The Ship Model Forum

Gentlemen, it has been a while since I have posted a build here, and as this isn't a warship, have been wondering if it would suit this forum. It is a scratch build of an Italian tug called the Anteo. I am building it for my wife (she likes ships too) and as such, there were some modifications, so it isn't a strict scale replica.
Having said that, I have done something that may spark some interest. I have built the keel and bulkheads out of steel and welded it together before applying balsa as a skin and then covering it with polyester resin.
The following pic is the rough out of the keel and bulkheads. Keel is cut from 6mm plate, the bulkheads from 1.6mm plate.

Now sitting together before welded.

And from the stern


This photo shows the first layer of balsa laid over the keel.

You can also see the Prop shaft housing is now in. Don't have any more photo's of the pre-planking stage showing the welded frame and the prop housing welded in. From here it is just the build.

_________________
One thing you never want to hear from the Ammo tech - "Oops"

We call it "Modelwarships.com" only because a more generic name had already been taken - we welcome non-military subjects, too!

_________________
De quoi s'agit-il?

Thanks Tim,
Onwards then. The keel was initially cut out with an Oxy torch then I got within a reasonable distance to the marking lines (made with a scriber) with an angle grinder, then went to a file and shaped all the parts to the line. Took several days for the keel alone, but it turned out well. Drilled holes in corners of penetrations like at the stern of the keel and inside the bulkheads I drilled a series of holes very close together and used a round file to do the final cut through. Could have used a hacksaw, but opted not to, tend to be a gumby with one of them.
The prop shaft is made from a piece of 1mm stainless steel, but the housing is made from a piece of 1 inch mild steel and bored out to 12 mm with two bronze bushes to run the shaft on. There is an "O" ring on the outside end of the housing. This gives a nice watertight seal and the shaft was turned down on the prop end to fit the prop, cross bored for a locking pin and threaded to take the lock nut. The back part of the keep where the prop housing was to be fitted was cut out and filed to give a firm fit. From there the shaft was put into the housing and after a preheat with the Oxy, the shaft housing was tack welded in using the shaft as a means to guage that the shaft was put in straight. Once welded in, the whole lot was ground smooth with a flap wheel on an angle grinder. The shaft housing was checked to ensure there was no warping of the bore. Was lucky this time.

As per the previous post, I have two layers of balsa covering the hull, the first payer was glued on using Polyurethane based Aquadhere brand glue called Durabond. The stuff will stick anything to pretty much anything, however, it goes foamy and you need to use a wet cloth a lot to stop it expanding. Sticky stuff.

_________________
One thing you never want to hear from the Ammo tech - "Oops"

For this post, I will show some more pics.

The next few pics are of the hull after the second skin went on.



After a LOT of sanding and trying to get the lines even, I coated it with polyester resin inside and out. This helped to seal the balsa and make it water tight.


Hope you like these so far. The next lot of pics will be of the hull being painted.

_________________
One thing you never want to hear from the Ammo tech - "Oops"

here are some pics of the hull painted.

After the initial paint job, sanded the hull again and applied the bulwark pieces, these I decided to plate with Stainless Steel rather than brass, just to try something different. It is hard to work and the finish is not what I wanted, however, as is 316, won't rust or corrode, so will out last the boat

to give the effect of rivets, I marked out the back face of the stainless steel pieces and punched a dimple to represent the rivets, a light tap on the face takes the point off the dimple and gives a more rivet like finish.

Next post will show the stainless steel all done, deck in and hull repainted.

_________________
One thing you never want to hear from the Ammo tech - "Oops"

Here is the next pic I have of the build, missed photographing a few steps. This is my wife's ship, so I had her pose with it to show it's size.

The under deck was a piece of 1mm plywood glued to the steel bulkheads. The ply was then planked with strips of 1.5mm balsa wood and the inside of the bulwarks were plated with 1mm balsa. The wheel house is constructed from 3 mm ply with the front wall that extends through the upper deck being 1 mm. The whole wheelhouse lifts off. The hand rail around the top of the bulwark is made from Meranti. All timber coated with matt estapol.

