Getting off to a good start in 2022, with regular Tuesday sailing events and Mondays with Power craft.
New members always welcome, come and chat at the pondside.

Geoff Lambert
Chairman

Can't wait to see it on the pond.
Great ingenuity!
Geoff

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.

Agree with your comments, Nerys, all that cash and the first time you sail it, it sinks!
Best wishes for 2022, new blog coming soon.

Geoff

Thanks Treve, Hope you are keeping well.

Geoff.

For what ever reason I have now been elevated to Club Chairman at Woodbridge. If you live in the Woodbridge area we will be pleased to see you.
Powercraft skippers and scale boats especially. Help always available if you need it.
Geoff Lambert 01473 624130

Be pleased to see you Phil, let me know when you are coming, will try to be there to welcome you.

Geoff Lambert
Chairman.

Club now up and running again after Covid disaster.
Looking for new members for 2022, particularly power boat skippers. If you are new to the hobby, plenty of help available.

Looks like you've got your hands full with that one, Jack.

Geoff

Thanks for that, lovely little boat, and from the side view on the plan I can see why it gets onto the plane so well.
Geoff

This is a model built from a small kit from SLEC it gives a lovely little boat at 16 inches long which when powered by a 400 on 6 volts readily gets on the plane. A nice kit to build and a lovely little boat to sail. Fitted with oversize rudder for use in steering competitions.

The final Chapter, (delayed)

Thank you Nerys for reminding me that my blog has lapsed, but the model has now been finished’
Progress had been good up to the point when I had to, (well wanted to) break off to build a small model for the Club steering competitions at Woodbridge. So in about the space of a month I built a SLEC ‘Mr Tom’ which has improved my performance in the comps. A picture of the culprit is attached.
But with the yacht I did meet a stumbling block in the fixing of the weight to the keel. I had determined by trial and error the amount of lead needed to bring the boat to the waterline and set about implanting this in the keel.
I had acquired some sheet lead flashing and was able to knead this into a shape to fit within the existing keel. I cut the required aperture and fixed the lead there with hot melt glue and then set about covering it over with hardwood cheeks. This produced a fin that was now far too fat and being hardwood was very difficult to thin as it was attached to the hull, a place where it had sat in glory almost from day one. I was now left with a model yacht with an ugly fin and absolute disappointment that this aspect had not allowed me to continue the good work that I had achieved so far. So, ruthlessly I sawed off the offending part leaving me with a flat-bottomed boat. A new fin was cut in outline from the same timber as the keel and this would be butt jointed and dowelled back onto the keel. The lead was placed within the fin and fixed as before. Two thin cheeks of .8mm ply were glued to the outline of the hull and were able to be tapered to a reasonable fore and aft thickness. This was all covered with Eze-cote and heavyweight model tissue to enable a good surface to be obtained. Gone now was the lovely hardwood varnished keel and the new fin was painted to blend with the lower surface of the hull.
The in-house seamstress was persuaded to make her first set of sails ever. The main was laced to the mast from bottom to top and the jib threaded with its own stay. The curved gaff was two laminations of hardwood around a .8mm ply insert which protruded below the gaff to enable the top of the main to be glued to it with canopy glue. This seems to be holding OK.
It was then a matter of completing the rigging and getting everything in place. And testing the radio functions. All performed well although the two-turn winch does not pull the sail through 90 degrees a good arc of control is available. The motor, driving the prop through a 2 to 1 reduction via a rubber band and pulleys worked well.

The maiden voyage went off without incident, although on the day, the wind on the Woodbridge Pond was very light and fickle, the usual state sadly, it being surrounded by trees. It sailed well with what wind there was, and the motor proved useful in executing 180 deg. turns.
At one point I was able to come along to the windward side of a DF65 and gently ease the motor on leaving it almost standing still! The motor powers it at a respectable speed and so far am happy with the performance but would like more wind to get a good feeling for it.
It only remained to bring it home and break open the Champagne and name this ship DAME NERYS which is Dutch for Lady Nerys, I told her I would do it!

