeting of the Eastbourne Model Power Boat Club. They requested my illustrated PowerPoint presentation of 'The Launch and Recovery of the Dungeness Shannon Class Lifeboat'. I know the Chairman - Dave Hedges - and a few other members from some model boat shows in the South. They have a membership of around forty members and twenty six were present. I have attached a photo, this was straight after the mid-point tea or coffee with cakes break. We had already looked at the SupaCat tractor and launch carriage and also the Shannon lifeboat itself in quite some detail. Here they are, all smiling, and awaiting the second part of the actual launch and recovery exercises between 13-02 and 13-01 on a training day [with RNLI staff on a February day in 2014], so the talk must be reasonably OK!! It was good to bring modelling aspects into the talk as we went along. They asked me to present a few awards, which was nice, and I noticed that one of the Cups was for 'Best Scratch Builder'!! Just my sort of man. All in all the afternoon raised another £55+ for the RNLI at Dungeness.


Back to my build. At the beginning of last week I was not happy with all that work I had done on the aft deck Starboard side railings - a 1.5mm difference at one point, a slight bend where I decided after must consideration there should not be one, and lastly the soft solder joints.........so I :

• un-soldered the railings, cleaned up all the areas of solder, re-bent the area of 'annoyance' and then re-cut two new uprights
• gave them their 'cod-mouth' ends and also tapered the opposite end on the lathe
• then, for the first time I cut the 3mm threads on the lathe, but by motored power, rather than turning the head-stock by hand! Success.
• then I re-soldered the lot and felt a lot better with the result.

You can see my little diamond hand file, which I think I got [along with two other grades] from Arc Euro, but their site does not show them any more. I have since ordered a quantity of tools from a Jewellers' site and they have arrived............................


I profile the ends of rails to be soldered into the 'cod-mouth' shape as this gives a larger surface area and stronger joint, especially when using soft solder. A number of seriously good modellers, engineers and electricians have commented on this at Shows I attend and say that it is a working practice that has died out, but they are glad to see it still exists. Just makes a lot of sense to me.


Having got back to where I was I :

• cut and fitted the first mid-rail and then, using the vernier calipers, made sure the horizontal gaps were equal, and then soldered. All of these hold themselves in place by dry fitting, but without distortion
• you will see I have used my crude, but effective, wooden jig to hold in place for some soldering of joints and cleaning up. These will now be smooth tidied up later today with my new tools [more of those too in my next Post].
• one picture shows the use of a permanent marker on the top surface of a rail - this is to aid me in getting the cod-mouth cuts at the correct angle at each end. Pencil and normal marker pens rub off, just when you don't want it to happen!

C.C.

[Canterbury Coxswain]

........final photos. Now for the Port side!!


C.C.

[Delboy1958]

Hi Kim
Nice brass work

Del

[Canterbury Coxswain]

..........thanks Del..........and here is the Port side, using the same methods as the Starboard side construction. Enjoyable, but glad this main structure is finished. The detail of fixtures and fittings [searchlight holder, life-ring holders, navigation light etc.,.] will come later. Ignore the masking tape, that was just there to hold the wheelhouse together so that all was 'upright' for the alignment and symbiosis checks.


Next is a workshop tidy up, then move all my military modelling figures [busts], equipment, tools, paints and spray guns to the 'self-isolation room', so I am prepared and ready - if I feel up to it!! Until that arises [ever the optimist!!] I will start to have some fun and make a few small detailed items for my Shannon.


To finish on a really encouraging note. Last week I went to the Eastbourne Model Power Boat Club for the RNLI. I reported that I had received £55+.........to my pleasant surprise, when I opened the collecting box there was actually £8 in coin and a £20 note!! That made a total of £78 in all......many thanks to all at the EMPBC. I also noted on their website that in 2018 they raise £700 for the local RNLI station [Tamar class], now that's my sort of Club, one that looks outward rather than inward!!


Kim [C.C.]

[Canterbury Coxswain]

.........c'est fini!!


C.C.

[Canterbury Coxswain]

Well, the best laid plans syndrome again..........................
You know when you have finished something and there is that little niggle that something is not quite right? Well that was the case with the Starboard side of the railings, one of the bends was out a little. So I cut and shut the top rail - with a smaller angle. At the same time I drilled [1mm] a hole in both rod ends and inserted a 1mm rod into the hole, which made for a stronger joint when I soldered it back together. Then the mid-rail was un-soldered and re-angled to a shallower bend and the whole area re-soldered. It was a reasonable success and is about 98% correct now. That took a little bit of time earlier in the week.


The last two days I decided to take out the gate insert and install one that seemed to have a wider cut at the back of the lettering - it's minute, but seeing as I had the idea for making these - I owed it to myself! This just requires the welds to be put back now. However, yesterday and today I have started to make the hinges for the gate. I decided to copy the method that Andy Waters used on his - it is very simple, but very effective and I do not know why it did not come into my mind, so thanks for sharing Andy. I have completed one [well, actually two, but whilst I was cleaning the unit up it 'pinged' out of my pliers and went in the direction of the lathe. I looked for ten minutes and could not find it, so decided to start again! Not doubt when the two are made and in place.......it will be found!!] and one third of the other.


Having said all of the above, the photos will show what I have done and where I have got to. When this is complete and working I will tidy the gate area up and re-prime with grey [what else!].


I am so pleased to be getting into the workshop and enjoy it - most of my other commitments have now ceased, due to the Covid 19 issue. When I lost the part and told my wife she just said, "well you have about a year to make another one, as at our age [73] we are not going anywhere soon!!".


Should have been singing in our Concert at the Cathedral tonight with the English Chamber Orchestra - Faure Requiem and the Schubert Mass - but it has been cancelled, along with June's Beethoven 'Missa Solemnis' with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. So much has changed and more will be, yet.


C.C.

[Canterbury Coxswain]

...........final few photos.
C.C.