_________________
One thing you never want to hear from the Ammo tech - "Oops"

A jump forward of about 2 months to 4 months, we have progressed on the wheelhouse and build some of the other superstructure on the rear portion of the deck and put in the tie-off rings on the insides of the bulwarks and added the rib extensions...

The next few pics show that the progress was mainly around the wheelhouse. The handrails on the wheelhouse were again a white meranti, the cladding on the wheelhouse interior was also meranti. with balsa stained "fruitwood" on the outside of the wheelhouse and around the parapet. The deck on the wheelhouse was also planked in balsa and similarly stained. The windows are boxed out ready for the external frames and Perspex. Doors and portholes fitted to bottom section of wheelhouse. Winch on foredeck is sitting there for looks, the tie post at the front and the brass work and doors are fitted to the hatch over the engine well. Bollards fitted to decks. Wooden mast sitting in position and funnel attached.

This next photo shows the nes brass mast, the timber one bent like a banana in the humidity, the brass won't Shows the interior ( bit rough) dusty deck and the inside of the wheelhouse with the instrument panel in.

Here is the port side profile, rudder now attached, has a brass pillow block at the bottom and the shaft of the rudder was soldered to the rudder itself. The shaft extends up through the steel keel at the stern where it is soldered directly to the control arm.

The next post will bring us up to date.

_________________
One thing you never want to hear from the Ammo tech - "Oops"

The next few photo's will bring us up to date, so far the last 6 posts were all representing 15 months. Had delayed posting as I didn't know if the construction method would work and didn't know what other problems would be encountered whilst scrounging parts where I could. Enough of the tears, lets get up to date.
This pic shows the dusty deck with the foredeck dusted off and the winch finally in, the bell beam and brass support fitted, the brass mast fitted and the mast supports attached ready to be soldered together.

Here the handrails are on and the winch and anchors are fixed in position. The walkway supports are in and the bell is visible on it's beam. When the keel is on it's proper angle, the beam is much closer to level.

Here the capstan and deck hatches are fitted. The capstan was carved from a piece of broom handle as were the deck hatches.

Here are the deck fittings minus the capstan that took a whole day to make, amazing how long it takes to make so little!!!!

Plenty more to go, so as I go from here on, the more I will post. Look forward to a southern hemisphere late spring launch...

_________________
One thing you never want to hear from the Ammo tech - "Oops"

Some interesting and unusal construction techniques used to build your tug. Great to see someone trying something different.

_________________
Tiny's Modelling Site https://sites.google.com/site/tinysmodellingsite/Welcome

G'day Tiny69, yeah, I have tried some new things in an attempt to learn some techniques for when I make a much bigger model I want to build. I want to build it closer to the real thing. I will be building the hull completely from steel and wanted to see how easy it is to work. The mild steel is fine, but the Stainless Steel is stiffer at the same thickness, harder to work and just a pain in general. The glues I have been using have been very good and am happy to recommend people trying them. There is an expansion issue with the glue and it will make a mess if you aren't careful, but it is impervious to water and for boat/ships, that's a good thing.

Now, I have been a busy boy today. Been sticking things onto the hull and superstructure. So here are the pics. As can be seen, the bits from the previous post were added along with the handrails on the side of the wheelhouse.
and a closer view
Have been dreading making up the ladders, but made a simple jig that held the treads at the right spacing and then soldered them all together. Seemed to work well and only took about 30 minutes to make up the 4 ladders.

So now that the ladders are made, gotta put ém on, so after putting on door handles, I finally put on the ladders, the rope buffer on the bow and the "rope" on the spools on the upper deck.

I decided to put on the ropes around the Samson Post to finish off the Deck area of the Bow. The only thing left to do will be to finish off the waterline strip when the ship is ready for a swim.

So now we come to the end of the days fun and I also soldered the supports for the mast, to the mast. I have the last pic taken to show where I am at now. Surprisingly little left to do, but most of the work will be around the top of the wheelhouse now. Still have to make the main tow hook, have a couple of pieces of block brass and will see about "carving" out the hook soon.

_________________
One thing you never want to hear from the Ammo tech - "Oops"

G'day all, has been a big day of building and the finish line is in sight...
I started off by fitting a Captain and his little dog into the Wheelhouse. You can see the charts and instrument panels too. This isn't a kit, so this was just a bit of something the wife wanted, so I will keep her happy, her ship after all.

