Hi Richard,
These were the kits on top of the stash that I'm considering right now:

Mirage kit 40028 of WWI torpedo boat V106. 1/400 Disp. 360 tons
Mirage kit (??, no box) of Type IIA U-2. 1/400 Max Disp 381 tons
Zvezda kit 9033 of Medieval Life Boat. 1/72 Disp unkown; Capacity about 12
Lindberg kit 72120 of Tow Boat River Queen. 1/220 Disp unknown; assume 150-200 tons


All are fairly low parts count so should be doable in the time remaining. I'm leaning toward the lifeboat as I have some seated 1/72 scale civil war figures I could use to provide a crew for a patrol/sentry boat.

Do you have any recommendations?

Thanks
John

Richard,

Very nice work.

Mark

Yellowhammer - -

Full disclosure, I've only built one ship model in recent years - Lindberg's USRC Harriet Lane (lately boxed as a Civil War Blockade Runner), but I have been building aircraft models for about the past 10 years.

We all get into a slump now and again so i know what that's like ( I have a Sopwith Camel on my shelf that I've been working on for 5 years!)

I think go with your gut on the lifeboat- it will certainly polish up your wood simulating skils, then when you have your mojo back move on to one of the others - all intriguing subjects to be sure.

Richard,
Thanks for your reply. I watched your build of the Harriet Lane. Excellent work my friend. I've built a few plastic kits of wooden ships in the last couple of years and even the old Lindberg Monitor and Virginia with varying levels of success. But I had fun with them. The Virginia was actually my first PE experience, adding railings to the weather deck. I think I will go with the life boat. I'll work on the figures once the boat is complete. Haven't decided yet if I will display it on a water base or a stand.
Anyway, thanks again.
John

Hi Guys,
Here's my start photo for the lifeboat. Sorry about the photo quality. The camera in my phone really sux. I'll use my camera for progress shots.
Thanks
John

Interesting John. I never seen a medieval life boat before!

I have made a start on the minesweeper.
The hull came into two halves, top and bottom, if wanted to do a waterline. I have gone for the full hull though there was a fair amount of work since the bottom was marginally wider than the top.



In between sanding and priming I got a few other bits underway.
The rear mast and gun deck. With Combrig kits you have to provide your own masts. Fortunately Master released a range of brass masts and spars so they came to the rescue. I added a few rings for interest.

The mast and boat cranes atop the wheelhouse.

and the funnel


A drawback with kit is that most of the detail comes the photoetch which is unfortunate. Though nicely detailed it is over sized and poorly designed e.g. the hand rails for the ladders are part of the railings which means you have to be very precise with the location since you have glue the individual rungs of the ladders in. I have taken to cutting the handrails off and forming ladders without that issue.

A question though - does anybody know what colour I can use for WW1 Kreigsmarine boats?

cheers
Michael

Michael,

Very nice PE work.

Mark

Thanks Mark, It is the make or break of this kit. Hopefully I can keep it all in shape.

cheers
Michael

Interesting builds going on chaps.

Time might not be on my side right at this moment, but having at a rummage in the stash and found something different, so here are start off pictures.









The Airfix 1/72nd scale Severn Class Lifeboat. This class is the RNLI's standard large seagoing lifeboat with a range of 250 miles and tops speed of 25 knots. Displaces 40tons.

Whilst the kit is quite accurate, has a nice interior for the main cabin, is generally well detailed externally too although it does have a reputation of being a bit of a pig to get together.

Cheers

Si

Si,

Are you sure about this one, I don't see any PE.....LOL.

Mark

Interesting choice Si, looking forward to see this one taking shape. do you plan to place it at a sea diorama?

Yup, I am sure.

It's about new challenges - building a boat without PE, now that will be a first for me.... well in the last 20years .

Cheers

Si

Hi Thomas,

Likely not for this campaign, given the time constraint. The boat may end up on a sea base, but that would be later.

I am intending to build her as the Dover Lifeboat (My old home town) 17 -09 "City of London II" - I reckon I might need to go down and take some pics.

Cheers

Si

Si

Up-to-date photo of the Heller 1/150 Tartane.
The sails are made of 'japanese tissue' using the vac-form sails, which were supplied with the kit, as patterns.

Still to do:

install 'mizzen' mast and sail,

install top sail on main mast (I'm not using the 'rafee' sail, or 'sky-scraper' sail that came with the kit),

install cannons (8 in all),

install anchor,

finish rigging,

make a better base,

write up a short 'bio' of this type of craft.

