A Steam Lighter

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CONTENTS
The Story of Steam Lighter .................................................................... 3

Technical Details .................................................................................. 10

Photographs of VIC 32 ......................................................................... 17

Plans of VIC 32 .................................................................................... 33

Model Construction .............................................................................. 42

On the Water........................................................................................ 65

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 A Steam Lighter

The Story of Steam Lighter VIC 32

Extract from Save the Puffer website written by Nick Walker, captain
VIC 32 was built by Dunston's of Thorne, Yorkshire in November 1943. This was a
busy time for the Clyde Ship building yards and the Admiralty needed 50, (later 100)
victualling boats in a hurry. So they were built in groups of 3 by various different
yards in England. For instance VIC 27 (Auld Reekie) was built at Rowhedge. The
Admiralty didn't need to design a new craft for this purpose as the perfect boat
existed in a Clyde Puffer. Presumably these little sea going craft fitted the bill
perfectly. The Clyde Puffer had developed from the Dark ages, starting off with a
coracle, through Viking long ships to gabbarts. Somebody in 1880 or so had put a
steam engine and a boiler in a sailing gabbart, found it difficult to see over the boiler
whilst steering from a tiller at the stern and had created a structure on top of the
boiler to steer from. Later they put a canvas dodger around the helmsman and
finally a proper wheelhouse.

Typical War time puffer

The next progressive stage after our vessel was to create an 82 foot version. These
were in my opinion not such nice boats. In fact they were really small ships as
opposed to VIC 32 which I have always felt was a large boat. The 82 foot boats
were built because seamen in the war were getting fed up of being torpedoed below

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the waterline where their bunks were. So the owners of ships changed their design
and put the accommodation on the decks. When you get the steam winch on the
foredeck above a cabin on a deck you are getting visibility problems from the wheel
house. This was improved by putting the funnel behind the wheelhouse. This
resulted in building and fitting a fire tube boiler as opposed to VIC 32's water tube
vertical boiler. A water tube boiler needs little weekly maintenance whereas a fire
tube boiler demands its tubes sweeping regularly!

In 1976, we found a notebook in the stern cabin which had been lost by the second
skipper of VIC 32. He had put it on the shelf beside his bunk and it had fallen down
a narrow gap and landed up under the bunk in a very dark place. We only found it
when we were welding doubler plates on the hull, beached at Wapping on the
Thames. I saw gentle smoke coming out of the stern cabin and finally found this lost
gem. The book had carbon copies of letters written from a S. Slipper to his agent.
He had found the boat in the spring of 1944 derelict! She had only been built in
November 1943.

The first skipper had proven to be a drunken maniac. He had taken a cargo of
cement out to Barra to build a pier. The boat had suffered damage all along the
starboard side, a propeller blade had been knocked off, the crew were in jail for
stealing the shop's petty cash, one had septic sores and another had a nasty
seaman's disease. Obviously merchant men could, to a certain extent during the
war, choose from the Merchant Navy Shipping Pool what type of boat they worked
on. I think a coal fired steam Puffer on the West Coast of Scotland, in summer and
winter, day and night was not on everybody's priority list. So the reality was that the
crew were no gentlemen. On top of all this, there was salt water in the boiler.
Captain Slipper got the boat going again, but had constant continuing problems and
finally applied to the Shipping Pool for another boat as he had decided that VIC 32

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had a hoodoo on her. Just as things were starting to go well, another calamity
occurred.

During the 29 and half years I have operated the boat, I know all about the hoodoo!!!
Meanwhile Captain Slipper was constantly asking the agent in his letter where his
new propeller was. Finally it was delivered to him and he had to change it on the
beach. Apart from his Chief Engineer, the crew refused to help and the two men
struggled to get the rudder off, the removable section of the rudder stock off, undo
the prop nut, withdraw the damaged prop and fit the new heavy (5 and a half
hundred weight) 4 bladed cast iron prop. I know all about this as we had to go
through the same process at Crinan Harbour beach in 1979.

We think VIC 32 worked out of Corpach at some time during the war, taking
ammunition from barges moored at the head of Loch Eil and supplying the Atlantic
fleet with victuals at the Saint Christopher's Base at Corpach. We now use the very
same slipway at Corpach Boat Builders, she may have used then. We think she
worked in Scapa Flow, Orkneys delivering aviation spirit to the ships in the Fleet and
she certainly worked as a day boat in Rosyth Naval Dockyard after the war until she
was sent over to Whites of Inverkeithing to be scrapped in the 60's. A friend of Keith
Shellenburg saw her there, told him about her predicament and he bought and
steamed her down to the Whitehall shipyard at Whitby which he owned at the time. I
think his idea was to use her to supply his island, Eigg. VIC 32 spent many years
here until Rachel and I bought her in October, 1975. We had been up to Newcastle
from Uxbridge to look at an old pilot cutter which turned out to be a wreck. So we
decided just to make a weekend of it and came slowly back down the coast and
landed up in a bed and breakfast in Whitby. Our red setter dog, Rupert chose one
owned by Peter and Joyce who didn't mind dogs. This was very fortunate, as having
bought VIC 32 we were not able to sleep on board due to dirt and legal matters.
Peter was the coxswain of the local life boat and knew everybody in the town. This
proved very useful later on when the boat broke loose and had to be towed off the
beach!

