70ft 9in British Power Boat Company MGB 1942 1:48th Scale

[Steve D]

29 minutes ago, Dmitriy1967 said:

put good wishes written on a piece of paper in them and sent them down the river.

It's a great story Dmitriy, trouble is I live on the Thames, they would never get past Teddington locks... guess I'm stuck with annoying my wife 

[Modelholic]

First thing I think of is 'can I scratch build that before looking at AM options

I enjoy finding out how other modellers make the bits to make the bits!

Tom

[Iceman 29]

4 hours ago, Dmitriy1967 said:

 

I read a book once when I was a kid. It told about an old man who lived alone on the riverbank. He made toy ships, put good wishes written on a piece of paper in them and sent them down the river. Ships sailed all over the world. And every person who found them had the old man's good wish come true.

 

Nice parabola, I think I got my wish. 

[Courageous]

14 hours ago, Faraway said:

They are long and skinny, so take up less room than aircraft. And of course they are more interesting. 

...and take much longer to build.

 

Stuart

[Iceman 29]

An article that will interest you Steve, I thought of you while reading it.

 

https://australianaviation.com.au/2022/03/raaf-to-restore-last-remaining-wwii-rescue-launch/

 

[Steve D]

13 hours ago, Iceman 29 said:

I thought of you while reading it.

Thanks Pascal, always nice to see renovations, lest we forget as the saying goes

 

Cheers

 

Steve

 

[Steve D]

Time to turn these frames into a hull.

 

First, the keel is supported between blocks to keep things straight and the bow gunwale stringers are installed.  The gunwale is 2 mm sq but these don't bend enough so the forward stringers are laminated from 2 mm x 0.5 mm limewood

 

 

The rear stringers are 2mm sq, notched to the first 2 0.5mm stringers, which are then reinforced and build up.  Here you can see I've also made a start with the upper deckhouse stringers, the 0.5 mm ply sides and roof will then be set in and the rounded corners sanded back, more later.  The forward wheelhouse will be added in ply later

 

 

Next I cut out the deck in 0.8 mm ply and glued it in place with a lot of tape helping it take up the rather complex shape which drips to the bow.  This hull has an undeniable greyhound look to it 

 

 

The deck will be left oversize to provide a landing for the external diagonal planking and then sanded back to that line, here it is very oversize still.

 

Now, the boat is straight but still subject to twisting as it doesn't incorporate a box inner section.  This is a problem when it comes to adding the balsa as any slight twist will become locked in and the hull will become rather shapely firewood. 

 

So, I cut out two support frames from 12 mm ply and mounted them on my build base, turned the hull upside down and temporarily glued it down with 4 spots of cyno

 

 

 

Now I know it can't twist, no matter how ham-fisted I am.  The chine stringers were then added, laminating the bow section as with the gunwale.  Thank goodness the lines are right, everything lined up nicely for once.  Its amazing how tiny errors show when you add longitudinal stringers.  I'm really pleased with those curves

 

 

I little sanding later and the hull is ready for the balsa infill's.  The black surface in the background is a wall covering that allows you to stick drawings up with magnets, no more tape tearing drawings for me....

 

 

The balsa blocks are cut, shaped and glued in place.  Here is the hull with the lower hull filled in and the first rough sanding complete. The laser cut frames have black burnt edges so its easy to see where to sand as the high areas fill with sawdust.

 

I know there are some gaps but I don't care, this is all hidden later and filler will be my friend before planking.  The stern section will not be balsa filled.  The planes are nearly flat there and so my concern over the inner curvature is not relevant and the prop shafts, rudder tubes etc make this problematic.  I'll just plank this area direct to the frames with wide diagonal planks, remember this is the inner hull

 

 

Start made on the side blocks before family stopped play.  These blocks are only a few mm thick, going OK so far

 

 

is this method cheating?, probably.  It is however quick and a much easier way to deal with these complex curves than any other way I know, and I'm hopeless at carving....

 

Cheers

 

Steve

[Dmitriy1967]

Have you made the horizontal plates inside the case narrow so that it is more convenient to insert balsa blocks?

How easy everything is simple and understandable when you look at photos of someone else's building 

Great job, I really like it!

[Steve D]

6 minutes ago, Dmitriy1967 said:

Have you made the horizontal plates inside the case narrow so that it is more convenient to insert balsa blocks?

