Blog

Mast assembly

The supplied mast is of white metal and although OK it has a number of minus points for me. 1- The mast does not lend its self to being hinged. 2- It really needs navigation light on top and the supplied casting is not suitable for this. 3- wiring needs to be hidden, not easy with the casting 4- it’s quite heavy Having said all that it’s ok if you don’t want my wish list. So on with the manufacture of a replica, I chose brass as the preferred material because it’s easy to silver and soft solder. The main legs are made from 6mm round tube, which I squeezed in my machine vice to an oval shape to look like the castings, each of the ends were then squeezed again at 90 degrees to allow then to join to the cross mid-section. I made some brass inserts for the hinged end from 2mm brass sheet, which are bent by 25 degrees to allow the hinge mechanism to sit at 90 degrees to the cabin roof, these are drilled and tapped 8BA. These pieces actually block the end of the oval tube and need to have a 2mm slot milled in them to allow the wires to exit the tube; these are soft soldered in place later. Two feet were made from two pieces of 2mm brass plate the base plate being slotted to accept the upright and finally silver soldered together. (A point here for silver soldering is to use as little solder as possible and allow it to flow with the heat around the joint this means that no filing is needed. I find it’s also good practice to quench the part when nearly cool to break the glass like residue of the flux then just steel wool is required to clean the parts). The feet upstands were then drilled 8BA clearance and the base fixing holes drilled the same size. The cross mid-section is made from 1mm brass sheet and is bent through 360 degrees whilst placing a 6mm round bar in the centre to create a hole for the top mast. A small wooden former was used as the piece was pressed together in the machine vice, this was then silver soldered to give stability and then filed to shape. This piece has to accommodate the wires passing through, so again a 2mm slot is milled from each leg location to the centre to create passage up to the top mast. The top mast is just stock tubing which then has a turned top with four 5mm holes machined at 90 degrees to accommodate the LED. This is a 5mm Flat top wide angle LED this will direct the light out of the four holes. Finally the cross piece, again stock tube with small ball finials at each end soft soldered in place and tapped 10 BA for the pulley blocks. All pieces now made, it’s time to assemble the parts using a combination of soft soldering and . The wire that I used was silicon sheaved, and when I soldered the legs to the mid-section and lower hinge piece I made sure there was enough wire to pull through to check if the process had damaged the wire, but it hadn’t. So having soldered the LED, the top was epoxied to the upper tube and the tube epoxied to the mid-section. Finally the mid-section was filled using Milliput but first putting some Vaseline on the wires to avoid them being stuck should I ever have to rewire the unit. Next the cross beam was added and epoxied in place. The bottom of the legs looked plain compared with the cast version so I have made some thin gauge brass covers with mock bolts as per the original. The whole assembly was cleaned up ready for a first coat of etch primer, and white primer, followed later with a final coat of appliance white

5 years ago by mturpin013

Blog

Rubbing fenders, more epoxy & hatch coamings.

With all of the deck planking fitted I can now fix the rubbing fenders to the hull where the deck meets the hull sides. These are made from 6.5mm x 5mm obeche strip steamed and bent to shape and fixed with 30 minute epoxy, unfortunately the strips are not quite long enough to do this in one piece even with the rear rubbing fender in place at the stern so a join has to be made which I hope won’t be too conspicuous. The fender tapers in height from bow to stern and the piece that runs across the stern was made from 5mm x 5mm obeche. All the fenders were ‘pilot drilled’ for the pins that held them in place while the glue set. The complete hull was then given a further two coats of with a rub down between coats and a final ‘polish’ with 240 grit paper used wet. The resulting finish is perfectly smooth and ready for paint. The front and rear hatches were fitted with the coamings that will hold the hatches in place. The rotary disk sander that I bought from Lidl is certainly proving to be very useful in shaping small parts at this stage of the construction. I note that it’s back on sale now (Feb 2019) so if you have the opportunity and £30 ….go buy yourself one! The next stage will be to assemble the cabin.

5 years ago by robbob

Response

Glassfibre cloth &

I have also coated my 46" RAF Crash Tender with fiber glass matting and used West Systems two part epoxy. i coated the entire hull in one piece apart from the transom. I left it for two days to harden off. it worked very well. I am fitting the rubbing strakes over the top of the fiberglass using modelling pins and 5 minute epoxy.

5 years ago by ChrisR

Blog

Motor, mount & prop-shaft.

The prop-shaft, coupling and motor mount that I ordered from ModelBoatBits has arrived so it seems a good a good time to make up a supporting wedge for the mount to fix to. I do have a rigid brass motor alignment aid that I used when building the Crash Tender but do you think I can find it in the workshop?....nope! 😡 I expect it will turn up when I need it least! 🤞 Not wanting to waste time I used a length of heat shrink tubing over the motor coupling to make it as rigid as possible, a trick I had seen done elsewhere, and this enabled me to position the motor on its mount in the desired position and measure the angle that the mounting wedge needs to be made to. I used an offcut of beech that I had in the workshop which I cut to size and then shaped it on the rotary sander that I bought in Lidl, fantastic piece of kit !!. The wedge was then drilled to take the nylon motor mount and also the fixing screws that pass through the beech block, through the balsa base of the box and into the ply reinforcing plate that I put in during early construction of the hull. After cleaning up the hole through the keel the prop-shaft was keyed with some abrasive, smeared with some epoxy and then pushed through to mate with the motor coupling. I used the excess around the shaft inside the hull and used some packing tape to stop it running out when I inverted the hull to seal the lower end. A quick spin on the motor confirmed that the alignment was spot-on and the hull set aside while the epoxy set. The next step will be to plank the deck.

