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General Photos |
Lifeboat Model Page |
Speedline Trent 14-14 Commission Build |
scale lifeboats |
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General Photos |
Lifeboat Model Page |
Speedline Trent 14-14 Commission Build |
scale lifeboats |
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;void(0)) Soldiering. One of the main parts to do to in the building of this model is soldering, now I know there are a lot of people that can?t seem to do it, so why? It?s not that hard and practice makes perfect. One of the most important things when going to solder is, is the job clean? Now I have found that in building some of the brass components that the etched brass may have a film left on it, from when it was made, this you will see by the means of fingerprints left on the brass. The best way to start is to wipe over the brass with some white spirit, this cleans any muck left from its process, plus it will evaporate and will also not harm the brass. Then you need a good soldering iron, some are not cheep, but If you want to do the job right it will be a good investment to buy the best you can afford, now I found that maplins do a adjustable temperature one for ?32.49 inc vat and postage. I have shown a picture of it with this section; you will also need some solder, I use 60/40 lead mix, and flux which is like a paste. So you know have all that is required to start the job, remember being clean with the bass is a must, plus having the temperature right is also a must, this comes with practise. When you start you will also need to find a level surface that will not take any heat out of the job you are doing, I use a yellow brick! Which I find is just right plus it gives you a bit more height off the workbench. So the job is on the bench, soldering iron on, put a small amount of flux paste on each part that you are going to solder together, then start a one end off the joint you wish to solder and apply the heat from the iron, you will get a bit of a splatter to start with as the flux melts, then watch the bass if it start s to change color to a light pink then you are almost ready to apply our solder, apply the solder to the job keeping the heat on the job also if its right, the solder will run all the way along the joint as soon as this happens take the heat off job done. I have now made up the steps, mast box, fair-head roller, port and starboard light boxes, aerial mounts, with still more to do getting ready to fill all the items on the wheelhouse before painting. It?s a shame to paint them they look so nice in brass!  ;void(0)) ;void(0)) ;void(0)) Fly Bridge control panel and Mast. The fly bridge has a raised floor area in front of the control panel, with two-water drain off slots on each side of the wheelhouse. First thing I did was to fit the raised floor supports, to do this I used some square plastic box section I had, just as the real Severn has. When this was done I then cut the two water drain outlet slots on each side of the fly bridge, at floor level, I then fitted the bass etched grating on to its supports, I then check that the slots were of the right size and made any adjustments as required. On checking the photos of the fly bridge control area the next thing I did was to fit the two mast box supports, these I had made up sometime ago, on checking the etched markings on the main floor, I found that the I had to do some trimming to the brass grating to get the mast boxes in line with there markings, when this was complete I then drilled the holes through the top of the mast boxes, (two on each) so I can use them to pass my cables into the wheel house same as the real Severn. After doing this, I them used some epoxy, to glue the mast boxes in place and left them to set. The next job was to fit the fly bridge windscreen surround, this comes all made from etched bass and was easy to shape up, I then glued this into place around the fly bridge with super glue, after this had set, I fitted the inner windscreen frame as well. On having a look at the photos there is a panel between the control panel and the mast boxes on each side, this I have made from plasti-card and fitted them in place, my wife will make me the two soft pockets that go onto these panels later, also around the top of the control panel to the fly bridge edge is a mounding which I have also made up from plastic-card. All the joints will be filled in when I start to get the wheelhouse ready for painting. My next task was to made the mast up, this is all made from solid brass bar, there are two hoops to be made up first, I made the front one first as this sits upright on the mast boxes, when I was happy with it, I then made a second one the same size. The next thing I made was the center mast box, which is made from etched brass and folded, and soldered up to make an oblong. It has the holes in it to pass the bent mast supports thought it. With this made I passed the two mast support through the mast box holes and then set about lining up the mast supports onto the mast boxes, with this all done I then tack soldered the center mast box to the support tubes, with this done I then made up each of the cross support braces and soldered them in place, checking each time that all was up right and square. There are eight flanges that mount the mast support tubes to the mast boxes, I have made up bass ones, as I wanted to fit all the bolts for more detail, all the bolts have been soldered in place on the mounting brackets, I have then soldiered the