Building the IMARA TUG

[Sky Raider]

Thanks Jim, the last few days have been a nightmare not having any instructions and scale drawings on what needs to go where.

 

[Sky Raider]

I have moved on to the deck support rails now and after reading the instructions i have decided i may as well throw them in the bin, again they are no help at all i even think that they way they read they might even be English transaltion because some of the sentences make no sense at all.

Probably the best thing to do is go off the NTS drawings as some sort of guidance and use my own skills and judgement from here on in. Ill post some pics tomorrow of the progress as i have been waiting for the inside of the hull to dry so not much was done today, in fact i managed about 20mins.

Cheers

Andy

 

[Sky Raider]

Day 7

As i said earlier the instructions are no help and i decided to go it alone. First job was to fit the rails around the sides of the hull, some compound curves meant slotting the rails to get them to fit without snapping the wood this made it form very easily. Once these were in place i had to fit the cross supports and to make sure these were in the correct location i offered in the ply decks and marked off the locations. Next once this was all in place i made up some fillets and additional supports for added strength at the joints. All this was tacked in place with CA and tomorrow i will mix up some resin and hardener and run it around under the edge support strips.

Fitting the deck ply temp showed up anothe problem... the hull moulding is slightly out of shape across the width and the ply does not fit correctly and has some heafty gaps along the edge, im in two minds as to making new decks or filling in the gaps, i will contemplate this further when i see how much bigger the gap is once the curve of the deck is formed. Just another pitfall of this kit. I dont think i will build another one from this manufacturer.

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Cheers

Andy

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[Ian M]

Some time a GRP hull can be a bit lumpy and bent. As long as you keep things strait and true, you'll be fine.

If the deck is the right shape and parallel I would have a think about making the hull fit the deck rather than the deck fit the hull. Have you measured the hull out to see that it is true and strait?

Ian M

 

[Sky Raider]

Yes Ian, it seems that the hull is now wider than it should be and being thick fibreglass there was no flex in it to narrow it enough. I will post some pics tomorrow and you can see exactly what the problem is. I think the best solution is to use the existing decks as templates and add on the shortfall in the width. Would be better all round i think.

Cheers

Andy

 

[treyzx10r]

Andy thats a shame the deck fit is so off,I'm sure you'll get it sorted tho! Looking great, keep up the awesome work! cheers Trey

 

[Caledonia]

Hi Andy; I did say the Calder Craft Kits were bad. This might help Model Boat Mayhem Type in imara in the search box, click on one of the photos, then go to the index page. Best of luck mate. Cheers Derek

p.s. if the white metal fittings come in lots of small bags, don't open them until you need them. They are sorted into different areas of the vessel, If you mix them up - BIG PROBLEM

p.p.s Some history, you may be able to track down some original drawings. http://www.clydesite.co.uk/clydebuilt/viewship.asp?id=5913

 

[Sky Raider]

Thanks Guys, very useful information Derek, thanks.

Andy

 

[Sky Raider]

Day 8

Again i have had to rectify a stupid problem that could have easily been avoided had the manufacturer had a little more common about them. The arm that connected the servo to the rudder was provided with the kit and made from white metal. It advises that a soldering iron is to be held on the brass rudder shaft and solder applied to fix the arm to the shaft. Brilliant idea (NOT!!!!!). If you arent using low melt solder you will find that the arm actually melts before the solder gets hot enough to. What a stupid idea to come up with, conbine that with the fact that its a steering arm that is made from soft metal that can bend easily.

My answer to the problem is indicated in the pics below, i purchased an arm that has a collet and grubscrew and locked it to the shaft with an allen key. Simples.:bangin:

This sorted after throwing away the melted arm and trying to glue a plastic one on with epoxy that also failed i progressed to running a resing strip around the side of the hull to fix the battons in more securely and then moved onto scratch building a stand. Apart from that and the time wasteing excersise nothing more has been done.

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Cheers

Andy

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[Sky Raider]

Day 9

Next on the list is to smooth out the Bukwarks and get a finish that is something like flat.

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Using car body filler i put a smear all the way round the bulwarks and will leave to cure before sanding.

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Cheers

Andy

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[Sky Raider]

Day 10

I have now sanded smooth the bulwarks and i must say they look quite good, i did think of fitting a lining due to the state of them but im happy that i went the filler route now.

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With this complete its time to look at the first of the white metal parts and fit them in place. I have made a start and will carry on tomorrow. Snow shifting every day has took up valuable time.

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Cheers

Andy

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[Sky Raider]

Day 11

I managed to fit the white metal fittings to one side of the hull tonight. I made a cut out for the wash hatches rather than just stick them to the face. A brass rod will be fixed centre of the hatches on the inside of the bulwark to add the scale effect. After i had finished i stood back and realised that i had missed out an hatch, second from the stern. I couldnt leave it until next time as it would have bugged me so i got the dremel out again and fitted it in place.

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Cheers

Andy

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[Sky Raider]

Day 12

I have completed the added the white metal parts to the other side today.

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Cheers

Andy

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[Sky Raider]

Day 13

Great progress today as i was off work for the Easter break. I started to add the electrics in the hull. The motors, speed controllers and switches are now added.

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Next job was to add the decks, there is still a lot of in filling to do here but we are almost done below decks now so we will be getting to some decent detailing works soon. Once i have the decks complete i will be moving onto primer stage.

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Cheers

Andy

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[Ian M]

Looking very nice Andy.

Ian M

 

[CDW]

Looking really good mate.

I take it you're painting all the decking woodwork and not having it dressed and varnished then?

 

[steve244]

Well you dont waste any time Andy,i thought you were having a break after building the Hunter so this was a nice suprise and shame on me for not noticing this earlier.Looking very nice as well Andy should keep you busy for some time eh,i see that your not happy with some of the kit and read your comment that caldercraft are not very good at producing instruction manuals and things but having never had one of their kits it has come as a bit of a suprise that a company such as them are lacking in certain parts its a shame that we spend alot of money buying these kits only to find inferior fittings and poor instructions as you said in an earlier post a person with lesser skills would have been stumped but glad to see you are cracking on and looks like this will be another educating thread for me anyway (learning things all the time).

cheers steve

 

[Jim Scott]

You are putting this together really well Andy..very neat work..Jim

 

[mobear]

have i been in a coma?andy this is great,you havent wasted any time have you lol

mobear

 

[Sky Raider]

Looking really good mate.I take it you're painting all the decking woodwork and not having it dressed and varnished then?

The deck will be painted grey Colin yes but there is a planked overlay that sits on the top and only covers certain areas, the deck is a mixture of iron and wood... all will be revealed in due course, there will be lots of suprises along the way i hope.

Cheers

Andy