Following up on Martin’s suggestion I have added a simulated track slot to the wiper boxes.
I didn’t have any black Trimline tape as used by Skydive130 on his model but I did have some silver self-adhesive vinyl that I trimmed a 1mm strip from and applied to all three of the wiper boxes.
The effect is very much the same if not better and is a great finishing detail to the wiper assemblies 😎

Unlike the windscreen wipers on cars which sweep in an arc the wipers on the Southampton Pilot Boats sweep in a linear motion.

Close examination of some of the ‘photos show the wiper arms extending from the mechanism boxes and the rails that they run on and the pivot point of the arms.

The three wipers boxes are fixed to the front of the cabin just below the windows and to make these boxes I laminated some styrene bar to make up the thickness required and then trimmed them to the right dimensions.

The fixings for the boxes are two styrene rods with a short tubular spacer and matching holes were drilled through the boxes and then used as a template to drill the corresponding holes in the cabin front panel.

The spacer is required to ensure that the wiper arms are distanced correctly so that the arms and blades meet the front surface of the windows correctly.

The arm pivots were made from some short round styrene bar glued to the top surface which was then drilled through and into the box and a piece of 2mm brass tube was inserted to form a socket into which the wiper arm will be fitted.

The wiper blades were made from some styrene bar shaped and rounded to simulate a wiper blade and rubber. A short piece of styrene box section form the ‘socket’ into which the wiper arm will be fitted.

The wiper arm is a short piece of 1mm brass rod bent at each end to the correct angles so that with the boxes in position on the cabin fronts the wiper blades sit centrally and completely flat on the window surface.

The arms were removed from the boxes which were then sprayed with some gloss white with three small black dots to simulate some fixing screws.

Some further research enabled me to identify the manufacturer and I produced some graphics in Adobe Illustrator to simulate the type and serial number plate in black and a ‘Wynne’ logo in blue and these were printed in various sizes onto some clear decal paper.

I chose the most appropriate scale of decals to look correct on the boxes and applied them after which I sprayed the boxes with some clear gloss lacquer to seal and protect them.

The brass wiper arms were then fixed into the arm pivots with some glue and with the boxes temporarily placed on the cabins they were adjusted to sit flush on the window surfaces.
After the glue had set the wiper assemblies were removed and the pivots arms and blades painted with metallic silver and matt black. Some satin acrylic lacquer was later brushed over these to protect the silver and black finish. The boxes remain gloss white with clear gloss lacquer.

The three linear windscreen wiper assemblies were finally glued in place on the cabin fronts using a small dab of canopy glue which will fix them in place sufficiently but allow them to be removed if required at a later stage. 😊

A quick update on the cabin detailing as I near completion of the Pilots Boat.

Fixing the windows and frames in place would have been very difficult with the cabin handrails in the way so it’s time to do the final fitting of the handrail components.
They were made in two sections for ease of construction and handling with a jointing component at the front in the form of a 3mm tubular socket for the handrail and a wire reinforced butt joint for the safety rail.

All of the supporting uprights were threaded during construction for fixing through the cabin sides and engine room roof and it was just a case of getting all of the threaded sections through all of the fixing holes without scratching the paint as a certain amount of distortion of the rails is required to get them to line up with all of the fixing holes one at a time.

Thankfully both pieces went in place without incident and I could then fit the 2mm nuts and washers and tighten them all with a small box spanner.

The jointing of the rails at the front just involved cleaning the mating faces of the joints, passing a jointing wire through the safety rail jointing holes and twisting to draw the faces together.
A dab of flux and a touch with a 100w soldering iron was all that was required to soft solder the joint and the wire twist snipped back and filed smooth with the safety rail on its front face to leave an almost invisible joint.

A quick clean up to remove any remaining flux and a spot of brush painted etch primer and metallic silver saw the joint completed.
The ‘rope’ grip was then put on the handrail, this took a while as it needed to be ‘sewn’ around the rail through the gap between the safety rail one turn at a time and completed in two sections either side of the soldered tubular joint.

