Bigger version

Just had brought to my notice a very nice Narrow Boat build in "Model Boat" magazine website, much bigger than mine !! goodness knows what ballast it needs its 9ft long Check it out here

Perhaps the chap lives at the side of a canal and goes to the shops in it.

Beautiful boat and looking forward to seeing the interior fitted out.

Bit more done!

After a cool but sunny day at Etherow yesterday had a nice chat with some of the members in attendance and a good sail of Velda's tug and my Micro magic yacht,so not a lot of modelling done so I decided to cover the rear deck hatch with Chequer Plate and let it dry out.

We are off to B&Q and Buxton to-day to give the hound a good walk, I might even see some split pins at B&Q to put RJR's idea to the test for attachments for the top of roof handrails, got to look ahead haven't you or when you get to that point you haven't got the right stuff handy !.

Bought a brass pig the other day but its too big for the tiller arm ornament so tried it here

Bit too big for here even isn't it.

Free to good home !! doesn't eat much.

Windows cut out

Yesterday started to cut out the windows and as a band saw will not cut out holes my mate Bob couldn't help out so it was down to the old fashioned fret saw and craft knife. I remember my father years ago using a fret saw to make pipe racks and such to hang on the wall, The house was full of the stuff ! never thought it would come back to haunt me but there you go, like fashion clothes it all goes full circle.

The first side went quite well and as you can see pretty neat,with the cross bars fitted as well.

And just in case there is anyone out there who as made this model I know that's the wrong side for the front of the boat, its only put there to photograph

I thought I might do a bit of a change from here on and put an insert in the inside of the windows to make them a smoother finish , so out with the plasticard and cut strips just proud of the thickness of the side piece and then sanded down to same thickness

I then decided to make a template of the outer frame and cut all the frames the same size so that they all match 

So far so good will make it a lot easier if it all works out, and all the window frames will be the same size.

Frame to be cut out with template which is the right size as markings on window and then stuck to front of inner lining with Plastic Weld and when dry cut out the openings from the back and finish up to inner lining, clear as mud hey ! it should all come clear in the next blog, The other side frame to cut out yet as well.

Back to the stand !

We had a day at the lake again yesterday, well you have to do if its sunny don't you , those dark winter days are waiting in the wings ready to chill us oldies to the bone.
After dinner I decided to have another look at the stand for the boat ,if you look back at an earlier blog you will see it was quite tall and I decided that you saw that before the boat,so I cut off 2" all round and I think it looks more in scale to the boat

Here is the finished article, Harlequin and canal art all fitted back and ready for a coat of satin varnish spray.

Also the foam strips fitted ( a mouse mat cut into strips and glued on with Evostick )

With the boat sat in I think you will see the cabin better now without the stand in the way,

Looking at the last couple of pictures gives you an idea of the way the coaming projects up to take the cabin section on, and the nice clean workshop I have !! Believe me its not worth the hassle to not keep it this way .

Chihuahua vs Great Dane

Just thought you would like to see this if you like dogs as much as we do !.

Side decks finished

Yesterday finished filling in the gaps between the side decks and the hull , such a good way of the kit plans doing it not much filling to do (and my cutting of course), and no freeing ports like my last few builds, that's a bonus !.

Then finished the rear deck hatch , the two pieces stuck together and the hole for the tiller drilled

Finished the Bow sprite , all fillered and sanded down.

Thought a bit of chequer plate plasticard would look good in the front well so did that to see if it would look right on the boat and thought it was alright so will put some on the rear deck as well when I get round to it.

So now its on to the superstructure , that will slow me down as there are all the windows to cut out and my mate Bob can't help with his Band Saw has they don't cut out holes !! so it will be a bit of sharp craft knife and fret saw job.

Day at the lake

Yesterday went to the lake and during a very heavy down pour we had lunch at The George and then as it started to clear up, watched the friendly bowls competition start, then we went back to the lake and got the boats out, no one else there !.

We made a few kids happy giving them turns each of the small club boat we have taken over from John Davies and lets face it they are the club members of to-morrow and some of us aren't getting any younger.
Took Pepe a walk  round the big  lake whilst Velda sailed her tug ,so it all turned out alright in the end , but its starting to go cool about 4-0 o'clock now , so it was time to pack up, a coffee in the Cafe and then home again after a good day out

More on the hull

Some more on the hull section of the boat

Side pieces were fixed in and then the inside walls were fitted

Now you can see where the cut outs in the formers come in.

The inside walls are higher than the deck to form the coaming

This gives you an idea of the slotting on of the superstructure ( front door section)

Whilst these were drying fitted the servo to Rudder arms,the squared end on the rudder is for fixing the large tiller arm they have on Narrow Boats

Then it was on to the side decks that fitted between the inner deck and the hull 

Now only have to filler between the hull and the deck but as you can see not a big job 

Went to the lake yesterday so not much modelling done, tired out after walking the little beastie round the lakes,thought a small dog now we are getting older but that didn't work out quite as we planned !

