Member postings for neil howard-pritchard

this is going to please my friend Mick French.......who's model this is.

i've started to fit the deck fittings [ made months ago] using 2 part epoxy glue, setting time of 30 minutes to get a better adhesion rate

Done the starboard side and bow deck tonight,and now going to have a couple of beers, whilst watching the goggle box, and will do the port side tomorrow morning along with the aft deck fittings.

i met Frank Kowalski and his mum, and some of the work team in his flegeling company in 2008 when i took over to him two scale models of his then first pilot boat the Intercepter 42' pilot boat that he had commissioned me to build to show. this model i produced as a semi kit, which i gave to Dave Metcalf, but he never got round to produce it, and passed it on in a deal for some equipment to Models by Design.

Frank wanted one in each colour to see which he liked for the real boat more

i had already built Frank Kowalski, to his requirements, a "basic" but sealed self righting model of the boat to sho the RNLI as they wanted a replacement for the Mersey class lifeboat and were seriously looking at his Intercepter as such...

1:12 scale Interceptor model tested for selfrighting - YouTube

since those early days he has produced some incredible boats, that can withstand the worst that weather can throw at those ships, and my visit all those years ago was just amazing, and build quality of his boats was fantastic.

i have followed his progress avidly, and his boats just get better and better.

thanks guys..........that info is just what i wanted for powering my Tyne lifeboat when i need to.........

and i didn't even need to ask. thank you all.

hello Anne...........i dont want it myself, but if you know anyone who sails regularly on the Stena line ships from Belfast to either Heysham or Liverpool and could bring it over, i would pick it up from either of those two ports for the cost of fuel from fleetwood and then store it until someone wants it...........if that is any good to anyone.

i'm in no way bragging or being arrogant, but over the past 60 years i have probably amassed vertually every tool that i could possibly need to construct my models, and each one is my favourite, when i need to use it.

i started off at 8 years of age when my grand dad [a master cabinet and pattern maker] gave me my first bevel edged chissel and taught me how to cut shape and carve with it.

sinse then, i have saved pocket money to buy saws, chissels, and moving on to all sorts of planes, power tools and finally lathe, band saw and even my own centrifugal casting machine, which i used to make moulds for my first designed kit, the Ann Letitia Russel, which is now produced by Metcalf Models and has been the last 25 years.

there is not a tool in my workshop that is a waste of space, and at some time in a build is used for a purpose..........

so in answer to the original question.........they are ALL my favourite, at the time when i need to use them.

some you win, some you lose, and this one i lost!

the molds came out, so i thought well,and i removed the masters that i had made.

and so i cut the tracks to pour the resin in, made two ply backing boards and inserted the wire for the aerials......and then i cast them!

it wasn't so much a disaster, as more a waste of silicon rubber, casting resin and time.

some of the items only cast half an object, and it took two casts to get one set plus a few spares out of the moulds.

also it was a pain to keep the wires from falling out of the bottom of the mould.

on the first casting i held them into the mould with masking tape and plasticine. the second mould i "stuck" the wires in place using vaciline, and although that worked better, the overall effort was not worth the expenditure of resin, for what i could sell them for.

in fact it fook me at least 2 hours to clean them up ready for painting............and i made the masters in less time......

so sadly, this set of fittings is a dead duck in the water, and i'll shred the rubber to pad out some more moulds in the future.
the last photo is of the waste in a container from just 2 castings..........

i know when i'm beaten with a mould lol.

second half laid up and now curing on the nice hot radiator.

well!!!, last night,

Chris Beynon

asked me if i was going to produce the aerials for the Mersey and other lifeboats from the masters i had made and shown last night,

never let it be said that i am not up for a challenge, and so this morning i laid them up in plasticine ready for moulding.

you will see that the steel wire is still attached, and also protruding out of the mould box........do not dispair....

i'll be lucky if the resin once moulds have been made in two halves will ever run down the thin track of the steel............