5 years ago by robbob

Response

Glassfibre cloth &

To those intending to glass a hull, take Robs advise I did and it works fine, it's tempting to load more resin on at the brushing in stage but DON'T

5 years ago by mturpin013

Blog

Glassfibre cloth &

I used glassfibre cloth and successfully when building my 46” RAF Crash Tender and I chose to do the same with the Police Boat. See: https://model-boats.com/builds/view/23951 for the Crash Tender blog. The application of the cloth and resin serves to strengthen the hull enormously and produces a completely watertight hull, and after additional coats of resin are applied and sanded between coats resulting in a surface that is absolutely smooth and the perfect substrate for the subsequent paint process. With the benefit of my previous experience and greater confidence working with these materials I used a ‘fast’ hardener with the resin which gives a working time of 30 minutes and a much shorter curing time where previously I had used a 90 minute ‘slow’ hardener. The basic process is to cut the cloth roughly to shape with a good margin of overlap and then use masking tape along one edge so that after the resin has been brushed onto the hull the cloth can just be lifted over onto the resin. I then lightly brush the cloth into the resin and push the cloth into any tight angles, without any further resin on the brush, until the weave of the cloth is filled and there are no air pockets and the cloth is completely flat. At this point DO NO MORE as the resin will start to harden and any more fiddling with it will cause the cloth to lift and bubble, less is definitely more in this instance. The resin should cure completely overnight and can be trimmed with a sharp blade. I tend to cover a hull in five stages, as there are five ‘faces’ to the hull and thus it’s a five day process for me, this may be time consuming but I think the results are worth the effort. I will brush on two further coats of resin when the rubbing strakes and gunwales have been added, this will completely fill the weave of the cloth to create a nice flat surface but it’s essential to rub down each coat after curing. All the materials were bought from ‘Easy Composites’ https://www.easycomposites.co.uk

5 years ago by robbob

Blog

The bow blocks & outer keel

The bow of the boat has a compound curve and to create the shape a single block of hard balsa is supplied in the kit, although in my pre-production prototype this had to be formed by laminating some pieces of thick balsa together to the required size. Rather than laminating up a single block separately I did the laminating and glueing in situ on the hull to ensure a solid tight block, and after the glue had cured I set about shaping it. Initially I used a razor saw to roughly remove the surplus at the sides and bottom and then began the process of shaping it to the final form. My sanding plate proved invaluable for the final stages of making the block flush with the hull sides. The underside of the blocks were very carefully shaped with a combination of the sanding plate and abrasive paper around a series large round formers. I was careful not to just use abrasive paper over fingers as this can create grooves and unevenness in the soft balsa. I had already created a concave shape in the bulkhead former F1 and with the ply bottom skins in place it was relatively easy to extend the contour into the bow blocks being very careful to ensure symmetry on both sides. A line was drawn on the blocks that extended the curve of the hull strakes to define the shape. I also used the outer keel as a template throughout the shaping process to make sure that I was not removing too much material. it would be very easy to remove too much material so it pays to do this slowly and carefully, checking all the time for symmetry. Finally when I was happy with the shape I formed a slight flat on the blocks for the outer keel to sit on, using a back light helped greatly with this, and the whole hull was given a light sanding with a detail sander. The prototype kit was supplied with keel components made from thick balsa which would easily be damaged in use so I recreated this in thick ply laminations to the required thickness and shaped it so that it was completely flat and square on the inner edges and with a curved profile on its outer edges. The keel was checked for fit on the hull throughout so that only a minimum amount of filler would be required to blend it to the hull. It was fixed in place with epoxy adhesive and firmly pinned until it fully set and very little filler used to finish it. The kit, which is available now from VMW, includes a single piece bow block and ply keel parts as standard, which makes construction much quicker and easier. I’m glad that bit is over and I’m very pleased with the result. Next stage will be glass fibre cloth and ….

5 years ago by robbob

Blog

Rear deck continued

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 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.

5 years ago by mturpin013

Forum

Ship rudders

Four of the five rudder post hinges made and prepared for epoxy finishing resin and rivet detail.

5 years ago by Toby

Forum

Ship rudders

Two wooden pieces, steel rod, each hinge 3mm i/d brass tube, shaped with filler and then each hinge covered and the shape made using Strips of five glass and epoxy finishing resin. File to suit. Pins for hinges clevis type 3mm.

5 years ago by Toby

Blog

The wheelhouse navigation light.

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 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.

6 years ago by mturpin013

Blog

Electrical

Hi All Refer to attached for motor comparison. I don't like using Cyano so the hull be built using ZAP 30minute epoxy and a weather proof Alphylitic from Sika. I will more than likely use a polyurethane based glue for the skinning. The hole boat will be epoxy coated inside and out to add strength. By the way the will increase the strength by about 2.5😁😁

6 years ago by Ianh

Blog

Boat lifting eyes

Boat lifting eyes As has been said by others the boat lifting eyes are a small detail but an important one, somehow when detailing gets in your head its difficult not to seek it out. Anyway, there are six eyes three on each side, which I presume, are for lifting the boat out of the water, unfortunately there isn’t any detail on size so it’s down to “builders eye”. I made the six in a batch, that’s to say I first made six identical pieces 10.5mm x 20.5mm x 2mm thick and drilled the hole in each then the six pieces fastened together with an M4 screw and then machined together to ensure uniformity and ease of production. I then skimmed them to final size 10 x 20 followed by milling the concave and convex radii on the top. I intend to sink the eye into the deck and secure using a brass pin sideways into the gunwhale stringers and epoxied into position. To ease fitting I made a small jig, which will allow a 2mm slot to be cut in the exact position on the deck along with a drilled hole at 90 degrees. Two small grub screws fasten the jig to the gunwale stringers while the slot and holes are machined. After all the slots had been prepared I then made all the foot rails that run along the edge of the deck from bow to stern, the first set I used the obeche supplied in the kit, however as they are in a place that could get knocked I decided to rework then in walnut. Finally I pre drilled all the foot rails ready for temporary pinning. Having all the components ready it is time to assemble with , using sparingly and making sure not to get any on the visible part of the brass lifting eyes and using pins to hold in position while curing. PS sorry about some of the picture quality but I didn't check them until after assembly

6 years ago by mturpin013

Forum

Leaking Boat!

