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LOYAL CLASS FLEET TENDER In-depth Review published in 'Model Boats' March/April/May 1996. Kit is built as the 'LOYAL MODERATOR' and modified to accommodate working lights and working radar. Click on thumbnails to enlarge |
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These fleet tenders were designed by the royal Navy and built by R. Dunston at Thorne Between 1974-76. Most started their naval career in the Royal Navy Auxiliary Service and then transferred to the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. The kit itself is based on the Loyal Moderator as she was in 1980 and is similar to Loyal Mediator and Helper. Many of these vessels have been sold out of the service for use as diving support vessels and oil rig standby service. The kit follows the usual Model Slipway formula of excellent quality fibreglass hull, styrene sheet for deck and superstructure, white metal fittings, running gear - in fact all the parts to build the complete vessel - see Kit Contents. This comes with two sheets of general arrangement plans which are not to scale and a comprehensive book of words to take you through the construction. In this book which it is vital to read, there are exploding or should that be exploded diagrams of the various sub assemblies including the measurements required to make things fit where measurements are critical. Before I start I take the precaution of using a soft pencil to mark the numbers on all the die-cut parts so that when I go mad and pop out a part that I didn't immediately need I can still identify at a later date when I really do need it. HULL: I know it's boring but do yourself a big favour and make your first job building the stand. I used 1/2 inch ply to make the boat stand using the template provided for this purpose. Once built this makes work on the hull a lot easier. The first job is to drill out the hull to take the prop shaft, along with the propshaft support D26. The holes are best drilled undersize and then filed out to an exact fit using a 1/4in rat tail file. Before fitting the shaft in place it is essential to rough up the outside of the tube to give the glue something to grip on. I always fill my shafts with Castrol Multipurpose grease using a small syringe. Now I have been asked why I use this grease - well like most model boaters I don't like waste. I have been using this tin for a long time and reckon there is enough for at least another 50 boats in it. I also put a smear or grease on the rudder shaft which is in one piece with the rudder. I aligned the shaft and used slow setting Araldite to glue shaft and its support in place, I did this by applying a bead of the glue around the end of the shaft and then inserting it into the hole drilled in the shaft boss in the hull- then turned the shaft to spread the glue evenly. At the same time I used the Araldite to hold the shaft support D26 in position. When this had set I poured resin into a well around the shaft which I had packed with a small amount of paper kitchen towel which would hold the resin, add to the strength, and make 100 pc certain that there were no leaks. See Photo 2 for mounting detail.
To totally over-engineer the location of the rudder tube I used a small piece of toilet tissue surrounding the tube in the hull and soaked it in resin and left it to set - so it should stay put for years to come. I held the rudder tube in place while this set using masking tape. When putting the rudder skeg in place I substituted brass for the steel wire as it is softer and easier to file smooth with the white metal. As you can see in Photo 3 I used the ever useful masking tape to hold the skeg and rudder in alignment whilst the glue was setting. The curly thing is the piece of scrap brass that I used as a skeg pin - this was of course trimmed off later.
The inner bulwarks require some smoothing out to give a good finish. The way I do this is using elastic Plastic Padding and finger to spread the stuff around - but beware! Whilst I can get away with this some people get an allergic reaction to the resin - in which case take the precaution of wearing surgical gloves. This filler needs to be thoroughly set, 2-3 days before sanding smooth using 80 grade production paper, then 320 grade wet and dry for the final finish. Photo 4 gives you an idea of the end result.
In this kit there is a die-cut which is a template for the bulwark freeing ports. It is a good idea and naturally I tried to use it to draw around the template directly onto the hull, but found I could not get it to stay where it should be while I did the drawing - so what to do? I used the template and a scalpel to cut the freeing port outlines in masking tape and then placed the tape outlines on the hull. This way you can take a step back to see that all the potential freeing ports are in the right place. I then drilled four holes at the 'corner' of each port and used a keyhole saw to roughly cut out the port. For the final stage I used needle files to remove the fibreglass out to the masking tape. The added advantage of this method is that the tape stops the gel coat flaking off at the edge of the port - see Photo 5.
MOTOR INSTALLATION: Meanwhile down in the bowels it was time to get the engine mounted. The kit includes a vac-formed engine mount suitable for a 550 type electric motor and coupling (Manufacturers Note: motor mount and coupling are no longer included in the kit - these can be ordered direct from SHG Models. Alternatively a mount can be made using a block of wood). I made up a facing plate out of 2mm thick plastic for the motor mount as shown in diagram 1 which uses 3mm Allen headed screws to locate the motor which then rests on the mount. When the motor and shaft were aligned - and to do this it was necessary to sand the bottom of the mount to get the shaft in alignment - I used fine glassfibre mat around the mount and poured on resin which I left to set thoroughly. I also took this opportunity to fix the motor suppressers and cabling, see diagram 2,before putting the motor back in place. To keep out the dirt I then covered the motor assembly with Cling Film from the kitchen while I built the rest of the boat around it.
I used the same method to mount the servo as I have used in most of my fleet, which allows for the removal of the servo by undoing just one plastic screw. I used 2mm thick plastic to make all the parts of the servo mount. First I built a top plate to mount the servo on, see diagram 3. This fits onto a bottom plate (diagram 4) which is cut to suit the size of the Loyal and will enable receiver and radio batteries to be placed either side of the servo to keep all in place. The top plate will fit between the two 1/4in thick strips, and under the top strip at the rear. The front of the top plate is held in place by a 3/32 plastic nut and bolt (plastic does not rust or seize up). These big plastic bolts are available at motor spare shops where they are used as fixings for number places. OK, that's the top bits seen to - now the side plates need to be cut to locate them level in the hull - see diagram 5 for the dimensions that I found worked out right for the Loyal.
