Saturday 30th Oct

Had a good day's sailing yesterday with Velda sailing her Wyeforce Tug and me with my Fiesta, made a few youngsters day with a go on the clubs small boat and member Ron was there and was brave enough to let them have a go with his bigger aircraft carrier !. Something to tell the other kids when they get back to school and maybe write to Father Christmas for a boat of their own !.

Picture of the club boat Paula 111 from a Robbe kit 

A nice first boat to build for a youngster, we are only custodians of this boat to take to the lake in case there are any children hanging over the fence wishing they could sail a boat, so with their parents present we make their day and perhaps gain another future member.

More progress on the boat

Yesterday it was dry and sunny, so it was out in the back with the hull of the boat which had been masked up ready. The inside was masked up as that's going to be fitted out with furniture eventually.

Its a bit of a balancing act isn't it ,getting out with the family whilst the weathers fine and doing some modelling, ie you need the weather to get out to do some spraying but need to keep her indoors happy.

Looks better already with a bit of undercoat, it also shows up any imperfections so you can address those before the top coat, luckily there doesn't seem to be any of those.

Whilst waiting for paint to dry and harden I had a look at the roof section, which was cut to size and the sliding hatch fitted and made to work. 

The flower boxes were placed on to see the effect and the brass hand rails cut to size , that's them behind the flower boxes.

Should look al-right with the four roof vents in between.

Looks long here but once on the water seem to shrink don't they.

Day out Wednesday 27th

Went to Stalybridge yesterday to the Model Shop "Norman Wisenden's" we thought they had closed down in Greenfield where we used to visit them, but we found out from my son the railway modeller that they had only moved to a mill complex in Stalybridge, railways mainly but building materials and paints available.

Check it out here

Went to The Lake afterwards and had lunch and a walk round the lakes with Pepe.

Met a couple of members on the landing stage  Vincent trying out his new Camera and he took this picture of John Goddard's newish boat

and a few pictures of Pepe

Won't bore you with too many !

On the modelling front embellished the front doors of the Narrow Boat have to put some hinges and handles on yet.

Think its a varnish finish going on these.

Places to go in November

Events at Buxton pavilion gardens 

And of course there's the Warwick Model Boat Show 

13th of November !!

Sunday Outing

We had a change of venue yesterday and went to Bury Metro Model Boat Club where my wife is a member and was surprised to see 35-40 members in attendance must have been the good weather brought them all out.

Took a few pictures of boats that stood out to me 

 Water skiing with girl on the back 42 years old the chap said , not  a collectors item now as when he cut her hair which was getting in the way he didn't have any scissors so used his pliers, not to be recommended for fashion though some these days look like they have been to this chap for haircuts

This air boat was very good and very stable the best I've seen !.

And last but not least a young man with a nice model of a pusher tug complete with barge with ambitions to make some more barges to push, nice to see youngsters sailing as they are the clubs of to-morrow aren't they. 

Dropped back to our Etherow Club and the park was packed out, not many sailors on the model boat lake but plenty of yachtsmen on the big lake.

Got a nice surprise when I got home an E-mail from mate Bob with an update on the rails for my Narrow Boat, he'd made flanges for the bottom of the legs.

Nice hey !.

Thanks a million Bob

Rear deck rails

Friday night I took the brass bits and pieces for the rear hand rails round to my mate Bob Abell to solder up for me, my soldering is al-right in the hull out of sight for wiring but on this important item it needed a lot more expertise than I have !. So it was a call for help to Bob and he's not let me down, look at this ! what can I say  but Beautiful and I might have to go as far as saying 

supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

                                                            

They are going to look the Bees Knee's on the boat and a shame to hide them under the seat piece supplied with the kit.

Certainly living up to his name of " Bob The Builder" and I'm waiting to see his next boat build project when he decides what its going to be.

Will show you some of his earlier paddlers in a future blog.

In celebration added this video 

Bits and pieces

Thursday added a bit more to the window frames to make them look a bit more bulky, rather than just flat plastic, so when painted should look better.

Though it doesn't seem that there's much progress on the build I want to do as much as possible on the side panels whilst they are flat as its much easier to work on like this, rather than fiddling on the insides once the superstructure is built. 

The other reason is that while the weather is still nice on the odd days we are trying to get out and about, went to the lake yesterday (Friday) for a bit of lunch at the cafe.