In the last picture the life raft container and engine roof window have been placed but not fixed yet just to see how the rails look at the cabin front at this stage.

Last blog update before Xmas........

The cabin windows are made in much the same way as the roof windows were made using paper templates of the window apertures transferred to the Lexan plastic for cutting and shaping.
The cabin side windows are made from 3mm Lexan to match the thickness of the ply used in the construction and the front windows from 1.5mm for the thinner ply in that place.
All were made to be a tight fit in the apertures with the front face of the Lexan completely flush with the outer face of the cabin. The protective film on both faces of the Lexan was peeled off after the shaping was done and then washed to remove all traces of contaminants before the tinting film was applied.

The front and side windows were finished with some ‘dark’ 20% film on all of the outer faces and left to bond to the Lexan overnight. After trimming the surplus film around the windows they were glued in place using thin canopy glue which from my previous experience with the roof windows is drawn into the minute gaps between wood and plastic by capillary action.

The window frames were made from strips of Plasticard in the same way as previously described for the roof windows.
At this point I ran out of plastic filler for smoothing the corner fillets and on the advice of some fellow forum members I used a concoction of styrene shavings and poly cement to make a paste which worked sufficiently well until I could source a new supply of Humbrol filler.
The forward cabin window on each side has some additional pieces of framework to simulate a sliding section of the window.
All of the frames were flatted on a fine grade sanding plate and painted with metallic silver spray, no priming required as the Plasticard doesn’t really need it after it has been abraded thoroughly.
A final coat of clear gloss lacquer on all the frames was sprayed as a protective finish.
I took particular care to get the alignment and spacing of all the windows correct and found that using straight edges on the side windows and applying masking tape ‘guides’ for the front windows helped greatly .
All were secured with a tab of tape or weighted down to ensure that the frames bonded completely flat on the cabin, once again using dots of canopy glue on the frames.

The forward engine room roof window is just a plywood square with a Plasticard frame, the ply painted matt black and a piece of Lexan over the ply with the 20% film applied to form a ‘dummy’ window.

Not too much to do now before this model is finally finished....... but for now I'd like to say a big THANK YOU to all that have been following my blog and giving me so much advice and encouragement 👍😀👍.

A Very Merry Christmas to All 😍.
Robbob.

I’m slowly adding a lot of previously made detailing items to the cabin structure and these are some engine room air intake/ventilation grilles that I made at quite an early stage of the new cabin construction and rather than cutting holes for these in the cabin sides I chose to simulate them with some false panels.

I started by making some card mock-ups to determine the right size and position using some ‘photos of the real boat as a reference and the dimensions transferred to some 1.5mm ply and cut to shape with a sharp knife.

The centre portion of the panels were cut out and then a framework of 1.5mm ply strips fixed to the rear of the panels to form a framework around the edges to add rigidity and also to form a recess into which I could fit a .7mm black Plasticard backing piece and a piece of fine stainless steel mesh to simulate the intake grille.

The two ply panels were flatted down, the edges and corners lightly rounded and then given several coats of sanding sealer followed by two coats of metallic silver. The fixings around the perimeter of the vents were simulated by making some waterslide decals to simulate the bolt heads.

The graphics were generated in Adobe Illustrator, printed out onto some ‘clear’ decal paper and then coated with some clear gloss lacquer to fix the black ink to the clear decal film.
The graphics were applied to the panels in one piece and fixed with some Micro Sol and Micro Set solution to bond them to the paint surface and when almost set the centres of the decals were cut out using a scalpel blade to leave just the outer portions.
An earlier experiment applying the decals with the centres already cut out was not too successful as the decals were very difficult to position without causing tears and ripples in the film. When successfully applied and fully set the decals were over-sprayed with some clear gloss lacquer to protect them.

