Member postings for neil howard-pritchard

tonight was a mamoth task of silver soldering5 brass fittings together. 4 for my Tyne class lifeboat and one for the two Mersey's of

Mick French

and

Dave Stavros Jones

.

all of the parts had multiple parts and all needed setting up and jigging all parts to hold them whilst soldering.

multiple stupid burns to fingers followed.

1st job, after cutting all parts last night was the cradle atop the aft cabin for holding the self righting air bags. Although the Tyne waS classed as self righting from conception to build AND of course every single one was tested for self righting before going on service, some Tynes were given an engine change mid service and the change in engines gave concern that they wouldn't right quickly enough if capsized because of the geometry of the new engines, and so those boats with the engine change were given the additional air bags. the Boat i am building was one of those, but not all Tynes were given them. 15 parts were needed for this fitting!

2nd job was the safety grab rail that runs around the aft perimeter of the survivors cabin. 6 parts were needed for this to take shape.

3rd job was the centre and starboard part of the flying bridge safety rail and coxs'ns back rest. 6 parts!

4th job was the port side of flying bridge safety rail,

and finally for the Merseys, the hooks to attach the bow tightener to the cradle holding strops.

jobs done!

and it fits nice and snugly in its recessed channel in the roof of the cabin.

The DF loop..........a delicate little fitting to make, but got there in the end.

with the two brass rings for the DF Loop silver soldered together I could now make the [none] folding base for it that fits into the recess on the top port side of the cabin of my Tyne out of scrap pieces of plastic card, tubing and a little brass wire.

turned out reete gud, as us lankisher folk say.

tonight, I started putting the anchor brackets and anchors together for the 3 boats.......

my Tyne and Micks and Daves Merseys .............

Dave Stavros Jones there are some parts here that were on the computer desk that I haven't put in to your set of fittings.......when I find them all [ including Daves anchor set I'll send them all together in one guaranteed postage packet,

i built a model of an ST 200 some time ago.

the plans were from the stable of John Parker, and were superb plans indeed.

the reason i was to build this particular boat was because i had been asked to build one in the guise of the Guernsey St Johns ambulance launch Flying Christine, which they have on display in Guernsey Airport in a glass case as a huge collecting box for the charity, and so i made the Guernsey boat as a plug for taking grp moulds.

the second boat i made for my younger daughter as an heirloom, lol.

it was the first time that i had built a wooden boat in many years for display.............all others were just used as grp plugs for moulding, but i found it both a very nice hull to make and a pleasure to build.

my normal builds are lifeboats based on my scratch build ghrp hulls, but as i am nearing the end of a lifeboat build i fancied something similar to the ST200, and when i saw a Model Boats mag from 2014 with the coast guard launch, i immediately fell for its "simplicity", and decided to build it next on the slip.

so! i bought the plans from Sarick after Colin Bishop's help pointing me in the right direction [ haven't arrived yet] and the magazine containing the invaluable build details.....the magazine has arrived.

so hopefully once my two lifeboats are finished in the new year, i shall start on something completely different.

watch this space in the new year.

hi george,

i heat small items like that on my gas cooker hob.

heat the brass wire or rod depending on thickness to a cherry red, and as you progress along the wire just let it cool naturally.

if you quench it in cold water it goes brittle and could break when bent.

been called a lot worse than that lol

Edited By neil howard-pritchard on 05/12/2020 13:22:45

i wa sitting doing sod all, as i have done for the last few days on either boat, as it is so cold in the garage, even with heaters on, and i was looking through a few photos on the internet, and i found a picture of the Garside.

the garside was an earlier Tyne than ours, and was fitted with a DF Loop to the port side of the main cabin

i was sure i also have seen a picture of the William Street early on with a DF Loop. it was actually located in a recess set into the cabin top which i cut into the cabin moulding.

the loop was probably removed when the boats went in for the fitting of self righting airbags on the aft cabin, as no photos show of any boat with airbags having a loop also fitted..............unless that photo was taken at the time of conversion.

However using my own brand of modelers license i have decided to fit the loop, as well as airbags and sod the rivet counters.

to make them, I annealed a length of brass wire, and wound the soften brass around a bottle top.......

got two rings now that interlock, and will solder them onto a piece of brass tube, and brass flat tomorrow if its warm enough.

amazing the help that an empty bottle of Wolf Blass will give, lol.

WE all know or should do, what negativity amongst just a few modelers did to a certain company, when they didn't let up, and forced sales to drop......

Adrian Gosling decided that he would wind up Speedline models.........one of the finest model kit manufacturers to grace our hobby.

as Colin has said............there are a hell of a lot more pressing things to worry about in 2020/2021,with Covid, rise in cancer cases, adult and child poverty, mental health issues than to bang on about a model magazine being a week late.

please get a life, for you never know just how short that may be in the present climate.

if your magazine is late........just re read an old one.

back to my Tyne and setting up the trim tabs.

it has taken some time to get the set up right, and have lost count of the number of times i have disconnected it all from the tabs and taken the servo arms off the servos to get the right lengths and settings for those arms so that the rams run straight inside the boat and don't catch on the inside of the transom or the underside of the deck.

but i have finally got it all right, and a smooth operational run.

i have adjusted the servo capstans so that they are, when boat stationary with tabs up, are both in a position that when tabs in operation they will only push the tabs down from their "locked" position.

to do this, i have [ or will have once the servo reverse lead is set up...i hope] i can use the 6th channel on my RC TX, the potentiometer nob on the top of my TX, and from zero to full, the tabs run down to an angle of around 40 degrees to keep the bow from porpoising on full chat!

