Hello,
Normally I build aircraft. But for a change I built a very unusual subject. Kit is a Soviet ship fishing trawler which is actually a recon vehicle. Kit is older than me by 7 years. Picked it up for $5 at a model show and built it as a severely rusted weathered ship. Used oils for weathering and hairspray technique for hull chipping. Hope you like it.




Vivek

A very nice build of a golden oldie by Revell. Looks the part of a trawler that has been having a hard life at sea. Good weathering.

Thanks Julian. This ship will be placed in water. Working with Das Pronto to make water

Aah! Lovely job! It's really nice to see this ancient Revell kit being built again. I first built one about 45 years ago...

The last on I built a couple of years ago was the same kit but different decals - the Revell North Sea trawler "Kandahar" which I scratchbuilt converted into a 1950's whaling ship.

Love the weathering mate, it looks like the rust is what's holding it together but then, that's how a lot of these fishing Trawlers looked.

I hope the sea dio goes well!

Now that looks well used !!

Cheers Kev

Thanks guys for the compliments. If I wanted to do a diorama of a helicopter or and Naval aircraft fly over this ship, what aircraft/helicopter will make sense and what scale will look convincing?

[img]http://gallery.kitmaker.net/data/15628/thumbs/scan00038.jpg" BORDER="0">[/img]

Haven't figured out this photo posting. here is a "Trawler" taken through the periscope of my old boat. Taken about 1969.

Really like your version.

Hi Vivek,
if you are planning a diorama you need to add 2 guy-lines to the derrick on the foremast. Rigged like this it will smash itself and everything around it.

Julian ,
I am not marine terminology savy. Can you please explain more on the Rigging? BTW what is the whole purpose of this rigging in boats anyways. I understand the riging in sail boats, but not on diesel powered ones.

Darell, That is an awesome photo....Thanks for sharing

It's simple really, a ship pitches and rolls so anything not secured or tied down will start moving as a reaction to the ships movement. Your derrick on the foremast would start swinging from side to side because it is not held in place by lowering it onto a support or by keeping it in place with guy line. Just rig two lines from the derrick to a lashing point on the bulwarks.This would in reality hold the derrick in one position and stop it swinging.

Vivek, you want the rigging something like this:







Just if you're interested:

This is the Revell North Sea Trawler "Kandahar" which is the same kit but with different decals. I've added some scratchbuilt details such as the deck lights on the front of the wheelhouse, some wee lights on the masts and the odd extra antenna and stair etc.

Here's some pics to show some very quick and very easy scratchbuilt detailing that can be added to make the kit more interesting.









My model looks completely different to these pictures now but that will give you an idea of the basic rigging and some quick detailing if you want to try it. It's very easy to do and since you can depict a rusted ship that well then detailing will be easy for you.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the pictures. The helps me understand the purpose of the rigging to secure them proplerly to deny any degree of freedom. But what is the functionality of the mast iteself? To act as a support to the winches for lifting the nets and crab pots etc or simply to climb up for observation?

Murdo , your model looks better than mine with all that extra scratch building on the masts

Not at all mate, yours is coming along beautifully.

I've updated my post to add some more pics. Please copy the parts if you want. It is just plastic rod / tube with "Hot Glue" glass lenses and simple to make but makes quite a difference.

I moved on to using cable ties for the stairs which works okay in this scale.

Here's a close up of the wheelhouse lights. Just plastic tube and hot glue.

A very nice build Murdo, I suppose it would be possible to convert this trawler model to an offshore stand-by vessel if you could get hold of one,

What do you mean by stand-by off shore vessel? Like on a dry dock?

Up in the northern North sea they used to use converted trawlers as stand-by vessels at the platforms. They would have the fish hold converted to accommodation for the platform crews if they had to abandon the rig and would usually have a couple of rigid inflatables on deck with a crane to launch them as rescue boats.
I remember them from my Smit Lloyd days running up to the Ninian and Thistle fields, (near the Brent). Used to feel very sorry for those guys stuck out in really c**p weather all the time.

The Revell "North sea Trawler" and "Russian Spy ship" turn up on ebay occasionally, that's where I got my last one.

As for conversion, after I'd built the trawler I ripped it apart and converted it into a 1950's whaling ship for my dad who was on one in South Georgia away back then.














I used the hull, winch and masts and scratchbuilt the rest. e.g. The Harpoon gun is made from a cut down Airfix 1/76 scale 105mm British artillery gun. The Harpoon itself is from a 1/144 scale aircraft missile (an AIM9L I think).

The air vents were made from styrene tube - they look okay from a distance but not that great when really close up and the long foghorn in front of the funnel was made from brass tube, again not really difficult to make, CA glue is great stuff.





I made a four sided box, added some cheap hinges and a picture frame as the door with a magnetic latch, a fairly simple thing to do which cost pennies. The back of the frame became the back of the box to which I stuck some pics of his ship and himself back in the 1950's.

Whereas before my dad thought modelling was kids stuff he now thinks it is fantastic!

Pretty much anything can be built if the basic shape (the hull in this case) is correct.

I used to think scratchbuilding was a "Dark Art" but just get some good styrene, some good glue, some reference pics and let your creative juices flow! It's great fun!

I'm really sorry Vivek,

I got a bit carried away with the question from Gremlin56. I didn't mean to hijack your thread.

Please accept my apologies, it was unintended.

Now that is a very interesting conversion Murdo, very intriguing little boats,

Over the weekend , I had a chance to make the water base for my trawler. I used paper mache and cheap poster colors from Hobby Lobby and tried to create the wake pattern of a fast moving ship in a rough sea. Please let me know of any feedbacks.

It is all really looking good!

My I suggest going back in with washes of gray/green and
blue/gray, to better represent the color of water...
it is a little too vivid in color as is.

Something like this:



or this:



Cheers,
Joe

Thanks for the suggestions Joe.Can I use oil washes or should I use acrylics?. I was going to also do dry brushing the highlights..
I love your flying boat diorama.. I am planning to do some thing similar in my Be-12