Depends on the resin, NPJ. if it's epoxy you've bought, you need to weigh out 1/5th of the hardener to any amount of resin. Ergo...20 grams of resin, 4 grams of hardener. So get some electronic scales (very cheap and essential to the use of resin)put 20 grams in of resin and then, without touching the scales pour in drips of hardener till you have 24 or 25 grams showing on the scales. Don't go above that. Epoxy requires accuracy of measurement and endless mixing. Just mix and mix till you're fed up with it, then mix a bit more. Don't use large amounts as the heat from the curing of a large amount will set it off even quicker. Looking at your bottom picture, I see bubbles in the paint. Scrape them right off and see what's below. Probably soft wood, so scrape that out too and allow to dry thoroughly. Then in with the resin. if there's a bit of a dip, you can make your own filler by mixing fine sawdust with the resin into a peanut butter consistency and look and apply that to already wetted out surfaces. I used that on a full sized wooden canal boat. Worked a treat. When that's set, you can file it flat with a rasp and a second cut then wet'n'dry on a block to finish. Finally repaint and wax. But, as Doug says, you need to see if the water's getting in somewhere else like the shaft or rudder areas. Good luck, Martin

6 years ago by Westquay

Blog

20th Scale ELCO 80ft PT boat part 7

Have added reinforcing to the frame supporting the end of the shaft tubes, 3 pictures show dry fit. and once dry glue in shafts with , 3 pictures of fixed shaft tubes. Now looking at an extra part frame to support the three motor brushless out-runners.

6 years ago by CB90

Forum

Windows, stoopid question.

Well, the die got here today, so the shaft is now done, all threaded M3x 0.6. Still ludicrously hot, so nowt gets done outside, except after about 7 in the evening. I've also got 4 figures from this morning's boot fair that I have already started converting into RAF boat crew. Huge amounts of Milliput epoxy putty later, the action figures will have RAF uniforms and the odd hat, suitable for 1/16th scale Crash Tenders, etc. Once done, my slot racing chum will cast them in resin and they will be available for sale. Don't know how much till he gives me a price for casting. Cheers, Martin

6 years ago by Westquay

Media

Titanic

I built this 1/125th scale Amati kit of the Titanic over two years from 2016. it has enhanced etched brass details from Minibrass. Conversion for radio control involved making the hull waterproof with multiple layers of fibreglass cloth bonded with as well as the installation of a drive train and RC gear. With only a tiny rudder, steering is dependent on a mixer unit controlling the differential speed of the propellors.

6 years ago by JeremyBB

Blog

54 year old Crash Tender

I would like first to say that this is NOT a restoration. It has always been mine and followed me around all those years, been used extensively on Oyster beds on the Essex coast and Valentine's Park in Ilford, Essex...even the great Victoria Park, of which my Granddad was a founder member. It has eaten its way through lantern batteries out of number which my Dad, who was in the business could magic from thin air. There was always a nook in the boot of the Triumph Town and Country saloon and then the Austin Westminster for another new lantern battery, which the Taycol would destroy in about 20 intermittent minutes of left, centre, right, centre from the REP single channel gear. How I wish I still had that, but it was stolen. The REP, that is, the Taycol remains, restored and cleaned and like new again waiting to go back in the boat. I finally decided I should finish it. My wife bought me a set of white metal fittings by Yeoman out of IP Engineering, so I have no excuse. Not that I need one. It has suffered a bit over that half a century, losing odd panels, but they are easily remade and replaced. First, I had to clean out the insides of the detritus and loft life of decades. Vacuuming, scraping with a pointy thing and brushing with a stiff brush, followed by more vacuuming using a clever attachment that my dear wife thought might be useful and it was, being at least a dozen stiff, but small diameter tubes poking out of the end of a nozzle. It both pokes and nudges the old dirt and dust and sucks it away. After that the old thin mahogany deck planks, my friend thought to add in the late 60s were removed and saved where salvageable as I quite like them for trim on other boats. The deck was rather brutalised with a coarse rasp and any loose nails punched back in flush or slightly below. Then some way too old, but still good, epoxy (WEST) was used to slar all over the decks and most of the insides, even some of the cabin sides. That will be finished before dark today. I can hardly believe the epoxy still works, but it does, perfectly and so is pressed into use. In this warm weather it set very quickly. I did my usual trick of squeegeeing it on into the grain with an old credit card or Gummi, which is a sample block of silicon. Styrene will also do. I use some spare 2mm stuff I was given (that guy at IP Engineering again). The roofs had already been corrected the other evening and heavily cellulose sanding sealed. The forward cabin removeable roof was unwarped by having a tight fitting diagonal piece of pear pressed in under the top skin and glued. The new hatch on that roof was made and the shape of the roof and hatch runners changed slightly, as per drawings from this site. Here are pics. of the work today. The above resinning, the remade cabin panels a new wheelhouse bulkhead and the tow hook base panel, finally a new aft cockpit rear coaming which it never had but should have. Cheers, Martin