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When we first saw VIC 32, we were actually in the process of leaving Whitby in the
morning. I just happened to glance through a narrow gap over a small bridge just up
from the boatyard where she lay. I recognised the outline of a Puffer immediately. I
had seen them on the Crinan Canal in the 50's when we came up to stay with my
grandmother. Rachel and I went down to the yard and found out from the yard
owner that she was for sale. After a brief look on board we went up to the pub and
had a pint or two of Yorkshire's Best Bitter. We soon had a mental picture of
drinking gin and tonics on the foredeck at Crinan on
board a fully restored Puffer!

I met Keith Shellenburg in a London Hotel and thence

we negotiated a price in a local pub. After thinking
about it all a bit more and after another visit or two,
surveying her with large hammers at low tide, we set
off for Udny Castle and bought her for 1,500. With
the help of Bob Adam and his merry gang from the
restored steam tug 'Kerne' at Liverpool, we prepared
her for her trip down to London on the Whit weekend
of 1976.

We started the conversion of the hold immediately.

We put a false floor in the hold allowing 6 foot
headroom in the lower area and by dint of raising the
hatch boards by 23 inches and installing windows we
created a marvellous saloon and galley and dining area on this level. At the same
time we used the boat for trips down to the Medway, Erith and Greenwich. This
encouraged our large volunteer work force to understand what all the hard work was
about. We used the big tides on the Thames Estuary to double plate the hull from 2
feet below the waterline to deck level. We took the boat across the English Channel
to France in 1977, intending to get to Paris but we ran out of human steam power at
Rouen.

After two years in St. Katherine's Dock, we took her back to Scotland, starting off
Whit weekend, 1978. We had printed a single sheet advertisement for berths on
board for the journey. We had divided it up into 8 weeks, for instance London to
Whitby, Whitby to Leith, Edinburgh, Leith to Inverness, Inverness to Crinan etc. and
a few weeks pottering about the Argyll area experimenting whether it was going to
be practical to operate the vessel in that area. Life was pretty basic and if you
wanted to wash in hot water, you had to report to the engineer for a bucket of water
which had had the steam lance treatment.

Rachel and I were married in Bellanoch Church by

Crinan, in January 1979.

We started taking proper fare paying passengers in

1979. We used Tarbert, Loch Fyne as a base and

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mainly operated around the Clyde area. This included Rothesay on the Isle of Bute,
Millport on the Isle of Great Cumbrae and Lochranza on the Isle of Arran. We
explored up all the local Lochs, Loch Long at
Arrrochar where we climbed the Cobbler, Carrick
Caste at Loch Goil, Helensburgh and anchored off
Faslane in the Gare Loch. We used to go up to the
Ministry of Defence pier at Inveraray, nearly at the
head of Loch Fyne. Then in September we would
cruise up to the Caledonian Canal. Since 1994 we
have cruised from Crinan, down the Sound of Jura,
round Kiels Point and up into the Fairy Isles in Loch
Sween. Then on to childhood haunts in Tayvallich
Bay. We explored the Queen's Beach in Loch
Caollisport, the saint's cave on Eilean Mhor on the
McCormick Isles, sometimes watching whales
passing by and listening out for corncrakes. On a
good day you can see Ireland to the South and Ben
Nevis to the North! Sometimes its like being inside a
watercolour painting here. I recommend it!

On to Craighouse on Jura, where we have been made welcome by the locals. Our
ambition on the island is to get to the Victorian walled garden at Ardfin on the South
end. This is called Jura House garden, a magic spot created by Peter the Dutchman
and if ever you find you are not at the peace with the world, make your way there
and sit on the little cast iron bench at the North end of the garden, overlooking the
burn. Sometimes we took the Jura bus to Feolin, the wee ferry across to Port Ascaig
on Islay, the big Caledonian MacBrayne ferry to Colonsay and had 5 super hours
walking on Colonsay. We would return the same afternoon and be back on board
for a delicious three course sea food dinner. Then having perhaps taken the school
bus driven by Gwen to the top of the island, we would depart for Shuna Island, Loch
Melfort, Arduaine Gardens and Loch Craignish.

We developed the cruise on the Caledonian Canal over the years. We used to go
both ways in a week, from the top of Neptune's staircase locks at Banavie to the top
of Muirtown Locks at Inverness. Recently we changed this to a one way trip from
either Inverness to Fort William via Fort George in the Moray Firth and the Corran
Narrows in Loch Linnhe. I thought this was definitely a better cruise as one then had
a little taste of the sea at the Western and Eastern ends of the canal and made an

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entrance into the canal and an exit out of it! We developed taking people by mini
bus to either Cawdor or Brodie castles, showing people the Klava Cairns. Here I
introduced dowsing with a polo mint suspended by a length of cotton which intrigued
some people. We learnt over the years to seek out edible fungi in the autumnal
woods, specialising in chanterelles, the penny bun, (boletus edulis), the hedgehog
fungi and the brain fungi.

I rather miss the fun of the fair! Operating a steamboat in this day and age is
blissful. The silence of steam allows one to listen to the sound of nature. Porpoises,
whales and dolphins are fairly common in Argyll's waters but you hear them before
you see them. We attracted thousands of people from all over the world and we
could chat in the wheelhouse without having to make oneself heard over the
thundering roar of a diesel engine.

