I Haven’t had a great deal of time this weekend as I went too see dad yesterday and my step daughter bought her new born daughter over to disturb my peace! Anyway, I’ve got Tuesday and wednesday off so it will be “me time” then!

First job was to drill 2mm Dia holes all around The removable deck to simulate the deck hold down nuts. The nuts where then tiny pieces of cut 1mm rod glued into the hole flush with the deck, works well.

Next was to start building the new centre console as the kit supplied one was junk. There is quite a few more bits and pieces to add to it before it will be ready for paint. As I like to finish something each session, today I made the first of 2 panels from various pieces of plastic sheet, tube ect. This was then painted and finally a drop of humbrol clear fix dropped into each dial bezel to form the glass. Also made today from various pieces of scrap was all the mounting gubbins for the wheel. The wheel was a 0.99p buy of eBay.

So today I reckon I’ve got the console 1/3 to 1/2 finished with the detailing. Plasticard, rod and tube are fantastic to work with and it’s amazing what can be produced if you study the reference pictures. It’s knowing when enough is enough, but as it stands at the moment I’ve a bit to do before I’m satisfied.

I reckon the front is done which includes the front winch mount, and mounts for the rail. Side rail mounts are done as are a couple of stowage bins.

The rear seats are balsa pieces shaped then laminated with ultra thin plastic sheet to simulate the vinyl covering and to make a better surface to paint.

Tomorrow I hope to get the console close to finished less the main painting.....

Today has been a day of painting of the centre console. It started with a coat of grey primer followed by a thin coat of white primer. I then fired up the airbrush and coated the hard to reach parts with orange acrylic. Later in the day this was followed with a couple of coats of good old Halfords VW orange.

Some detail painting of the instrument panels, rivet heads ect, then all parts glued on with plastic cement which doesn’t fog around the edges like hideous cyano does!

There is still a few bits to add to the console I.e. handles bars, compass, overhead bar, coxswain seat/rails, rear winch and bollard and a couple of small black panels to finish.

Just a little bonus update on an hours work this evening after real work.....!

Finished painting the compass which was made from plastic tube and a ball of miliput. Also added the last of the panels.

Main effort now is making and fitting the 2.5mm aluminium rod handles that are a great feature on my version. Ther is another bar to make that surrounds the bin on the starboard side which attaches to the main bar. The black grip is simply heat shrink tube, simple as ....

Really starting to get close to completion on this model and it’s starting to look a little like what I am trying to achieve.

All of the centre console parts are now made and bar the throttle quadrant that is still in the paint shop, it’s complete. All parts have been made from various shapes, sizes, thicknesses of plasticard and tube, a medium I’m really enjoying using.

The removable centre deck is complete. Foot loops for the crew, drain plugs, lifting rings ect, all again made from the usual. As I’m not basing this model on any example that existed, the B-number is the last 3 of my Army service number!

That’s it until Thursday when I will finish and fit the throttle then I shall move onto the last 2 major build before final paint work, both filling me with slight trepidation! That’s the rear frame and engines.....!

Managed to get a cheeky hour in after work and before the “trouble n strife” got home, so pushed on with finishing the painting of the throttle quadrant. Finished off with the black lead from a servo wire and a little heat shrink before feeding through a servo grommet into the side of the console. The coxswain is mid-butchering and I’m hoping to get him “cut n shut” Into a position that will have him hands on throttle and wheel before prime and painting.

Next will be the task of building the rear frame, cannot put off any longer....!

It’s taken all day to fashion the rear frame from a mixture of 5,4 and 2mm brass tube but I thinks it’s worked out well?

After all the helpful hints n tips offered earlier in the build, I annealed the brass tube on my camping stove dunking in cold water. The result was very soft and pliable tube that formed reasonable 90 degree bends on a wooden jig without very much flating. Careful use of plies on the slight flating reformed the tube to a satisfactory finish.

It was then a case of measuring for the cross members which were reinforced with an inner brass section drilled into the uprights, before soldering and a lot of filing! I added inner braces and a couple of brass loops on the front upright.

What will follow next will be adding all the detail to the basic frame ......

A very enjoyable bank holiday has seen the rear frame near completion. I have had 2 return trips to Hull Friday and Sunday to bring my daughter and grandson down for a visit, so the modelling rightly took a back seat whist they were here!

However, Monday and today have seen a lot of hours in the workshop adding all the details mostly from plasticard and plastic tube with a little brass thrown in for good measure. The dustbin thing (I presume some sort of radar?) was made from dowel wrapped in ultra thin plasticard with all the details also plastic. Makes it easier to paint!

I’ve loosely based the model on the old southwold boat that was retired in 1990. We have connections with southwold as my wife’s parents hail from there, in fact my father in law runs the lifeboat museum there on a Sunday and will give you the most entertaining talk if you are ever able to visit! ask for Jim!

I’ve fitted a blue flashing light that will be powered from the Rx, hopefully I will be able to switch on and off at the transmitter? The name boards once painted had official BECC RNLI lettering applied as I had some left over from another project. Nav lights handmade from plastic tube ect

Once all the bits and pieces were made it was on with the priming and painting. The frame was primed with Halfords grey, Halfords black next followed by Matt lacquer. All the smaller parts were painted using Tamiya acrylics.

Last job was to make a stand from ply and dowel in a similar fashion to most of my stands. The kit plastic stand is junk! I’ve not decided yet whether to paint or varnish the stand.

Next major job with be to start building the dummy outboards before we come to the final paint job. I have bought and read the article on the Atlantic 21 in septembers MBM. The reviewer built his as per the kit except he went brushless, everything else was standard from the box.

Not a huge amount achieved today, but managed to squeeze a little in between decorating tasks.......!

Started work on the resin (I think it’s resin cos it smells like it when using the dremel?) outboards supplied by Dave “Mastman” Watts. One tip I did pick up from the MBM article was to use brass tube and rod for the hinging. This will be an area that gets a lot of wear and tear and wouldn’t want what is the steering to fail in use?

After a lot of careful sanding, triming and dremel use, I was satisfied with the fit of the 2 halves, and used thick cyano followed by P38 filler in the few tiny gaps to seal it all up. The vacform cover was also glued on along with the dummy prop. The whole thing was then shaped and sanded before adding a couple of details and priming.

I’ve decided to go with the Mariner 90 motors as some Atlantic’s were fitted with them, it’s a better looking motor than the evinrude and more in keeping with the motor that was in the original kit. The decals were easy, a quick google and I found them on eBay! Printed on decal paper, should look good when applied?

Tomorrow inbetween decorating, I shall build the second motor!

Decided to deviate from my plan of making the other motor inbetween decorating! First thing I did was to make up the 2 motor mounts using the vacform parts that came with the kit. I again used brass tube for strength on the mounts then filled the part with epoxy for extra belt n braces. Once made these were then accurately mounted on the transom and checked for alignment using the one motor that has been built.

Next it was time to stick some of that VW Brilliant orange on the hull. 3 coats throughout the day on the hull and transom saw a nice blemish free finish. Point to note was that I had primed the hull with grey yesterday followed by a coat of white. It says on the Orange to prime with grey but I always add a white primer to make the orange pop!

Tomorrow I shall endeavour to make up the second motor and then get some orange on the deck. That will then have a week to set hard as we are off to Cornwall Saturday, I will then mask and get some grey on the sponsons on my return. Will be nice to have a break although not quite the holiday we booked as should have been in Malaysia now. Never mind, will visit some RNLI stations instead!