So the Captain doesn't get wet when it rains, I built the roof and put the brass handrail on as an assembly.

Here is the roof attached to the wheelhouse and the front sections soldered together.

Now for a Job I have been dreading for some time, the tow hook. Here are a series of pics showing the raw blocks to the finished product.

A view from the rear of the wheelhouse. Need to fit the navigation lights and the lights on the front of the mast, some cables from the top of the mast to the rear of the top deck and some cables from the top of the funnel to the top of the smoke box and make and attach six life rings to the wheelhouse parapet railing. That should then be the finish of the wheelhouse.

last pic of the day, apart from what needs finishing on the wheelhouse, still have to make the bows that cover the rear of the hull, put the letters of the name of the ship across the stern and that should just about cover the exterior. Then it will be the final fit out of radio gear and motor, a test float, paint the waterline strip and away we go...

So, all in all, a fairly short list. Will do more over the weekend and see how close we are by the end of it.

_________________
One thing you never want to hear from the Ammo tech - "Oops"

Had a slow weekend, so not as much done as I would have liked. But I have now attached all the lights, they don't work, but they look the part. Also made the cradle to sit the boat on when it is in the house. Still have to make and fit the life rings, paint the waterline strip, make the bows over the stern, fit the motor and batteries. Then she can have a swim.


Anyone who has seen the plans to the "Anteo" will know some of the departures I have made from the real ship. I built this as a scratchbuild and not from an available kit. Will post some more pics soon and in particular will post her maiden voyage and let you know how much extra weight it took for ballast and her empty weight with the steel frame.

_________________
One thing you never want to hear from the Ammo tech - "Oops"

Hi, Badkeson!
You are very close to finish - is not it? Congratulations - extremelly interesting to see your model on a water!
I never heard about a model with a steel frame - what is a weight of your model at the moment?
And what is a electrical power of the motor?
And the last foolish question: Why the upperdeck is so dark? The real upperdeck wood is rather gray then brown - it is my opinion. Or there is a something special?
Sorry for lots of questions!
I wish you and your wife to get a real pleasure when the tug will go ahead!

With best wishes -
Anatoly

G'day Anatoly,
Thanks for your kind words. I chose to use the steel because I intend to build a mammoth scale ship soon, and was experimenting on a much smaller ship to start with. Steel is very cheep at present and as I have welding gear and the material I decided I would give it a go. Once the frames were aligned and everything was set, went together in seconds and no waiting time for glue. One point though, the welds do pull and as such, warping can happen, so preheating and opposing welds do help. The steel frame in the hull gives the model only a few extra kilos, at the moment, no radio gear and no batteries or motor, the ship weighs 6 kg.
The motor is a Turnigy XK3665-B-2100KV. Don't personally know what all that means, but when I bought it off Hobby King (via internet) was told it would be good for marine applications, have the controller unit and the twin pack of batteries, but I may go to a small motorbike battery if I need more ballast and power.
Mate, no question is foolish, but you caught me out.... that is one of the departures I made. The deck, according to the plans, was a light tan colour, and most tugs pictures I have seen have black decks, or at least dark coloured decks. Didn't want to use more paint, so stained the balsa deck walnut, but didn't seal the balsa first and she went really dark. So that was a monumental boo boo on my part, but the wife liked the colour, so it stayed. I kept the upperdeck as light as possible by not coating it with the CFP satin polyurethane that I used on all the other timber to keep it more "light". The big question now will be how little ballast I will need, she is so bulbous in the hull amidships, I may still need a fair amount to take her down to the waterline. Hope to verify that one soon.
Thanks for your questions,
Gav

_________________
One thing you never want to hear from the Ammo tech - "Oops"

Hi, Gav!
Thank you for the explanations!