In 1989 the Friends of VIC 32 was started, a money raising venture in case of an
engineering crisis or something similar. We now have hundreds of Friends. In 1993
we celebrated VIC 32s 50th anniversary and by the Millenium we had been cruising
Scottish waters for 25 years.

In 2002 Nick and Rachel gave the vessel to the Puffer Preservation Trust, a new
company with charitable status, in the hope that VIC 32 will continue to give
passengers and the public as much pleasure as she has done in the past, continuing
to steam gently through Scottish waters and further educate the public.

In April 2004 the original boiler failed its annual test and we then spent the following
year raising funds to replace it with a replica working boiler. We were given a
generous grant by the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Manifold Trust and other trusts.
Members of the public and Friends of VIC 32 were also generous. By March 2005
we gave Pridhams Engineering and Corpach Boatbuilders the contract to replace

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the boiler and the hull in its vicinity. In 2006 the new boiler was delivered to Scotland
and the vessel was in steam again.

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Technical Details
The vessel is 66' 4" long, 18' beam, 8' 6" draft at the stern and 4' at the bow. She
weighs approximately 160 tons displacement dead-weight and is registered at 49
43/100 tons (Thames Builders measurement.) Her derrick can lift 1 ton. She was
fitted in 1943 with a Cochran vertical water tank boiler. This has five water tubes
and one furnace door on the starboard side. There is a 7 ton coal bunker on the
starboard side and a 5 ton one on the port side.

The engine was built in 1943 by Crabtrees of Great Yarmouth. The engine is
identical to the one in Lydia Eva, herring drifter. It is a compound steam engine
developing 120 horse power. Two cylinders, (compound), the high pressure cylinder
has a piston valve and the low pressure cylinder a slide or matchbox valve. Total
loss oil lubrication system. The boiler feed made by Simpson Strickland and the
General Service pump made by Worthington & Simpson. The main engine exhausts
into a condenser, thus the used steam is pumped back into the boiler as hot water in
a circulating system. So actually we don't puff! No Puffer has since prior to 1920.
The old Puffers, thus named onomatopoeically, used to exhaust steam up inside the
funnel. Thus one would get a puff of steam, a puff of smoke and I believe
sometimes they would blow smoke rings! The engineers were always tempted to
put salt water into the boiler as they would soon run out of fresh water. The
condenser is cooled by salt water pumped from one of four pumps operated from a
ram off the high pressure piston rod. The other pumps are an air pump that controls
the vacuum, a return boiler feed pump and a bilge pump. The engine can be

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controlled from the wheel house by dint of a remote reversing lever main steam
valve and an impulse lever. This later lever was useful psychologically when
careering toward a stone wall or an expensive yacht. After one had gone full astern,
having opened the steam valve as much as possible it helped to hold the impulse
lever up and at least one was doing something. This puts live high pressure steam
underneath the high pressure cylinder.

When we first bought the boat we were allowed to operate with 120 lbs per square
inch of steam but the boiler was down rated in 1976 to 105 lbs per square inch.
Hopefully the new boiler will be back up to 120 lbs as the slide valve on the low
pressure cylinder valve will behave itself better.

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Article in Marine Modelling Monthly about the VIC Clyde Puffers, dated August 1993

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Photographs of VIC 32

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Plans of VIC 32
Whilst on board I was able to order a copy of the General Arrangement that the
captain had for sale through the Puffer Preservation Trust. These show the deck
plan and a sectional side elevation detailing the inside of the vessel. Unfortunately
there are no hull frame sections on the drawing to build a hull from. This meant I
would need to source a set of drawings from somewhere else.

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I continued my search using the internet and found an article in the August 1993
issue of Marine Modelling International detailing a set of drawing of a typical VIC
Clyde puffer vessel. I placed an order for the set of drawings via Traplet
Publications code MAR2405

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These drawings are at a scale of 1:32 and I will have to do some scale converting to
obtain the correct sizes I require for the model I am building. Now I could get on with
studying the drawings and decide what technique I was going to use to construct the
hull. The drawings consist of two sheets, the first the General Arrangement of the
vessel, when first constructed with an open bridge and the second, the hull and
section information I was looking for. The drawing also shows some other details
found on the vessel which will be helpful during the build of the model.

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Stern Plan

Midships Plan

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Bow Plan

Wheel House Port Side

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Wheel House Starboard Side

Wheel House Front And Rear View

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Cargo Hatch Front

Cargo Hatch Port Side

Cargo Hatch Starboard Side

Winch Details

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Mast Details

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Derrick Details

Wheel House Ladder

Gangway

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Model Construction
CAD

Using CAD software called ProgeCAD, which is very similar to AutoCAD I decided
that I would produce the keel and frame sections in an electronic format so that I
could have them CNC cut from 3mm plywood. Initially I had the drawings scanned
to allow me to cut and paste the hull lines into the CAD software.

Using the software I created a layer to place the scanned file and scale it to the size I
wanted. Now I created a second layer which I could then trace out the hull lines
which became the basis of the whole design.

