P.S. Waverley --- My Build

[Tug--Kenny]

I like your portholes, MJ.  I might have a go at this. Mike at Waverley models likes this method of clear epoxy. Seems a bullet proof way keeping the water out. 

I put the purchased versions up against the model and the 8mm ones seem to be correct, so all is well. (didn't buy enough..oh er!). Derek, you're right about sizes. I walked right into this one. Good job I had not drilled out the hole larger. Also, I agree with leakage problems, so it seems prudent to epoxy the holes and fit the brass on the outside

Thanks for the size confirmation, Eddy. Now we know where we are.  I did measure the parts before going on my shopping spree, so they are roughly the same sizes obtained, and don't look too bad on the model.

When I looked this morning, I could see all sorts of errors. I haven't seen her for a week, so it was like viewing it for the first time. I shall be correcting these before I go any further. (light coloured planking on the upper deck indeed !!). Must find some green paint.

Ken


 

[Tug--Kenny]

This web site was sent to me by Pioneer, on the Mayhem site.

It is absolutely brilliant.   A 3D tour of the Waverley.

   http://www.aetours.co.uk/waverley1/

I shall have my work cut out now, as I don't have any more excuses.

Cheers...Ken

[sandystrone]

Got another one for you Ken,

birds eye view of the funnel tops!         Sandy

[Tug--Kenny]

Thank you for the picture, Sandy. Most unusual shot. Much appreciated as I don't expect many people have seen her from this view.

 I've got back into gear and opened up the workshop again. On with the scruffy clothes and radio on with a cup of tea.

Today I thought I would make a trolley for the new boat as she is 62 inches long and could be a bit unwieldy on the way to the lake.

I have acquired a disused child's wheelchair and stripped it down of non essential bits. I then sanded it down and sprayed it brown. I then made a stand for the boat and attached some steel legs to insert in the trolley. This has been painted gold and is drying nicely out in the sun. (101) (102) (103)

This is removable, so the boat can stay on it and the trolley collapses for easy car transporting. My wife says " no matter how much you try to disguise it, it still look like a wheelchair"  Our workshop now looks like a clinic. 

Back in the workshop, I considered the lifeboats and how to make them. I have tried various methods and am running three types of design. (105) (105) (106)

I have opted for the carved out of solid wood version and have produced four. They are carved out inside and benches have been fitted. I then glued some thin veneer around the top outside edge and clamped this to the keel/ end posts. They have been set aside to dry overnight. (108)  Tomorrow I shall sand down the outside keel frame to a modest size.

[Tug--Kenny]

Whoops           We were laughing so much I forgot the pictures.

[Tug--Kenny]

 
the rest of em!!

[Eddy Matthews]

Good to see your back in the swing of things Ken - Hopefully suitably refreshed after your break?

Still looking very good!

Regards
Eddy

[Tug--Kenny]

The four lifeboats are sanded down and seats fitted, so it was out with the undercoat. They dried out nice during the night and filled the flaws quite nicely, so today I applied the top coat (109)

The funnels have three colours so, as the top was black, I decided to keep the original plastic colour here and taped off ready for the other colours. I sprayed the funnel tubes with red oxide and it's drying nicely. (110)

To continue on the paddle boxes, I've decided to re fit the wooden tops to them, as this will bring their height up to deck level. (111) (112)

I shall be fitting edging strips around them to improve their look. Also planned, is to fit a sealed cover under the inside edge to make airtight boxes around the wheels, so if she should heal over, it might help keep her afloat. 

[Tug--Kenny]

                 Details of the Lifeboat construction

The life boats are small enough not to worry about their weight, so I decided not to use Balsa wood. I used a close grain lump of timber about 2" x 2" x 6" and just whittled away until they looked right. The only details I had were the length of the boats from the plans. I'm not sure what the wood was, but having seen the result, I thought I might use a classy piece next time to leave unpainted and show the grain when varnished.

Mind you, I had a ton of chippings on the floor when finished.  The power tools used were unbelievable.

First there was the power saw, followed by the powered fretsaw, to cut the block down to a rough boat type of shape.  The outside was then sanded with a circular sander and smoothed with a powered sanding belt and finished off with a small file and then hand sanded down smooth.

The insides of the lifeboat were then drilled out with a vertical power drill using a 1/4 inch drill all around the inside edge to a variable depth to suit the curvature of the hull. I actually ruined one boat by drilling right through to the outside edge, so it was back to the start for another one. (I wish I'd made a spare when I had to tools set up !!)

This was followed by a modified wood drill (with a flat top) fitted in the power bench drill to gouge out the insides. The piece being held in the hand whilst doing this. The vibrations were quite something, and 'Health and safety' would have been horrified to watch. The wood was quite hard so it stood up to this kind of savage treatment. 

The rough insides were then fettled smoother with a hand held Dremmel sanding drum, and finally smoothed out with sandpaper.

I then made the little bench seats from thin planking wood and glued them in place. The keel was a one piece of three ply, 3.6mm thick which was fret sawed to surround the boats and sanded to ensure a snug wrap around and glued in place. I then glued an edging strip around the bulwarks. When dry the edges were power sanded about 3mm all around the hull to simulate the keel and rudder posts. The tiny gaps were filled with wood filler and sandpapered to a smooth exterior.

