Thanks Ron.
It's turned out quite well 😊
I should really be out in the workshop now doing a bit more work on the boat but it's 35 degrees in there today which doesn't make doing anything very comfortable...phew !!!! 😓😓

I doubt that I could paint a line that fine, I don't think its required anyway but I could simulate the same with some black sewing thread laid into the join.
Rob.

I abandoned my first attempt at the life raft container after realising that the plastic waste pipe that I had used was far too large in diameter to be realistically ‘scale’ so I went about looking for some other tube of a more appropriate size.
Fortunately the answer was almost staring me in the face in the form of one of the cardboard tubes I use to store some of my styrene extrusions and brass collection.😀
This 30mm cardboard tube is perfect for my needs so I carved off a bit from my improvised storage tubes and ‘wrapped’ it with a thin veneer of .25mm Plasticard sheet to give it a better surface for further detailing and a good base for painting.

The tube was then cut to length and some balsa end pieces laminated together and glued into the ends which were then shaped with files and abrasive paper to a domed profile before being given several coats of epoxy finishing resin to smooth and seal the grain.
I added strips of half-round and flat Plasticard to simulate the opening edges of the container and the banding around the circumference and after a smoothing off with fine abrasive this piece was primed ready for painting.

The container is retained on a support structure and this was made from some 3mm Plasticard by drilling a 30mm diameter hole through a single sheet with a step cutter and then cutting that into two equal parts. These were then temporarily ‘pegged’ together with a bit of Plasticard rod so that I could work on the shaping of them knowing that they would both be identical.
These two supports were then fixed to some feet and bracing pieces fitted between both to add strength and rigidity and to provide a means of fixing the part to the cabin structure.
This was also primed and then sprayed, along with the container piece, with some Halfords ‘Appliance White’ gloss.

The ‘checkerplate’ front panel was made separately in two parts, the first is a backing piece 1.5mm thick cut to the correct size and shape onto which I laminated a piece of .5mm embossed ‘checkerplate’ styrene sheet.
This stuff is made by ‘Slaters’ and is usually used for architectural modelling and by locomotive model builders but is ideal for my purposes too.

This part was then sprayed silver and when all the painting was dry and hardened the checkerplate panel was fixed to the supports. The contained drops neatly into the support and is almost a perfect friction fit but I will join the two pieces with a couple of spots of CA glue.

A single screw will hold this Life Raft Container assembly to the cabin through the underside of the deck and will be fixed in place at final assembly.

Hi Mike.
Good to see that you've started your Police Boat build and the blog, I'll be following with great interest 👍😀
I hope my build blog will be helpful but I don't think you'll have any problems with this build.The Vintage Model Works kits are very easy to put together and hopefully the instructions have been revised a bit since my test build.
Have you managed to get the running gear for it yet (motor, ESC, RX, Batteries etc) they seem to be in very short supply at the moment?
Rob.

😛

Panic over...
As you were...
Carry on............😉

Hi Sy.
Thinking ahead.....
Perhaps it would be prudent to adjust the RX positioning now and re-make the wiring/switching loom to make provision for the second battery if access will be restricted after the deck is fixed down.
Rob.

Hi Sy.
Good to see progress at your usual rate of knots!
It looks like if you were to reposition the receiver there'd be plenty of room for a second LiPo 😉
Rob.

Thanks Rick.
I'm quite enjoying the detailing of the boat, a lot of scratchbuilding which I don't usually do but the results are very pleasing (so far). The last major job is the handrail and safety rails and 'cos that involves drilling holes all over the freshly painted and lacquered cabin I'm a bit nervous 😰
Robbob.

Hi Sy.
Never had any real problems with the Halfords paints and lacquers, in this case I'm pointing the accusing finger at the Rust-Oleum stuff, that went straight into the bin !!
Rob.

The Southampton Pilot Boats have some distinctive logos and graphics on their cabins and I thought I’d have a go at making my own rather than getting them made in vinyl by a graphics studio.

I have used waterslide ‘decals’ many times in my youth as an avid Airfix and Revell model kit maker so I know how they work and how to use them but I’ve never tried making my own. Fortunately there are quite a few helpful videos on YouTube that illustrate the process and all that is required is a bit of work with a graphics package, I use Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, a good inkjet printer and the required clear and white backed transfer paper.
The latter can be bought readily from eBay and while being quite expensive as a single A4 sheet they are available as mixed multipacks at reasonable cost. Inkjet paper is most common but you can also get a Laser Jet version of the paper too.

