Raf Rescue Launch ST 1502

Raf Rescue boat 1502 this was based in Tocyn Brwyn Pwllheli and was looked after by my Grandfather WJ Gould who was also a coxswain On the Pwllheli lifeboat.

As I dont have a plan of the actual boat but do have a plan of a resuce launch by Barrie Griffin the baisic hull is pretty much the same on all the craft so new upperworks will be assembled freelance so to speak.

ST 1502 was built in Hythe by the British Power Boat Co Ltd in 1942. She saw wartime service in various part of the UK and was armed and fitted out for Air Sea Rescue duties. She came out of RAF service in the mid 1950s and went into private hands to be converted to a pleasure craft. ST 1502 continued to give fine service in this capacity but eventually fell into disrepair and was taken on by the British Military Powerboat Trust in the late 1990s to be restored to her former glory. This task was given to a party of ex-RAF sailors from the Air Sea Rescue & Marine Craft Sections Club, (Hants & Dorset Branch). The project began with the complete strip down of ST 1502 to bare bones. From there, the vessel was rebuilt. ST 1502 was originally built of wood, designed on the hard chine principle with single diagonal mahogany side planking and double diagonal bottom planking, also of mahogany, on frames. The superstructure was fabricated from wood and extended aft from the wheelhouse to the cockpit. The superstructure roof was of Flexopy, covered with canvas and supported by mahogany beams. She was powered by twin Perkins S6M diesels, Meadows gearboxes and direct drive to Nickel Aluminium propellers. Later craft of this kind had a fuel capacity of 130 gallons, a range of 150 miles and could attain a maximum speed of 23 knots, with a continuous cruising speed of 20 knots. By November 2008, ST 1502 had been waterborne for three years and was operational in the Southampton area. In 2009, she was transferred to the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard open to view by the public.


1502-1 by David Jones, on Flickr



Dave

The hull is being built form Balsa wood for lightness but the hull stringers and the actual hull sides will be form light ply 


All the bulkheads prior to being glued to the balsa

P1020473 by David Jones, on Flickr

Glued to the Balsa planks


P1020474 by David Jones, on Flickr

These were all cut from the planks with a scalpel ready to be glued to the keel 

P1020476 by David Jones, on Flickr

P1020477 by David Jones, on Flickr

These were now dry fitted before being secured to my workbench for glueing 

P1020475 by David Jones, on Flickr

P1020478 by David Jones, on Flickr

I then started to glue all the Bulkheads to the keel making sure they were not only level but square as well

P1020478 by David Jones, on Flickr

P1020484 by David Jones, on Flickr

P1020481 by David Jones, on Flickr

P1020485 by David Jones, on Flickr

On the transom I decided to add some strengthner gussets on to it 


P1020483 by David Jones, on Flickr

As I needed some stringers bent to go around the hull a jig was built up using some nails as a former,A Kettle was used to steam the wood for it to bend and was left overnight to dry

52993345_403851300187506_5380004085124562944_n by David Jones, on Flickr

Now me being me decided to skining the lower half of the hull in two parts as on a prior build of an identical hull I struggled to get it done in one piece,well thats my excuse and im sticking to it

 
53259913_2097355207191854_2896879398756024320_n by David Jones, on Flickr


53274882_872363759767135_8314791170177761280_n by David Jones, on Flickr

52893196_262231634695693_1702835789903167488_n by David Jones, on Flickr


52950139_2329427327290047_5672005184864124928_n by David Jones, on Flickr

Top stringers were now stuck to the hull,never will I use balsa bulkheads again due to my clumsy hands !!





53506248_602807213515227_749347668597145600_n by David Jones, on Flickr

Now the fun begins cutting out the front lower hull sides,and I am Now using a new product to myself Mitre bond to stick it togther

53910552_785311298505021_6947491913498886144_n by David Jones, on Flickr

53279169_409671436516616_6253249422633730048_n by David Jones, on Flickr

Very Pleased at the outcome only  bit of filler needed at the bow and stern where I got it slightly wrong,but hey ho what hull doesnt need filler 

Now the deck and Ive added another stinger to strenghten the deck area

53646159_293772621302526_3987129870156038144_n by David Jones, on Flickr

As I need to do the deck a Boat stand was needed so it was out with the profile Guage to get the profile of the Hull so it could be transferred to wood for the stand

