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September 2018: 10 people August 2018: 5 people July 2018: 8 people June 2018: 8 people May 2018: 7 people April 2018: 24 people March 2018: 13 people February 2018: 8 people January 2018: 17 people |
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St. Albans & District Model Engineering Society
Since: 17th Sep 2017 Harbour
46" RAF Crash Tender
Type: Fire Boat |
Fleet Admiral!
Top Ranking Member!
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Good Conduct Medal
This member donated! United Kingdom
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Hi Martin. BECC do a set in 1:16 scale for your boat. https://www.cornwallmodelboats.co.uk/acatalog/Becc-Model-Acc... Robbob
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Hi Michael. I know what you mean about distractions, I'm building an Amati 'ship in a bottle' model of the American warship 'Hannah' for my 5 year old granddaughter, also called Hannah. It's a real challenge on the eyes and fingers...seemed like a good idea at the time...🤓 If you want to see the Crash Tender close-up and have a chat I'll be showing it at the St. Albans model club exhibition in September, details are on the 'events' page. Rob.
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Hi All. I found the drawing I mentioned, if you look at the numbered items you'll see that No 72 is the navigation light and No 14 is the mast crutch. There was never a stern light on either boat according to the drawing although one appears on the stern of No 93 in one of the 'photos but not in the other dry dock 'photo....perhaps it was part of a re-fit during it's service life ? Also, the mast light is not numbered or described...but it is there.... I hope I've thrown some light on the subject........I'll get my coat..
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It’s been a while since the boat had it’s maiden voyage on the lake at St. Albans and I’m pleased to report that it looks really good in the water and goes like stink if you open up the throttle. Sadly I still don’t have any decent video of the boat yet as I can’t film and drive the thing at the same time, but I do have some static wide shots from my GoPro. When I do the video I’ll ask a cameraman mate to do the honours, maybe I’ll put the GoPro on the bow and then the stern to get some low action shots…the storyboard is already building in my head!! These early runs were great as they showed up some minor problems that needed attending to. I found that it needed ballasting slightly as it was not sitting on the waterline evenly from side to side so I flattened out some old lead water pipe and cut it into small sections so that I could add ballast incrementally. I did this in the ‘domestic test tank’ and once I was happy the lead pieces were fixed in place inside the hull with some super strong double sided tape. The ESC needed a little programming adjustment because I had forgotten to set the low battery level point to ‘off’ as I am using NiMh batteries and not LiPo’s , that was the cause of the short initial run time on the first outing…..DOH !! The batteries are now held in place by Velcro straps on some bearers that I added, otherwise a battery change involved cutting cable ties and replacing them at the lakeside…not very practical. The volt/amp/watt meter is also now on a proper bracket so that the display is more readable. I have also changed the charging connection from the nasty Tamiya connector to a nice little panel mount XT 60 connector that HobbyKing sell, it comes with a handy blanking plug that I have drilled for a retaining cord. I have also finally got around to upgrading the firmware on my Turnigy i6 radio to the 10 channel version so that I can assign the lighting to the switches properly and have the rotation of the searchlight on one of the two rotary knobs. I can use the old 6 channel RX in the new boat….blog coming soon.
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I finally got around to upgrading my Turnigy i6 system from 6 channels to 10 channels today.😁 Happily the firmware update went like a dream and I was able to install a new 10 channel rx in my RAF Crash Tender and then reprogramme the new auxiliary channels to the functions I need. And of course a long press on the exit button saves all the settings properly.....as we all know now 👍 😁 This has freed-up the previous six channel receiver which I now need for the new boat project which is now well under way. Robbob.
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There is 360 degree nav light at the top of the mast, in the photo I have it appears to be enclosed in a clear dome, there is also a forward facing nav light positioned between the legs of the mast support. I may have a bit of a drawing that could confirm that, but I'll need to look on my 'pooter to find it. Rob.
