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[John W E]

Hi all

Come to the stage now of going to fit the anchors to my model.   Normally, this would be an item that I would purchase from Sirmar or some other good Company like that.   

I thought, though, this time I would have a go at making my own.

I tried making a mould, not very successful, then, I hit upon the idea of prefabricating one using the material that doesnt like me and I dont like it - PLASTICARD 

So, this is the procedure I have used to manufacture two Bower anchors. 

First of all, I drew out on 1mm thickness Plasticard and anchor flutes and cross-brace as in figure one below.

I then used four pieces of 2 x 1 plastic strutt to thicken up the base of the flutes as in figure two below.

When this had dried, I used 'Milliput' filler to form the 'wedge' shape at the base as in figure three below.

I allowed this to harden for a good 24 hours.    I then (with a course file & various grades of wetn dry) shaped the base of the anchor as in figures four and five below.

Then, I made the anchor shaft out of 3x2 plastic strutt; as in figure 6 below.

I also made a little shackle out of copper wire as in figures 6 and 7 below.

I have also included a picture of the anchors ready to be painted - see what you think.

aye
John e
bluebird

[banjo]

AWESOME

[John W E]

Hi all,

Just a photograph to show you the anchors fitted and the anchor cables with the brake stoppers.  All that needs to be done now is a gold coloured chain painted black, although I am tempted to leave them 'brass coloured'.

aye, John

[cos918]

hi john they are great. Wish you had done them before the warwick show as i brought 2 anchors. Oh well next time i need anchors IL try your method. john

[Tug-Kenny RIP]

Can you actually  'Away'  them.

Does anyone have anchors that move up and down ?

Ken

[DickyD]

Ahhh!! John using plastic, something akin to the Pope becoming a protestant !

Very good John, welcome to the 21st century. 

[John W E]

Kenny, the models on this anchor doing actually go up and down.  ::) ::)  ooops or should I say the anchors on the model of HMS Daring do not go up and down.  But, on the Leeds Castle which I built and on the HMS Orkney the anchors do go up and down. 

 On HMS Orkney, consists of a gear box and winch.  The winch drum was made out of an old 35 mm film reel holder and driven by a Home made gear box and it relied on the weight of the chain and anchor freefalling it down and the winch bringing it back up.

On the Leeds Castle, however, I had to incorporate a drive from the winch below deck to the winch above deck so as the chain paid out, the capstans rotated to aid the movement of the chain.

If you require, I have a drawing somewhere, or I could scribble one, with a photograph - if I can be bothered to get me lazy self into the garage to take a picture of the Leeds Castle set up of the winch.

aye
John E
bluebird

[barriew]

 Bluebird says "All that needs to be done now is a gold coloured chain painted black, although I am tempted to leave them 'brass coloured'."

Which raises the question of what colour anchor chains SHOULD be

I would have thought rust was the most likely - what does anyone else think?

Barrie

[John W E]

hi ya all and Barry

From what I can tell, and this only applies to the British Royal Naval vessels.   During peace time, it looks as though the chain that is visible on deck is either painted black or white.    However, there are also a few more photographs which I have seen, where the chain and the whole of the steel deck is just a mass of rust.   This looks as though the ship has been on patrol in some heavy weather.

I am not sure about Merchant vessels but, I would have thought they would have followed the same principle, passenger ships and soforth and the visible chain will possible be painted to keep up the appearances, but, on the likes of tugs and such stuff, I would have thought it would just have been left to rust.

I have included a couple of photographs of two British Warships to show you what I mean.

I do not know if anyone else can shed any light on this??

Aye
John e
Bluebird

[DickyD]

Not sure but not rust.

[catengineman]

I seem to be having some problems posting to the site but here goes yet again! ???

Tug Kenny. I have working anchor on my Tito Neri,

the winch is a converted servo mounted under the [gypsys] foredeck.

[tolnedra]

With reference to anchor cable, painting of, as an ex-Chief Bosun's Mate it was always traditional to paint the visible part of the cable white. If the ship was moored to a buoy, the anchor was disconnected, and the first shackle of cable attached to the ring of the buoy. A young seaman was then sent out on a bosun's chair to paint (white) the visible part of the cable to maintain the smart appearance of the ship. Pity the young sailor under punishment at the time!

Danny

[Tug-Kenny RIP]

I do like the idea of a moving anchor John. Any details will be gratefully received.

Yours look great Catengineman. I shall have a go on the next model.

Cheers...Ken

[catengineman]

Thanks for the complement Tug----Kenny,
I have a 'slipping' idea which if the anchor gets fouled and you cant retrieve it then by driving astern and paying the full 2 meters of chain out it will snap the week link and the tug can continue its voyage (yes I have had cause to use this idea) :( and I also have waded into the local pond to recover said anchor from the drain grate it was caught on :( >:( :(
but on the other hand I have had some great times putting Tito in the middle of the lake anchoring and then getting people to ask how it is staying there when I'm not useing the transmitter
Any help in the construction I can give feel free to ask, I'll help as much as I can.
PS. get the strongest chain you can, my first was so soft it parted in the tank.

