Hi Graham,
Great work with fascinating,informative and entertaining Blog, as ever👍
Re: "Progress is slow and frustrating with having to wait for the epoxy to harden at each step."
Can't you use the water based EzeKote from Deluxe Materials instead?
At room temperature (around 20°C) it dries and hardens in around 20 to 30 minutes.
A little longer if you dilute it with 10 to 20% water, which I often do with the first coat to help it soak in and strengthen the wood. Especially on soft woods like balsa or on old thin dry/brittle woods, which I'm often confronted with on restoration jobs.
KUTGW!
Cheers, Doug 😎

When I saw the title 'Stripping the hull' in my mailbox my first thought was,
Oh dear summat's gone south and had to be removed☹️, the man is human after all.
But no! Of course not. On opening the post I discovered that it is another lesson in mini-master carpentry - bordering on marquetry. Brilliant stuff with lotsa food for thought.
Cheers, Doug😎

With all this stripping going on you'll get our site banned Graham😮
Don't get sunburnt on deck!!!
Very nice job, practically marquetry.
Is there no end to this man's talents???
Cheers, Doug 😎

"Parting is such sweet sorrow!" Or in this case success👍
😎

"Down the hatch!"
More wizardry from the The Master👍
Including this time lessons in marquetry 😮
Gobsmacking good stuff.
Can't wait to see 'Kayak Ken' paddling merrily away,
with Bill & Ben struggling to keep up😁 Ben will have to give up smoking!
Cheers, Doug 😎

"As I seem to be working on two models at the same time ..."
Some folks are gluttons for punishment Neil!
Welcome to the club😉
So far so good👍
Be nice to fit twin shafts, as per original though.
What you are doing reminds me of the ELCO PT Boat restoration I started some (too many) moons ago.
Cheers, Doug😎

Your guess is correct Roy👍
Ch 53 is the European designation for 40.695Mhz.
UK channel designation is 695.
I note that the TX/RX set was supplied for the European market - France in this case, hence the Ch53 flag.
Having moved from UK to Munich 30+ years ago, and occasionally taken a boat and RC set on a visit to my folks in Eastbourne, I have been round this loop a few times🙄
Cheers, Doug😎

Yep I know Colin. I went down the same trail but that 'old' www link wouldn't woik!🤔
So I experimented by using a secure https URL and just looking for their ***.com site 😉Still couldn't find anything about 1228???
Cheers, Doug

Hi Colin,
I tried that link as well with this result-
"Oops! That page can’t be found."🤔
This link at least takes you to their Homepage
https://asrmcs-club.com/

Cheers, 😎

https://asrmcs-club.com/

🔗

Hi Skippy,
Looks to me rather like an incomplete model of a Walton Yacht Works 65 foot HSL built for the RAF Boat Section around 1942 - 46. The number 1228 puzzles me though🤔
Maybe she was an early prototype/trials version?
Only one of these was ever commissioned by the RAF, No. 2642.
She's the only RAF boat I know of with that unusual foredeck/cabin arrangement.
BTW; I suspect that the 'dustbin' on the stern of your model may have actually been a twin barrel gun turret 'borrowed' from Bomber Command.
She should really have twin screws as well, Twin Napier engines, 30 knots.
Cheers, Doug 😎
http://www.rafboats.co.uk/hslw65.html

http://www.rafboats.co.uk/hslw65.html

🔗

No Norm,
That pic was taken as she came home from the Yangtze dust up full of 'oles, but after preliminary repairs in Hong Kong. As I mentioned in the "caption" copied from the linked site.

Check out all the pages on the link. Most of the photos are as she was coming back out of the Yangtze, after repairs at Hong Kong, in the Suez Canal on the way home and returning to Devonport. All in 1949 in the era you wished to represent her.

" they had so many refits with seemingly major structural mods it's easy to get lost! "
Exactamente Norm! Your 'original' drawings will most likely show the vessel as designed, in the early 40s, not even necessarily AS BUILT, and certainly not as she was 7 years later after three years of war mods and four years of peace mods.

