Ras Ambrioso

Beautiful pieces. Are there two winches or a double decker?

Snug and Keith, thanks for your comments. The boiler and engine in the kit are plastic miniatures. I had actually built the power plant separately and installed on this model. WhenI put the boat in the water the engine was putt-putting but the boat barely moved. Thats when I decided to installed the electrical power and in part the reason I made the covered cabin to cover the electronics and the battery. I placed the motor switch under the log crate.

to ccoyle: I was trying to post this content in the gallery of completed kit. How can I move it to the gallery. I am new in this forum and I am still learning how t use it. Thanks in advance.

I built this R/C steam launch in eighties. As you may see in the photos I changed the design a bit to make room for the electronics. The engine provided in the kit, a single oscillating cylinder,  was not capable of moving the boat so I cheated a bit by installing an electric motor and covered it with the structure that you can see in the photos that provided a good spot for the steering wheel. The captain is one my tokens from the time I purchased my first real boat. The first photo shows the kit's version with the seating arrangement and the canvas sun cover.

I continue with my madness of building the cran baskets but I have to admit that I actually flunked weaving in Kindergarten. Following are my recent failures

But, if at first (or second or third) you don't succeed, try again.

So I went back to the tedious deck planking. I followed one of you guy's advise and instead of planking to bulwarkI filled the space between stantions (timberheads). This made the planking of the deck easier. Today I completed half of the aft deck.

My ideas for the pilot house have been based on the fact that to navigate any seas you are going to need not only a compass but charts, charts, clocks, barometer and, for a diesel engine you will need instruments to give you the fuel capacity, engine rpm, engine temperature and cooling water temperature and the corresponding switches and levers for lighting, throttle and gear change. That is assuming that these boats were converted to diesel or steam power early in the 20th century and owned by poor fishermen that may have not been able to fill up their boat with many extras.

In my internet research I came over a forum of the Model Boat magazine in the UK. In this forum "Banjoman" has built a large scale model of a Clyde Puffer named the "Eilean Mor". His attention to detail is in your same category: superb. Following is a link and look for the latest posts where he detailed the pilot house. you will be surprised how much detail this guy have thrown into this model. By the way the Eilean Mor is sold by Mountfleet Models as the "Highlander" kit. And it is an expensive kit.

https://www.modelboats.co.uk/forums/postings.asp?th=101076&p=1

For our Fifie my thoughts were that the steering mechanism was too complicated to be left uncovered and that a box type could include some of the items I mentioned above. The pilot house offered by Amati is too bare and plain. Considering the the picture I uploaded here is for a model vessel it may give a better feel for what we need in the Fifie. I really liked what you did for the throttle, I looks really vintage.

I am back from a family reunion in Texas. Lots of BBQ brisket and , of course, Lone Star beer.  Back to work.

Today I completed the boring subject of gluing 96 stanchions to the bulwark. As a relief, I went back to the detailing of the pilot's helm. In a previous post, PJG had agreed that the steering mechanism should have some sort of cover that will allow the addition of controls for the engine plus the the navigation binnacle. He detailed his idea in his post #128. I picked up the idea and started the fabrication of my own binnacle. The following photos show my results for today.

The first photo shows the basis for the compass. Of all things an old inhaler.Next, I drilled a slanted hole

Using brass portholes I created the bezel for the compass

A saw cut and finally a washer and a print of the compass rose.

I need to complete the painting in a brassy color. The compass will be located on to of the wood steering cabinet and will be provided with the calibration steel balls in red and green.  Thanks a lot  PJG for the inspiration.

Being a native Cuban I am looking forward to see you complete this build. Steel hull, that's a first one for me. 

Outstanding details. You keep building my interest to see what else can you think of. Great inspiration. Thanks

Nice job Hugo. Looking forward to your next build. 

Continued working on the deck and placed the timberheads in the bulwark. BUT, as Bob Garcia says: "Measure once, cuss twice", I had installed more than 40 of the timberheads until I realized something was wrong.  I had picked the wood as 4mmX2mm rather than the one called from plans: 4mmX4mm. I had to carefully remove the thin stanchions and replace it with the proper size. Need to remember that the devil is in the details.

I am also going to be out of town next week but I'll keep following y'alls progress.

The following picture was taken by my wife just this morning. Shows a very happy fellow 

Have a question for the moderators. Can I start a gallery for each of my previous steam boats: The African Queen (Billings)and The Patricia (Krick).

Incidentally, is that you on the bow of your ship?

Your last details are great. I thought about a similar treatment in my Fifie. An open pipe make get rain into the stove and the engine. I also thought that at least the lower four feet of the stacks should be insulated. Those pipes get hot and that will be a very busy deck when fishing. Also the condensate discharge from the winch, that is running on the deck, should also be insulated and  perhaps provided with a step to prevent the crew from tripping on it. Sorry, that is the old engineer on me, also looking for the peoples safety and OSHA rules.

Anyway, your work is fantastic.

Big Dan, you are the man!  love your s details and hope you don’t mind copycats 

Being busy these last few days. The false deck was completed and the planking started. While I was was waiting for the glue to dry, I decided in taking a shot at building the "cran" baskets used to measure the fish during the unloading. I have seen what Big Dan had done and I liked it. There is a lot of information in the net about these baskets being used to measure the fish volume. The following pictures tell the story better that I can

and Here is one of the crans

 I started by drilling hole in a dowel of the proper scale and then cut it in disks. Which BTW came out too thick.

Then I used copper wire and fabricated the cages as you see in the pictures

And this is final final product after weaving the basket

Several mistakes were made: I wove it too tight, the basket has to be a little more conical, the base is too thick and I used to thick a rope. But it looks cute and the others will be an improved version.