Nice paint job, and I love the hull shape
Geoff

Try Fishing weights on E bay, sold in ingots

Geoff

Hello Nerys, try Howes as below, they have a series of winches, in vaying turns at £9.99

Geoff

https://howesmodels.co.uk/product/2-turn-standard-size-drum-...

https://howesmodels.co.uk/product/2-turn-standard-size-drum-winch/

🔗

Thank you Nerys for your compliments. Yes I will be adding ballast to the keel, but am not certain as to how much. The plan shows a waterline so think I will ballast it temporarily inside and then transfer the weight to the foot of the fin. There will be a certain amount of weight within the hull, mainly the battery, a 6v Nimh which will be placed at the very bottom of the hull. There is a full size sail winch as well, a bit of an overkill for a boat of this size, but cheap at 9.99 and runs just the right amount of sheeting out.
Best wishes, Geoff.

Hello Again,
A little while since I let you catch up with progress on the Dutch Auxiliary Yacht, and I have been involved in adding the mahogany planking to the sides and a solid mahogany transom. The latter task was a bit tricky but was able to use clamps and rubber bands to help the glue bond.
The planking was 5mm x 0.8 mm over the existing .8mm ply side. This went quite well and was only the second bit of planking I had done, so was reasonably pleased with the result.
At this point I must say how much encouragement and how many constructive ideas I have received from Nerys. Her encouragement has been in the form of making my Dutch yacht have a Dutch look to it and has advised that I make leeboards for the boat which I have done, (not operational) and through experience she has advised that I deepen the rudder so that is more effective, so a second deeper rudder has been made.
All this has made me search for images of Dutch boats on the Net and I am amazed at how many different designs and variations there are to look at and follow. Leeboard shapes and design are legion, so I have opted for what seems to be a suitable design for my boat. I am hopeful that with this wide variety available I will be able to evade criticism of things, ‘not being right’. The leeboards will have brightly painted head and foot, which seems to be the thing.
Work has gone on well beyond what I am showing here and so my next blog will follow relatively soon, I hope. The final picture shows paper mock-up of the sails with other bits just taped in place and it is beginning to look like the picture on the packet! (Had there been one).
Some of the delay has been as a result of the Woodbridge Model Boat Club reconvening and so have been sailing instead of building, which has been good.
Thanks for your continued interest.

Geoff

I find Rustins Outdoor Clear Varnish very good, dries in 30 minutes, can be thinned with water if required and brush wash up with water.

Geoff

Thank you for this comment Nerys, I have been wondering whether to bother with the leeboards but your lovely gentle persuasion has made me come to the conclusion that they must be added. Have already looked out some nice hardwood for them. "Were you ever a used car salesperson?!!!!!
Best wishes
Geoff.

Martin, Thanks for this, Nice finish for this wooden hull.

Geoff

Slowly making progress
It seems as I have not posted an update for nearly three weeks, so my apologies for being a bit lax. Nevertheless, I have not been slacking, it just seems that the tasks I have completed since last blog have been time consuming, and have not produced much of photographic interest.

The deck has been planked with 5mm wide planks and these have been sourced from slats from a discarded wooden blind, the finished stripped from its surfaces by belt sander, then fine sanded and cut into 5mm strips on the Proxxon circular saw.

The planks were butted edge to edge and stuck to the frames with Evo Stik waterproof glue, planking over the apertures for the forward hatch and mast box, leaving me to rediscover them later. Planking was taken as far as the rear of the cabin and then the rear section completed, by using the slats at full width, but scored at 5mm intervals to simulate planks.

As this wood is quite white I have just varnished it with Sikkens outdoor varnish, which is clear and water based and brushes are cleaned in water. Don’t like spirit cleaners these days.

A mahogany cover has been made for the forward hatch and has to be detachable for access to the Rx.

