Stern and deck progress. The ribbed decking lifts out to provide access to motors/controls etc and is held in place by self adhesive magnetic strips that hopefully will provide a water tight seal should the deck become wet

Bow detail finished in Halfords Red Primer with paper clip Bow steps

 

.....a bit of work on the deck

Decided to make a jig and router out the freeing ports rather than chain drilling and filing.

The plywood fence was screw clamped to the deckside from underneath with some double sided tape between the ply and deck to prevent any movement when routering.

 

  Sylvie enjoying diving off the new den entrance

Bow thruster fitted and bonded in place with 24hr epoxy cement. 

Having looked at photographs of original vessels in this class in dry dock I located the bow thruster lower in the hull than recommended in the models plans, this had the additional advantage of accommodating the standard length side tubes supplied by Raboeso.

The bow thruster is mounted at 45 degrees to the hull leaning back towards the stern in order to facilitate easy access to the fixing screws and removal for servicing when the deck is in place.

View: looking down from the models bow, note the holes for the anchor ports.

Tip: Warm up the epoxy cement in both tubes on a radiator before squeezing a quantity out and mixing, it will then run easily into any gap/areas before setting

Not sure how effective this is going to be, but I'm using 6mm rubber grommets as mini engine mounts to reduce motor vibration transmitting directly through to the hull.

Basic control layout providing easy access when rear tug floor is removed. Components and wiring diagram from Action Electronics

Aluminum fixing plates will have a thin layer of styrene to prevent circuit board electronics shorting out

Both 1:6 ratio geared main drive motors are fixed to 3mm aluminum sheet using 4mm allen headed stainless steel cap screws.

The grey plastic propshaft oiling pots are superglued in place on the stainless steel propshaft, a 0.5mm oil feed hole is drilled into propshaft.

Aluminum skids are glued, screwed and painted to the hull and kort nozzels making everything rock solid and helping to prevent snagging around the propeller when sailing in shallow water.

 

This shows the aluminum clamp that stop the prop shaft casing revolving in the white plastic support sleeve. 

I'll fillet the hull and aluminum with 24hr epoxy resin and seal any joints where water could ingress with silicon at a later date.

Both props and Kort Nozzels lined up, will secure in position with a dab of epoxy resin

Surprised at how fragile the rudder support is, very soft metal that bends easily, one careless mishap could result in bending the whole rudder/steering assembly. I'm thinking of strengthening this area with a detail like on the Andre-B

In the background are the plastic nozzle and propeller that comes with the Slipway kit. I decided to upgrade the propeller only to find it was about half a mm too big for the nozzle! 

I could have shaved the propeller down in size, but chose instead to remake the nozzle out of aluminum. Sometimes the gods shine down on you, and I was lucky enough to find an offcut of ally tube in my workshop just the right diameter and thickness!

A massive thanks to Alan of SRCMBC for his advice and guidance on RC transmitters. (Now to write my letter to Father Christmas).

Plucked up courage to cut into the hull. Chain drilled then used a dremel to shape the prop holes. Lots of nasty, itchy GRP dust, so hoovered that up quickly!

  
Offered the Prop shaft and propeller up to check clearance when parallel. Note the white plastic prop shaft sleeve, this will be glued in place allowing the prop shaft to be easily renewed if need be.

Finished 5ton Atlas Crane, time to move on to the tug model itself!

A bit more work on the crane, connecting the hydraulic pipes and the expanded metal foot plate

 

Constructing with stainless steel micro nuts and bolts plus watchmaking screws

Silver plated 1.5mm crimp beads off eBay, (99p per 100), make ideal hydraulic hose ends

A bit more work on the jib, very fiddly

Slipway provide a paper template in their instruction book which I guess you are meant to cut out and use to mark the prop shaft hole on the left side of the GRP hull, then turn over and mark out the right side.

I want to keep the instruction book intact, so a quick visit to Staples and two photocopies, (one mirror image), was the order of the day. 

IT'S A FACE!

After cutting out I've positioned and stuck the templates on the hull using a quick spurt of Photomount. I also made a few extra extended marks for reference on the prop shaft holes since these will be slightly larger to account for the prop shaft sleeve mentioned earlier.

I know what you're thinking, when is he actually going to start the 'TUG' build?

Well I make no apologies for taking time out to thoroughly read the excellent Slipway Build manual, 'twice', consult other builders blogs and then reflect upon my approach to the build before actually starting; must be a sign of age, never did this as a kid!

One area of concern is the prop shaft, what if it ever needs replacing and I had bonded it securely to the hull? It could be very messy to remove.

A quick trip to B&Q solved the problem, on the small sections rack they had some plastic tube that provided a nice snug push fit for the propshaft, I'll bond this to the hull. Problem solved and no risk of corrosion from incompatible metals, result!

  
The tug build will start this weekend....just building up, (Dutch) courage to cut into the GRP hull, ha, ha

Quick deviation....the ducklings are getting brave

A Chuck within a chuck, Chuck

Apologies but this is going to sound REALLY 'nerdy' 

On a 1/32 scale model a 1mm error will be 32mm in real life!

Hold that thought for awhile...................OK, let it go

Precision is everything, plus I get to play with the Axminster SX2 Mill.....Nice

Getting into the 'Zone'

Before leaping in and cutting the hull all about I think I'd better get into the 'zone' of fine model-making.

Looking at the Slipway website I really like the look of the Atlas 5 Ton Crane, love the web detailing around the base. I'm going to start making this model first and may ultimately substitute if for the Dutch Courage FK36 Crane. 

My thinking is if it all goes 'Pete Tong' it's not going to be the end of the world.

There's bucket loads of great visual reference on the internet. Some of the best is Volker Landwher's photographs of the Andre-B.

It's kinda given me a dilemma, all the different versions of the Dutch Courage have different bits and layouts I like.

I think I'm going to make my own version that will include details from different vessels, hope this isn't 'model-making heresy'!

Where to start???

Well I guess the sensible thing to do is first construct a cradle for the model.

The edge that will be in contact with the hull I'll cover with a strip of soft exercise mat

OK, I'll come clean, I haven't built a model for over 40 years, and never a RC model, but it's provided the motivation to clean my workshop!!

Here's the Kit, no injection moulded bits like in the Airfix days! What you get is a GRP hull, some cast metal bits, vacuum formed cabin bits, printed sheets of plastic to cut out and assemble parts, a comprehensive set of instructions and two large detail drawings.

Thought I'd create a Blog that charts the building journey of my Slipway Dutch Courage Tug model.

Thanks to Martin of www.westbourne-model.co.uk for supplying the kit and answering numerous questions.