Rear Deck fitted

Yesterday, bad weather so it was more modelling.
Rear deck plate with beads in to support the hatch covers

Fitted the rear deck and it went in a lot easier than the front one has it didn't have the angled sides of the front one.

Then it was the turn of the rest of the 8 formers, just a matter of dividing the space between No1 and No8 and then epoxying them in 

Whilst this lot was drying I cut out the rear hatch covers ready to be fitted 

I'm finding that the worries I had at first about the plans not being to scale were unfounded as the instructions and plans together have been very good and someone with very limited modelling skills would find it no problem as a first time kit.

I hope to add a few extras as I progress, we will see !! 

I suppose its not impossible to fit a working top with a cassette dropped in with a commercial load instead of furniture at a later date as I did for my 10 hatch coaster with its different decks, don't know how I do it for the  money !.

These pictures were taken at St Anne's Boaters lake in 2006 and been in the back of my mind all this time, so must have made an impression, nice aren't they!.

Good days sailing

Yesterday was a good days sailing though it did start out a deluge ! though by the time we had had some lunch at the cafe it had cleared up and was great for the rest of the afternoon. Not many members sailing, but plenty of watchers and questioners from the public side of the landing, (the usual "How much" and "How fast") The weather must have put the fair weather sailors off !.

I finally got the rudder gear in so its full steam ahead with the rest of the deck now and whilst waiting for glues to set I've not been slacking, I've made a stand which is needed now the running gear sticks down a bit

Stay posted for the next idea for the stand !

Running gear in

Yesterday went well with the running gear fitted, with such a short prop shaft it didn't take much lining up

As you can see I use cable tidies to secure the motor to the mount, not seen it before but thought if its strong enough to hold stroppy prisoners its going to be strong enough for my purpose and its never let me down use this idea on all my boats. It beats fiddling with screws in a confined space and easily replaceable. The only thing is you've got to plan for it in the build to get a space under the mount !

As you can see I've put in the steering servo mount, didn't use the platform from the kit but went down the road used by Glyn Guest in his review of this kit in Model Boats a few years ago.

The rudder mount went in next and the small  wooden mount was already in the kit, a nice little feature in the kit.

Whilst these items were setting I finished the front well deck ! and see the long view of the boat, No that's not the final ballast inside, only weighted to keep boat flat until I get the rest of the formers in.

All in all a good day's modelling

Bow deck fitted

Yesterday fitted the bow deck which was a bit of a pain as it was cut to 45 degrees and the hull kept springing it out , a big 6v 10amh battery cured that. I used epoxy glue and it was a good job it was the 20 min dry time I used with all the messing about I did. Bulkhead No 1 was next followed by Internal front bulkhead inside bulkhead No1.
The well deck side and front panels were next fitted and went in quite easily.
My Mate Bob did me another job on his lathe, Cut down the 6" prop-shaft to 4" so the running gear would all fit into the rear deck compartment which I hope to fit to-day. What an engineer that " Bob the Builder" is with all the machinery to do any job, no wonder he builds such nice boats

Model Narrow boat video

Found on youtube a nice model that has been built by a real narrow boat owner




Nice model hey, hope mine turns out and sails as well as this

Model Boat Weekend

Had a good boating weekend, with our Etherow regatta on Saturday which was very well attended ,must have been the good weather for a change !. the last two years regattas have been plagued with rain same as a lot of county shows which have had to close for good what with lack of funds and insurance problems,  luckily it hasn't closed us down and we had a good turn out from the public and members.
Then on Sunday it was off to Bury to their " end of season open day" not end of sailing I might add ! then at dinnertime back down to Etherow just in time for the fiesta racing to finish and the free sailing to start,so the rest of the afternoon was sailing our boats with a few good friends.
What a good weekend and all this for What ....10p per day if that.

Bury Metro Waters, if you haven't been before, this is a picture taken on a non-club day of course.

Day out at Prestatyn

Thursday went to Prestatyn with the two younger grandchildren,had a good day flying kites, going on the new kids play area and walks along the beach. What a difference the weather makes doesn't it. Pepe enjoyed it as the children can run faster that I can. What a nice polite couple of children they are, though I say so myself

Couple of cool dudes.

Started a stand for the Narrow Boat yesterday between the shopping and the trip to Etherow for Velda to plant some more flowers ready for the Regatta today.

Lunch out

To show we do other stuff besides model Boats :

Yesterday we went to Chadderton Hall Park and had  a nice lunch ( a hot pot and red cabbage to die for)  and then dropped back to Ashton and gave Pepe his first look round there ( That's him in the picture my mate Bob took of him) and visited  Roundabout toys and got my U/J (I'd thought I had one at home when we visited Birchwood show, it was the wrong size) and some brass rod to go inside some plastic strut to go on top of the Narrow Boat for the hand rails , the wood bead in the kit was too bent and flimsy looking. Its a good idea for rails picked up from Model Slipway kit "Aziz" nice looking rails and completely covered in plastic rod, you will see the effect when I get to that part of the build.