The above right image shows the initial layout of the keel and hull frame sections.
The next stage was to layout each individual frame, starting with frame 1/2 working
through to frame 91/2, a total of 11 frame sections. Taking the half section I mirrored
it about the centre line to give a solid shape including the top deck camber. Frames
1/ and 91/ are solid, but the rest require the centre section designing so the CNC
2 2
machine would be able to cut out the internal section.

Once I was happy with the layout of the internal sections I moved onto the design of
half butt joints to enable the sections to slot into the keel. With a keel depth of 25mm
a depth of 12.5mm for each half butt joints was designed into the frame sections and
spaced along the keel at the designated positions.

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Now I was happy with the design of the individual parts I had to lay them out in such
a way that they could be cut out with the minimum amount of wood wastage. With
some shuffling around I had soon laid out the parts ready to be sent away for
production.

I found and advert in Model Boats magazine for SLEC UK stating they offered a
CNC cutting service. An email was sent containing a dxf format of the file and by
reply they quoted me a price for completing the production of the parts. Now I just
had to wait for the parts to arrive and hopefully everything would fit together.

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Basic Hull Construction

The moment of expectation soon arrived in a large parcel containing the various
parts. I carefully opened it up to reveal the keel and hull sections all laid out on a
piece of thin plywood held in place with elastic bands. Taking care I removed the
elastic bands and separated out the sections from the keel. I examined each item
and was pleased with the accuracy of the cutting. Next I wanted to see if the
sections fitted into the keel so I quickly slotted each one in place giving the basic hull
shape in a matter of minutes. All the CAD design had paid off.

Now I had the keel and frame sections I needed to construct a solid work board to
start the build-up of the hull. I purchased a piece of 12mm (1/2") thick chipboard
measuring 1220mm (4ft) x 605mm (2ft) and cut it down the centre and glued and
screwed the two pieces together, giving me a 24mm (1") thick base board to work
on.

I marked the centre line of the keel on the base board and constructed two upright
supports to position the keel perfectly vertical. The keel was then G-clamped in place
at the bow and stern. Once I had secured the keel in place I was able to start
positioning the frames in place, starting at the stern and working forward towards the
bow. Each one was glued and clamped square and left for a few hours whilst the
glue set. With all the frames in place I could now stiffen up the whole structure by
inserting wooden blocks between the frames. Eventually all the wooden blocks were
in position giving a solid base for the planking of the hull.

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Using 1mm thick lime wood sheets I started to skin the outside of the hull working on
each side to avoid any undue stress on the hull.

Next the planking of the bow was started with 10mm wide planks cut from the lime
wood sheets on a small circular saw. Then the planking of the stern was completed
before moving on to the hull sides using the lime wood sheets again.

To get the required flat surface and distinctive chine joint on these small vessels
more 0.5mm thick lime wood sheeting was used because it is flexible enough to
easily bend around the stern.

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Completing the Hull

With the planking of the hull completed I needed to add more strength to the hull so I
lined the inside in between each section frame with fibre glass matting and applied
fibre glass resin. This would allow the outside of the hull to be sanded back to the
required shape without the planks collapsing. During the sanding of the outside I
applied some fibre glass filler paste to fill any hollows that were present.

Next I started to work on the stern section by gluing stepped balsa blocks both sides
of the keel and then covered them with more filler paste. This was then sanded back
to match the hull. The same process was repeated for the bow section.

I was now happy with the overall shape of

the hull and decided to make the rudder
skeg and keel. I drew out the skeg on my
computer and printed it out. I made a
template from cardboard to ensure the
shape of the skeg fitted correctly. Now I
could start making the parts from 2mm
brass sheet, cutting, drilling and filing them
to shape. With all the parts made I set up
some wooden jigs to hold the parts in
place whilst they were soldered together.

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Hull Plating

The basic hull is now complete and I can move onto the hull plating. Using the shell
expansion drawing obtained from the University of Glasgow the plating lines were
drawn onto the hull to give a guide to the plate sizes and shapes. The plates are in
rows reference A to G, with A running along the keel and G the bulwarks. Each
plate is specifically designed to overlap or butt up to the next plate. The bottom half
of the hull would be plated using 80gsm card with the top two rows F and G from
0.4mm thick brass sheet.

The cardboard plates are glued in place using a 50/50 mix of PVA glue and water,
whereas the brass plates I used a two part Epoxy glue. The shell expansion drawing
was vital as it gave some very useful information that is not clear on the photographs
I had of the ship. Each individual plate was traced out from the hull, transferred onto
cardboard, cut out and glued in place. The brass plating was made in the same way
but were more time consuming.

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Photo Etch

Since starting this project I have been trying new modelling techniques to improve
my overall standard of modelling. From the onset I had decided to have a go at
designing my own parts to have photo etched. I attend the regular meetings of the
Model Ship Society and was given some tips on setting up the artwork and where to
have the etching produced. Over the past months I have been drawing up in the
CAD program the various parts I wanted to try and have etched. I contacted PPD
Ltd who supply bulk orders or one off projects and were happy to produce the etched
sheet from my artwork.

Within a week the etching was completed and delivered. Upon inspection I was
quite pleased with the results. The sheet contains etching for the coal scuttles,
handrails, window frames, deck lights, bollards, ladders, brackets and various sizes
of flanges.

