MOTOR SAILOR LIFEBOAT

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Hi Neil

It`s a bit difficult making out what you are on about

Can`t see the wood for the trees!

Amongst all that essential Junke

I`m sure you are doing a quality job

Bob

[neil hpParticipant @neilhp]

just the fit between hull and stand cradles Bob…….no rattle and roll…perfect contoured to the hull…………bragging now at my woodworking and tech drawing skills…….mind you I did teach both for over 25 years lol. should be spot on.

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Hi Neil

You remind me of the late Les Jones, did you know him?

I used to admire his models in the Holyhead Marine Museum

He actually brought his models to the Etherow Club one night to give us a lecture on his Lifeboats

That was in the days of our Chris Guttridge, he was Lifeboat mad too. Did you meet him?

Guess what he`s up to these days?

He runs a pop group and entertains etc

All the best Neil, stay safe

Bob

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Neil, you brag away mate! Anyone who knows what they are doing and can produce quality goods can boast a bit. Nice work. Great workbench.

Will you be making a storage box for it? Do you box your boats anyway?

Ashley

[neil hpParticipant @neilhp]

hi Ashley, no, matey………….it will just collect dust like all the rest of my models sadly,

and Bob, I met Les Jones at Southport rally at Rotten Row about 13 years ago when I took the prototype of the Liverpool lifeboat that I had designed as a kit fort Dave Metcalf for its first sail.

he came over to look at my model and asked what I was building next. I told him I was building a model myself of the Duke of Northumberland, and I asked him if I could look inside his boat to see how he had made the pumps and working jets for his boat, as the top was off it at the moment.

sadly he hurried back to his spot and quickly put the top back on his boat, and refused my requests to look at his mechanism. fair enough I thought.

but 2 years later he rang me one evening to ask me if I could get a sizeable discount off the Ann Letitia Russell seeing as I had designed it, off Dave Metcalf as his relative had been crew man on the local boat. he said he wanted to build one. but didn't want to pay full price.

I reminded him of our meeting at Southport and my request to have a look at the pump system on his own Duke of Northumberland, and with that I said no more but hardly got a chance as he put the phone down on me…….

sadly he had another side to him that I met.

As for Chris Guttridge, I might have met him as a went to Etherow sailing Lake once for a lifeboat rally with my Liverpool and spoke to a few people including yourself whom I knew, but didn't know anyone else………….but it was a lovely friendly club with some really nice friendly people, so might have met him, but don't actually know. it was also a lovely lake to sail on…….very peaceful and tranquil.

[neil hpParticipant @neilhp]

 

and back to my lifeboats……

SPENT a good long time this afternoon [ about 3 hours] on just one boat sanding each section in turn to flatten and get rid of all excess filler contouring into the lines and then using two more finer grades to get rid of the scratches into the gelcoat so that the filler primer has a chance to eliminate all defects……it worked mostly…

will need another coat of filler primer before I can flatten off again with a finer grade paper, before a final coat , flatten off and then the white primer to take the white gloss for the below waterline and end box tops.  

Edited By neil howard-pritchard on 17/04/2020 19:22:43

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

You are doing a fine job, there,Neil

Will it be motorised?

Bob

[neil hpParticipant @neilhp]

yes bob, as was the original, the one I am keeping has a single Buhler 12 -24 volt motor and I think I am going to power the motor with two sets of Li-Po batteries which will fit forward either side of the drop keel housing.

the pulling/sailing lifeboat is purely static and will be going to Lytham St Annes lifeboat museum as a donation……it is based on the old Blackpool pulling boat that ended up on Stanley Park late sailing trippers around for the next 30 odd years before being retired to a fait worse than death…..letting kids from a sea scout group climb n play all over it………but she is now under restoration in Blackpool.

[neil hpParticipant @neilhp]

and thank you both for your comments…….much appreciated.

I have just sprayed the bum now with filler spray……looking a lot better now all the blow holes have been filled………but still needs more work to get a glass like finish that my mate Stavros will be proud of. lol.

[neil hpParticipant @neilhp]

for those two boats I made some masters, for both the life rings carried by them, and oar blades to make moulds of.

these moulds came in earlier for producing more of the same for these two boats.

6 x life rings and 20 x oar blades, which will be extended to full length oars once I get hold of some 9mm dowel. hopefully o might be able to get some when I go food shopping tomorrow.

but here are the rings, and pictures of the wooden masters and reproduced oar blades.

Edited By neil howard-pritchard on 21/04/2020 01:32:47

[neil hpParticipant @neilhp]

 

 

Edited By neil howard-pritchard on 22/04/2020 01:05:55

[neil hpParticipant @neilhp]

 

 

the oars have been cut to a standard 12" length, and then marked, cut parred and sanded to make the hand grips and smooth the joint between blade and dowel, and getting ready for painting.

then I attacked the hull with more filler primer, before leaving it to cure. there were still a very few blow holes in the filler, and so I reverted to an old trick that Frank Hinchliffe told me many years ago.

he filled the last few with moulders plasticine. not the same as children's stuff that never fully sets hard. Moulding plasticine sets rock hard, and as such I duck some out and filled the last few holes after heating the piece up to be able to become pliable. It also has the property of being paint friendly.

now filled, I gave another spray of filler primer, before hopefully I can start wet and drying the areas that have stood out under the primer.

That should take me a few hours in the garden under the sun……….and hopefully it will be sunny and not too windy.

