FIFER 15. It’s been a while since I completed my last build blog, A small Dutch auxiliary yacht. This was an enjoyable build from a simple 1952 plan because I was able to put my own stamp on it by building in additional features. I really wanted something to build in the same way, a build from wood from a plan. What caught my eye on the Sarik plans catalogue was a motor yacht, MILLER FIFER, a 1/15 scale of a 31 foot full-size giving a model of about 24 inches in length. The Miller yachts were build by the Scottish boatyard of James Miller and Sons of St. Monans in Fife, mainly between 1958 and late 70’s. The history of this yard is well documented online if you want to follow. When the plan arrived, I must say I did not now where to start, no building detail, just the cross section lines and hull lines, the shape of the keel was outlined and marked with the rabbet line. The model had appeared in Model Boats of August 2011 as a free plan and by luck there was a copy of this issue on e bay. I sent for it, it said without the plan so no problem, I already had that. When the magazine arrived sure enough this was the right issue, but alas the article had little reference to the model build but focussed largely on the history of the James Miller boatyard over about two centuries. It did say, that with the sail plan as shown, the author did not think the model would sail very well so it would be better floated as a motor yacht with sails furled. This is ok with me. But I had to set about deciding how I was going to build the model. It is a plank on frame model. I fell back on what I had done with the Dutch yacht and created bulkheads from the cross sections by scanning and pasting onto card and then drawing around the whole shape and fretting from 5mm ply. The keel was laminated from two 5mm sides of obeche around a 1mm ply centre, I am a great believer in laminating it can create a strong member from a softer and lighter wood. I felt I needed the softer obeche as I had to cut a rabbet line into it to accept the garboard strake and the bulkheads would be cross halved into the keel. In practice this has worked well. This blog has come in well after the start of the project because the early stages were longwinded, preparing and cutting bulkheads and mounting them on the keel. The Miller yachts are derived from the sturdy fishing vessels built over the preceding century by the company and indeed the hulls are very little changed from the fishers. This ruggedness has been carried into the design of the model and with the build so far the strength is evident. A few pictures as to where I am at now and more explanations to follow as the build continues. Geoff.

DUTCH AUXILLIARY. This build blog been brought about by chance and is project which fulfils a leaning toward nostalgia in a few ways. My last build had come to an end and had proved successful on the water, and I thought that building had ceased, as we humans would be released into the wild again, perhaps building would take a back seat during the summer months. But on reviewing some of the folders in my workshop I came upon a couple of plans that I had bought two or three decades ago intending to build them one day. One was a MAP plan of Tornado, a small high speed launch and the second, which is to be the subject of this build blog, ‘Dutch Auxiliary’. I remember gazing at both these models in the MAP Plans handbook of the day in the 1950's. The nostalgia kicked in and I decided I must build it. Designed for Model Maker in the spring of 1952 the construction shows all of the ideas of previous eras. When I was about 11 or 12 my elder brother, some ten years senior, bought me a book for Christmas, around the time this plan would have been published, Model Boat Building, sixth edition 1948, by F J Camm. As an impressionable youngster I gathered that, whoever he was, F J Camm must be the fount of all wisdom as he edited all the ‘Pratical’ magazines of the day , be it Wireless, Television, Motorist, Householder and so on. The design of Dutch Auxiliary follows many of the ideas shown in this book and the idea that the model should be sturdy is reflected in the use of 3/16 ply formers set at 2 inches apart in a 16 inch hull which seems a bit hefty. The junction of the stem to the keel using cross halving joint and screws seems to show how jointing then did not have the advantage of our modern adhesives. In fact I did wonder if the designer had recently retired from building Henry 8ths Fleet of warships and did I ought to go out and buy and adze! The final bit of nostalgia came from the fact that on my first holiday from work in 1979 I enjoyed a week on the Norfolk Broads with a teenage mate in Whippet 11, a small two berth yacht fitted with a British Seagull outboard and this design bears a similarity to that boat. (1930's Whippet - Broads Cruiser Renovation By Chris - Boat Renovation People (boat-renovation.com) The plan has not a great deal of detail, the bulkhead lines are shown in half section with a side view of the keel and plan view of the deck and lines, with step by step drawings of the assembly. It was to be skinned with 1/16 ply on the hull, deck and cabin top. A plain dowel for the mast and just an outline for the sailplan and simple rigging to hold up the mast, set in a brass ferrule attached to the keel. The auxiliary can be either a small diesel engine, electric or clockwork. In this relatively simple design I can see the chance to make a small model yacht which has a degree of class, if built using dark natural hardwoods, with a tapered wooden mast, hardwood booms and bowsprit. The hull can be skinned with a thinner grade of ply, say .8mm, and then planked with a similar thickness of mahogany. The cabin again would be dark hardwood as would be the seats in the well. The deck could be planked with a light wood. The power unit, with not a clockwork clock in the house and having sold my small diesels 50 years ago, would have to be an electric motor. The pics show a bit of an overview of the Plan and building will commence with next blog. Geoff

