Very nice craft Rowen.it always amazes me when I see other guys models and how they have interpreted the plans and photos. I say to myself many a time. What an idiot I was to have missed that detail, it’s obvious when I see how another guy has modelled a feature. Mind you it works the other way as well. But each to our own, that’s what model boating is all about. Thanks for your kind interest, and as always value your opinions.
As you can see I have gone for the far/near east version in white and intend to fit the sun shades soon as seen in the photos behind my boat. A lot of fine detail still to fit, but this is the part I like constructing the most.Im stuck for detail for the flying bridge dash board. Am I right in thinking that the craft is not steered from here, just directed by the captain. Unlike the Brave that has a wheel in the flying bridge. Any thoughts ,comments?

Hi the flags were printed on normal Matt photo paper to see what they came out like. Have you any thing better to suggest they are very stiff, 1st attempt though!.

Hi Rowen. Remember our conversation a couple of years ago when I started the Brave Borderer. I made a hull but was not happy with its strength, so put it to one side and bought a glass fibre one.well as you probably have seen in my numerous blogs here how it turned out. Very happy with it, she is a bit fast for our pond but I have taken her to Cleethorpes on hols with me as they have a huge lake in the park there.
anyway I’m going of subject. After the Brave I built the Orca another beauty I love it.
So then I resurrected the Braves spare hull after buying a set of RTTL plans.they are nearly the same shape, although the Rttl needed to be five inches shorter, so I chopped some of the stern and fitted a new transom.
I’ve not done a blog or took any photos of the building processes. But as you have taken the time to ask Thankyou here’s a sneak preview, should be completed in a few weeks time. I’m working on her full time now as I retired last Christmas. Here’s some photos hot of the press as they say. Well iPad really.

Hello fellow modellers,
I have just been producing/ printing a couple of union flags for my RTTL. I printed them out then realised that if I pasted 2 flags back to back the printing would not match through, so for one side I reversed/ flipped the image so it would line through now. But then realised one side would be wrong.
My question is what happens on the opposite sides of a real flag. We don’t see to many close up in my part of the world. Here’s a photo of my print out.

Help!. I cannot get rid of this reply page it is over the top of all others,I have already posted my photos regarding the Brave Borderer. The little part of the forum page I can see, when I click it, it closes the site completely, any ideas. Sorted now. it’s disappeared, now I’ve made another post

Here's one i made earlier.

Well I’ve taken shirts, jeans and scalfs back for being to tight but never a faulty magazine. But no problem refunded money, £6.20p back thanks magazine shop Grimsby.

Has anyone purchased this edition and been fobbed off with 38 pages of Machinery Market adverts instead of 38 pages of model boats.i think theres been a cock up at the printers. So before you buy at the news agents check inside starting at page 3.im taking my copy back for a refund.

Its actually stainless steel.
invented by prehistoric men in Sheffield,
in days of old when knights were bold and women wer'nt invented, they drilled a hole in a telegraph pole and stood there quite contented.
Whoops i think ive doubled up on the meds again.

This was probably black originally but footfall has worn the paint off to bare metal!.

Being a land lubber and never been to sea I would imagine the line is made of cork!!
Also I don’t think the Titanic never went to Cleethorpes, did it? Although it seems to crop up everywhere else.

Been there,I’ve seen it, it’s at Cleethorpes, one question I knew the answer to without guessing.