6 years ago by Westquay

Blog

Fibreglass the hull- continued

Now the Chine rubbing strakes are fitted, dry and filled and I have attended to the minor lumps and bumps the next job is to give another coat of resin, taking the issues of the first application into account I intend to apply a thin coat, this has the effect of filling in the pattern of the glass cloth. Another two days have passed and it’s time to do some rubbing down. I have found that the surface is very hard, more so than I recall some of the other fibre glass projects I have done but these have been using Polyester resin. it’s a first for epoxy, so is epoxy a better choice than Polyester? According to my mini research –  Epoxy is more versatile  Epoxy has fewer fumes  Epoxy is stronger  Epoxy shrinks less Conclusion Epoxy is the better choice for repairing/covering either wooden hulls or repairing fiberglass boats. it has excellent adhesive qualities, wets out fiberglass fabrics and it is tough. it has great thin film cure characteristics, cures in cool temperatures. After the first coat I wasn’t 100 % happy with the finish but I just thought that some dust had landed on the surface before the resin had dried, (this was proved not to be dust but because of the matting pattern still been visible it disguised the real problem) however this was easily sanded out with wet & dry. Now the hull and deck were looking really smooth with very little sign of the matting pattern it was time to give a final coat. I had decided to coat both the deck and the hull in one go so I mixed enough resin to do the lot. Starting with the deck I started to apply the resin but to may horror it started to pin prick all over the deck surface, panic, panic what was causing this? So was it the brush which I had previously washed out with cellulose thinners after applying the last batch of resin. I decided to remove the resin and use a new brush (I had 90 mins cure time to do this) so cleaning of with paper towel and finally with a wipe with thinners I started to apply resin again – but it happened again as I sat in despair I looked into the pot of resin wondering where to go next when I saw a film on the top of the remaining resin it was then I noticed a ridge in the cups side. it was the wax coating that had melted into the resin and subsequently appeared as pin pricks in the newly applied surface. At this realisation I removed all the resin again and took a breather hoping I had found the problem. Another day and a light rub down of the deck to make sure the surface is ready to receive its final coat. Resin weighed (in a glass container this time) and well mixed I started to apply again and fortunately it was OK and all surfaces were coated.

6 years ago by mturpin013

Forum

Sea Commander restoration tips

Get yourself a small pack of from ebay and seek out all slight delaminations of the plywood frames. Get the epoxy in those split bits and clamp them up. A clothes peg is sufficient if you're short of space. You can put a piece of cling film twixt peg and wood so the peg doesn't stick. Then use the rest of the epoxy to waterproof the insides. Be thorough and methodical. if you sand the model back to wood, use epoxy on that, either through fine model aircraft fibreglass cloth or just squeegee epoxy on all over with an old credit card. it goes much further and gets forced into the grain. it's not necessary to use GRP cloth on everything if it's well built. I have several over-50 year old model boats that are perfectly water tight with decent paint jobs (enamel, of course). Cheers, Martin

6 years ago by Westquay

Blog

Fibreglass the hull

I purchased as recommended by Robbob the fibreglass package which consisted of 750g of and 250g of hardener, I also went for the 90min cure as this is the first time I have ever done a boat hull, I’ve done plenty of stranded fibre cowlings/air intakes etc. where you lay a gel coat first then stranded matting which is so different to laying a fine matt on its own. I also ordered some mixing sticks and throw away brushes. First I cut the matting to the slightly oversize for one of the side skins, then loosely taped the matt to the bottom skin and checked the coverage - and checked again then fold over to the opposite side, this then leaves the surface clear to apply the resin. Mixing the resin should be done accurately, so borrow the kitchen scales and here we go. I wasn’t sure how much to mix for a side skin but 25g of resin and 7.5g of hardener looks about right. So mix well and then brush onto the side skin, then I gently lifted over the matting and laid it on the skin and gently brushed the matting down, the matting is almost sucked onto the resin so minimal brushing is required to ensure a smooth surface A previous blog said that “Less is More” how true this is, the temptation to spread the remainder of the resin on to the already adhered matt is something to be avoided, however learn by my mistake as I did just that (only in a small area on one skin) leaving rather a lot of sanding later after the resin had fully cured as it leaves a rather lumpy surface. So onward and upwards the following three surfaces were relatively easy with only minor difficulty keeping the matting in close to the 90 degree angle between the keel and skin and I had to keep going back to it pressing it in with a steel rule until the resin started to go off but minimal resin left a surface that was flat and the weave of the glass matt can be clearly seen and felt but minimal sanding is required if at all. Then a further 2 coats of resin with sanding in between will leave a smooth surface ready for final preparation of painting. The final picture is of the roof that in a previous page I said to add strength the roof would need a coat of glass to reinforce the unsupported edges – To be continued

6 years ago by mturpin013

Forum

Denatured Alcohol

I am trying to get some of this stuff to dilute my with. I understand that it comes in many forms, including methylated spirits. Can anyone out there who knows these things advise me if they would all be suitable for thinning (Z Poxy Finishing Resin to be precise), or if there is a preferred version, and a source? If I used meths would the diluted resin be purple? Chris

7 years ago by octman

Blog

Planking done and other stuff’

So, after a weekend away with “she who must be obeyed” have managed to do some more over the last couple of days before nights tonight. Planking is now completed, just needs external shaping, sanding and filler before glass clothing. Have cut holes and added all the fixing points for the prop shafts and made the motor mount. All square and inline. Prop shafts won’t be fitted properly until I’ve clothed the outside. Stuffing boxes will be epoxy and isopon P38 fixed inside the little boxes I’ve made where they exit the hull for added strength. Last job today was to give the inside of the hull a good dose of resin to seal it all up.

6 years ago by Skydive130

Blog

Cabin sides and deck supports

Before we continue I must mention some fine detail that should have been mentioned in the previous build update and that is the preparation of the cabin sides. Because the bow end of the cabin sides narrow there is a need to score/cut through partially in the places indicated in the build instructions, this is around the cabin side window and enables the side to bend without cracking the external faces, and this also applies to the rear of the cabin sides where it joins B5. The cabin side extensions can also be glued into position as well To continue, having secured all the bulkheads to the keel I can now epoxy the cabin sides to the bulkheads ensuring that the height is maintained side to side and bends smoothly round to the bow and stern. Allowing this to set for a couple of hours I can fit the deck stringers from ¼ x ⅛. These are cut to length to suite the gaps between the bulkheads and glued in place using aliphatic resin glue. I also added some extra support where the cabin side extensions are since its only a butt joint.

