4 Posts
9 Followers
36 Likes
Gravy boat
A fun project to hopefully bring a smile .
Picked this up for the grand sum of Β£2.99.
A "bit " unsteady afloat, however some ballast will sort this out. Initial problem is trying to make a suitable hole for the prop shaft in the ceramic. Think I need to invest in some new drill bits as taking longer than I thought it would. More to follow
π¬π§ Doogle
3 minutes ago
26 Posts
18 Followers
190 Likes
A new build
I will, most likely, have to rename this Blog, at some point.
In the mean time...please do not expect much for a while as she is in her very early stages.
First a disclosure: This hull was built for me by another gentleman. It was delivered in a not quite completed state. Therefore I have spent the last two month working on it to get to it's present state.
So.. what is it? She is one of four ships in a class that was later enlarged to around eight maybe ten members of the class. Her main armament was eight 5"/38 caliber twin turrets. She and her class namesake sister were both lost during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. This ship is most noted due to the loss of an entire generation of one family, five brothers.
This should be enough for identification.
She is being built in my preferred scale, 1/48th or 1/4"=1'.
This ship was used for numerous camouflage scheme experiments and, sadly, there is little definitive documentation to pinpoint her second to last and last schemes carried. That said, my plan, subject to change without notice or reason, is to present her as she appeared following her New York Navy Yard overhaul, or perhaps as she may have appeared after repainting in Placentia Bay NewFoundland, 1942.
She measures out to 11' 3" and her power plant is to be two 24 volt Buehler motors.
Pictures of her and the build to follow.
Wish me luck please, she will not fit in my van....
πΊπΈ ToraDog
14 hours ago
3 Posts
3 Followers
15 Likes
213' Diver Class Cutter
Not a restoration. Began 10 years ago as a static display, but when shifted to R/C it did not like the H20 too much, so it was shelved.
Now, in the interim, between beginning another scratch build, I will fiberglass the hull, and finish it out. It is fairly rough and showing its shelf drydock age.
All this as I ponder 52' MLB, or Iowa Class build.
Have a great time Shipmates.
Kevin
πΊπΈ KevinH
3 days ago
1 Post
3 Followers
9 Likes
Al Kubar 2
I have just taken delivery of my next project kit, the Mountfleet (Slipway) Al Kubar harbour tug.
I get a lot of advice from my club but am just fishing around for any comments before I start.
Mainly propulsion, motors, ESCβs and batteries. Any comments from you guys would be appreciated. Rockbag
π¬π§ Rockbag
3 days ago
7 Posts
9 Followers
103 Likes
Clinker built sailing dinghy
A few years ago I saw a couple of Adamcraft sailing dinghys and was taken with the simplicity of their appearance on the water.
More recently there was an article about Adamcraft in the Model Boats magazine (Sept 2023) which rekindled my interest.
A search of the Sarik plans catalogue on-line came up with MM153, an 21" clinker built dinghy which looked similar to the Adamcraft model. A few days, and a few pounds later, the two sheet printed plan arrived. Studying the plan, I soon realised that what looks to be a simple boat when its completed, is far from simple when it comes to construction. This wasn't helped by the fact that the plan was originally published in the Model Mechanic Magazine" July 1948. Some details are missing from the plan, no doubt covered in more detail in the magazine, but I couldn't find a back issue of that mag! However, I like a challenge!
The first issue to resolve was the overall size. The plan is drawn at 1/8th scale giving an overall length of 21". I decided to scale it up to 1/6th scale giving an overall length of 28" (710mm) as I find small boats struggle a bit on choppy water. The larger size should give more stability while still being relatively easy to transport.
Down to the local printshop who scanned the plan and provided me with two .jpg files. These I was able to rescale on my PC. Many of the enlarged parts, like the bulkheads will fit onto an A4 sheet so I was able to print those as templates using my inkjet printer. Other part outlines don't need to be printed full size as they can be marked out directly onto the timber using the dimensions on the plan (suitably scaled of course!). As the plan was drawn pre metrication the original dimensions are all imperial. I don't like trying to measure out 3 11/16" or 1 25/32" not to mention having to scale those dimensions from 1/8th scale to 1/6th so a few minutes (hours?) with a spreadsheet and I had the required measurements scaled and converted to metric equivalents. The metric dimensions were then added to the plan in red ink, before printing out working copies.
Next, I'll finally be able to start cutting some timber!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-I-M6X-4A4
π¬π§ Graham93
4 days ago
23 Posts
27 Followers
327 Likes
Caldercraft Northlight Clyde Puffer.