Photo 6 shows the finished layout and the clamped deck support strips in place whilst the Araldite is setting. So that the plastic supports don't slide out of place while this is going on I pin them to the hull using 1mm brass wire which can easily be trimmed back and sanded flush to the hull later.
BILGE KEELS: These need a little thought or they can wind up looking a bit drunk. They are in two pieces: the base and the keels themselves. The base D35 needs a line drawn along its length before Supergluing to the hull - both hull and keel base need to be rough sanded to give the glue something to grip on. Care needs to be taken to make sure the keel bases are correctly aligned, and to ensure that they did not wander while the glue was setting I used masking tape to secure them. Now is where the drawn lines come in - I used them to line up the keels on when gluing them in place. I used masking tape to hold the keels in place while the styrene cement was drying, see Photo 7.
ANCHOR RECESSES: The anchor recesses have a template which needs to be transferred to the hull. I measured 100mm from bow either side of the hull and then stuck masking tape over the position of the recesses - drawing round the template onto masking tape is a whole lot easier than trying to draw onto the hull directly. I then drilled each corner after checking they were evenly positioned in the hull (it's a rather large hole to hide if it's in the wrong place). I used my trusty key hole saw to remove the fibreglass. I found that it was easier to saw from inside the hull. There are four anchor recess side plates D63 but only two are marked on the plan - this isn't really a problem as the unmarked parts are right next to the ones that are. The actual recesses are fitted after the deck has been put in place. I made my recesses up with the inner end blanked off with scrap plastic. It is vital to test fit these pieces before committing glue to the parts. I applied poly cement on the end of Part 61 as this rests on the underside of the deck and slow Araldite around the edges of the hull opening before sliding the two recesses into place. When in place the parts protrude from the hull, see Photo 8, and need to be cut back when the glue has thoroughly set. It was inevitable that there were visible joint lines between recess and hull but these can be lost by filing them with Plastic Padding and sanding to dare I say it? - a perfect finish.
DECK: The deck comes in two pieces and the first job I did was to join them and reinforced the joint with scrap plastic cut into strips. I then put all but the front hatch coamings in place as it is easier to get at all the corners before the whole thing goes in the boat. I used nearly a whole tube of polystyrene cement to glue the deck to the deck supports. To ensure that it sat securely in place while drying I put a selection of old fishing weight around the deck. Any gaps between deck and hull I carefully filled with Plastic Padding using a piece of scrap plastic cut so that it would get right into the joint to smooth the filler - this saves much sanding later on. Another wheeze to cut down on the on the sanding - if you are brave - is to use a sharp large bladed scalpel (No.22) to cut off excess filler while it is still green (i.e. not quite set hard). BULWARKS: The bulwark supports should be at 90 degrees to the keel. I did this by setting the hull level using a spirit level. I then marked the positioning of the supports on the bulwark tops - then used an engineer's square and a spirit level to draw vertical lines on the inside of the bulwarks. The plastic supports can then be glued to these lines. Before putting the bulwark capping in place I cropped the bulwark supports down to the top of the hull using side cutters and then sanded perfectly flat and level with the bulwark top - using sandpaper and block. This should be done sanding from inside the hull to the outside or your risk pulling off the newly glued support. If this is not done the capping will be held off the top of the hull and so the glue will not make a good joint. Now is the time to cut out the holes for the doors in the bulwarks. I first drilled the bottom corners and then cut down and then across using a key hole saw. I then used a large flat file to take the hole back to the marks ready moulded in the hull - see Photo 9.
I used masking tape to hold the capping in place while the glue set. When dry I sanded the capping on the inside back to the level of the supports. On the outside I sanded the capping back to the level of the hull and then to get an even overhang all the way around the hull I used .040in x .040in Microstrip glued to the outside of the capping. Now let me introduce you to that well know modelling gremlin 'The Law according to Sod'. It was about this time I heard about the Loyal Moderator being at Chatham and so went to take some pictures. I go to all the trouble of getting neat and straight bulwarks and capping with even overhang either side of the top of the hull and what do I see on the real boat? The real boat has one of the most battered sets of bulwarks I have seen - you could hide a corkscrew behind them and to add insult to injury there is not capping overhang on the outside. Still I don't care I'll leave mine as they are and call it poetic licence - and anyway it looks good now that it's finished. The doors set in the bulwarks were equally battered - and did not fit at all well. I cut out and shaped the doors on the model embellishing them with a 3/16in x 0.5mm brass wire as a central securing bolt and 4 or 5mm of .30in x .125in Microstrip as hinges on each set of doors. I used masking tape to hold the doors in place in the cut-out while the superglue was setting. The capping rail over the doors is in one piece with a hinge at one end simulated by a piece of fuse wire. I lined up this moveable capping rail with the outside edge of the main capping rail - the door capping rail is not as wide as the rest of the capping rail. FREEING PORT: These are relatively large and have a bar across their centre represented by 60mm of 1.5mm wire. I cut these and painted them off the boat as it would be next to impossible to make a good job of this once they were in place. I made up an 8mm thick block of plastic to rest the bars on to make sure they were always set at the right height and parallel to the deck. A drip of superglue put on each end of the bar, place it on the block and then slide it forward till the bar ends and glue touch the bulwark - hold in place until dry and voila - perfection!! This was in fact the last job that I did on the boat to complete it. BOLLARDS: After cleaning the parts but before assembly I used the base plates to sort out their positioning on the deck. When I had got this right I used the holes in the base plates to mark the deck and then drill holes at these marks to accommodate the pins at the base of the bollards horns. This will give good locating points for the bollards and stop them being dislodged with use. DECK BOOM: I used 6mm outside diameter brass tube for the boom rather than the dowel. To enable the fitting of the end swivel I used 10mm lengths of tubing to sleeve down the inside of the boom tube to the right size. At the outer end of the boom are fitted four white metal pieces as shown on Side 