Sea Road Lady

Carved away the insides needed to move the drive pulley as far over as I could to not foul the car access to the deck as best I can and cut a notch in the deck to clear the pulley that a pulley cover that will attach to the removeable deck section will cover.



The pulley cover.



I ground 3mm from the bottom of the rudder and epoxied .8mm ply each side 20mm longer than the aluminium a little sanding and filler and it's a much better size for this model.

 

A coat of dope to the outside of the hull.



Polyester resin to the inside.



The keel and stem piece were cut from a laminate of of 3 2mm blind slats cut 7mm wide.





Some stock 2mm card was used for the upper deck the hull was put upside down on it and drawn around it and cut with my bandsaw after trimming, it was marked with the locations of the supports and clamped to the hull and pilot holes were drilled.



A sliding motor tray similar to the one I used in the stern wheel Wrigley 121 was made on a 3mm mdf base.




I started on the steps to the upper deck cutting 1mm styrene treads fitting them to1/35th scale ladders set a the required angle gave correct tread hight for 1/43rd stairs.



Some more ladders were used as hand rails with every second rung removed.
A bit of a climb but looks good just need brackets to attack to the upper deck so it lifts off with it.

Looking good Damien.

Barrie

Thanks Barrie.

hi Damien,

those ladders are brilliant, its all comeing together now.

david

      

You know the days when after all the care measuring 4 times before you glue and you discover you messed up?
Well the stem piece turned out was not at 90 deg to the hull .
 I took to it with a 20mm dia saw blade in the dremel. 



Next I discovered I must have missed a whoops with the bandsaw as I discovered a hollow amidship that requires substancial filling and as it's already doped I'm having trouble getting plaster type filler to adhere  I'll raid the missus's talc and mix with dope tonight.



First attempt at filler I used Selleys spakfilla and most of it peeled off.

The reconstructed Stairs.
and the 3rd lot of filler, the first obviously was't dry after overnight in the shed so it spent most of the day in our heated lounge and sanded well after dinner I didn't stay long as it's blowing a gale and only 4c heading for 2c tonight brrrrrrrrr.

hi Damien,
when ever I find hollows like yours using balsa, I just cut some balsa to what ever the gap is plus a bit more and fix with cayno, then when dry it rubs down easier than filler and blends better, much better than filler I think and you have a better finish, that's my opinion:lol!: .

david

I may end up doing that yet David I remember now i thought I' do tha to the 6mm deck prior to putting the 3mm skin on then promptly forgot lol senior moment.

OK Damien, I expect to see it almost complete when I come out of hospital   I'll leave you to keep this forum going as everyone else seems to have given up modelling.    
I hope to be back working on my fireboat in a week or so - new knee willing  

Barrie

That's a big ask Barrie   I to have noticed the the big slow down of participation not just here though Paddleducks seems to be suffering the same fate.
Hope the Op goes well mate.

hi,
I to have noticed the lack of posts to, nobody seems to be interested all they do is read the old posts, other sites have been quiet for the past month or so.

david

I think there are lulls in posting on forums, at certain times of the years, not only on here but on all all kinds of forums.
Lifeboats24-7 suffers greatly.............and Model Boats is ruled by an iron rod from the editor........I don't stand a chance of putting anything on there, in any way controvertial......it gets wiped immediately, lol.........so haven't been on that site in months.

we need a ruck to take place on Mayhem, lol...........and then a few members come over from the dark side for a bit of peace and quiet, lol

I mixed plaster powder with dope and this filler adhered to the already doped hull really well.
Tiller arm turned and silver soldered.

I like the silver soldering, Damien......

over the years I have turned more to silver soldering than soft soldering and have lost the art of soft soldering.

neil

With a flat screw driver I was able to break up the borax that had set like concrete and add a little water to make a paste and of course the brass has to be bright shiny clean.
I haven't done this type of work since using an arc torch to braze 3mm steel weld rod to the flared lip on my race car in my avatar pic in 2001 

Tiller arm insitu it's a rather tight fit.



Rudder in place.



I marked out planking on the balsa deck hatch.

The rest of the deck planking drawn pencilled in.

Upper deck support pillars fitted to top deck and location ferrules fitted to hull.





Already made upper deck parts in place temp.

 

Stairway in place mounts still to be made.



Cars temporarily on deck.





Motor tray in place showing line of drive belt.



Paddle shaft bearings glued into hull with paddles on the shaft to keep the bearings aligned whilst the epoxy dries.



A productive weekend without mishaps.

I always liked the old Renault Dophine...was a nice shapely car.

Started the paint work with dark walnut to the deck pillars.





Then onto the deck hatch cover.



And last for the day the deck.

Another 2 cars arrived today, a 1910 Renault AG Beer Truck and a RX4.

Final car arrived an R5 Maxi Turbo rally car.



Not thrilled with the deck paint  lighter spots show any where super glue was used.



Rails done on upper deck.

hi Damien,

I wouldn't worry to much about the stain, by the time you have placed your fleet of cars on board you wont see much what with shadows etc of the cars, plus they will look like oil drips from cars     you cant keep working boats pristine on deck there is allways  misshaps.

david

True

That superglue gets everywhere.  

The best thing is to stain all the wood before assembly as I've found out to my cost.

Cheers

ken

Lesson learned here too Ken 

Would it be too much trouble to replace the deck ?

ken

It would destroy the hull unfortunately Ken as I coated the inside with polyester resin.
I'll try darkening the dots with a cotton bud dabbing more paint on just the light bits.

