|||
Not Registered
Go AD FREE & get your membership medal
BRONZE
Less Ads
SILVER
GOLD
Ad Free
Cancel
Anytime
Β£2.50
Β£4.50
Β£6.50
Subscribe
Go AD FREE & get your membership medal
BRONZE
Less Ads
SILVER
GOLD
Ad Free
For A Whole Year!
Β£25
Β£45
Β£65
Donate
You Will Be Helping Towards:

  • Domain Fees
  • Security Certificates
  • iOS & Android App Fees
  • Website Hosting
  • Fast Servers
  • Data Backups
  • Upkeep & Maintenance
  • Administration Costs

    Without your support the website wouldn't be what it is today.

    Please consider donating towards these fees to help keep us afloat.

    Read more

    All donations are securely managed through PayPal.

    Many thanks for your kind support
  • Join Us On Social Media!
    Download The App!

    Login To
    Remove Ads
    Login To
    Remove Ads

    Model Boats Website
    Model Boats Website
    Home
    Forum
    Build Blogs
    Media Gallery
    Boat Clubs & Lakes
    Events
    Boat Harbour
    How-To Articles
    Plans & Docs
    Useful Links
    Search
    Search
    Response
    Re: Short video of the first test of the new vacuum table
    Hi Red, Plane was an Aero-Flight 'Streak' built privately in an attempt to compete with Cessna , Piper etc after the war. Company started by an ex Curtis Aircraft employee James K Nagamatsu,. Supposedly a fast plane,-ended up with 225HP injected Continental and around 219 mph. All metal and retracts, quite advanced. Unfortunately couldn't compete with the big guys and closed in 52, -no sales. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aero-Flight_Streak Re the
    heat gun
    , it might work if the box was small enough, problem is you have to get an even temp across the sheet (just starting to sag) and have a sheet big enough to clamp in the frame for heating and drawing (also you would need holes for the air that you are blowing in to get out to avoid killing your
    heat gun
    ) - not what you want as you need the heat to stay in. Ideally you would have an array of radiant halogen tubes under the sheet for heating. The 3 tube cheap heaters are a good base. Pic is the type I canabalised for the element tray and push buttons (only prob here is that you can't buy the elements because they won't ship them). Heaters are cheap enough though- about $40 so probably cheaper to buy another heater for spares.
    5 years ago by jbkiwi
    Response
    Re: Short video of the first test of the new vacuum table
    You never said what plane it was - always wanted a vacuum former - been using a paint removing
    heat gun
    to mould 2mm perspex - any thicker - bubbles form . Your machine is interesting to say the least....... The paint strippers get up to quite a temperature - would one of those blowing into a closed box work ?
    5 years ago by redpmg
    Forum
    46'' RAF Crash Tender
    Thanks Martin . that's a lot of advice - not sure about the
    heat gun
    as its a really funny type of plastic - don't think I have ever seen one of these boats without something warped. Great pity as its a really nice model. Will let you know when I try and fix it.
    5 years ago by redpmg
    Forum
    46'' RAF Crash Tender
    Hi Red, Just found this on the net. There are two approaches you can try for fixing warps in plastic. The first is to simply clamp the parts and adhere them with adhesive. I prefer the liquid styrene cement, which actually fuses or welds the parts as opposed to adding an adhesive to create the bond. Once so fused, they're nearly impossible to separate. Most of your alignment issues can be addressed this way. Most warping issues for these models come when you cut it to allow access for your RC components. These are usually long cuts along the mid-line of the boat. It is common for the cut parts to see warping along the length, creating gaps in the seam that are unsightly and hard to address via the first method. For these, the solution is to mechanically force the part straight, then heat the plastic up to its Glass Transition temperature for a short time, then cool it off. Polystyrene begins GT between 175-195Β° F (79-91 C) depending on its molecular weight, plasticizers, pigments and fillers. In order to straighten warped polystyrene parts, you need to get the plastic up to that temperature, allow it to settle in the proper shape, and then cool it back down again. There are a number of ways to accomplish this. The safest one for small parts is to use hot water. Simply heat up a bowl of water in the microwave to something around 200F, allow it to cool slightly and then dunk your part. Once the plastic has heated up, it should become more malleable and retain whatever shape it's put into. Dunk the part in cool water to lock in the new form and you're done! You can also use your oven, which allows for precise control of temperature in a larger format. Most sub hulls are going to be much larger than your bowls or oven, so you're going to need to use something like a hair blow dryer or, ideally, a
    heat gun
    . This takes some practice, as it's easy to overheat the parts and get warping and distortion, or even burning if you're not careful. Never focus the
    heat gun
    on one section for too long. Keep it moving at all times and use broad strokes so that you're heating up a large area. You'll see the part relax into the proper shape. Once it does, let it cool thoroughly before releasing your clamps and checking alignment. Repeat as often as necessary for a great fit. Martin.
    5 years ago by Martin555
    Forum
    46'' RAF Crash Tender
    "..I should not jump to conclusions, due to the lack of information maybe I should have researched before submitting my last post...." Hi Martin - I agree with DG - we all do it from time to time . No need for apologies - you were asking the right question anyway. Can remember reading an article on getting the warps out - for the life of me cant remember where - going through a lot of back issues at the moment - very confusing as the brain fades...........Was hoping someone else may have read it - Don't think using better half's hairdryer would go down too well - and the paint stripper
    heat gun
    would simply melt the plastic !
    5 years ago by redpmg
    Forum
    sea rover build and I hate wood!
    thanks Rob, I was thinking it was going to have to be soaked, which would have been a pain! Ill
    heat gun
    , once the skins are on, and the hull is glassed, it should be back to the territory I like!
    5 years ago by pmdevlin
    Forum
    sea rover build and I hate wood!
