The starboard side has now been sandrd to the frames, giving the base lines of the hull.

The port side will be sanded tomorrow.

this,

to this, in an hour, using my powerful diamond grit bladed Works sonic sander.

This morning I decided to make two quick items for the model.

The plynths that the two access hatch companionway covers sit on were made from two chunks of laminated obeche' that were cut from the rear of the main cabin…….waste no, want not! as my old mum used to say.

Measured last night and adjusted this morning before cutting.

Then I considered whether to glue the fore plynth on to the engine casing before moulding it all as one piece because of what i imagined would be a couple of tight corners or leave it off. and just mould without it being attached.

Always good to check the plans lol.

My fear was that the angles made in a double angled joint on the right hand side [as we look at the photo might be too acute .

However that has been negated as the plynth fits straight up to the"corner" of the chamfer on the front of the engine casing, and therefore no acute double angle……..so PANIC OVER, and the plynth has now been glued to the engine casing with 2 part ZAP 5 minute epoxy.

Thought I'd have a little deviation from the boredom of filling in the holes and divets in the hull…………looks like an amateurs pitch and put golf range at the mo………….

And so I thought I'd have a look at the twin funnels for the Princess Mary. They are NOT round in plan view, but oval, but not eliptical, which makes life a little easier………

So how do you get a length [or two to be precise] .both from round to oval.

I have made a jig of a base and three pieces of obeche and two G cramps, and am going to heat up the two tubes in an oven.

Once to a thermo changed heat where I feel that they will be pliable once squashed, I will slide them between the pieces of timber and slowly screw both clamps together for an equal oval shape, and then leave them to cool down.

WELL FOLKS!!!
If you wanna heat up some plastic waste pipe to bend from a round to an oval……….

DON'T USE AN OVEN……………IT DON'T WORK lol.
So will mow try my friends suggestion of a hot air gun lol.

And it was only in the oven for 5 minutes, lol…………bit of overkill, I think.

The two card inspired funnels for the Princess Mary have hardened up considerably and have in their curing state kept the desired oval shape needed and wanted.

Next was the base flange for both funnels, and making both side by side i was actually amazed that the first flange i made, fitted both funnels, and so just used that flange as a template for the second flange.

Tomorrow I will make the brackets for the funnels for hanging the Navigation lamp boxes on to

I've had my little deviation from the hull to the funnels now, and have now returned to the Hull, and the job needing to be done the most,

That is filling all the holes, and hollows in the woodwork ready for sanding and finishing the hull plug.

The port sde has been done, and the hull looks a whole lot better and curvier where there should be curves!……..and it is looking a whole lot better already, although looking closely with a keen eye, there are still some small divets here and there.

However, that side will be left for an hour or so to cure and then I'll do the starboard side later.
Once the 2nd side has been done, I will go over both sides and fill in where I think there are small hollows.

Hopefully by later Monday and definately Tuesday, I'll be able to get it out into the garden and sand it all smooth, before applying a skimming of Dolfin glaze finishing filler, ready for sanding on Wednesday or Thursday.

There I was, an early start and under Dave Stavros Jones advice, gave the plug a light dusting of matt black spray to find highs and lows so that I could sand it in a nice warm sunny overgrown garden……….and!!!!

The heavens opened and stopped the event.

And so I sealed the wooden plug for the main cabin/engine room, which I had spent some time last night "paneling" the fore part, engine casing with thin card to symulate the steel plating of said casing.

Just off out now to the doctors to give some blood for testing, and hopefully by the time I get back, the rain might have stopped and I can start sanding the hull plug……..HOPEFULLY!!!!

Got up this morning to do some more sanding on the starboard side, after making some progress late yesterday afternoon in the sun, only to realise that it had p'd it down last night and was still drizzlng a little this morning.

Not only was it raining and stopping play, but whilst out yesterday after I had done the second sanding a sodding seagull had flobbed on the keel of the plug…….I Suppose with such a good aim I really should take it as a good omen that things will continue to go well with the build!

And so!, as I cannot sand until the rain stops, I decided to get on with something I have actually overlooked, and unless I want to rely on "tank steering" I'd better fabricate the rudder, and compared with others that I have made in the past…….it is HUGE, lol

So have just traced off the plans for the 1st boat built, the RNLB William and Kate Johnston, and modified it slightly to the plan as supplied in the lifeboat Bible Eric Fry's Lifeboat Design and Development.

This rudder is a beast of a size.

The crewman is a scale of 5'8"

following in another lifeboat builders footsteps of yesterday on face book it was my turn to make the emergency tiller for the rudder on the Princess Mary of Padstow.

From a length of obeche' I marked one out, cut it on the band saw, and then sanded to a smooth finish,

Drilled the oval hole to fit over the rudder stock and trimmed all off at the top of the rudder stock for the tiller to fit onto the stock end.

From the overlay on to the plan, the tiller clears the steering box perfectly.
Job done.

You're right there Richard,…….

Its a struggle to get it in and out of the workshop and in too the garden at times, as there is nothing to hold on to…….

but just looking forward to those first set of mouldings to come out of the mould.

The cabin/engine casing are now ready for moulding, and I have decided for this to make a 3 part mould.

But firstly, I have to fix a base flange to the mould.

Using the hardboard base of an old drawer I cut to rough size on the band saw, and spred aliphatic resin to the base of the cabin.

I then weighted the cabin/engine casing to the flange using A LOT of old batteries that I have collected over my many years of model ship building. They really do come in well for gluing decks to their supporting beams……..get collecting folks, lol.

I'll leave it a few hours to set, before strengthening the two halves, as it had to be fabricated in two pieces, as I didn't have a drawer bottom long enough.

Once set, I can make the next two parts of the moulding flange.

Always fancied building an aeroplane as my father flew navigator in Mosquitos for a short while, but i am so clumsy sailing boats that it would be matchwood within seconds of take off………..

just admire others that do………….

and that looks superb Ray…….. and glad i was of help.

Edited By neil howard-pritchard on 30/08/2022 11:27:07