Topic: My build of HMS Solebay.

[colin]

tiller arm was virtually inaccessible after the build and the tiller arm went over on itself.  Much cussing and swearing and nights spent working out how to sort it out.

i have been there also... most of my rudder setups now get two rods, just to be on the safe side... as can be seen in the photo's

i too was a little suspect of your support bean over the cuplings, as mike was... but now i am happy that you will be able to change them just in case you do break a cupling, which it will happen at some time or other, if the props get fouled up, and the motor is strong enough to keep turning, it will dis-join the joints..

now a days i prefer to use plastic bulkheads and support beams insted of wooden deck supports... i guess its just a personal preference..   

you doing a grand job though Paul   

[paul swainson]

Just when I though I was going along well I found my first problem. ( There me thinking I get along OK) When I removed the bonding clamps I found it necessary to check how wide the hull was at the bow and stern because it looked too narrow and there was a small kink in the hull lines.   The check found the measurements did not match the plan.  So I laid out the ship plans and turn the hull upside down and laid it on top of the plans.  Yes my hull lines were wrong, too narrow at the bow from the middle of the  fordeck and from the middle of the aft mid section. The  cause was the bow and stern inserts being too small.   I was able to remove them and then put in the cross beams and the hull came back into shape.  See photos.   So made some new sketches of the stern and bow supports from the plans and the ship.   Will cut out new ones and reshape to fit.  Once I have finshed shaping them I will take photos to show the difference.  Close shave as I was about to cut out the deck sections and they would then be too small to fit.

[Rene]

I'm familiar with the problem with my Dreadnought. I was thinking about it when i just fit the ramin pieces, luckily the glue was still wet, so didn't had to break down everything.
I will keep following your build of the solebay with interest.

Regards,
Rene

[mikearace]

Yes that does happen with thinner warship hulls where at the top of the hull it often bends over onitself inwards a touch which isnt always noticable at first look unless the exact measurements are checked as you have done.  But the good thing is that its nothing that the right size beams wont remedy without any undue stresses placed on the hull.  Nice to see more progress.  Soon be ready for the decks. For me thats the bit when I really feel that I am making progress seeing the sealed in decks and starting the superstructure.

[paul swainson]

Here are to photos of the bow and stern plates new and old, and the templates shown all together. so made new ones to fit.  Will see how I get on with the deck as I cut them out.

[paul swainson]

The decks have been cut out and the rear deck trimmed to fit, can now confirm the position of the cross support beams so that the deck fits nice and square when the deck is layout.   Noticed that the two support lips that have to be bonded to the under side of the Iron deck (rear deck for me) for the main opening and the stern opening will require the support beams to be a bit lower the the hull supports to ensure the deck is flat. (not in he plans and not pointed out.   But when I got to the fore deck problem as the photo shows.  The deck at the bow is too norrow or the hull is too wide. 

Spoke with Deans Marine this morning and explained my Delmer and they advised me that the plan is a guide and can be out by anthing from 10%.   So as I had not bonded the bow support plate in place removed and trimmed it down so that the deck fits with just a very small gap (1mm or so.)   But what I did learn was the when building this boat for other users, you should cut out the decks first and then match the hull to fit the deck when bonding your support beams along the hull sides, bow and stern plates.   That way you will get a fit with out any of the above troubles.  I feel this information should be part of the instructions and added to them by Deans.   What do you think?

[colin]

its a good question Paul....
as the Models that i have built from Deans (Mastif, Furie, Liz Terkol, Inflexible) i have not en counted these problems in those models, of course there is allways slight compensations to be made when fitting any deck, that's why i always cut outside the lines when cutting a deck out, then sand it down to fit the Hull, some people sand the inside of the hull a little more that others, which could give a millimiter difference to the deck size.

mind you non of those models have wooden deck supports or if they did i changed them for plastic.

this also comes down to the modeler him self, the instructions and plan are guide lines, and not a must do..!!
but that's only my opinion    

[Dennis]

Hey Paul, I ran into a simular problem with the mv muirneag when fitting her decks. There was a slight difference from the bow to the stern. A slight tapper, more narrow at the bow. Like Collin mention, I cut the decks out alittle larger to make up the difference. In the end you could not tell. It all look the same. I do this on most of the build, leave it alittle bigger than what you need and sand it back to fit.

