THE REAR PILOTHOUSE LADDER
This phase of the build began by evaluating how the ladder could be installed at the rear of the pilothouse roof, based on the limited reference material available online.
The kit includes a basic soldering jig that indicates where the parts should be positioned. However, I added a few additional strips to better secure the components and prevent any movement during soldering.
This is how I added those strips.
I carefully reviewed all of my reference photographs of the real
Juanita and found only one image that provided useful information regarding the attachment method.
I’ll start by sharing that reference photo. It appears to show
two mounting brackets, approximately the same thickness as the ladder stock, used to secure the ladder to the roof.
After locating that reference image, I considered several possible ways to adapt the mounting method to our model.
The approach that seemed most practical was to fabricate a clamp-style bracket. I used very small square brass tubing and notched
one face of the tubing to create a clamping opening.
I then made a simple soldering jig and secured all components with tacks on a soft balsa surface to maintain alignment during soldering.
These are the final results.
You’ll notice two complete sets shown here, as I’m also helping a fellow modeler from this forum who is building the same model.
Here you can see the open face I created with a Dremel to allow the bracket to clamp onto the ladder.
The next step was to fabricate an installation jig. The jig is positioned directly at the bottom edge of the rear window and used as a guide to drill
1/16″ mounting holes.
When attaching the brackets to the ladder, I lightly clamped them in place with pliers and performed a test fit.
The final results were verified to be acceptable.
After a hard day creating the latter, next day I went back to the latter and gave them my final approval. During that process, I identified another issue. This one is not due to my work, but rather to the jig supplied with the kit.
So it happen that the stair after soldering is longer on one end.
That end is intended to be the upper section that rests on the pilothouse awning.
The issue is that the lower end of the latter is
too short to be properly inserted into the deck, which results in insufficient anchorage if we want to be accurate to the original
Juanita.
On the real boat, the cross brackets are positioned just above the
fourth step from the bottom, and with the kit geometry this alignment cannot be achieved correctly.
To correct this kit-related issue, I decided to add an extension to the bottom of the latter. Below are the steps I followed, which you may want to replicate.
1. First, cut away approximately half of the bottom section of the latter assembly.
As shown in the final photo, the extension is
barely noticeable and provides a very secure attachment.