When the paint and lacquer had fully hardened the black Plasticard and stainless steel mesh were glued into the recesses on the rear of the panels using some canopy glue and placed under some weights to keep the panels flat as the glue set.

The positions of the panels were marked out on the cabin sides using some masking tape strips as guides and the completed panels were glued to the sides of the cabin using some dabs of epoxy resin and the panels were weighted to hold them flat as the epoxy set.

I think the finished panels are quite a good representation of the intake panels with the combination of the matt black backing and the steel mesh giving them the illusion of some internal ‘depth’.

There’s a lot of windows on the cabin of this boat, 16 in all if you include the one at the forward end of the engine room roof, all of which require a frame too and as I don’t intend to detail the interior I have decided to apply a ‘tint’ to all the windows to obscure the interior.

I started with the three roof windows by making a template of the window apertures which I could then transfer to some 1.5mm clear Lexan sheet and cutting and trimming all of them to be a friction fit in the roof apertures.
The Lexan is thin enough to be easily shaped by scoring a snapping and the edges scraped and filed to remove any burrs or rough edges.

The roof windows on the real Pilot Boats have a heavy tint to make looking skyward up to a tall vessel alongside a lot easier in bright daylight and I simulated this by applying some window tinting film that is normally used on car windows.
This film was bought as a ‘sample size’ from an eBay seller and is described as ‘Limo’ which means it only allows a 5% light transmission.
The film has to be applied to the outer surface of the ‘window’ using a combination of soapy water, lint free cloths and rubber squeegees and to be honest is not at all easy to apply 😠 without getting trapped air or specks of dust or other contaminants that cause microscopic bubbles and bumps in the process, but after persisting I managed to get some passable results 😊.

The film was left to bond to the Lexan overnight before it was trimmed back with a sharp scalpel blade.

The roof window frames need to be made as narrow as possible so these were made from 1mm styrene sheet cut into 3mm strips which were glued together to form the frames with fillets fitted to the inside corners while overlaid on a paper template.
When the glue had set the frames were removed from the paper backing and the internal and external corners rounded with files and the framed flatted on both sides to smooth them and provide a good surface for painting.

The paint finish is two coats of metallic silver and a couple of coats of clear lacquer.

Fitting them into the roof was very straightforward, the friction fit was helpful to hold them in place while canopy glue was used to fix them, the thin glue was applied with a fine brush around the edges of the windows and capillary action drew the glue into any gaps between the Lexan window and the ply roof panel.

The frames were also fixed down with canopy glue applied as a series of dots around the underside of the frame and held in place with masking tape until set. Any excess glue is easily wiped away with a damp cloth and it dries completely forming a very strong bond.

When all the glue had set the windows were polished with a soft cloth and I think that the overall look of the roof windows is very good 😎.

The cabin rear door is very simply made from 1.5mm styrene sheet, a larger piece forming the base and frame and a slightly smaller piece forming the door and a further piece as a window frame.
All of the corners are radiused as per the real door and frame and before fixing the door to the frame I simulated the fixing bolts around the frame by using thin slivers of hexagonal styrene rod around the perimeter ‘frame’.
These were all reduced to a uniform height by flatting them on my fine sanding plate.
The two parts were then glued together using poly cement and then the aperture for the window was cut through both pieces.

The window frame was made from a small piece of 1mm Styrene in one piece which involved a bit of cutting, filing and scraping, it’s made slightly oversized so that the window glazing can be fitted into the window aperture with the frame acting as a rebate.
This was glued to the door front ensuring an even overlap all round.

Two 2mm holes were drilled through the door, one for a door handle and a second to simulate a lock boss and some short pieces of 2mm styrene rod used to simulate the door hinges.

The door handle was made from a piece of 2mm brass rod, bent and flattened slightly to form a handle, a couple of short pieces of styrene tube were formed into a handle base and glued to the door over the frame and a piece of 2mm rod glued into the ‘lock’ hole and trimmed to be just proud of the door surface.