Soldering on the rails tidied with a carbide bit in my dremel.



Life boats in place temporarily in place.



Bridge assembly glued un place.

Hi Damien, Very good progress whilst I was away   Its looking good now. I think it will be a week or two before I'm able to restart modelling so we need David to start posting so I have something to look at.

Barrie

    

I  hope your recovery is rapid Barrie.

Started on the car and passenger ramps today spent around 2 hours cutting coffee stirrers to 5mm strips and cutting to length, then after 20mins of fighting to get them straight whilst gluing without success I made this jig.



The 4 complete bar some trimming.



From card I cut 20mm strips for the gunwales and 6mm strips for lower and 5mm for the upper edge of them.

The plan showed posts with the ramps against them with no means of lifting or securing them and the ramp needed to be longer to clear the 65mm width of the paddle boxes, so I got on the lathe and made some 6.5mm pulleys with 2mm holes as I had 2mm x 25mm stainless steel nuts & bolts on hand.



Also prepared 6mm sq posts for the pulleys and 3mm brass spikes to go through the hull for support.



Temp fitting.



The upper deck in place with strips to mount the passenger gangway too, the upper edge will attach to the upper deck with some overhang.

Damien wrote:

Started on the car and passenger ramps today spent around 2hours cutting coffee stirrers to 5mm stripsand cutting to length, then after 20mins of fighting to get them straight whilst gluing without success I made this jig.



The 4 complete bar some trimming.



From card I cut 20mm strips for the gunwales and 6mm strips for lower and 5mm for the upper edge of them.

ahh, the ubiquitous McDonalds coffee stirrers..................wonder how many modellers just have a mac's so they can nick a handfullof them..........I have a jar full at home.

looking great Damien.

I haven't done a jot to my build in ages............must put more effort in, lol

Hmmmmmm hadn't considered theft I get packs of 500 on ebay for mixing paints and epoxy.
I must be gooder than my wife thinks lol She continually say's i'm bad 

Got the paddle boxes mounted to the upper deck support posts taking shape now one passenger gangway held in place with blutac.
The photo's show the car ramps and passenger g/ways are stained, I thinned the stain paint with turps and got a much nicer look than the deck.

Put the paddle shaft support bearing in today from scrap 12mm balsa I used a 12mm drum sander to form a cradle for the bearing, with more scrap I lifted it so it was just clear of the bearing and super glued it in place I removed the shaft and bearing mixed some hard as steel 5min epoxy and spread it in the cradle the carefully replaced the shaft and bearing when it started to cure I rotated the shaft until cured so the bearing weight didn't have a chance to settle in the epoxy causing extra friction.



I cut the 4mm silver steel shaft 6mm over length just in case fitted the paddles put the upper deck with paddle boxes in place.




The paddle boxes a a tad on the large size but they look good imho.





I found I needed 3mm spacers either side to position the paddles correctly a few minutes on the lathe fixed that.

The model shown in Model Boats has black below the water line and dark green above the upper deck is tan.
Can anyone suggest colours for the paddles and paddle boxes, I'm thinking a dark red for the paddles at a loss for the boxes though.

hi damien,
 
i would go with red oxide paddle wheels, then on top of paddle box's keep green, then on the face i would paint white or cream and pick out the cut outs with green on the thin edge, if you have a steady hand, then the name accross following the curve. hope you follow me
 
david

I agree with david.....would look nice in that scheme

I still have some of this from the Wrigley build.

that looks ok to me  

david

    

Upon checking the red paint it had turned to jelly I'll have to mix some more it was red with a bit of black. 

Mean while I put the card bulwarks on today.



and put some modified model aircraft hindges on the car ramps and cut slots with a  20mm circ saw blade in the dremel.
The ramps will be fixed partly down, I also raided my wifes neckless chains and found 2 that will provide the 8 lengths needed.

 

looking great Damien.

Stern railings in progress 2 laminations of 1.5mm x 4mm balsa soaked in water for a few minutes.



The white on the posts was caused by my home made water/bicarb kicker it was cured with a cotton bud dipped in acetone.
Note the spacer blocks to ensure correctly spaced rails.





I was wrong earlier in the post saying it was dark walnut stain on the deck it is infact dark mahogany I got the railings finished and varnished/stained.



In decicing to put chains on the ramps I then needed hawse pipes for through deck access for the imaginary winches back on the lathe I went these are 5mm flange 4mm shaft with a 2.5mm hole the chain is epoxied in from the bottom to stop any water ingress to the hull.

can't wait to see this one on the water. neil

Be patient Neil it'll be a while yet.

Today was a day of revelation I hung old drapes on the back fence so I didn't upset the land lord with overspray, a warm 27c day no wind set up my old metal ironing board spray bench mixed and thinned the primer, set up the power and air hose for my compressor set up the hull and upper deck ready to paint.
"note" I masked off the deck last night.
loaded the touch up gun face mask on. 
One side of the hull done & up comes a 30kph wind the drapes threaten to nock the model to the ground I shift the table mid way through the mask on the hull decides it dosen't like the air pressure and lifts press it down and hope so i persevere to the finish, after cleaning the spray equipment I discover my hull wasn't as perfect as I thought bubbles over the second half day a bit humid so after an hour to harden I went for wet sanding with 400 grid put it in the sun to dry.
The pic's show the filling needed.

 



Next time I'll shift the scooters into the back yard and spray under cover.