1. I looked absolutely everywhere for these - the reason being that in real life they are a lot smaller than is shown on Side 1. The chain shackles come as flat pieces which also had me scrabbling about trying to find them. They are best bent to shape using the shaft of a small screwdriver as a former. To make sure that I bent them in the centre I put each of the ends of flat shackle on a brass block, measured the centre and then pushed down on this with the screwdriver shaft. On the larger pulley block the pulley was too thick so that the block halves did not meet - I thought that they should, I don't know whether this is right or wrong by the way. So to get them to meet I used a scrap plastic packing piece between the block halves to make the block 'solid'. The whole thing is held together at one end by a brass rod pin and at the other end with on of the shackles. It is advisable not to glue the boom support in place until the boom has been mounted on the superstructure. you should aim to get the boom running parallel to the deck - to get this I pushed/pulled the support upright through the deck until it was right. Only then did I superglue it to the base plate - but not gluing the base plate to the deck - this would be done after painting. RIGGING THE DECK BOOM: I hang a weight from the length of thread supplied to pre-stretch it. To attach things like the hook and to generally rig the boom using the black thread I used 1mm of small diameter black shrink wrap insulation to represent wire clamps. I doubled over the thread, then thread on the shrink wrap and when in the right place gave it a touch of heat to shrink the plastic and hold the joint in place. The whole joint can be locked up solid by dripping a drop of thin superglue on the joint. There will always be an excess of thread where tweezers are used to pull the thread into place. This can be removed after the glue has dried using a sharp scalpel to give a neat finish. I discovered this technique about 10 boats ago and have been using it successfully ever since. HATCHES: When making the forehatch I couldn't find part 72 - it is in fact on sheet DC6 but it is not marked - it is the bit set between parts 148 and 66. All hatch parts are made slightly oversize and so need to be trimmed back to fit the coamings - but do not get too tight a fit or they will not fit over the coamings after painting. I actually built mine around the coamings using paper to space them out slightly to allow for painting (the thickness of two sheets of newspaper). There are a lots of hatch downstands; now there is nothing wrong with the parts supplied but I have to admit when building this kit I was in a bit of a hurry and I am basically extremely idle. So to get back to the plot I substituted these parts with Microstrip .030in x .125in to give a quick and tidy result. SUPERSTRUCTURE: The basis of the superstructure is an inner template part 17. I separated all the superstructure parts and dry fitted them to check the assembly - I had to take 1/8 inch off the back of 17 as it was longer than the superstructure side pieces. The outer sides of 17 need to be carefully sanded to match the taper of the hatch coaming - it is as well not to sand them to the exact dimensions of the aft coaming but leave it a little over-size so that when building up the superstructure on the assembled deck part 17 doesn't get inadvertently stuck to the tops of the coaming. For some reason I found that part 39 (the back of the superstructure) was not high enough - so I glued it in place so that it was below the level of the side pieces allowing the superstructure to be between the superstructure sides and resting on the top of part 39. I then glued a strip of scrap plastic to the bottom of part 39 and left it to dry thoroughly - in this case a whole week - so that it could be sanded level with the bottom of the superstructure sides. In Photo 10 you can see the superstructure being built up on the deck. I have used masking tape to hold the corner joints in place while the glue sets. You can also see packing pieces of scrap plastic between the bulwarks and the side of the superstructure holding the superstructure sides upright. Just in front of the superstructure you can see the deck joint which has been filled with Plastic Padding and sanded flat to give (once the paint has been applied) an invisible joint.
In the cause of speed and convenience I substituted parts 95/96 which are the strips around the base of the superstructure with .75mm x 4.8m Microstrip. I usually refer to parts like this as 'bodging strips' that in the past I have used to conceal dubious workmanship and to obtain a good deck superstructure joint. PORTHOLES: These are best drilled out before building up the superstructure. The method I used was to drill the centre of the die-cut circle and then with a Stanley knife made cuts from the circumference to the centre. Then a pencil was pushed into the drilled hole to push the pieces out, so that they could then be eased out with a fingernail. The resulting hole will still need a little cleaning up using a piece of 320 grade production paper rolled into a cylinder to finish the circumference of the porthole - this is important as there are no white metal portholes in this kit, so it has to look right. WHEELHOUSE BULWARKS: The bridge front bulwark needs careful alignment. Do not set it up with the cut-out at the back of the wheelhouse deck - this is too far back, you need to set it up with the front of the wheelhouse deck. I found that I needed to put packing pieces under the navigation light boxes to get them to line up with the cut outs in the bridge bulwarks. That said I suspect this may be due to a cock up on my part in assembling the light boxes. Gluing the bulwarks in place has to be done in two stages I feel. This is demonstrated in Photo 12 and Photo 13. The first stage is to carefully bend the plastic between thumb and forefinger to get a very approximate curve that will follow the edge of the wheelhouse deck - when this is done glue the bulwark to the deck and hold in place with masking tape. The light boxes can now be glued in place. To give added strength to the bulwark it is also a good idea to fit the bulwark supports as well. If you cut the P161 wheelhouse bulwark supports overlong it makes it easier to put them in place. They can be cropped to fit when they are firmly glued in place. When stage 1 is thoroughly dry - and this point is vital - you can move onto stage 2 as shown in photo 13. The edges of the light box and deck have glue applied to them and the bulwark bent round in place. As you can see I have used liberal amounts of masking tape to hold the rear part of the bulwark in place along with a small brass sash clamp to hold it in against the light box - leave for a long time so the glue can set to full strength. This procedure has to be done for both sides. Speaking of these small brass clamps, they are invaluable when making the various boxes that comprise a model boat. I seem to remember I bought them at one of the many shows that have sprung up in recent years - probably from one of the Proops stands! The wheelhouse bulwark capping had to be fitted level with the front of the bridge - all overhang being on the inside or otherwise it would not line up with the Samson post.
