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7 hours ago, GrantGoodale said:

Other tips for casting the rubber. Use Leggo to create pour boxes etc. Extremely flexible for sizes. Also spray in mold release agent before you pour the rubber. If you don't have any of that, use WD-40

All good advice 👍

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More copper work, this time the tubs for the twin Vickers machine gun power mounting.  It looks to me that the actual mounting sits in and is riveted to a sightly larger tub so I've placed a ring of rivets round the top and recessed the wood core.  The actual mounting is way down the road but the tub is a part of the structure as it supports a platform etc

 

DSCN1686

 

I've also put the other internal side frame in the bridge enclosure and completed the aluminium clading on the superstructure

 

Time to take a break from the superstructure and turn the hull over to remove the plating I didn't like :weep: (sigh...) and to fit the first propeller

 

This shows the shaft and the A frame sleeve supported by a wooden former to get the side pieces right.

 

DSCN1683

 

And this shows it mounted after cutting and soldering the A frame supports.

 

DSCN1684

 

I'm still so pleased with these propellers  :penguin:  The hull plating is doubled where the supports meet it, there will be a mounting plate etched to slot in between later on.  I also made the core for the first rudder, this will be streamline shaped with car body filler later

 

I've also added the outer sleeve on the prop shaft housing where it leaves the hull

 

Lastly, here is the plate doubler around the cooling water exhaust (port side).  I've slotted a short tube in the hole, not sure it this will be seen once finished, but is had a tube so a tube goes in.  This raw edge will be covered with an etched grating plate, as will the intake hole in the distance.

 

I'm staring to need a lot of etchings so I've made a good start on drawing the first set, I'll share that artwork once it ready

 

DSCN1685

 

I'm also thinking through the bilge keel, I have this wonderful slotted T section that I plan to use, these simple things are quite exciting, soldering angles to plate for bilge keels has not gone well for me in the past, enough said....

 

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Quick picture post, the hull plating is complete, but still needs an amount of clean-up and will need some filling as part of the painting process.

 

Still, I'm much happier with the thinner Aluminium, even if it was a pain to glue and the corners catch on everything and just pull away, grrr...:wall:

 

DSCN1689

 

Tomorrow I move on to the bilge keels, wish me luck 🤞...

 

Will post more pictures tomorrow evening

 

Steve

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Bit of a charmed day today.  The flange tee sections from Barry Stevenson @ Metalsmith in Leeds are my new favourite thing.  Not only that, but a rummage around one of my brass sections drawers (I have a number..) discovered 3 lengths of 6mm x 0.5mm that I'd forgotten, exactly the right size for the bilge keel, that's an hour of copper felting saved from the day.  They silver soldered together well and then soft soldered into the slots with solder paste in a jiffy.  BTW, my new favourite tool is a rechargeable electric lighter that lights the blow-torch perfectly, life is so much easier with the right tools

 

Here they are cleaned up and before bending, that paste does splatter....

 

DSCN1690

 

I do try not to work in a mess, but in ten minutes its back looking like this again...

 

Here that are taped on while the gorilla epoxy sets.  They are actually quite curved vertically, but gentle hand bending seemed to get them about right, the heat from the soldering helps make them pliable

 

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My metalwork seems to use a lot of masking tape :hmmm:

 

Here is the hull with the tape removed

 

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You'll see I also sorted the second propeller shaft mounting and rudder, better picture below

 

DSCN1693

 

The prop bearing legs will be soldered in to etched bases with rivet detail, note the plating doubled as per the shell expansion.  There are also anodes to fit between the rudder and the props, again they are part of my first etching sheet

 

This shot gives you a good idea of the shell lines at the bow, some of the joints are quite complex

 

DSCN1695

 

Forgive the roughness of some of the plates, they mark if you look at them wrong, so thin.  It will be easier to see what needs attending to once the first coat of primer is on.  Of course real hulls with thin sheeting as this one had are also pretty bashed when you look close, so I could claim weathering :wink:

 

And here is the stern.  I've been having trouble with the stern corners, think I rounded the hull a bit when sanding.  Anyway, don't judge it yet, wait until its painted, this is all quite raw now (bad ship handling in dock perhaps?).  Again, check out the plate lines, not what you'd expect but they make perfect sense when you are cutting them, no double curvature at all

 

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The admiralty drawing (the GA) shows the additional armour plating they added after the first fight saw two dead in the water due to 20mm cannon shells hitting steam pipes.  Its a prominent feature as it was hung outside in the way of the engine room covering the plating. Its 40 ft long and 8 ft high to the deck and .4mm scale thick, so will dominate the side view.  The problem is that none of the pictures show it.  They we are taken on trials from what I can see, so I can't see how it was fitted and a big slab of copper (that was the plan) will look very odd.  Jury is out but I'll probably leave it off. 