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Superstructure

The superstructure on this ship is relatively simple with just a large box over the
engine room with a wooden wheelhouse mounted at the rear. I decided to use 1mm
plasticard for the basis of the superstructure because it will keep it very light weight
and is easy to use. I transferred the measurements from the CAD drawing onto the
sheet of plastic, cut out the sides and glued them together with 3mm square sections
along the edges to strengthen the joints. The deck section slopes from the mid point
to the edges so I cut one large section and scored it down the middle to kink the
plastic sheet before gluing it in place.

With the basic box complete I started to mark out the door frames, port holes, funnel
position, cowl vent locations and steering gear tubes that run vertically up the side of
the superstructure. With everything marked out I started to cut out the port holes
with a 9mm drill bit and inserted a 5mm long section of 9mm OD brass tube to form
the frames of the port holes. Next I marked the positions of the eight bolts that run
around the circumference and drilled the small holes and inserted dressmakers pins
glued in place with cyano to represent the bolt heads. This was repeated for each of
the port holes a total of three times.

On the ship the steering chains run from the rudder tiller through pulleys, along the
deck and up each side of the superstructure in tubes before entering the
wheelhouse. Using some plasticard I made two small boxes which the chain runs
into and then cut two lengths of brass tube and mounted them on either side. I then
cut out a small section at the top and inserted two flanges on each side. Between
the two flanges I inserted a brass pulley wheel for the chain to run over and into the
wheelhouse.

At the back of the engine room casing is a small angled hatch with two small
windows. The hatch sides were cut from plasticard and attached to the main casing
with liquid cement. I had the hatch top made on the etched brass sheet. I removed
the hatch and bent the sides into position and soldered the joints. Next I attached
the two window frames and constructed the hinged cover from brass and small strips
of plastic.

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The base of the platform was cut from 1mm thick brass sheet and trimmed down to a
size of 158mm x 29mm. The 0.5mm thick edges on three sides were soldered in
place using a simple wooden jig to hold all the parts together. The two support
brackets were removed from the photo etched sheet and also soldered in place on
the underside of the platform. I now started to construct the two sets of stairs. The
sides and treads were removed from the photo etch and placed in another wooden
jig to aid in soldering the parts together. I painted each joint with a small amount of
solder paste and applied some heat from the soldering iron. It didn't take too long to
complete all the joints. Next I bent a piece of brass rod to form the hand rail and
soldered that to the top and bottom of the stairs. The platform was glued in place on
the front of the engine room casing and the two sets of stairs attached.

With the upper platform in place I started work on the lower platform that holds a
large water tank. This time I decided to make it out of plasticard. I measured out the
size and marked out the 1mm thick plastic sheet and cut it out. Next I cut a 2mm
wide strip from a piece of 0.5mm thick sheet to form the raised front edge. The rear
and two side pieces are 5mm high and cut from the same thickness plastic sheet.
With all the sides cut I glued them in place with Liquid Poly cement. The two support
brackets were marked out and cut from 1mm thick plastic and glued to the underside
of the platform and the whole assembly was the attached to the front of the engine
room casing.

The water tank is also made from 1mm

thick plastic sheet with the four sides
marked out and cut, glued together with
3mm square sections in each corner to
strengthen the joints.

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Funnel

At the centre of the forward engine room casing is the funnel which I choose to
construct from a piece of 31mm OD brass tube I purchased from Eileen's Emporium.
To start with I cut the tube to a length of 150mm with a pipe cutter and then sanded
the edge at an angle to form a rake off 1 in 12 as indicated on the plans. Next I
started to mark out the band positions and cut two 2mm wide strips of 0.5mm
plasticard to make the bands. Starting at
the rear of the funnel the first strip was
glued into position by rolling it around the
circumference of the tube. This was
repeated for the second band. To make
the top section of the funnel a 35mm OD
circular piece of plasticard was cut with a
25mm OD hole at its centre using a
compass cutter. A second brass tube of
25mm OD was inserted through the hole to
form the funnels inner liner.

The funnel base was made in the same manner as the top with a circular piece of
plasticard and a 2mm wide strip glued around the tube. The steam whistle assembly
is constructed from various pieces of brass and plastic. I started with the 'T' section
with the three sets of flanges. Each flange has four
resin cast bolt heads applied to the top surface with four
resin cast nuts on the bottom face. The steam whistle is
a piece of brass tube with a square section cut into it to
form the window where the steam is realised on the
actual vessel. The ball valve below started out as a
round map pin with a leaver arm attached which was
made from brass rod. The whistle on the left was made
from bits of brass tube and rod. The whole assembly is
mounted on a piece of brass tube bent to shape with a
flange soldered to the bottom made from a brass pulley
which was cut in half.

Next to the steam whistle is a vent pipe. A length of

tube was bent to shape with the help of some pipe
benders. At the base is a brass flange with six resin bolt
heads applied.

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Wheelhouse

The wheelhouse on the original ship is all timber construction so I decided I would
attempt to build the model on in a similar fashion. First I drew out the size of the
wheelhouse base on a flat piece of hard board. I then started to cut strips of wood to
form the base framework and glued them together. Now I could start to construct
the sides with the front section first followed by the port and starboard and finally the
rear. The framework was built in the same manner as the base with uprights and
cross beams.

