What to do now Winter is coming

Hi One & All
 
As I have now finished the Pilot boat and with winter going to start knocking on the door, I started looking for a build that I can do indoors, it has to be small and not make to much mess (need to keep SWMBO happy), I looked at the 12” Beaver Tug http://eezebilt.tk/Beaver.html thinking that I could just pop down to the local copy shop to do the plans, No that was a no starter as he has closed down, so that meant a run of 7.2 miles to Hove or 15.8 miles to Eastbourne just to get them copied that was out of the question, as the next day was Sunday and Monday was a bank holiday and I wanted to get it started ASAP.
 
I have some old free plans in my stock file, may be one of them would be the one, Yes it was as I found the plans for a small tug by Vic Smeed called “Tiddler”, now I have made the before when it first came out so now would be a good time to make her again, yes I could have gone back to my other Pilot boat “Guardsman” and I will.
 
As it turned out I have most of the items that I will need to start her in stock, so Monday afternoon out came the Balser wood and the knife, let work commence.
 
 
Fred

Hi Fred,
I am looking forward to seeing your progress , maybe in a build log.

Martin555.

Hi One & All

When all the pomp and ceremony was over on Monday (19/09/2022) I started cutting out the two half's of the deck and the backbone in 1/8 Balsa.

I then had to glue the deck together and leave over night to dry., the glue that I am using is Aliphatic resin it is good for all type of wood and is supposed to be quick grab and water proof so it says on the label. 

Moving onto Tuesday I fixed the 1/8 Balsa backbone in place and again I left it over night.

Fred

Hi Fred,
I am looking forward to this.

I think this will help with the motivation.

Martin555.

Hi Martin

The one that I need motivation on is the 1/24 scale TID that I have been working on and off,(more off than on) I have had the plans since the early 90s and the wood pack for the last three years.

This is as far I have got 

Hi Fred,
You mean something like this LOL!!

Martin555.

Hi Martin

Seeing that I think I will have to get my 1/72 puffer out of the loft as by now it must have started to look like that.

Hi Fred,
That sounds like a good plan.

You could even have two builds on the go so that when you get a bit fed up with one you could do a bit on the other.
How you will manage to write two build logs as well would be challenging.

Martin555.

Hi Martin

Only two  I have a MMM Lady "T"  - Deans "Robert E Peary" along with the TID tug all on the slipway.

I am going to concentrate on the Lady "T" when every the weather lets me get into the garage, as I have had the hull - fittings and all the paperwork since the 04/06/1998, so I think it is time I made an effort and get her finished. 

Fred

P/S no build log on the Lady "T" or I will never get her finished.

Hi Fred,

You are going to be a busy boy LOL!!

With that amount of boats to build you will need a bigger shipyard.

At least now that winter is on its way lady 'T' will have to wait another year LOL!

Martin555.

Martin

I also forgot the "Guardsman" 

I have waiting in the wings the following  

Kit; Aziz
Hulls; Seaforth Clansman - Seaforth Conqueror - Clyde Puffer  
Restoration; Smit London - HMS Bulldog
Along with any that I have forgotten

God put me on this earth to do so many products, I am so far behind with them, I am never going to die.

Fred

Hi Fred,
With that amount of projects to do I think you had better get an apprentices and train him to continue your good work. LOL!!

Martin555.

Hi One & All

Since my last report on this build I have had to deal with non boat events, September we had  four Birthdays + mine to sort out. thank you to all who sent me good wishes.

Now back to the build.

The ribs are now in place along with one of the stringers, as you can see I have also painted the under deck, ribs and backbone, this is if they ever get wet with any luck the water will not penetrate into the wood.

Fred

 

Hi Fred,
Good to see you are making some progress.
What are the dimensions of this Tug ?

Martin.

Hi Martin

It is Length 20 inches Beam 51/4 inches, just the right size for the back seat of the car.

Fred

Hi Fred,
At least you won't do your back in getting it in and out of the car.

Martin.

Hi One & All

Just a quick update on the TID.
I am in the process of removing the wast balsa wood from the backbone and ribs, it look bad at this moment but with some sandpaper it will look O.K soon.



Fred

Hi Fred,

I have lost track is this the bug TID Tug or the small one.

Martin.

Hi Martin

This is the small one. 2023 will be the 1/24 scale one

Fred

Hi One & All
Things have come to a halt at the moment, all down to a suppler not suppling the parts,
I placed an order with MBB back at the end of September; I emailed him on three occasions and only received one email back saying that it would be in the post that night, I have now put it into the clams dept of PayPal let’s see how that goes.
I then placed the same order with another company and today I was informed that it will be at the end of November before they can send out the items.
So much for the small companies and one well established old company.
As we used to say when I was in retail “It’s not a bad job if it was not for the customers”

Fred

Hi Fred,
It is really annoying It seen that the whole world is going all to pot.
I remember the days when suppliers and shop keepers used to go the extra mile to keep the customers happy and that ensured that the customer would keep coming back.
Now they don't give a sh1t, it is this type of suppliers with this attitude that deserve to go bankrupt and close.

Martin555.

Hi Martin
The thing is MBB was a good suppler, but for some reason he has gone off the boil, it looks as if I am going to have to sort out my local shop for the parts from now on.
Back to the TID build, I have had a look at just how far I can go with the build-up of the hull, so over the next few days I will start fixing all the lower bottom plates to the hull, this way I can still gain access to the hull to fix the motor and shaft, also I will start the build-up the deck housings.
Fred

Hi Fred,
Working on the TID Tug sounds good to me.

Martin555.

Hi Martin

It is only the small one, then if it gets to cold in the garage I just may be able to smuggle it into the house.

Great Fred,
Looking forward to seeing the next update.

Martin555.

Hi One & All
Back to the build, I have started on the plating of the hull bottom, I have cut out the outlet for the shaft and It looks as if I will have to get my local shop to get me the prop shaft and prop, as the shaft that I ordered is wrong I need to get a slim shaft also the prop that I was going to use is also to big,
Fred

Hi Fred,
You don't seem to be having a lot of luck with your model making at the moment.
Hopefully it will get sorted soon and then you will be at full steam ahead.

Martin555.

Hi

Some of it my own problem, looking at the plans I should have worked it out the I would have to use a slim shaft, as for the prop it is one that I had in the spares box, any way it is a four blade 35mm where on the plan it is a three blade 1" prop which makes it about 20/25mm.

Fred

Hi Fred,

Oops ! not to worry I am sure you will sort it out.
Looking forward to your next update.

Martin555.

Hi One & All

Just a quick update on the build so far.

I have now finished the bottom plating and also fitted the battery & motor plate along with a M2 shaft that I had laying around in one of the old box's. the shaft comes with a 20mm four blade prop, just hope tha it works.





The next thing is clean up the work bench.

Fred

She is coming along nicely Fred.

Once you clean off your work bench you wont be able to find anything again. LOL!!

Martin555.

That will be so true. Martin

Hi One and All

O.k my last post was back in November 2022, and with Christmas out of the way I had a look at this build.

As it's a bit on the cold side in the garage I decided to read the write up that came with the plans, now this is were I found out that I had printed the plans off in the wrong size I had printed them off at 50% not at 100%.

Now I see just why the motor - prop would not fit, so I am now going to just make her and put it onto the shelf.

Fred