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This is the annual exhibition by the St.Albans & District Model Engineering Society. It gets bigger and better every year and it's a great family day out with lots to see and do for children (and grown ups too !) Lots of local clubs exhibiting too so there's a great variety of all types of models for serious model makers to see. We hope to see you there 😁
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Hi Molly. The planking is 7mm x 1.5mm Maple and the caulking is 0.7mm black plasticard. Have a look at the 'Planking' sections in this blog to see how it was done. Robbob.
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Martin. The textured spray I used came from Halfords and was applied in very thin layers to build up the required texture, bear in mind that the finishing colour will 'fill' the texture to some degree. I also applied a satin lacquer to seal the final surface. Sprinkling pixie dust (or crushed chinchillas 😱) onto wet paint sounds a bit hit & miss to me 😁. Whatever you do is acceptable as 'modellers license', and why not be individual with a two-tone grey scheme👍👍. Doug. I think I saw these books and others on Amazon UK when I doing my initial research but concluded that they probably wouldn't have any specific info or 'photos on the flying boat crash rescue tenders which are the subject of the discussion here and I didn't want to shell out on the off-chance that they would, but certainly very useful for the other RAF boats. RAF Hendon museum is very close to me, I could walk there in 20 minutes if I was feeling energetic, and it could be worth asking to see what 'photos and documents they have there. Robbob.
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Martin. The 'Deck Anti-Slip Finish' bit is on page 4 near the top. Re: Colours. As there seem to be no colour photographs or film of the boats the question of colours for the decks, cabins and roofs is open to speculation but you are quite correct to point out that the plans do not specify white for anything other than the hull markings. The cabin roofs I believe would indeed have a textured coating as the crew were required to stand on them to operate the monitors etc. but I decided not to replicate the texture as is would just look like a bad paint job! I did carefully consider the colour options when painting my boat and decided to texture the deck and paint it in the colour specified ‘BS631 RAF Light Grey’ but to leave the cabin roofs untextured and painted white as that seems to be the consensus, and to my eye it does look 'right'. It is also a great shame, as you say, that one of the most popular RAF boats were so few in numbers and not well documented or photographed during their service life. I have a suspicion that a book of drawings and specifications does exist somewhere as I have seen a few pages that appear to have 'Ministry of Supply' indexes and page references. The 'Plans & Docs' section of this site has some useful information and some 'photos and drawings but they are of very poor quality and resolution. Wouldn't it be nice if whoever has that resource were to make it generally available, I believe it's out there somewhere. We can only hope. Robbob.
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Hi Martin. I have a drawing that shows the davit but not in very much detail 🤔. It is designed to be swapped between attachment points on both port or starboard sides ( hence 'portable' davit) and when not required it is stowed in the centre deck with the ends locating in some sort of retaining points on the deck and then (presumably) secured to the wall of the cabin. I added some detail to the white metal casting that came with my Vintage Model Works kit and also modified it to swivel on a removable fixing bracket. See my build blog for more detail on how I made mine. https://model-boats.com/builds/view/23951 Good luck with the restoration. Robbob.
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Hi Bryan. I think what you have is an RAF Seaplane Tender, it could be an Aerokits or Veron kit. A very nice restoration project ! Rob.
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Impressive..... Nicely engineered and looks quite substantial 👍👍, hopefully you can blend it into the rubbing strakes to be virtually invisible. Well worth the effort to incorporate at this stage, I just wish I had done so myself 😭. I'm glad that you can benefit from my bad experience. That's what this forum is all about 😁. Great work as always. Rob
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Hi Michael. I was also a bit nervous when glassing the hull, I did a few trial pieces first to test the application method and the curing time but I actually found the process very straightforward and gave excellent results. Next time I'll use the faster curing hardener now I have the technique and confidence. I do regret not glassing the deck and superstructure as they would have benefited from a stronger surface. If it's not too late you might want to consider insetting a piece of steel or brass on the tip of the prow on the upper strake to protect from any accidental knocks. I managed to do that while carrying the boat through a doorway😡. It was quite easy to repair but a bit late for me to add a reinforcing plate around the nose. Keep up the great work. Robbob.
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Interesting solution ! What you are actually describing is otherwise known as 'secondary double glazing'...😜 Keep up the great work. Robbob.
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Good luck and get well soon. Robbob.