Edited By neil howard-pritchard on 22/04/2020 22:14:47

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Hi Neil

I`m very impressed with the professional manner, in the way you work

I like your mouldings too

Keep it coming, my mate

Bob

[neil hpParticipant @neilhp]

thank you Bob.………….and as my grand dad, a master cabinet and pattern maker who taught me to make my first model at 8, and my woodwork teacher at school both said………if a job is worth doing its worth doing well……..I try to do as best I can, for my own satisfaction…no one else's

sadly, work might have come to a grinding agonising halt for a few days though………..fell down the stairs about 90 minutes ago and badly hurt my ankle……….got an xray on it tomorrow, but hobbling around on crutches at the moment so can't lift anything…..damn and blast it…………just hope I'll be ok tomorrow……but hurts like hell at the mo, and up like a balloon. lol. but here's the latest pics after a few more coats of filler primer, rubbing down with 240, 400 and 800 wet n dry, used dry, and then grey primer.

Edited By neil howard-pritchard on 23/04/2020 20:59:16

Edited By neil howard-pritchard on 23/04/2020 21:15:33

[neil hpParticipant @neilhp]

that was this afternoon before I did my swan dive down the stairs, lol.

[neil hpParticipant @neilhp]

the hull mouldings I did about 13 years ago for my good friend Dave Metcalf……..

he asked me to design a Liverpool Class twin screw lifeboat kit, on the same lines as the Ann Letitia Russell that I designed 25 years ago, and so the two hulls are ones Dave sent me last August, as the two models I'm building were both 36' Watson and Liverpool boats.

So as near as can be without making two brand new hulls and moulding them for a slight deviation in the beam these will do for me.

Only a rivet counter with a tape measure and dimensions to hand will notice the discrepancies..……….but not being an RC myself………..I'm building to enjoy, not to win pots, lol.

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Hi Neil

I'm very sorry to read about your tumbling down stairs accident, not good at our age! Hope it's not broken or too serious. Get well soon. Your history of lifeboat making is very impressive indeed, backed up by the proof of the pudding!

A few years ago I needed some quality veneer for the big GVC and found a supplier in an old mill in Duckinfield. They made highly polished Kitchen Furniature. The gloss was amazing! The glossiness was achieved by glass paper down to about 3000 grit! Using a powered powered sander.

Take it easy for the time being, more water in your Whiskey get well soon

all the best, old son

Bob

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Neil. Indeed impressive work. Only wish I had the patience for that sort of thing! (Frames and planking).

Handrails on the stairs next project?.?!

The council fitted various grab rails and corner handholds in mums house when dad came out of hospital after a stroke, and they are really handy. You use them all the time, just naturally grab onto them. Our stairs have only got a wood grab-bar one side and I am conscious that if you were to slip, it’s not really much use.

Ashley

[neil hpParticipant @neilhp]

cheers guys….……

 

sadly that is where work stops for a few weeks during lockdown, on my model lifeboat builds that tend to keep me sane during this isolation period…………if I didn't have those to build, I'd be howling at the moon, lol……

fell down our stairs last night and thought I had twisted my ankle, but well, guys and gals…

……just been to one of our walk in medical centres at Fleetwood about my "twisted" ankle…… where they xray'd my foot and ankle

I have broken my foot…..one of the bones that run down to my toes……..and it…………..f….lipping hurts.

crepe bandage till Monday and then to the fracture clinic at BVH………our local accident and emergency hospital for a plaster cast on it

I have been told not to put any weight on it or drive at all, so modelling has stopped for a few weeks as I cant even get to my workshop…………bummer said Dougal…..

I WILL BE BACK, touch wood….but I'll miss my "babies" lol.

 

Edited By neil howard-pritchard on 24/04/2020 11:05:01

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

That is bad news, Neil

I`m sure you will find something useful to do in the meantime

Get well soon

Bob

[neil hpParticipant @neilhp]

cheers Bob. thanks.

[neil hpParticipant @neilhp]

I ran out of patience totally last night, with just staring at the walls or TV, doing nothing.

Watching a spider spin its web on your boat is onething..stiring at the walls hoping the paint will change colour is close to insanity, and so hobbled onto another chair, evacuated the spider to the safety of a pot plant  and then sanded the first layer of grey primer with some 800 and then 1200 grade wet and dry carborundum paper, used dry………it gave a very smooth silky finish.

this afternoon, after all that work last night rubbing down with very fine grade paper, I couldn't let it go to waste and so added the final coat of grey primer to both hulls, before I proceed tomorrow with the first of numerous coats [over many days…] of the white top coat for the bottom of the hulls and the end boxes inc. the towing bollards…………and they feel smooth as silk. hopefully that will show in the finish.

Edited By neil howard-pritchard on 26/04/2020 17:00:13

Edited By neil howard-pritchard on 26/04/2020 17:05:06

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

That`s the way, Neil……Get summut done!

Occupy your mind with good thoughts and ideas

I don`t go for spotless paint finishes…..Thank goodness…….Too stressful

Any more models on the skyline?

Bob

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

That's the way to do it! Nothing stops a boater from modelling!

Great finish, always looks good in grey (whatever it is)

When I made the Farnham, the superstructure was sprayed undercoat matt white and looked just fantastic, and then I sprayed the gloss on…

Ashley

[neil hpParticipant @neilhp]

know what you mean, Ashley…….I am the worlds most impatient when painting………….especially when painting white……………but have realised now that if I put on in thin layers…………….then it saves time taking it off in thick layers and sanding it all down again. lol.

as for future projects Bob………I have a set of mouldings and resin fittings that i bought off ebay at 1;12 scale of a Tyne class lifeboat which I intend to build as RNLB William Street , 47-038, Fleetwoods ex lifeboat,

and then after that, reverting back to a scratch build of a very unusual classic old lifeboat called ONIROS, the former Salcombe 46' Watson class lifeboat of 1938 RNLB Samuel and Marie Parkhouse. she was one of only 2 Watsons of that design and configuration.

Edited By neil howard-pritchard on 26/04/2020 19:17:43

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