Thanks Bob and Mike.
Longbike – I've been following your build. Fantastic work and plenty of good ideas. I'll be using a few of them in my next build – hopefully.

The funnel came together pretty easily so I launched straight into the firefighting platform. At first glance it looks complex but it's like eating an elephant – one bite at a time.

The first part was simple: assemble the platform from my laser cut components. Easy!

The frame sides and ends fan out slightly. Skinning it with very thin styrene formed the curves. They turned out OK and the lip around the bottom wasn't as tricky as I had thought. The inner curves on this were done with 240 grit sand paper, very, very gently, so as not to tear or crease the thin plastic.

The PE grating drops in OK, with only a little filing around the curve. It fits more by good luck than good management.

Hopefully the railings slot in as easily. Fingers crossed.

So far, so good!

The next step was to make the main support pylon and the forward 'A' frame.

The pylon has slightly curved sides and flat front and rear ends. The base was made out of basswood, with a ply spacer on each side for the styrene skin to wrap around to form the curve. Simple enough but the end result is very subtle and not many would spot it. At least I'll know it's there.

The 'A' frame legs also have a similar slight curve on their lower sections and then flatten out about half way up. They are flat on the inner sides. The inner sides are shaped to fit around the platform skirt. These are also basswood covered in styrene.

It's a bit flimsy at the moment but hopefully the whole thing will be a bit more robust when it's all glued together.

Excellent !

Thanks Tim, sometimes things go according to plan. The PE brass sure helps. Couldn't do without it now.

Got all of the major bits for the firefighting platform sorted out and assembled, with a base coat of paint.

As hoped, the thing is pretty solid now. Only a few blemishes to fill or sand and then some details to add.

The colour took a few trials. In the 1960s, when I was about 5 or 6 my dad had a windfall and was able to take us on our first family holiday. We took the overnight car ferry to the South Island and it was my first trip on a boat. I don't remember much about it other than a few memories prompted by a couple of photos of us onboard. In all of the photos the deck equipment is painted in a pale caramel colour. That is the colour that I tried to replicate. It's a real 1960's colour and very similar to the one used on the NHB version of the Parahaki.

This coat turned out to be a little on the yellow side. They all look different in the tin!

Inbetween dithering around with paint colours I actually did something useful – I soldered up the platform railings.

The stanchions and grating are from the sheet of PE brass I had made. When I drew them up I left tabs on the base of the stanchions and holes for them spaced around the grating. The stanchions have recessed top for the top rail (0.5mm) and smaller holes for the other rails (0.25mm). It means a little pre-planning when drawing up the PE components but saves time and hassles in the long run.

This railing was a fairly simple shape so the makeshift soldering jig didn't need to be too complicated. The curved ends of the railing just happened to wrap around a little paint tin.

Hello Steve,

I have been trying to get hold of you for days now regarding the Parahaki. I have a set of NHB blueprints for the sisters and also the Herekino if you would like a copy of each. I am quite happy to photocopy and send them down to you free of charge if you wish. I grew up around these tugs and the refinery.

Hi Tankerjet,
Wow, that would be great. I've sent a personal message. Thanks

Added a few bits of detail to the platform: monitor piping, wiring conduit/ducting, ladder rungs, light trays, radar deck, etc.

Cleaned up the railings and painted them. And made the mast. No lights, radar or monitors yet.

The ladder rungs took a surprisingly lot of time to finish for something so simple, and the railing around the radar platform is the thinnest brass rod I could find. It was a nightmare soldering it. My soldering iron was way too powerful. I did manage to cook it during the process so I've replaced it with a smaller 25W version – more than adequate for this type of stuff.

I'm happy with the colours – at last – and now only need to glue everything together. The whole firefighting platform/mast came together more easily than imagined. You just get lucky sometimes.

Wow. It all looks great. Curious how you do the bends in the larger monitor piping? I don't see that anybody sells elbow, etc.

Mike

Hi Mike, the bends are just mitre cuts, nothing fancy, as you can hardly see them when the grating is in place.