It's looking great Richard.
I have never built a Heller kit. How has it gone together?

cheers
Michael

Richard,

Those sails look wonderful, nice job.

Mark

Re: Heller's 1/150 'Le Corsaire'

The detail is nice on the parts, but there were many small seam lines to be cleaned up, nothing too big though, just a nuisance. The biggest issue is a slight cork screw warp which runs from bow to stern - although it's not that noticeable if you don't look too critically.

There were only 4 blocks (pulleys) supplied for the two masts to raise the spars. From what Ive researched on the internet, the shrouds have large double pulleys, which I've cobbled together from spares from my last ship build.

The instructions are ok, but there is only a rudimentary drawing for the rigging - coupling this with the lack of online resources for tartanes, I'm going to have to improvise a bit. On the other hand, 1/150 scale is a little small for detailed complete rigging job. I suspect that earlier issues of the kit were more complete.

I am cheating a bit by using elastic thread where I can - this keeps the rigging nice and tight while not applying too much pressure on the plastic parts to distort them. I use EZ Line which i've used before for rigging biplane aircraft.

I hear Heller is re-issuing at least one other 1/150 saling ship, the 'Capricorne' and I'm tempted. The 'Nina' caravel looks to be a nice kit as well.

If I were to give an overall rating I'd give the kit a 7 out of 10 for quality of detail, ease of assembly and the novelty of the subject. Marks off for the instructions, the seam lines and the 'twist'.

I like kits that are a 'type' rather than a specific subject, that way I can improvise a bit with colors and so on.

Nice work Richard,

The rigging will be fun.

Meantime a small start on the lifeboat.

The hull is broken down into five pieces.



The hull sides are a little floppy, and there is no internal structure, so this going to be fun.

The transom was fitted to the hull bottom, and the port side lined up with it aft.



And the stbd side also fitted aft.



This was put aside to let the glue cure for an hour or so.

The hulls sides were worked along to the bow in two further steps, finally the hull joined.



The deck test fitted.



Pretty good, this will allow the deck and hull to be sprayed separately, that will save some masking. It was also allow the bow thruster to be pre painted and fitted after the main hull paint job.(note the hole through the bow two photos above).

The bow thruster and it's tunnel are integrally moulded, but nicely done.



Prop shafts and rudders on.



finally the splash plates on the stern.



More soon.

Si

Nice work bringing that hull together Si.
Will you add some internal strengthening before fitting the deck for insurance?

cheers
Michael

Si,

Off to a nice start.

Mark

Thanks Michael,

It is actually quite solid with the deck in place, although I might add a couple of lengths of sprue just so I don't spring any joints pulling masking tape off.

Cheers

Si

Thanks Mark,

This kit has a bad rep, I reckon may not all be deserved, with a bit of planning and care.

Cheers

Si

Hi john,

Interesting looking little kit, shall enjoy the progress.

Cheers

Si

Thanks Si,
I have started working on the kit. I've got a base coat of rattle can Tamiya dark yellow on both sprues and I've glued the two hull halves together. I had trouble with the knock out plugs on the curved interior of the hull pieces. They're not perfect but will be covered by the thwarts, gear and figures so hopefully they won't be obvious. I also ran into a first for me. The hull pieces are not mirror pieces. The starboard half includes the full keel with the port half being glued to the side of the keel. This meant I couldn't clip the two pieces together while the glue set, I had to hold them by hand. I used thick CA glue to hold the pieces. Thank heaven for accelerator. I'll be attempting the weathering process Tim Reynaga used in his Nina and Pinta builds a while back. I'll be weathering the interior before I install the thwart piece.

I'm also changing the time frame a bit. I'm going for a revolutionary war river/lake gun boat. I found some old 1/72 continental soldiers in a plastic bag in my stash that I'll try to combine with the other seated figures I have to crew the boat. I also found a Model Shipways Brass Swivel Gun [MS0633, 19/32", 15mm] in my stash that I'll be mounting in the bow. And I'll probably omit the spar which will give the boat an appearance of the French bateau boats which were very common in that time frame.

I'll try to get some photos my next time at the bench. I'm enjoying watching everyone's progress. Keep it up guys
John

Tartane update.

Here are two new photos:

installed 4 cannons, added topsail to main mast, done some rigging, installed anchor.

I'm going to simplify the running rigging because the model is too small, but hopefully will 'look' right.

Still need to install another mast and lateen sail and all that rigging. Whew.





Have a good weekend.

BTW - today is my birthday, 68 years old today.