Flying High

This time, I've been working on the flying bridge as well as finishing off the roof by fixing and filling all of the joints.  The cabin door entrance is now in place as is the flyingbridge steering position.  The door went together very smoothly.  I've cut off the roof former at this point and will also need to cut out the roof section under the door frame as both will be very obvious with the door open.

The steering console was more tricky.  I made several new parts using the kit parts as templates.  I also altered the side pieces as they have a crease so that they are a right angles to the cabin rear at the console and then angle in.  It's difficult to explain but hopefully the pics show this.

I've also cut the new parts for the flyingbridge floor and back of the superstructure.  This will accomodate the longer port engine vent.  I also discovered that I'd fixed the liferaft box to the wrong side of part 58 so my clever scheme on that was not so clever!

Wheelhouse Rock

I've been on hols for a week so less progress than usual and only one pic.  However, I'm pleased with what I have done.  The roof is now on the wheelhouse.  A little filler was needed but I'm happy with the results.  I still need to reinforce the inside joints.  Rather than single 1mm thick strip, I'm going to use 0.5mm strip scored down the middle.

One holiday related link was that we went to see a Tamar.  Turns out the port engine vent runs down below the flybridge floor; it's about twice as long as the kit part.  So, I'm going to order some more styrene from Squires and build an alternative flybridge floor and see if I can model it with the larger vent.  If not, the kit parts are in reserve.  More on that next time hopefully.

Lighting the Way

I've been working on two things over the last couple of weeks.  First, I've been working on the cabin lighting realising that once the roof's on, fitting lighting would be much harder.  So having been persuaded by a club member to use LEDs rather than conventional bulbs, I made a trip to my local Maplins.  LEDs, resistors and circuit board bought, I've soldered leads on and am half way through the whole circuit.  The other half can wait until the cabin is finished and I've worked out all of the wiring routing.  The photo shows the LED and some wiring conduits in place.  This will all be painted black before the roof goes on.

I've also been working on the boxes on the flying bridge (or upper steering position [USP]).  The plans I got from the RNLI show these with rounded edges which I've tried to do.  I also decided to ditch part 72 on the port engine vent box and make a replacement frame from styrene strip.  This will give some depth to the vent once the grill is on.

Next up is the cabin roof, flying bridge floor and finishing the front off.

Cabin Fever

I've turned my attention back to the wheelhouse of late.  So as to keep my sanity, I've been working on the front and the back!  I say sanity because until now the parts have fitted superbly.  However, the wheelhouse front parts all need very careful trimming and fitting.  Now, the instructions warn about this but it's not an easy task to line everything up and trim correctly.  The photo shows the parts and the upright in the front of the shot is marked up with the last of the cuts to be made.  It took a couple of evenings scratching my head but I got there in the end.  What I can't really fathom though is why all of these parts are oversize to begin with given the precision of the rest of the kit.  Model Slipway must have a reason but I can't work it out!

On to the back now.  I used my Vernier callipers to measure 1.5mm down from the door opening and then marked off a stryrene strip to give me the same level accross the rest of the panel (part 59).  The Liferaft canister box fits onto the back of part 58 and I cut the inside of the section to be removed having dry fitted the canister box against it.  The CNC cut then gives a positive location for the canister box to fit (NB I have since discovered doing this means part 58 is the wrong way round so don't do this!!), though with a little sanding of the box.   Having checked my reference photos and plans, I may modify this part but I'm still thinking about that.

This photo shows the front of the wheelhouse with only the side windows and one front panel to be fitted, as well of course as the roof.  The cabin lights have to go in before the roof though.  Also, I've found through test fitting that the side roof panels are slightly over size.  Ordinarily, that would be good, but becuase the front side roof panels have a diagonal crease, it's important that they are the right size so that the crease runs accurately from corner to corner.  Really, it's another lesson for me that I should test fit parts first - so don't make the same mistake as me as I'll have to cut new parts.

Powered Up

Progress has been a little slow of late, but I have, at least temporarily, fitted the electronics.

Essentially, this has meant making the servo box and battery trays plus mounts for the ESCs.  The main motor ESCs will just be velcroed in place.  I used an inverse T strip to slide the bow thruster ESC on to as that had worked in the Trent.  I need to try moving the battery trays around once the boats finished but they're ok for now.  The cables will need a tidy up too.

I've also moved into the 21st century and gone brushless.  The motors are Overlander 3548/5s with Hawk 60A ESCs.  I've fitted 40mm 5 blade props and an using two 9.6v NiMh battery packs.  I've no idea yet about run time, but on its first run out the boat was very fast, possibly a little too fast!  It was though very responsive and the motors remained cool.  That in itself is good news as the Graupner Speed 600 Ecos in my Trent run very hot.

Back to building the wheelhouse now...

Pick n Mix

So my friend with a lathe has come up trumps.  The trim tab rams have been machined and look great.  Pic below shows the rams, mounting brackets and trim tabs finished and in place.  Water trials next to set the tabs, then the fixing bolts can be choppped down.

Last time I took the boat out, I heard something rattling around in the whellhouse.  It turned the radio console had come unstuck.  Breathing a sigh of relief that I'd only fixed the windows with double sided tape, out came the window.  Here's a pic of the console though as it came out of the boat.  The handsets are a nice touch I think and came from dolls house phones sourced on Ebay

Finally, for now, and turning to my Tamar build, I've finished the Y-boat compartment 'module'.  Now to fit it to the deck.  I've also invested in a pair of brushless motors and ESCs.  Hopefully it won't be too long before I can try these out.  First though I need to think about the wiring layout in the hull and make some battery trays...

Cabin Pressure

I decided to skip the build order in the instructions and start something new as a little change from my scratch build of the Y boat compartment... so I've started on the wheelhouse.  I had thought I'd wait until the side steps were fitted on the deck to help the fit with the wheelhouse but decided it was six and two threes.

Now, I have to say it surprised me how quickly the basic parts went together.  Having concentrated on the running gear and my mods to the hull, I'd forgotten just how well kits can go together.  The fit of the parts is streets ahead of the Trent and shows just what progress Model Slipway have made over the years.  Don't get me wrong, the Trent is an excellent kit (it'll be even better if the rumours about a CNC re-issue are true) but the Tamar is just that bit better.

Being me, though I have made a few modifications.  I had to slightly enlarge the window cut outs to fit the Speedline windows, they're just a couple of mm bigger.  Also, the fuel fillers are different on the boats.  This meant a narrower cut out and filling the rest of the CNC cut.  I'm in two minds whether to modify the kit vac form inserts for this of just make new; that's a decision for another day.