53314610_1027234177477649_4983864150309470208_n by David Jones, on Flickr

53361198_959942821062486_1432181278920146944_n by David Jones, on Flickr

53256819_363298474397498_2342388920295096320_n by David Jones, on Flickr

With the stand made attention was then moved to a deck,the hull was placed upside down of a piece of play and scribe'd around to give a deck


53456701_273043733596207_8953092901718458368_n by David Jones, on Flickr

53537466_256654278590270_7865942975799361536_n by David Jones, on Flickr

So this is where we are before the filler work begins

53480593_383748125754415_128744969002287104_n by David Jones, on Flickr

Right then filler work,I use this stuff in work or Top Stop or Easy light these are the best fillers on the market in my opinion far far superior than your Milliput,P38 etc,These are superfine and so so easy to sand

IMG_3082 by David Jones, on Flickr

Having applied some filler it looks a lot more on a pic than actually was put on 

IMG_3083 by David Jones, on Flickr

IMG_3084 by David Jones, on Flickr

IMG_3085 by David Jones, on Flickr

This was rubbed down initially with 80 grit DA discs and then 180 grit

IMG_3086 by David Jones, on Flickr

IMG_3087 by David Jones, on Flickr

IMG_3088 by David Jones, on Flickr

The hull was then coated with laquer to seal the wood then with filler primer ,this will be a good base for painting later on 

IMG_3089 by David Jones, on Flickr

IMG_3090 by David Jones, on Flickr

IMG_3091 by David Jones, on Flickr

IMG_3092 by David Jones, on Flickr

IMG_3093 by David Jones, on Flickr

Right then now the fun begin's with building of the superstructure as I've not got a plan so it is rule in hand lets see it it looks right then measure measure and cut and hope for thee best

Stav,

I deleted the old thread. Something went wrong with your last post.

Barrie

Right then the part I wasnt looking forward to but it cam together quite  well in my opinion....well I would say that

First of all some measuring of the other hull and superstructure to get some idea on cabin heights and lengths etc and I deicided in the end what was pleasing to the eye was right.Must admit looking at pictures it isnt far off to be honest with you 

Guesswork and reworking on one side and it works 

53648548_2115658958547729_4850793754103119872_n by David Jones, on Flickr

Ill let you all decide and let the pics do the talking

 53796561_2254097951309743_3979878801424252928_n by David Jones, on Flickr

53423687_2245681585706575_167842880931495936_n by David Jones, on Flickr


53302305_405572046861367_5772515382459891712_n by David Jones, on Flickr

53826574_346718929288588_5067072325556371456_n by David Jones, on Flickr

Having built the original hull up to primer stage it was decided it was far to small...Well I like all my boats big ha ha.
 
Having been given a load of plans off a good friend of mine I decided to use the Range safety craft hull usinging pans drawn by Vic Smeed...what a BIG MISTAKE...if truth be known I actually started this last year nad gave up on it due to poorly inconsistent crap plans.......Well if Neil on here can not decipher them let alone a master Modeler who is a retired Naval Architec what hope is there for a mere mortal like me.
 
Neil bless his cotton socks decided to come to my rescue and make me some new Bulkheads which were duly made and delivered so today I was feeling brave and got the building board out and started on the framework....on went the transom and frame 1 yeah ha it fits...then 2 and 3 and then things went well I may as well say it TITS UP......with all the bulkheads in the keel it would have looked like a dogs dinner with a s curve in the deck let alone along the keel.
 
As you can well imagine loads of swear words in Welsh and English was said YET AGAIN the ruddy bulkheads were wrong or were they....well in fact they are ish wrong so to speak....the Keel drawing is definatly wrong being around 13mm to low at the bow........frames 5/6 7/8 have all their central slots marked up wrongly a right royal booh booh so a bot of well one hell of a lot of Modeling licence was needed.I had to fix frames 1/2/3 and 4 into place as well as frame 9 ad transom and work out how high or low as the case might be making sure I had a clean line at the keel so the actual hull skins will flow nicely let alone the deck level stringer flows as well,a right royal pig of a job.


I also marked and cut out the bulkhead to gain access to the hull when skinned to fit motors etc.


All the bulkheads have now been glues to the keel using Evostick waterproof wood glue....tomorrow before I glue the stringers to the hull I will infill between the bulkheads to reinforce them as believe you me they will still need to be power sanded to get a decent flow not only at deck level but hul sides and keel level....the plans are that bad.


Pics of where we are now.