The horizontal locking bars have to fit in the first frame, that set the width.  They needed to be parallel to slide through the frames.  When I get to the first couple of frames, I'll need to notch the blocks to slide over the bar.  I also notched the lower blocks at the stern to fit over the prop shaft tubes

 

Cheers

 

Steve

10 minutes ago, Dmitriy1967 said:

I really like it

Wait until you see the diagonal planking in pear-wood 

[Steve D]

More progress on the hull.  A lot of cutting (a bit of filling) and sanding later, here is the hull ready to start the planking

 

 

I've applied one coat of sanding sealer to stabilise the surface and provide a base for final sanding prior to planking.  The felt tip marks are me looking for areas to fill, I didn't get them all, but most and certainly enough to provide a good foundation for the planks

 

 

The planking is done in 5 mm x 0.5 mm pear wood strip.  Set at 45 degrees amidships and working towards the stern and then the bow.  Each piece needed a little finger bending where it meets the deck just to lay down in the flare, stuck with medium cyno that provides a bit of time to get then in place

 

Its a steady job, but not too long actually.  The strips were all pre-cut in a guillotine to speed things up, they are all about the same length.

 

One side done, trimmed back and cleaned off with white spirit.  This will of course be painted and further fine surface filler applied so I'm not worried about the odd small gap at this stage

 

 

And the second side done, with a further sand and coat of sanding sealer.  Note how the planking naturally runs into the bow, wonderful

 

 

 

Ready for the lower hull.  This will over-run the chine line and be sanded back, the joint is then covered with a 1 mm x 1.5 mm cover strip.  You can also see that I've sanded the deck back to the planking line, so that the planking buts into the underside of the ply deck, nice.  I'm loving the shape of this hull, all curves, not a straight line anywhere.  Not sure how you could build it any other way but this

 

Lastly a package arrive for Shapeways yesterday with the bronze propellers and the two guns, a repeat of the SGB 2 pdr and my new twin Oerlikon model for the power mount.  I need this to make sure the etching for the mount is correct more later on that sub-project

 

 

 

So, decent progress, off to fit a kitchen now, back later

 

Cheers

 

Steve

[Dmitriy1967]

It's working out great! Hull has really beautiful curves.

[Steve D]

1 hour ago, Dmitriy1967 said:

Hull has really beautiful curves.

Yes, this is the beauty of the balsa infill method, it makes these curves so easy to create, really a low skill activity

 

Cheers

 

Steve

[Brandy]

I'm not into floaty things in any way, shape, or form, but I love seeing the process. Comingvalong very nicely!

 

BTW every time I hear the phrase "Gunboat" I think of China. Must be too many Commando/Victor comics as a kid!

 

Ian

[Steve D]

Lower hull planking starts with a couple of intermediate stringers installed in the stern section to support the veneer.  The rear piecs where quarter cut from the sheet so that the grain is in line with the planking

 

 

I'm planking the lower hull in 0.5 mm maple veneer, ~£12 for a sample of 6 veneers from that well known on-line shop, very good value.  The maple sheet was easily sufficient to plank the lower hull and allowed me to start the process from the stern with a wider sheet that covers the prop tube exits and rudder tubes.  The lower hull outer planking runs in the opposite direction to the sides so the chine has a chevron look, per full scale practice.  I used 12 mm wide planking for this as the curvature is not too tight, only a couple of planks at the bow needed to be narrower.  This is the first time I've done this with veneer, it worked great, will  use this technique again.  The openings in the stern will be covered with a brass plate slid over the prop shaft tubes later.

 

The result is a strong curved lower hull, smooth after two coats of sanding sealer and an interesting two tone look with the pear wood.  That maple is sooo smooth....

 

 

 

Then the chine, gunwale and rubbing strips were added in lime wood.  The gunwale is a compound of 3 x 0.5 mm and a 1.5 mm square bumper strip set slightly below the deck edge, tricky at the bow because of the flare, needed a little back packing.  The rubbing strip (1 mm x 1.5 mm lime wood) also wants to go anywhere but where it should go, I think the overall finish line is OK.  The chine is 1.5 mm square, rounded by sanding once in place

 

 

 

So that's the hull woodwork done, overall, this has come together with relatively little grief considering how complex the hull curves are.  I still have the prop shaft plates and the outer support to make and install, then I will cut this off the mounting board and turn it over to get back to the deckhouse.

 

Off to Lisbon tomorrow for a short break so no updates for a while.

 

Cheers

 

Steve

[Courageous]

Lovely work on the hull. Enjoy your break in Lisbon.

 

Stuart

[Dmitriy1967]

The moment when you want to cover a beautiful tree with a transparent varnish, not paint. 

[Steve D]

Back from Lisbon and back on the project.  Meanwhile, I've posted a thread with pictures of some great models in Lisbon's Maritime Museum

 

Lisbon Maritime Museum

 

Enjoy

 

Steve

[Steve D]

Good progress today on the rudders and prop shaft brackets

 

First I needed to sleeve the tubes I'd let into the frame down to a 0.8 mm rudder shaft.  This allowed me to turn up the rudder tube cover rings and install them on the sleeves, picture below before the cover plates are in place, dumb...