6 years ago by mturpin013

Blog

More Bulkheads

All the bulkhead parts are made ready for assembly. I decided at this point modify CF2 and B2. B2 to enable easy access for further detailing of the cabin at a later stage and CF2 I cut out what will be the door opening into the cockpit. Each of the bulkheads had 2 x 12 mm holes drilled just below deck level for future wiring runs; they also needed support to secure them at 90 degrees so I made a number of right angle squares to support them squarely and at equal height at each side, these were secured with a temporary brass pin. The spacing at the keel was pre-determined when building the keel components, however the tops need correct spacing by dry fitting the cabin sides and just checking that each side measures the same height, finally the back end of the keel needs supporting to keep everything square. Each of the cabin sides and bulkheads can now be dismantled and reassembled with . NOTE at this stage only the bulkheads are epoxied to the keel, the cabin sides and CF2 are only there to ensure the bulkheads are square and correctly spaced at this stage.

6 years ago by mturpin013

Blog

M.V. TEAKWOOD

Started to add the finishing touches to the hull; portholes, a bulwark capping strip and bilge keels. The portholes were drilled to the outside diameter on the drawing and small sections of styrene tube epoxied in. These were then drilled out and smoothed to the hull contour. Once the hull is painted lenses will be added usimg clear epoxy. The bulwark capping strip is a small styrene “U” section CA glued along the top of the bulwarks. This tidies up the edge and gives a smooth, consistent appearance. Have never been satisfied with previous attempts at bilge keels. Tried making them from both styrene and wood, pinned and epoxied into place. Not very robust, although they looked fine. Plenty of scope for repairs! Decided to try another approach on this model. Purchased strips of 1/4” L shaped styrene and CA glued them into position on the underside of the hull, with the leg facing in towards the keel. Filled the gaps on both sides of the styrene with fibre-glass resin and then rubbed them down, feathering the edges of the bilge keel into the hull. These bilge keels are nice and strong and, from the outside, the bodge is not visible. it can been just seen from the underside if the model ever gets inverted. Hope that is unlikely though! From here on the construction will follow well established principles, so will only write bog updates as significant milestones are achieved.

6 years ago by Rowen

Blog

MV TEAKWOOD

As the stern needed the most reshaping, decided to tackle it first. Made up a wooden insert to reflect the correct deck stern contour and glued it in between the deck supports. This would give the stern be the correct shape and length. Once that was positioned pulled the hull up tight to the supports. As the stern is approached the sharper profile of the Teakwood requires the hull sides to be pulled firmly inwards and the transom be vertical. Decided this was not going to epoxy and stay in place satisfactorily once the strain was released, so cut a series of vertical slots in the rear hull to allow it relax and squeeze it together. One slot has to be quite deep, otherwise the lower hull will crack as it will not relax sufficiently. Used the Dremel cutting disc for this. The slots need to be quite generous as the the hull has to be pulled in some distance. Once this was all epoxied in place, wrapped “cling film” around the rear of the hull and poured liquid fibreglass resin around the slots and under the insert to bond everything together. Worked this onto all the vertical and horizontal surfaces as it set. The stern is now good and rigid. The attached pictures show the new stern profile and slots. The first pictures are “as is” to illustrate the process. Further work was also needed to true up the bulwarks and disguise the slots. This mutilation may seem a brutal way of getting the hull shape correct, but had tried all kinds of pulling and squeezing of the hull, none of which held in place after the clamps were released. Once the cosmetic aspects of the stern rework were complete, established the correct location for the rudder post and fitted it. The major stern work is now finished.

7 years ago by Rowen

Forum

Crash Tender Shaft Tube Poistion

Hi Dave, agree with the talc idea, sometimes I file a piece of busted terracotta flower pot to powder and mix that with the resin. But usually to repair Gisela's busted garden ornaments not for boat models, but no reason why not😉 But then that's why I suggested the thicker two part glue not the liquid resin for this 'fix'. Re hardeners: as far as I know all are peroxide based but the concentration is different for the various 'speed' glues. Frankly I would have thought that the faster mix on the inside would have accelerated the outer mix, at least at the interface between the two! BTW: it was never suggested to use the epoxy as filler! The resin was just to soak and harden the balsa wedges and hold everything in place. I'm sure I wrote to the effect; when fully cured THEN use filler on the outside of the hull for the cosmetics. Something lost in interpretation?? Anyway step by step Neil is reaching his goal! 👍 @ Neil; you'll need to get a shift on with the 5 min mix! 5 mins is the hard setting time, working time before it goes too stiff to move is only about 2mins!!!🤔 Cheers Doug 😎

7 years ago by RNinMunich

Forum

Sea Queen refurbishment

Just started cleaning up my dads old Sea Queen. Spent four hours rubbing down hull (one half), as there is a bad layer of old fibre glass tape round the chine line. After cleaning back I found that the oil from inside had got into the joints. A lot of the nails had fallen out, so I have given a coat of epoxy , it now seems quite stable. Will do the same with the other side. The keel is delaminating so I will inject with epoxy and clamp. Hopefully she will hold together while I do the work so that I can coat the whole hull with extra fine glass cloth and resin. Will have to get more rapid set epoxy from pound shop tomorrow. That's all for now, goodnight all.

7 years ago by Colin H

Forum

Glazing help

Hi Doug I used a trader (Steve Tranter- Model Boat Bits) to get the waterjet cutting done. The machine needs programming and I provided a spread sheet with the dimensions and they produced the file and did the cutting. As we were building two large models this was the only way we could get the project finished on time. I have been experimenting with crystal clear resin to produce portholes for a Confiance Class tug I am building. I made portholes out of brass on the lathe then filled the centre with the clear casting resin. I had bubbles in the initial attempt but by using a syringe and flicking the tube the bubbles all go to the top of the syringe and the result is to my liking. I do paint the portholes first. When dry I just glue in the fibreglass hull with epoxy. Mine are near the waterline and whilst cyano would work I don't trust it when wet as experienced with the Olympic. You could drill and fill your portholes with this, just need to place a blanking plate behind each porthole til the clear casting resin sets. I suspect this would be quicker than using acetate. incidentally I used to cut my acetate portholes with a heated brass tube. I used a piece of stainless rod inside the tube to push the portholes out. Cheers Dave

7 years ago by Dave M

Forum

Sea Queen refurbishment

Just a few quickies. first of all did the drill bit hit the bone? if so it needs an x -ray as there could be bone splinters that will cause pain even after the hole has healed. Re coating boat hulls try 2 part Epoxy paint / resins which can be used with cloth like polyester resin. RN I believe Acetone and various other solvents are available in quantity off the supermarket shelf in France👍. Do you get over the border at all? Not sure but I think the OP that said this mentioned ether too.