Over 35 years of working on COMMS system design for naval vessels I never once experienced a ship built and equipped to the original drawings and specs, not even refits. On some projects I even managed to get the shipyard to revise the superstructure layout to ensure that the HF antenna system would work correctly and not just fry the deck or bridge crews!

Look at the other pics re minelaying racks or depth-charge throwers, I was concentrating on the boats. Minelaying racks or depth-charge throwers were most likely the original ASW war fit and demounted sometime after the war. Whatever, that photo shows her after deck in November 1949 on her return from China. Never heard of a mine thrower! Sounds dodgy to me💥😭 Sorry if you wasted time making depth charge racks and 'chuckers' 🤔
Check out ALL the photos (they can be enlarged with a decent pic viewer) and you'll see that the whalers aren't swung completely between the superstructure islands but strapped on the davits slightly outboard. The launch appears to be sitting on a deck cradle.

This question wasn't quite as tricky as the one about anchor chain link sizes but I do my best.
Bon chance mom ami,
Cheers, Doug
PS Even the great Norman, although absolutely brilliantly skilled, wasn't infallible and could only work with the drawings and info he had to hand at the time! What were the the dates of of his book and drawings?

Hi Norm,
The best evidence I can find (see attached link) is that she had two whalers, port and starboard of the mast/funnel area. And one motor launch at the aft end of the foredeck starboard side, i.e. you have the whaler and the launch transposed. Oops, Buffer will be annoyed!😠
I can find no evidence of a boat at the aft end of the port side of foredeck as counterpoise to the launch.
In addition I see 6 Carley floats; 2 on frames P&S of the bridge superstructure, 4 in pairs on frames P&S just aft of the step-down to the aft deck.

BTW I believe that the cabin of your launch should be longer, in two parts (gap in the middle for the 'swain?) and the enclosed bow section slightly higher.
See photo on page 5 of the link - the one showing Amethyst docking in Devonport with HMS Vanguard in the background.
Photo attached😉
"November 1, 1949: HMS Amethyst F-116 arriving at Devonport after the Yangtze Incident. HMS Vanguard is seen in the background."

Very good so far Warrant 👍 Carry on that man.
Cheers, FLEET 😎
https://www.maritimequest.com/warship_directory/great_britai...

https://www.maritimequest.com/warship_directory/great_britain/pages/sloops/hms_amethyst_u16_page_1.htm

🔗

Hi M-C,
"position lights are located on the Mississippi Sternwheeler. . .
Just couldn't find it."
I'm not surprised, she very likely didn't have any!
Esp. if she was built and operated in the so called golden age of Mississippi Steamboats, ca 1810 - 1850.
Coloured sidelights for orientation were first proposed in the UK in 1958.
Edit: OOPS! 1858 of course 😌😉
The USA had been adopting UK rules (Trinity House and Admiralty) since 1850.
Before that probably at most a white mast light was carried - if that, until 1848 there were no binding regulations for NAV lights for steam ships at all.
The first international regs for NAV lights were ratified in the 1890s I believe (1897?).

If I were you I'd just fit a white mast head light and cabin/deck lights and be done with it.
Cheers, Doug 😎

Heart-warming Colin, good on ya👍
A pleasure which was denied me.
Two sons died 40 years ago.
😎

Michael,
It's quite simple really😉
Pic 2 is spaghetti junction on toast,
Pic 3 is the pizza version for mass production,
(The special rectangular black olives can be clearly seen, not my taste😝)
Pic 4 is the Fast Food version for microwave cooking 😋
Pic 5 shows the debugger for the software. Anything with 3 to 6 legs that comes along will be thrown overboard, or eaten to fuel the on-board methane gas generator. Thus trickle charging the main power system.
Pic 6 shows the hall (proximity) switch, you know, the one that switches the light on 💡 when you stagger down the stairs on a winter's morn. ❄️
Alles klar Herr Kommissar? 😉
😎

Once again 'supercalifragilisticexpialidocious' Graham😮👍
a real 'head turner'.
Just one question!.
Why is Kayak Ken so snooty?
He's always looking down his nose, to see where he's going, and at we mere vassals of course!😌😁
(I called him Ken cos Kevin always makes me think of the precocious kid in 'Kevin Alone At Home'🙄)
😎

