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  1. I'm back with a build log after a bit of an absence. I've had multiple health problems over the past year, which is in part why I didn't do a build log for my HMS Pegasus and why it took me so long to build it, being away from my shop for long periods of time. However, I seem to be in decent shape for the time being (touch wood) and am back at my workbench. In my hiatus I had been pondering what my next project would be when I stumbled across this model on the Billing website, and after a little bit more research I knew I had found it. This one appealed to me for several reasons: -I wanted something simpler than my last few builds had been -this one has almost no rigging! -it's a Canadian boat. I haven't seen any other one available as a model, apart from the Bluenose -it has a remarkable history - it's only the second boat to ever travel through the Northwest Passage and the first to make the trip twice - it's the first do make the voyage in under one year and it's the first to circumnavigate North America - it resides today at the Vancouver Maritime Museum, has been declared a National Historic Site and the great Stan Rogers recorded a song about it. -there are plenty of pictures and videos online to use as a reference -did I mention that it has almost no rigging? When I was in my 20's I built (very badly) a Billing model, but I don't recall if the quality of the kit was good or bad and I had no frame of reference in any case. So this is for all intents and purposes my first Billing kit and I have a mixed reaction to it. So far the good things are: -the laser cutting is very good and the bulkheads and centre keel fit together extremely well. They're as good as I have ever encountered. -there are quite few specialized brass fittings which are really nice and of good quality. -while the model is simplified, there are no glaring errors in its representation of the real boat. However, there are some negatives too: -there are too many poor quality plastic fittings which come on a sprue just like it was a plastic model car kit. -the hull and deck planking material is pretty rough and not very consistent in width. -while I did want a simpler model, there is too much simplification with this one. Built straight out of the box it would look like one of those gift shop ship models. At 1:72 it's large enough for the designer to have incorporated much more detail. -the plans are poorly drawn. The instruction book is all but useless, which is fine - I didn't expect it to be otherwise, but the plans are disappointing. They appear to be a 1:1 representation of the model, but they are very inaccurate. For example for some of the deck components there are discrepancies in size of up to 1/2" between the elevation and plan views. It's impossible to take measurements from the plan. Nevertheless, it's going to be lots of fun adding detail and upgrading many of the fittings. I currently have big orders in at BlueJacket and Cornwall. So far, I have the hull planked, in my usual "suitable for filler and paint" style. I'm a terrible planker, but I never worry about it because filler and paint are my best friends. I've used some planking from my stash, rather than the kit provided planking. I've made two improvements to the stern area. The kit instructions would have you just cut all of the planking off even at the last bulkhead before the stern. Then you add the two stern blocks and sand them even with the finished planking, leaving them unplanked, just to be painted. I chose to install the stern blocks first and plank over them in the usual way, however I found it to be quite a difficult stern to plank. Secondly, the kit provides for no opening to accept the rudder; it's meant to just butt up against the bottom of the hull. The real boat has a framed rectangular opening, so I added that detail. That's where I'm at! David
  2. I think I mucked up, I thought I was starting a Build Log, but it appears my first Post was in the "Introductions" folder. So I will now try and start a Build Log here. And I'll start again. Hello, my name is Wayne and this is my first Post here, I joined the group a couple of weeks ago. I’m 74 and in Melbourne Australia and I’m currently building the Billings African Queen. And this has been a quest of mine all my life, I saw the movie as a very young boy when my parents went to the Drive In Pictures, around 1953. And I have always remembered different scenes from the movie. So I have now finally got around to building it, and with live steam. And intend to have RC for the steering, I will just let the steam engine chug along. Yea being an open launch I don’t want to have servos etc spoiling the look of the model. I hope to hide a small servo for steering under the rear seat. And the vacuum formed plastic hull will be water tight when on the water. But I’m thinking of planking over the hull, I hope that will be OK. And I must say, the most important tip I picked up while researching the build was to leave the top extra mounding there, not cut it off until the hull internals and deck were completed. I have the ‘Miniature Steam Models’ plant #4034 here to go into the boat. I must thank gjdale, (Grant) for guiding me to that plant, and it looks spot on for the Queen. And MSM are in Melbourne too. Just ordered 2 universals, 5 to 4mm, and a brass prop from ‘Float a Boat’, also in Melbourne, and they were very helpful. Will have to see if I use the Billings prop shaft or have to buy a longer one.
  3. Hi All, I'm staring a log to show my progress and to get feed back. The model was bought approx. 25 years ago (getting to old for remembering details that far back) at a local bobby shop. I had some model experience before but only plastic, but it look cool and I had high expectations for doing the build in a ferally short time. But the reality came pretty fast. It turn out to be a hell of a lot bigger project that I thought. The instruction was very limited to say the least, only 11 pages with drawings and instruction (in 4 languages). It also turned out that several of the structure was bent. What I've should was return the model and get a beginner model. Well that did not happen. I started building the hull and planking and got frustrated and set it aside for 25 years. Know I'm 25 years older, gotten some more experience and more patience. And want to finish my ship and learn more about ship building. So this is status so far. And here you see one of my challenges, the frame is twisted. So I need to do some visual cheating but compansating on one side to make it look even. Right now I'm waiting for some more planking to finish the hull. I see from other logs that my drawing is quit different in many ways. So will do some more comparing to see if I can pick up some useful tips. I order the Masting and Rigging the Clipper Ship and Ocean Carrier and The Armed Transport Bounty (used, they are to expensive new) to help me out with getting through this build. That was before I came across this forum, where there is a ton of information and experienced people.
