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.