I have made a few flower tubs for on the roof as well (5)

Made of plain and planked plasticard, we bought some different coloured roses from a haberdashery stall in the market though not tried them in the tubs yet, hopefully from a distance they will do the job, not many real flowers will fit in these tubs!.

We did at one time buy ( RJR) our son some packets of flowers from a railway shop but looked very fiddly to put together so don't know if he completed them or what they looked like, perhaps look at that idea if the silk ones don't look right.

Back to the build

After visiting the Blackpool Show I got home and found the Stanchions I bought as 3mm didn't fit the brass rod I'd bought earlier so I've had the fiddly job of drilling and filing the holes to fit all 20 of them ,still that's what modellings all about isn't it.

These are for the roof rails instead of the wooden dowel and little blocks supplied with the kit, just thought it would look smarter and with the brass balls made earlier by my mate Bob the Builder should look the bees knees.

I'd bought some furniture gliders thinking they would be al-right with wooden dowel underneath for roof vents, but as the build progresses I realised they were too big  ( will come in for something no doubt ) so went to the local glass merchants and bought some brass mirror studs for a couple of quid so with a bit of plastic tube and the screws cut down will look more like the size required.

Whilst at  the show I also bought a Graupner smoke unit from "A Model World" stand and it was cheaper than the one I bought for wife's launch two years ago ( £12.50), you don't get that very often these days. At £11.50 it was cheaper than any I'd seen on the net which ranged from £15.50 to £17.50. 

These smoke units are only the size of a BIC pen top so good for just fitting inside the funnel of your boat and connecting to the + and _ of the motor leads puffs to the speed of the motor and the fluid seems to last forever.

Bought 3 lead acid batteries there as well from Model Power at £4.95 each , Maplins price £12.99 !!.

So it was a nice surprise to get some of my list at these good prices and made the trip worthwhile.

Celine Dion - Titanic (LIVE)

Hope this song isn't going to be heard as your next build is launched !

Blackpool Show

Had a good run to Blackpool , don't think the closure of the M56 made any problems to our journey, it only took just over an hour and we fell into a parking place in the car park there. Got everything on my shopping list but the fenders and that's because the chap I'd met at Birchwood wasn't there.

 Will have to phone in my order !.
For the show check Here

 After a couple of hours at the show we dropped down to St Anne's as it was such a nice day and spent the rest of the day there.

 Nice day but not many on the beach.

Couple of youngsters waiting for the strength to fly to Etherow where they've heard  its great feeding.

Big daddy ! a bit out of focus, but he was after seeing me off and got a bit too close.

All in all a good day out.

Thursday 14th

Went to the lake yesterday for a bit of lunch after our Flu jabs, there was the usual Thursday members there Trevor,Garth,Eric, Andy and of course Dave!.

Bob the builder and his two ladies turned up and as we hadn't taken any boats we all had a pleasant walk round the big lake.

They say that dog owners look like their dogs, and look at these hair styles !.

If anyone is wondering where all  the brushes are out of the top box !

I took two broken brushes home and got a couple of new staves at Romily hardware shop, ( its like an Aladdins cave in there) and when we got home I drilled the brush heads out and fitted the new handles, as good as new and all for 98p each, will have to wait to get them back now as its Blackpool show tomorrow. Perhaps Sunday .

Pepe even got a treat in the handware shop, he said no one goes out of here empty handed !!

Days out.

Not done much modelling really ,had a day at the lake on Saturday ( only ones there from the club) and on Sunday wife tidied up our garden ready for the winter.

As you can see very low maintenance garden and wife likes painting the figures and gnomes


 As it was a nice day on Monday we had a nice walk round Debdale park with Pepe and lunch at McDonald's

Took this picture of what I thought was a sculpture of a stag in a bog ,but when I got closer it was only an old tree stump,must have been the angle I first saw it or my vivid imagination !.

Tuesday it was off to LLandudno were the sun was shining and  it was a nice warm breeze

Well that's the update, its the old codgers flu jab to-day and perhaps a visit to Etherow with Pepe !.

Friday 8th

Went to Etherow Country Park yesterday after dinner , not to sail a boat , just to take Pepe round the lakes, dead head the flowers on the landing stage  and have a coffee at the cafe . Met some park friends and had a good chat putting the world to rights.