How bad is this


  IMG_4162 by David jones, on Flickr


IMG_4163 by David jones, on Flickr



Starting to level the frames out 


IMG_4164 by David jones, on Flickr



Bulkheads cut out


IMG_4165 by David jones, on Flickr



IMG_4167 by David jones, on Flickr



Nice and level


IMG_4168 by David jones, on Flickr



IMG_4170 by David jones, on Flickr




IMG_4172 by David jones, on Flickr



Dave

knowing full well that I cut all the frames exactly to plan...……………………………………...the plans show an appalling discrepancy…………...poor old late vic smeed…………….…..but he must have been sorely distracted or got different plans mixed in with each other to show that amount of distortion...…...
it is worse than I imagined when I cut the frames from the plans...………...not one of the old boys better sets is all I can say.

OMG what a right royal mess this is nad it is simply down to the innacuracy of the plans 100% due to these to say they are PATHETIC is a total understatement.

I decided to remove the hull from the initial building board so I could fix it properly to my bench to stop the skeleton pulling and twisting when the stringers were glued on. Bit rough and ready but hey ho it is level


IMG_4174 by David jones, on Flickr

IMG_4175 by David jones, on Flickr

Yes the keel looks like it has a twist on it but in fact it is an oliptical illusion

IMG_4173 by David jones, on Flickr

Here is the start of the problems a wavey hull stringer

IMG_4176 by David jones, on Flickr

IMG_4177 by David jones, on Flickr

Oh and a frame that is incorrectly drawn drawn in fact to short...ok and easy repair but an unnecessary one

IMG_4178 by David jones, on Flickr

Same on the other side ARGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

IMG_4179 by David jones, on Flickr

Twisty stringer 

IMG_4180 by David jones, on Flickr

IMG_4181 by David jones, on Flickr

I will have no option but to simply bodge this hull by eye to get a flowing hull shape and if I built it like it is it would be the laughing stock of any pond...sorry but my opinion of Vic Smeed is rapidly going down hill OK PK OK be did draw some good plans BUT more and more I hear from fellow modelers who have built a lot more than me are saying exactly the same thing...I know for a fact that some of the the so called Big names in the model boating fraternity think the sun shines out of his derrier but als this is NOT the case.

I might sound as I am being big headed in stating that all the frames etc are correct and the the plan is correct and I am wrong.....Sorry but for a chance and in this instance I am CORRECT.

The Saga will continue warts and all and how I can get around this disaster


Dave

I feel your total frustration Dave......for old vic was regaled  as a saint to many for his basic model plans for beginners, but this by size and construction is not a beginners build nowadays were people like to be spoon fed...……...and I know of one very good builder who thinks as you do that they are very poor in their accuracy……..

he did some good stuff but I remember when I built the Bustler tug at age 12 [which had very good and accurate plans for a build] my school mate built a Moonmist at the same time ……….and his was awful, plan wise for accuracy...……...but a saint he will stand in the parlance of some.

I agree with Neil, this is not good enough! Remembering all the changes in ownership of Model Boats over the years I wonder if the original masters have been lost and Dave's plans are the result of a very poor attempt to reconstruct them.

Barrie

Not at all Barrie the plans used were off a good friend of mine and they have yellowed with age so I presume therefore they are an original set.....i admit this is going to take hours of head scratching to sort out and as I said itr will be a typical no holds barred warts and all build.

Dave

Stavros wrote:

 and as I said itr will be a typical no holds barred warts and all build.

Dave

that's what I like...…….none of this cover up and look what I did first time round with no blunders milarky…………...no one ever learns from that subterfuge……….we all make mistakes...……...i'm proud of mine, 

Neil I call a spade a spade and a shovel a shovel not a lot of people like that at all especially on some forums...I ONLY get riled when someone I KNOW is wrong.............and I AM RIGHT...I will keep going on the hull as it is now a challenge....I suppose the biggest challenge after sorting the hull out will be the superstructure and there are no pans for it ....so ill do what i do best winging it ha ha


Dave

Have you seen this picture of ST 1502??

http://www.rafboats.co.uk/gallery/1502/



Mike

Yes thanks 

Dave

After a lot of head scratching how I was going to fix this mess I came up with as Blackadder said WE HAVE A CUNNING PLAN BALDRICK and i Hope i have cracked it.

How was I going to get out of the mire...well quite simple really dont worry about the stringers not being straight...who sees them anyway !!!!! and Simply fill the gaps from the frames to the hull with some spare plywood or quater by quater ramin.........


