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[Tiny69]

My next build is to be a Clyde Class Lifeboat at 1:24 scale.  Only three of the Clyde Class where ever built with the first two only having some slight differences whilst the third had a completely different superstructure similair to that of the Arun Class.  The vessels were 70ft long, the longest used by the RNLI, which will make the model 35 inches long. (890mm)

Breif History
Following visits by the RNLI's managers to the Netherlands and Germany which had successfully employed cruising lifeboats it was decided tosanction and build two permanently manned RNLI vessels.  The two boats went on trail in 1966 and in 1968 went on station with 70-001 stationed at Clovelly and 70-002 at Kirkwall.  70-003 was built some years later as a relief boat for the other two.

All three were is service with the RNLI until 1988 when they were sold on.  70-001 is in private owner ship currently in the Netherlands. 70-002 went to Reyjavik as part of the Icelandic Lifeboat Service before also being sold on into private ownership.  70-003 was sold on, modified and became the Gemini Explorer giving pleasure trips dolphin watching on the Moray Firth.

The model as mentioned will be 35 inches long with twin electric motors.  I have obtained a GA drawing from the RNLI and Section drawings from Mike (gribeauval) who was kind enough to send me a copy of the set he had.  I will be drawing my own set on the PC

[gribeauval]

Much better in 1/12th scale!!

[baloo]

I think 70-002 is privately owned in Scotland,&70-004 is owned by trinity house

[Charlie]

Sounds good, i will look forward to seeing your build progress. The good thing about building in 1:24 scale is that you won't put your back out lifting the model Which of the 3 boats are you going to build?


Charlie

[spongie]

technically no such thing as 70-004. However a forth Clyde "Lodesman" was built in the Netherlands for Trinity House. This is now owned by Roving Eye Enterprises: http://www.orkneyrovspecialist.co.uk/


70-001 is in the Netherlands
70-002 is in Scotland
70-003 is in Scotland
Lodesman is in Scotland...


Seems like the place to be for a Clyde!!!

[wicker]

One based in Buckie and the other was at Troon or that area

[Tiny69]

I will be building the 70-001. Charles H Barrett.  To get this project started a set of plans were purchased from the RNLI consisting of a sheet with the plan and a sheet showing the profile. The are very detailed showing all the internal detail of the superstructure and hull drawn at 1/2 inch = 1 foot.  The down side to these drawings is there are only three cross sections which I feel is not enough to build an accurate hull.

A drawing showing more hull sections was required and I was fortunate to receive a set of hull lines from Mike (gribeauval) which are drawn at 1 inch = 1 foot, hence his comment about 1/12 being much better.  I like to build my models at 1/24 scale and the Clyde gives a good size model that will fit neatly in the boot of my car.  With these three drawings I have spent some time studying them to work out the best way to approach building a fully sailing model.

[Liverbudgie2]

When I was working in Scotland a few years ago I was sent to Buckie, the job having taken all of 15 minutes to complete, meant that I had time to wonder around the harbour and what should I see but one of the Clyde class alongside.  I had already decided that I would wend my way home via McDuff and what should see there but another of the same class, or so I thought so, more images where obtained. Both towns are worth a visit if your in the area and would like to see some interesting vessels out of the water.

LB

[BFSMP]

Actually, according to my friend neil, and plans available 70 001 was 70' long. but the other two were 71' long, and all three had different hull shapes varying from both above and below the boot topping. none in fact were the identical same in any way.

Have a look at the build blogs on the lifeboat section. they well date to prior July 2011 when they all took part in the Loch ness charity sail,in aid of the RNLI.

Jim.

[Tiny69]

70-001 was 71ft long with a hull designed by Richard Oakley, whilst 70-002 was 70ft long with a hull designed by  Irish naval architect John Tyrrel.  The model I am building will be from the 70-001 plans and will measure 35 1/2 inches long.

[BFSMP]

70-001 was 71ft long with a hull designed by Richard Oakley, whilst 70-002 was 70ft long with a hull designed by  Irish naval architect John Tyrrel.  The model I am building will be from the 70-001 plans and will measure 35 1/2 inches long.

sorry, yes got the measurements wrong way round.