Have done a bit more on the boat as you can see

Planked the new raised well and top 

And made a couple of hinges out of picture frame hooks for the front hatch,

the square with the hole in is the end panel for the superstructure and the hole is for the two doors into the cabin area.

Dog walking at Debdale

Yesterday Pepe and I went our usual walk round Debdale park and while there took a couple of pictures for you which might be of interest.

First is the Wheels for all, as you can see from the notice on the side its for special needs people to ride and by the looks on their faces they are really enjoying it.

Then we went round the park to the back of the Golf links and looking across the reservoirs you can see the EST Manchester Donkey Centre on the site of the old allotments,so a lot of glass and stuff that had been bulldozed down was still there under the surface which had to been cleared for the safety of the donkeys. 

Click here

 I did 3 years as a volunteer there and helped the handyman Neil to erect all those fences in the paddocks down to the water, a very enjoyable time but was putting more time in there than at home! so thought it was time for a change and that's when I became involved with model boats.

Two of the lovely donkeys at Debdale.

This is all part of "The Donkey Sanctuary" down in Devon

Click here

Why not pay a visit you will enjoy it !

Thought Pepe would be tired out when we got home but not on your life, he just wanted to play.

Lock keys

Not much done on the boat the last couple of days with going out in the last of the sunshine before the winter sets in and of course the shopping. No local shops now so its taking wifey in the car to the supermarket couple of times a week isn't it. Don't do much modelling in the evenings,what with the light and the TV !.

Did manage to make a couple of Lock keys, a bit of brass rod,some squared plastic strut and some Milliput and then painted silver

Raised the sides of the front well , (going to line it with planked plasticard)  and then  put handle on the hatch, will have to make some hinges for that

Intend to make some boat hook rests next as per picture taken from full size boat catalogue, its getting the scale right isn't it, boat hooks shouldn't be too bad.

Day in Buxton

Yesterday we had a day in Buxton, nice and sunny and quite warm for the time of year.

View in the Pavilion Park

There are lots of events on in the park all year round and here are a couple

This next weekend and all this month at Buxton pavilion !.


You can get some nice Autumn walks at this time of year and the changing colours of the foliage in the Goyt valley is great.




Another picture of Pepe just in case you haven't seen him

On the way home we had dinner at "The Fallowdeer" pub,new last year and always kept saying we would try it and after yesterday we are glad we did, nice food and you can sit outside on the patio with the dogs

Its on the roundabout on the Chapel by-pass, and yes that's my shadow in the foreground,what a gorp!.

Be nice on a summer's evening wouldn't it

All windows cut out now

After a dreadful day weather wise yesterday ,finally got all the windows cut out, didn't cut out the middle windows as I intend to have the name and company panel there ( and two less windows to cut out hey)

After a problem using another type of super glue than on the the first side ,I finally got all the plastic inserts fixed as well.

Before and after window inserts.

Just need to cut sides to width and cut ends now and then its on to the window frames.

Finally the rain stopped in the late afternoon and I got round the park with my little hound, a bit soggy everywhere though.

Saturday sailing

Went to the lake yesterday and took the little club boat and it went down very well , (not sunk in that kind of going down !) ,but in the way that it made quite a few little kids day at the park and even a couple of big kids had a go , you never know it might tempt them to get a boat of their own and join us in the club !
The Thursday outing we had resulted in meeting a new member Andy who had recently bought Brian Ds "J" Class yacht "Yankee" and very nice it is too, Black hull and Orange tabs on the sails. (Check out the Club friends link and the club Blog)
The Water scoop is broken again not though vandalism this time but a weak weld , Chris has taken it away to re weld it.

Brass ends for roof and rear handrails

We went to B&Q the other day and checked out the brass rods at 8mm to make the ends for the brass rails on the roof, they wanted £18.50 for a 1 metre length and as I only wanted 6" thought it was too expensive. My wife said why don't you buy something made of brass (What do they know!) and do you know what we found a cabin hook at £7.50 and solid brass !

Women are always more thrifty than men aren't they

So then it was round to my mate Bob and he turned me these nice end balls

And just to prove modellers never throw anything away he made me some trial brackets from the "AZIZ" brass scrap I'd given him at the end of that build last year.

I'd also come up with an idea for rail supports from the inserts in electrical connectors seen here, useful to join  two lengths together as well.

and as they come in all sizes will keep the idea for any later projects

Just waiting to see the construction of the superstructure now to see the scale of things