Right we now have a stringer that is now pleasing to the eye along the hull


IMG_4196 by David jones, on Flickr

it actually with a bit of thought and inginuity fits the bow at the same point...well thats a result 

IMG_4195 by David jones, on Flickr

IMG_4197 by David jones, on Flickr

Now as in MY opininon frame 1 is incorrect in the sense that the curvature on it compared to frame 2 is like chalk and cheese and would be a right so and so to get ply to bend 3 ways in one go....so I cut up a spare frame...(.sorry Neil but NO way am I building a second) and I will glue this to the stringer when it has been glued to the bow and will give a far better bow flare yet again in MY opinion and wil be far far pleasoing to the eye

IMG_4198 by David jones, on Flickr

IMG_4199 by David jones, on Flickr

Ive left the obeche stringer clamped up overnight as it will take on the hull shape without being steamed...WISH i had used this wood years ago,let alone this Aliphatic glue...it has now got a new fan.

One of the best tools I have bought is a detail sander it is darned marvelous for getting into corners and getting the correct profile on the frames

Dave

i'm disappointed with you my friend...….

what sort of dad are you to leave your daughter on her 6th birthday, to play in your shed...…..


ooops, I forget, I left my daughter on the morning of her birthday to go down to the beach to view the RIVERDANCE  Belfast steamer in her precarious beached state, just down from the Norbreck……….made her wait till she came home from school to open her pressies...……..naughty old dad...………...I understand totally...……..kids are resilient,   

looking good mate.

ER Neil Catherine's Birthday was YESTERDAY and in any case actually I did leave her and went to shed BUT to make her a Play Tray 18x18 with a border with grass on itr so her horses can feed LOL...BUT as I was on official keep in the good books with the daughter I was allowed to 


Dave

stavros wrote:

ER Neil Catherine's Birthday was YESTERDAY and in any case actually I did leave her and went to shed BUT to make her a Play Tray 18x18 with a border with grass on itr so her horses can feed LOL...BUT as I was on official keep in the good books with the daughter I was allowed to 


Dave

ahh bless her...……...there's no better toy that one dad made...……..remember making mine toys and strollers...…….still got them in the loft...……...gets you in the good books too.

Thats quite correct Neil

Well as the bottom stringer had set it was on with the second,as soon as it had party set the hull was removed off the blocks and then reset into the original building block and believe you Me there was a big sigh as it simply went in like a plug so no twisting YEAH HA.

It wa so so pleasing to see that i had managed to get the bow stringers  spot on another bonus.

So now it was time to extend the bow so it would be level with the frame,next was to get the curvature of the deck stringer so out with my flexible thingy to get it right and transferred it to my workbench...a few nails later and it was ready to accept the stringer,this was simply bent by turning on the hot water tap and left to percualte for 10 mins or so and then a run to the shed and bend it around the nails this was done twice....and seeing as my Obeche stringers are not long enough i'll simply but them up with a glued bit behind it to strengthen it.

It was after doing this that Dave  discovered a fundamental error on MY part  ONE of MANY I suppose !!!!!I had not allowed a wide enough cut out in the frames it needed to be 20mm wider both sides...this ill do later as i need also to make slots in the top of the bulkheads to take a deck stringer.

IMG_4204 by David jones, on FlickrIMG_4206 by David jones, on Flickr

IMG_4202 by David jones, on Flickr

IMG_4207 by David jones, on Flickr

IMG_4208 by David jones, on Flickr

IMG_4209 by David jones, on Flickr

Marked out ready to be cut,the pink marks on top of the bulkheads are for the deck stringer

IMG_4212 by David jones, on Flickr

IMG_4214 by David jones, on Flickr

Dave

well rescued matey...…….looks a lot straighter now.

Got a Major health problem at Mo so really struggling got a slipped disc in Neck ruing on my spinal cord so got numb arms and fingers at the mo


Dave

Well we Hope u have a speedy recovery, Take it easy till then, we'll look forward to an update when your up to it and fit.

Best Regards

A

 Oh I know your pain, many years ago I had crush fractures of C6 and L11 & L12 vertebrae have worn a back brace for 25 yrs now and still need to be very careful of my movements.

jeeeze matey, that's bad news...…….i'd suggest bet rest, but withy the two wee ones there'll be none of that...………………...take it easy, and get rest.