About the motor you selected: it has a very quick rotation - 2100 rpm per volt! Brushless! Be careful with it- your model has too big propeller for the rotation - so you need in a reductor- as a minimum 1:5 - it is my opinion. Also, please, pay attention on the motor's cooling system - max. power is 1 kVA - almost a little kettle!
I wish you to win the problems!
Anatoly

G'day Anatoly,
Just been laughing about the speed of the motor,.... had visions of the tug up on the plane going like a speed boat. Just my warped sense of humour.
Thanks for the info, was going to direct couple the motor to the shaft and adjust the setting on the Transmitter, but you pose some interesting problems for me to engineer around **head scratch**
As the keel is steel and close to the shaft ( I have 1/2" of clearance and no room to cut into the keel) a gearbox will be complex as the output can't be any greater than that clearance, so little more than an idler gear on the output drive with the reduction above it.... puts the motor high in the hull and will affect the trim...
Will have a look at how it goes with the direct link and if all else fails, will make a small steam engine and run compressed air through it. Have enough room for a small fire extinguisher bottle to re-gas. A twin cylinder with 10mm bore should be adequate (only if I have to of course). That will push a proper launch down the calendar a bit
What you think Anatoly?
Regards,
Gav

_________________
One thing you never want to hear from the Ammo tech - "Oops"

Hello, Gav!

Let me to discuss a little bit around the machinery of your model.
The motor your bought , I think, really is more fit for racing (or even flying!) model. The motor can bring you problems with cooling, prop and shaft adjustments,bearings and so on.... Beside it, the motor can eat your battery in very short time!
Why don't you take a good old 5-7 pole DC motor with 20...30 VA power? It is more then enough for your model. If you add a LI-Po battery (f.e. with 2800 mA/h capacity) you can save lots of weight and money and enjoy with floating no less than a hour.
About the weight: if your model takes 6 kilo without a machinery - be careful with your plans regarding a steam engine - the weight may be critical . I advise you to set your model in water (in bath!) as a primary check of your "weight credit"
About the transmition - yes, your frames don't allow to use the direct drive. Why not a cardan shaft with a side motor position?
It is just my opinion!
With best regards - Anatoly

G'day Anatoly,
You pose some exceedingly good points. So to determine just how much weight I have to play with, floated the tug in the bath.
The following 2 pics are showing the waterline without ballast. She is very unstable, so had to hold her level.

As can be seen, she is riding well high of the intended waterline. The very hard to see fine black line is the actual waterline as per the plans ( a little painting to be done..)
The following pics are of the waterline with ballast. Very stable in these shots

I was actually surprised by how much it took to get her to settle down to this depth... so I weighed the ballast and took a photo of it.

That is right, it takes 4.795 kg of weight. Add that to the current weight of 6kg, for a model only 3 feet long, she is a heavy weight. Will be just shy of 11 kg completed.
With that in mind, it may pay to just make up the steam engine, I have the material, and I know they can run quite slow and I will need the ballast anyway.
I must admit Anatoly, I am really surprised by just how much weight was needed. So would appear that I have another project to do to finish this project.... All good fun. Have a plan of a paddleduck steam engine with an oiler so the compressed air doesn't dry out the "O" rings in the cylinders. It isn't very big, it has reverse, so will be perfect. Still have a few bits to add to the superstructure, but overall, the vessel is pretty much done.
Please feel free to comment.
Regards,
Gav

_________________
One thing you never want to hear from the Ammo tech - "Oops"

Hi, Gav!
Really, you have a good reserve! I am glad that my warnings were waste. So, you have a wide field for experiments! The steam motor with a compressed air? hmmm... Do you mean a pneumatic motor? Or CO2 motor? In any case, in combination with the welded steel frame it can be a brand new step in a shipmodelling!
With best wishes-
Anatoly

G'day Anatoly,
No, a simple steam engine with a pressure container like a fire extinguisher hooked up through a valve and a guage so that it can be refilled and set to a constant pressure, and hook that directly to a steam engine, you just need the oiler to keep everything free in the cylinders. Made from Stainless and Brass, the thing should run nicely.
Don't know about a new direction in model building, but I know the stem won't dent and the keel won't buckle I just used materials I had available at the time so I could save some money on the build.
Will take a few months to build the motor, but I reckon it should look good and I can set the throw of the crank and put her inline.

_________________
One thing you never want to hear from the Ammo tech - "Oops"