Decided to start my next project off with a lesson in frustration. This kit is NOT for faint hearts or impatient people ( Im the latter). The reviews online are all pretty accurate so no need to trash the kit more, but I will say builder beware... its a challenge!



First step was to try and get the hull built. Didnt follow instructions as was suggested by many build logs.... still was not an easy task. My reccomendation, is definitly use Tenar 7X liquid glue or some other very fast drying plastic cement. Plan on holding the parts IN PLACE with fingers till its dry. The angles dont easily allow for mechanical fasteners. Tape might work, but I used fingers. First try didnt go so well, trying to get sides and rear together... My recomendation is to do one side and the rear together, then glue that to the top. Take the other side and working from the back to front glue in place.





WARNING... Plan on this gap. Easy to fix with 020 strip.

Now this should be interesting

Kev

Interesting build. Am going to follow it with interest. Being a marine engineer I am interested.

Hole on bow patched, Hull is mated. Lots of sanding to do! !

Did I mention in the beginning that I am impatient???



I did all the initial sanding, put on a coat of Testors primer, then hit that with some AV grey primer. Found some more spots that needed re-puttying and more sanding.. but couldnt wait for the putty to dry so started throwing some color on.....







Tomorrow, hopefully the rest of the paints will be here and I can sand all that gunk off and finish painting the hull.

Oh yeah, Im not the only one with a hobby. My very pregnant fiance ( who is nesting) made these while I was at work...

Oh, that's a keeper!

Nice subject to follow the build on. Thanks for posting it.

Will also be following, have had one of these in the loft for a while.

Si.

Progress has been slow on this build. Between real life getting in the way, work getting busier ( firefighter, winter) and generally just been too busy, tired or not home to work on it. Grabbed an hour to put some paint down and added a couple more pieces. I dont dare put more than three or 4 pieces on at a time because they might have to come back off, and rarely fit well.








As you might see, I am tempering the frustrating fit with painting things up as I go to make it a little more atractive. All for now... maybe in a few more days I can report the interior done.

Coming together, keep up the good work.

Kev

It occurred to me that some of you on your side of the world might have access to one of these vessels, and if you do, I would love to talk to you about the interior colors and set ups. My INTENT is to make the cabin area removable to showcase the interior detail, but I am not sure this is going to happen, but either way I want to prepare to do it. Anyone who has some good interior pictures or can get some, I would be very grateful. I found a couple out there on the web, but I was hoping for 8-10 pictures ( one front side side and rear from the front and after part of the cabin).

Well, progress continues slowly. My latest frustration is with the waterline painting. I made the mistake of painting by hand. The build continues with alot of filing and fitting. Hopefully theres a solution to this paint problem aside from starting over!

More lessons in frustrating as I build the superstructure. The fit is not good, it requires almost single point gluing, allowing the glue to set firmly, then gluing another point. The multiple parts dont help. I am convinced it will be done, but I am also questioning myself where the leftover fireworks are....

Here you can see some of the points I had to apply putty to to make the corners appear seamless


You can see here the lack of squareness.... All of these parts will have to be glued together, one point at a time to get it right


In order to get the back wall and side walls to fit the way they do, I had to do ALOT of sanding on the back wall and interior parts to get them to fit wihtout too much pressure.








Until next time....

Good work Brian,

Coming on well.

Si

Another quick update- with a mistake or two in for good measure.
So, I didnt apply paints correctly somehow, and my acrylics were coming off with the tape mask.... very nasty... SO, I was able to scrape the side that it did it on down with just my thumbnail and a little alcohol ( not the drinking kind)

This is what it looked like.


Then I painted it again and masked it ... and this is the result!!



couple more

you know that moment, when you're looking at reference photos you have looked at 100 times, and you realize you put a pretty big set of parts on backwards, have already filled them in with putty and made sure they wont move?????? bout 15 minutes ago.

I guess a small update would be in order. So, with this build following directions has been a bit of a challenge. Sometimes if you follow them, you make life more difficult down the line.... well this time... I was following directions, but not paying close enough attention to the orientation of two big parts. They are oriented correctly in this picture, but as you can see it aint pretty



I had glued them in 180' the wrong way. Fortunately they are now correctly seated. Also, I finished painting the hull sides for the second time and sealed it with clear enamel.







superstructure is drying as we speak (glue) and I hope to shoot that tonight.