The boats were then sealed with red oxide spray a few times, and the top coat of white was gradually sprayed on a little bit at a time during the day so as not to produce any runs. During the gap in production, I was making a plank on frame version. I had cut the frames out and glued them to the keel and was placing a plank on with super glue every hour. These were held in place with little clamps and was very labour intensive. I'm now up to the top level on both sides and looks quite 'boaty' Pictures to follow.

Part two involves fitting the hand held ropes all around the edges and not forgetting the rowlocks and oars. I'll let you know how I get on.

[Tug--Kenny]

It was a nice warm day today, so it called for more painting. I have masked off, and sprayed the funnels. (113)  Also painted again were the lifeboats. These now have a coat of brown on the inside and the outside sprayed white, yet again. (it all adds to the smoothness of the finish)

Further work was done strengthening the paddle boxes. I have secured the lower fins (it’s what I call them) which taper to the hull from the curved sections, by fitting a small length of wood underneath to contact the hull, all epoxied in.

I noticed that there were three little portholes under this section already cut out, so I have re filled them with epoxy car filler. We don’t want windows below the water line now, do we?

The rear cover for the rudder was then covered in veneer to simulate wood planks. This is my first attempt at this caper so it’s good to start on something small. Good job I chose this as the learning curve is quite steep. So much can go wrong. Glue leakage going on the fingers and being transferred back to the veneer’s top surface.  Ugh!!!  No pictures yet.

I am now awaiting potholes and other things, so the building is paused until they arrive.

The parts built so far were then assembled on the model and taken out into the sun for some more movie clips to be made. These will be added together and edited for another ‘You tube’ build

Here are a few stills of the progress so far. (114) (115) (116)

If you can see any mistakes in the design, I would appreciate you telling me now before I start painting the hull and fitting permanent things.

Cheers for now.   Ken

[derekwarner_decoy]

Hi PD's  ......& Ken mentions .....

"I noticed that there were three little portholes under this section already cut out, so I have re filled them with epoxy car filler. We don’t want windows below the water line now, do we?"..

I have looked in the Y2000 & Y2003 Waverley drydocking snaps but cannot see any reference

It is possible that these below water line ports were modeled off the engine condenser sea water suction & discharge which some static models include.... ...........Derek

[mjt60a]

....If you can see any mistakes in the design, I would appreciate you telling me now before I start painting the hull and fitting permanent things....

...before I forget, some pictures that may be of interest;
http://flickr.com/photos/seapigeon/189925377/sizes/o/ - a good view of the whole ship from above...
http://psps1.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/2005.htm - check out the 'drydock' pics!

The model's looking good so I hate to be negative at all....   but....
have you tried fitting the paddlewheels in there lately? the bearing (if that's what I'm looking at in the side view picture) is starting to look a little bit high up inside the paddlebox now that it has the wooden decking on top of it. On the real ship it looks to be about a foot or so above the deck in the engineroom alleyways...   just a thought!

[Tug--Kenny]

Thank you for the info, Derek. I'm sure you're right. I've filled them in as they won't be seen anyway, behind the paddles.

You are also correct, mjt60a, about the bearings location. I thought this when I was doing the surrounds recently. They are a high and look wrong, so they will be corrected. The drawings do not actually show the exact position so they were estimated from the box design. The paddles are awaiting 'Loc tight' to hold the nuts in place, so have not been fitted yet.

I've been to the Waverley site and examined the pictures of her recent repairs. (thanks for telling me about the update .......just not enough time to cover everything!).  My oh my, what a wealth of detail there. Great.

The portholes arrived this morning, so it's back to the dungeon for a gluing session. Also, some oars arrived. These are cheaper to buy than actually sit and make, and they look the part as well.

Cheers...Ken

[sandystrone]

Being a lazy sod, when I make my portholes, I can't be bothered to cut up brass tube so I use brass olives and fill them with clear cast resin before inserting them into a hull.
 You know the type of olives, they are used on compression pipe fittings and can be bought from a plumbers merchant in boxes, separate from the pipe fittings (in different sizes).
Also I don't like the Bondaglass clear cast resin, my model shop sold me a Swedish brand - can't remember the name of it - which was much superior.          Sandy

[Tug--Kenny]

Thank you for all your comments. I do agree with ones about the shaft location. This is indeed a little high, so the bearings were removed and the holes filled in. A new location hole was drilled, along with the matching one the other side. My little pocket Laser came in handy here. These were then fitted with a new set of bearings which were glued in to the new location. (117)

Here you can also see the wood sections that I’ve fitted, to strengthen up the paddle boxes. These are thin 3ply glued on to the existing plastic ones. I then fitted an edging strip from thin timber all the way around the edges to finish it off.

I had acquired 70, 6mm plastic portholes and laid them on a sheet of plastic. I then mixed up some clear epoxy and spoon fed a drop into each hole and left overnight. Two days later, the stuff had not set, so I set about scraping it back out and ruined them, so they are now in the bin. I like you idea about the brass ones, Sandy, so I might pursue this avenue.

While the glue was drying I made a stand assembly for her from thicker 3 ply and glued it all together and left clamped all night. The next day I cut up a mouse mat for the rubber strips and glued these on to the curves to hold the boat without scratching the paintwork.

The paddle boxes were sealed around the edges and sanded down smooth ready for painting.  The hull was also smoothed over and various bumps and gaps were filled and sanded down. (119) (120)