Following this work the floor boards were made for rear well and were built in three sections, two at the fore, either side of the engine, and one into the rest of the well to the transom. The boards, as used for the deck, were laid on .8mm ply to make life easy and to keep the shape.
The seating and back rests were glued to the formers and again using the wood from the slats but this time, stained as antique pine to match the boarding at the rear of the cabin. This will be varnished as above.

Finally the ‘engine cover’ has been built and finished with the stain to match. The top of the propshaft, with a rotating collet, is not fully covered and may present some health and safety issues, but people will just have to be careful!!

That just about brings me up to date now but would like to leave this gem with you.

From, ‘Build Yourself a Model Boat’, published in 1950. ---'In these days of motor cars and wireless sets, most men can solder.’ We still have the motor car and wireless sets, but can most men still solder?

Geoff.

Doug, Sir, Fleet Admiral, With the greatest respect this old codger is some ten years older than yourself, but I know what you mean!!!!!!!

Regards
Geoff.

Hello To Martin, and others who serve us on this site.
Thank you for all you do, but I don't think many of us realise who much time you put in to dealing with what needs to be done. But I don't feel that you should spend too much time doing research for people, if they have a computer to send a question, then, in my view, they have the means to find the answer for themselves. Surely this is part of our hobby searching for information or data, and of course some questions I have seen are just, asking a question for the sake of it. We see them in all hobbies. Please make time for yourselves, we want you to do that.

Regards,

Geoff.

Love it Robert, nice build and finish, looking good.
Glad you are getting on with the kit, it is a joy to build isn't it?

Regards

Geoff.

Super job Martin, Inspirational.

Regards

Geoff

Good job here Martin, some thoughts and inspiration for me on my next build. Looks like your friend could finish up with a super model.
Regards Geoff.

So far so good, Robert, You will find it should it all progress as per plan as they say.

Best Regards

Geoff

Robert, Thanks for enquiry, for this kit I used Gorilla wood glue and this is what I always use now. It is relatively thick, but is good to use. Otherwise in places where you may feel something a bit thinner is more suitable then evo stik waterproof is a good alternative. For the speed controller I used a car model from Arrow models this works very well but would recommend an Mtronics Viper Marine 10, currently discounted by Howes models from £27.99 to £20.99. I am using a 7.2v Mn 2000 which I never manage to exhaust in a sailing session. If you purchase an MFA motor and it comes with a fixing, this will not be needed ads the appropriate bulkhead is already drilled for the motor to be fitted directly to and and is in line with the propshaft. The motor, shaft and esc can all be obtained from Howes and a battery as well. I always use Overlander batteries and these are available from Howes too. Obviously choose a shaft at the same length as the kit item.
The prop in the kit is minute so try to get a prop of similar dimensions with a 4mm boss.

Best regards

Geoff.

PS. Decant some of the glue into a small pot, rather than struggle to get it out of the bottle each time and apply with a small brush. Store the brush in a jar of water so that it is always ready to use after a quick wipe to get rid of the water. See my Morston Blog on for a full description of the method I use.

https://howesmodels.co.uk/product/mtroniks-microviper-marine...

https://howesmodels.co.uk/product/mtroniks-microviper-marine-10-boat-esc-electric-speed-controller/

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Hello Robert, I built an Aeronaut Diva last spring as my second boat in Lockdown. It was a joy to build and a pleasure to sail. I would suggest that you upgrade the kit propshaft by using a 4mm shaft instead of the one supplied in the kit which is flimsy and if used with a decent motor vibrates a lot at middle speed. If you fit an MFA 385 she will plane quite easily. If you want a more sedate model then a standard 400 will do. I found the windows a bit tricky and for best effect use a good canopy glue. (I found out too late!) See mine in my harbour.
Best wishes and follow the instruction book and you should finish with a nice model.

Geoff Lambert

Thanks for these suggestions Nerys. I might like to try her on the water first, nevertheless thank you for your continued interest. Would the leeboards need to be operational or just to enhance the look of the thing.

Best wishes

Geoff.