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February 2019: 7 people January 2019: 16 people December 2018: 6 people November 2018: 11 people October 2018: 9 people September 2018: 13 people August 2018: 5 people July 2018: 8 people June 2018: 8 people May 2018: 7 people April 2018: 10 people |
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| Author: mturpin013 Posts: 47 Photos: 377 Subscribers: 15 Views: 13700 Responses: 126 | Most recent posts shown first (Show oldest first) |
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I had from the beginning I had intended to hold all the hatches down with Neodymium magnets however as you work on, these things seem to get forgotten, so now it’s time to do some of the not so exiting tasks. I had bought some 10 x 5x 1.5 magnets so I need to machine the slots into the roof cabin quadrants. These needed to be mirrored by a quadrant that can be epoxied into the corners of each cabin area. Using the trusty Lidl disc sander I produced 12 quadrants and then after making a simple jig to hold them in place I machined the corresponding slot in each one taking note of left and right hand variants. The next job is to glue all the magnets into the roof spaces and then when they are set glue the magnets into the quadrants making sure the orientation is correct. To make sure the magnets are set into the cabin sides at the correct depth I made a temporary balsa wood frame around each cabin to rest the quadrants on while they set. Another small job complete Attached Photos - Click To View Large 
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Cabin detail part 6 panel light The panel light presented a difficult challenge in that I assume the real one has a tubular light fitting in it, difficult in 1/12 scale. However, creating the tube assembly was not difficult using some annealed 1/8” brass tube and making a bending jig, (simply a 1/8 grove milled using a ball ended slot drill into a piece of hardwood I formed the tube into the required shape. I used the back of the jig to hold the piece while I filled the tube half way through along it top inside edge @ 45 degrees this is where the LED tube will fit. The LED tube is from one of the new type LED garden light bulb that use a small solar panel to illuminate it during the during dark hours. Smashing the bulb leaves 4 filaments which can be used independently, these are very delicate and need the wires attaching very carefully finally feeding it into the brass tube and then after all this fiddling, if it still lights, epoxy it in place. The next job is to make some brackets to fix it to the instrument panel. The bracket was made from 1/8” bore tube and some 0.010” brass shim I drilled some holes in the sheet prior to cutting to size, this was done using only a 1/8” dia centre drill and then enlarged with a clock makers reamer until the tube fitted snugly through this was then soft soldered in place. The whole unit was then epoxied in place on the instrument panel. All the wiring for the panel LEDs can now be completed ready for connection to the random flashing circuit board. (this came as a kit for just £3:90) The circuit board is fastened to the panel with a sub-board made from a scrap piece of ply with PCB supporting pillars in the corners, when this is completed I will post a video of it working. The LEDs on the circuit board are only for testing and will be replaced with the panel LEDs. Attached Photos - Click To View Large 
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Cabin detail part 5 speed control & compass The speed control has two main throttle controls presumably to operate the engines independently. The construction of this piece made it easy to allow each arm to operate independently but to ensure that the levers had some stiffness in the travel I incorporated a spring into the centre screwed shaft. I machined some detail into the body and a recess in each end face to accommodate a dial (AHEAD, ASTERN, STOP, SLOW etc). The circular body needed something to stand on so I made a cradle, which will support it when it is screwed to the framework. I left the whole unit in natural brass, lacquered it to stop any tarnishing, and mounted it with an 8BA screw to hold it in position. The compass again a simple turned piece of brass with a recess machined into the top face to accept a N,S,E,W compass dial. This item is simply glued in the recess on the console. Attached Photos - Click To View Large 
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The steering wheel is a simple 3-spoke design; first, I machined a ring and a centre boss in brass. I then made a wooden jig to hold the parts in the correct position whilst soldering, this consisted of a turned block with a recess to locate the O/D, and the taper towards the centre hole to give a “dish effect” that locates the centre boss. This just leaves the three arms to machine; these are cut using a slitting saw to cut a 3mm wide strip from a piece of 1.5 mm brass plate. These are the cut to length ready for soft soldering and then the parts are all cleaned and placed in the jig, ideally a minimum of solder is used to minimise cleaning afterwards. The finishing/fettling I find is always easier if you use a sharp craft knife to slice any excess solder away as it doesn’t easily mark the brass in the same way you might using Swiss files, finally finish with 600 and 1000 w&d before priming ready for topcoat of black gloss. The first wheel I decided was too small so the pics are of that construction; the final larger wheel is in the last 3 pictures
