Help on Railings please!

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Help on Railings please!

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6 January 2008 at 21:25 #11983
Paul Godfrey
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@paulgodfrey14946
After years of building and flying model aircraft & helicopters, I am now turning to boats – It’s very depressing seeing a scale airplane thats taken hundreds of hours to build crash!!

So, after looking at whats on offer from the various manufacturers, I’ve just bought the Model Slipway Dutch Courage, and very happy with it I am. I’ve not yet started it, as I’m reading the instructions & studying the plans again & again to get it all clear in my mind.

The only thing that I’m still not entirely sure about, however, are the railings. Should each railing be made from a single piece of wire, or should it be made in sections and joined at a stanchion? Secondly, are there any tips for getting the bends in a piece of wire exactly where you want them? And lastly, are there any tools which can make the task easier?

Thanks very much for any help you can offer.

Paul
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7 January 2008 at 08:17 #11986
Ducky
Participant
@ducky
Hi Paul

If you go into the Model Slipway website on the left is a section called hints and tips there is a good bit in there on Rail Stantions and how to do them,I found this very good and I also drill a piece of wood and fit them on that first (Marked from the plan that you would mark the model with)and then just transferred that section of rails when finished to the model,Can be painted first as well.

There may be a better way to do it but on my first Slipway model found this way easiest and cleanest (see my gallery of 10 Hatch Coaster and Wyeforce) all have rails done this way and after lots of sailings are still as firm as the day they where fitted

Hope this helps

Peter
7 January 2008 at 17:55 #11992
Manxman
Participant
@manxman
Hi Paul,

I agree with Peters advice and use a board with the rail positions marked and make your railings up on it. This is especially good advice with your model, Dutch Courage, as both deckhouse and wheelhouse are made from vacuum formings and you would do well to keep your soldering iron away from them, even though you may not touch them the heat generated from the iron can cause damage. (some modellers use superglue here rather than soldering)

Your stanchions are flat-etched brass and fragile. Some care will need to be taken when removing them from the frets. My method is to use a new Stanley blade on a cutting board (mine is MDF covered with cork tiles) cut the 4 tangs to free each one and then use a dremel type tool fitted with a fine sanding drum just touch each point to remove the remains of the tangs.

Forming the bends: right angles are the easiest and just require a pair of pliers – rounded corners are the same, just use round nosed pliers which will give various radius – bends, if you are not comfortable bending these by hand/eye then make the shape from scrap wood and when you have the shape correct just bend the wire around.

Looking at a photo, the railings appear to slope out wards, meaning each rail is a different size. scary ! – just make the top rail first and lay it on your building board, then make the second rail to just fit inside the first one – make the bottom rail to fit inside the second and you should end up with the taper required.

Yes – you probably will make a male hen up! of your first attempt, we all do – don’t be put off, the more you make the better you will become – the most important thing to do is to take your instruction book and read each section as you come to it several times until you are comfortable with the procedure, take your time (its not a race) and enjoy the build ….

Cheers and best wishes – Ken

ps – what the plural of radius, is it radi ?
7 January 2008 at 21:50 #11997
Paul Godfrey
Participant
@paulgodfrey14946
Thanks very much for your comments guys.

Using a board on which to build the railings first sounds good to me, both to avoid melting the vac-formings, and to make painting the assembly easier.

Think I’ll buy some 1mm brass wire to have a good practice with first!!

(Think the plural is radii, but I’m probably wrong!)

Thanks again.
8 January 2008 at 12:24 #11999
Gordon Blanks
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@gordonblanks18647
building scratched built boats for every day use i use split pins as near to scale as possible and cord. painted a lot cheaper than buying gordon
9 January 2009 at 19:20 #1482
Paul Godfrey
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@paulgodfrey14946
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