 

However, Grey Fox, the subject of the model, did have a quite massive rubbing band from midships aft (5 inch square, 2mm scale) which I will fit.  From the photos I have, seems she was the only vessel with that detail, not sure why...

 

So, with the etched cooling water gratings and the prop bearing leg plates plus that rubbing strip, the structure of the hull will be complete, progress...

 

Still love those props....:elephant:.

 

Steve.

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With every business working from home or closing, I thought I'd better get the first etching to 4D while they are still open.  These sheets normally take me days or even weeks, but with some items already drawn, I crashed through the rest today and got it off for production just before they closed for the day.  Should be with me by the middle of next week, I'll post pictures before I start cutting it up. 

 

Meanwhile, for those interested, this is what the finished artwork looks like (there's probably 40 odd hours work in producing that image, its quite meticulous work):

 

1st Etching

There are around 200 components on this sheet, which is A4 size and will be 18thou thick.  Black is leave alone, red is half depth from the front, Cyan is half-depth from the back allowing fold lines etc.  The red lines that criss-cross the sheet are the supports, at that thickness they almost (but not quite) etch away

 

From the top, there are the platforms between the torpedo tubes and the raised engine room roof, the twin machine mount turret doors, the torpedo tube support frames, the machine turret platforms, hull gratings, water-tight doors to the desk house (with frame), the chart house window frames which have sliding shutters, so the frames are in two halves to produce a slot for the shutters, and the engine room skylights.  The two masters I made for these to cast were just not crisp enough so this is a 5 piece sandwich which I hope will work better.  Down the side are the WTS base, lid and hinges, the short body will be 11.8mm tube.  There's also some mine and depth charge rails, and torpedo tube side brackets (24 off), and the bosun's locker covers plus some lines of riveted strapping which I will use against the deck house assembly to hide the gap.

 

This is one major step forward, £130 including artwork, repeats are ~ £90 I think.  Not bad for 200 perfect items I could never hope to make well enough by hand. 

 

Is this cheating? :hmmm: Well, many kits these days have etched detail sets, I just make my own :wink:

 

Steve

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1 hour ago, Niall said:

Check out www.PPDltd.com.

Their charges for making photo etch are a lot lower. They usually have a 7-10 day turnaround.

Photo of a 1/72nd scale Dan bouy hoist they produced for me -

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Thanks for the tip Niall, that hoist is the business, I'll check them out.  4D depends on the size, this is a big sheet, but I'll certainly take a look

 

Cheers

 

Steve

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This blog is about to enter the long boring phase of pictures of bits of brass trying to be component of the boat.  From experience, this phase takes months...

 

Today, the searchlight.  The Admiralty GA says this is a 24 inch unit.  A 24 inch searchlight projector is a major piece of kit normally fitted to sloops and destroyers, it feels very large for the SGB.  The drawing I have is from Lambert's Weapons of WWII, volume 2, escorts and minesweepers, its a beast! :yikes:

 

Below a scan of Lambert's drawing and my drawing of the simplified version I have a shot at making in 1:48th scale from bits I have in the workshop

 

seaerchlight

 

Interesting to me that the drawing shows a slender mount, as do the two commercial drawings, the actual searchlight is squat in the extreme, yet the centre-line is 56 inch from the deck, same as the plans show.  The platform this sits on is small by comparison, they really squeezed it in, no wonder the handrails are shown leaning out the crew would have had to literally squeeze past it.

 

Anyway, some hours and frustrations later, this is what I've managed to produce

 

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It will have three hand wheels that are on the etching sheet, and what looks like an aiming telescope that I've still to sort out.

 

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BTW, that side underneath the platform on both sides are where the flag lockers go, actually exactly the same dimensions as the ones I made for the Fairmile B.  I'm going to use clear casting resin to glaze it, the front ring comes out.  It rotates and pivots of course, some wiring will be added to complete the look

 

Not much for two days work, these things take a long time to make

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In spite of the shut-down, the post still works..  exciting package arrived today :yikes:

 

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Suddenly, being stuck at home is not so bad...  Plenty to keep me occupied now  Shame I have to work today, can't wait to get started on those torpedo tube bases

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3 hours ago, gunzo said:

That was a stroke of luck as 4D have announced no further workshop orders for the duration.

 

Les

Yup, I just squeezed in just before the door shut.  I rushed the artwork a little and it could be better in some minor regards, but well worth it to get the bulk done

 

Steve

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Working on getting the hull ready for the first primer coat to see what clean up is needed.  It's really hard to see what the blemished in the aluminium will look like once painted without primer.