    Hi Paul. Welcome back, it's been a while πŸ˜€ Look back at the early stages of my Crash Tender build, the sequence and methods of that should be a good guide to way to do it. This method of construction was pretty much common to all the AeroKits boats. Here's my blog: https://model-boats.com/blogs/23951 Tip. Use a
    heat gun
    to bend the skins, the heat relaxes the glue between the plys and when it cools the bend is quite well set. Much easier that hot water and steam, I did this for my Thames Police Launch and it works great. Rob.
    5 years ago by robbob
    Response
    Vintage Model Works 46'' RAF Crash Tender
    Hi Russell I assume that you are referring to bending the stringers and skins? There's no need to be worried, the ply skins respond very well to heating with a hot air gun (electric paint stripper) and the obeche stringers, if well steamed, bend fairly easily too. Scratch that itch and buy the kit, you won't regret it. Robbob.😁
    5 years ago by robbob
    Blog
    The deck planking.
    The kit I’m constructing is a pre-production prototype and consequently it does not have the β€˜laser etched planking’ feature that has been subsequently introduced in the final production kits on the β€˜upper’ deck and the β€˜well’ deck. This is of no concern to me because I think I prefer to do my own planking anyway but I do have to do a bit of preparatory β€˜laying out’ of the deck pattern to ensure that it’s symmetrical and laid in a pleasing fashion. I have chosen to use 1.6 mm x 9.5 mm obeche hardwood strip-wood (from SLEC) for this with a thin black plasticard caulking between the planks. This is what I did when I constructed the VMW Fire Tender and the result was very effective and visually pleasing. Obeche has a pleasing grain, takes stain very easily and is also considerably cheaper than mahogany which I feel would be far too β€˜dark red’ when finally lacquered. Because I wanted an outer curved plank around the hull edge I had to cut this from 1.6mm obeche sheet to the correct shape and width as it would be impossible to bend a strip to this extreme curve. These also needed a section trimmed out to allow the bow gunwales to be positioned correctly. Once both sides were cut and shaped I could then form the ply gunwales to the correct curve by my heating and bending process and glued them down to the deck. I understand that on the production kits these gunwales are now incorporated into the side skins which will make the construction a bit easier. The remaining outer planks on the hull edges were made from straight lengths of obeche but required some easing cuts so that they could be bent to the curve of the hull. Hopefully these cuts will not be too noticeable in the finished deck. When all the edge planks were glued in place I temporarily laid out the obeche planking strips with a thin strip of black plasticard as caulking and all held in place with masking tape. The centre plank was arranged to lie over the centre line from bow to stern. The setting out of the planks in this manner confirmed that the layout worked as intended and so I began fixing down the planking from the centre plank of the hull outwards with a fast bonding superglue and the process proved to be quite quick to complete. The side deck planks were equally straightforward but did require some to be carefully shaped in a tapered fashion at each end to fill the remaining gaps. The rear deck was also planked by working out from the centre plank and thankfully the planking layout matched and followed the bow deck planking perfectly. The surplus plasticard β€˜caulking’ was then trimmed flush to the planks with a very sharp chisel and the entire deck rubbed down with my sanding plate until it was all perfectly smooth. For those building this model that don’t feel confident enough to do β€˜real planking’ will probably want to make use of the laser etched planking on the ply deck panels to achieve a similar result with very minimal effort, but I quite like the challenge of doing it the hard way and the benefit of a slightly better finish.
    5 years ago by robbob
    Response
    Fitting the rubbing strakes.
    When planking a static galleon model I boiled the strakes for 5 mins but think that this expanded the wood that resulted in slight shrinkage on drying out. Never thought about just wetting strakes and using the
    heat gun
    . Great idea that obviously works well. I am enjoying this read hugely.
    5 years ago by Joburg-sailor
    Blog
    Fitting the rubbing strakes.
    Before I can apply the final coats of epoxy on the hull I need to fit the two rubbing strakes. I started with the bottom rubbing strake which runs along the chine where the side skins and bottom skins meet. The strakes meet the external keel at the bow and also extend across the stern. I used a length of square section of obeche which needed a gentle curve towards the bow, rather than steam the wood I soaked it in water for a few minutes to soften it and then used a
    heat gun
    while bending the strip gently to the required curve. When the wood had cooled and dried the bend was set I did a test fit and drilled very fine holes through the strip so that the modelling pins I use to hold the piece in place would not split the wood. A 30 minute epoxy was used to fit the strakes on both sides of the hull and stern. Above this bottom strake is a second rubbing strake and this also meets the keel at the bow and runs across the stern, I used a broader and thinner obeche strip for this and it was prepared and fixed in the same way. The final pieces to fit will be the gunwales which run around the hull where the sides meet the deck but I will not fit them until I have planked the deck.
    5 years ago by robbob
    Blog
    Ships-Ladder
    Back at it this afternoon, handrails are very solid after overnight cure. Trimmed the rail ends to the necessary length. Glued in place. Built a ships ladder, first time for this, think it will work. Need to get ships ladder set to finalize railing. Ladder railing is seen in photo, I make bends like on this by applying heat and bending with my fingers. Styrene gets very flexible with heat, but can quickly melt if not careful. I learned not to use my
    heat gun
    (used for shrink tubing in my electronics) as it quickly gets out of control. I usually boil water, let it sit and dip the plastic in and out. Easy way to control bends. Joe
    5 years ago by Joe727
    Blog
    Fitting the side skins.
