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[JimG]

The next step was to add some more detail to the inside of the wheel house. The only detail on the plan is a simple plan view showing the location of the parts. At the rear is drawn a rectangle which is labelled as a table with drawers under but no more details.
This is my interpretation of this. A suitable sized balsa block was sheeted with thin ply to give the basic structure. Drawers were then drawn on the front with a pencil and the ply was then varnished with shellac. The top was painted green to represent a suitable surface. I googled for and found an image for a chart for the mouth of the Tay so a small version of this was printed, trimmed to fit and glued down onto the table.
A couple of moulded mugs were provided so these were painted and added to the table before fitting it into the wheelhouse. There is still a space at the left of the table which should allow for a dummy radio transceiver.
A white metal figure is provided for a helmsman so this was the next job. After cleaning up then assembling the parts he was then painted ready for fitting. As the figure is not as high quality as the resin ones I bought I decided that he would be in the wheelhouse and not on the flying bridge. The small windows don't allow the cruder details to show up. He does have a pin moulded under one foot so a hole had to be drilled for this, when glued in it gave a secure fitting, once his hand was glued to the wheel he shouldn't come loose and fall over in rough weather.

Jim

[derekwarner]

Morning Jim......you have some exquisite detail in your build .......keep posting images as you go...... Derek

[JimG]

Thanks Derek, it's a slow job but getting there. I'll try to show as many pictures as I can for you.

Jim

[JimG]

One of the last pieces of work on the wheelhouse was to fit the doors. Thin ply was used to laminate the top and bottom mounts and once painted these were used to fit a door each side. The port side ended up non sliding due to a bit too much glue. The starboard side was OK and still slides although it will normally be left open to allow you to see into the wheelhouse better.

Jim

[JimG]

An important job to be done before fitting the roof to the wheelhouse was to add some lighting.
I had previously bought 2 LED lights which have 16 surface mount LEDs set up as 4 sets of 4 in series, this is intended to be powered by a 3s LiPo so each will be 3V (no resisters on board). The lights are mounted on an aluminium disc allowing each LED to be cut off and trimmed to size. Thin wires could then be easily soldered to give individual lights. (I have found that an easy way to test them after soldering is to use the resistance setting on a multimeter. This gives just enough voltage to allow the LED to glow.)
One was mounted under the cross bar in the wheelhouse, I had used wood with a channel  for this so the wires can run through the channel out of view. To bring the wires down to the floor then through this a section of alloy tubing was used with the wires run through this. This way the bare wires will not show.
I then added an LED for each navigation light then fitted lights under the boat deck extentions and under the bridge wings. These will light the deck on each side.
The wires from the lights will need to be connected together to complete the lighting circuits and I am thinking of using some veroboard to allow this.

Jim

[JimG]

I found a piece of what I think is prototyping board as it doesn't just have the parallel traces of normal veroboard, it does however allow for a common neutral on both sides of the board. The LEDs presently fitted have been connected to the board with at present three separate circuits. Once all lights are fitted there will probably be 5 or 6 circuits, each separately switched on the positive lines.
I am using a 2 cell 2200mAh NimH battery and this is giving around 47mA for the 9 LEDs fitted. This will probably double once all of the lights are fitted and all are lit.

Jim

[JimG]

With the wheelhouse interior nearly complete it's now time to get on with the flying bridge so this will be ready to fit when needed. The original ply part had warped so I used plasticard for the wheel house roof with the printed ply "planked " deck glued on top.
There are quite a few 3 hole stanchions round the bridge so a jig was needed to keep the rails the same. The jig was made from 1/4 inch ply with some small nails fitted to hold the wire in place when bending. The wire provided bends easily but is not long enough so the rails had to be made in 2 pieces, joining in the centre of one of the stanchions. Once 2 sets of rails were made (the upper rail is rope not wire) the stanchions and rails could be fitted to the deck, care was needed to keep the  stanchions straight as they bend easily being made of white metal.
Once these were all fitted the upper rail was added from some heavy thread and they could all be painted. At this stage the binnacle , voice pipe and telegraphs were fitted. The wheel will have to wait till the bridge is fitted to the wheelhouse as there is a rod link between it and the wheel in the wheelhouse.