Attached Photos - Click To View Large 
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After the Christmas break its back to the cabin to finish some of the instrument detail. You may recall I detailed the cockpit with some ply constructions to represent the general layout; I also intend to detail the compass, throttle controls, steering wheel, panel lighting, and instrument panel. The instrument panel was copied and scaled from various drawing and pictures and I came up with a three-panel unit where panels 1 & 3 are identical as they are for the two-engine managements system the centre panel deals with electrical things. I intend to make the panel out of 1.5 mm aluminium cut to size on the guillotine I then attached this to a hardwood block with some strong double sided tape this will be more than strong enough to hold the piece for the drilling/light milling operation. I worked out the hole positions using an absolute datum (same as CNC work, if only I was still working) This does take some time using my rather old milling machine making sure any backlash is taken out during the 28 linear movements. I used various sizes of centre drills to produce the holes as they give not only accurate size but also perfectly round holes on thin material and the only ones that needed to be a particular size (6mm dial holes) the others are for switches and LEDs which can all be a 3 mm location hole. Each hole was drilled and then chamfered to simulate a bezel on the dials. Finally, I milled a shallow groove (2mm x 0.3 deep) to simulate the separate panels. I have copied a number of different marine dials from the internet and using PowerPoint I aligned in a complete group and then printed and laminated them, this will be placed behind the aluminium plate using double-sided tape. Having fixed the dials in place I drilled through the holes where LEDSs will fit. The LEDs will be shortened and polished so they are flat to the face; these are then stuck in place. Next, I made all the switches from brass bar with a fine brass pin glued across its face to simulate the lever. These were painted gloss black and the centre pin picked out in red, they were then glued into the 3 mm location hole. The black knobs/pull switches were turned out of black Perspex and polished; they were then glued into the location holes. The whole instrument panel is then pinned on to the wooden framework which has been left in natural wood finish (ply) as it looks like the original boat was just a varnished ply finish. Attached Photos - Click To View Large 
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The rear deck has a few features that need to be done to finish the deck. 1) The hatch part needs the magnets putting in to hold it in place, which requires the deck to be milled out to accept the magnets. Having milled the recess out in both the base and the hatch in four places the magnets can be epoxied in the base. Now these have been set in place the upper magnets can be placed on top of the base magnets to get the correct orientation and glued in place, but I made sure to place some silicon baking paper between the magnets so they don’t accidently get stuck together (with epoxy). 2) The handles and recess to lift the decks out have to be milled out. Using a 2 mm slot drill I cut a 10mm x 5mm 1.5 mm deep recess in 4 places. Each recess has two holes drilled in the corners to accept the brass handles which will be epoxied in later 3) There are two drains at the rear of the deck. These were made from a machined piece of tube, which had vee groves milled in one end to accept a 1.5 mm brass rod in each, which were then soldered in place. After some cleaning up of the excess solder the underside was filled in using epoxy resin coloured black (with Graphite) to simulate a dark hole. The ends were then machined flat, polished, and finally epoxied into the deck. 4) Finally the foam tanks need to be secured, once again using round magnets this time , they are sunk into the deck and similarly the opposing magnets are sunk into the base of each foam tank, this gives a real sturdy fastening the tanks jump into position as soon as they are placed near their position. 5) The deck has had a number of clear lacquer coats during manufacture so now for a couple of final coats. Attached Photos - Click To View Large 
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The white metal fitting has an awful lot of detail on it but lacks definition so some time spent on filling the body to better define the components. The anchor part has six hex dummy bolts cast into the base but I intend to drill these out and then use 8BA brass bolts to secure it to the woodwork. Looking at pictures of the assembly it is obvious that there is a handle arrangement missing so I made this from a piece of brass wire and epoxied in place. The two parts have a linkage to fasten them together so again using brass wire and a piece of scrap tube a linkage was made and holes drilled and tapped to secure the assembly. Finally, a couple of coats of primer followed by a “Gun Metal” finish and the items are finished. A pleasing result, however taking some time to do, now for the circular running rail, and supporting posts to complete this unit. Michael T Attached Photos - Click To View Large 
