Blog

Wheelhouse

Having completed the basic hull repaint, it was time to get on to some of the more interesting details. Many of the deck fittings, ventilators, Samson post, etc were sourced from the shop on this website. These plastic fittings were primed with a grey etch primer and then top coated with Tamiya Gunmetal or Humbrol white enamel as appropriate. Being the 1/16th scale Crash Tender, I don't have the benefit of having a set of white metal fittings. I wasn't able to find many off the shelf fittings in 1/16th scale so decided to scratch build them instead. It makes the job more interesting, if a bit fiddly, ....... and very time consuming! The first task was to replace the fixed wheelhouse roof with a removeable one. This gives access to the interior of the wheelhouse for fitting lighting, new windows, and the searchlight servo. The window frames were cut from 1mm plasticard and painted silver. The mast was built from brass, including making the pulleys. A 5mm white LED is fitted to the top, with a little white painted brass cap to make it look the part. Rigging is 1.5mm elastic cord. I think this is a little thick and 1mm might look better. I still have to source the ensign to fly from the mast. There is a pulley in place ready for it. The port, starboard and wheelhouse roof navigation lights were all constructed using plasticard and fitted with 3mm LEDs. The aerial on the roof of the wheelhouse is made from brass based on the details given by Mike (mturpin013) in his blog. The boathooks were also scratchbuilt from brass. I thought they would look better than the white metal ones available on eBay. For the "shepherd's crook" hook, the brass rod was first tapered by filing and sanding before being bent to the appropriate shape. The other hook was formed by silver soldering a onto a tapered shaft. Both hooks were formed on the end of a long length of brass rod to make it easier to handle them. Once complete, a short section of rod behind the hook was turned down to 1mm dia to form a spigot for mounting on the poles. The poles were carved from mahogany. With all these details in place it is really beginning to look the part. Next up the rear deck.

5 years ago by Graham93

Blog

Bollards!

The fittings supplied with the kit include some bollards for the deck but I’m less than impressed with them and decided to make my own by adapting some brass handrail fittings intended for locomotives. As readers of my blogs will know, I don’t have a lathe but there’s a lot that can be achieved using a horizontal bench drill and files. The first job was to reduce the diameter of the base to fit inside a couple of steel washers that were superglued together and then to the reduced base to form a large flange for the bollard. This was then spun in the drill and files used to radius the edges and blend them into the base. Some brass rod was then used to form the cross piece of the bollard, some tape the same width of the ‘ball’ was used to protect the centre section and the outer end reduced to a taper with a file, finally the pieces were reduced to the correct length and the ends rounded off. The cross piece was then superglued into the bollard base and then all four were given a coat of etch primer and then two brushed coats of Tamiya gunmetal grey. There is another bollard on the foredeck and this is just a simple wooden post with a , it’s fixed through the deck into the underlying structure by a brass pin.

5 years ago by robbob