however once a casting is ready for going in, i just put into the track that has been left in the rubber by the steel wire, a piece of stainless steel, very slightly smaller in diameter into that track so that it penetrates the base by aproximately 10 - 15mm and then cast away. the steel is then embedded into the newly cast resin, and stuck in place.........

well!!! thats the idea.........worked well once before, so dont see why it shouldnt this time.

then i just mixed the rubber and catylist, and poured into the moulding box, made from lego bricks.

the aray of cabin top areals have been fabricated, loosley on Chris Beynon's fabulous ones that he has produced and shown photos of on here earlier today.

the odd toadstool shaped one has been fabricated by using a piece of milliput white moulded around a piece of plastic tube glued tp a core of 1mm stainless steel rod.That one will then be sanded to shape once the milliput has cured.

they aren't anywhere near the sname standard as Chris's, but wont look too bad once painted.

ahh, the ubiquitous circle cutter............an invaluable tool for any modeller.that looks a nice sturdy one, George.........where did you buy that one from.............i'm due for a new one, as mine are getting old and flimsy.

i've seen a few Mediators and Moderators named in the kits, but not a Watcher before. my old metal work teacher was an RNVR Lieutenant Commander during the 1970/80/90's and sailed on the Watcher and Moderater, and would invite myself and another model boat maker down into the "ward room".......a small spare space for a few noggins when ever he and his ships came into Fleetwood on a courtesy call.........we never seemed to be able to manage to leave the ship sober, lol.

thank you Bob.........it came to me in an instant the other night to use the pins, as i was looking for something else........i tend not to throw anything away, and why my workshop looks like a junk yard......and the small wheels came to me many years ago when i was making a model warship..........co-axial cables are great for tiny wheels.....

and at the same time, i painted and glued the anchor to its locating deck brackets......they just have to be tied and secured now before gluing it to the deck!

Edited By neil howard-pritchard on 21/03/2021 17:07:06

thank you Eddie........much appreciate your comments.

they truly spurr me on, to receive them. cheers,

Needed to make two water valves for the fire fighting hoses fitted into recesses on the fore end of the cabin, port and starboard.

lateral thinking and the use of everyday items came into the mix, and along with some plastic tubing came into play.

take two "pin board" pins with ball ends, and snip the actual pims off .

the rest is just using differentt interfitting plastic tubing for the valve fittings, and bob's your uncle, fanny's your ant, as my old mum would say as she put a creation into the oven to bake.

the valve wheels for the two will be made from the centre of a TV areal co-axial cable sliced thinly and glued on to the brass pin.

thank you George, your comments are greatly appreciated.

however i cannot take any credit for the anchor chain. i bought that some years ago from Jotika Coldercraft by a meter length.....beautiful stuff it is too.

The "Fishermans" pattern anchor, [and from asking friends about this type, it is the only anchor that the boat I am building carried at her point in life] has now been finished as per deck brackets and holding stock and so will go for painting as soon as there is a break in the tv prog I am watching.

Then it will be put asside whilst I assess if there is anything more to fabricate and paint before i put all the bits and pieces on to the boat.

And as I am still within my proposed deadline to finish it by the end of March I am quite happy with progress.

i always, even with a humbrol enamel, spray an undercoat or filler primer first to give a key to the top coat, whether acrylic, cellulose or enamel........but never put an enamel on first, and then an acrylic or cellulose on top of your enamel...........you will just get orange peel reaction and the paint will crinkle and flake off.

hi george........Halfords rattle cans, either alluminium, chrome, silver or in the brass coloured ones......Ford Gold.

As i couldn't see a "fishermans" pattern type anchor on the plans i have for the mersey, i have been wondering about fitting one, and where/how.

But this morning

Martin Kinghoward

solved my dilemma by posting photos of a Mersey with one on the starboard bow.

just what i needed.............Martin, you must be a mind reader, but it has helped greatly.

here is my interpretation of the deck brackets that hold the anchor in place. i have the upright bracket and post in my box of tricks and this will be added to the fixture once anchor and brackets are painted and also fitted.

very nice work indeed.....they sail well too, if you get the weight deep down and plenty of ballast to counterweight the top hamper of the white metal fittings.