LIFERAFTS: I sanded one half of each raft right down to the markings on the forming. The other half I roughly trimmed and ran in some polystyrene cement onto the join mark. Into this I inserted the well trimmed piece, using masking tape to stop it springing out while the glue was drying. While the liferafts are setting it seemed like a good time to make up the liferaft racks. The instructions say to use 370 wire to join the metal pieces together. In my kit I found that the wire was well loose in the side plate holes so to make a proper job of it I drilled out all the white metal parts to 3/32in and used 3/32in outside diameter aluminium tube as a substitute. In front of the liferafts are detachable chain/wires between the railing stanchions and on the model this is represented by white PVC covered wire. This wire is soft and relatively easy to break. The best way I found of approaching the job was to cut the pieces slightly oversized, strip back the plastic and bend the ends around the loops on the stanchions so that the pieces have a slight but even amount of sag to them - trimming off the excess wire with small side cutters once they are in place. FUNNEL: I have to admit that vac-formings are not my favourite items - to me their cutting out and assembly is akin to soot juggling. In my mind everyone has an easier time of it than me, so if I can struggle to get a result then anyone can! The side vents have to be cut out before assembling the funnel. To help to locate one half of the funnel to the other I used pieces of scrap plastic glued along the edge of one half of the funnel to give a guide - it is important to let this set hard in place before attempting to glue the other funnel half in place. To hold the whole thing together while the glue set I used masking tape - see Photo 14 for the assembled funnel.
A lip of material around the base of the funnel makes the location of D13 a bit easier. I put a weight in the base while it was drying so that it didn't sag to one side. When dry the base can then be sanded flat. I threw away part 124 because when I saw the real boats of this class I found that you could see through the funnel. I used loads of Humbrol Model filler on the back joint to the funnel, but eventually I had the funnel sanded so that it looked right, but I suppose the acid test was that after painting you could most definitely not see the joint. To tidy the top of the funnel I sprung in a strip of .75 x 2mm Microstrip. Any small gaps I concealed with filler and then sanded the funnel top down to the level of the strip. This way there were no holes showing and the lip around the funnel was even all round. In Photo 15 you can see that all my careful sanding and preparation still was not enough. After applying Halfords primer filler there were imperfections to the finish that even it couldn't hide. In fact it served to highlight them. Some remedial filling had to be done before blasting the funnel with another coat of primer.
GENERAL: With a boat to this scale I have finally run out of excuses for not making the lights work, and so while building I had to bear in mind where cable runs were to be placed. Before fitting the wheelhouse deck supports I drilled holes in the sides of the superstructure to line up with those drilled in the bases of the navigation light boxes. Careful study of drawings 7 and 8 is needed before drilling the holes for the railing stanchions. The positions need to be marked carefully on the decks. I used a 1.5mm drill and made all the hole centres 2mm from the lip at the superestructure edge. At the front of the superstructure is a small escape hatch. The top of this is part 34. I had built and glued it in place only to find that the balance weight/handle part L352 was too wide or part 34 was too narrow. I solved this by cutting 4mm from the centre of 352. To hold the two halves together I used a 4mm length of brass tube as a sleeve superglued in place. Here is a good a place as any to mention the way I deal with all the sub assemblies which I make up. The individual pieces are assembled on pieces of scrap ply that I keep for the purpose so that I can set them aside to dry while I move on to the next piece of work. When the glue is dried and the part sanded I store them away out of harm in the clear plastic containers that are the packaging for Ferrero Rocher chocolates - I find these indispensable - the boxes I mean, although the chocolates aren't bad either come to think of it. All my friends and acquaintances are now well trained and provide a regular supply of these boxes, with a bumper crop arriving at Christmas - if I'm lucky with the chocolates still in them. WHEELHOUSE: It's a good idea here to cut out all the parts, then lay them out and check that they all align with the base. I found that I had to shave a little off the base to get the correct fit. In Photo 16 I have laid out the simple tools that are needed to cut out the windows and doorways in the wheelhouse. All the openings are die cut and the method that I use is to drill a hole at the corner of each opening and then cut the centre out of the opening using a keyhole saw to join up the drilled holes. I then use the big and extremely sharp craft knife (on the right) to score the die-cutting and at each corner run I cut from the radius of the corner inwards. The remaining centre material can then be pushed out and final trimming done with a fine scalpel. The insides of the openings can then be finished with 320 production paper and diamond files.