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Hi there. I buy sanding sealer from this eBay trader: www.ebay.co.uk/itm/500ML-Cellulose-Sanding-Sealer-Clear-Seal-For-Softwood-MDF-Hardwood-/182820765369?hash=item2a90f77eb9 Robbob.
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That's a very clever design and we'll executed. Two concerns, the finished roof might be a little fragile and easily knocked, trust me, it happens 😱, particularly with the mast in place and the 'pantagraph' motion knocked out of alignment. Also, if you are doing working lighting for the mast, front and side nav lights and searchlight, how will you articulate the wiring to them neatly? Perhaps a self locating, on closure, multi pin connector? I'm sure you have already considered these points so I'll be interested to see how you engineer them. Keep up the great work 👍. Robbob.
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This build just keeps getting better !! Here's a drawing of part of the control panel that shows a little more detail and a still from the Pathe video that shows a bit more. I hope they are helpful. Robbob.
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Hi Michael. Looking forward to part 2 of this instalment, lovin' the detail 👍. Robbob.
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Hi Colin. The propshaft, oiler and support are available from this UK supplier. hxttp://www.modelboatbits.com/MAXIDRIVE-P-FRAME-4MM-1 Good luck with the build. Robbob.
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Hi Vosper21 Welcome to the forum. I put a single motor, shaft and rudder in my fireboat so I don't have any first hand experience of a twin drive system but I would think that the shafts should exit the hull at the same points as the single shaft but equidistant from the keel. Similarly the rudders should be directly behind each prop. There are members on this site that have done a twin drive system on the 46" model that can offer more informed guidance, hopefully they will chip in with some good advice. Over to you chaps ! Please consider doing a build blog to document your progress. Good luck with the build. Robbob.
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Hi Kevin. Welcome to the forum. A resin fittings kit for the 1:16 (34.5 inch) fireboat is available from SLEC: http://www.slecuk.com/balsa-wood/Crash-Tender-Fiting-Kit-PR8... They are made from styrene and are consequently won't add too much additional weight. There is also a white metal fitting kit available from Model Slipway: http://www.modelslipway.com/fittings/crashtender/crash%20ten... This set looks more comprehensive and will add a bit more weight but will be much sturdier. Not forgetting the range of 1:16 fittings available from the 'Model Shop' on this site.👍 I hope that's helpful. Robbob.
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Hi Michael. Excellent work on the foam tank gratings 👍 I assume you tried to source from Modellingtimbers initially? http://www.modellingtimbers.co.uk/7.html For those that don't have the kind of tooling that you have the gratings are also available from this alternative supplier: http://www.rbmodel.com/index.php?action=products&group=016 Their product range and prices are very good, and delivery is remarkably cheap and very quick too considering they are based in Poland. I have sourced various bits from them for my fireboat and I can thoroughly recommend them (although they seem to be presently out of stock of the 3mm gratings 🤔) Rob.
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Excellent work Michael👍. My second attempt a making a skeg for my boat was passable (eventually). I overdid the silver solder and spent ages filing the surplus away.....less is more, as they say. I finally mastered silver soldering with some of the later brass fittings I made, fortunately you also have a lathe and clearly a great deal more experience than me. Robbob.
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Hi Doug. Have a look at this thread by FireBoat back in December 2016. https://model-boats.com/forum/anything-website-related/24777 Rob.
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And I thought you were a smart cookie 😉 The feature has been in the site since the big upgrade last January.. Ya learn somethin' new every day😁. Rob
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Click on the PDF icon as if it is a picture, then in the left hand top corner you'll see 'Download' click on that to download the file. Works for me. Try that and let me know. Rob.
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Oh... I wish I had all that info on the mysterious 'Ministry' book ! The illustrations you see were supplied to me by the wonderful chaps at 'Vintage Model Workshop', not sure where they got them from but that's all they have too. Rob.
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Hi Javro. Are these helpful? They are .pdf's so you will need to download them. Very few 'photos and film exist of these boats and somewhere there's a 'Ministry of Supply' book from which these illustrations came from that I really wish I could track down. Rob.
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