The brass door handle was etch primed, sprayed silver and then clear lacquered.
The whole piece was cleaned and de-greased with panel wipe and then painted with two coats of white gloss.

The frames for the two rear windows were made from styrene strips with a fillet in each corner that was rounded with a file and the outer corners rounded as well, some Humbrol filler was used to fill the joints and after drying the frames were flatted on both sides on a fine sanding plate. The frames were also painted with two coats of gloss white.

The ‘glazing’ for the door and windows was cut and shaped from 1.5mm clear Lexan to fit into their respective apertures and all three were covered with a 20% tinting film, the film allows only a 20% light transmission and thus is 80% opaque. Applied to the outer surface of the windows they look very effective and reflective 😎

The door glazing was glued in place using canopy glue applied with a fine brush to avoid any glue getting onto the surface of the ‘glass’ and left to set.

The door was finally positioned on the rear wall of the cabin and a 2mm hole drilled through for the door handle and the door assembly then glued to the cabin using dots of epoxy to ensure that no excess squeezed out when the door was pressed into place and the door handle fixed through the handle boss with a dab of epoxy.

The two window glazing pieces either side of the door were also glued in place with canopy glue to be completely flush with the outer surface of the walls and when fully set they were cleaned before the two window frames were fixed over them with canopy glue as well.

There are a couple of life rings attached to the stern of the Pilot Boats which will be a nice finishing detail for the handrails.

These life belts had previously been modelled extremely well by Sy (Skydive130) on his Pilot Boat and using his build blog as a guide I decided to try to make some for my boat.

I looked for some wooden rings of the right size from various sources including eBay without success and so I asked Sy where he got his and he very generously said that he would send me a selection of sizes from his own ‘stock’.
They arrived a couple of days later and I selected 45mm diameter rings which was the perfect size and scale.

The wooden rings were given a rub down with some abrasive paper and then given several coats of sanding sealer to get a nice smooth finish and then sprayed with two coats of VW Brilliant Orange.

Initially I put the white bands on the rings using the same white vinyl coach-lining tape that I used for the water line, but after my success with making my own waterslide transfers I decided to add some graphics to the rings and the vinyl tape I had used was not really suitable for the graphics to lay over because of the thickness of the tape.

The new graphics were generated in Adobe Illustrator and printed out at ‘photo resolution onto some clear waterslide decal paper and over-sprayed with some Halfords clear gloss lacquer to seal the black ink onto the clear film.
The old vinyl tape was removed from the rings and any adhesive residue removed with some panel wipe and then I painted on the new rings with some white Humbrol acrylic paint, which needed a keen eye and a very steady hand 🤓

After carefully cutting out the graphics from the sheet with a scalpel I applied the decals using some Micro Sol and Micro Fix solution, the latter is formulated to soften decals to make it ‘set’ down onto the surface and conform to any irregularities and curvatures.

After the solutions had done their jobs and fully set and dried I filled and painted the ‘pin holes’ that I used for handling the rings before spraying the rings with some satin lacquer to seal the graphics onto the rings.

The finished rings were fixed onto the stern railings with some thin .7mm brass wire ‘staples’ with a dab of epoxy resin to secure and strengthen the fixing.

Finally a big Thank You to Sy for his generosity in supplying me with the wooden rings, it’s very comforting to know that on this forum we can not only share tips, techniques and ideas but on occasions materials too 😁

The remaining parts to go onto the handrails are the washers that form the mounting flanges at the base of each upright and these can only be soldered in place with the handrails on the deck to ensure that they are at the correct angles to sit properly on the curvature of the rear deck.

I marked the three mounting holes for each assembly using my paper template and drilled a 2mm hole through the deck for each and then fitted the railings to check for fit and set the correct height for each ensuring that the top of the handrail was properly lined up with the cabin handrails.