All the windows both here and in the superstructure have round edges. To get a consistent finish I used a round pencil of the correct radius (or a file of the correct dimension) and stuck a strip of 320 grade production paper to it with double-sided tape. Part D11 is a former for the front of the wheelhouse and is marked ambiguously on sheet DC2 - it is the small angled piece that is attached to the front of D10 - this is obvious when thought out logically but could confuse the unwary. I found it easier to glue D11 to the bridge front D52 angling it up slightly as the bridge front slopes backwards. This must be left to dry thoroughly before sanding the wing pieces to size. In Photo 17 you can see how I have laid the wheelhouse base on a flat surface and I am gluing the rear in place. The rear panel is held at 90 degrees to the deck using brass blocks.
All the parts for the bridge are die-cut slightly oversize and have to be sanded to fit. This is best done by assembling alternate panels, then let them dry thoroughly. To fit the remaining panels the fitted panels need to be sanded to provide a flat surface to glue the remaining panels to. I found it vital to check the workmanship by using the roof panel D10 as a definitive template before finally gluing the wheelhouse panels together. It is a lot easier to do than to write about - honestly. Perhaps Photo 18 will help. In this you can see that I have assembled the rear of the wheelhouse and the front panel is in place - this is angled back and held by masking tape while the glue sets - how many times have I said that? But it is a system that works, and works well so I'm not going to knock it. You can see that the angled panels are not yet in place.
The wheelhouse is double skinned, the inner pieces make up the inner window frame. When fitting these pieces in place it is vital to check that the inner windows line up evenly with the outer window frames - some sanding of edges will be needed. The inner panel of the wheelhouse doors should fit into the door frame and this should be checked before gluing it to the outer skin of the door and sanded if needed. I didn't and of course the damned things did not fit, so what should have been a simple sanding job got to be a bit more complicated. LADDERS: I find these a bit of a fiddle, I must admit that I like my ladders ready made from white metal. The sides of the ladders are plastic and are best drilled at the marks with a 1.6mm drill before they are cut out of the plastic sheet. I cut the lengths of wire for the rungs using a slitting disc and then I stole an idea from a review in - dare I say it - another model boat magazine - which of course will have to remain nameless. I cut out a template 18mm wide from plastic scrap and used this to make sure the sides of the ladders stayed parallel and laid the ladders on a flat surface to set. When dry I filed the sides of the ladders smooth, except for the top and bottom rungs which need to stick out to take the locating lugs P210. WHEELHOUSE ROOF: Photo 20 shows a weight in the middle of the roof to keep it flat and stop it from sliding about. The surrounds are glued in place and held at 90 degrees to the roof with the metal blocks. As with the wheelhouse itself I have left the angle pieces until last.
When the rest of the parts are set I ran a large sanding block across the ends where the angle pieces were to go to give a flat surface for them to be glued to. The angle pieces are oversize but I find it best to glue them as they are and sand off the excess when they are n place to hopefully give an invisible joint. After gluing the surrounds in place I sanded all the bottom corners to 45 degree angle so that when parts D58 are glued in place they all stick out over the wheelhouse at the same angle. When drilling the holes for the railings, although all the dimensions are shown on drawing 8 it is essential that you check that there is room for the likes of the radar and the radio aerial when the stanchions are in place. I found out to my cost that in some case it was too tight a fit and so the holes had to be redrilled and the old ones filled in - all part of the joys of modelling. RAILINGS:It is advisable to drill out the holes in the stanchions with a 1.6mm drill to clear any obstructions. This makes life easier when threading the wire through them later. I also run the 1.6mm drill through the top U-section of each stanchion to make sure that it will give a good seat to the top railing wire. Once the top rail had been firmly glued in place I used a fine file to blend in the white metal with the wire of the rail and give it a tidy finish. One last note on the railing: a drunken railing is an irritant for life, so spend time getting them right, your patience will be rewarded. Hung on the rails are the lifebelts. In the plans these are shown as two facing inboard and two facing outboard. On the real Moderator they all face inboard and so this is the pattern that I followed. MAST AND RADAR TABERNACLES:I found it easier to drill all the marked holes in this before cutting the parts out from the styrene sheet. L331 the funnel mast rest is missed off drawing 1 , for some reason I fitted this to the radar tabernacle over P228! It is however clearly shown on the side elevation 1. I have no excuse here except complete idiocy - and did not realise what I had done until I had finished painting. So it was cap in hand to Model Slipway and after telling them my sorry tale I was sent an additional L331 by return of post - thanks chaps, that's what I call service. As I wanted to make the radar work I replaced the 6mm dowel with 6mm brass tube. I also made a base for he unit with a 6mm hole for the tube to fit into because unlike in the kit my boat would not be able to fold down its radar as it would have a drive rod up though its centre. I set the tube to protrude 1mm out from the base so that it will locate securely into the wheelhouse roof. To align the radar drive I placed Blu Tack on the deck of the wheelhouse and then put the roof and the dry fitted radar assembly in place. From my vast collection of stuff that might be useful one day I found a piece of rod that fitted nicely inside the 6mm tube, slid it down till it went into the Blu Tack. This marked where the radar drive will come through the deck and so I drilled a small pilot hole. I enlarged the hole so that it would take 10mm x 5/32in outside diameter brass tube which would act as a guide for the radar drive rod. To ensure that the wheelhouse was correctly placed on the superstructure deck I used a small bulldog clip to hold wheelhouse to the deck using the hole cut in each for the stairwell. This acted as a guide to line up the two parts and to act as a point to attach the clip. I purchased a small motor and gearbox powered by 1.5 volts for a realistic turn of speed for a radar. The output shaft has a brass cog which has to be cut off. Joining the output shaft to the drive rod can be done by taking a single small electrical choc-block and stripping off the insulation. This fits snugly over the output shaft and can be made to fit the drive rod by putting a single turn of insulation tape over the end to fatten it up to the right size. See Photo 22 to see how the mounting plate for the motor is fitted under the superstructure. Note the side plates that stop the motor turning in its mounting - the motor is unsecured and just slots into place. It is worth mentioning here about motor suppression - not only for the main drive motor but for this one as well. See Photo 23 which shows the capacitors neatly soldered in place along with the wires to the power source.