    The side skins are made from 1.5mm ply and require a slight curve towards the bow and I found that this is best achieved by gently warming with a
    heat gun
    , which seems to relax the glue between the laminations, so that when bent to a gentle curve and allowed to cool will set the shape very easily. The skins are supplied are slightly oversize and when the skins have been bent they can be roughly clamped to the hull and then marked for trimming, also while the skin is clamped in place the positions of the bulkhead formers can be marked on the skin. Back on the bench the skins were trimmed with a craft knife (with a fresh blade) and then drilled with a 1mm bit to allow pinning through into the formers and strakes. Aliphatic glue was applied to the hull formers and strakes and the skin positioned so that the drilled holes were in correct alignment with the formers and then clamped and pinned in place. Because the skin was pre-formed to the hull shape the clamps and pins are not under much tension and the hull was set aside while the glue set. When the port skin had fully set overnight, the pins and clamps were removed and the skin was finished with a plane to remove the excess down to the strakes and the F1 former at the bow and the sanding β€˜plate’ used to finish it all off. Where the side skins meet at the prow there needs to be a wide flat area for the external keel to butt to and so the trimming and sanding there will be done at a later stage before the bow blocks are fitted and carved. The process was repeated for the starboard side skin and while the glue was setting I gave some thought to a means of concealing some of the wiring that needs to run the length of the hull πŸ€”.
    5 years ago by robbob
    Blog
    Spraying Again.......
    Well had a break of a few weeks, now back on the job. So now have a Red Oxide boat rather than Yellow one……………… Although these next stages are a bit β€˜ samey’, I have learnt a few things as it happens. For example, I had put three coats of the Halfords filler/primer on a couple of days before I had a break. Now when I left it all looked dry, well covered and β€˜solid’. When I came back to it some weeks later the longer drying period had shown up some gaps. Well not gaps actually but β€˜mouths’ where tissue I had overlapped had pulled apart slightly. interesting, easily fixed with some 240 grit sanding, showing that the drying period is longer than it would appear. At least for filler/primer which is a much thicker substance than just spray paint. With the sanding, I had not appreciated the difference between the grades say from 240 upwards (or is it downwards) as my experience was with doorframes and floorboards. For the stage I am at, 240 and 400 seem very effective and leave a good surface. What I did find was how important dust becomes……………… The sandpaper rides on it (the powdery dust) and so becomes much less effective and I found brushing with a thin 2 inch brush worked well, using the vacuum cleaner to clear up later. I did try blowing it off with the
    heat gun
    but that put the dust up in the air too much. it is my intention to try β€˜wet and dry’ approach for later coats and looking for a better answer when it comes to finishing coats. Another interesting discovery was coverage per rattle can. It may be my β€˜beginner’ technique, but it seems to take a lot of paint. On this size of boat hull, 44inches (112cm) by 14 inches (36 cm), it took a 500ml rattle can of yellow filler/primer for three coats. For two coats of the red primer it took the whole of a 300ml can. Also discovered, using these β€˜rattle cans’ for the first time, that the primer on its own comes out differently to the filler primer. This unsettled me for a minute or so but appreciate may be due to the different density so will be aware next time. Another issue that became obvious was…………..I must improve my β€˜masking off’ ! So that is it so far. Next stage is - going to buy a couple more cans for the finishing coats, do a bath test, mark the white line point, more sanding down and then start applying the finishing coats. Any helpful comments will be much appreciated. NPJ
    5 years ago by NPJ
    Forum
    Bending thin plywood
    A hair dryer/
    heat gun
    played on one side of the ply while bending it to the hot side. bend it a little more than needed and hold in that position or strap it in position round a tin till cool. Oh yes wear gloves to save your fingers.πŸ‘ Or get some flexi ply. it is made easily bendable in one direction. Can be rolled very tightly. used in cabinetry in kitchens etc for boxing in curves.πŸ‘
    6 years ago by onetenor
    Response
    Range Safety Launch?
    Hi Neville, I recognise the 'I want it all and I want it now syndrome' cropping up againπŸ˜‰ Wev'e been down this road before haven't we!? You don't have any "structural' problems. The original builder simply cheated and covered over the 'back bay' instead of fitting it out. And - Why do you want to mess with the cabin tops? To get the boat going for some fun just leave the superstructure like that for now and think about it and fiddle with it in the winter. The deck looks fine from the photos. Just flat off with some 1000/1500 grit wet & dry and give it a spray of medium sea grey and finish with satin or matt varnish. After you've fixed and repainted the hull. If you do all we've said to fix the hull, and apply the fix up to the joint of hull and deck there will be as good as no chance that the deck will leak. When all is said and done YOU saw the boat before you bought it and YOU had a specific purpose in mind apparently. Namely; some quick fun. Soooo - fix the hull, have some fun learning to drive it, and leave the fiddly bits and embellishments until the 'closed season'. Then you can deliberate and decide if you want to restore it as an RSL or convert it into something more exotic. Looking forward to your cogitations on the electrical layoutπŸ˜‰ What Action bits are you thinking of using? BTW: if you had a fire at all with the
    heat gun
    either you have it too hot, turn it down to about 300 -350Β°C, or you're hanging about too long in one place. The gun should only be just hot enough to start the paint surface bubbling up. ATB Doug
    6 years ago by RNinMunich
    Blog
    Still Stripping......With Care!
    Starting to feel a little better about this. Still many things that can go wrong on me, but for anyone else who has not done this before, try it. if I can do it anyone can! This second period of scrapping has been much easier. Twice the area covered in half the time taken in the first session. Yes I have left some of the β€˜twiddley bits’ for later and going for the larger areas first. I am hoping to get away with leaving the deck to a rub down and re-paint. What has become more obvious as I progress is the need for space and preparation when using a
    heat gun
    . Completely invisible, a lot of heat is generated ( mine can produce 600c but I am using it on 450c) and it travels a surprising distance. I found I did not clear the floor enough or allow a large enough clear area around me. Others may manage in a very small space, but I was surprised by how much paint/material there was coming off with each push of the tool. This fell to the floor and smoked………… When pointing the gun away with one hand whilst scrapping with the other it is easy to lose track of where the gun is pointing! Having somewhere safe to put the gun down when hot is critical, as is having at least a damp cloth if not more to hand to β€˜damp down’. I will not post more on this until the stripping and sanding are finished, but I am surprised as to how satisfying the work is yet it looks so challenging at the outset. TTFN. NPJ.