Mon plaisir Admiral😀
Very glad to see that you appear to be up and about and fighting fit again👍
My best wishes to you and Caroline.
Lang may yer lums reek, yer boats sail and yer Dolls-houses enchant.
Doug. AKA FLEET😎

Hi Colin,
Sorry to hear that your day out was spoiled at the end🤔
This is not a plan as such (don't think Billing ever published one, only GA plan, attached, and instructions) but this (original kit build instructions) should help with repairs.
Bon chance mon ami👍
Cheers, Doug

Hi Richard,
Somewhere between 30 and 35 bob I guess.🙄
See attached original Aerokits advert from the sixties.
Around the time that my Dad bought the slightly larger Sea Scout for 35/-. 😮
My recent Blog of her renovation and updating to brushless is on this site.
Look for Sea Scout Jessica.
Cheers, Doug 😎

Good job Cash👍
Glad to see you didn't get too 'ratty' over the ratlines 😁
Cheers, Doug 😎

Ref Name,
No contest! Continuing the 'Flower Pot Men' theme it has to be "(Little) Weed" 😁
'Loblob' job on the mechanism btw Graham👍
I was wondering; have you made Bill and Ben their 'Flobberpops' yet? 😂
No? 'FLOBABDOB'😠
"Babap ickle Weed"
😎

"I tried posting pictures but nothing was loaded up so I deleted the post "
Shame Ron🤔
The pics were uploaded, but only empty boxes were displayed, only the expired Security certificate issue prevented them from being viewed. UNLESS you used the trick I posted elsewhere.
Moral: Don't give up too soon folks. Dig around a bit to try and find out what happened and what's possible😉
Stick 'em up again Ron.
Cheers, Doug 😎

Yahoo, pics are back😀 Thanks Stephen.

Gary,
I have used the trick I described in the Dog Boat thread to look at your propshaft in great detail.
And I have to say that I think your shaft has seen much better days and is worn out🤔
Close up snip from your photo attached.
The shaft is clearly worn, and worse it is scored. Indicating that the bearing will also be scored and worn. Hence the ingress of the wet stuff. Dirt and grit must have got in sometime.😭 Possibly a misaligned motor caused the shaft to thrash around a bit thus increasing the wear rate.

You now have two choices.
1 Fit new shaft and bearings. Tap the old bearings out, using the old shaft as a drift.
I use sintered phosphor- bronze bearings reamed to fit the shaft.
Don't forget to flush out the tube to remove any remaining dirt and grit before fitting new parts. I use WD40 and pipe cleaners.

2 Go the whole hog and fit a complete new shaft and tube assembly.
In which case obviously you need to remove the old tube.
In many case with old boats the glue/resin holding it in place is brittle and a sharp tap on the end with a tack hammer (not a sledge hammer 💥😭) will dislodge it.
Twisting simultaneously with mole grips also helps. Sometimes, as Colin mentioned, gentle heat is needed to soften the glue. I use a 50W soldering iron or a small gas torch (the tiny ones made for kitchen use) if enough tube protrudes from the hull.

Before fitting the new shaft I inject some Teflon based marine grease from the prop end of the tube and grease the inboard bearing as well.
I fit a stainless steel thrust washer at both ends, with a collet locked to the shaft at the inboard end, and adjust the end float to 5 thou.
Hope this helps. Bon chance mon ami 👍
Cheers, Doug 😎

Hi Shipmates,
There is a way to circumvent this problem for the impatient and curious😉
It is literally a 'work around' 🤔
Works in Windows, other Op Systems I don't know - look for equivalent commands.

First you have to LOGOUT. Yes really, trick won't work if you are logged in.
Then RIGHT CLICK on the pic (empty box) that you are curious about.
Select (Left click) OPEN IMAGE IN A NEW TAB (in Windows), other Op Systems, phones etc, may have other but similar commands.
You will then get the security message I posted below.
Left click ADVANCED. The window is extended with further info.

Scroll down and Left click ACCEPT RISK AND CONTINUE.
The picture will then open and if you go to any other page all pictures and Avatars etc will be visible. Incidentally, often MUCH larger than when you open them normally when logged in. Depends on the size (resolution) of the original pic.
Happy clicking / phone stabbing all 😉
Cheers, Doug 😎

Hi Dave,
Pics are not viewable for anyone at the moment!
Reason: Site's security certificate has expired - needs renewing.
A periodic necessity I'm afraid🤔
Doug
This is what you get if you try to open a pic in a new tab.