7 years ago by onetenor

Forum

Denatured Alcohol

When I have got the DNA and epoxy/polyester resin sorted out and I want to coat the inside of the boat, do I just do the hull, or should I wait until the deck is on? Chris

7 years ago by octman

Forum

Denatured Alcohol

Hi Chris Always happy to share my experiences. Epoxy is basically a glue and whilst the aero boys like to use it with glass cloth to cover their wings because it bonds well to the wood and remains slightly flexible, my experience is it is dear, adds significantly to the weight, is difficult to apply evenly and has a nasty habit of running after application. We used on the large liners, having also seen the hype on U-Tube, and really struggled with the application. If I was using this as a sealing coat with or without cloth then I prefer Polyester lay up resin which is cheaper, thin and easy to apply, has controllable setting time and produces a much harder finish. Good luck with the registration, not sure I would want to get that close to HM Customs & Excise! Happy building Dave

7 years ago by Dave M

Forum

Sea Queen refurbishment

Might have, but it was pinned with brass pins as well, so will be sealing inside with , then coating the hull with eezicote and extra fine glass cloth before painting and vanishing. Well at least she's stripped for action. it must have taken years off her. (Maybe I should get the wife dipped)? Don't tell her.

7 years ago by Colin H

Blog

Weathering

Added the numbers and name yesterday and started the weathering process. Unlike my previous boat (Emily P) which was based on a steel hull I can't go crazy with the rusting! Fibre glass does however fade where water is consistently running so I have added some extra running down the sides from the scuppers and where the v doors, trawl and nets would rub. I have then used white gloss, brown fence paint and will add some green (for the slime!) This was applied with a cotton ear bud and then rubbed back with some string.

7 years ago by GrahamP74

Forum

Sea Queen refurbishment

Thanks for your feedback, I'm not trying to do a major rebuild just get the old Queen looking as good as possible, I think if it holds together after degreasing I'll paint the interior with to stabilize it. Then paint with hamerite smooth white to make it easier to keep clean. As for a motor I have a decoperm 6volt with gear box, or a Johnson 600 to choose from at present fitted with a 3 bladed 30mm brass prop. Also have the original 2 channel 27Mhz RX and tx. But not sure what to fit by way of speed control, I have an old variable sweep rheostat that works well. Wish I could upload pics it might help. Have a choice of 6volt SLA or 7.2volt nicads. I would like to keep to keep it as near to how dad could have used it in the late 50s early 60s. This project is more for family than me actually using it, just family history to pass on to my grandson. Thanks Colin

7 years ago by Colin H

Forum

What type of wire?

I am not sure from your original question if you were asking about sizing of conductors or on which type of conductor/insulation was the most suitable. The previous contributors have covered the size issue and here are a few thoughts on other features. From your comments it looked to me you were interested in having wiring in models you wanted to be around for a long time which is quite likely. I think my fireboat is over 50 years old now and is still stuck to gether with the original glue, but has had a number of up dates to its internals from very messy diesel to brushed dc motors. Most reasonably priced wiring is made from copper or tin coated copper wire if you need to do a lot of soldering, with pvc insulation, if pvc is irradiated this gives it a longer life. As far as I can see from my house wiring, so long as it is not flexed, ordinary pvc insulation lasts a long time, but does become brittle. In the defence/aerospace business since the second world war there have been various exotic systems used ( up until the end of the war rubber was the general insulator which did not last very long until it perished ). Various ones being silicone rubber internal insolators covered with glass fibre woven covers, this is horrible stuff to deal with when stripping, vynel with a woven nylon covering being another. With the advent of irradiated pvc and ptfe these were totally replaced. Ptfe is a very good insulator and is very stable and not attacked by any common liquids or solvents. Due to its good insulating properties the thickness of casing can be very thin, the problem with it is it is difficult to strip so you have to have a good pair of strippers. Another option in a model boat installation would be to use varnised copper wire like that used in various electrical items, solenoids, transformers etc. then stick this down on to a bed of and then add an extra coat, a bit like a fitted p.c.b. I have never done it but if it was well done could look quite interesting. If the radio side is a major consideration the above is not very applicable as, as has been said by others the choice is largely decided by the equipment you acquire.

7 years ago by nasraf

Forum

Finishing

That's why I counselled caution with anything over acrylic...including, as it happens, acrylic. HRG enamels take a very short time to dry. in fact so much so that they sell a decelerator to slow drying time to maintain a wet edge. Very important when you're painting a narrow boat by hand, although a lot of people then use Owatrol mixed in with the enamel. I sprayed HRG enamel, thinned with white spirit and I sprayed all the parts of a kit car with it. it dried the same afternoon and was handleable the next day with ease. Needless to say it glossed beautifully, being enamel. Spray cans can be OK, but are very expensive for what they re and NEVER use over acrylic as they will wrinkle. What goes in those cans ain't pure water based acrylic, trust me. For one thing, it stinks a fair bit. I've painted enough slot car bodies to know that and what Halfords mix for you is pure, stinks-of-peardrops cellulose, whatever they might tell you. None of them know a fraction of we old painty farts know! if you can afford them, I would recommend Zero paints. They're formulated to be airbrush ready, need no thinning and are to quote the man that makes them, "cellulose only different". I did a 3 foot model narrow boat for somebody and they went on beautifully out of my Paasche Model H single mix airbrush (all you need). in fact I have also used them from my spotting gun (cheap as chips and easy to clean, IF you have a compressor). Zeros mask well too. Problem is he won't post and wants a fortune for courier. I won't play that game when I just had 2 deliveries of through the post. I have recently used Tamiya spray cans that were given to me (yes I really AM that tight) and they are excellent, but then, they really are cellulose. I wish I could buy cellulose, but it allegedly isn't made these days...Hmmmm. Something ending in "...ocks" comes to mind. I'd honestly stick to enamels bought from a car paint suppliers. Their wet'n'dry is cheaper too. Always talk to the organ grinder himself, never his monkey, hence auto refinishers' suppliers. Martin