Once the collar was complete I set about lengthening the outer jacket, the original figure had a boiler suit type outer garment. I started from the shoulders and applied yellow paint then added tissue down his back to a length about thigh high. Again as with the cuffs I doubled the bottom over to create a straight hem. Once more adding extra yellow paint in a stippling motion. This way it blends the tissue around the figure creating folds and creases as you go.photo 2.
By the way the paint I used was an acrylic Matt yellow, as I find the gloss is a little unrealistic.
So then to the front, same method only this time I used 2 pieces of tissue with 2 edges folded so as to form a bottom and zip type hem, and as he was kneeling the jacket was split at the front bottom. This also helped later when adding the safety harness, photo 3.
Now to the life jacket. I rolled some tissue pre glued with diluted PVA into a loose tube approx 7 mm dia. x 150mm long and left to nearly set. When still semi pliable I flattened it loosely and wrapped it around the figures collar and shoulders blending it to his contours then down his chest until meeting at waist level. this was left to completely dry overnight in situ so as to take the correct form. Next day I removed this from the figure and added the waist buoyancy sacks and trimmed to shape, again using glued tissue. Photo 4.
I then carefully refitted it to the figure and again gently moulded it against the waist area. When dry I removed from the figure and gave a couple of coats of Matt orange, at the same time adding a small fillet of paper to the inside front just to give a curve to the neck line rather than a “V” finish. This can be seen in photo 4 as well.
When dry I then refitted to the figure and tack glued into position. Photo 5.
Rather than paint the harness on, which was a no-no from the start. I decided to use small electrical black tie-wraps as these would leave a much sharper, neater look than paint.
Starting at the waist strap I glued one end under the life jacket and gently curved it to form around the waist until reaching around to the other side of the life jacket and glueing in tightly. Same again from the front starting at the waistband then between the legs and up to the waist band at the back. I found if a curve was pre bent to the tie wrap it helped greatly to fit into the correct position on the figure. What helped also in fitting this harness was the use of photos from RNLI websites.photo 6 and 7
At this stage I also realised from the web photos that the life jacket had an extra buoyancy pad down from the neck to between the shoulder blades, so using the same method as before I made a pad up, painted it and glued it in position. Photo 8.
This then enabled me to finish the harnessing to a near enough realistic manner. ( well if you squinted and viewed from a few feet away ) I’m pleased with the result any way.photo 9.
#I’D WALK A MILLION MILES FOR ONE OF YOUR SMILES, MY MAMMY.#
Just for you NickD.

There's always one is'nt there,
thanks for that.
now you've said it thats all i can see. I will have to call him "AL" now.
Made me smile, thanks.

Now to finish this kneeling crew person down. Once the filler had set it was sanded down and blended in. Any parts needing extra filler was added and left to set again. Then to hide all the articulated pivot joints I added a thin coat of tissue over these joints, it hid them very well. At this point I mixed some 2 part filler and moulded it over the head in the rough shape of a safety helmet and left to set.photo 2. When set hard I trimmed to shape the outer edges with a craft knife, then sanded the helmet to the desired contours looking at the side and front views of photos viewed on the RNLI web sites. Using a pencil I then drew the contours on the helmet. When satisfied they were symmetrical both sides I used my cordless grinder with a 1 mm drill bit to grind the grooves into position. At this time also adding the raised central protrusion with 1mm x 2mm plastic strip, photo 3.
Once happy with the general filling of the figure and the head and helmet removed, I gave the figure a couple of coats of yellow spray paint photo 4. Starting with the arms I added tissue to hide what looked like elasticated cuffs.this was done by folding a small piece of tissue in two to give a sharp edge for the end of the sleeve, the other edges were left torn wragged, as this I found blended in easier. As seen in photo 5 I had completed the left arm, so added paint to the right and applied the tissue.photo 6. Once happy with the positioning I stippled more paint into the tissue with a brush and left to dry.photo 7.
Next stage was to make the double collar for the jacket. From photos of the crews kit the collar is lined with a blue fleecy material. I first roughly cut some inkjet paper to get the desired effect photo 8. Then I gradually trimmed to size leaving the collar to stand proud rather than lay flat.photo 9. Whilst doing this I kept refitting the head and helmet to give a snug tight fit. When happy I gave the collar a coat of yellow paint. I then cut the inner collar slightly larger around the top edge but shorter at the front and then painted this dark blue, best seen on the finished figure photo 1

Me to Philbow, we all had coal bunkers in this part of the world.

