TODAY, was a day of making two new parts for a lifeboat I have never had to make for before in all the lifeboats I have produced.

The first was a set of "gobeye's" for the bow water sheds for both boats I am building.

These were fabricated from 4 layers of plasticard glued together., each layer being cut to match the last piece layd so as not to have to cut in one go through a "lump" of plastic 9mm thick.

Once all glued and set, I marked the inner hole and drilled on the "waste side" of the marking with a 1mm bit, from both sides and reaming out the waste plastic with the drill bit.

This having been successful I rolled 3 different grades of abrasive paper for sanding smooth inside the orifice, and some paper in normal mode for sadning the extremities of the pieces. Job done.

And so, having finally got a picture of an UTLEY vent and the use of the plans, I fabricated 6 of these elusive vents from some 14mm plastic tube and some Milliput. The slots were initially reamed out and then cut straight, and look reasonably like the photo and the plans.

Six of them eventually cleaned up and bases added, they will be put in to a mould for casting.

haven't a clue, Stephen………..as i can find no information on them….the company went out of busines in the 1970's but started in the late 1800's.

All i can think of is they were an early type of vent that allowed air and such out, but wouldn't let water in……….

can find ABSOLUTELY NO information about them or their products at all.

So!!!, you want to make some simple moulds….well here are two types……the surface poured, and the split moulds.

The surface mould can be used when the item is a simple item such as the vent where it has a base and all other parts have a 360 easy shape to copy without any items sticking out, or have a hole in them. As such the base is mounted on a sheat of modelling plasticine, and a box built around it. Rubber is poured in to the box, surrounding and burying the item. Once set the box [I use Lego to construct the boxes] is removed and the "masters" can be removed from the rubber, and then resin can be used to pour into the shapes left by the original masters, thus giving perfect replica's

The second type as with the bow "gobeyes", has to be a split mould because of the hole in the centre of the fitting.

Again a box is made from Lego or material of your choice, and a layer of plasticine is laid into the bottom of the box.

Then the item to be copied is pressed into the plasticine to halfway down its thickness. And once done some indentations are made in the outer rims with the end of a pencil, pen or similar.

Once rubber is poured in to the box, the rubber sinks in to these depressions, thus leaving a "tit" to locate the two halves together perfectly.

Once set the box can be opened up on the face where the plasticine is, and the plasticine is removed to find the master half stuck in rubber and the other half sitting proud and naked to the elements.

The box is built up again around the second halfe to be cast. But first, one has to put a release agent onto the already existing rubber or when you pour the second half of rubber in to the box, this new half will bond to the first half, and you end up with a block of rubber, with a master set inside that rubber block.

So what do you use as a release agent. WELL, you can buy a can of aerosol release agent from ebay for anything from £8 – 17 quid…….or as suggested to me by one of the men in know at a certain casting suppliers down in Reading, you can rub a little common or garden petrolium jelly[vasciline] or take some ordinary house hold vegitable cooking oil and paint it on to one half with a soft paint bruch at a fraction of the cost of a thumb full of spray from a £10 quid aerosol spray……and that is what i use with perfect results.

And below are the pics in order of the fruits of my labours…..even having cut the flow tracks in the split mould for the resin to flow into.

That split mould is a vert simple one to cast, but on some if there are extrusions from the main body of the item such as a steering wheel where the tongues stick out, one would need breathing tracks cutting n from each tongue to the top of the mould to alow the displacement of trapped are by the resin……..

And its as easy as that.

Go one, have a go…..I find it much more pleasurable thanwriting and printing 3 d images on a machine. But that is a personal choice of mine.

I sometimes worry about the state of some peoples minds and ones thoughts………

In the last two days I have had two comments about wives liking the shape of the UTLEY vents………..c'mon you guys have a cold shower or you'll be thinking the gobeyes are something explisite.

Anyway I have finished casting 48 suppositories and seven sets of horses collars, and can now get on "AGAIN", sanding the hulls down , which seems to be a never ending job!!!

The Bow was the next area to be attacked, as both boats that I am building, the Princess Mary of Padstow, and the William and Kate Johnston of New Brighton both have raised bow bulwarks to shed some of the water from heavy seas, but they need something to attach to, and also to house a roller for a veering or anchoring line to enable the boat to anchor off in bad sea conditions and then to use their windlasses to veer down stern too on to the casualty.

Most of the early classic lifeboats had cast shaped bronze "Gobeyes", but from all the photos and plans that i have seen of these two boats just show plate steel roller fairleads.

AND SO, working from the photos of both boats, they were almost identical in their design, and therefore I used the measurements from the plans to fabricate two, from 2mm plasticard.

And as each part was made and fitted, I drew round the part and marked it on the plan for future reference for other builders should they want to build one of the four boats built.

a friend asked me last week if i could pick up a model if he won it on fleebay and send it to him.

never had a problem with shipping them to international destinations before and so said yes no probs.

didn't realise how big heavy and long it was till i picked it up, and realised it just wouldn't suit a cardboard box……..needed something more substantial. luckily i had been given a shedload of 6 + 9mm ply free earlier in the summer, so 3 days ago started constructing a 5' box to put the model in and ship it to the south coast,

i finished i last night and am now just waiting for the courier to pick it up tomorrow………but feel that it would, being packed so well and tightly survive a trip to the other side of the world. Happy trails.

Thanks for the comments guys, sadly my mind has been on other things for the past few days.

However, I had to get over my complacency and do something to take my mind off things.

Not making much headway on the sanding of the hulls at the moment, being that my workshop is like an icebox at the moment with this vey cold weather and only two oil filled radiaters to give heat.

Plus the fact that the small Proxxon sander is and always has been c r a p, and at nearly £100 quid, like all my other Proxxon tools I bought when flush some years ago, not fit for any other use other than for playing with balsa wood. All a total waste of good money when better tools can be bought for a fraction of the price!.

Plus this cold weather plays absolute havock and murder with the arthritis in my fingers and wrists, both of which I have broken in years gone by from spills on motorcycles…….so it is very slow going.

But I have today, bought off eBay a mouse sander for £12 quid as opposed to my Proxxon rubbish of a ton, and hopefully with some fine 180 – 240 grit pads, I can get the bulk nice and smooth before reverting to my rubber block sander to hand finish. then can start to put the bow bulwarks on and the rubbing strakes , before fitting the rudders.

If the mouse goes well, the Proxxon minus motor will be going in the bin, lol.

so going to be well in to the new year before I even contemplate colouring it all in.

OH HOW I HATE WINTER !!!