like a kid in a sweet shop

have begun to fabricate the stern rail sections now ……… start of the stern rails for the boat which will eventually mate up to the cast brass stern rail fitting using 3.2mm "brass" brazing rod, annealed on the gass burner of the stove to ease bending to shape.

i'ts slow going, but have eventually got through all the silver soldering with the finish of the stern pulpit rails...……..just got to mate them up and solder to the brass fitting on my boat and make something similar for the other boat...…...but will probably fabricate that in plasticard……..much easier..…….my metalworking skills aren't good enough for that,
but I do know there's a few burnt fingers, and a lot of brass there!

now, just a lot of cleaning up to do,  

Very impressive Neil

Barrie

cheers barrie…….

been a slog I can tell you...……….and just about run out of propane...……...mind you, the bottle has lasted 5 or more years so far.

rear rail  has now been temporarily fitted to the stern deck to mark up where to cut in order to silver solder to the brass stern casting supplied.

That is some soldering there Neil, looking good though. It all looks like it's coming together very nicely. Keep up the brilliant work, and I expect you are cussing me, just like gribeauval was, because of the burnt fingers lol. 
Mick F

Nice work Neil:Thumbup:

thanks guys......just off to the brazing hearth now...……..this is where the swearing and cursing starts. lol

stern rails finally silver soldered to the centre brass cast fitting.....took some doing as the fitting acted as a conduit to loose heat rapidly, but got there in the end.

just a good clean up and a little filing of excess solder and flux and they'll be ready for a hot bath to get rid of grease, and then their "feet" round discs on the bottom of the stanchions.

how ya feeling matey..……….hope you getting over that virus you've had.

Still hanging round M8

Hi Neil,
Great work!
A question - how do you solder additional rails without the previously soldered ones coming apart?
Thanks
Cheers
Jeff

Thornej wrote:

Hi Neil,
Great work!
A question - how do you solder additional rails without the previously soldered ones coming apart?
Thanks
Cheers
Jeff

hi jeff,

I use silver soldering for almost all my work these days with a portable brazing hearth made from a product called Vermiculite able to take temperatures up to 1600C...…...and the heat from a Sievert propane pencil tipped torch...……..temperature is very localized to the point you are soldering and as soon as you remove that heat from the immediate location the solder sets, meaning that you can solder both sides of a bar without the other side being liquified...……..no good for brass of 1mm or less, as the heat melts it to a blob.

I gave up soft soldering years ago in favour of silver soldering...……..as it is a whole lot stronger and doesn't come apart if knocked...……….however I am about to buy some liquid soft solder paste so that I can use a low heat from a kitchen flambé torch to solder the thin life belt holders...……..but think i'll take templates of the parts before I do, in case I melt them lol.

Great, thanks  

no problem.

What diameter silver solder wire do you use Niel, and what flux is appropriate????????????

the diameter isn't really the governing factor Damien, although the stuff I use is around 1.25mm dia...…...silver solder comes in differing melt points unrelated to the diameter of the rod...……….and I was given a bundle of the same dia rod some years ago which will last me a lifetime, lol.....and I haven't a clue as to what temperature it melts at, sorry.

I've used brazing rod in the past mostly on my hillclimb car but 3mm or 1/8" is a tad big for model use.  

Damien wrote:

I've used brazing rod in the past mostly on my hillclimb car but 3mm or 1/8" is a tad big for model use.  

That's exactly what I've been soldering up, Damien......3.2mm brazing rod.

nhp651 wrote:

Thornej wrote:

Hi Neil,
Great work!
A question - how do you solder additional rails without the previously soldered ones coming apart?
Thanks
Cheers
Jeff

Jeff

There is an alternative to using silver solder for which you need a big heat source. I use soft solder and to prevent melting one joint whllst soldering the next I use heat sinks on either side of the joint. These can be as simple as crocodile clips, or larger metal spring clips.

Barrie

Thanks Barrie 
Cheers
Jeff

work has stopped just for the moment as I've run out of space, lol...…...I have had my centrifugal casting system up for sale as haven't used it in 3 years, but I now need to cast some parts in resin and white metal before it goes...…..so have dug it out, dusted it off and ordered some resin to cast the resin parts.....and then some white metal bits to finish off before it goes...…...so that all to come over the next few days...…...i'll post a few photos of the gear and castings in their moulds once I have started.,

I  have done nothing in weeks to the two Shannon's because of my broken leg an d feeling unsafe in the work shop on crutches, but last Saturday/Sunday at the Blackpool model show both I and Mick French , whom I am making the second Shannon for decided to have a word with Andy Grigg of Models by Design about his new buckets which can and do adapt to the German water jets, and give the proper impression rather than the square shaped one s and they fit perfectly and look well. 

the buckets themselves are made from GRP and brackets supplied......so I have been looking at them tonight and figuring how to fit them to the main bodies of the German jets......more will be revealed later.

However the parts supplied by MBD are a Nozzle plate which turns the square end of the jet outlet into a rounded outlet, and a moveable cone nozzle that fits over the new cap...…..finally the Bucket and a set of laser cut brackets which attach to the buckets and the main face plates attached to the stern transom.