I resumed fabrication and completed the first two planks port and starboard

But the I realized that if I was was going to detail the hold following PJG's build, I better do it before I complete the planking and find myself trying to work through the small hatch opening. Following are the results of my concept and appreciate the input by PJG

Then I completed the false deck. And I think I will fishing the deck planking before getting back to the hull planking.

Thanks for watching. I am enjoying this build very much. Y'all are an inspiration

Nils, appreciate your quick reply to my inquiry about the fish. I checked the site and it is fabulous. However, the shipping to the US was 39 euros for a 19 euro order. In addition, for payment, they only accept bank transfers and I was kind of leery about doing that. I prefer to use something like Pay Pal. Anyway, your information also offered another shop for the etched fish but they didn't have  a selection for English language.

But, most of the fun of these builds is to do the research and accommodate current materials to represent scale stuff. I will continue to follow your build.

Thanks again for the response 

Today I was just "surfing"the forum and found your Zeesboot. I have gone over you entire build and found it fascinating. Your attention to detail is magnificent. I have just started to build a Fifie ( Scottish fishing boat). I noticed in one of your notes that you had purchased brass etched fish. I tried to get to the sites labeled in the sheets but with no success. Could you tell me where you got those fish. My build is in 1/32 scale and I would like to show an open hold with nets and some fish scattered around. Your help will be appreciated as there are several of us building similar boat. In the meantime I will continue following you build as I am interested in watching your rigging

PJG, you are amazing. I would also like to know your weather technique. Today spent some time making cran baskets. I will publish the pictures once I get good ones. The first one came to cylindrical. They should be slightly conical.

Also agree with the idea of a cover for the steering mechanism. It would be a place to locate the engine controls (gear shift and throttle) and the compass. I also read that they carried a barometer and a clock which could be placed in the walls.

I have been working on the planking and had a problem with butting of the short side before attaching to the hull. Seems that I didn't have a strong joint. I decided then to cut the long plank at a frame and butt the short plank there. Of course alternating  fwd. and aft.

I am also going to build the hold details before I complete the planking.

Excellent work. you are doing a lot more than I did on my Emma. K eep it up. i’ll follow your progress 

PJG, you are amazing. I would also like to know your weather technique. Today spent some time making cran baskets using a technique I picked up in this forum. I have taken pictures of the fabrication sequence  and will publish them when I complete the task. My idea is to present my Fifie like if it had reached the dock and started the unloading. I got the idea from the following photo:

Also I have a question about the rings or the handles on the hold cover boards. In looking at a bunch of pictures I only found one boat with handle on the board and it was not a Fifie. All the boats seem to have just plain boards. It to me seems that the boards will stack better without any projections on their surface. I cannot figure out how do they take the first board off. On my boat I thought of just making a handhold embedded in the top of the board. Something that you see on work boats decks. I will make a sketch and publish it in my build. Your work is extraordinary

B.E. congratulations on your beautiful Zulu. I have read you complete build and have learned a lot that will help me in my current Fifie (1/32) project. Your detailing is magnificent. Good job

Since my last post I have assembled the false deck. I dry fitted it first and then glued it.  I found it difficult to keep the deck down meeting the frames using clamps since some frames did not have enough reach and others weren't accessible. I tried the nails but they were too short and I couldn't get enough grip with them. Then I remembered that I had some screw clamps from Micromark and that I had used on for planking my Emma C Berry.  They did a great job of pushing the deck against the frames. But, there is always a but, I only had 10 of them and I was using all of them in just a quarter of the deck. Therefore, it took me another three days to finish the four quarters. I then tried to buy more of these wonderful clamps but Micromark does not carry them any more, even though they show in their latest catalog. I am inquiring with them as we speak. But, again, since I am retired, I am in no hurry to complete this project, I am enjoying the build and everyday I find a new question to be researched. 

Today I finishing gluing the last quarter of the deck and officially started planking. I set the top plant on the bulwarks gluing only the ends with CA waiting for the my 10 screw clamps to continue planking.

This is the first attempt with nails

These are my screw clamps

This is my first plank after fairing the frames. I really love the shape of the shear in this boat.

An observation. As the deck was set, I noticed how short the bulwarks are and started to worry about having made a mistake. I took one of my new crew members and set it on the plans. As you see below the top of the railing is just below the guys knees. 

So, I went back to my research photos and, lo and behold, there are the real guys barely clearing the rails. It must have been hell to go to the North sea during a storm without railings. Any way, my hat goes to those fishermen

Super cool video PJG. I also found in my research some information about the so call "pound boards". This boards, as shown in the kit, compartmentalize the deck around the hold. For what I see, the nets are shaken up as the net is brought on deck. Lots of people need to be helping since it will be necessary to untie the floats and the messenger line that is being drawn by the capstan fwd. The two guys by the rail shake off the fish into the compartmented "pound" while the rest of the crew pulls the net either on deck or to the hold. After they have brought all the net on board they will shovel the fish to the hold via the scuttle hatches. Once the fish is on the hold they may also be compartmentalized. Once on back to the dock they will fill the "cran" baskets to measure and unload the catch. As you see it is a very intensive hand labor job. For what I've read later in the 20th century they started building large motorized boats that will have prepare the fish on board and it may be a mostly mechanized labor.

I did more research on the winch/capstan.The ones shown for the Fifie were made by Elliott & Garroods and a small two cylinder steam engine is located on the upper section  of the capstan. The capstan shaft is hollow and the steam supply pipe runs through the center from the boiler below deck. The steam is exhausted from the foot of the capstan and piped to the bulkwark.