MS Gunboat Philadelphia Eyebolt/Ringbolt Washers

[George in MN]

So I’m have the hull planked, decked, and stained.  Only 341 hours on the boats build log to this point…. Still Having Fun!... Right??  I’m what you would call a “Beginner”.

 

Anyhow, next is to install the Eyebolts and Ringbolts.  The book says “These eyebolts were installed by….then applying a washer and peening over the end of the bolt to secure it”.  I have looked carefully at the photos and read through the Philadelphia build log threads here.  Some of the photos show the Eyebolts through the hull and still full length (still under construction) and the ones that are done do not have a good enough view to see how it was done.  What are you folks doing?

 

My plan so far is to flatten down (way down) a piece of lead, use a 1/8” brass rod as a hole punch, and knock out a bunch of washers and pin hole the centers.  Thinly tin the eyebolt with solder, install through the hull, slide washer on outboard side, tack solder to eyebolt (carefully), snip off remains, touch up with black paint.  I have a very hot soldering iron with a very small pointed tip that I use to solder surface mount electronic parts so I’m thinking I can get on it, melt the solder to the lead, and get off before the heat is transferred to the wood.

I just mentioned the above to the Admiral (my wife) and she said why use lead… can’t you just flatten out the solder?  Now why didn’t I think of that!!

Anyhow, any comments/suggestions?

 

Thanks

 

George

Edited February 27, 2019 by George in MN
I talked to my wife.

[kurtvd19]

George:

Your idea of making some small washers is good.  I have copied below text from part 4 of my series of articles om building the Philadelphia.  I used some small washers I had in my parts supply and C/A was completely adequate to hold them together so I think soldering might be overkill.  The photos show before the washer and end of the eyebolt were touched up with black paint and the other photo as completed.  The washers are small and the photos show some unevenness of the bolt end - which might look like peeing - but at the scale of this detail it is not able to be seen w/o magnification of the close up photo.

Hope this might help a bit.

Kurt

 

I wound up using a small 0.8mm (0.0315”) I. D. washer from Scale Hardware over the end of each bolt and secured with a very small drop of C/A glue.  The C/A glue filled the very small gap between the washer and bolt and secured the washer to the hull and bolt as shown in Photo #63.  When the bolt was cut off with a flush cutter, the end of the bolt and washer was touched with a bit of flat black paint.  The result is a very convincing simulation of the washer and peened bolt arrangement on the boat as shown in Photo #64, a close up view of the final assembly.

[George in MN]

Wow, this is great Kurt, Thank You.

 

I figured there had to be some other approach to this and I didn't know washers this small could be had.  This was exactly what I was looking for.

 

tnx agn

 

George

[bear]

Ahoy George What I did was to put the eyebolt thru the bulwark ( the eyebolt surfaces were roughed up with a file ,then used CA to hold it into the drilled hole in the bulwark,add the washer with a small amount of CA to hold it to the hull. By the way I first panted the edges of the washer black BEFORE gluing it to the hull side.

Then I used a snipper to cut off the excess length leaving about 1/32 " above the washer. Then I used the snippers and again cut the end 90 deg. to the first cut,which would leave it looking like it was peened over. Try it out on scratch amterial until you get what you want.

Like was stated above,most detail can not be seen without mag. glass. You could also glue and eyebolt that doesn't go out thru the hole on the outside of the hull,then make up a washer with a short peened end,and glue the stub end of the bolt washer into the hole. With this you could use plastic washer and rod.  Keith

[George in MN]

Thanks for the two additional suggestions Keith.

 

I ordered the 0.8mm washers that Kurt mentioned above.  I was hesitant on relying on the CA to hold the bolts in the wood but it sounds like it does the job.

 

tnx

George

[JRSchwenke]

Greetings, 

From where did you order 0.8mm washers? I am not seeing a website for Scale Hardware. Please provide.

Thank you

[JRSchwenke]

Update ... This morning I found out through Google that Scale Hardware has been bought by Model Motorcars in England. The website is

 

https://www.modelmotorcars.com/scalehardware/ 

 

The 0.8mm ID washers suggested by Kurt Van Dahm in his Ships in Scale articles can be found at

 

https://model-motorcars.myshopify.com/collections/small-parts-hardware/washers

 

I think I will buy some!!

[JRSchwenke]

Update on the Update ... Model Motorcars is / may also be in Florida. Shipping cost are reasonable.

[bridgman]

Confronted with similar fabrication question on my 1:50 scale Puritan, I fell back on my local

Ace hardware, more out of curiosity than any real expectation. Searching thru the metric hardware 

bins found 1.6mm diameter washers of stainless steel. Good size match and were able to 

solder to eye bolts. No shipping costs or waiting,  and able to pick out the ones I thought were the best. 

Bridgman Bob

[JRSchwenke]

I received my order of washers from Model Motorcars, who now owns Scale Hardware (see previous notes). I liked working with the people there through email. I order 0.6, 0.8 and 1.0 mm ID washers out of curiosity, not knowing exactly what I was ordering, and I am glad I did. OK, the 0.6 mm washers are small and I do not have a use for them yet. From the picture below, indeed the 0.8 mm are perfect for the eyebolts/ ringbolts. On the left is the brass washer supplied from the model kit. I think the inside diameter is too large and the 1.0 mm washer from Scale Hardware looks much better.

 

I did drive to our local ACE hardware and found out that after being in town forever, they are closing. They said it was due to the landowner, whatever that meant. I think you jinxed them!!

 

 

[Old Coastie]

I just contacted Model Shipways and explained that the PE sheet did not have enough washers for the whole model, which the author of the instruction book obviously knew since he went to great pains to explain a workaround when you used up the supplied washers.  They sent me another PE sheet at no cost.  One advantage to using the brass PE is that you can blacken it so there is no need for paint.