 

The hull etchings went on quite fast, the A frame mounting plate, the gratings and the anodes

 

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I also spent a lot of time re-gluing the corners of the plates which catch on everything.  I've added the timber rubbing strip and drilled the porthole holes.  I'll insert the portholes after painting

 

This shot shows the stern assembly with all components.  Hands up who's every seen anodes on a model... in fact, once painted zinc, they will be quite noticeable.  I've also shaped the rudders with car body filler and plated over the prop shaft housing

 

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The problem with rushing etching artwork is you make mistakes and forget that stuff needs to actually be built.  Had some interesting challenges with the torpedo tube casing this afternoon. spent nearly an hour trying to get it ready to solder, stupid silly mistakes with the way I drew it made life much harder than need be, still I got there in the end, sort of.  Here it is resting in place while I try to sort out the platform that sits between it and the engine room roof. Some 3-dimensional geometry issues that I can resolve but that I shouldn't have had to.  The tube is just to get an idea of what it will look like, lots of work in the tube alone, in time...

 

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And another shot from the front.  Strange how the angles make the casing look out of square.  It is perfectly square but in this view it looks trapezoidal, strange...

 

DSCN1704

 

Chart house windows tomorrow with sliding shutters....

 

 

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A day of hull fettling and priming, gone the shiny aluminium, replaced by boring grey, but at least that means I can see all the blemishes in the surface.  Actually, it's OK, two coats of primer interspersed with fine surface filler and 600 grit wet&dry paper and the finish is coming together nicely.  The effect of the goggled joints in subtle as I wanted it, good decision to change to 0.1mm, this is definitely a big improvement

 

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I've fussed and fussed over the slight shoulder at the bow, it's still not as sharp as I want it, but it will get there, it really is a fine detail, important to get right.  Now you can see why I set brass in the bow, that straight and sharp look would have been sanded away if I'd left it wood.  Very pleased with the bilge keels and that double T section, hard to see here, but they look really crisp.  The portholes (sorry, scuttles) look weird but trust me, this is where they are, direct from the shell expansion.  It looks like the forward crew flat was horizontal relative to the rising deck, the angle of the picture accentuates this

 

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From the stern, the light shows the joints clearer.  Still a couple more coats of priming and sanding, but this is the look I was aiming for, can't wait to see it in dazzle camouflage.  The best bit about using aluminium is that when i come to weather it, sanding shows actual metal through the paint, as it should do

 

In between paint drying, I started the bow breakwater.  This will be held in place with stanchions..  Getting through the main structural components now

 

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Meanwhile, anyone want a part-completed solid brass 24 inch searchlight in 1:48th scale, one stupid owner from new?

 

The admiralty GA said 24 inch, the commercial drawing said 20".  I believe the commercial drawing on this one, that 24 inch beast simply doesn't look right, way to big for the platform and not like the photographs.  I found another drawing of a searchlight, this time without the industrial winding gear the 24 inch one has, in the drawing below, you can see the difference

 

searchlights

 

 

Ah well, it might fit the flower if I ever get to built it

 

Lots of small steps, some actually in the right direction

 

Steve

 

 

 

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Some small steps this weekend and then I ran out of gas, literally, the oxygen cylinder on my blowtorch ran out.  When you're used to a jeweller's blowtorch and all you have is a soldering iron, much frustration sets in, so I didn't get what was planned done.  Still hopefully replacement coming on Tuesday from ebay

 

Meanwhile I made the two 9-inch french mushroom vents, not sure what the 9-inch refers to as there is no easy 9 inch dimension on them.  They are very prominent in the pictures, think these will look OK painted

 

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You can also see the water-trap base for the one large cowl (which is on its way from Shapeways along with some other interesting parts, more later) and the first of my engine room skylights hiding behind the torpedo tube frame.  I tend to make bits and pieces a little randomly in this phase to keep interest.  I could make a production line, but changing around is more fun.  I also fitted some of the depth and mine rails, only to realise that I'd not included them all on the etching sheet, the dangers of rushing

 

In the background is the twin Vickers turret base and platform, better picture below

 

DSCN1713

 

I've had a lot of fun with the angles on this and the deck camber, it looks OK, finally.  The platform has timber slats, water tight door to the lower bridge in the background.  In general, due to the sharp rise in the desk to the bow, the angles on this boat are all complex

 

I also made the canvas dodger frame for the fo'c'sle gun mounting, which of course would have been easier if I'd not bent the breakwater first...

 

DSCN1710

 

It's hard to photograph this boat without the angles looking all over the place, they are better in the flesh

 

Charthouse window frames come next once the oxygen arrives...


Day 13 of isolation

 

Steve

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