The Shipyard ( Dry Dock ): Builds & Questions > Navy - Military - Battleships:
Deans Marine Motor Gun Boat 1/24 scale
ballastanksian:
Great work so far! I look forward to seeing your work on the Rolls Royce gun.
SailorGreg:
--- Quote from: ballastanksian on June 01, 2020, 11:15:04 pm ---Great work so far! I look forward to seeing your work on the Rolls Royce gun.
--- End quote ---
Thanks. Although the gun on this one isn't the Rolls Royce one, it is the 2 pounder "pom-pom", like this -
I admit that keeping track of which MGBs had which armament fit and when is something most of us will only find out from a well researched book. I am sure Deans have done their homework and this is the correct gun for this boat. I have made a tentative start on it, and found out how brittle resin castings can be. {:-{ But that's a story for another day. ok2
Greg
TailUK:
--- Quote from: SailorGreg on June 02, 2020, 11:03:03 am ---Thanks. Although the gun on this one isn't the Rolls Royce one, it is the 2 pounder "pom-pom", like this -
I admit that keeping track of which MGBs had which armament fit and when is something most of us will only find out from a well researched book. I am sure Deans have done their homework and this is the correct gun for this boat. I have made a tentative start on it, and found out how brittle resin castings can be. {:-{ But that's a story for another day. ok2
Greg
--- End quote ---
The second volume of " Allied Coastal Forces of WW2" by Al Ross and John Lambert covers Vospers and should give some ideas which number series carried as their weapons fit. It should also have scale drawings of the weapons used.
SailorGreg:
Thank you. Yes, I looked at that and the other volumes, but this model is a British Power Boat 71' 9" design. The only book I found that covered them specifically was "British Motor Gun Boat 1939-45", mentioned previously here. Even that has a relatively brief overview, as it also looks at all the other designs (and there are a lot of them), up to and including the Fairmiles. If anyone has a good reference for the BPB designs and their armament, please do let me know. (I believe there is a book on coastal forces weapons from John Lambert in the offing, but know no more than that. I am keeping my eyes open.)
Greg
SailorGreg:
With the prop shaft tubes in place I now had to fix the P brackets. I reckoned that, as these take the thrust of the props, I should make sure the fixing was good and strong. The Prop Shop P brackets were plenty long enough for this model so I had a good length inside the hull. I cut 2 short lengths of plastic pipe and superglued them over the stubs of the brackets. With the shafts in place to keep the brackets properly aligned, I then filled the pieces of pipe with thickened epoxy, encapsulating the ends of the brackets. On the principle that you can’t have too much strength, I added a web between the pipe and the rudder post blocks and I reckon the P brackets will now take all the thrust the props can throw at them.
The next bit to fit is the steering servo. Here I took a minimalist approach (as I did with all the internals), just 2 pieces of ply fitted to the hull bottom. The pieces are placed to give a nice snug fit to the servo, and in order to give space for the wire grommet if the servo needs removal I cut a gap in the forward piece. This was cut most of the way through before fitting, needing only a few strokes with the razor saw to finish the job once the glue had dried. Here it is before removal of the gap.
The kit provides some white metal castings for the rudder arms, together with some small self-tappers to fix them to the rudder post. I tried these but managed to strip the thread of the hole before I had tightened the screw sufficiently to prevent any rotation. Maybe I drilled the hole too big in the first place, but in any case I decided to ditch the white metal and get some more conventional rudder arms from Model Boat Bits. These were augmented by some ball and socket joints, as the angle the rudders sit at means the two arms move in different planes. The ball and sockets allow more freedom of movement than a pinned joint.
The motors were next. I had bought Model Boat Bits’ flexible couplings as well as the alignment tool. With the shafts and motors in place I made up wooden wedges to sit under the motor mounts. I would like to say that I have a process for determining the exact height and angle of the wedge. Well, I have – it’s called T&E. That’s trial and error. I make up a wedge that looks about right, try it and see if it matches the angle of the motor mount. After a couple of false starts and a fair few trips to the disc sander, I have a wedge that looks about right. I hold the mount down hard on the wedge and turn the prop. If I can see a slight movement of the mount as the shaft rotates, the height is wrong. I slide the wedge in or out to reduce the movement. Repeat the process until you have a wedge which holds the mount just right – that is, there is absolutely no movement in any plane when you rotate the shaft. Mark the wedge position on the hull and the motor mount position on the wedge. With the wedge out of the boat, fix the motor mount in the marked place. I put a couple of dabs of cyano on the mount to hold it in the exact spot while I drill screw holes. Glue the wedge in the marked position and reinstall the motor with the flexible coupling, and you should be good to go.
Astute observers (yes, you Derek!) will notice that the two wedges are of noticeably different thicknesses. At some point when I was fixing the tubes in place, I must have jogged something, because the starboard tube is set at a shallower angle than the port one. Fortunately the prop is still clear of the hull. I did briefly consider digging the starboard tube out and refixing but decided that the potential for damaging the hull was pretty high and so I left it alone. You do have to look pretty carefully under the hull to see the different heights of the props.
With the motors in place I then set about placing all the other bits and pieces that drive the boat along. Here is my initial placing to find a space for everything.
This is broadly how I ended up, although the aft battery was rotated 90 degrees and stood on edge to allow the wiring to go over the top of the forward battery, and the Action Electronics P40e and Rx battery will be fixed to a shelf that is elevated as you will see in the next picture. (Actually, here was another boo-boo – having glued this shelf onto its bearers, I later realised there was insufficient clearance under the deck for the P40e with the ESC and servo plugs in place. I broke the shelf out and refitted it under the bearers – that fixed it!) Here are all the locating pieces in place in the hull, all sealed with a coat of varnish (because I had some on the bench).
The Rx will be fixed with Velcro on to a deck beam just above the P40e/Rx battery shelf. I did try to keep all the workings towards the rear of the hull as that is how it is shown in the plan. The plan also gives a balance point for the hull, but until I have the superstructure and fittings in a more complete state, checking that will have to wait.
Happy modelling all. And happy sailing for those who can venture forth now!
Greg
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