MAST: The cross tree underside plats are made of plastic and need to have small holes drilled in them where marked and this is best done before cutting the parts out and definitely before they are glued to the mast. The instructions say that the cross piece should be a 52mm length of part 370 wire. At this length the cross piece does not go to the ends of the underside plates - I assumed that it should - the wire should in my estimation be cut to 65mm. It is worth mentioning here that the ends of wire in an application like this should always be filed off flat - it looks much tidier. The mast and navigation lights share the same white metal fitting and if these are to be used as the casing for working lights they need to be modified. This is done by filing out the white metal lens which is a bit of a fag but it is the only safe way of getting the desired result. These lights are mounted in pairs so to allow the wiring to run from one to another the top of the bottom lamp fitting has to be filed out to make room for the wiring. Photo 24 shows the mast and the lighting in place.
I used computer jumper wire for all the lighting - and found that if I used a pair of wires per bulb all the wire would not fit up the brass tube that I replaced the supplied mast dowel with. So to get round this I wired the grain of wheat bulbs in pairs as can be seen in the lower pair on the mast - cunningly arranged so that they line up with the light openings. The top pair have the lamp covers in place. I found that I had to do a bit of judicious filling and filing to get a good finish to the lamps. Finding clear curved plastic to make the new light lenses was a bit of a problem. I finally solved it by buying some 12mm outside diameter clear plastic tube from Thorp Modelmakers. When sectioned off and then cut in half it makes a very slightly over size lens but nonetheless looks the part. When finally gluing these lenses in place I used a little UHU on the base of each lens. This holds the lens in place, but will allow its removal if needed so that I can get at the bulbs and wiring. On the real Moderator the mast rigging has blocks at the top of the mast and a continuous loop for raising flags. To simulate this I used some light thread with the join hidden in a piece of shrink wrap insulation. Once the Superglue on this joint has set, the ends of the thread sticking out from the insulation can be carefully cut off. The shrink wrap can then be hauled to the top of the mast to represent rigging blocks. On part 203 at the tope of the mast is a hole and on the photos I took of the real Moderator there appears to be a pair of back stays secured to the deck - these do not appear anywhere in the instructions. I represented these with black Amati rigging thread through the hole on 203 and then held together with a small piece of shrink wrap insulation at the top going down to two black brass loops set in the deck. Care should be taken in the placing of these loops so that the stays do not foul the radar.
LIGHTING: As I wanted to make the lights work, when it came to the lamp mounts using parts 215-217 I assembled an extra set of 217 which are the parts that fit between the superstructure and the lamp mounting plate. So instead of having a single central part 217 I had two either side of the base plate. This would allow me to run the wiring between them without being seen. If you look at drawing 10 in the instructions this specifies 2x 217 per mount but there are only half the number on the sheet - Oops! To get lighting into the bulkhead lights I drilled out the lamps from the back. To do this I put the white metal lamp in a small engineer's vice and used my Dremmel drill in its stand to drill in using a 1/8in drill (this allows the grain of wheat bulbs that I had to be inserted into the fitting) setting the depth gauge on the drill stand so that I did not drill through the wire protection that is on the front of the lamp - a ticklish procedure this. To lubricate the drill I used a little WD40 - truly marvellous stuff this, but not so good for painting - so all the parts so treated need to be dunked in thinners to remove the lubricant or no paint will stick to it. See photo 25 to see the detail of drilling out the lights.
The deck spotlights were drilled at the centres to take the bulb and drilled at the rear with a 5/64in drill for the wiring but in the event I did not make these working as I could not find a way to hide the wiring to my satisfaction. So this left me with two lots of wiring to hide. All the wiring from the mast came down through the base of the tabernacle and then ran under the wheelhouse roof. The bulkhead light over the wheelhouse door ran across the underside of the wheelhouse roof to the centre where they turned and ran to the back. To hide this wiring I made a shallow box section and glued it to the underside of the wheelhouse roof to both hold up and hide the wiring which then ran through a cut out in the top of the back panel of the wheelhouse, and then down through the funnel to a connecting block mounted on the underside of the superstructure! Phew! To disguise the box section I painted the underside of the wheelhouse roof and any wiring that ran into it matt black - so that to all intents and purposes it became invisible. The second lot of wiring feeds all the bulkhead lights and the navigation lights on the lower superstructure. I held the longer runs from the front in place with self-adhesive cable clips from Maplin. At the back it gets a bit crowded so I created a false ceiling held in place by self-tapping screws into plastic blocks which held it away from the deck above. I ran all the wiring for the rear lighting on top of this false ceiling so that it could not be seen when looking in the windows. In this way all the superstructure wiring was terminated into one large chock block. I separated the wiring into groups by functions:- Bulkhead lights - Navigation lights - Radar - so that it would be possible to give them separate power feed from the other side of the chock block. The power feed had one end terminated in the chock block and the other in a 9-pin computer D-plug that I salvaged from a bin at work (also available from Maplin catalogue). This plugs into another D-plug connected to the power via microswitches mounted under the main hatch. This allows me to manually switch lights and radar on and off and by unplugging the D-plug it enables me to completely remove the superstructure. It all seems to work OK - but only time will tell how robust this set up will prove to be.