The height of each leg was marked relative to the deck and then removed so that I could put the washers on the legs and also a thin ply spacer that will act as a sacrificial heat shield during the soldering process. The handrails were then put back into their mounting holes and the height of each adjusted to the correct alignment but with an additional allowance for the thickness of the ply spacer and then the washers were soldered in place.

After shaping the handrail bases with files and emery paper the handrails were thoroughly cleaned and de-greased, given a spray coat of etch primer and then two coats of silver spray and finally a coat of clear gloss lacquer.

When the paint and lacquer was full dried I wound the cotton cord ‘rope’ handgrip onto the top rails, this took a bit longer than the cabin handrails because the cord had to passed through the rails for each turn but it was a fairly quick process for the short lengths of rail to be covered.
The ends of the rope were tacked with some cyano glue to fix them at each end and then the rope handgrips were given two coats of satin acrylic lacquer to consolidate and protect the windings.

Because the deck into which the railing will be fitted is only a skin of 1.5mm ply I will have to fit some supporting pieces underneath the deck into which the uprights can be securely glued, fortunately there is some limited access to the underside of four of the six uprights and this should be sufficient for a firm fixings of each assembly.

These railings along with all the other fitting that I’ve made will be fixed to deck in the final assembly.

Firstly, my apologies for the long break between blog updates, sadly a lot of things have conspired to divert me from my model making activities, including a shortage of time and materials (bad planning !) and a family bereavement further resulting in a temporary loss of 'mojo'.

But...onwards and upwards 😁

The stern handrails on the Southampton Pilot Boats don’t incorporate a safety line attachment rail so that makes them slightly easier to make but the construction is the same as the cabin handrails.

The stern on the real Pilot boats is not as curved as the hull of the SLEC model that mine is built from so a bit of modelling licence is required to simulate these rear handrails. Neither will it have the rear ladder seen in the first ‘photo which I have no intention to replicate as that would have required a major construction change in the early stages of making the hull.

I started by making a paper template of the stern area and marking the positions of the three supporting uprights making sure that the line of the cabin handrails will be visually extended to the stern handrails and they will also follow the curvature of the stern rather than be square as on the real boat.

When I was happy with the layout I taped the template onto a piece of scrap ply and drilled the three hole positions of each upright and fitted some short pieces of styrene rod to act as bending radius formers, allowing for the thickness of the brass rod in the process.

A 300mm length of 2mm brass rod was then annealed along its whole length and then placed in the bending jig to form the top handrail. Before the second bend was made I inserted a tubular brass ‘tee piece’ that I had made previously when making up the cabin handrails as it would not be possible to do that after the bending process.
The remaining bends in this piece had to be done very cautiously after measuring multiple times to form the correct angles and geometry of the two outer legs. Fortunately the calculations and bending all worked out OK and the basic frame was made. The centre upright is just a single piece of 2mm rod that locates into the ‘tee piece’ and this was soft soldered in place.

With the framework temporarily removed from the ply jig two additional tee pieces were loosely fitted to each of the outer legs.
The two horizontal bars of the framework were bent to shape on the jig and the ends ground flat and to the correct length to fit neatly onto the tee pieces when the framework was placed back into the jig with the centre of the rail neatly resting on the centre leg.

Further measuring and adjustment was needed to set the correct overall height of the rail assembly to follow the height of the cabin handrails and the two lower rails adjusted to the desired height and spacing and then the parts were temporarily held in place with some tinned copper wire twists.

All the joints were then soft soldered together, the joints of the tee pieces being unaffected because they were previously silver soldered together. All traces of flux were then removed and the whole piece cleaned up with files and emery cloth.

As the first piece came out so well repeating the process to make the other rail proved very straightforward and very soon both assemblies were made and ready for finishing. I was quite relieved as my supply of 2mm brass rod was all used up so re-making any parts would have been a further delay 😠

In the next update I’ll drill the rear deck to take the rail assemblies, solder the base washers to the uprights and apply the paint and wind on the rope handgrips.