TYNE Class Lifeboat build

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

This is the stuff Neil, also obtainable from most model railway suppliers:

Black Tac

[neil hpParticipant @neilhp]

Posted by Richard Simpson on 03/09/2021 08:57:40:

This is the stuff Neil, also obtainable from most model railway suppliers:

Black Tac

cheers Richard……..its cheap too…..theres a mass of it n ebay so i see…..i'll get some on order.

[neil hpParticipant @neilhp]

Apart from the hull grab ropes allong both sides of the boats hull I finished the boat just after lunch this afternoon, completing the deck safety rails without further drama or catastrophe.

However I will take photos of her in her finished state in a little while, once the grab ropes are finished and added.

However, I want to say somethng about the grab ropes and how I fit them so that I don't end up with them twisting, as so many that I have seen in the past tend to do.

Its a simple thing to avoid.

If you look at string and rope it is almost always wound in a certain direction…….Anti clockwise, or from left to right with the strands of the wire /rope turning in th rope walk in the holder, in a clockwise direction…….

And if you were to through some light rope/string in an upward direction it will almost always fall in a heap but most deffinately coiling anti clockwise.

I KNOW THIS from my youth and when I started working during University days holidays for a company called COSALT, [originally known as the Great Grimsby Coal, Salt, and Tanning Company] on Dock Street, Fleetwood.

They supplied the town's fishing trawlers with everything from egg timers to hundreds of fathoms of steel ropes for the trawl winches and nets.

As the wires and ropes were wound in one of the outer buildings and then crimped for eyelets and attatching secondary ropes I used to watch them during lunchtimes, watching the guys check each rope fanatically for flaws as they were spun. A snapping steel rope could and had been known to take a mans arm, head or even body from legs under the srtain of hauling tons of fish or getting snarled up on the sea bed……and I learned a lot from those guys who made the trawl wires and found it incredibly interesting to listen to these old timers who's life was spent in that industry.And it was then that they told me just how to load, 20, 40 or even up to 100 fathoms of wire onto a ship standing by the dock side easily and quickly.

Tied into coils like an inert slinky spring, and normally with the smaller coils of 20 or 40 fathoms [always measured in fathoms] we would park 10 feet or so from the dock side and cut the rope from the bundle and then lift a couple of coils from the top of the coil and we would flip it onto the dock side, and each coil would just follow like a big slinky spring…..repeating the process then from dock side to trawler………..and there it would remain on the deck until wound correctly on to the trawl winch, with no tristing or snarling by the feed runners once the trawler had put to sea.

I was given one day the job of taking two "wires/bridles" down to a dock side Icelandic trawler due for sailing later that night. And thje process went perfectly as described as the "slinky spring" had been flipped twice….so as to be able to be wound correctly………we were told NEVER to turn the warp from lorry to trawler deck in one go as the warp would be "twisted" and put unders strain when being wound onto the winch…..

AND I TELL THIS STORY because it is exactly the same when winding string onto a model……….

START frm the right of the boat and work left, and you won't get any twisting in your ropes, i.e. port side….fit from the stern to bow, and from starboard side……..from bow to stern.

Follow this tip and you wont get twists in our grab line coils.

And so I made a jig to get all my loops the same length, taped the apex of the loop to a wooden board to the correct depth, and with the anchoring points corresponding with those on the boat tied to loops i had glued into the wooden board……and a dab of superglue in the tie at the loop to hold, until set……..

[neil hpParticipant @neilhp]

and now, even those have now been fitted port and starboard .

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

They look so much more realistic when they sit nice and flat against the hull and hang perfectly evenly.

I actually find rope a very interesting subject, partly from working at sea most of my life, but also from a period when I worked for a company that manufactured ski lifts. Fitting a new wire rope to a ski lift is quite a task with every part of the job having to be thought through and pre-planned. The actual splice is 1200 times the rope diameter so for a 10mm wire rope the splice is 12 meters long. If you get one thing wrong and cut the wrong tail in the wrong place the entire rope is scrapped, so no pressure! I learned a lot in those days about how to wind rope onto and off a drum. I've forgotten most of it now.

As for mooring lines I have twice been on a ship when the ropes snapped due to a sudden squall passing over. The first time in Grenada I heard the ropes parting and, I kid you not, they sounded exactly like artillery shells going off!

The second time was alongside in Port Canaveral when we ended up in the middle of the dock with gangways and ramps in the water. We got chance to see those on the mooring deck camera and they looked like they exploded in the middle.

