I'VE even found 2 pairs of different propellor shaft "A" frames………

One set [the smaller pair] being from the Ann Letitia Russell boat I designed 27 years ago and the larger pair was for the 51' Barnett class built 11 years ago………….

I'm like a squirrel………..I hoard everything……..

you never know when they will come in handy.

That saves a great amount of work, laithe turning, drilling, cutting legs and silver soldering and then cleaning off.

life is peachy.

I thought I had some cast "feet" for the prop shaft support brackets, but l couldn't find any when looking though my spairs yesterday, so quickly made some from 1.5mm plasticard remnants this morning.

I'll now drill the legs for some pins to locate into the supports and through the hull once made making a good strong joint.

Whilst looking through my lifeboat fittings the other day for parts to use for my 61' Barnett I came across the masters for a major part that adorned the engine casing of my earlier 51' Barnett, RNLB Mary Stanford, probably thee most famous lifeboat in RNLI history.

I used these masters to make moulds for producing white metal and resin mouldings. One set being sent to Mike Pendlebury for his modification to an a feature for a mark 2 52' Barnett he was bulding at the time.

To be honest I don't know whether I still have those moulds or sent them on to a friend for production purposes,

It was a hand wound windlass. the later mk2 52' Barnets carried an electric windlass.

And so I decided to check through Nicholas Leach's book on the 60/61' Barnetts to see if this item was on any of them, as it was a period piece of that era.

And the answer was yes [most probably] on two of the four boats that I could see, although the shapes were shrouded in black covers.

One of those boats was the RNLB Princess Mary of Padstow.

And so, I have decided to use these masters and with modellers licence, am going to eventually use it on the engine casing of my 61' Barnett.

Edited By neil howard-pritchard on 19/07/2022 18:07:26

after picking up my obeche this morning, I then went to the print shop that i always use, Granthams in BLACKPOOL…… the guys in there are super fantastic helpful, to have my titivated plans enlarged.

Everything came out well, except for the enlarged deapth of the keel, which looks a little too deep.

And so i have taken the measurements from the deck line of the sections to the keel base line where the cross sections meet the keel, and can tacke up any discrepancy on the base of the keel line, or if i want to use modellers licence and make the hull about 12mm deaper, cutting the depth of the keel 12mm , i can add the 12 mm at the top of the hull,making the hull a little deaper, as i presume the windermere sail postponed from this year due to very rough weather will go ahead, and as the old saying goes……………"i think we need a bigger boat"

difference between the first and last of the 4 boats shown to 1;12 scale.

the stations for the bulkheads marked

Today the day to jump in with both feet and start some "building".

I have done enough preperation, and marking out of the main backbone, having plans enlarged, sorting out fittings etc, and it was about time i put timber to saw.

after wighing up the size of the boat and how i was going to cut it out of the 9mm ply, i decided to remove the blade from the band saw and use the bed to put the timber on, and cut it out with my trusty ELU jig saw……….perfect, came out a treat.

then i marked out on ply the first two cross frames, using the marked up frames on the mounting card i had marked earlier for frames 5 & 6 and cut them out on the band saw, after replacing the blade……….again….worked well. finally cut back the marked card for frames 4 and 7, cutting off the markings for frames 5 & 6.

once frames 4 &7 are marked on ply and cut out, the card will again me marked with frames 3 & 8, and so on until i finally end up with all frames marked and cut out…..simples really………just needed a bit of thought and forward thinking.

and thats the last frame i can cut until i get some new supplies on monday.and thats the last frame i can cut until i get some new supplies on monday.

The backbone and the 3 frames that I have already been cut have been marked out ready for cutting the cross halving joints out to interlock the frames to the backbone.

The other frames, I'll mark out when I pick up some more ply on monday from Ulverston……..its a goodly haul free for collection.

i have tried in the past, Ashley…………didn't get very far, lol.

OH!! The joys of using obeche for pattern making.

One of the few new fittings that I am going to have to make for the RNLB Princess Mary of Padstow is the electric main winch at the fore deck.

I have made the base and main gearbox, the upper gear box and shaft cover for the winding drums, all from a "scrap" piece of Obeche that was hanging around, and with a little filling of the grain with Dolphin Glaze and then cellilose sealer, it will be ready for casting in a rubber mould………

Next will be the electric motor that fits to the rear end of the maid gear box, and this I will turn the main detailing on my lathe, and then add the cooling fins using either thin slithers of obeche or plasticard.

And yes, should I HAVE decided at some stage to sell moulds for the boat, some fittings will go with it, plus a set of re-drawn greater definition plans, but all in good time.

However, cant see me doing it inside 18 months.

I cut the strips, 1.5mm x 1.0 x 20mm sanded them and then applied to the motor with odourless superglue……..worked a treet.

Also added two pieces of obeche to the top housing for the brass rod to run through that takes the two capstans for the ropes to run around…….these are white metal castings previously done for the 51' Barnett.

And that's it for tonight, and probably for a couple of days as going to Ulverston tomorrow to pick up quite a stack of ply to finish the frames/deck etc for RNLB Princess Mary of Padstow.

Couldn't turn it down as the cost of good mahogany faced ply, like all things has gone through the roof, and this lot is free om collection.

Then, it was down to putting the hand windlass together from the plasticard pieces I made to cast the white metal one for my 51' Barnett, 10 years ago.