    6 years ago by NPJ
    Blog
    'The Stripper'
    It seems that the proper procedure for fixing the leak and then moving on to β€œthe good stuff” is to strip all the paint off and see what we have. So the
    heat gun
    has been obtained ( I already had the fire extinguisher..) as amongst other reasons there would be less dust. Time for a few tentative steps. Now at this point I am not only well out of my comfort zone, but up to my knees in my β€œslough of despond”………………………. After all, I bought a boat to sail this month and so far I have drilled holes in it and am now about to set it alight! First image shows efforts with lower heat and using the tools supplied and the next two show temperature taken up to 450 degrees c and a ΒΎ inch chisel used to remove paint. A much better outcome. Now who suggested that would be the answer I wonder??? 45 minutes spent to get this far and although I did remove the plastic props ( being replaced by brass anyway) I wondered if I should remove prop shafts? I have used a bit of a deflector to reduce the heat anyway. On the final images, I wonder whether I am down far enough to start sanding or to go further. Now that I have started I hope to complete at least the general stripping tomorrow. TTFN. NPJ
    6 years ago by NPJ
    Response
    Range Safety Launch?
    Yes Sir! Of course Sir! But I have already spent the money................ I will give it to one of the boys for Christmas Hey the
    heat gun
    came today and it had 'bits' with it. I have a few images which I will put up later. Going to try it out in about five hours. Came across this image . Puts my leak problems into perspective. All the best . NPJ
    6 years ago by NPJ
    Response
    Bit of a problem.............
    So
    heat gun
    should arrive tomorrow.....................Oh I do like buying new toys! Given that I am now going to destroy all the decals, should I be changing the number on the hull and would that mean a change from Blue to Black? I should not be asking this, but looking it up. However, you have it in your head. Enjoyed the 'woodies' bit elsewhere. TTFN.
    6 years ago by NPJ
    Response
    Bit of a problem.............
    Hi Neville, yep, only took about a half hour per hull 😊 And NO DUST πŸ˜‰ If adjustable use the gun on medium heat and don't get too close or too long on the same spot or you'll scorch the wood. As soon as the paint starts to bubble or flake lift it with a not too sharp but not blunt 3/4" chisel. The gun will blow it off in chunks. I found that the chisel was more effective than a normal scraper. Work the gun from side to side just ahead of the chisel. After that I shone a very bright light inside the hull, which instantly showed up the holes and thin spots. I ringed them all with a felt tip and they then received extra attention and fibreglass strengthening. That'll fix your leak wherever the heck it is😊 Eeezy peezyπŸ˜‰ So - Tally Ho matey! Cheers, Doug 😎 PS I didn't have to 'scrap' either boat 😁😁 PPS I love the embedded insect fossils in your hull! Or are they cave paintings?? 😁
    6 years ago by RNinMunich
    Response
    Bit of a problem.............
    So that stripping Doug was done with
    heat gun
    and scrapper? I would go for that. Onetenor, if you are reading this............Thanks for the suggestions. Always welcome and I have a long way to go with this! NPJ
    6 years ago by NPJ
    Response
    Bit of a problem.............
    Evenin' Neville, For God's Sake (Whoever he may be) put the wire brush back in the drawer and save it for cleaning engine blocks😲 Use a
    heat gun
    and a scraper to get the paint off without destroying the wood. Like I had to do with my Gina 2 fish cutter and PTB hulls. Much less dust than trying to sand / wire-brush the paint off. That way will take you a month of Sundays anyway. The sand the hull flat and cover it with two layers of fibreglass tissue and resin. I used EzeKote, no mixing, no smell, sets in about 20 minutes and brushes wash out in warm water. 😊 Apply a final coat of resin. Sand flat and prime. The pics show these three stages for the cutter and the PTB. If the crack is bad reinforce it on the inside with a couple of layers of tissue and resin. Then give the whole inside of the boat two coats of resin. Take out anything that stops you getting down to the underwater hull and keel joints. That should fix your leak once and for all, strengthen the boat to help prevent any further hull damage if you hit something underway and give you a good base for the final colour coats. Bon chance!πŸ‘ Now back to fixing the prop shaft in my cutter.πŸ˜‰ Cheers, Doug 😎 Oh, and by the way - 'DON'T PAY THE FERRYMAN'!
    6 years ago by RNinMunich
    Forum
    puffer hull
    decided to paint the hull today thought i would do it in the greenhouse put paper over the glass ,warm no direct sun got a loan of my brothers compressor and spray gun ,its all going swimmingly fine what could go wrong ? never forget mother nature, doing the 3rd pass every flying ant in Scotland suddenly emerges from a corner and sticks to the hull ,the black lumpy look with wings isn't very appealing . Thought I would sand them off ,how long does it take for these things to stop flapping their wings .just leaving it overnight and may use the
    heat gun
    and scraper tomorrow ,might take a picture if they stop staring at me .Cheers Marky
    6 years ago by marky
    Blog
    Gina 2: A Messy Business - Hull Restoration
    First five pics show 'square one'. 😲 Dave_M reckoned she'd been plastered not painted.😁 Before attempting to strip the hull I figured I had better stabilise it so it wouldn't fall apart when I removed about 1mm of ancient paint. So I applied a couple of layers of resin and FG tissue inside. Pic 6. Not so easy between those somewhat rustically built bulkheads! They weren't even shaped so that the planking fitted properly! Sanding was obviously out of the question so out came the
    heat gun
    . On medium heat (ca 300Β°C) about four layers of paint started to bubble up and fly off, gently persuaded with a not too sharp 3/4" wood chisel. Pics 7 to 10 show the results; almost more filler than wood and Horrors! Upper Stern / gunwhale made from a chunk of thick cardboard cut from a 3M sticky tape reel 😑 This was promptly replaced with a carved chunk of hard balsa. Pic 11. I will later add a mahogany step deck on top of the block, and a mahogany cap rail to finish off the hull. Last two pics show current status after filling, sanding and applying a coat of EzeKote to the outside. Shame the woodwork was so bad, she might have looked quite nice with the wood cleaned up and varnished πŸ€” In between these jobs I also stripped and EzeKoted and primer/filled the hull of the PTB I'm renovating as well. Saves getting the same tools and materials out twiceπŸ˜‰ But that's another B....log! As Bamber Gascoigne (What a moniker😁) used to say "I've started - so I'll finish"!! Oops! Forgot the last picsπŸ€” Last three are today's status 😁
    6 years ago by RNinMunich
    Blog
    H.M.S. BRAVE BORDERER
    From the brief pool test, had decided that the motors could be susceptible to overheating, so connected up the water jacket cooling system and powered it with a small pump. Did not leave enough space to fit a scoop behind a propeller anyway, but prefer the positive action of a pump though. From feeling the ESCs, was also concerned they could overheat within a confined space such as the hull. Mounted a couple of small fans in a bridge structure above the ESCs, along with the ESC switches. Not sure either of these cooling modifications are really required, but erred on the side of caution. Final weight of the hull, with all electrics (apart from battery) comes to 5.05 lbs. Looks like will not achieve the target weight of 6 lbs, but am hopeful will be able to get close to it.. Built the deck up with gun mount bases and a removable decking over the engine area. This limits access to the internals; so will not fit it permanently until the test program is complete and all modifications incorporated. Have now reached a point where any further work will be to start finishing the model, unless drivetrain modifications are required. Have thus decided to leave it until after the first open water test date. This will be in late May as am away until then.