Interesting stuff rope.

[neil hpParticipant @neilhp]

it is, Richard………i learned far more respect for the stuff, and the guys who were making the warps from the single steel strands that went into making a warp……forgotten it all now apart from what i use for model making………but the guys were fascinating to chat to………..if they werem't making warps, they were down in the floor below making bee hive lobster pots. the cain was soaked in a long steel tank for weeks and then they would hand make these pots……..which would take a day each to do.

once asked them if they used any tools……….best tool we have lad is our hands and they would beat the cane down into place with the back hand……….i also asked how long they had been at Cosalt…the older man said since i left school at 13………he was 72, and he said, and my apprentice left when he was 14 and been here since………..he's 42…….a long bloody apprentice as he had a wry smile on his face………that was 1971

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

Getting lifelines to hang correctly is something a lot of people get wrong. Those look perfect Neil and the rest of the model is up to the same standard.. I don't have the patience for that!

Colin

[neil hpParticipant @neilhp]

from the models you build, Colin, you certainly have the patience, far more than i can muster these days for some of the stuff i build.but thanks for the kind words…….much appreciated.

[neil hpParticipant @neilhp]

Mike Davies has produced and posted all my decals for the model Tyne, and they look superb as usual and should be with me tomorrow or monday.

This is excellent as within the last few minutes I have finished adding all the detailed fittings that were small items that probably wouldn't have been missed by anyone but myself, but I would have known. The Flying Bridge binnoculas, the 4 protective buffers,EPIRBS for the two liferingsand the lifelines from aft cabin to front pulpit stanchions.

The only thing I haven't fitted, which will be if I ever get it in the water are 6 x 12v LED's for the cabin deck lights and the cabin top spot lites.

Not included in the set from Dave are the bow and stern depth markers but this caused no problems as I just dug out my black and white BECC stick on lettering, AND letter by letter and line by line I fabricated these in accordance with photos of 47-038.

I am going to publish a full set of the photos of the boat, once they have been put onto the boat [as I still have to find the RNLI house flags for the hull and cabin, but I'll just put one photo on tonight.

Safe to say every thing has now been fitted,permanently even the rear flying bridge grating to the cabin so it can be lifted off as one piece, and this was attached in different glues [2 part epoxy and superglue in different areas] and I am quite satisfied with the old girl.

Pitty it wasn't finished a year ago is all I can say! BUT hopefully I'll have some fun with it on Windermere, and I can clear my workshop ready for bulding my Liverpool class lifeboat that David Metcalf sent me just before Christmas 2020.

Hopefully I will be able to get on with that beauty uninterupted and have ready as a back up boat for the Tyne next June for the Windermere charity sail.

Roll on 2022!!!

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

Much as I admire the craftsmanship that has gone into this one and the beautiful standard you have achieved with it I am more looking forward to seeing what you do with the Liverpool Class!

[neil hpParticipant @neilhp]

Posted by Richard Simpson on 10/09/2021 22:33:15:

Much as I admire the craftsmanship that has gone into this one and the beautiful standard you have achieved with it I am more looking forward to seeing what you do with the Liverpool Class!

To be totally honest Richard, so am I.

 

I have a vested interest in the LIVERPOOL class boat, as I designed the kit for Dave 17 years ago, and after a few small modifications to it from dave such as lazer cut parts instead of my original wood working joints and such which make it even easier to build, it was/is my favourite of all the models I have ever built, not with standing the first kit I designed which Dave still sells regularly, the lifeboat Ann Letitia Russell.  If I can reach the same standard as my original prototype shown below, I'll be a happy man, as she sails beautifully as a model. And that model was built, starting 18 years ago!

 

I have a soft spot for the Tyne I have just about finished as in the mid 1980's I was doing some crew training on the boat, but never took it further as my new [now ex] wife at the time decided she wanted to move out of town which stopped me from becoming a crew member due to response time from home to station [5 minutes at the time] but she was a beautiful steady and powerfull boat in her day.

 

Edited By neil howard-pritchard on 11/09/2021 12:24:07

[neil hpParticipant @neilhp]

I received my lettering for my Tyne from Mike Davies this morning so shall put it all on this evening,

and then hopefully if the weather is good tomorrow am going to take it for a photo shoot to a special place in my heart.

[neil hpParticipant @neilhp]

so no longer is she a nameless or numberless virgin………..she has a personna

[neil hpParticipant @neilhp]

Another chapter over! Was worth waiting an extra year for.