I just need to find my very short screwdriver that i won in a set of Christmas crackers a couple of years ago so that i can screw the servo arms onto the capstans now .....AND THEN, job done, hopefully and as soon as I get the servo reverse lead and place it in line and make sure it all works, i can cover in the hatch to semi permanent fixture......

Cheers Malcolm........some on their way as we speak.

today i spent time making the servo arms of operating the "hydraulic" rams for the trim tabs on the Tyne lifeboat, and fitting the servos into their cradle at the stern.
when trying them out with radio gear installed, i found that the port side servo would only operate in the direction opposite to that which i needed.
and so to resolve this i have sent for two servo reversing leads from China, which reverses the polarity and travel direction of the servo capstan.
once installed, both servos will operate in the right direction to raise and lower the tabs.

i then modified the servo arms by lengthening them, as they were too short and were bending the "snakes" too much....really just trial and error at this point in time.

i thought i would get a rollocking off you dave...... you know my skills and abundant knowledge of electrickery, lol

and always thank you for doing so mate...

and thanks Colin and Ashley..........Someone on facebook pointed these things out to me as i didn't know they existed, so have ordered two and a few Y harnesss too, hope they do the trick.

cheers to you all. just charging the batteries now on a few radio sets for me to play with..........something i haven't done for a long while.......but quite surprised that they all still have some charge in the batteries.

is it possible to change the polarity of one servo so that it turns in the opposite direction when linked to a "Y" harness.

reason i ask is i have two servos at the stern of my Tyne class lifeboat operating the two trim tabs that keep the boat level when sailing.

the servos have only one direction of travel for the tabs and that is a 45 degree downwards movement to lower the tabs.

the starboard one works fine, but the port servo, with exactly same directional movement of the axis, when turned around to port in the cradle, lifts the tab, this making it inoperable without major surgery to the cradle.

last night i took the one that operated in the wrong direction and joined it to the one that works correctly and joined black to red and red to black........but this stopped both from working through the receiver.

the only way i can do it is by switching polarity of the one turning in wrong direction via my transmitter, but that means using two channels of the tx and rx, which i don't want to do.........am confused enough as it is, lol.

any help gratefully appreciated.

thanks Colin......i shall buy it now, and look for the plans on sarik

thanks for the info.

cheers,

ever since i built the ST 200 from plans in Model Boats, i have looked for something "similar" but "different" to build and as a diversion from my usual model lifeboats,

this lunch time i found the very thing on the front cover of a model boats magazine on ebay. i really fancy building that............nice simple model without too much "fussy" detailing.

however, the plans for the boat are missing from the magazine.

could anyone guide me as to where i might find a set, or even have them that they might copy and send me......all expenses paid.

thanks for any guidance.

neil

there has been one for sale recently on facebook for sale forums for £800 quid, but i can't find it at the moment...........a very nice one too. well worth the money. if i come across it i'll paste a link.

the two boats, beautifully painted and now ready for fitting out are now safely back home with me.

am i looking forward to getting stuck in.........not at the moment more pressing personal matters on my mind.

Mick's Mersey has had the piping, and unions added to the rams, the rams have now been attached to Mick French Mersey stern

sprayed the engine exhausts chrome, and fitted them. and then apart from the belting and the bow strops where I have some red cord, unless i sent it to Mick....can you remember old boy, the hull has been finished below deck level.

Engine exhausts fitted......

had a bit of a minor problem to overcome.
there are/were circular recesses into the transom that are barely smaller in diameter than the flange on the exhausts are.
and so, I doctored it......I filled the two recesses with milliput to the level of the transom so as to get a level area.
once set, over night, this evening I drilled into both the milliput and the bases of the exhausts and then spread over the base of the exhausts with 5 minute epoxy and glued in place.

the holes in each part of the joint are to make a good purchase and anchor bond, so that they wont drop off.

then I drilled the backing plates for the trim tabs and with epoxy again glued some framing pins through the plates, transom and into the hull..........this I will make watertight tomorrow by pouring some grp resin into the stern to cover those pins, and setting them in place permanently.

still on the mersey..

piping, and unions added, the rams have now been attached to Mick French's Mersey'.
tomorrow I'll find, and spray the engine exhausts chrome, and then fit them. and then apart from the belting and the bow strops where i have some red cord, unless i sent it to Mick....can you remember old boy, the hull has been finished below deck level.
then time to fit out the cabin, before lastly fitting all the deck paraphernalia and stanchions.

Always handy to have a ball of plasticine to stick your bits in whilst the glue is drying.