[radio joe]

Hi Paul not been on here for a while, good to see you are making progress, re the width of the boat I did see early in my build there was a danger of building in "kinks" in the hull if I relied on the separate formers and cross beams so I cut the deck out first ,making sure the deck line was fair,and used the deck to fit cross beams etc. and fitted the cross beams flush with the deck supports and just notched out where hatch supports cross them, as can be seen in my forth photo.  I have finished my paddle tug now no photos as it was not a Deans, and for now am continuing with my 00 railway which at approx 30 feet long dose take up quite a lot of my hobby room, so with three sizable boats as well as three 1:16 rc tanks I'm running out of room but do hope to build another Deans kit sometime till then I'll keep checking you guys out and wish you and all the other members a merry Christmas and a happy new year.

[paul swainson]

The think I find confusing was that I measured the plans and the beam was 1258mm at the wides point,  When I measured the deck line to line they where 1300 mm so there was plenty of deck space to trim.   I did this for both decks, the only part I did not measure was the bow section 140 mm from the bow to the midsection of the fordeck.  So when I do the next one I will first thing measure the plans and then using tracing paper copy the line.   I will then lay the tracing paper on the deck layout and if the don't match I'll cut them to the larges size, that way I am sure to get a perfect fit.

As fir the cross beams I will use styrene H beams and cut out the rest pints for the Iron deck so they fit in place.   I will use tear drop clamps each side done in clear plastic screwed to these cross beams in the area around the torpedo tubes (out of sight) this should hold down the mid section deck.   I have cut out the rear section and about to position the three cross beams.  The for deck still has the aperture for the bridge and gun decks to be cut out and then fitting of these two cross beams.   Then I will do a water line and balance test.   

I would like to use brass port holes that match the 3mm holes drilled.  The best I have seen so far are 2.7mm glass area with a 3mm entry hole.   These are round from Westborne models.   Does any one now if there is any others around the same size I can use which suits the age of RN ship.    I think this will set off all the port holes on the ship.

[radio joe]

Hi Paul I never found a satifactory brass porthole to fit a 1:96 I have seen the ones you mention fitted to a Deans 1:96 warship but to my mind they just did not look right if you add the width of the flange they just looked too big,  so I just drilled out portholes to 3mm applyed masking tape to the inside and very carefully filled them with clear epoxy If you turn it on it's side and do one side at a time it works quite well,I felt it was better to not draw too much attention to the portholes that would spoil the look of the ship overall.

[karlgalster]

Agreed Joe, I have not found any commercially available port holes that look right at these small scales despite them being beautifully made (and expensive). On my current model (not a Deans Marine) which is a 1:128 warship I have taken the process a stage further and have drilled the 3mm holes (still OK at 1:128) in the fibreglass hull but have made the portholes off model using thin walled brass tube. I have cut lengths of the tube about 2-3 mm long using a razor saw and jig and then glazed them off model using the epoxy resin method. After the hull has been painted the "port holes" are stuck in using carefully applied superglue. Three advantages of this method - the port holes look more convincing than the plain glazed holes; no need to worry about wood deck supports interfering with the glazing process; there is possibly a lesser chance of mucking up the hull side paint work (maybe  ).
On the subject of drawings being just a guideline. I agree perhaps DM should add that information to their build notes. Personally I don't mind this feature of DM kits - it gives us modellers more to think about. 
Robin

[paul swainson]

Thanks guys, will mull over the port hole idea. Back to shed for more work on the hull.  I like Colins idea of the styrene cross beams instead of wood.   I need to check my plastic card as I seem to have the comming missing from the lay outs i have  or maybe I have to cut my own from the surplus sections.  Will report back on the next stage of the build.

[mikearace]

On my Type 81 Tribal Class I took a piece of clear sprue rod from an Airfix Kit (think it was airfix) that was around 2.5mm diameter and cut it off in 2mm pieces with a sharp stanley knife and then inserted and glued them into the portholes.

[paul swainson]

I have found a possible 1/96 scale porthole from Model-dockyward with an o/d of 2.5mm have emailed them asking if the exterior size is 3mm or less, will see what I get back.