The process starts with identifying the logos and obtaining a good quality .png of .jpg file of the required logos but our friend Google makes this very easy and once in the graphics software they can be re-sized, re-coloured and manipulated with ease.
The most difficult aspect is gauging the correct proportions of the logos and text by studying the ‘photos of the real boats, which is quite difficult without having something to reliably scale to. The large black ‘PILOTS Southampton’ text is just Arial bold so that’s very easy to generate.

I made a test sheet of the graphics in my Canon ink-jet printer on Best Photo settings, left them to dry and then used some ‘Rust-Oleum’ clear lacquer (in a rattle can that I wanted to finish up) to overspray the decals to ‘fix’ them and protect the ink from dissolving away when placed in water as is recommended in the instructions that come with the paper.
A selection of these graphics were then applied to my ‘test piece’ which is painted in the colours I’m using.
I also used some ‘Micro Sol’ and ‘Micro Set’ fluid to aid application and ensure correct bonding of the decals.

The final part of the testing involved spraying the decals with lacquer as a protective coating….and that’s where the benefits of doing a test piece first comes to the fore.
To my horror the decals had a very bad reaction to the Halfords clear lacquer that I used and started wrinkling up before my eyes, I quickly grabbed my ‘phone and videoed this happening 😲

You can see the wrinkling happening in the video clip.

(EDIT: The clip was uploaded as a .mp4 file but mysteriously gets changed to a .mpg4 file by the site when you download it, rename it a .mp4 if it doesn't play after it's downloaded.)

I believe that the two different brands of lacquer, both supposedly acrylic, reacted with each other and hence the wrinkling. I can’t imagine how furious I would have been if I’d not done this test and applied the decals to the cabin right away and then used the Halfords lacquer over them. The work involved in rectifying that disaster would be extensive 😡

Did I dodge a bullet or what!!! 🤕

I threw away the remnants of the offending ‘Rust-Oleum’ lacquer immediately.

Having learned a valuable lesson I went on to make a fresh set of decals on a new clear sheet and also a second set on a ‘white’ sheet because part of the testing proved that the blue of the ABP and Babcock logos doesn’t resolve very well over the orange paint but worked much better when produced using the ‘white’ background paper which has greater opacity.
The red and white ‘flag’ marking also had to be made using the same paper.
These new sheets were lacquered with a couple of coats the Halfords stuff and left overnight to thoroughly cure.

Applying these home-made decals is no different from the ‘Airfix’ method but I did use some Micro Sol & Micro Set as before and all the decals were applied without any problems. Although I did have to cut out and apply the ABP letters individually.

I also made some ‘bolt head’ decals to put on the engine vent panels that go on the cabin sides as I thought that they might look better than adding protruding bolt heads. The panels look quite effective with the black backing and stainless steel mesh in place. These will be fixed in place in the final detailing.

The complete cabin was then put in the spray booth (no masking required for a change) and given three coats of Halfords clear gloss lacquer without any ill effects (much to my relief) and I only have one very small run in the lacquer to polish out.

Thankfully that’s the only remedial work I need to do.😀

Next up, the life raft container.

Hi Doug.
Thanks for the advice on the digital subscriptions.
Free plans aren't something I desperately need but I'll see how how I feel about renewal after the 3 'promo' issues.
Cheers.
Rob.

Hi Graham.
OK...I found the offer on the modelboats.co.uk site in the header after refreshing the page a few times and have signed up for 3 months of digital & print for £1 👍😁

After the three "promotional" issues the direct debit ramps up to £14 per quarter so I'll need to decide if I want to continue with electronic & print for £14 or drop down to electronic only for £7.10 or cancel the DD altogether.

Thanks for the 'Heads Up' on the offer.
Rob.

Hi Graham.
I thought you might like that 😉
Here's a UK seller on eBay for the same module....
Rob.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DFplayer-Mini-MP3-Player-Module-For-Arduino-UNO-Module-Music-Audio-Voice-Board/263899839783?_trkparms=aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D228436%26meid%3D2a02de5f44f84197af4c93198b55c767%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D5%26rkt%3D12%26mehot%3Dpf%26sd%3D153603621759%26itm%3D263899839783%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D2047675%26algv%3DSimplAMLv5PairwiseWebWithBBEV1Filter&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851

🔗

Hi Graham.
Sounds too good to be true.....perhaps it is....... 'cos I can't find the offer page you mention, can you post the URL please.
Cheers.
Rob.

