Continue to mockup exterior a bit, still just rough paint, needs work prior to final colors and finish. Shown in the photos are a Switch Holder made by Dubro, a hobby parts maker in the US. This holder uses a slide switch and allows for through the hull mounting. I use this because I want my switch to be activated without having to remove a hatch. Since my large hatch limited where I could fit the switch, I ended up having to mount it on the bow, not the most desirable position due to bow waves. So I built up a mounting from a plastic pipe fitting, a grommet and a screw cap, tried to make it look nautical. This will raise the top of the rod hole high to further weather proof it. See picture with rod only, I replaced the Dubro rod with a longer one that I made from steel rod I had, threaded it and it works. Will trim the length and attach a finger bulb on top. LAST PHOTO -- EVER FEEL LIKE SOMEONES WATCHING YOU. Cheers, Joe

Hello, I was not happy with the pilot house and substructure location toward the rear of the tug, that was when I was considering a tug ferry. Repositioned now to the more traditional tug front location. Cut up the old structure and am reworking it. Photos show the progress from last night and today, very time consuming, but I enjoy working with styrene. Lost some time fooling around with some LED nav lighting, but I did not have all of the required sizes and colors, maybe later after sea-trials.
Hopefully I will wrap up the details in the next week and get on to final paint. inside mechanical and electronics are complete. More tomorrow. Regards, Joe

Hello,
No photos today as I prime painted the superstructure and did some cleanup on the skeg with some epoxy. Starting to plan on how to build the railings around the pilot house, mocked up a quick piece tonight, but too tired to photo, will get to tomorrow.
Joe

Last night I had done a quick railing mockup as seen in the first three photos. Decided to go with styrene and use a rectangular stanchions (verticals) and top handrail along with horizontal round intermediates. Drilled holes through the verticals and inserted the round rods, then glued. Worked pretty well.

Next few shots show how I typically sketch up to scale and determine proper spacers, dividers come in handy for this. Then drew some guide lines for assembly, taped it to my tack surface, covered in wax paper and pinned the assemble in place. Pins do not penetrate anything,just uses pressure to secure. Some drops of styrene cement and the parts are welded together. Then on to all the railings needed. Will let dry overnight and trim ends in place.

FYI -- Tack surface is just a piece of acoutical ceiling tile, I cut down the 2'x4' size to make smaller ones for my tiny workbench use. I learned this pinning method from building balsa airplanes, comes in handy a lot...... Joe

Ed, I get my styrene at a local train model shop, all of the other hobby shops closed down. it is from Evergreen Scale Models and they do sell on-line as well. Evergreenscalemodels.com I buy both the shapes and sheet styrene and I cut all my materials with single edge razor blades as a, sharp blade is always good. Buy bulk packages and go thru a couple a day. See photos

Back at it this afternoon, handrails are very solid after overnight cure. Trimmed the rail ends to the necessary length. Glued in place. Built a ships ladder, first time for this, think it will work. Need to get ships ladder set to finalize railing.

Ladder railing is seen in photo, I make bends like on this by applying heat and bending with my fingers. Styrene gets very flexible with heat, but can quickly melt if not careful. I learned not to use my heat gun (used for shrink tubing in my electronics) as it quickly gets out of control. I usually boil water, let it sit and dip the plastic in and out. Easy way to control bends. Joe

Two days ago I put what I hope is the final paint on the hull, hatch and misc. parts. I like to let it sit for several days to cure, especially in cooler weather.
I took the time to work out LED navigational lighting for my Brooklyn Tug and got that installed. I will photograph that tug later. Back to the springer tug, I had difficulty finding a good mounting spot for the starboard and port lighting so I decided to raise it on a light bar. Photos show the styrene structure in progress which will have the green and red side lights and a single white light on the top center post. Worked out the resistor values to reduce current and work off of my 6 volt supply, then soldered as shown. Fed the assembled LEDs through the plastic rectangular tunnel I created. The one photo I took with the red LED turned on is so bright that the camera just picked up a bright spot. I may have to reduce brightness but will test out in daylight first....

These LEDs are very bright and are 360 degree view! Ordered from "superbrigntleds.com" in order to get the full 360 as the ones at the local store were very limited to 18 to 60 degrees. Ordered red, green and white and they arrivedin about four days, great service. I have used this company several times and am happy with them, good to know. More to come, Joe

Continuing on, I finished mounting the light bar, all lights are functioning. For some reason my iPad does not like LEDs and they don't photograph when lit. Made an exhaust stack out of brass tube, mitered the top, soldered and painted.
Hull dry now so I mounted the superstructure onto the hatch, reinstalled the tow bits, switch and batteries, RX, motor, etc.
Getting close to sea trials, maybe this week schedule permitting. Cheers, Joe

Well, when I started this build I said it was just going to be a quick, easy build.....but I can't stop getting more ideas and adding on. Lights, now exhaust smoke!
Could not resist taking time last night to try my hand at a homemade smoker. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to build one and it works great. Then today I decided rather then put it inside the hull I would put it topside for easy access and to keep an eye on it....fires don't do well on boats. Mounted as shown, still in progress but I made an enclosure to cover it. Will fashion a new stack out of the white tube in the last photo.
Now what else can I add...... Joe

The navigational lights and the smoker still need to be final wired with a power switch for each. The amp draw on the smoker is about 2.2 Amps as measured with my meter, so I intend to use a 2 1/2 Amp Fuse.

Will probably just use manual switch rather than remote just to keep it simple, we will see.....
Cheers, Joe
Joe