    6 years ago by Rowen
    Forum
    Spraying/hand painting
    After modding my Sea Queen with the new prop shaft I decided to smarten it up as the previous spray job I did was not too good, well I have had terrible trouble with it, the first attempt saw the original paint raise as I sprayed it with a primer that was supposed to be safe with all paints, so I removed as much as i could using the
    heat gun
    and a scraper, after sanding down and filling, I started again, i had some small patches raise up where I could not get the original paint completely removed, but after letting it dry and some wet and dry I managed to get a good primer coat on it. I then decided to spray it all white, so as I have always had good results with halfords own brand I gave it some light coats of white gloss, I was unable to get a reasonable gloss finish and it also needed some more filling, funny how a gloss coat show up all the defects, well subsequent attempts at spraying were useless, run after run and a poor gloss finish. All I can think is that I could not have had the area blanketed off in the workshop warm enough and the thinners in the paint was not drying as it hit the boat and just ran. I am now half way into sanding it all back and have decided to hand paint, What is the best paint and method to getting a near spray paint finish by hand brushing?
    6 years ago by RichardSReade
    Blog
    MV TEAKWOOD
    Have moved on to the deck furniture and equipment, including the funnel. Most of it can be made from the usual assortment of scrap materials and odd and ends. Decided to start on the funnel. Planned to make up a wooden replica and wrap a thin styrene sheet around it, finally inserting styrene formers into the shell, gluing them into place. Made the replica up from scrap wood blocks and shaped it into the correct shape. The outcome looked so good was tempted to use as final as making funnels seems quite a challenge. Anyway proceeded to plan and shape thin styrene sheet around the replica, using a
    heat gun
    to overcome the memory. Once this was done, fitted shaped styrene internal formers to hold the styrene to the correct shape and glued with adhesive. After the styrene glue had dried and the excess material trimmed, now had two usable funnels - wood and styrene. The wood version is nominally smaller and fits slightly better, so decided to use it. The Teakwood was originally operated by the J I Jacobs Company, which had a buff funnel with a black cap as markings. Stumbled across a picture of the vessel when she was chartered to the British india Steam Navigation Co. Evidently BI usually painted chartered vessels in their livery. Although the picture does not show the traditional and attractive BISNCo white hull cheat line, it does show the funnel markings. These are black with two narrowly separated white bands. Rather preferred this scheme so adopted it. The picture was taken in the mid 1960s and it also shows a pristine looking ship, my worries about the model looking unsoiled seem groundless. One of the pictures shows a strip that extends back from the wheelhouse almost to the funnel - this is a support for the awnings that fit over the bridge wings.
    6 years ago by Rowen
    Forum
    Prop Shaft Grease
    Hi Dave, I guess I have not run my models long enough yet since I have had no wear in either shafts, bearings or seals. I did have one seal in a Raboesch assembly, in a twin shaft model, which didn't leak but seemed to be deteriorating. Raboesch supplied a replacement free of charge. I had used Goop adhesive to attach the seal/bearing cap so it was a 5 minute job to soften the adhesive with a
    heat gun
    and fit the replacement. Roy
    6 years ago by Trillium
    Response
    Windows
    Hi All Made the mould for the front windscreen and made the screen in two pieces. The plastic was heated with a
    heat gun
    on low. Canabus
    6 years ago by canabus
    Forum
    Motor problem
    Hi Richard, molegrips to get the lot out, outershaft and all, its very painful, squeeze tight and twist, you will be supruised how it comes out with some tapping. You could get the bearings out of the top and bottom of your existing shaft, if they look like black plastic, put the shaft in, catch the edge from inside and knock out, they are opush fit, then replace with new 4mm/5mm aceteal, (no doubt spelt wrong)a quid or so each, and are water lubricated. SHG Marine do all of this, they are good at props. if they look metal, they will be either brass, or bronze, and you will prob have to heat the end of the shaft. Try the tapping method, you might get lucky. so now, original outershaft still in place, no bearings either end, and you need a new mm shaft, get stainless. The trick is now, getting bearings to fit if its a real old shaft. is a good time now to fit an oiler tube whilst everything is out, and clean using thinners etc any gungle inside the shaft. After all this, its not much more effort to get the old one out, and epoxy a new one in, you can buy it complete with inner and outer shafts, bearings, and the right thread, and a couple of test props whilst the wallet is out! Never said it was going to be easy😜
    6 years ago by pmdevlin
    Forum
    Billings Sea King in need of TLC
    Hi AllenA I see there appears to be some varnish inside the hull so perhaps you could try some stripper on a small area to see what happens. A
    heat gun
    is probably not wise with all the windows and painted cabin tops and hull. Used sparingly the stripper should not affect the ply. Unless the white hull paint is damaged I would leave well alone unless you can source a supply for the decals. Dave
    7 years ago by Dave M
    Forum
    Billings Sea King in need of TLC
    Getting to grips with the restoration. Need some help please. There are quite a few layers of varnish and these are hiding the original plank lines..... red lines. I guess the varnish has darkened over the years. Removing the varnish is difficult and I am looking for some guidance as to the best methods to try. I am worried about using paint stripper in case it delaminates the ply and might a
    heat gun
    loosen glue joints. Finally, should I leave the existing Sea King decal and Billings decal on the bow or can I buy new ones? All guidance welcome.