ANCHOR WINCH: This is a nicely detailed item in white metal which is easy to put together. After painting it all black I picked out the drum ends and control wheels in red. The anchor chain was painted white and hung out to dry. I located the chain over the wheels and secured at the anchor end using a loop of fine brass wire - the longer side of the loop going through a hole drilled in the deck in the centre of the hawse pipe cover assembly.
DINGHY: This is really a lovely piece of work and I saved it right until last. I cut out the footboards first on a flat surface and used 1mm scrap to maintain an even spacing between them whilst gluing them together. I used masking tape to hold the whole thing together while the poly glue was setting. When dry I sanded an angle on the support strips under the boards so that they fitted neatly into the hull. As far as I could see the floorboards have to be glued in place before putting the seats in place - so this I did by spotting with glue around the edge and laying it in place with a couple of small weights on the boards to hold them in place. While this lot was setting I put the boat in its stand to avoid hull distortion while the glue was setting. At the bow and transom there are reinforcement pieces which I held in place with masking tape until the glue set or they would have slowly but surely slid down into the bottom of the boat. Even being this careful I needed a little model filler to get rid of unwanted gaps - once this was dry a little sanding gave a perfect finish. A pair of oars are provided but the dinghy still looks bare so I added a couple of coils of rope suitably starched and draped. To add some more detail I made up a folded tarpaulin from a piece of cotton shirt rolled up and soaked in olive drab paint. Not shown in the dinghy instructions are the position of the tie-downs - but this is made clear in Side 2. Photo 26 shows the completed dinghy mounted on its cradle on the hatch cover with its tie-downs and rope runs.
PAINTS USED: I like to use Halfords acrylic car spray paint for speed, convenience and it has to be said - an excellent finish. So the alternative paint scheme with the amounts of each that I used is - HALFORDS: 3 cans of yellow primer filler as an undercoat; 2 cans of red oxide primer for the underwater colour; 2 cans grey primer for base coat of all grey parts; 1 can of satin black; 1 can of white primer. HUMBROL: 2 cans matt light grey; 2 tinlets of deck green, plus odds and sods of other colours. I thought that this time it would be useful to figure out how much paint I actually got through during the building of the boat so I threw all the can caps in a heap in the corner of the workshop as I emptied the cans and the above total was the result. In a rough tally up I calculate that I spent the horrendous sum of £35 on paint! It would appear that speed and convenience has a price - still the choice is yours.
PAINTING: Before painting I used a vacuum cleaner and a small paint brush to clear out the dust, shavings and other accumulated crud off the boat before starting. As you can see in Photo 27 I have used my trusty gallows to hang the boat from whilst spraying. If you follow a similar path make sure you do not use hairy string like I did this time - little bits tend to drop off and set themselves in the wet paint - very inconvenient and makes quite a bit of extra work. It is unusual but I am spraying in the garden taking advantage of the wonderful weather that we had this summer. In the interest of self preservation never spray the yellow primer filler indoors as it gets to places you never realized you had - a source of much domestic strife I can tell you.
On the subject of aerosols, they can block up and/or splatter paint in great gobbets everywhere so always shake them well and test spray them before committing paint to boat. The usual source of this anti-social behaviour is a blocked nozzle. So I do not throw all my old aerosol nozzles away with the can, but keep a few soaking in thinners - so when I get a blocked nozzle I take it off throw it to one side and replace it with one from my thinners jar after removing most of the thinners with a piece of kitchen towel - and carry right on with the job with only a few seconds lost. This certainly saves me a lot of frustration and may save you the price of a replacement aerosol. If however you are unfortunate enough to get a paint blob or, horror of horrors, a paint run what to do then? Well it's down to confidence and immediate action; I always have a clean sable paintbrush to hand - usually stuck behind my ear so if I do get a blob I immediately use the paintbrush to disperse the paint before it has a chance to dry - you have to move quickly to do this. At best the blemish will disappear completely, at worst it makes sanding it flat a whole lot easier - so brush with confidence. The next coat to go on was the red primer on the underside of the hull as shown in Photo 28 - no masking required, just up end the boat and blast away. Next I sprayed grey primer around the inside of the bulwarks which meant masking off he freeing ports and masking the rest of the boat from the grey as shown on Photo 29.
MASKING: In the past I have used Scotch Magic tape but have had problems with peeling it off after use - which is fair as it was never intended for this purpose. So this time I invested in a brand new reel of Sellotape masking tape from Halfords. Masking tape does dry out with age and in doing so works less well. To prevent paint bleeding into the tape and spoiling an otherwise sharp line the first coat of paint to apply after masking up is the colour that you have already sprayed on. If this bleeds under the tape it will be unseen - it will also block the passage of the different colour that you are about to spray on and so the sharp divide between the two colours will be maintained.