rear mounting brackets on to the rear mast supports. The rest will have to be epoxy in place; I have done it this way so I can remove the mast for painting. The next job was to make up the rest of the upper mast section, which has a base plate plus two platforms one for the blue light and an aerial facing astern, and above that is the other platform facing the bow which has two lights on it, one on the top and one on the underside, and above all this is the UHF direction finder aerial. The platforms are all etched brass and have all the markings for fitting them to there mounting tube Now the upper UHF mounting tube is a smaller size, so I made this a sliding fit into the main mast tube, as I will remove the UHF aerial when I am transporting the model, cos if there is one thing that will get broken it will be That!! So another week has gone and there is still lots more to do. ;void(0)) ;void(0)) ;void(0)) ;void(0)) ;void(0)) ;void(0)) Hiab Crane. The Severn lifeboat has a Hiab crane to deploy and recover the y-boat, which is stored on top of the wheelhouse roof. The Hiab crane for the model is all made of brass, and is a kit, which goes together like a glove; in all there are 29 parts to the build. The first thing I did was to remove all the parts and lay them out ready for assembly, the two main parts of the Crane are the main support arm, and then there is the main lifting arm. Each arm you make up into a box section by following the etched lines in the brass and then solder them together. The next part to fit is the six ram pivot plates, there are two on the upper arm, and four on the lower arm, these are all shown as etched marks on the side of the arms so you cant go wrong. Next I fitted the pivot support on to the upper arm and then did the same on the lower arm making sure that the holes lined up, this I did by pitting a small piece of brass rod through the hole to keep all in line. I then made up the main support bracket that fits to the starboard stern box; this also has a ram fitted at the other end of the bracket. With this now completed I removed my pivot pins and then fitted the small plate that goes on the top of the upper arm were it bends, with this done I then fitted the underside support as well. So with all this done, all that was left was to fit the hook bracket, and fit the two rams, I made up the up the six pivot pins from brass rod and fitted the two arms together, plus the brass washers which come with the crane and soldered them in place, I then fitted the rams in the same way until all was complete. I then made up the crane base plate which is made from Perspex parts and did a test fit to the crane base, I will use a 45mm long x 3mm set screw to bolt it all together after it has been painted. ;void(0)) ;void(0)) The make up of the window set. The windows for the Severn are made from laser cut Perspex, with a total of five parts in all. You have the outer frame, then a smaller inner frame, then the window glazing frame, then there is the inner mounting frame, and last but not lest is the window pane. The first thing I did was make a cupper tea!!! With that done I unpacked the window set and sorted out which part was what, the first frame to be removed was the main outer frame, now they can be a bit of a pain to remove from there backing, the best thing I have found was to use a cake plate knife, which I got from the wife, this being very thin and having a round end it will slide between the frame and its backing. With this done I removed the backing paper, which also has a thin plastic film on it as well, now some times it comes of with the paper and sometimes it doesn?t, so the best way to check is to use a sharp blade on the back of the frame to see if any is left. Next thing is to make sure that the frame is the right way round, as one side has small indents in it, which when painted shows up the screw holes. I then remove the rest of the window parts in the same way before I started to assemble them. I fitted the inner mounting frame first (this is the frame that sits through the wheelhouse side) to the main frame checking the alignment, with this fitted I then turned the frame over and fitted the top frame, then the glazing frame. The main frame has a line on it so you can do your alignment, this is also the same on the next frame, the last part to fit is the window glazing, this I will do when all the frames are painted and ready to fit to the wheelhouse. I have glued all the frames with plastic-weld as this dries clear; I intend to paint the frames with Tamiya silver, with all the windows made I have now stared to open out the window apertures on the wheelhouse checking each one is a nice fit. ;void(0)) The photo shows frame 1 with backing paper ;void(0)) Frame 1 removing the plastic after the backing paper ;void(0)) This is the frame mounting, that is glued to the rear of the frame, 1 for each window to match its shape, this is the part of the window that goes through the wheelhouse side. ;void(0)) ;void(0)) ;void(0)) ;void(0)) Took some photos,just before going to the lake for a play. ;void(0)) ;void(0)) ;void(0)) Fly Bridge Windscreen support mountings. The Fly bridge windscreen mounts are made in etched brass. They do have a lot of detail in them, first part is to check to see the placement for each one, this I did from the photos and drawing, on the front of each mounting is a strengthen strip, which has a curve at each end, these are soldiered onto the front part of the window support mounting. With this done, each one has to be folded