    7 years ago by AllenA
    Blog
    Fibre glassing
    Decided that this heat would make it an ideal day to pop on a mask and gloves and glass in some of the beams and beds! Added a coat to the gunnels and the transom too. Also fitted the rudder, used some plumbing pipe which I glassed in. Deck has also been started as well as the forward deck.
    7 years ago by GrahamP74
    Blog
    The suction hoses – part 3.
    The remaining hose fittings are the male & female connectors and fortunately require nothing more than drilling to take the four short brass β€˜turning handles’ which were soft soldered in place and then filed to length. The suction hoses themselves proved far more difficult to make to a satisfactory standard and after several experiments with different gauges of copper, steel and stainless steel wire I found a 1.25mm galvanised β€˜garden wire’ that proved malleable enough to be formed into a long coil spring that when covered with some black heat shrink tube looked OK. I used a length of 8mm diameter aluminium tube as a former and hand wound the galvanised wire tightly around the tube to form a spring. This was a painful process, quite literally, and caused blisters on my thumb and forefingers despite wearing protective gloves 😭 The springs were then stretched out on the rod to space the coils evenly and then drawn through the heat shrink tube, and then a
    heat gun
    used to shrink down the tube onto the springs. While the newly formed hoses were still warm and pliable I put them on a former with the correct curvature and applied a little more heat and then left them to cool and set. The hoses were made over length so that, when finished, I could trim them to the correct lengths to fit into the rear well of the boat with the fittings attached. See part 4 for the final assembly...coming soon.
    7 years ago by robbob
    Forum
    How do I resolve my varnish problem?
    Oh je! Six reply notifications in the last 10 seconds! Think I need a secretary πŸ˜‰ Understand, how thin and fragile is the wood? Hope you don't run at speed! An alternative I ended up using on my pine doors is very very careful application of a
    heat gun
    and a thin chrome-steel scraper, the bright and shiny ones - not the dull mild steel crap, max 1 1/2 to 2 " wide,. Was tedious on my doors but might work for you. After that sponge down with the original varnish solvent to remove the rest stuck in the joints and grain. Don't soak it! 😎
    7 years ago by RNinMunich
    Forum
    Finishing
    I didn't realise that! Of course, if you live near Kings Langley you could pop in to see Mark Johnson and he'll actually MAKE the paint for you like he did for our historic wooden canal boat, Heather Bell. But I don't know if he's still trading from there. His company was Tramar Coatings. He advertised in Waterways World. I still have a tin of what he labelled Heather Bell Burgundy. it's on that wee Sea Urchin above. Lots of extra alkyd resins and finer pigments. He's a diamond. He used to call us on a Friday evening when his wife did arty things he had no time for and say, "Put kettle on". Half an hour later he'd turn up at the boatyard with fish and chips for three. We didn't have transport. Happy days. Martin
    7 years ago by Westquay
    Blog
    The scramble nets.
    The scramble nets were a particular challenge that I wasn't looking forward to making and at first I looked for something ready-made and I found a manufacturer of sports and bird netting. They make a net for golf driving ranges that looked to have almost the right dimensions and construction so I called them and requested a sample, which they very obligingly supplied. However, when it arrived the β€˜rope’ looked far too thin for a realistic scale and the squares slightly too large and furthermore it could only be bought by the square metre with a minimum order of 4 metres so it would have been very expensive for the small amount I actually needed 😱. And so as I couldn’t find anything else remotely similar or suitable I resigned myself to making the nets from scratch. After some research and scale calculations I decided I needed a 2mm diameter twisted black polypropylene cord for the nets and I found some on good old eBay for a few pounds for a 30 metre length. The next hurdle was forming the netting squares and I initially tried to produce a net by tying β€˜square’ knots which are used to make real β€˜cargo’ and β€˜climbing nets’. I found a helpful YouTube video demonstrating how to tie the knots, at which I had some success, but with such a small diameter cord and big fingers I soon gave up on that idea 😑. The successful method involved marking out a square grid on a piece of ply and nailing brass pins on the edges from which a net of cord was formed, and where the cords crossed I used a hollow needle, which I made from some brass tube and rod ground to a sharp needle point, to form the joint. The needle was used to pierce the twist of the vertical cord and draw the horizontal cord through the twist, this was repeated to form a neat and accurate net structure. After adjusting the cords to form accurate squares I applied a small drop of superglue to each joint to lock the cords together. The completed net was trimmed at the sides and the hot tip of my small soldering iron used to melt the polypropylene cord ends to neaten them up. The net was secured to the rails on the cabin roof by passing the cords through a short piece of black heat shrink tube and then passed under the rail and back through the heat shrink tube. I used the clean tip of a small soldering iron to shrink the tubing down around the cords as using my
    heat gun
    for the job would also easily remove the paint from the roof 😱. I made a bar for the bottom of the net from some 4mm dowel drilled with 2.5mm holes at the same spacing as the net, this was stained mahogany and given a few coats of lacquer as a finish. The cords were passed through the dowel and secured in a similar fashion as the top fixing with heat shrink. The end result of this process is a scramble net of more or less the correct scale as the real thing that, when rolled up on the cabin roof, looks pretty good…..at least to my eye 😎. A lot of effort and thought went into making the first one…..now all I’ve got to do is make another one for the other side πŸ˜“.