Jim

[JimG]

There were a couple more details to add inside the wheelhouse before the roof and flying bridge could be fitted.
There is a signal flag locker mounted to the rear beside the table. I decided to try a 3D print for this to reduce the amount of work needed in producing the multiple boxes for the flags. The design didn't take that long to draw up in the simple CAD program I use, this was then then converted to the correct format and sent to the printer. It was printed in 0.1mm layers to give the best quality so took a lot longer to print than design. Once printed it could be painted to represent wood before fitting.
The last step was to produce a suitable radio transceiver and this was based on a design found by googling. This was made from part of a spare resin casting with a few details added then painted before fitting.

Jim

[JimG]

Before gluing the flying bridge deck to the wheelhouse the weather cloths had to fixed onto the rails. For this a length of white solartex was provided. This was trimmed to width to fit the  rails( It only goes up to the middle rail not the full height. It was then time for work with a needle and thread to lash it to the rail. (This is where you find out that it would have been easier if this was done before fitting the binnacle etc.  ) Once fully fitted a  heat gun was carefully used to slightly shrink the tex to remove slackness before painting.
The deck could then be glued on top of the wheelhouse and the wheel added  after adding a length of wire down to link with wheel stand in the wheelhouse.
It was now time to make up and fit the stairs from the boat deck to the flying bridge. This is provised as cast metal sides which needed the steps made and fitted. The steps were cut from thin ply making sure that they were all the same width before gluing in place. After painting the steps could then be fitted in place, handrails still have to be fitted.
Up till now I have been using the model plane stand to hold the boat so it is time to make a suitable boat stand which could be used to carry the completed model. I used some 40mm thick high density foam sheet for the uprights as it was easily cut to shape to fit the hull yet stiff enough to hold the weight. (The original weight was as packing for a motorcycle battery sent through the post.) The base is from mahogany strip I was given several years ago. (This was scrap wood from Miller's boatyard in St Monans in Fife so has a good boatbuilding history.) Straps were fitted to the base for carrying.

Jim

[JimG]

The handrails for the stairs to the flying bridge were carefully bent from the wire provided then fitted and painted.
The tow hook assembly comes as 5 metal castings, these were first cleaned up and suitable holes drilled for bolts to hold them together. I used a mixture of 8BA, 10BA and 12BA for this. After priming then spraying matt black the parts were bolted together.
Before fitting the tow hook to the superstructure I cut out most of the bottom of the bunker hatch, this will be the access hatch for the switches for the lighting. The hook assembly is glued and bolted to the superstructure for extra strength although the white metal will not be strong enough for serious towing.

Jim

[JimG]

The ESC and Rx were mounted and wired up ready for use. These are held in place with Velcro. The current rating for the ESC is much larger than needed but it is easily programmed using a programming box and gives good slow speed running, down to around 50rpm.
A ply plate was fitted to the hull bottom, this will keep the weight of the ballast off of the hull bottom which is not flat.. The main ballast is an old motorcycle battery and an old 7Ah gel cell. Both are near dead and no use for providing power but do provide a lot of weight. The actual power is an 8Ah 3s lipo (I have 2 of these so may have both in parallel giving 16Ah in total, should have a good long run time).

Jim

[JimG]

The open bunker hatch needed to be covered so planks were cut and fitted to represent the removeable hatch cover. Two square strip stiffeners were added to the underside for strength. To hold the cover in place I used some Neodymium magnets, these stick on magnets are only 1mm thick but have a 50g pull so hold the cover securely.
To switch the lights I used a dip switch with 6 switches, this was removed from the circuit board of an old modem (now totally obsolete). As the LEDs I am using don't take much of a current the switch should cope. I have used a dip switch before to switch grain of wheat bulbs on a Smit Nederland used for 24 hour running where the lights were on for around 9 hours at a time. Once the switch was soldered to a piece of board and wires attached it was mounted under the bunker hatch. I am using a 2 cell NimH to power the lights and this was mounted with the small magnets in front of the hatch. This allows the battery to be removed and replaced through the hatch without having to remove the whole superstructure.
At the moment I have 3 separate lighting circuits, navigation lights, deck lighting and wheelhouse. The towing lights and accommodation lights will be switched separately.