 

 

The rudders are made from 0.5 mm brass strip, three pieces soldered together with paste so that they turn out identical after filing.  The rudder shafts were soldered in with soft solder to fill the slight gaps and cleaned up

 

 

Here they are in place and here you can see the cover bosses which is a nice little detail

 

 

The prop tubes also have cover plates and an outer sleeve.  These plates where also made up from 0.5 mm brass strip with a lot of tight angle filing.  The plates were slid over the tubes and then the outer sleeve (2.5 mm OD) was slid over and soft soldered in place with a soldering iron to not burn the wood.  There is no way to make these off the boat and expect them to fit....  Bronze props installed to get the length correct

 

 

The bracket support tubes where turned up to match the prop body (2.8 mm OD) and drilled out for the shaft and tapered 1 in 4 back to the shaft..  The brackets where then filed and silver soldered to the support tubes and also to a base plate, all from 0.5 mm brass

 

Here is the first one complete.  Not the centre shaft has a different slope to the outer shafts.  The outer brackets also slope as with the outer rudders

 

 

And then two more later, all done

 

 

I've also done a little filling on the joint of the chine 

 

This is the first boat I've made that features angled outer rudders (and shaft supports).  Here you can see the reason for the frame spacers between the transom and frame 10, to get that angle spot on.  Oops, just noticed the starboard rudder is hard to port....

 

 

So, actually quite a productive day on one of the fussier bits of the build...

 

Cheers

 

Steve

[seacon]

Nice!

[stevehnz]

That is just beautiful.

Steve.

[Faraway]

Work of art. 
Jon

[Brandy]

Lovely workmanship on show here.

 

Ian

[Steve D]

6 hours ago, stevehnz said:

That is just beautiful

Thanks Steve, they worked out well this time, always tricky to make

 

4 hours ago, Faraway said:

Work of art.

Thanks Jon, the lines of this vessel are just great.  As they say with aircraft, if it looks right it is right.  Well, I think the guys who designed this really knew how to design a hull, its been a joy to make

3 hours ago, Brandy said:

Lovely workmanship on show here.

 

Thank you Ian, I do my best, perhaps 20 years of trying has helped....

 

I really appreciate all the comments guys, thanks again.

 

Meanwhile, I managed to cut the hull away from the upside down supports without messing it up  and knocked up some new right way up supports so I could make progress on the whaleback deckhouse.

 

This presents a number of challenges, the major one being the 3-dimensional curved roof line and edge.  The curve on the wall to roof line is 10-inch radius which is pretty large and needs a 5 mm square section to sand back from.  The frames are drawn to allow for 0.5 mm walls and roof to sit inside the line of this curving section so I can sand the corner flush and radius it.  However, a 5 mm sq section won't bend to that shape so I had to make it out of a number of thinner pieces.  Also, the roof needs to have a cut-out for the 48 inch diameter twin Oerlikon mount, which itself cuts into the curved corner.  The forward wheelhouse roof has a smaller radius (7 inch) and the open bridge has back and side walls that stand up from the whaleback curves.  So what looks simple is actually quite complex.

 

Here she is sitting upright with the first few pieces of strip wood laminate to form the roof to wall edge.  Note, this stops at the rear of the wheelhouse.  The forward section will be made up in ply and added later

 

 

And now with the edge beams complete and the roof installed.  To the front, the beam has been cut out to allow for the open bridge side wall to be installed.  The rear and far side of the open bridge are set-back to allow me to install inner sides to suit the upstand shape 

 

 

At the front is the roof support beam that will act as a guide for the inner (flat) roof and support 4 mm of lime to be sanded to shape once the forward walls are installed.  Nothing is straight in this boat, every line is curved.  I've left the cut-out in the roof rough and undersize at this stage.  Once I make the mount tub (in copper of course), I'll open this up so it slides in place neatly.  The final section of the whale-back will be cut from jelutong blocks and all sanded smooth.  Overall, this is actually a very simple model, not a huge amount of detail on the deck etc, but the lines are the challenge.  This is a good test for my miniature woodworking, if I get it right, it really will be a shame to paint it....

 

Like all modellers, I'm rarely pleased with my own work, but I have to say I love the way the forecastle profile has turned out.  It also curves in 3 dimensions as it dips to the bow, altogether very subtle lines

 

Cheers

 

Steve

[longshanks]

Looking sweet 

 

Kev

[Courageous]

Nice bit of metalwork.

 

Stuart