Tin Plate Clyde Puffer

[James Hill 5Participant @jameshill5]

Hi Len,

Very interesting to see your post on construction methods, ( you don`t often see a

thou mentioned these days ). I just find it so interesting to see the model being built in a totally different way.

I have one of those large soldering irons myself and wouldn`t be without it.

Jim.

[Len Morris 2Participant @lenmorris2]

Hi Jim,

It’s just a case that all my machines and my favourite micrometer are imperial.  In a previous life I ran a jobbing CNC lathe.  It was programmed in metric and all the CAD drawings were metric.  Quite often though I had to work from old imperial drawings.  You become bi-lingual very quickly!

Interestingly the scale of mi boat is nominally a 1/4 inch to a foot.  Ten thou equates to 1/2 an inch.  This can’t be far off the thickness of a Puffers plating.  Just luck and it doesn’t really matter.

If your soldering iron is a Henley Solon don’t pitch it if it stops working.  Unlike modern stuff they are very repairable.  Have you found a special flux for wood. 🙂

Len

[James Hill 5]

On James Hill 5 Said:

Hi Len,

Very interesting to see your post on construction methods, ( you don`t often see a

thou mentioned these days ). I just find it so interesting to see the model being built in a totally different way.

I have one of those large soldering irons myself and wouldn`t be without it.

Jim.

I once had a chat with a young lad about a clearance during which he told me it should be about 1.5mm but he only had a set of imperial gauges.  I said 1mm was around 40 thou, so he needed about 60 thou clearance.  He looked at me like I’d just spoken to him in a foreign language!

[Len Morris 2Participant @lenmorris2]

That made me smile Richard.  Wonder what they teach in colleges these days.  They have to enter the real world eventually. 🙂

[Len Morris 2Participant @lenmorris2]

The plating continues around the stern.  Only one picture, the other sides the same.

I changed the rivet pitch and impression depth for the last plates following Ashley’s advice and think they look a bit better.  They don’t match the rest of the work done so far, but, doesn’t matter, it’s a Puffer.  Simply repair work!

A note for Jim.  Don’t worry about painting showing up faults.  If I’m lucky when painting time comes along mi hull might show up some good bits. 🙂

Len

 

[Len Morris 2Participant @lenmorris2]

Just an update.  The plating progresses and it’s now in the mid section where it should be standard plates up to the bow.

Things don’t always go right and for some reason ended up with a nasty fold on one of the bilge plates.  I think I got the planishing wrong along the edge.  The fix is to fit the plate anyway and then grind away the bump.  You end up with a hole!

A small piece of tin is then fitted to the inside.

The whole lot is then soldered and filed back for the correct shape.

Not perfect but good enough for mi Puffer hull.  Just thought I’d show how tin plate can be easily repaired.

Len

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

Just like patching up the real thing!

[James Hill 5Participant @jameshill5]

Good to see you managed the repair Len. You just can`t do without a soldering iron!!

Jim.

[Len Morris 2Participant @lenmorris2]

The basic hull is now finished.  Not brilliant but she’ll do.  Next job is to plate the bulwarks and wire the edges.  Then the rudder post and rubbing strips.  She could be floated now but I’m resisting the temptation until she’s been cleaned up and has a coat of primer.  Here’s a few pictures.

Len

 

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

Congratulations on getting so far!  I’m afraid I would not have the same level of will power as you, it would have been straight in the bath for me!

[James Hill 5Participant @jameshill5]

Hi Len,

A proper metal Puffer. The rivetting stands out well. I would think, although metal, its quite light at the moment. Itll be interesting to see how much ballast you have to use once the rest of the boat is completed.

Jim.

[Len Morris 2Participant @lenmorris2]

Hi Jim,

At the moment the hull weighs 66 grams (for a length of 47 cms or 18.5 inches).  Some rough sums suggest she’ll take about 3.5 kg to take her down to the water line.  Sounds enough but I’m conscious of the weight of the steam plant at the stern.

I’ll know much better when I’m ready to get her wet.  Plan is to float her (push her around the bath for a bit of fun) and then sink her with a measured amount of water.  Then I’ll know much better about her floatation.  Then the hull is sunk in a bath of industrial cleaner, washed, and painted.

Long way off yet but she’s getting there.  Just wonder how long and heavy your hull is.

Len.

[James Hill 5Participant @jameshill5]

Hi Len,

My Puffer hull is 33″ x 9.5″ wide and in its present state weighs just under 5lb. Its a biggish hull so will need a fare amount of ballast eventually. I have a 36″ X 8″( I think ) TID Tug here at home which has 20lb of lead for ballast in and sails nicely, when I can get it in the water.

On the Puffer at the moment Im just making the hinge points for the rudder. I would have finished them by now, but I fell over at the weekend and gave my hip a whack, so havent been very mobile this week, but such is life. Hopefully doing something over the weekend and I`ll post some pictures if it looks reasonable.

Jim.

[James Hill 5Participant @jameshill5]

Hi Len,

Just been reading your post on Fred`s page about a removable rudder.

The problem is ( certainly on my build ) that the rear of the keel where it goes vertically up the stern is part of the anchor point for the rudder hinges, so the prop shaft can`t come out that way. My shaft removal would need to be forward , after removing the prop. Which means you would need to have clearance inside the hull to do that. In my case it would only require motor and coupling  being moved . Not sure about your steam plant though. Mind you, all this could change if I come across a different way of doing something.

