Marine modelling international january 2017

FREE PLAN WORTH £11 OF A WW2 FISHING BOAT KNOWN AS THE ‘SHETLAND BUS’

JANUARY 2017

www.marinemodelmagazine.com

FORCEFUL

Issue 358 £4.75•

THE BUILD OF A DIRECTOR CLASS PADDLE TUG

FREE PLAN HAUK

AFFECTIONATELY KNOWN IN WW2 AS THE ‘SHETLAND BUS’

GAR WOOD SPEEDSTER K-CLASS 1930’S SPEEDBOAT IN MAHOGANY

MODELLING THE STEAM-POWERED FLEET SUBMARINE

CONTENTS JANUARY 2017 - ISSUE 358

Features

32 FORCEFUL P1 (COVER STORY) The build of a Director class paddle tug

38 HAUK

This month’s FREE PLAN (MAR 3790) is of a fishing boat used between Shetland and occupied Norway during WWII

32

42 GAR WOOD SPEEDSTER

The build of a 1930’s speedboat in mahogany

52 FRENCH BOUNTY SHIPS

France goes her own way; the end of sail

56 K-CLASS

Modelling the steam-powered fleet submarine from the Great War

28

COVER STORY FORCEFUL

Forceful was the last paddle tug in active service with the Royal Navy (or any other Navy in the world). When decommissioned she marked the end of almost 150 years of paddle tug use in the Royal Navy. Strictly speaking, she was operated by the Royal Maritime Auxiliary Service, part of the marine services organisation which provided non-combatant support services to the warships. The first part of this two part build covers the main fitting out and superstructure including the funnels.

Regulars

7

MESSAGE FROM THE BRIDGE

8

MASTHEAD

The editor introduces this edition

Maritime related news and views

52

10 LIVEWIRES

Reports on the Fast Electric scene plus the world speed record report

16 PLASTIC KIT SCENE

Recently released plastic and resin kits

18 SCALE SCENE

Coal and the North East coal ships

22 POWERPLUG

Extreme race day hull repairs take centre stage this month

26 VINTAGE CHATTER

Describes the P.C.S. (for Proportional Control Systems) R/C kit

28 WATERLINES

Far Eastern Navies – Kelvin reviews the Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force

64 CHANDLERY

Book reviews of recent maritime books

66 MEETING POINT

Reports of events held at the end of last year

74 COMING NEXT MONTH

Some of the articles in the planning stage for the February edition

6

JANUARY 2017

p06_MMJAN17_Contents.indd 6

www.marinemodelmagazine.com

12/9/2016 11:41:11 AM

MESSAGE FROM THE BRIDGE EDITORIAL CONTACT

MMI generally publishes commissioned articles, but will consider other contributions including news items and factual articles.

It is important that contact is made with the editor before any material is written, as duplication of items may result in articles being rejected. Prospective contributors can email or write for a copy of the MMI Notes for Contributors via Traplet Publications Ltd. Any other Editorial queries can be made by telephone to 01749 347172 during normal office hours.

GREETINGS ALL,

Firstly can I wish all readers a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year. Looking towards this new year can we remind clubs and organisers of events that we are happy to publish details of your events free in the Diary Dates section of MMI. When you have confirmed dates of your events please let us know, but we will need at least 2 months notice to publish. The best way to inform us is via email and we will confirm receipt of the dates. Last year we had one

postal request for a club date to be included but it took 3 months to arrive in the MMI office after the event was held.

Can we make an appeal to clubs in the UK and overseas for hi resolution jpeg pictures of club members holding their models with a descriptive caption of who/what etc. which can be used in a Readers Models section each month. This would give publicity to your club especially if you include a website where further details of your club can be found. If you look at the December edition of MMI pages 14 and 15 you will see what we mean.