However Oakley took credit for designing the boats, after Tyrrell originally designed the class of 3 with a transom stern, which the RNLI  objected to and Oakley redesigned to a design now seen.

How do I know this. I spoke to Mr Tyrrel personally many years ago when I was at one of the RNLI stations he visited.

Also, his relative who is a member of the Historic lifeboat face book page confirmed this to a member on that forum who has since been banned, by telling him that he has the original design blue prints of the original boats, handed down to him by Mr Tyrrell before he died, with transom stern and which the RNLI rejected.

Apparently the boat with transom stern would have been considerably faster that what she eventually was, but in their infinite wisdom the RNLI at the time wanted the boats to fit in with their concept of "double ender" boats and so the transom had to go.

So, Mr Oakley didn't design the boat, he just amended it, being the head RNLI designer at the time to what the RNLI wanted and took credit so Mr. Tyrrel himself told me.

Jim.

[BFSMP]

I think 70-002 is privately owned in Scotland,&70-004 is owned by trinity house

she was sold on by a Mr Crosbie in November 2014 and is now over on the east coast near Perth.

Jim.

[Tiny69]

Some interesting photo's and information in those posts above and it is good to know that all four ships are still around to this day although they are all preforming completely different roles.

Whilst studying the very detailed drawings I came to the conclusion that I would need to draw a simplified set to work from that would clearly show the main elements of the vessel.  Firstly a trip to the reprographics shop was required to have the paper copies scanned into an electronic format to be used in the AutoCAD program I use to draw all my drawings.  The scanned image is simply traced over using the CAD program but there is quite a bit of setting up to do before any drawing can take place.  The first step is to set up a number of layers, think of these as sheets of tracing paper laid on top of each, one of which the scanned images of the plan is placed on and locked.  The other layers are used to draw over the plans such as outlines, centre lines and hidden lines.  The next step the hull lines image was placed onto the layer and scaled to the size required, which in this case is a hull length of 902mm.  Next the image was rotated to ensure all the vertical lines were square making it easier to trace over.  Now I could start the lengthy task of drawing out the hull and frame sections.

With the hull lines completed I decided that I would start to copy the plan and profile views of the lifeboat.  The setting up procedure was repeated with the image of the deck and profile views, ensuring they were both correctly scaled and lined up before I started to draw them out.  All this may seem like a lengthy process but I find it a useful way of understanding how all the elements of a ship fit together and how I am going to construct the model.  The attached images show the drawing in production with the scanned image in the background and the blue lines are what I have drawn over the top.

[Tiny69]

 With the basic hull lines and rib outlines complete I started to draw out each of the individual ribs.  First a centre line was drawn and the half rib shape copied to line up with the centre line.  The rib line was then mirrored to form the other side and to complete the shape an arc was drawn on top to give the profile of the deck.  To allow for the thickness of the outside planking and deck the lines were offset by 1mm.  To finish off the internal cut out was drawn.


After drawing all the ribs out the next step was to draw out the keel shape with the rib positions.  Now I was able to work out all the interlocking cut outs for the ribs to fit into the keel and the position of the motors.  I also determined the locations of the two prop shaft and drew the two holes they would pass through in rib No.6 and 7.


With the keel and ribs complete they were all laid out, including a keel building base at the correct angle to the ribs would be vertical during construction, a separate file was saved and sent to SLEC UK to get a quote for cutting out using a CNC router.  I emailed the file to them with a request for a quote and within a couple of days I received a quotation for the keel and ribs to be cut out of 3mm birch plywood.  After some discussions and corrections to the artwork so the router machine could understand the cutting patterns they were able to proceed with the job.
 