Jim

[JimG]

Adding a bit more of the scale detail to the rear deck today. The steering chains were made up and then fitted. A bit of a fiddly job getting the linkage behind the bulwark supports and through the pulleys.
The stern grating could now be added, this is from two layers of thin ply with moulded metal gratings added.
The final job is to fit the cover plates over where the steering chains would have run to the steering engine at the rear of the superstructure.

Jim

[derekwarner]

Hullo Jim...I have been following this thread since day one..... ....

Something puzzle's me with the steering quadrant and the chain engagement as shown....is the chain not designed to be fixed and secured to the quadrant in the mid-ships or straight ahead position?.......as any slackness in the chain due to corrosion and stretch would cause the chain to fall from the quadrant and a loss of steerage

This fixing of the chain on the centre of the quadrant would then cause a different line of arc and cordal length to each port & stdb pulley as the fixed point reached the extremity of movement

Will you be using this chain for actual rudder movement or just simulating the floating chain above deck? ....

The reason I ask this, is that I intend to use a prototypical chain driven rudder in my paddle wheeler build and have been considering all of the consequences...so whilst it is totally different, I have added an image of my planned rudder build as the geometry 'with the fixed point' is essentially the same...... 

With the addition of the fixed point allows for the chain to naturally fall slack, and does not rely on a taught chain or a potentially troublesome chain tensioner......Derek

[JimG]

Hi Derek, as far as I can tell the chain linkage is as shown in the photo. What is missing however is the heavy duty spring in the solid rod part of the linkage. This would keep the chain tensioned in use. The spring is not included in the metal parts and as I don't have one suitable I didn't include it. Also the spring is of square cross section so harder to represent in model size.
The linkage is fixed and the quadrant does not attach to the actual rudder linkage. I had thought of making it working but decided that it would be too fragile.
I have found a couple of photos showing the spring on a couple of old steam tugs, unfortunately the quadrants are hidden away under the stern gratings.

Jim

[derekwarner]

Thanks for the image of the rudder steering chain to wire tensioner Jim.....I have read about such components in steering systems but had never seen such an item

I suppose where I was coming from was the rudder steering quadrant & chain attachment that is depicted in vessels such as the VIC32........or steam drifters ... Derek

[Mark T]

Seeing the steering system on this build it has made me wonder how hard it must have been for the engineers building the real thing.  Skills I doubt that are even rarer now!


Lovely build Jim keep it coming 

[JimG]

Thanks Mark,
things have slowed down a bit now but I am trying to get a bit done every week.

Jim

[JimG]

The next step was to make and fit the rear towing bow. The end sockets have already been fitted to the bulwarks so only the bow itself needs made. The first step was to bend up the two supports from 1.5mm brass rod. These were first painted then fitted to the deck. The bow is made from 2 layers, first a strip of 1.4mm ply then a second slightly narrower strip of 1mm plasticard. The instructions say to cut the ply strip across the outer grain of the ply to give more flex but I found that it was too easily broken so I cut it with the grain along the strip. This does put more strain on the end joints but is stronger overall.
I took the opportunity to check for the positioning of the ballast inside the hull. The home test tank was filled up to the overflow and the hull floated. The ballast could then be fitted and the correct position marked to allow it to float level. It is still slightly light and floats with the waterline above the water but looks OK like this.
Th power batteries fit in the rear of the hull beside the propshaft. These are two 8Ah 3s lipos which will be connected in parallel and should give a good running time.

Jim

[JimG]

The final ballast was weighed and turned out to be around 10.5kg .
The next step was to add a bit more light to the rear. An LED was fitted inside the spotlight before the lens and cover was fitted. The thin enamelled copper wire I am using to wire up the LEDs gave a good representation of flexible wires when twisted together and painted. The spotlight was then mounted on its upright with a 12BA bolt and fitted to the rear rail on the boat deck. The spotlight is portable and the full sized version could be moved to the front of the bridge where there were sockets for the upright and the wires.
Another LED was then fitted under the engine room cover facing downwards. 3mm Depron sheet was then used to block off the light from the inside of the hull with only the engine room hatches being lit. This light goes on with the navigation lights and is separate to the accommodation lighting.