Excellent work Graham, is there nothing you can't integrate into this?
But I can't help thinking that a selection of Sea Shanty's or music of a nautical nature might be more appropriate....so how about incorporating a small 'media player' circuit that reads a micro SD card with some .mp3's on it.
Now that would be a challenge.....wouldn't it ?
Tongue firmly in cheek !!!
Rob.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/303316211178?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=710-134428-41853-0&mkcid=2&itemid=303316211178&targetid=908661474856&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=1007037&poi=&campaignid=10195651586&mkgroupid=107296210212&rlsatarget=pla-908661474856&abcId=1145987&merchantid=110850726&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI4ZCO-ZmH6wIVWOvtCh2XYwtKEAQYDCABEgJg4fD_BwE

🔗

Hi Doug.
My Win 10 PC also plays the file immediately and it was downloaded as a .mpg4 file
SeamanCook said he uploaded a .mp4 file

So if the file extension is being altered within the site from .mp4 to .mpg4 then something fishy is going on....perhaps Stephen (FireBoat) should investigate ?
Rob.

I downloaded your file onto my Kindle Fire HD tablet and it tried to open it in a document reader too. This is despite having various media players installed including VLC player. Changing the file extension to .mp4 makes the file more recognisable to media player software. Not sure why if you uploaded a .mp4 it should then become a .mpg4 when downloaded......very odd.
I will be uploading a short video myself soon as part of a build blog update so I'll see what happens then.
Rob.

Hi SeamanCook.
For your video, try changing the file extension from .mpg4 to .mp4
It will make the file more compatible with most media players.
Rob.

Hi Pete.
I found them on the web:
https://www.decalsandstickers.co.uk/shop/
https://www.decalsandstickers.co.uk/shop/letters-numbers/vinyl-letters-numbers/6mm-to-25mm-self-adhesive-vinyl-letters-or-numbers
Quite reasonable prices and quick delivery too.
Rob.

https://www.decalsandstickers.co.uk/shop/

🔗

https://www.decalsandstickers.co.uk/shop/letters-numbers/vinyl-letters-numbers/6mm-to-25mm-self-adhesive-vinyl-letters-or-numbers

🔗

Ah....yes I see a booklet of my build blog just on edge of frame, I'm most flattered 🤗. Rob.

Hi Martin.
Thanks for your kind words 😊.
It's coming along quite well but v e r y s l o w l y . . . . .
Rob.

Hi Missouri.
The good thing about that technique is that there's very little chance of 'miss-placing' the item due to unsteady hands and the like. With vinyl stickers you only get one shot at placing them because peeling them off to re-position will inevitable damage the sticker and possibly the surface it's going on to.
I'm putting a lot of detail on this model as you will see in further updates...all inspired by Skydive130 I might add 😁
Robbob.

Better late than never Neil.
I'm looking forward to seeing how you get on.
Rob.

Firstly on with a bit more painting with the deck finish. The textured paint is a Halfords product and conveniently is quite a close match to the colour that I think it should be RAL6001 Emerald Green in a satin finish. I’ve looked into getting a can of Emerald Green custom mixed and at £16 including delivery it’s quite an expensive option just to get the colour I’d prefer…….but I’m tempted.🤔

After carefully masking the hull the deck was cleaned off with panel wipe and two coats were sprayed about 15 minutes apart. I’m quite pleased with the level of texture bearing in mind that after over coating with a satin lacquer will lessen the texture a bit. The forward and rear deck areas of the cabin structure will also need to be painted with this textured green paint but I won’t do that until the cabin graphics are applied and lacquered.

My model is based on the ‘Hamstead Southampton’ Pilot boat and so I had a 6mm high white vinyl name graphics made for a few pounds and applied them centrally on the stern. On the real boat the name and home port are actually at the same level but either side of a rear ladder structure which I won’t be detailing on my boat so I think the central position looks better than splitting it with a big gap in between.