Regards,

Jim,

[Len Morris 2Participant @lenmorris2]

Hi Jim,

Made me smile.  The only reason I started my Puffer was that I fell off mi step ladders and couldn’t do anything for 6 weeks other than sit at the kitchen table!

Your hull is massive.  You’ll have no problem installing the innards.  You might struggle finding enough lead pipe to hold her down!

Mi rudder and post isn’t a problem.  I just need to think how I’m going to do it.  The hull’s metal so I can bolt no end of bits onto it.  M2 stainless countersunk cap screws are practically invisible and readily available from Modelfixings.co.uk.

Len

 

 

[Len Morris 2Participant @lenmorris2]

The stern bulwarks are now done.  To get a datum for the top edge I glued on a card rear deck using hot melt to level out all the stays (or stanchions).

Just to get a feel for the job, I spent an hour on Sunday morning playing with some more card and super glue to make the superstructure.  It was well worth the effort and opened my eyes a little.

Firstly I now know the space and particularly the height I’ll have for the vertical boiler which will extend into the engine room top structure.  And secondly it gave me a good appreciation of the proportions involved.  I as surprised at the height of the superstructure to the point of double checking all the dimensions.

I’m actually working from two sets of plans.  The first is from my September 1955 copy of ‘Ships and ship models’ by Harold Underhill about the ‘Sealight’.  The detail is excellent but it doesn’t give any hull lines.  Full size prints with the hull lines were available from Holborn Drawing and Tracing Co in Glasgow but they’ve long gone.  Sealight has a counter stern.

My hull line plans are for the ‘Lochinvar’ Puffer off a ‘free’ plans site on the internet and she has the standard (?) stern with a protruding rudder.

All the plans are only A4/A5 size and mi boats a mishmash both.  She’ll look like a Puffer at the end of the day, albeit one from Lancashire. 🙂

 

 

[James Hill 5Participant @jameshill5]

Hi Len, I did the same thing with my Puffer in making a card supuerstructure ,and like you, thought it all looked a bit tall. I wondered if that was maybe because we have nothing else on the hull thats taller at the moment to give a different perspective. I need to make another superstructure, as my original one got damaged. Its very handy for checking positioning of other fittings though.

Ive almost finished fitting the rudder on mine and when Ive cleaned it up I`ll try and take a couple of pictures.

Jim.

[Len Morris 2Participant @lenmorris2]

A very busy week with domestics but managed to get the bow plates fitted.  Makes all the difference.  I now think she’s starting to look like a Puffer.:)  Len.

[James Hill 5Participant @jameshill5]

Hi Len,

Definitely starting to look like a Puffer. Enjoying watching it slowly coming together.

Jim.

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

At what point are you going to paint it Len? That will give a much better impression of what it will finally look like. It’s a bit smaller than I imagined it would be – will it acommodate the power palnt OK?

Colin

[Len Morris 2Participant @lenmorris2]

Hi Colin, the plan is to give her an initial paint once the middle bulwarks are in place.  The steam plant will fit simply because I’m making it to suit.  The issues I see are weight and endurance but all that should become clearer when I do all the sums.

Just to get her sailing I’m going to drop a 540 electric motor and 6v gel battery in her and build the steam plant over winter.  It’ll also let me sort out the relays and R/C etc.

Len

[Len Morris 2Participant @lenmorris2]

Apart from a few bells and whistles, the hull is now finished.

 

And she floats!  Here she is in the kitchen sink.

It took 2 litres of water poured inside to bring her down to the water line and another half litre to sink her.

So know I know I need all the additional bits below 2 kgs.  Should be possible I think. 🙂

Len

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

She has polished up very well Len. Looks smaller than I expected though. Are you still confident in building the steam plant for her?

Colin

[Len Morris 2Participant @lenmorris2]

Hi Colin,

Absolutely!  Out of interest I weighed the plant I made for my Miranda launch some 40 years ago.  It came in at 2.7 kgs.  It’s built in typical Victorian style and will probably last forever!

It won’t take much to loose a lot of excess weight.  For the power it produces it’s over engineered to the extreme.  Also I don’t need a huge boiler capacity.  15 minutes will be ample.  Half the fun of playing with steam boats is bringing them back for a top up.

Of concern at the moment is all the HSE who-ha about certification, insurance and permits and all that on an annual basis.  Makes you wonder how we survived in the past and how Mamod and Weiss ever sold any toys at all! 🙂

Len

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

Steam certification should never be a “who-ha” and portraying it as such doesn’t help those of us who are doing our best to keep things going by complying with regulations while making it all as easy and convenient as possible for the modeller.  A steam test on a boiler less than 3 bar-litres should take no more than a few minutes and doing that once a year for your own peace of mind that the pressure gauge is still working OK and the safety valve actually does its job has always seemed a sensible thing to do to me. On the Kirklees Model Boat Club annual steam day I usually test around 12 to 13 models, all of which then go straight onto the water for a run, so it doesn’t take very much longer than a normal steam raising procedure.

The biggest challenges are invariably from those who have not looked after the original certification and present a vintage boiler to the inspector who has absolutely nothing to go on.  Then they get upset when it is explained that they will need to do another initial hydraulic pressure test.

The days of people experimenting on the pond side with quantities of pressurised volatile fuels and pushing home made boilers to the limit in front of a crowd of children are now long gone and I actually beleive that is a good thing.  I say to people nowadays that the current rules do not require much more than a degree of common sense and a sense of responsibility to comply with.  Sadly the rules need to be in place because there are some who seem incapable of doing that.

 

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