In this month’s edition for the speed enthusiasts in Livewires we have a report on the world speed record being broken by a Fast Electric boat at 175 mph! This month’s FREE Plan is of historic interest, as it was one of the the ‘Shetland Buses’ used in WW2 to relay special agents from Norway to the UK. We have a build of a K-class steam-powered fleet submarine from the Great War using Mikro-Mir's 1:350 scale kit, and in Waterlines there is a review on the Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force.

We start this month a two part article on the build of Forceful, the last paddle tug used by the Royal Navy, and we have the build of Gar Wood Speedster by aero-naut, a 1930’s speedboat in mahogany. Going back to the age of sail the article on French Bounty Ships explains the decline of trading under sail in France. In Powerplug for I/C racers the repair of hulls are explained, and with many more articles it’s another good edition to start the year.

Have a good month

Barrie Stevens MMI

The big man sailing home on his boat after a dispute with the reindeers! Seen at the International Model Boat Show

PUBLISHED BY Traplet Publications Ltd, Willow End Park, Blackmore Park Rd Malvern WR13 6NN Tel: + 44 (0) 1684 588500 www.traplet.com EDITOR Barrie Stevens mmi@traplet.com ASSISTANT EDITOR Chris Saunders chris.saunders@traplet.com CONTRIBUTORS Kelvin Holmes, Robin Trott, Eric Bauthier,

David Wiggins, Ian Williams, Rick Eyrich, Roy Cheers, Neville Wade, Mike Williams, Jim Pottinger DESIGN AND PRODUCTION MANAGER Nick Powell MAGAZINE DESIGN AND LAYOUT James Scott ADVERTISING & TRADE SALES Angela Price Tel: +44 (0) 01684 588568 Email: angela.price@traplet.com ADVERTISING COPY Tel: +44 (0) 1684 588517 Email: adcopy@traplet.com SUBSCRIPTION MARKETING Tel: +44 (0)1684 588521 Email: marketing@traplet.com

MANAGING DIRECTOR Tom Stephenson CHAIRMAN Tony Stephenson DISTRIBUTED BY Seymour Distribution Ltd NORTH AMERICAN DISTRIBUTION Traplet Distribution USA Ltd, 806 Parkland Ct, Champaign, IL 61821, USA Tel: 217 355 2970 Email: hello@traplet.com AUSTRALIAN DISTRIBUTION Traplet Publications & Hobbies, P.O.BOX 501, Engadine, NSW 2233, Australia Tel: (02) 9520 0933 Email: sales@traplet.com.au SOUTH AFRICAN DISTRIBUTION Traplet Publications (PTY) Ltd, P.O.BOX 1067,

Oudtshoorn, 6620, South Africa Tel: +27 44 272 5978 Email: southafrica@traplet.com CUSTOMER SERVICES, SUBSCRIPTIONS & BACK ISSUES Tel: +44 (0) 1684 588599 Email: info@traplet.com shop.inspiredtomake.com For latest Subscription offers please turn to page 14 All subscription offers are based on the cover price.

This publication is printed by Warners 01778 395111

This magazine is sold subject to the following conditions: that it shall not without written consent of the publishers be lent, resold or otherwise disposed of by way of trade in excess of the recommended maximum retail price. All rights strictly reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any way without the prior agreement of the publisher.

All letters must be accompanied by the senders full name and address. The publisher cannot accept responsibility for unsolicited correspondence nor some of the opinions expressed. All material and artwork originated by Traplet Publications Ltd., photographs, drawings, plans used in this magazine become the publishers copyright under Copyright law. Some photographs may have been digitally re-mastered. The Company reserves the right to suspend or refuse any advertisements without giving reasons. Whilst every care is taken to avoid mistakes, Traplet Publications Ltd. cannot be liable in any way for errors or omissions. Nor can the Publisher accept any responsibility for the bona fides of advertisers. © Traplet Publications Limited 2017 ISSN 1746-8590

www.marinemodelmagazine.com

p07_MMJAN17_MessageFromTheBridge.indd 7

JANUARY 2017

7

12/9/2016 12:53:17 PM

CANADA

(PART 1) FORCEFUL – A PADDLE TUG OF THE DIRECTOR CLASS IN THIS FIRST PART OF A TWO PART ARTICLE ROY EXPLAINS HIS CHOICE OF MODEL AND DESCRIBES THE BUILD AS FAR AS FABRICATING THE FUNNELS