Its always nice to see your labours come to fruition and finish a model of an historic lifeboat, and one you have sailed on and steered in both daylight and the dark by lit buoys.

She returned to her ancestral home this morning, Fleetwood RNLI Lifeboat station, where she as the real boat spent all of her working life, the first 8 years of her life at Fleetwood under the "custodianship" of her first coxs'n, my friend Iain Fairclough to have her pictures taken as a finished model.

It's a model I always wanted to build, and am truly glad I have done so!

I just hope she shows her capabilities on Windermere next summer.

I hope you like the photos of her.

My next build will be the Liverpool class lifeboat, a full kit which is sold by Metcalf Models, and one I designed for him 17 years ago.

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

Absolutely superb Neil. The build is a credit to you and a testament to your modelling skills and it makes it all so much more credible to see the model at its spiritual home.

Can you tell us a little bit more about what you have planned for the model on Windermere?

[neil hpParticipant @neilhp]

hi, Richard,

the windermere sail…….

it was planned to go in 2020, but because of covid it was cancelled both last year and this year, but was re planned for the same time next year.

it is a sail from the south end of Windermere from South Windermere Sailing Club and caravan park, beginning at 10.00 hours on Saturday 25th June 2022, and we will sail as a convoy of 4 model lifeboats to the mid stop off for lunch at the Windermere Steam Boat museum, where the museum and Windermere model boat club are putting on a bit of a show with possibility of a couple of manufacturers joining.

the museum will also hopefully be putting on a gathering for the evening with possibility weather permitting of a BBQ……BYOG [australian for bring your own grog]

After lunch stop and swapping batteries, we sail on to the northern end and finish our sail at Waterhead Pier, Ambleside.

We will be accomanied by Windermere branch of the RNLI as a safety boat, and we shall be sat in a small cruiser owned by a friend of Steve Benett, the organiser.

Also in attendance will be David Vernon, a keen model lifeboater, who also owns an ex RNLI "D" Class lifeboat which he restored, which will act as a fast rescue boat for any of our models that get into dificulty, and also to keep other boats on the lake from getting too close to our models whilst sailing.

there will hopefully RNLI lifeboat guild ladies selling RNLI artifacts at different points on the lake so led to believe, and Steve has set up a "just giving" page to donate to the RNLI.

AND sadly when i organised a similar sail up Loch Ness 12 years ago i received a letter anonimously saying it was a farce and we would spend more money than we make in sponsorship on travelling, hotels etc thn is donated.

LET ME ASSURE PEOPLE……….ALL sponsorship money will go to the RNLI……….all our out of pocket expenses will be paid from our own pockets!……..NO expenses will be taken from RNLI Donations.

More info will be given just after New Year

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

Sounds like an absolutely brilliant idea. If Dean's Marine can get a destroyer across the channel I'm dam sure you can get four lifeboats up Windermere.

There will always be one or two who have opinions beyond their capabilities so don't even bother acknowledging their views. What does it matter to anyone else whether you make it or not or whether you make money or not? I'm sure that you will do both though. The point is you tried and you enhanced everyone's understanding of the RNLI and their activities.

When its time to sponsor you let us know. As long as it does not involve Facebook, Twitter, or any other anti-social media platform that I am not a member of!

[neil hpParticipant @neilhp]

"The point is you tried and you enhanced everyone's understanding of the RNLI and their activities."

 

that is what it is all about, Richard…….just raising the profile of the RNLI to fresh water sailers who might never go to sea, but at least they know what the charity is all about.

it still amazes me to this day that not only world wide but in our own country, there are still people that think the institution is run from government with government funded assetts and hand outs.

 

as for the boats making it…….when i organised it on lock ness in 2011 not one of the boats actually made it……….my boat was grosly underpowered and burned its motors out within 3 miles……..18 to go…………another started sinking and had to be hauled aboard the lifeboat shadowing the boats, and the 3rd boat was so slow going against a head wind that kicked up from dead calm the night before that it would have taken  2 days to do it, lol……….and one crew member didn't make it through family ilness…….me, so a friend jumped in with 2 days to go………..but i was getting hourly reports and the lads had a lot of fun…….plus even in 2011, between our sponsorship, the RNLI stalls on the day, and donations tha came in afterwards after the story was printed in Lancashire life AND  the Scottish Times due to a good friend at the BBC Scotland, the total all together was just short of £4000.00. for all our efforts.

Not bad for 4 hooligans and a great group of helpers……

Edited By neil howard-pritchard on 16/09/2021 14:21:07

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