    7 years ago by robbob
    Response
    work on solent lifeboat
    Hi there i use a
    heat gun
    and a scraper to strip the paint off in this case it was easy to do but in other cases it might not be easy to do. cliff
    7 years ago by Mataroa
    Blog
    The tow hook & chafing plate
    As supplied, the tow hook consists of two rather ugly lumps of metal that need to be coupled together, and a further piece, the β€˜chafing plate’ which is not supplied, made to complete the fitting. I started be adding some detail to the main component in the form of some steel rod to represent the lever mechanism and operating handle. The body of the tow hook then has to be attached to the retaining plate with an articulated coupling which I made from some brass tube, copper wire and a 2mm nut & bolt. The retaining plate was also drilled to take some 2mm cap head screws for fixing through the tow hook deck. The finished piece, which now looks a bit more like the drawings and photographs, was brush painted in β€˜gun metal’ grey and a piece if heat shrink added to the handle as a grip. The chafing plate was formed from some 4mm square plasticard rod which was immersed in boiling water to soften it sufficiently for it to be bent to the required radius. The bending process unfortunately distorts the profile so this was restored and improved by rubbing it flat on some coarse abrasive paper. A piece of plasticard sheet was marked and cut to a corresponding radius to form the base of the chafing plate and some further plasticard wedges added to form the end stops. This piece was also pained gun metal grey. The chafing plate is fixed to the deck with 2 cap head screws and I also set a brass pin into the centre position which locates into a hole in the underside of the tow hook to hold it in place. Next on the list of fittings is the davit 😁
    7 years ago by robbob
    Blog
    Start detail
    More side strips on the roof in cedar, then onto the fun stuff. For ease of access and construction I built the control console bulkhead on a seperate sheet of polystyrene card, mahogany detailing from old billings kit leftovers. Aluminium sheet from the tops of large Milo tins made hinges and louvres etc. I always save these as they are just the right thickness and softness for small parts. For the compass; the bits box produced a ballbearing and a piece of brass tube just the right sizes.
    heat gun
    ned a piece of acetate and pressed it with the tube over the ball bearing. instant hemisphere for a handy scrap of aluminium tube as the base. All instruments are from a google search and inkjet printer.I parted off some tube for the larger instrument bezels.
    7 years ago by manyboats
    Blog
    Deck and superstructure
    Next was the deck. First I glued some light coloured veneer I had available, and after sealing it drew lines on with a fine marker, but I didn't like the result. Luckily the next day down at the Menshed they were having a cleanup and were going to throw out a roll of paper backed teak veneer! Lucky or what? So I borrowed a rotary guillotine and cut lots of 6mm strips. Also lots of black card strips 1mm wide for the caulking. Had to use a conventional guillotine for them or they were too curly. Rapid pva worked well here. I used cedar for the bow detail. Sanding sealer rubbed down to 600grit gave me the finish I wanted. Cedar again for the rubbing strips; it bends easily with a bit of heat from a
    heat gun
    . Superstructure next; the bulkhead uppers were taped in place and the sides, front and back walls glued and taped nice and snug with the coaming. When set the cockpit sides were fixed. Next came the roof. The plans show a proper double curve unlike the kit, so it has to be planked…. cedar again. A thin slot has to be left in the planking at the cockpit sides to take the windscreen, so you need to know its thickness before doing this. I used .5mm rigid PVC as I could not source acetate. The superstructure was painted next. I had some problems here as the later coats of paint were softening the glue and showing up the planking. Many coats and sanding later I thought I’d use an enamel for the white top coats. it wasn't too smooth so I sprayed it with what was supposed to be clear PU varnish, but it was horribly yellow. I gave it a fine rub down and reverted to good old humbrol and a wide soft brush. Worked out fine!
    7 years ago by manyboats
    Blog
    Fitting the wheelhouse roof panels
    The three panels make up the wheelhouse roof and the outer two needed the
    heat gun
    treatment to curve them in two directions so a bit of patience is required here to get this right. When they are correctly shaped the mating edges of all three need a little chamfering, they also need to overlap the cabin walls by 1/8th of an inch. I cut out a hole in the centre panel to give me access to the bracket that hold the searchlight rotation servo in place. Before fitting the roof panels I added a couple of small blocks either side of the cabin formers directly beneath where the mast feet will be to reinforce the areas so that I can bolt down the mast legs on threaded studs and also to enable it's removal for storage if required. Once again I used a file and sanding block over the formers and cabin sides to profile them so that the panels sit flush on the framework. The outer panel on which the searchlight sits was also pierced to take the 2mm threaded stud will connects the servo to the searchlight base. I'll need to make and fit a circular wedge fillet on the roof to meet the searchlight base because of the curvature of the roof at that point. The undersides of the panels got a couple of coats of sanding sealer and a brushed coat of a black satin water based paint, being careful not to coat the areas where the glue lines will be. The rest of the interior of the cabin also got another coat of black paint. The centre panel was fitted first making sure that the hole was correctly aligned with the servo shaft position, when the glue had dried the two outer panels were glued and clamped. I fitted the sliding hatch rails on a couple of bearers and made a frame around the access hole for the hatch to fit onto. The other small hole at the front of the centre panel is for the navigation light wiring. Thankfully that's the end of the superstructure construction which was unnecessarily difficult due to the less than helpful instructions and drawings and poorly fitting parts. Some room for improvement here by the kit maker I think ❓ ..... Next episode coming to screen near you soon.... 😁
    7 years ago by robbob
    Blog
    Forward cabin roof skins.