AUTHOR: ROY CHEERS

INTRODUCTION

Forceful was the last paddle tug in active service with the Royal Navy (or any other Navy in the world). When decommissioned she marked the end of almost 150 years of paddle tug use in the Royal Navy. Strictly speaking, she was operated by the Royal Maritime Auxiliary Service, part of the marine services organisation which provided non-combatant support services to the warships.

The Forceful was one of the unique Director-class paddle tugs which came into use from 1957 onwards. They were designed specifically to handle aircraft carriers, their masts being designed to fold down so that they could easily get under the overhanging flight decks of the carriers. At that time the RN had 23 fleet carriers.

It was felt that paddles with independent drive would give the tugs greater manoeuvrability alongside the carriers. These paddle tugs were very labour intensive boats, with a crew of 26 on the Forceful. For no other reason than liking the name, I chose to model ‘Forceful’. It does seem to be a very appropriate name for a tug.

Only later did I learn of its significance as the last of its kind.

Some photos showed that Forceful did not have the white stripe around the hull above the rubbing strake, some showed that it did.

Some pictures of other vessels show the stripe at the top edge of the bulwark. Some photos show Forceful’s name on the funnels, some showed it on the bow and stern. On other vessels it’s shown on the paddle boxes. The plan and some photos show railings with 2 horizontal bars, one photo shows Faithful with 4.

Various changes were made during the class’s lifetime and it’s probably impossible to know for certain when each change occurred. An obvious example is the removal of the lifeboats and their replacement by liferaft canisters.

The plan shows large openings in the bulwarks for freeing ports, but it’s difficult to make them out in almost all the photos I saw.

This suggested that either not all vessels had them, or they were covered by doors, or that these doors were removed on some vessels.

A model builder has the choice of omitting the openings, simulating the doors by adding some surface details, or cutting open ports. Don’t do what I did: I made extra work for myself by cutting out the holes, and then changing my mind, and filling them in to represent closed doors.

In the text you will see a mix of metric and imperial dimensions. I prefer to work in metric but here in North America most modelling materials are made to imperial dimensions. Parts obtained from European and Asian suppliers are to metric standards. So if a dimension is given in imperial units it is because that is the size available, and a conversion is provided for information.

HULL AND DRIVE PREPARATION

‘Director’ at Rosyth Forceful was built by Yarrow Shipbuilders at Scotstoun in 1957.

She was 157 ft long, 60 ft beam, with 10 ft draught and was powered by four 12 cylinder Paxman diesel engines, each one coupled to a 340 kW generator. The paddles were driven by two 600 V DC motors producing 800 bhp at 212 rpm. She appears to have ended her working life in 1981, and there were attempts to preserve her, but she was scrapped in 1990. A preserved vessel would have been a gold mine of information for a modeller.

Before construction began a nicely finished GRP hull was purchased from Kingston Mouldings, and paddle wheel kits from Float-a-boat, these suit a 1:48 scale model.. The hull was supplied with a plan and some notes on construction. Photos are also a valuable aid to construction and although there are quite a number available on the Internet, only a few give detailed information useful to modellers.

The first work on the hull was to make and fit several ribs to add some rigidity and hold the hull sides in the correct position. A full rib, acting as a watertight bulkhead, was positioned under the front of the superstructure, and behind the location of the water pump for the fire monitor. A brass tube was fitted into the hull below the waterline for the water inlet. This was softened, bent and flared before epoxying into the hull. It was kept horizontal (or could have a slight downward slope) to prevent formation of an airlock.

Several openings had to be made in the hull above the waterline for the anchor recesses, the rudder post, and holes in the bulwarks for fairleads. In addition, holes were needed for the paddle shafts and the through-bars supporting the sponsons.