7 years ago by Westquay

Forum

Waterproof glue

Hi Chris. Like yours, my very first wooden boat was held together with Cascamite. I'm very happy to recommend Titebond 2, it's an aliphatic resin that's waterproof, dries very quickly and forms a very strong bond on wood to wood joints. I have used it extensively in the construction of my crash tender project. The other glue I have used is Z-poxy 30 minute , great for wood to metal and various other materials. I hope that is helpful. Rob.

7 years ago by robbob

Forum

Fiberglassing

Hi chugalone 100 Welcome to the site. You can fibreglass with different types of resin and cloth. if you are making and casting a fibreglass hull use fibreglass matting but to cover a hull lightweight fibreglass cloth is best. This is the type shown in the suggested video. Resin can be epoxy or polyester based but the latter is generally cheaper and in my opinion is easier to use and doesn't require thinning with alcohol. it is sold as layup resin and is supplied with hardener. Do follow the instructions re quantity of each part and mix thoroughly. If you are using epoxy iso Propyl Alcohol is the type to use and is clear. The video shows using a brush to apply the resin and whilst this is OK it will give a very thick and heavy coating. I use the brush to apply and then a credit card sized piece of plasticard to spread the resin over and into the surface of the cloth resulting in an almost opaque finish with the weave showing through. You do need to have a good surface to work with as any imperfections will show when the resin hardens. Once dry give a light sanding all over to remove any imperfections and fill any holes with car body filler and sand smooth. I then apply a very thin top coat of the resin using a brush. When dry use wet and dry to sand and if necessary apply further thin coats until you have the finish you require. I have a local supplier and if you visit the site http://www.resin-supplies.co.uk/product.htm all the resins/cloths etc are listed. Using Google should bring up a local supplier. you do need to follow the safety instructions to protect yourself and wear appropriate protection for your hands, eyes and breathing, it is also best to apply in a well ventilated area and not on a cold day. The end result will be well worth the effort to keep your tug waterproof. You could also paint the resin over thye inside of the hull to protect the wood from any water that doeos find its way inside. Dave

7 years ago by Dave M

Forum

To resin cover or not my ulises steam tug

Hi Mate, welcome to the forum, First of all there is no such thing as newby question, only what you dont know or are uncertain. I would always resin cover the hull, added strength etc, less chance of dings. But, glass cloth or borrow the wifes tights!!! all good for the hull, Resin I have used polyester resin in the past but i now use epoxy layup resin, comes with different time hardeners, or the resin from delux, cant remember the name is water based, (very little smell) I would also pore resin inside the hull as a sealant (between bulkheads and roll the hull around to spread the resin over your planking, also great as you mention its a steam tug so oil etc wont affect the hull. Finish is down to detail sanding and filling, if its smooth to start with it will be far easier to get a smooth finish. Hope this has given you some guidance, shout again if you need more. PS. if your looking for a club, have a look at Etherow MBC we are in Romiley, just out of Stockport Regards Mark

7 years ago by jarvo

Forum

water proofing

Hi Colin The Billing plank on frame models are from an earlier era and were very popular in their day. My first model was their Mercantic. I used Cascamite glue which worked fine for about 20 years but then the wood cracked along the glue lines😡. The solution depends on the hull finish you seek to acquire. If you want a bare wood finish then you need to fit and glue the planks very carefully so that the joins look correct. You then need to seal the inside with a thin coat of resin run all over the inside right up to the bulwark. For best results you can use tissue, glass fibre or cloth cut to fit between the formers. Just make sure you stipple the resin into the cloth and try to avoid any bubbles. If your hull will be painted then, after final preparation, you can cover in a similar way as described above. You then rub down and fill any imperfections with Body filler. I usually also do the inside also to protect the internal wood from any water ingress. When I built the Olympic and Titanic with my friend Bill we used this method. I have attached a few pics showing the stages. We built from plans with ply frmes and 4mm balsa sheet. The outside is covered with glass cloth and whilst the inside is covered with Fiberglass cloth and poly layup resin. We took many pics and I have them on my Dropbox account. if you send me a private message with your email address I will share. its free to join and you can view on line and download as many as you want. Have fun Dave

7 years ago by Dave M

Blog

Covering hull

To get the nice reverse curve in the bows, large blocks of balsa were used; luckily got given plenty of them years ago. I did use the thin ply supplied for the hull skin as replacing it is expensive, just recut to suit. After carving the bow shape and sanding everything true I covered the hull with fine woven glass cloth, after coating the hull with spray adhesive and letting it get tacky. After 2 coats of and lots of wet sanding, time to fit the rudder tube and prop shaft (with 3d printed oiler) and motor mounts, then the inside was sealed with epoxy.