There are two areas within the rubber side buffers which are painted in a very conspicuous yellow, presumably for some identification or visibility reason. Rather than try to paint them I thought I’d try using some self-adhesive film that sign makers use. Sourced from eBay as a ‘sample size’ they proved very inexpensive and after making card templates for sizing they were also ‘hinged’ into place using masking tape after peeling off the backing paper. They went on surprisingly easy and are a much better fit and finish than I could achieve with paint. Also masking off for paint would be a nightmare too!

Now that the white self-adhesive vinyl tape has arrived I can’t really put off doing the dreaded waterline any longer. 😰

I have decided to use the 5mm wide tape as it looks to be the correct proportion. Because I’ve always had problems with the waterlines on my models I try lots of things to mitigate against the tape lifting and that includes removing any raised edge where the red and black paints meet by masking either side and flatting the join with some very fine abrasive and making sure that the area is perfectly flat and clean.

Starting from the stern the tape was applied over the paint join, and where it crosses the chine I chose to make a cut at an inconspicuous place under the chine and continue with a second piece to the bow. This worked well and was repeated on the other side and then the stern was tackled last. The tape was thoroughly rubbed down onto the hull with a soft cloth and seemed to have stuck quite well.
I left it overnight and returned to find it was quite OK over the long flat areas but had very slightly lifted at the edges where it crosses the chine, to be honest, much as I expected! 😠 The solution I have found in the past is to gently lift the tape edges and apply ‘micro dots’ of cyano applied with a pin (sharp end) and pressing the tape back with firm pressure with a smooth rounded tool. Done correctly the cyano doesn’t ooze out and affect the paint outside of the tape edge. I also use a dot of cyano to secure the tape ends where they join and overlap at the chine and at the joins at the bow tip and the stern corners. I left it for a few days….. and to my relief there were no more signs of lifting so I’m happy that it’s finally done. 😊

The last hull graphic are the ‘3’ numerals at the bow, and again these are white vinyl and 20mm in height. Applying them symmetrically involved making a template, which is common to both sides of the bow, with a square cut-out at the required position. The numerals were applied by ‘hinging’ the self-adhesive number into place.

The black area of the hull will later be sprayed with a gloss lacquer to seal the waterline and the bow numbers and stern graphics in place but in the meantime I’m making the ‘waterslide’ graphics for the cabin detailing. 😁

Hi Sy.
Sounds like you have a case of 'Buyers Remorse' but I know you'll make a terrific job of it despite that.
Re: Bending brass tube.
I think Mike Turpin's suggestion is likely to be the most successful. I've used internal and external bending springs with success if the bend radius isn't too severe, and also tightly packed sand but I suspect you need a fairly small radius bend so I'd try a test with the 'lead fill and wood formers' method and judge the results.
BTW. I've been so busy with other domestic responsibilities the boat building has taken second priority but I'm back to the Pilot Boat now and will be posting updates shortly.
Rob.

Hi Sy.
I'm full of admiration of you work rate, so much progress in so little time!!
(I'm still plodding away with my Pilots Boat, and getting bogged down with fine detailing).
Have you figured out your battery conundrum yet?
As a suggestion, could you use two long and slim battery packs either side of the motor/electrics and put in a changeover switch so when the first is showing signs of low capacity you could bring the boat in, switch to battery number two and continue running on that.
The advantage being that battery locations don't upset the balance of the boat as they act as reciprocal ballast. The only disadvantage is that there's an extra switch to find room for and your running session will be split in two sessions. You could fit a separate battery alarm unit for each too, they're cheap enough !
Just a mad idea 😉
Keep up the great work.
Rob.

Hi hmsnostalgia.
No, I decided not to add any crew figures to any of my models because unless they are to the true scale of the model and in a natural looking pose I don't believe that they ever look very realistic.
Robbob.

Hi Chaps
Thanks for your kind words about my Thames Police Boat build blog.

For those that haven't seen it the blog is: https://model-boats.com/blogs/47891?sort=ASC

The kit is available from Vintage Model Works. http://www.vintagemodelworks.co.uk/?page_id=18

Watch this space for Mike Turpin's Police Boat build blog coming soon...

https://model-boats.com/blogs/47891?sort=ASC

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http://www.vintagemodelworks.co.uk/?page_id=18

🔗

I totally agree with you Nerys, I just wish that I could order from them with confidence that their stock count is accurate and they've actually got what I've ordered. In the past my order for something has been followed with a notification that the item in on back order despite showing UK stock, very annoying....😡
Rob.