Thanks Colin. she did her 3rd year in industry with the world wide company called Price Waterhouse and Cooper [ PWC], and they were so impressed with her work erthics and interaction during the year that one of the senior manaqgers offered her a possition as a junior in the company, Leeds branch without any further initiation, and she is tempted but this was two days after she put in her CV and application to Lancashire Constabulary as a marketting consultant for Lancs Constabulary based near Preston.

But with her attitude and aptitude, I have an incline that she will go far in advertising…….far better than I ever did in teaching, lol.

Edited By neil howard-pritchard on 09/06/2023 16:28:18

Bit of detailing this evening.

the brass handles put on to the companionways, and then the fore loud speaker put together that sits on a plinth.

Finally the compass binacle was mounted on to the raised conning platform, which had been painted earlier today.

It IS ONLY the later 3 boats that seem to have the raised plinth, as nowhere on the plans or photos does one apear on the 1st boat, the William and Kate Johnston

I dont think I can say anything about this exciting stage now that I have reached, other than I best now get the glue out and start sticking all the bits on to the two boats as I think I am now on the verge of being able to finish these two models by the end of this month, just about 1 year to the date of starting the project.

I feel like Victor Meldrew this morning……..I DON'T BELIEVE IT!!!!

The other day I found the deck lights that I had painted months ago, and had found in a plastic bag, and "put to one side" ready for fitting once i had dry fit the stanchions!

You guess it……………I have spent 2 hours looking for them that I put in a "safe place".

And so, I have had to ready more for [painting and fitting and am half way through!……… fitting them later this afternoon………

I DESPAIR, at times!!!

The Rocket cannon and its mounting bracket have been finished, but for painting, and are now ready for moulding in rubber, and then casting in resin for duplicate numbers when needed.

 

seen here on the purpose fitted stand aft and over the steering gearbox

 

And that I'll do later this afternoon!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited By neil howard-pritchard on 14/06/2023 14:10:53

Last night I made the split mould for the rocket gun and a surface pour mould for the stand that the gun sits on.

Sadly this morning after mixing the polyurethane two part resin I left it for 20 minutes by which time it should have set and cured.

It didn't and after an hour it is still sticky, I can only come to one of two conclusions.

Either because the amount miced was only 12 gms in total, i possibly mixed a slightly karger amount of one component to the other OR the resin has gone off and exceeds its shelf life……… I hope not the 2nd reason.

ANYWAY, I have mixed another lot of just 8 gms and that is now curing in the "warm" kitchen.
But even from the failed first casting, it shows that the mould actually works well.

A tip for anyone wanting to bend some plastic tubing without trying to heat it up and seeing it deform or desolve in front of their eyes by adding direct heat.

Take your plastic tube, in this case the signalling lamp on the RNLB William and Kate Johnston and find a piece of brass rod that is a good sliding [but not tight] fit for the inside of the plastic tube.

Aneel the brass rod until it is cherry red, gusing a gas cooker, a camping gas stove or best of all a gas brazing torch. You can even use a weed burner from a garden centre but it takes a little longer to heat the brass.

Once it has been heated to cherry red, leave it to cool SLOWLY. DON'T quench it in water to cool as that defeats the object and just hardens the brass up again.

Once it has cooled to the touch, slode it in to the plastic tube, you can bent the whole thing into the shape that you need, as shown in the photos.not magic, just using a bit of metal working science.

You can actually bend brass rod up to 5mm diameter once aneeled and cooled naturally, but never tried anything larger.

But it works as you can see from the photo.

Obviously you cannot pass any wiring through the plastic tubing as the brass rod remains inside, but if like me weho doesn't wire up lights to his boats due to incompetance, you have a nice strong masdt that won't break if you catch it through clumbsiness.

far too complicated for someone like me with a phobia for electrics, lol.

and i never sail in the dark anyway.

thanks Ray, am going to stick a load of bits onto the boat this morning and afternoon, had dry fitted them yesterday, so know where they go……….and tbh, they really make the boat come alive and almost real.

Look forward to getting them finished and mine on the water.

Today is the first day in about 10 or so years that I have used this power tool that has great sentimental value to me.

It is the first ever modelling power tool that I bought, and has always been there for me.

When my first pay packet for the month was £242.16p as a teacher in my first post in 1973 I couldnt afford a new one but used it in the woodwork room to show kids how versetile it was in cutting shapes, and at home for my own modelling…….was great for deaqling with the crap wood supplied in early Billing kits.

It had been on a shelf in the store room unused for 6 years.

When I left 2.5 years later to go to Australia to teach, I asked head of department if I could buy it as no one other than I had ever used it….."give the school 15 quid for it fir the Christmas staff party and you can have it…….15 quid was a chunk out of my last UK pay packet which had gone up to 360 quid pcm by then as I was saving to go out to Ozz, I knocked him down to £12 quid!, BUT what a stallwart it has been in my workshop ever since, and always very reliable,touch wood!

The tool in question is an Aero Piccola Vibro saw, and just brilliant.

And to that fact I dug it out from the dust to cut both sets of brackets and seats for both vertically hung, asnd flat stored life rings for the boats.

Finally came another old faithfull, my lego bricks that was given to me by a very kind man [who never wanted to be named, but he knows who he is] and have been used in probably getting on for over 100 moulds.

The mould made today was a surface poured mould for those brackets that were cut and sanded out of Obeche'.