I've assembled all of the components for the mast and firefighting platform. It's pretty much completed, the mast isn't glued on at the correct angle yet. I'll leave that until the model is finished. Too easy to accidentally knock it off.

Colours are all good and everything fits together just right. It all looks OK.

EXCEPT – it's all wrong!

Those of you who have been paying attention from the beginning of this build (unlike me) will have spotted my rookie error.

This boat only has 2 rails on all of its railings – Arrrgh!

In my defence:
1. I can usually count up to 2.
2. What sort of boat only has 2 rails? You'd have to be a very fat crewman to not slip between 2 rails. Were they trying to save money on rails? Did the naval architect have problems telling the difference between 2 and 3?
3. I'm a man, I never read the instructions.

All of my previous models have had 3 rails (as do 99.99% of real tugs) and I just assumed this one was the same. You know what they say about assumptions – make an ass of you and me!

If only I'd had those plans from Tanker jet!

'Easily fixed' you say. 'Just remake the railings on the platform'.

Well, no, as the platform railings had gone together so well I rushed into making up the railings and had soldered up the whole boat load. Using up all of my PE stanchions and $40 worth of brass rod in the process. Some of the sections are quite complex and it took about 12 hours to make them and clean them up for painting.

In theory, I could de-solder everything, spend hours filing and cleaning the stanchions, re-drill them and start again. However there is a strong CBA factor (can't be arsed). I'm bitterly disappointed, but not enough to start again. I can probably live with it. If you don't tell, I won't either.

I'm having time out at the moment, a couple of beers in the sun and a few hours away from the bench while I calm down.

What sort of boat only has 2 rails?

It's that creative license that you have that lets you do things your way.

Thanks Green-boat,
If I pull another stunt like that, my license will be revoked.

The parcel of reference material arrived from Tankerjet arrived today. It contained a set of GAs, some equipment specs and some photos that I hadn't seen before. All really useful stuff, especially the GA and some of the photos. The equipment list gives the make and model of the tow hook and fire monitors (SeeBeck and Merryweather), so now I can try and find some photo reference of them.

The good news is that my hull lines aren't too dissimilar to the GA.

The specs mention that the tugs were able to stay motoring at sea for 50 days or 6,500 nautical miles. Cruising speed was 13 knots. That's pretty good going. They had a crew of up to 14.

One photo shows an emergency steering position on the rear, port side of the boat deck – that is something that is missing from the museum model, and my original photos didn't show that aspect of the boat. Guess it means I'll need to make another wheel, binnacle and telegraph.

They also show that the boats were originally painted with the Whangarei Harbour Board logo not the Northland Harbour Board as in my later photos. I'll stick with NHB.

The photos are all from a local Whangarei monthly magazine. In those days the magazines would do pictorial features on important local events. They are hard to find now but often contain some great reference.

One unexpected thing that the photos highlight is just how different things looked in 1967, it was only 50 years ago but it looks a lot more than that. Have things changed that much?

For example:
Just how much of a big deal the arrival of 2 new tugs was to a small provincial town.
The Austin Cambridge was always a boring looking car. That number plate makes it brand new at the time but it still looks like an old lady's car.
The tug's engineer is wearing a tie under his overalls – you don't see that these days.
The tug captains have very military style uniforms. The older guy is taking his uniform very seriously and is wearing his campaign ribbons.
The younger captain has a much more relaxed looking outfit with a lot less brass.
The bridge has a speaking tube just above the wheel – what was that all about?

The Parahaki and Raumunga were built in 1963 for The WHB. The specs, design and construction were overseen by Shell Oil in the UK, who had a lot of experience with refinery tugs, and also ran the refinery in Whangarei.

By the time they were delivered, the tugs were already of a dated design. Newer, shorter, more powerful and maneuverable tugs were better at harbour work and the WHB ordered 2 of these: the Herekino and Waitangi. They were also built by Brookes.

By the end of the 1960s Whangarei had one of the best fleets in the country.