like a kid in a sweet shop

Their a tad big to crew that little boat with piggy Neil.

he's the best lifeboat coxs'n you could ever wish for matey...…….never ever leaves his post,

Nice job Neil.

Cheers matey......….i'm even tempted to take em for a sail tonight, lol.

its a while since I did anything on the Shannon boats for one reason or another but today on seeing another build taking shape I thought i'd better get my assienda off the chair and do something I have been putting off....that is to start building the flying bridges of both boats on to the aft end of the cabins.

the Speedline boat will be easy but the models by design boat will be much harder and also more time consuming because all of the panels will have to be fabricated from plasticard, and then detailed with plasticard and brass to the same configuration and design using the Speedline model as a guide.

I began by drilling the areas out with a 2mm bit, and then reaming out with the side of the drill bit.

And then, I glued on the pre drilled deck to the hull of the MBD boat and clamped ,taped and weighted it down to set......for this I used 30minute setting 2 part epoxy to give a better grip.

Its very good of you to have waited until I got back from holiday before continuing this build Neil

Barrie

barriew wrote:

Its very good of you to have waited until I got back from holiday before continuing this build Neil

Barrie

was my pleasure Barrie………..hope you enjoyed your cruise...……...something different from the usual Caribbean and similar...…..I'll bet the scenery was beautiful. 

so the next bit is just for you......accessibility ..

I have likened to the fact that the Speedline model has a removable deck and therefore accessibility to the jets, motors and such are a doddle, but with the MBD model, the deck is fixed with only the "hole" left by the superstructure is accessible for if anything goes wrong with the jets or motors.

And so I decided to cut an access hatch into the deck immediately behind the raised combing of the superstructure location.  The new hole will have a waterproof hatch cover to cover it and this will sit under the rear flying bridge structure, and hidden from all but the most prying of rivet counters eyes.it will blend in well with the texture paint to be applied to the whole of the deck, but when lifted will give ample access to the jets.

today an early start to strengthen what I feel is a flimsy deck for my liking......like a nice beafy boat that will take a knock or two, and so an going to put a couple of cross beams into the structure.

but immediately noticeable is a sagging in the rear deck just behind the access hatch I cut. so both incorporating the supports for my  waterproof deck hatch I run a cross member below the aft edge of the hatch and bolstered it up temporarily  with a piece of MDF  to take out the sagging in the middle of the deck...…..if once I take off the cramps when the epoxy has set, there is still a sagging, i'll put in a support permanently.

the surrounding "lip" to support the new hatch as been glued in to the inside of the recess and cleaned up.

a new hatch was then cut from the piece cut out from the deck superstructure access that is now waste, and fitted carefully to size. it will eventually have a reverse combing facing downwards glued onto the bottom of the new hatch...…..to make a fitting to slide into the support surround of the hatch recess, making a watertight seal under the hatch, but I cannot fit this combing until I make the superstructure fit perfectly and glued onto the hatch to keep it from moving  in a lateral plane.

finally I temporarily fit the jets with blue tack so that I could position the holes for the reversing bucket snakes.

Neil asked me earlier if I have been following this double build.The short answer is not for the last few days as I have been fundraising,for the RNLI,and cooking myself in the sun in doing so.My nose and forehead,despite copious applications of factor 50 sunscreen,resemble a cross between a blanched tomato,with the skin partly peellng off,and a piece of pork crackling.However the three day total of 26 hours,resulted in £555.43.Margaret and I are a bit pleased with that!
A little while ago,I said that I was not going to comment further on some posts,because of some remarks that did at the time upset me greatly,but i decided,hell my alternative nom de plume is Rottweiler,so Im back,with hopefully less of the agression previously given and received.
However I must say,this build,by my great friend,leaves me lost for words.There are so many superlatives that could be used,that really dont sum up my feelings.As most now know,Neil is doing this for me,the same as my other good friend Gribeuval,aka Mike Pendlebury is doing with a model of the Severn Class the Will. My emotions are still very much very high,when I just think that these two wonderful modellers (which I am not in any way or form)are dong these builds for me.They both make things look so simple and easy,and both are helping other modellers overcome their problems,by dealing with any obstacle that comes up, with what seems to them so simple a solution.
With each stage of the builds moving on towards completion,I am really so amazed and remain so grateful.I will even make a solemn promie to learn how to steer these rather fast models,hopefully without bumping into anything.
Thank you BOTH from the very bottom of my heart,(yes I do have one honest!)
I will shut up now and let you master builders get on with what you do in a top class way.
Mick F

ahhh, you are so sweet, matey...………its a pleasure, lol...…..you keep collecting for the noble cause mate...……….I'll still keep building.

mind you the rest of the build will be much slower as almost everything else will have to be scratch built so will be now switching to the Speedline model to build.