CHOICES

A review of photos that could be found of these tugs showed a host of detail and livery variations. Some are as follows. First was that on Forceful a radar scanner was mounted on a small tower on the forward fire monitor stand, behind the monitor. Other vessels had the radar on the top of the wheelhouse.

32 JANUARY 2017 p32_MMJAN17_Forceful.indd 32

A simplified layout of the drivetrain components

www.marinemodelmagazine.com

12/9/2016 10:53:35 AM

The idler gear is supported on a frame which pivots about the shaft of the port pinion. A servo is used to swing the frame, and moves the idler gear into (or out of) engagement with the pinion connected to the starboard paddle, thus synchronising its rotation with the port paddle.

The trickiest part of making this assembly is precise machining of the frame to ensure that the gear wheels are the correct distance apart and mesh smoothly. The primary reduction drive can be made with smooth pulleys and belts, but to ensure the two paddle wheels stay synchronised the rest need to be toothed belts or chain drive.

It should be obvious that, ideally, the two paddles should be rotating slowly when engaging the clutch. The design is neither intended, nor strong enough, to drive both paddles using only one motor. When completed the drive assembly was fitted into the hull and tested on the water with just the bare hull. It all worked as planned (see picture). I was initially unsure about how to seal the paddle shafts to the hull, but the question was resolved when I found a model submarine website with some sealed bushings.

If you choose to use a more compact drive mechanism I have one particular recommendation. Fit one of the hull supporting ribs 3/4 to 1" forward of the aft sponson support. This will make it easier to provide a strong towing support, as will be described later.

MAIN DECK AND SPONSON CONSTRUCTION

Operation of the swinging link ‘clutch’

Each sponson support is made from 1/4" (6.3 mm) square section brass tube; these give solid support to the sponsons. (These are strong enough to eliminate the need for sponson supports outside the hull, although they can be fitted to be true to the prototype) A V-shaped cut was made in the tubes at the deck edge so that they could be bent easily to replicate the downward slope on each sponson. Short pieces of 7/32" square (5.6 mm) tube were inserted up to the bends and then soldered.

Since I make it a practice to have everything mechanical and electrical removable without destroying the structure, I had to make a removable mid-section in the after support. This enables removal of the drive assembly. (If you use a commercially-available compact gear drive, you probably will not need a removable piece.) A small piece of brass angle was soldered to the outer end of each support.

These were to slot into the outer walls of each paddle box.

The forward deck has both sheer and camber which I wanted to imitate. A set of formers were cut from some 1/4" plywood and mounted on a building board. A fore-and-aft support was glued on the centreline between the point of the bow and the next former along, and supports along the deck edge between formers.

The drive mechanism assembled with the paddle wheels There are some low speed geared drives available for paddlers but, in what I believe is a replication of the original, I wanted the ability to drive the paddles independently or to clutch them together.

Because the real tugs used diesel-electric drive, it’s probable that the two paddles were synchronised electrically, but I don’t know how to do that in a model.

None of the ready-made drives could be clutched together easily.

So the drive train was scratch-built using proprietary components and was completed as a separate assembly. The main structure is 0.080" (2 mm) styrene sheet, with .125" (6.3 mm) plywood added under the base for stiffness. Each paddle drive is a double reduction using toothed belts and pulleys, powered by Electronize 365-14 motors (belt drive is not as compact as gears, but definitely quieter). Separate drives enable the paddles to be operated independently, but they can be clutched together. I say ‘clutched’ but the engagement is done with gears on a swinging link.

The arrangement is explained in the diagrams.

The intermediate shaft of each double reduction arrangement is extended to carry a pinion (a small gear wheel), and the pinions of port and starboard drives are in line. A third, idler, gear sits between these two and is continuously meshed with the port pinion.

ABOVE & BELOW: Planking of the forward deck in progress

www.marinemodelmagazine.com

p32_MMJAN17_Forceful.indd 33

JANUARY 2017

33

12/9/2016 10:54:01 AM