7 years ago by manyboats

Forum

Skeg on King Fisher

Hi Grandpa I agree with the advice Mark has already given, but would add that the large keel you seem to be adding will make the model difficult to turn. A simple infill from the keel to the shaft will give you all the strength you need without altering the handling characteristics. I usually use a piece of hard balsa to make a fillet. Gouge a slot where it sits on the shaft and epoxy in place. Cover with tissue or cloth coated with sanding sealer or resin. I am attaching a pic of my Sea Queen which shows the skeg. There is a small flared keel forrard of the skeg but this is part of the original design of this fast planing hull. You could add a short flared keel forrard of your shaft for say an inch or two but not to the full depth. Good luck and please share the end result Dave

7 years ago by Dave M

Blog

Epoxy coating the hull

With the rubbing strakes fitted the hull can now receive two more coats of . The resin was mixed to the 30:100 ratio in sufficient quantity to coat the whole hull, and the 90 minute pot life meant that this could be done at a sensible pace. I found it best to apply a thin even coat and not to over-brush the resin, that way there were no runs and the brush did not drag, 'less is more' is always the case. The strakes absorb the resin quite well so they should be harder and more resistant to knocks. The resin was left to cure and harden for a couple of days before a rub down with a 400 grit wet & dry abrasive on a sanding block. The weave of the cloth is now fully covered and the resulting surface is remarkably smooth even at this stage. A third coat of resin builds up the finish layer and when dried resulted in a very pleasing mirror finish and the glassfibre cloth is now completely invisible! As satisfying as this shiny surface is it must be rubbed down to give a good surface for the primer paint to adhere to. I used a 1200 grit wet & dry paper with plenty of water to flatten and key the surface ready for when the painting process could be started.

7 years ago by robbob

Forum

Curl in a wooden sheet of 1/8'' ply

There are various ways to do this but the simplest way is to use thinned dope or paint/varnish.Giving 3 or 4 coats This thinned paint etc soaks into the timber not just sitting on top and also seeps into the nooks and crannies. Epoxy or other resins can also be used, again well thinned so it soaks in .Be fairly liberal with it and tilt and twist the hull in all directions so the paint runs into all the nooks and crannies. Good luck with it John

7 years ago by onetenor

Blog

Chine strakes

The chine strakes are made from 3/16 x 3/16 obechi and also need a very thorough steaming to get them into the correct shape. As with gunwhale strakes these also need to be bent in two different planes, the first being the curve of the bow and the second is the rise and fall in angles required to follow the line of the chine stringers. Pre-drilling these strips prior to glueing with epoxy and pinning is very important as the wood is very thin and would very easily split if not done, remembering that the wood is already under stress because of the bending process 😰 Fortunately this also went well without any disasters, and after a bit of filling and rubbing down I'm finally able to apply the last two coats of resin to give the hull it's final surface 😀

7 years ago by robbob

Blog

Fibreglassing the hull side skins & transom.

The fibreglassing process is turning out to be a great deal easier than I anticipated, the cloth weave allows it to conform to the hull shape without any creasing, and the resin brushes on very easily and has no unpleasant smell at all. I had read other build blogs where the resin was described as having an unpleasant smell and was difficult to work with, perhaps that's because this is epoxy rather than polyester? In retrospect I could have ordered an alternative resin kit from the supplier where two bottles of hardener are supplied, one slow (95 min pot life) and one fast (17min pot life), because as my confidence increased I could probably do an application with the fast hardener in the shorter time and thus curing time would also be correspondingly quicker. The transom is the last face to do and once that had cured I could then give the complete hull it's first rub down before I shape and fix the gunwhale and the chine rubbing strakes. Once these are on I can apply the two further resin coats to get the final finish.

8 years ago by robbob

Blog

Fibreglassing the hull bottom skins.

The hull was prepared for fibreglassing, any pins are punched below the surface, filled and rubbed down with a fine grit paper. The wood does not need any sanding sealer applied as this will react with the . I cut the cloth roughly to size and shape and laid onto the bottom skin, the upper edge was lightly taped with masking tape to hold it in place. The resin is mixed to the correct 100:30 ratio and stirred well, the pot life is 95 minutes and will allow me to take my time to get this right. My previous test was very helpful in establishing a working sequence and I know how the materials will react when I start working them and how much time I have before the brush stops brushing and starts dragging the resin. The cloth is folded over to the other side of the keel and a thin coat of resin applied over the skin and the side of the keel and then the fabric is carefully folded back onto the wet resin. The resin immediately starts to draw the cloth to the surface and a very light brushing from the centre outwards helps to make it smooth and flat, the remaining resin can then be gently brushed onto the cloth so that there is an even coating. The cloth needed to be pushed up against the keel sides and I used a steel rule edge to get it into the junction of hull and keel. I decided to trim the cloth just at the bow along the line of the join in the skins whilst the rein was still wet so that I would have a clean butt join in the cloth in this region instead of an overlap, probably not really necessary as an overlap should sand down ok and that join will be covered by the chine stringer, but it seemed like a good idea anyway. I did a similar thing on the keel below the propshaft and around the skeg. This was done with a sharp new Stanley knife blade without disturbing the cloth and the excess cloth removed. Once the cloth is on you must resist the urge to brush on any more resin or smooth it out any more, this first resin coating only needs to be light as subsequent coats will build up and fill the cloth weave. I let it to cure overnight and the following day is still felt tacky so I erred on the side of caution and left it for a further day until it was entirely dry to the touch. The excess cloth was then trimmed back with a sharp blade. Caution, be careful because the cut edge of the cloth is itself very sharp, as I found out the hard way! Feeling quite satisfied with these initial results and a great deal more confident I repeated the process for the other bottom skin. At this rate of progress, allowing for proper curing of the resin, it will take 8 days just to cover all five faces of the hull with cloth alone, but a wise man said 'a job worth doing is a job worth doing well' 😄

8 years ago by robbob

Response

Fitting the side skins.

Hi Steve. The design of the VMW kit uses skins that run the full length of the hull although I have seen others that have a balsa bow section, and in my opinion the full skin approach is possibly better because the bow shape is formed very easily without repeated sanding and contouring and checking for symmetry. The first crash tender I built 46 years ago was all ply so in that respect I have had a bit of practice !. Keep watching the blog and you see that I also reinforce the hull with fibreglass cloth and . Rob.

8 years ago by robbob