I am also building my friends semi kit of a Shannon by models by design along side my speedline models...……..but there are a few tricky bits on that boat...….the first being that the deck iglued onto the hull, unlike the speedline models one where the full deck is removeable.
this causes problems in that the jet drives and motors are hidden under the aft part of the deck...…
so today, I resorted to butchery and cut a rather large hole in the stern end to allow access.
then I began to rectify this by putting in a watertight flush hatch.
first by lining the hole with a wall, exactly the same size as the hole.
onto the bottom rim of these "downstands" I made a "baseplate" circumnavigating around the hole with a final "upstand" running around that outer rim.
this forms a channel running around the perimeter of the  hole. once the hatch lid is cut to size, it will have a timber rim, the same thickness but for a mm each side  of the hatch lid which will fit into the channel, thus forming a capillary block of water ingress through the hatch.
as it is made from timer, it is held in place using a barrier of Vaseline[petroleum jelly] also adding to its water integrity.
I have used this method for making flush watertight deck hatches many times with not a single drop of water getting in to the hull from that area.

Good to see you've started work again

Barrie

CHEERS GUYS......THESETWO MODELS ARE SO FRUSTRATING......NO DECENT PLANS, ABSOLUTELY NO INSTRUCTIONS.

you may as well build the whole thing from scratch and make everything as you go along...…….but we shall persevere.

the base of the hatch has been glued in now and cramped up. the lid to the hatch has also been cut to size and shape and the retaining frame that slots into the base to form the waterproof break has also been fitted. this was glued using 2 part epoxy whilst the base was glued using waterproof aliphatic resin wood glue, taking longer to set, but giving a greater bond wood to wood.

The hatch cover has been temporarily fitted, and finally skimmed with a top sheet of 1/64th birch ply to raise it to the correct level and also fill a 1mm gap at one end..

meanwhile I have been removing the centres of the 3 rear hatches, and now satisfied that I have as much access as needed for fiddling and fettling the jets, motors, links and the cams for the working trim tabs on the MBD  boat............in fact probably 90% of that given by the Speedline boat, with the removeable deck.

I have also fitted some forward blocks to keep the fore end of the superstructure on the MBD  boat from sliding backwards, as the raised flange on the deck moulding comes nowhere near the position that it should be to retain superstructure position...…...and although it would be fine for a slower boat...…...the fierce acceleration that this boat promises to deliver I could see with micks or my clumsiness it would go base over apex and the cabin disappear over the taff rail, lol.

hatch has been fitted...…...quite pleased with the results and the gap fits...…..better than a Beamer TBH   

Just give it a few coats of sanding sealer now to harden it up and get ready for painting.

today I swapped boats and  made the hand rails that adorn the cabin flying bridge area...went well usind 2mm brass rod and silver solder.....

once fitted and knowing what I did,and how I did it, I silver soldered up the pre prepared parts for the MBD boat as well.

Looking good matey. 

people are always asking how one cuts out holes in bulwarks, windows recesses etc...……...and I am amazed when someone tells them to go and buy a hole cutter for a job that they will probably only ever use that hole cutter once in their modelling lives, and yet pay 20 - 30 quid for it to lay idle for the rest of its days, collecting dust...………

especially when most modellers possess the best hole cutter that they can own, with innumerable sizes and shapes that they could ever wish...…….an electric drill, drill bits and a bit of common sense....

the rest can be told in pictures.










ream out the piece by using the shaft of the drill cutting between holes










and then using small 6" files...….file and then sand to the lines, and for the curved corners, use some rolled up abrasive paper.

you will notice from the first two shots that the inner lip on the MBD Shannon is twice the width of the lip on the Speedline Shannon, which follow. this is because the MBD Shannon windows fit into a frame before fitting into the recess, whilst the Speedline Shannon differs in that a vinyl black transfer to simulate the black silicon bonding sealant on the real boat is stuck on to the clear window plastic both sides and then set into the recesses with a black silicone glue.









and the Speedline models windows were cut out in exactly the same way as the earlier MBD boat, drilling and reaming out...….then I turned to my trusty minicraft drills and fitted a stone grinding plug......it made easy work then of getting the narrower recessed flange smooth.

Looking Good Neil - lots of intricate brass work there

Barrie

the stern pulpit rail was the trickiest with lots of holding with the stands with crockodile clips...…..third hands I think they are called, but got there in the end.....…….would have taken me 3 times as long had I not used silver soldering and a propane gas torch....

anyway...……..I put a request for help on mayhem over 4 hours ago about how the interior of the cabin goes together from the 3 vac formed pieces of plastic…...even emailed and messaged Adrian gosling.....

over 4 hours ago...…...and in the end...…….the BP  rose, mercury boiled and I had to post...…..

53 reads , 33 views of the interior...….over 2 dozen kits at both 12th and 16th scale sold with these interiors, and not a single offer of help...……...c'est la vie.


its at times like this that I have no other words to say other than, I now know why such helpful people as Inertia, aka Dave Milbourn and Stavros turned their backs on this site...


Anyway, don't worry folks……….I've sorted it.  

SO  what I did was to separate by my usual brute force and butchery, the cabin from the deck and started to fit the interior upside down, and work backwards....….my usual state anyway, lol...…….and i'll get there in the end...……

pick shows the interior tray sat inside but not fit...………...for eventually it has to have all seats, radars etc fitted...…...a model in itself...…….but now I know what I am doing and sod the rest...…...they can fend for themselves.only on here will you see it...……..oh ye, the yank site as well, lol.