At the rear the door opening can be seen. The outside of the wheelhouse is planked
so I started to cut 3mm wide strips on a circular bench saw slightly over length to
allow for sanding back to the edge of the frame. Each plank was sanded on each
edge to form a slight groove once glued in space. With the lower half of the
wheelhouse completed it was positioned on the rear of the superstructure so that I
could attach the combing around the base that over hangs the main superstructure.
In the picture below all the slats are in place. The top corner section has a larger gap
in the slats to allow the reversing gear to be mounted directly to the top of the engine
room casing. The section down the middle is for the steering chain channel to be
mounted in later.

Now I could make the top combing by cutting a strip of 5mm wide obechi and cutting
45 degree angles at each end to form neat corner joints. With the outside completed
I could start to work on the inside. The base has a wooden grate flooring so I started
to cut a number of cross beams and glued in the spaces between the main beams.

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Using the bench disc saw I cut 30mm long strips to form the grating. Each one was
glued in place with a 1mm spacer positioned between each to form the gaps.

Cowl Vents

Cowl vents are quite complicated shapes to make with several curves in various
directions. Traditionally they are carved from solid blocks of wood but my wood
working skills are not up to the standard I wish to achieve on this model. With the
advent of 3D printers I decided to have a go at designing my own and have them
'printed'. The program I am familiar with is Autodesk Inventor so I was able to
quickly model up a design that suited my requirements. The photo below shows a
13mm OD cowl with an 8mm OD column. The wall thickness is only 0.81mm thick
which is much thinner than I would ever be able to achieve if I was to carve them
from solid blocks of wood.

First I created an account and uploaded my design and the website instantly started
to check the design for printability and the cost of production in all materials
available. To order it is then just a simple case of selecting the required material and
how many of each are required. I chose the white strong flexible plastic option and
placed the order.

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Now I just had to wait for my delivery of two 20mm OD, two 13mm OD and one
10mm OD cowl vents. After about two weeks the parcel arrived from Holland

containing the items. To complete each cowl vent they were mounted on brass
tubes with an outer band added to cover the joint between the two pieces. The
engine room vents are 20mm OD mounted on a 10mm OD brass tube cut to length.
The base has a flange with sixteen etched bolt heads from the brass etching set I
had made earlier on in this project. The cabin vent is the 10mm OD mounted on a
tall 4mm OD brass tube.

Winch

I spent quite some time studying the photos of the winch I had to get a good idea of
the construction and layout. Then I started to layout the base and side supports in
the CAD software. I also drafted up the main drum flanges and cylinder holders so I
could layout the artwork to have the pieces etched from brass sheet. The artwork
was sent away for production in 0.9mm thick brass sheet. Whilst it was being
produced

I continued on by turning the main cylinders and steam valves from brass bar on my
small lathe. I also made the valve gear push rods from sections of brass rod and
tube, fabricating each one and soldering the pieces together. Once the sheet of
brass etch had arrived I could start assembling the winch. First I soldered the side
support frames together and placed them into the main base. Next I cut a section of
2mm OD brass rod and placed it between the two support frames to square

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everything up. Now I could start making the main bearings from square sections of
brass with a 3mm diameter hole drilled through. The main drum was then
assembled from the etch brass flanges and two sections of brass tube, with all parts
being soldered together. The gear wheels I purchased from Cornwall Model Boats
and fit onto the 3mm diameter shaft. The two flywheels were turned on the lathe with
a 3mm OD hole in the centre and a second 3mm hole drilled off centre for the
conrod pin to fit into.

The two warping drums at the ends of the main shaft were turned on the lathe from
brass bar using a square cutting tool to form the internal diameter. Then I used a
small round file to form the internal radius of the drum. To create the recessed ends
I first drilled a hole and again used a file to open out and form the radius. The winch
has three brake bands fitted, one on the main drum, one on the anchor chain
warping drum and one on the other warping drum. The bands are made from thin
plastic strip with the two chocks filed to shape from 3mm square plastic, each with a
1mm diameter hole drilled through them for the hand wheel shaft to pass through.
The three hand wheels were made as parts on the etch brass sheet. To finish off
the winch I needed to make the flywheel and toothed gear wheel guards. The
flywheel guards were formed by bending a strip of 6mm wide brass strip around a
section of 12mm diameter brass bar. Then two small brackets were soldered to the
ends of the guards before they were soldered onto the frames of the winch. The
toothed gear guard was a little trickier because it covers both the pinion and main
gears. First I formed the guard around the pinion gear from a section of 5mm wide
brass strip bent around a 10mm diameter piece of brass bar. Then I cut two more
strips of 5mm wide brass and soldered them to the U shape section previously
made. The two long strips were then bent around a large section of copper pipe to
from the shape around the large gear. Again two small brackets were soldered in
place before the guard was soldered on to the winch.