Jim

[JimG]

On to start work on the masts, these are quite a prominent part of the model. They are made from wood dowel provided which has to be tapered. The wires for the navigation lights will have to be laid in grooves carved in the mast but as the mast is painted these can be easily hidden.
I started with the rear mast as this has a rigid strut to the funnel so is less reliant on rigging. The rear mast is in two parts fitted together like the upper and lower masts on a tall ship. The lower mast was thick enough and stiff enough to taper in the lathe. It was turned in steps which could then be fair-ed together with sandpaper while turning. The upper mast proved to be a softer wood which flexed too much for turning so had to be tapered by planing then sanding.
Once shaped the metal mast fittings could be added and the LED for the navigation light fitted before the light casing could be mounted. The wires were laid in a groove which was filled before painting.
The mast is mounted through the deck and is braced with two printed 90 degree braces. Once the brace is fitted between the mast and the funnel it becomes quite rigid and shouldn't  be easily knocked out of line.

Jim

[JimG]

I've been having a bit of a break from building but time to get back at work.
The rear mast has now been rigged and the gaff fitted. I have to confess that the gaff should be tapered but mine is straight. Rather than spend time tapering a section of dowel I have used a piece of carbon fibre tubing. The pulley I am using for the ensign on the gaff is rather historical. It is one that I was given by a clubmate and originally came from the modelmaking workshop at the Caledon shipyard. I am using this as the white metal blocks provided are rather crude.
The fore mast was made from the dowel provided, first turned in steps on the lathe then sanded to a smooth taper. The taper is set by the cast mounts for the navigation lights. Two grooves had to be cut into the mast for the wires for the lights, keeping the  ve and -Ve wires separate. Once the lights were fitted these grooves were filled and sanded before painting. The metal bell and a pair of cleats were fitted lower down the mast before painting.
The mast was then fitted in place, again a couple of printed braces were added under the deck. The wiring for the lights could then be connected .

Jim

[JimG]

The rigging for the foremast was the next step. The shrouds were easily set up to the flying bridge deck with dummy turnbuckles although the rigging line provided needed colouring black first. The line provided is brown which is OK for rope running rigging but not for the wire rope used as standing rigging. I used some matt black spray paint, sprayed into a poly bag with a length of the line in it, this coloured the line and left it stiffer which helps in setting up the rigging.
The fore stays need to be removeable to allow the superstructure to be removed. Some of you may remember that a neodymium magnet was recessed into the deck at the bow. Two dummy turnbuckles were fitted to a cylindrical magnet using wire soldered to the magnet. ( the magnet comes chrome plated which takes solder well using a touch of Fluxite flux paste) After spraying some line was added to the turnbuckles then with the magnet in place on the deck the stays could be fitted to the mast. The final step at this point was to fit a line from the funnel to the fore mast, this had two more of the Caledon pulleys strapped to it, these will be for the halyards for signal flags.

Jim

[JimG]

The next step was the chimney for the stove in the forward accommodation. This comes up the front of the superstructure and is braced to the front of the main mast.
It is made from 4mm aluminium tubing with some metal castings. The braces to the mast are 1.5mm brass rod.
I have added a not very good photo showing the lights illuminated. The simple camera I use doesn't focus very well at such an overall low light level.

Jim

[JimG]

One of the last of the main jobs is to fit the lifeboats. I have decided not to fit out the interior but just leave them covered as in the instructions.
The boats are provided as glassfibre mouldings so the first step was clean them up before fitting hinges for the rudder. After painting holes were drilled along the top below the rubbing strake and line added to represent the hand ropes. The line had first been painted with white primer which stiffens it to help it hang better, the line is just push fitted then glued in the holes.
A length of 5mm square wood was fitted along the center of the hull top and two eyes glued into the wood. A piece of the solartex provided was used as the cover, this was glued using a modelling iron to the edge of the hull after cutting to shape. The tie down strips were then added and line tied to them to represent the full size. The lifeboat was then glued onto the davit base ready for the rigging to be added later after the cast blocks are detailed. The next step is to complete the starboard boat as well.

Jim