[Colin Bishop]

At Warwick there was a Brittany Ferries model which demonstrated lowering and raising both anchors on the pool - worked very well. You can just see the partially lowered anchors in the picture.

[Tug-Kenny RIP]

If it's going to happen to anyone, it's goona be me,  'Cat'   

Ken

[catengineman]

If capt jack reads this thread he will probably laugh his head off! he knows the look my face had when the first chain parted. >:(
and then fishing about with a boat hook to get the anchor back still I did manage to recover it and then a trip to B&Q (I think) for a better chain even though it is brass coloured (the first was black, and soft like aluminium)

Oh the anchor started life as a solid brass door knob, then the stock is steel and the chain is I think brass.
In the broads where I live I can anchor and drive the flutes into the sand so the tug will turn with the tide. I have watched the bow dip when I have been heaving the pick in and also had to steam around with the flutes just in the water to clear the muck, mmm cable washer? not too hard to sort out :) :) :)

R,

[Ghost in the shell]

plasticard anchors, intersting, thats two items im gonna need for Nord Icelandia, do i buy off paul or do I follow john, that is a difficult one.

[Admhawk]

When this had dried, I used 'Milliput' filler to form the 'wedge' shape at the base as in figure three below.
aye
John e
bluebird

Fig 3 looks kind of like the stratoliner from Thunderbirds! 

[Admhawk]

I have a 'slipping' idea which if the anchor gets fouled and you cant retrieve it then by driving astern and paying the full 2 meters of chain out it will snap the week link and the tug can continue its voyage

Do what the real ships do, leave the end unattached. I heard a good story once about the chain on a large US CVN going all out and onto the seabed because they let it out too fast. The capstan couldn't slow it down! The CO wasn't happy. Image what it would have ripped out if it had been attached at the end!

[Bunkerbarge]

Just a couple of points here gents. 

1) Anchor cables are painted black with a link every cable painted white to enable it to be counted out by the deck hands.  Unfortunately after only a couple of uses and a few weeks in the cable locker it becomes difficult to distinguish between the black and white ones are they are all rust coloured!!  Some like passenger ship cables may be painted regularly where they are visible on deck.

2) In all my years at sea I have only ever known cast steel links.  Brass or brass coloured would be far too soft for such loadings.

3) The anchor cable is held in the chain locker by the "Bitter End".  This is a link that is attached to the side of the chain locker and is designed to fail if over loaded by paying out too fast or dragging against a sliping brake.  The "Bitter End" is only to prevent the entire cable being paid out inadvertantly.  It obviously is designed to fail to protect the integrity of the chain locker but it is actually attached.

[Bryan Young]

Hi all,

Just a photograph to show you the anchors fitted and the anchor cables with the brake stoppers.  All that needs to be done now is a gold coloured chain painted black, although I am tempted to leave them 'brass coloured'.

aye, John

Black? Most ships I have seen including warships have the 1st shackle length painted white ..not just for cosmetics, it allows the cable party to tell when they are coming to the end, especially at night, and you do not want the anchor punching a hole in the hull. Maybe WW1 & 2 were different.

[John W E]

Hi there Kenny, better late than never.

Here's a couple of photographs of the anchor winch and its workings.  As you can see, the framework is made out of my favourite material 'plywood' to which I have added brass bushes for where the drive shafts run through.    The only part I am unable to reveal is inside the winch housing itself and inside of there, there are basically two cogs to drop the gearing even lower.   You see how I have made the chain drum, out of two old plastic cogs.   If you pull on the chain really hard, this will actual spin on the shaft.  This is a sort of semi-safety feature which prevents me from dragging the anchor through the side of the model.    because this is a fairly strong winch.    It did used to have an electronic cutout micro switch on it, which, somehow mysteriously became destroyed whilst I was playing determining the lifting capacity of the anchor winch.  In other words, I was trying to lift a 6 volt 10 amp battery with it 

Ive included a few more photographs for those who are interested.    In one of them you will see the back end of the two drive motors and in between the two drive motors, you will see the pendulum set up which is linked to the stabilising unit.  This in turn sends a signal to the two stabilising servos. 

Another picture you will see the speed controllers, which are Electronize, two switching units one ACTion and one Electronize and at the back of them a mass of wires which is my attempt at a distribution board.

In between the two Electronize Speeds controllers you will see a Hunter digital onboard mixer unit for the two main motors' drives.   On the back of that, you will find a temperature sensor module.  This controls the two onboard cooling fans, one of which is situated underneath the speed controllers and the other one you will see is mounted above and slightly back of the main motors.  Underneath the switching units there is another small circuit board which controls the power for the onboard cameras.

Ontop of the main motors you will see two brass cooling tanks, the pickup for the water cooling on this hull is drawn through from the Aframes on the propellers and these Aframes are a hollow oval section with forward facing slots cut into it.   As the props draw the water passed the Aframes, it draws water into them and into the cooling system.

Hope this is of some help and gives you some insight.

aye
john e
bluebird.

[John W E]

and more pictures

[Tug-Kenny RIP]

Superb John. Thank you for that.   

I shall be attempting this on the next ship I wreck !!!  Also, I'll not be lifting heavy batteries, but view it as a mechanical exercise.

Cheers...Ken