Hi yβall. I have been eyeing a few Caldercraft kits for some timeβ¦.the Alte Liebe, Sir Kay, Crumbrae and Clyde puffer have been on my radar for some timeβ¦but unfortunately Iβm cheap, and the Caldercraft kits arenβt.
Anyway, I had sold a boat and a kit out of my stash to supplement my slice of the Christmas budget when a club mate offered to sell me his unbuilt Portgarth tug. I thought about it, but the expense and size of the boat was a little more than I wanted to deal with. That and that brass mast! Well, long story short, after I politely turned down the Portgarth, my buddy said he had a Caldercraft Clyde Puffer heβd part with. Itβs and older kit, looks like itβs all thereβ¦and the price of entry was about half of a new one. Sold!!
He was very honest about this kit. Itβs an older kit, some wood parts machine cut with part numbers inked on, the upper decks are printwood. Itβs missing a few nuts and bolts, and the molded hatch cover, but everything else is there , including about a half million white metal fittings, which came carded and shrink wrapped. The fittings are of pretty good quality, better than the last Deans kit I built. The hull had taken a βsetβ due to lying around for 20 years or so, but some tape in tension and slight heat from a heat gun and an overnight rest cured that. So, itβs time to build!!
First thing I did was to build up my stuffing box. The one in the kit is fine, but I wanted one a little longer and unplated so I could solder on a lube tube. I wanted a good mechanical fit, so instead of soldering on a tube then drilling the stuffing box, I drilled the box first, and selected a brass tube that would just fit in the hole. I pressed it in, making sure I cleared the shaft, and silver soldered it in place. I use a mini grease gun from Pro Boat that will give enough pressure to have grease squeeze out between the ends of the tube and the shaft, so a good mechanical fit and silver solder are a must.
I then cleaned the interior of the hull with a paper towel dampened with lacquer thinner, and gave it a quick sanding once dry. Caldercraft made sure the builder knew that the hull is a polyester resin hull, not epoxyglass, so I wanted to make sure the glues I use would work.Stabilit works well, and I read that epoxy will work with some prep. I made a very small batch of 5 minute and microballoons, and pick a place in the hull to experiment. Once my sample dried I tried to peel it off but itβs on there for good. Cool!! I have Stabilit, epoxy and ca, weβre good!!
I installed the front and aft bulkheads next, I drilled a large hole for the stuffing box in the aft bulkhead before the install. Once I had the aft hole drilled ( and fixed), I was able to move the tube to its proper height. I then cut 2 thin ply scab patches and drilled them to fit the tube. I installed the tube with one patch aft and one forward of the bulkhead. Once I had the shaft where I wanted it, I packed up the tube with scrap, tacked it at the aft of the hull and the bulkhead with ca, and once satisfied with the fit installed the scab patches with a liberal dose of epoxy, sandwiching the tube and bulkhead together. I then filled the aft end with filled epoxy.
I built up a motor mount from 3mm abs sheet and ply, and once everything was lined up, installed the mount and a Zippkits 650kv motor.
I wonβt go into too many specifics about the rudder, if you look at the pics you can see itβs a bit of work. The lower skeg is bolted to the hull by 3 screws, those were missing so I used socket headed servo mounting screws, 2 from one side and 1 from the other. I then added the rudder post and rudder, the post has a screw built in that goes thru the hull and is secured by a nut inside the hull, itβs supposed to be joined to the skeg with a small nut and bolt, but I used a brass pin glued in place. It works pretty good! Looks finicky but came out better than I expected.
The last thing I did was to add the aft deck. Now, the plans show servo bearers installed and the servo is mounted to the bottom of the bearers, with the screws coming up from the bottom. Unfortunately once the assembly is glued in placeβ¦youβll never be able to replace the servo without major surgery. What I did was I made spacers to drop the bearers, and once I had that assembly epoxied in place I installed the deck. I can now install the servo at the right height and can replace or service the servo if needed.
Thatβs all for now. My next steps are the stringers for the hatch, main deck, and fwd deck.
Cash
πΊπΈ Cashrc
6 days ago
1 Post
1 Follower
12 Likes
Kathryn, a Thames Bawley - 9
All about the masts, boom, gaff, sails and standing rigging. The standing rigging are those parts of the rigging such as shrouds, stays etc that may be set up permanently.
Having prepared the masts and spars the next job was to assemble them, add the necessary fittings and fixtures and then to add the standing rigging.
