Lifeboat Crane.
Hi PDs, as promised here is how to make a modern lifeboat crane. I have to confess I DID use a lathe for some of this build - BUT you don't need to. Where I have turned components you could always use pieces of dowel or plastic rod drilled and use a smaller piece inserted in the hole. The reason for not using handtools only for this one was so that Eddy got it in time to fit to his model of 'Sir William Wallace'.
As no GOOD drawings exist for this prototype I have cobbled together shapes and sizes etc from photos and drawings of the actual crane and other, similar ones.
The first step was to draw the crane arm on card and adjust it until I was happy with the shape and outline. I added a lug so that the arm could be operated, and cut the two sides of the arm out of 1mm plasticard using a Stanley knife and sanded them clean. (pic 007) I then added some eyebolts in the appropriate position on the side of the arm ( having first glued a small square of plastic in place to represent the reinforcing plate) drilling through and bending them over so that they don't work loose later. I then made up some spacers and glued the two halves of the arm together. (pic 010). The front and back of the arm were finished by gluing a piece of 15thou plasticard to the edges of the arm and the neccesary holes for the pivot and push rod were drilled.
Next I made the base frame by cutting out the shape twice in 1mm plastic and then, holding them together with double sided tape drilling the holes for the pivot and cutout in the frame. (pic 012,014,015).
The components for the hydraulic ram were made from a piece of PVC turned to the appropriate size for the pivot, the two brackets for the ram arm attachment point were cut from plasticard, the ram tube is a piece of plastic rod drilled out to - the diameter of the ram itself which is a pice of brass tube with a handrail knob soldered in the end. The ram was coated with solder to give the 'steel' appearance that it should have. (pic 003) and an 8ba nut and bolt with the cheesehead slot turned off on the lathe provided the attachment pin.
I then assembled all the parts and tested it to make sure everything moved smoothly and made a plasticard base and used som 'Plastruct' T section to add a bit of realism to the bottom of the mounting bracket. (pic 002)
The jib end was made from an 8 ba modified nut and bolt and the attachment for the blocks was made from 1mm plasticard. I managed to find a couple of old cast pully blocks and some rigging thread to complete the crane. I only tied the cable in place - by using the previous tips on splicing in this thread you could achieve a much neater result - my only excuse was that I was in a hurry! the finished crane is shown in pics 004 and 005 extended and stowed.
Hope this is of some use to those of you modelling the more modern paddle steamers.
Stuart
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