He doesn't half lay it on thick Neil!!

We are building the boats anyway.

he does that mate...…..think he's expecting a Shannon...…..I'll give him a 21 instead, lol.

Hi, I was wondering if you do crews for 1/16th scale and if you can supply nude or nearly so (ie no bulky clothes).  I need some 1/16th scale crew members for my Crash tender and then a couple for my Victorian cutter and projected Norfolk Wherry.  So all around 4 1/2" tall in no very particular pose. I can modify and dress them accordingly and you'd be welcome to mould them and cast them for your own use, once I have a set.

Cheers,
Martin

sorry martin only 1.12 to fit my lifeboats, but if you google MOUNTFLEET MODELS, you will find a good variety on his site at 1;16 scale.

Neil, no mention of crew figures on his site. Very high quality mouldings and white metal though, if that's the kind of ship you're into.

So, still looking. I may have to make them myself, but moulding and casting?  Yuchh!

Martin

he might not have put them on yet martin but he does do them......I produced 3 sets of 1;12 lifeboat figures or him, but he bought in an expansion of his business the 1;16 and 1;24 and 1;32 figures that a guy called Adrian clutteruck used to sell...……….give him a phone call and tell him nei from Fleetwood put you on to him...he's a nice chap and very amenable.

OK, Neil, thanks.  I think I've heard of Adrian's models.
I tend to find that too many model figures have an almost cartoonish look about them. I'm not looking for Hobbits to crew my Crash tender, or Weirdos from the wood on Vanity, furry footed elves skippering a wherry. You know the sort of thing, where heads are twice the size of shoulders and hands are like plates of meat!

I'll try a phone call.
Cheers,
Martin

Just checked Adrian's website, but he does very few figures in 1/16th scale and I can't say I liked them much. They are also a frightening price!
I will have to make some patterns. I have a chum who moulds and casts slot car shells, so I'm sure he can do people.

Watch this space.

Cheers,
Martin

Specialbuilder wrote:

Just checked Adrian's website, but he does very few figures in 1/16th scale and I can't say I liked them much. They are also a frightening price!
I will have to make some patterns. I have a chum who moulds and casts slot car shells, so I'm sure he can do people.

Watch this space.

Cheers,
Martin

no martin, Adrian doesn't do them anymore...…..he sold all his moulds to mountfleet models......it is they who sell them .


now back to my build.

I like building kits from now and then, as you can learn how other people do them, for ease of others to follow and build.....

but even when building a kit, I can make a huge cockup, but then you wouldn't learn if you didn't.

and its no good blaming the manufacturer...…..being a kit designer myself...…. you design them for idiots beginners and those of few tools or little confidence to build….but you never are able to facilitate someone who is a bigger idiot than you can image. I.e. me!!!

I cut the aft end of the cabin that takes the rear 3D printed …..so have had to fill it with a piece of plastic, a section of the grp cabin that was cut out, some epoxy and then some polyester filler...….but it is a great kit, needing some thought not a blundering numpty with size 10s wading in.

the battery was used to make sure the area glued correctly.

Neil, I knew he'd sold out, but figured the easy way to see his stuff would be to see if his website was still open. It is and I wasn't impressed.  Whilst I have done a lot of figure patterns over the years, 1/32nd scale was the biggest. Now I have to do twice that size!  Damn, that's a lot of Milliput!  I might even have to buy some more!

Thanks for your help.