Photos 1,2 and 3 show the mast foot set into the cabin roof; the cabin chimney; the boom and gooseneck with parrel line and beads, and the elastic kicking strap. Also, the black wire seen crossing the deck from the hatch and heading up the mast is the aerial wire for a 27MHz receiver. The gooseneck (or jaws) is made from ply which is slotted and glued into the boom. The parrel line and beads (chrome was not the finish I really wanted) hold the boom onto the mast whilst allowing it to move freely. The gaff is arranged in the same way but is finished off at an angle where it meets the mast. (photos 5,6 and 7)
Photos 4 and 9 show the chain plates and shrouds. The cord chosen for the shrouds is nylon. Nylon cord stretches and this enables tension to be exerted by use of bowsies. Should non-stretch cord have been used then bottle screws would be needed to tension the shrouds, and this is a much trickier job to get right than using bowsies on a stretchy cord. In addition, bottle screws are many times more expensive than home made bowsies. Bowsies for the shrouds were made from black 4 x 5mm strip nylon. Smaller bowsies of clear perspex are used for outhauls and uphauls which are under much less tension.
Photos 5, 6 and 7 also show the arrangement where the topmast is supported at the head of the mainmast.
Photos 8, 11, 12 and 13 show the arrangements used on the bowsprit, the boom, top of the topmast, and peak of the gaff. There are three sets of shrouds, the foremost passing through the spreader and on to the top of the topmast. The other two sets are attached to the top of the mainmast.
In photo 14 I have shown the various screw eyes used. Mostly I have used the 10 x 5 size, but where there is little stress or tension I have used the smaller sizes. In all cases I drill a 0.5mm pilot hole first. There might appear to be a lot of screw eyes in some of the spars, but each one has a purpose.
Lastly, for the eagle eyed amongst you, photo 10 shows two cleats attached to the port gunwhale used for tying off jib halyards.
π¬π§ flaxbybuck
6 days ago
1 Post
2 Followers
12 Likes
Kathryn - a Thames Bawley - 8
You will have gathered that I spent a lot of time planning how everything should be; where it should go; its size; the sequence of work to be done; how I wanted it to look; the compromises made; how it should operate; the convenience etc etc. That's not to say I was happy with things first time around. On the contrary, some items were made and re made several times before I was satisfied.
Working to the sail plan (see photo 1) I decided which sails I would like, and which would not be needed. Throughout this build I was mindful that this was to be a sailing model rather than an accurate and detailed model. I wanted to be able to attach sails or remove them easily at the pondside, and to accommodate different wind speeds opted for two sizes of mainsail and headsail; a staysail, one jib and a flying jib, also a large staysail that would take the place of the last three sails.
The mast is made from 18mm dowel; the topmast, boom, bowsprit, and gaff from 12mm dowel and the spreader from 6mm dowel. Dowels were first shaped and smoothed, then stained and varnished. (photo 2)
The foot of the mast was shaped (photo 4) and in the bottom of the hull a 'mound' of car body filler created with a matching socket. This prevents the mast from turning or swivelling whilst in use.
A wooden ring was made and slid down the mast where it was glued into place. Beneath this and reaching down to the deck I glued vertical timbers encircling the mast with brackets supporting the ring. This ring supports the jaws of the boom. (Photos 5 and 6).
In photo 7 can be seen the cleats and mouldings below the ring for tying off various sheets and ropes. The cleats are made by shaping a long piece of wood to create a shallow 'C' section, then sawing off each cleat to the desired thickness, and finally sanding to shape. They are attached to the mast with both glue (PVA), and screw eyes. I use these because they are available in very small sizes, are simpler to screw into place than normal screws, and also provide an additional eye to which things can be attached. Hidden from view is an 'O' ring on the mast that prevents water getting into the hull.
Photo 3 shows some of the sails laid out. Sails are made of cotton (old bed sheets I believe). The material was first dyed, the light colour using tea, the dark brown using Dylon fabric dye. Full size patterns for all sails were drawn up. From these drawings patterns were made of stiff paper, the actual size of the finished sail. After marking out the material was cut using a steel straight edge and sharp knife. These 'proofs' were then checked against the drawings before proceeding.
The first operation on the sewing machine was to cut out and sew on the corner reinforcing patches. Narrow bias binding (5/8" I believe) was sewn onto all sides and the corners trimmed off. Small eyelets were then put into each corner.
π¬π§ flaxbybuck
7 days ago