WATERLINE: Now is a good time to go through the ticklish subject of masking off and painting the waterline. On real boats the waterline literally goes up and down with the tide and invariably looks as if it was applied with a yard broom - but modelling conventions requires that we make a sharp job of it. The first step is to mark the waterline with a soft pencil. I do this by setting the hull level on a level surface - the dining room table is favourite if you can get away with it. In the instructions are the measurements to the waterline at bow and stern - the hull should be packed on blocks at either stern or bow so that the waterline at both points is the same distance from the table top. The next step is to mount said soft pencil on a block of wood or similar so that the pencil point meets the bow and stern mark for the waterline. Then as shown on Photo 30 you faintly mark the waterline around the hull. Now mask up to this line with good quality masking tape. Over this tape is taped on the newspaper to protect what you have already painted. A look at Photo 31 shows what a fully masked up hull looks like, ready to receive its coat of satin black aerosol.
ODDS AND SODS: To make it easy to glaze the wheelhouse I have rested it - Photo 33 - on some thin foam so that the pain finish is not damaged. You can also see the cut out at the top of the rear panel through which I will run the cabling for the lighting on the wheelhouse. Spraying and painting all the small fittings like railings and vents can be a bit of a trial. In Photo 32 you can see my solution: a piece of wood drilled at intervals to take the parts, then covered in double-sided tape and the parts pushed into place to be held firm by both tape and hole. You can then spray away to your hearts content and they will stay put.
Photo 34 shows the wheelhouse deck less the wheelhouse. To make both painting of the grey of the wheelhouse and the green of the deck easier it is a good idea to leave attaching the wheelhouse until after this has been done. I attached my wheelhouse using self-tapping screws which are hidden under the fittings in the wheelhouse.
To seal the paint finish and to further protect the transfers after they have been applied - but before glazing the model, I sprayed the whole boat with satin varnish. I used an aerosol satin wood varnish that comes in a jumbo size from Sainsbury's Homebase. This gives a good finish, is easy to use, does not react with any of the paint that I have used and wears well.
TRANSFERS: A sheet of clear waterslide transfers is provided giving you a choice of vessels to build. It is safest to cut out all the transfers for the vessel that you have decided to build, checking that serial number and name are in agreement. I chose Moderator because I had been to see it moored at Chatham. Before applying the transfers there has to be some preparation of the spot where they go otherwise the transfer backing will show up milky behind the lettering. First thing is to paint a layer of gloss varnish at each transfer location and let it dry thoroughly. Then coat the area with Microset and apply the transfer using kitchen towel to remove excess water - then whilst still damp apply another coat of Microset. Once again leave to dry thoroughly. Then paint over the transfers with satin varnish before the final spraying of the whole boat (with satin varnish). Microset helps the transfer follow the contours of the surface under it. It is used extensively by plastic modellers, I believe. I cannot remember where I bought this stuff some 15 years ago - and it still hasn't gone off. These boat modellers really get their money's worth don't they? I checked with a picture in Mike Critchley's British Warships book and the depth markings are arranged so that the waterline goes through the middle of the 2M mark and the 2M20 mark.
THE FINISHED ARTICLE: I have taken a series of photographs to show you what the finished article looks like and to point out some of the salient features of the model. The first of these shows the completed and painted funnel in Photo 35; note the mast crutch on the front of the funnel and the space at the front through which the wheelhouse wiring will run.
Photo 36 shows the completed wheelhouse roof from behind with the cabling for the lighting coming out at the centre rear - this will be threaded down through the funnel and into the superstructure. You will also see the signal halyards and the backstays on the mast.
The interior of the wheelhouse is shown in Photo 37; the item sticking up bottom right is the drive to the radar and bottom left you can see that I have put a map on the chart table to add a little authenticity.
The forward view of the superstructure shows the navigation lights to good advantage with their plastic lenses. It still amazes me that there is so much detail in what is basically quite a simple boat.
Last but by no means least is the boat in its carrying box. I make one of these for every boat that I build to protect them in transit. It also enables me to stack them which helps with the increasing storage problems that I have with the fleet. The box is made from 6mm ply with a base frame of inch square timber. The top of the box is strengthened at the corners with 1/4in square wood - all glued and screwed together. The front slides into place down wooden runners and the handles are from Maplin. Some of my crueller friends accuse me of making better boxes than boats - I put this down to jealousy. Boxes do not come cheap and this one cost £30 - but it must be worth it if it means all those hundreds of hours of hard work being preserved intact into the next millennium.
CONCLUSION: Well, what can I say about this Model Slipway kit that has not been said about their products before. The Loyal is produced to their usual high standard and is as complete a kit as can be with no extra fittings to buy to complete the model. It is a relatively simple kit and I would not hesitate to recommend it as a first boat to build for someone with limited modelling experience. The techniques a beginner would learn in building this boat would set them up for more ambitious projects in the future. In the UK it is not a cheap kit but it is outstanding value, which I feel is more important. My recommendation is buy now before Model Slipway realize how good their stuff is and start charging a realistic price for this and their other offerings. As always in my conclusion I will say to you: 'Don't take my word for it' - go and see the chaps from Model Slipway at model exhibitions, shows, or at their showroom - and see the kits and the finished articles in the flesh.
INFORMATION AND MATERIAL SOURCES: Maplin Electronics: Catalogue from WH Smiths - Thorpe Model Makers, The Model Shop, 98 Grays Inn Road, London WC1X 8AW - Essex Model Centre, 5 Corner House, Bush Fair, Harlow - Electrical Connections: A.J. Graham, 66 Belsize Park Gardens, London NW3 4NE - British Warships and Auxiliaries written by Mike Critchley, Maritime Books, Liskeard, Cornwall PL14 4EL - Boat Kit from Model Slipway, 77 Arundell Drive, Lundwood, Barnsley S71 5LE, Tel. 01226 770008, e-mail: info@modelslipway.com
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