Cheers,
Martin

and again, back to the build...….the rest of the parts of the main flying bridge structure have been either glues in place or dry fitted by sanding to fit...obviously each person will find their own level of accuracy here a there are no serious plans available to give a fixture angle, but using a metalworkers set of try squares one can gauge pretty accurately what position and angle each part should fit into, and just light sanding is needed to make them fit. 

tomorrow the grp moulding will be given a final sanding so that the top side covers supplied as mouldings will be ground dous to take the "lip" off the top and then the rest of the structure will be fitted. 

And believe it or not apart from the silver soldering of rails, pulpit etc and making the radar tree, this part is the major part of the "building" done. But I've had enough for tonight, my usual reaction to cyano [superglue]  has taken effect and I am now full of the symptoms of a summer cold....cough, sneezing, runny nose, etc so I've had enough for tonight.

the fiddly bits come next!..all the small bits.

hi neil ,

what thickness is all that cabin, as it looks very strong and not flimsy as some I have seen. the detail looks exceptional to me.

david

The cabin grp moulding davit is actually quite flimsy at less than 1.5 mm in parts but the 3D printed stuff ranges from 3mm to 6mm thick in parts so really stiffens the structure up.......but the main beauty of the speediness boat over the MBA boat is that the superstructure is glued and fixed to the deck and the whole deck and cabin come off the hull as one piece giving total access to the inside of the boat.

now filled from behind to give strength and permanence to the recesses , so they don't drop out.

today was the turn for work at the other end...…...the skeg protector that helps protect the jets and buckets...….a straight forward fit...cutting an access hole into the stern of the hull and the keel, inserting the skeg, pinning it with a 2mm brass pin and setting in place with epoxy.

then onto the two support stiffening rods.....and these fit into a slot in the skeg, and the face plates that fit onto the transom are drilled in the four corners and then pinned with steel picture frame pins, and glued in place with epoxy again. 

Coming together nicely Neil. 

SLOWLY AND SURELY, and contrary to what others are trying to do, moan constantly and turn it into a supakit by replacing loads with their ownbrass uprated stuff........I shall be building it "from the box"

Rear spray rails have now been filled in to the hull with surface filler and just waiting for that to harden before I sand smooth.

cabin fore deck guard rails now been bent to positions as per photos and plans available.....the supporting legs will be added by silver soldering after the weekend.....………..a uni anniversary reunion beckons from tomorrow morning, and so won't be back till late Sunday, unless my luck changes, and then it'll be later lol.

haven't done anything for ages, but got down to some today, by starting to sort them all out for the 2 boats, and then started on the easy parts to silver solder...…..the hand grab rails on the maid superstructure.....might do some more tonight.















more to do over the next day or two

nhp651 wrote:

Time to fit the main induction tunnel bodies.

now comes the tricky bit.....the floor of the hull and the rear transom plate where the two parts of the tunnel body fit, are not at right angles to each other, where as the end plate and the intakes are on the actual jets are..........

so I made a surrounding plate 2.5mm thick out of plasticard to go around the intake. This is to give some purchase to the glue where one end sticks above the actual grp hull.

I also dispensed with the plasticard  gaskets supplied with the kit, in favour of proper repellent gasket material and gasket glue [ahh, remembrance of the times I replaced cylinder head gaskets on my rocket gold star and other old brit bikes, lol]. I did this because the gasket material and glue will contour to the unevenness of the grp whereas a plastic gasket won't.

and so it was.....fit the gaskets were fitted with gasket glue both sides, and 5 minute epoxy laid onto the flange and working quickly I got one and then the other glued in and bolted up ready to set in position.

on the last shot you can see how even the best of hulls and layers can get one more even thickness than the other........not a problem and unless you are spray laying  mould, there will always be slight irregularities in a lay up, and that is why just a few minutes pondering over a subject and the problems that might arise can be overcome without histrionics and cursing the manufacturer.......simple slight problem overcome easily.....

I have left the two jets setting until later when I can then fill in those gaps with filler.

Neil, Thanks for the pics. Proves a picture is worth a 1000 words.
I have one of those circular cutters but have only had minimal success using it.
I now see what I have been doing wrong. Glad I didn't bin the cutter

hi raarty……….I've always found them really useful little tools...……..got 3 of them somewhere lying around, and although I don't use them often well worth the outlay of a few quid, for just when you need something circular……….I've had success with them cutting up to 3mm thick plasticard with patience, lol.