Having had some pleasing success remodelling figures for my Orca crew, I set about producing a crew for my Trent lifeboat.photo 1, I had for the last year tried to purchase ready made but they were always out of stock/ in production,etc,etc.
The Trent is a slipways model of 1/16th scale. Equivalent to 1inch to 16 inch or 2” to 32”— 4” to 64” which equates to 5’-4” around average for a shortish person. Another 1/4” on the model figure would add 4” equalling 5’-8” so 4 and 1/2” would be equal to a 6 foot tall person. My rough calcs. here in photo 2,
The reason for these calculations was to set in my mind the proportions for the figures required. With this in mind I scoured the toy shops, junk, charity outlets and finally car boot sales. Purchasing eventually the selection in the photo 3, costing around £1 each,
Having already finished the coxswain, I decided to take photos of the modelling stages. the next crew was to be a kneeling person so chose the model with the brown overalls photo 4,5, As can be seen in photo 2 the figure is 5” tall equivalent to a person 6’-8” tall. I needed to loose at least 1/2” to make the scale about right. What was done is rather brutal but has to be. Starting with the neck I cut a slither out, next the waist area then finally the thigh area, photos 6,7. I then flattened the surfaces on my mini sander, to make a good mating surface. photo 8.
The next stage is to pose the limbs into the position required, Starting with the legs, the figures all have articulated joints which help but, don’t always bend as much as needed. A little work with a sharp craft knife eases the joints and gives a bit more movement.( pity it won’t work on my joints). At this stage I usually drill a hole in the sawn thigh joints to insert a plastic dowel of 1/16” dia. The depth goes as far as the articulated knee joint so when the dowel is inserted it also locks the joint together. This helps keep the pose. Photo 9, To add a little realism and stability I found that the kneeling leg was better if the boot was bent forward as your foot naturally bends when you kneel down. So I cut a “V” notch out of the figures foot top and supa- glued it in position, photo10.
Dowel holes are also drilled into the waist and neck and tried out for fit, usually with removing the slithers of body to shorten the height the parts will not match so a little dressing in is needed, once again with a sharp craft knife.
Once happy and blended in I glue the thighs and waist in the desired pose position. The head is not fixed in place until the figure is complete, there is as much work on the head as the rest of the body so I find it best to keep separated.
I now at this stage fill all the joints with modelling filler and leave to harden over night, photo 14.

Send a story blog to model boats, I’m not good enough for that, this model boat site is about my limit. thanks for the thought though.

Hi everyone, thanks for your interest and comments. The figures were not 3d printed, i struggle with a photo printer. Im totally old school. Reworking existing model figures is the best way i know. A blog is in hand watch this space. thanks once again.

Here’s what I get up to on a rainy Friday afternoon.
I’ve finally put the finishing touches to the third crew member to complete the set. I’m delighted with the end result and think it was worth the effort over the commercially available figures.( when you can get them). Step by step blog to follow as I took photos as I progressed.
Still chucking it down, suppose I’ll have to start another vessel.

Hi Rowen
Found this if it helps with your project

This sounds interesting, I’ll be watching your progress Rowen.

Hi NickD
Wow you must have eyes like a bush baby to spot that, to be honest I thought of that exact solution but after six times on my hands and knees searching the workshop floor for the dropped article I gave up. I thought no one will notice, so here’s the finished part

Hi NickD
I found the figure for my coxswain in the toy boxes at a car boot sale, here’s a picture of what he looked like before surgery, I find carboot/ garage sales can be a great source of bits for model building, and cheap. I think I paid a pound for him. I’ve also in the past bought small lorries and play mobile type vehicles just for the soft rubber tyres, to use as fenders around my tugs. Happy rummaging.

He doesn’t have webbed fingers!. it was my carelessness in applying to much superglue, I must have stuck his fingers together and not noticed. Silly me.

home made figure using converted DR WHO figure. chopped up, glued back in new pose. added jacket collar and filled all movable joints, sanded down and painted, cut head flat and added hat. rolled kitchen paper after soaking with glue then moulded to shape for life vest, left to set around neck and chest. when painted i then added all cuffs and reflective tabs and cap badge. finally i finished off by adding the harnesses for the life vest and safety belt using small black tie wraps

Finally found some time to make my own figures for my Trent lifeboat, starting with the coxswain. Having had some pleasing success with my figures on the Orca, I searched the internet for coxswain photos to give me a guide, here is the result, I will post a video in the next hour.

What a stunningly clear video, a delight to watch such a beautiful ketch sailing a super lake. Thankyou.

Great weather, brilliant bacon butties, carrot cake to die for, oh and of course the boat sailing was brilliant, here’s some photos.