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A Bit of Colour

Now for something completely new for me: airbrushing. All along on this project I
have wanted to try new building techniques such as CAD, laser cutting, brass
etching, 3D printing and also learn to use an airbrush. After a bit of research I opted
to buy an Iwata TRN2 airbrush with a Sprint compressor. I also found a helpful DVD
on the basics of learning to use an airbrush. It covered the basics of the equipment,
how it works and some simple painting techniques. The DVD showed some simple
exercises to become familiar with the airbrush before showing how to apply the paint
to a model. After spending a number of hours mixing paint to the correct
consistency, spraying lines, dots, wiggly lines of various thicknesses and filling in
blocks of paint onto plain white paper I felt confident enough to start applying some
paint to the ship. I decided to paint some of the fittings black first with the
complementary paints received with the airbrush kit

Over the course of painting all the fittings I learnt the correct consistency to mix the
paint so that I can apply thin coats of paint, how to set up my work space and how
much paint to mix for each session. Also how long it takes to clean the airbrush
afterwards. I am quite pleased with the results and how fine the finish is compared to
hand painting or spraying using an aerosol.

The hardest decision to make was which make of paint should I use. Eventually I
decided to use Vallejo Model Air, after reading the Hints and Tips on Alans Boatyard
Airbrush page. Continuing on with the painting I have learnt that if I mix a 50:50 ratio
of the colour with white I can use that as a base coat before applying the top coat

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colours. To protect the paint finish I then airbrush over with a satin varnish with a
50:50 mix of acrylic thinners, remembering to clean the airbrush as soon as I have
finished spraying. The varnish sets quite hard and would be very difficult to remove
from the airbrush if left to dry. With using acrylic paints and varnishes the equipment
is easily cleaned with warm water.

Painting the Hull

The first stage to painting the hull was to apply several layers of undercoat using red
oxide car spray paint. I left this to dry over night to allow it to harden properly before
applying a top coat of red spray paint. Again this was left some time to harden off
before I started to mask off the waterline. Using Tamiya 6mm wide masking tape I
run the tape along the waterline on both sides. Then the lower section of the hull was
covered with plain white paper to protect the red area of the hull. The main deck
area was also masked off to protect the bulwarks.

The top section of the hull was given a number of coats of matt black car spray
before finishing with two coats of Tamiya TS-29 Satin Black spray paint. This was
left to dry for about half an hour before I removed the all the masking tape and
paper. At this stage the paint is dry but still 'soft' and a good clean edge is achieved.
The hull was left overnight to allow the paint to harden off.

With the base colours of the hull applied

the next step was to apply the white trim
on the top of the bulwarks and along the
rubbing strips. I purchased 2 metres of
2mm wide automotive pin stripe and
applied it along the rubbing strips on each
side of the hull. To paint the top of the
bulwarks masking tape was applied along
the edges to be protected and thin coats of
white acrylic paint applied with a brush.

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Rigging

It is now time to start on the rigging of the main mast. The first items to make are the
two sets of three turnbuckles that hold the ratlines to the bulwarks. Each one is
made of up of three sections. The end sections were made first, one with a ring end
and the other a U section. These were soldered to a 10mm length of 1mm threaded
rod as shown in the photo.

The centre section was cut from a piece of copper tube to a length of 14mm. Then a
1mm OD nut was threaded onto each of the end sections and placed into the copper
tubes and soldered in place. Through the ringed end section a shackle was fitted,
purchased from Prime Miniatures who specialise in miniature nut, bolts and other
fittings.

At the top of each turnbuckle is a pulley block that holds the rigging in place. First I
turned a pulley from 3mm OD brass rod and cut it to a length of 1mm. Then a
template for the teardrop shape sides was made from plasticard with the two holes
drilled through in the correct positions. This was to be used to mark out each one
onto the sheet brass. Once marked out it was roughly cut out with scissors and then
filled to shape. The two 1mm OD holes were then drilled.

Each turnbuckle was then assembled in place with thin wire used to temporary hold
them in position so the cross support beam could be measured. The beam is a piece
of brass rod bent at each end with another section soldered in the centre.

Continuing on with the rigging it was time to start making some pulleys blocks. After
some thought I decided to make them out of sheet brass soldered together. The first
block has two pulley wheels whilst the other has three. I turned five wheels on the
lathe from 5mm OD brass rod with a 1mm OD hole in the centre and a groove
around the circumference. Each one is only 1mm wide. To make the blocks I cut
some brass sheet into 10 x 6mm pieces. These would form the sides. Then I cut
some brass section 1mm thick to form the pieces between the side sections.
Basically each block is made up of laminates of brass.

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A simple jig was made from scraps of wood to hold each piece in place and then
they were soldered together. The two wheel pulley is made of five pieces and the
three wheel pulley has seven. With the basic block made the next stage was to drill
the hole for pulley shaft and then file it to shape. To finish off the eyelet was soldered
to the top and the pulley wheels fitted. The three wheel pulley has an additional loop
soldered to the bottom to fasten the pulley rope to.

Using similar techniques to those described above all the pulley blocks on the main
mast and derrick were constructed and then rigged with a combination of 0.5mm and
0.8mm OD rigging line.

To replace the temporary lines I had in place I obtained some 0.5mm OD stainless
steel wire. Each of the lines was cut to length and wrapped around the bottom
'Deadeye' and 0.2mm OD rigging cord wrapped around to secure it.

At the top an eyelet was made from a section of brass rod and the wire wrapped
around the outside edge and secured in place with a small section of aluminium tube
squashed flat with a pair of pliers.