"Warning: Potential Security Risk Ahead

Firefox detected an issue and did not continue to hobby.land. The web site is either misconfigured or your computer clock is set to the wrong time.

It’s likely the web site’s certificate is expired, which prevents Firefox from connecting securely. If you visit this site, attackers could try to steal information like your passwords, emails, or credit card details.

What can you do about it?

The issue is most likely with the web site, and there is nothing you can do to resolve it. You can notify the web site’s administrator about the problem.

Learn more…

Web sites prove their identity via certificates, which are valid for a set time period. The certificate for hobby.land expired on 13/09/2022.

Error code: SEC_ERROR_EXPIRED_CERTIFICATE

View Certificate ..."

You are then given two options-
Go back (Recommended) or Accept the risk and continue.
If you accept the risk then ALL pictures, Avatars etc are then visible.

For our Queen, THE QUEEN,
and my Mum whose funeral will be on the day after Elizabeth R's.
With thanks to Dylan Thomas, who in this poem concisely encapsulated Life and Death better than anyone (least of all me, a simple engineer).

Do not go gentle into that good night
Dylan Thomas

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my (Queen), there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESWzPhZWYeI
Recital by Anthony Hopkins.

Thank you Rowen,
97! Not a bad innings!
She'll be mad as hell that she didn't make the century though!
😎

"Per Ardua ad Astra." 'Through adversity to the stars'.
Motto of the Royal Air Force Rowen.
But somehow also appropriate here!
Doug.

I was moved to tears today.
After seeing the first headline on German TV, of 'doctor's concern' I continued to watch the BBC World News coverage to the bitter end.
She was the only monarch I had ever known, having been born scarcely a year before Her coronation. Her strength of character lead us to believe that she would always be there for us.
I had the immense pleasure of seeing her close up on two occasions,
1970 (I was 19), in the Grand Ballroom of Buckingham Palace as my father was invested by the Queen with the MBE for services to the Royal Air Force.
Followed by lunch in the Telecom Tower revolving restaurant, shortly before it was closed due to a terrorist bombing!
1972, I had married and through family connections we were invited to Christmas celebrations in St Georges Chapel within Windsor Castle.
Two of the most memorable events in my life. No digital cameras back then, but images forever engraved in my mind. (How does one download to the PC?)

The death of Queen Elizabeth II, although not entirely unexpected, was my second 'horse kick in the solar plexus' in 10 days. My Mum died last week aged 97.
She was an avid Queen fan, she looked so alike the Queen that my sister once thought that she WAS the Queen!
Mum had often said that she was determined to celebrate her 100th birthday so that she could receive the traditional congratulatory telegram from the Queen.
(Mum used my PC to send email birthday congrats to the Queen and always received a reply.)

When my sister phoned to tell me Mum had died I had remarked that Mum would be mad not to have achieved that ambition and would be giving Saint Peter 'hell' for that, she was a feisty lady!
I added 'assuming that the Queen herself manages to reach 100'.
In retrospect a prophetic throw-away comment that I now bitterly regret.

A most remarkable lady has moved on, but we celebrate her life and her legacy.
The Queen is dead. Long live the King!
Doug.

Who else is gonna know if the pattern is right or wrong BW?
I must say though I was wondering about that frame over the bow, but wadda I know about that? ZILCH!
I'm also looking forward to seeing both your Vosper On Patrol and tackling the Schnellboot.
BTW; the Lürssen hull design of the Schnellboot lived on for many years.
In the early 90s I spent some time in Guayaquil naval harbour Ecuador surveying their Lürssen TNC-45 Fast Attack Craft, amongst other vessels, for COMMS system updates.
Basic hull design was exactly the same.
Somewhere I have GA drawings of the TNC-45 if anyone's interested in building an 'updated' Schnellboot.

Steady as you go BW👍, and stop trying to hide your whatsit under a bushel.😉
Cheers, Doug 😎