HAKITS -PILOT LAUNCH - LARGER VERSION. No sooner had the paint dried on my HAkits Morston, the kit for the Pilot Launch arrived. Simply but securely packed, the outer corrugated cardboard wrapping revealed the contents of the entire kit in a polythene sleeve, simply bound at the top with a folded and stapled printed name. No fancy expensive box to add to the cost, the laser cut sheets were a snug fit in the sleeve and included were the 3D printed window frames, a radar scanner and a life-raft, the Handbook and a printed template for the window shapes and the acetate sheet to use with them, and that was that. If you are new to HA Kits then you might have been disappointed in what you have got, but from my point of view as someone who loves working with wood, I knew that from experience of the Morston, the kit would deliver a good deal of satisfaction and an opportunity for me to try some different ways of doing things. Taking the ply sheets from the wrapper I could see that the wood was of good quality and the laser cutting precise, and most parts etched with their title, smaller parts were named on the waste wood immediately adjacent to the part. And talking of waste wood, a useful by product of this type of kit is that you get a good selection of bits of ply to use elsewhere or for making other bits for the model, if nothing else, a good selection of paint stirring and epoxy mixing sticks to see you through this model and the next. However, the way the parts are laid out does make economical use of the raw material. The handbook says to read it through before starting and to remove all parts form the sheets of ply. I cannot emphasise this too much, it is essential to do this, just so that you gain an idea of what each part looks like and to be familiar with the suggested order of assembly, and you will soon find the merit in this as you start to put things together. The handbook suggests using CA glue for building, but I would not be able to use such an amount of that glue because it irritates my eyes and nasals. So, I am using Gorilla wood glue, this may not be totally waterproof but is not going to get that wet, I hope. Over the years of building model aircraft I have adopted a way of using PVA glue efficiently. I decant the glue into a small pot, breakfast jam jar or a hand cream jar, so that I am not having to dip in the glue container, as the smaller amount is available. I have a selection of cheap artist brushes, Poundland and the like, in a jar with water and when gluing is required, I just take a brush, wipe off the excess water, dip it in the little glue pot and brush onto the parts. Chose brushes with non-rust ferrules, most have aluminium. It would be easy to push ahead with the building of this model, following the handbook and then later when the running gear needed to be fitted you will have backed yourself into a corner, so I suggest take it slowly, one step at a time and make sure that before you proceed to the next step, by doing so you will not make life difficult later. The Model is based on the Hartlepool Pilot Boat Crusader of the 1970’s and is designed for twin motors and rudders. I have chosen two brushless motors rated at 140w each and the prop shaft length as recommended in the handbook. I have not chosen mega power in this case as the Woodbridge pond is quite small and so a potentially high speed will not be achievable, so a good speed will be satisfactory. So, the build starts with placing the lower deck on a board, and then fitting the formers to this. There are pics here showing how accurately cut these parts are and they go together quite easily, checking for squareness as I go. This is the first step so more next time. Geoff.

HAKITS Morston. I was attracted to this kit because it is a wooden build and I just love working with wood. 27 Inches long, 8.5 inches beam Also it is named after a favourite village of my native Norfolk, on the coast and is a fishing village there. I must say that this kit is sold as an inshore crab boat model, but in all my time in Norfolk I have never seen a crab boat like this. Traditional Norfolk Crab boats are open clinker-built boats. I will say later how I have finished modelling it as a fishing boat. The kit comes simply packed in a plastic sleeve filled with the laser cut sheets of birch ply for the formers and lite ply for the hull sides, decking and superstructure, the handbook and two small packs of fittings, window frames etc. The cutting is absolutely accurate and the components fit exactly to the mm. Using a sharp knife, the parts are easily released from the ply sheets and require a minimum of cleaning up. I must admit that the soot associated with laser cutting is a bit irritating but it is small price to pay for such accuracy as we have now come to expect from all wood kits. The kit comes with a minimum of fittings, so prop and shaft and rudder gear need to be at hand before building commences. To date I have completed the main hull shape from the formers with keel and deck fitted. The rear hatch gives access to the rudder shaft and its servo. Four rather novel bolts are supplied for securing the hatch. See Pic. The underskin fitted so far shows a technique I have used with wooden hulls in the past using ‘wooden nails’. These are the ends of cocktail sticks dipped in glue and tapped home through a 2mm hole into a 1.5 mm pilot hole. This means that they can be sanded flush with no filling needed. I use them where angles are too sharp to use spring clamps or where a taped strip would not be sufficient. The instruction book suggests using thick and thin Cyano but I find this messy to use and a nasal irritant so I use it as little as possible. With a nice wooden hull like this I use Gorilla wood glue which I find excellent. I will use cyano for a ‘quick fix’ but that is all. (Used to be called glue sniffing!!) The pic shows the motor just placed in the position it will be fixed. An MFA 500 with 2.5 :1 gearbox driving a 35mm three bladed brass prop. Viper 15 ESC. More later over the coming weeks…..