[Tiny69]

It was a couple of weeks after the order was placed that I received a large parcel containing three sheets of 3mm thick plywood, two of which contained the sections and keel cut to shape.  The first sheet has the keel and the bow and stern ribs. At the bottom is the building keel I will use to mount the keel on so the ribs will be vertical in relation to the building base.  The second sheet contains the midship ribs.  The last photo shows the lime sheet for skinning the hull and balsa wood block for the bow and stern sections. Also shown are the two RS385 motors that will be installed later.

[Tiny69]

Time to start building the hull but first a base to build it on is required.  I had some 18mm thick plywood sheet leftover from a DIY project so measured out a piece 1000 x 300mm and cut it out with a hand saw.  Down the middle a pencil centreline was then made as a reference for mounting the building keel.  To ensure the building keel will be square to the base I cut four rectangular pieces of wood to support the ends of the building keel on the mini table top circular saw checking they were true with an engineering square.  Now I could glue the building keel in place along the centreline of the base board using some rapid drying wood glue, again checking everything was square.  With the two ends supported the next step was to cut more square rectangular pieces of ply and glue then at intervals to support the full length of the building keel.

[BFSMP]

If you are keeping the building board cramped to the workmate would it be advisable to have the heavy overhang of 18mm ply equidistant  over the workmate so that all the weight and possible distortion is not just on one end of the boat's keel.


Just a thought.


Jim.

[Tiny69]

The clamps are just to stop the base board slipping about on top of the workmate, Jim.

The building keel was now almost ready for the keel to be mounted, but first fourteen blocks had to be cut and glued either side ensuring they were positioned not to interfere with the installation of the ribs later.  The keel could now be slotted down onto the building keel and the installation of the ribs could be started.  Starting with ribs four and five each one were slotted in place both side of the motor mount and checked that they were perpendicular to the building base with the engineering square.  Once happy with the fitment they were removed, glued in place and checked again.  Moving out from the centre each of the remaining ribs were fitted, checked and then glued in position.

[Tiny69]

The next stage of the build was to interlock the 3mm x 3mm wooden stringers between the ribs starting at the bow and running one down the centre to rib number three.  Then either side two more were fitted marking the edge of the main superstructure.  Around the outer edge of the ribs two stringers were glued in position forming the outside edge of the deck.  Now all the ribs were securely held in place.

[Tiny69]

Continuing on with the hull I could now fit the rest of the stringers to the hull, a further three rows on each side, glued into the slots already cut out of the ribs.  The skeleton of the hull was now complete ready for skinning.

[Tiny69]

To start skinning the hull first it had to be removed from the building frame and turned over.  The building frame was removed from the base board and two new building frames made and glued to the base board.  The skeleton could now be mounted ready for the work to start on the outside of the hull using 1mm thick limewood.  Initially I was going to cut the sheet limewood into 10mm wide strips and plank over the frames but thought I would cut panels to the shapes of the frames and stringers instead.  To obtain the shapes of the panels I used thin paper held in place over the hull and the natural daylight from behind shining through drew out the required shape on to the paper.  This was then cut out and offered up to the hull to check it fit.  Any trimming was done and the paper shape was placed on to limewood sheet and traced around.  Using a sharp knife the panel was cut out, checked against the hull frames, trimmed before I was ready to start gluing them in place.  Working from the bow to the stern, along the keel and on each side the individual panels were glued and clamped in place.

[Canterbury Coxswain]

Tiny,
A nice neat build of a really great looking class of lifeboat. This build will help anyone wishing to build a hull in this manner - well defined stages that help understand the whole process.
Keep up the good work, I am enjoying watching the progress.
Kim
Canterbury Coxswain

[spongie]

I've often thought it'd be interesting to replicate the hull welding on a model of a steel Lifeboat like the Tyne, Thames, Waveney or Clyde...


Heightened realism

[IainC]

From the way the bow section is scalloped inwards I'd say you are building 70-002, which had that unique design feature.

[Tiny69]

It has been some time since I have posted on this build but here is an update.  I have been continuing on with the skinning of the hull with the limewood panels and have now completed them all. Looks like a patchwork quilt at the moment but it is something to work with.  I have also cut the slots in the hull for the prop tubes to pass through which are quite long due to the angle of the tubes.