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Dinghy

The dinghy on the VIC 32 is a traditional clinker planked boat so I decided to make a
wooden plug to lay the planks over. Three 12mm thick blocks of balsa wood were
cut and glued together to form a block 36mm thick to shape the hull from. Then I cut
and sanded the shape of the keel followed by the shape of the outside to give the
basic shape of the hull.

After a little more sanding the final shape of the hull plug was complete so I then
spray painted it with numerous coats of oxide red paint before finishing it off with a
coat of white paint. The paint will stop the PVA glue I will be using sticking to the
plug, hopefully.

With the keel set in position I could start to plank the hull around the plug. Starting
with a 5mm plank of strip wood each plank was cut to length and then shaped to fit
the hull. The planks are narrower at the ends and overlapped by 1mm to give the
clinker built effect.

I have worked on both sides of the keel so to even out any stresses that may result
whilst building the hull, cutting and gluing each plank in place on each side before
moving on to the next row down.

With all the planks in place the next step was to slowly ease it off the plug to reveal
the inside of the hull. Next the transom was cut and shaped to fit in the hull.

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Now I could start to fit out the inside starting with the keel cut from a 2mm wide strip
of wood and glued down the centre of the hull. Then I glued a 2mm wide strip of
wood along each side of the inside top edge of the hull.

Then I starting to add the wooden ribs. First I determined the spacing of each of the
ribs and marked them onto the keel. Each rib is cut from a piece of 2mm wide,
0.5mm thick strip wood which I soaked in water to soften it a little and pressed it
against the inside of the hull to form the shape before cutting it to length and gluing
them in place.

Next the seating was made starting with the three seats running across the beam of
the hull. Each was cut to length and glued into position. Then I measured the
distances between each and cut strips from 10mm wide wood and with a bit of
fiddling about got each one to fit along the inside edge of the hull to form the side
seating.

The floor decking is made with five strips of 4mm wide, 1mm thick strip woodcut to a
length of 100mm and glued to three longitudinal strips of wood with a 1mm gap
between each. To finish of the seats the corner and vertical boards were made and
glued in place before the top strip of wood for mounting the rollocks on, was glued in
place.

The next item to make was the Suzuki 5hp outboard motor mounted on the transom.
I searched the internet to find some pictures I could use to help build it. Using the
photo's I had and found I sketched up a drawing to build from. The outboard is made
from plasticard and metal tube and then painted with metallic paint. The decals
where then applied after I made them using my PC and inkjet decal paper.

Next I carved two oars from a length of 10mm wide strip wood, cutting and sanding
them to shape. Then I mixed a watery brown wash and applied it to the inside and
outside of the hull letting it soak into the wood. Once dry I gave it two coats of gloss
acrylic clear varnish. To finish off I made a small petrol can from plasticard and
painted it red, mounted the outboard to the transom and added the petrol pipe, then
placed the oars on top of the duck boards.

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Finishing Touches

To finish the hatch windows I needed to glaze them, so using some clear plastic
sheet I cut each of the fourteen 26mm x 19mm panes and placed them behind the
window frames. Next I had to add the curtains. First I drew out a sheet of green
coloured rectangles on the PC and printed them onto some photo paper. Once
printed each was cut out and folded using the lines I printed on sheet above each of
the coloured squares. Then I glued two behind each window using white PVA glue.

The welding set consists of two oxygen bottles and one acetylene mounted on the
side of the engine room. To make the bottles brass tubes were cut to length, with the
ends turned on the lathe and soldered in place before finishing off in the lathe to
form the rounded ends. The two gas regulators were made from pieces of brass rod
soldered together.

The welding torch was made from brass

rod for the main body with two small tubes
soldered to the end for the gas hoses to
slot into. The hoses are made from red
and blue 1mm OD electrical wire held
together with small strips of masking tape
placed at 20mm intervals. The bottles were
painted black for oxygen and maroon for
acetylene and held in place with two
brackets made from brass strip painted
black.

All around the hull are old tyres to protect the hull when manoeuvring in locks and
alongside quays. I purchased some vinyl tyres from a trade stall at a local model
boat show. Using a rough file and sandpaper I removed the tread from each one to
make them look like used discarded tyres. Using a bowline knot at the tyre they
were hung from the cleats mounted on the inside of the bulwarks.

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The next item to make was the radar unit mounted on top of the tripod mast above
the wheelhouse. I found a drawing of the Furuno radar and constructed the body
and antenna from plasticard. I painted it off white and then air brushed it so it looked
like the soot from the billowing smoke from the funnel had covered it.

To finish of the hulls protection I now had to make two basket fenders that are hung
from the rear hand rails either side of the rudder. Having studied the photos I had I
decided that I could weave them using some 0.5mm diameter enamelled copper
winding wire. To start with I drew a simple pattern on the PC as a guide and printed
it out. Next I started to cut lengths of the wire in eight groups of four and taped them
in place on the paper pattern.

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Now I could start to weave across alternating each as I went along, with a drop of
cyano glue to hold them temporary in place. I would cut ten lengths of wire and
weave them which covers about 5mm in depth. A total depth of 30mm was
completed before removing from the paper backing. The next stage was to roll mat
around a plastic tube and glue the two ends together. Then I snipped and bent some
of the wire ends to give a distressed and well used feel. To finish off each one was
painted and hung from the rear railings.

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On the Water

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