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This is a small item but very visible on the wheelhouse and since the standard for this item has been set I have to follow suit. So first of all get some 3mm blue LEDs ordered and then it’s on with preparing the white metal body. I used by hand as suggested a series of drills increasing in diameter until 3.1 dia was reached but only 2/3 down the length from the front the smaller hole (1.5mm) was bored right through for the wires to exit. Arrival of the LEDs, first check the LED using my power supply, just over 3 volts seems to illuminate to the correct level. Next was to remove the shoulder on its plastic casing so the whole body does not exceed 3mm over its length and lightly abrade the outside to give a diffused light. Next cut the LED legs to 2mm from the plastic casing noting which is positive, next prepare the wires. I used Futaba servo wire cable 22awg which is very flexible and with the white signal wire stripped off leaving a red and black wire. These were tinned and cropped to 2mm and then quickly soldered to the appropriate terminal. Next check the LED still works! first hurdle over, I now needed to check the that when the LED goes into the body it doesn’t short out so checking the diameter over the widest part which is over the soldered terminals this was 0.1 below 3mm. I decided that shrink sleeve was too thick so I mixed some epoxy resin and coated all around the terminals, this proved to be satisfactory in both non-conductivity and dimensionally. Now the final test, using some aliphatic wood glue I slid the LED into the body whilst it was illuminated as it was a tight push fit, bingo it’s still lit – leave to set. I used aliphatic glue, as it would be easier to remove should I ever have to change the LED. The body still needs painting white but this will be done with all the other fittings at a later stage.
Attached Photos - Click To View Large 
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A working search light seems to be expected on this craft so here goes. Based on Robs build I purchased the lens and the LED from Maplin’s which seemed to fit the bill. The only piece that will be used is the main body that is supplied as a white metal fitting, the rest will be replaced by a brass construction, as the rest of the parts are not substantial enough to support a working unit. First, I need some 3/16 half round brass bar, the easiest way is to machine my own cutting just less than half the diameter away. The half-round bar was annealed before bending round a suitable mandrel to a half circle. I then soldered an 8BA nut on each leg to act as the swivel bearing. Next, I machined the body’s internal bore to suit the lens body and skimmed the outer rim and face, finally bore out a small recess that locates the lens in place. The two pivot holes need to be drilled and tapped 8BA, and then a drilled hole in the rear wall for the wires to exit. As the light is to be both working and rotating the base has is to be made with a centre spindle that connects to a micro servo under the roof. The connecting devise was a bit of a headache trying to make it fit in a relatively small space; I used the supplied servo arm with four legs (shortened) and then machined a mating part with pins that located in the arm that is attached to the body above deck. The LED was modified to fit in the white metal body as it has a heat sink which was too big; as others have found cutting it down didn’t affect the heat dissipation when fixed in the white metal body, this was fixed using a small amount of Milliput. Having already machined the outer flange on the body I turned up a brass-flanged ring to push fit on the body this has to have the TRI form guard added. I made this from a central pinion with three holes drilled to accept the bent brass nails; these were soft soldered in position. The TRI form was then located on top of the brass flange and again soft soldered in position At this point all the components will have to be dismantled for final finishing before being painting.
Attached Photos - Click To View Large 
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Rear cabin hatches I have decided to make these two roof hatches detachable (not working) purely to ease the painting and rubbing down process. The hatches on the rear cabin are supplied in pieces to be glued together, so to make them detachable I drilled a hole through the base of each and glued an 8BA screw in place, these can then be secured after final painting to the roof. The hatch also has a dummy-hinged lid and small white metal hinges are supplied, however they do need some attention, such as drilling all the holes and trimming the edges. Here we go again, time for a jig! Repartition can be achieved with the simplest of jigs; all I used was coffee stirrers pinned to a block of wood and one as a locking device. The jig was then placed under the milling machine and the first hole centred, drilled and then the next hinge is placed in the jig and drilled and so on, move to the next hole until all holes are drilled. Before fitting the hinges there needs to be a separation line for the lid and hinge plate so a scored line about halfway through the ply. The hinges are fitted with epoxy and brass pins through all the fixing holes. Mid cabin hatch This is a single hatch, again a square of ply is supplied, but this is improved by adding sides, which can locate on runners, again the runners are not supplied. This hatch is also attached with a single screw epoxied into the top and a nut, after final painting. Forward cabin hatch Again, a single hatch and dealt with in the same way as the mid hatch. Attached Photos - Click To View Large 
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