    Happily the fitting of these three pieces is quite straightforward. The skins were heated with a hot air gun and gently curved to the correct profiles, then I ran a sanding block over the cabin sides and wheelhouse formers to contour them to the correct profiles so that the roof skins fitted well. The edges of the two outer skins was chamfered where they meet the edges of the centre section for neatness and to minimise filling. The skins overlap all sides of the cabin walls by about 1/8 of an inch and they were trimmed to allow this before fitting. The skins were then glued in place with aliphatic, pinned and clamped and left to dry.
    7 years ago by robbob
    Response
    Chine strakes
    Hi Vosper. The skins were formed using a
    heat gun
    mostly but the strakes were steamed in the tube. As I recall they must have been in the tube for about 15 to 20 minutes, they came out very wet but also very pliable. πŸ˜“
    7 years ago by robbob
    Blog
    Fitting the bottom skins.
    The skinning of the hull is probably the hardest part of the assembly as it involves careful trimming and shaping to ensure a good fit without resorting to fillers for making good. The skins can be bent quite successfully with the application of steam or with a
    heat gun
    . I used a combination of the two with the steaming initially relaxing the wood allowing it to be bent to the correct curvatures and the
    heat gun
    (electric paint stripper) to 'set' the shape and dry the skins. The bottom skins are fitted first and the edge that meets the keel is trimmed to get a good fit and the edge given a slight chamfer to eliminate a gap where it meets the keel. I marked the keel with pencil marks at the centre of each bulkhead and marked the skins with a line meeting the chine stringer so that the brass pins in pre drilled holes would drive in easily and not split the bulkhead formers. Working from bow to stern the skin is pinned to the false rebates on the keel and the bulkhead formers with the application of aliphatic glue, the edge that meets the chine stringers is just clamped into place along its entire length with as many clamps I had to hand. I used pins temporarily to hold the skin firmly where it lays on the bow chine former and these were removed when the glue set. When the glue has thoroughly set the skins are roughly trimmed where they meet the chine stringers and finished with a plane being careful not to take any material away from the stringer and keeping a good straight edge with no hollows or bumps. Having repeated the process for the other bottom skin it's the side skins next and they are a bit trickier to do !
    7 years ago by robbob
    Blog
    DAMEN STAN 4207
    The lower portion of the hull frame was covered with one piece of 1 mm marine ply. This requires considerable manipulation to fit around the propeller tunnels. This was done by gluing the skin initially to the keel and then slowly working out to the chine. Between each manipulation of the ply skin it was clamped and glued in place with a two part epoxy. The process is time consuming, but the adhesive strength makes it worthwhile. The ply sheet can be made to follow the section contours by heating the ply with a
    heat gun
    which melts the ply internal adhesive and allows the sheet to take up the desired shape. One of the more unusual features of this vessel is that the chine strip is visible between the upper and lower hull sheathing. Not only is there a definite horizontal surface, the upper surface protrudes beyond the edge of the hull sheathing to form an integral spray rail, see pictures. A length of 1/16 x 3/8 basswood strip was inserted into slots cut into the bulkhead sections. This was then glued to the top of the chine strip to reproduce the shape. Once the upper sheathing is fitted this will be trimmed to the final dimensions. Usually with a frame and plank hull I reinforce the joints with glass fibre tape and fibre resin. Decided to try a different approach; had a tube of construction adhesive at hand which would stick well to a blanket. Ran a fillet of this alongside the keel and then around the areas where the chine strips meet the sheathing. This turned out well, both reinforcing and sealing the joints. it is also much quicker than the glass fibre approach, probably lighter and less messy too. At this stage added a section of steel coat hanger bent to follow the contours of the bow. This is to protect the bow in an inevitable contact with the pool side. Located it with epoxy resin and faired into the sheathing. As the areas behind the bow and in front of the transom will eventually become inaccessible, ran liquid glass fibre resin into them to seal and strengthen the joints. To assess attempts to control weight; measured the weight of every major component that will be installed in the finished model. On refection, the conclusion was fairly obvious. The batteries, motors and bow thruster are significantly the heaviest items. Relays, servos, ESCs and Rx will have very little effect on the overall weight of the model. NiMh batteries are around half the weight of similar capacity sealed lead acid cells and will be used. This type of battery is slightly heavier than more expensive NiCad etc.
    8 years ago by Rowen
    Blog
    Merry Christmas
    I bet this was written off as another idea that got no further! I will pop some photos up soon but I have completed the main part of the hull minus skins, once I glue the last stringer on I will clean up what I have done and get the camera out. I have learned that bending 3/8" sq spruce around the deck profile is easier said than done and laminating in 1/8" strips is easy! I also found that warming said 1/8" sq strip is easy with a
    heat gun
    and less messy than steaming which is how I did the 3/8...said I hadn't built a boat before.
    8 years ago by fid2b
    Response
    Engine Mount Issues
    Neil, The wattage of a model plane
    heat gun
    ranges between 300 - 1800w, most model shops have these but if in difficulty try http://www.sussex-model-centre.co.uk/shopexd.asp?id=41001 Jim
    8 years ago by Aeronut1
    Response
    Engine Mount Issues
    HI Neil If this is an original Aerokits model from the early 1960's it's probable that the glue used was a hot melt glue that I used to use. I believe it was af animal origin and I used to have a glue pot that was heated over the paraffin stove. It was very good for wood joints and relatively quick setting compared to what was available. As the glue will now be rock hard I suspect you will need to have lots of heat available. The secret will be to get the block of wood up to heat and then work round the edges where it joins the hull. To prevent burning the hull make sure you keep the heat moving to avoid any hot spots. I have an adjustable
    heat gun
    with a quite low setting and believe careful adjustment would achieve the desired amount of heat. Be prepared for a slow process as the original glue used to take a while (1/2 hour) to melt. I wish I had tried this on my model. Good de gluing Dave πŸ˜€
    8 years ago by Dave M


    About This Website
    Terms of Service
    Privacy Policy