in to shape, which is not that had to do, as they have all the etched marks in them already, just takes a bit of time and care, I then with the help of the wife soldiered them in place, I then made up the two search light mounts one on each side of the fly bridge, these I super glued into place, so that?s now sorted, I have now also fitted the two grab rails on the inside of the wheelhouse one on each side over the fly bridge control panel, these I made from brass rod and bent them into shape, then super glued them on. ;void(0)) Tow Rope Roller Box and Drum. After visiting the Newhaven Lifeboat last Saturday, I had the opportunity to have a better look at the Towrope Roller drum, which is housed in the Starboard stern, air intake box, just under the Hiab crane. When I had a look at the model rear stern box, I could see that there was a line on the Perspex as to where it should be. I then checked the drawing to get some Idea of size, but it is not shown! So I then had a look at the photos and got some idea of what it should look like, plus I had seen the real thing. The first part I made up was the box that holds the drum, this I made from 2mm thick plastic-card, I then cut out two drum ends in 2mm plastic-card, and turned them up in my small lave. Next job was to drill two holes through the two drum ends, to take a piece of brass tube, which I cut long enough to go through each side of the rope box, then I drilled the two holes required in the towrope box I had made. With this all done, I assembled all the parts to check that they all fitted, and the drum would turn. I then removed the drum and then glued the rope box to the inside of the starboard stern box with super-glue, when this was set, I chain drilled out the side of the stern box, leaving me enough to trim to the size of the rope box. When the entire trimming was complete, I refitted the rope drum, so I now have a complete stern rope box. I have sent the info to Speedline models and this Item will be added to the future models. ;void(0)) ;void(0)) I have now fitted the wheelhouse side boxes, and also made up the hand rails for both sides. As the side boxes are lower than the wheel house sides, I have also fitted 4 small feet to the underside of the wheelhouse floor, so this stops the box sides from being broken when the wheelhouse is off the hull. ;void(0)) Wheelhouse Access Door. The main wheelhouse access door on the real lifeboat, has a eight point locking system, that make?s sure that when the lifeboat is at sea, all the crew are in a water tight compartment, should the lifeboat do a full 360 deg roll. I had always intended to have my wheelhouse door working so that?s what I have done!! The door its self is made from three section?s of Perspex, plus the two window frames, so after I had made the door up, I then set about making the hinges and hinge mounting brackets. All the items used to make these up, are from flat brass strip, and some small brass tube. Now one thing I have learnt in making these is DON?T try and shape the items to size first, then try drilling and assembling them, cos it makes life hard. The first parts I made were the door hinge mounting plates, I cut 4 small strips of brass plate, and drilled a 1.2mm hole at one end, I then fitted a 1.2mm bolt and locked all 4 in place one on top of each other. I then marked out and drilled the other hole and fitted a 2-nd bolt, with this done I then set about shaping them up, by doing it this way all the plates will be the same. I did the same with the support hinges as well, when this was all completed, I then soldiered the door mounting plates on the door support hinges. I then fitted these to the door with eight 14-BA bolts and nuts, next job was to make up the two wheelhouse door hinge supports, I made these the same way as I have describe before, with there now completed, I fitted all the parts together, and did a test fit with the door onto the wheelhouse, all I had to do was to make up two .5mm shims to fit behind the hinge fixing plates to the wheelhouse, and all fitted well. As I wanted the door to stay shut, if required I then made up the door locking handle as per the real door, I drilled a hole all the way through the door, so I could fit a small piece of brass tube, to which I had soldiered a small piece of flat brass on to it make a locking lug, I then pushed this through from the inside and filed it back, so as it was just proud of the outer door skin, I then super glued the brass handle in to the tube, making sure, that the handle was set the same way as the real door. The door is now fitted and it works a treat, now mine is only single point locking, but it works I will fit the other 7 lugs, but these will be set for when the door is open. ;void(0)) ;void(0)) ;void(0)) ;void(0)) Bow Escape Hatch. I have now completed the bow escape hatch, to which is a opening one, this I have made up much the same way as I did the wheelhouse door. When this is fitted to the deck I will have my main on /off switch under it, with also the switch for the receiver, saves having remove the wheelhouse too much. ;void(0)) | Model build Part 4 | | The Model Build Part 2 | Model build Part 5 | Model Build Part 6 | Crew figures | Y-Boat | Sea Trials | | Motor Up Grade | 1/16th Scale Severn | 17-21 model Lifeboat Build | Tamar | Atlantic 21 | lifeboat photos on disc | | Return Home | Lifeboat General Photos | My Lifeboat Model Page | 1/12th Speedline Trent 14-14 Commission Build | Other scale lifeboats | |
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