TYNE Class Lifeboat build

so that is both sides done.....

the stanchions and stays have been attached together and to the toe rails.

next, once the glue has set hard, i am going to drill the stanchion plates through the toe rails and pin them, with a backing on the inside of very fine bore plastic tubing, so they look a little like nuts and rivets.

once this is done, they will be nice and secure, and put aside ready for spray painting polar grey [ford halfords].

now back to my Tyne class lifeboat.....Dave stavros Jones has today sprayed the hull with a beautifully lustrous covering of OXFORD/BALIOL blue in 2pac paint.

it looks from the photos absolutely beautiful

spent a little time today on my own boats fittings,

stanchions for the Tyne.

unusually, the tyne is the only boat in modern fleets not to have the stanchions attached to the toe rails.... the boards that run around the deck close to the bulwarks of the boat.

instead they are attached to semicircular brackets, welded to the deck.....a bit tricky for a modeler to get a nice firm attachment as not to break.

so, earlier in lockdown, i took some of the stanchions i turned and molded about 10 years ago and added a semi circle of plastic struct to the base and then made casting rubber molds.......

i cast a number a couple of months ago.

and so today i drilled the bases to take some pins made from 26 gauge piano wire so that the pins and the base of each stanchion would make a better connection with the deck, once glued.

i also drilled for the safety wire rails into the stanchions..Only the holes to drill now for the bracing wires from stanchions to deck, once the stanchions are dry fitted later in the build.

my first images of my Tyne having taken her main colours after Dave Stavros Jones magical fingers have worked their beauty on the boat.

she looks absolutely stunning!.......cant wait to see her in the flesh

BACK TO THE MERSEY for the present,

I fitted the trim tabs this afternoon after putting them together and spraying the other night.

i put some double sided 3mm wide waterproof tape around the [already drilled] backing plates and then mixed some 30 minute epoxy into the middle of each plate surrounded by the tape. peeled the protective outer covering from the tape and stuck the tabs to the stern.i will leave them a few hours this evening and then will drill through with a 0.8mm drill bit and push some framing pins through the holes, with more epoxy on to them , and tomorrow when everything is set, i will back fill from the insides with some polyester resin to seal it all and make watertight.

now that the trim tabs have been fitted semi permanently i can make the hydraulic rams to fit in a neutral position.

simply made from different lengths of plastic tubing, some scraps of plasticard and some copper and brass wire, all the parts are ready for fitting together once painted tomorrow.

I also made the two towing/mooring Bitts for the bow and stern for Mick French's boat. there are two in the parts going to Dave Stavros Jones, so only needed to make these two.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.