  4. Introduction I have long had a hankering to build a small launch with live steam propulsion. The African Queen seemed to be an ideal choice of subject, however finding a kit to modify proved somewhat elusive. In the end, I settled on the Billings offering in 1:12 scale as it claims to be suitable for Radio Control (albeit using an electric motor). Here is a picture of the box art. The next challenge was finding a steam plant suitable for inclusion in the model. After an exhaustive search, I settled on a complete steam plant from Miniature Steam Models (MSM) in Melbourne, Australia. It is a 2” boiler with the “Avon” twin cylinder double acting oscillating steam engine. The steam plant comes complete with a boiler certificate and the engine is matched to the size of the boiler. For the tech heads, it has an 8mm bore and an 11mm stroke (and it is reversing). Overall, it is very similar in size to the “fake” boiler/engine plant provided in the Billings kit. Here are a couple of pictures of the steam plant as provided from MSM. What’s in the box? The Billings kit is fairly typical of the Billings offerings. The hull is provided as a single-piece vacuum formed ABS mould. The rest of the kit includes a variety of laser cut plywood parts, some strip wood (not particularly high quality), some brass components and some plastic components. As I will not be using the provided boiler/engine parts, a lot of these will be redundant. I was concerned by the apparent flimsiness of the hull, and my plan is to sheath the hull in timber, and then fibreglass over the top of that. To this end, I have obtained some 1mm thick Alaskan Yellow Cedar from Hobby Mill EU to be cut into planks as appropriate. I will also be adding some aftermarket timber for the deck planking, as the kit would have you simple draw planking lines onto the provided plywood. I’m currently in the process of placing an order for this with Hobby Mill EU. Instructions are, I believe, typical of Billings – which is to say, next to useless. This is not a kit for a beginner, although it is marketed as “Advanced Beginner”. We shall have to see whether I have sufficient skills to pull this off – otherwise, there is considerable investment “down the tube”. The Hull Here are a couple of pictures of the ABS hull. As can be seen in the pictures, there is a considerable excess lip around the upper edge. I will need to remove the vertical component of this before I can do anything else. My current plan is to do that, and then fit the internal frames to provide some stiffening before attempting the outer planking. Welcome aboard for what might prove to be an "interesting" journey!
  5. Hi All, A while ago I was given an old Billing kit of the fishing vessel Mary Ann. Someone had already started the model but obviously given up. The keel and frame structure had once been assembled but are now in pieces. I cleaned up the frames the best I could - luckily it seems like only frame 8 will have to be redone. Not sure why there are 4 holes in each frame! The keel timber itself is missing and the bow and stern pieces are in a sorry state. It may be difficult to purchase plywood of similar thickness so I will remake both pieces in 4 mm plywood. Hopefully, the frames will not be too loose. I will deal with that when the time comes. Other pieces are also damaged or missing. The greatest challenge here will be to remake to false deck. The fitting set was not included but it is still available. However, with the kit I also got a big box of all kinds of fittings. I will go through this pile and see what I have already. I know there is a winch that looks very similar to the one in the instructions. I'm still finishing up my AV but thought I would start this. It shouldn't be too difficult given the scale. I will pick up some birch plywood on Monday so I can get started. /Lars Peter
  6. “Start a build log”, they said…. OK, here goes. Falling back my army background I will be spending time in reconnaissance, planning and finally execution. If you checked back on my intro, I picked up this kit at a 2nd hand shop. The previous owner (PO) started it and got as far as decking and planking the upper hull. I know zippo about ships and have never built a wooden ship so I apologize in advance for any confusion or my lack of what may appear to be basic knowledge. I took inventory of the remainder of the parts and am trying to figure out what they are and what they are for. I can somewhat match the physical description with the written one but the part names don’t always make sense to me.
  7. Ahoy modelWQrights A Build I Been working On Off An On Like Many Others. When I Was in the Navy I Purchased This kit Through The Ships Store Now It Is Time to Finish This the Project Will Be A RC Build As Of the Construction Thus Far I am completing The Super Structure Decks And Fitting Out with the fittings. Should Have Everything topside finished By The end Of This week Then I Will Resume on the Hull thanks for you views and comments I am Honored Frankie Day
  8. Hello, first post here but long time lurker. I've recently started building the Norske Love model from Billing Boats that I brought from Ebay. Lets see how it goes, right! Billing Boat Norske Love that I brought from Ebay! Hoping all the pieces are here... Unlike the Occre models that I'm used to, Billing dont Lazer cut the wood fittings that you need. Didnt want to buy a jigsaw, so using the vice and a couple of small saws to cut out the pieces that I need. The model didn't come with instructions, only the massive blue prints in the photo, however, you can find the instructions easy enough online. First step then, cut everything out and sand it all down. Expect lots of cutting and sanding photos! Quick self promotion if its allowed! https://www.instagram.com/byron_dockyard/ I've posted all my previous builds on here plus random boat building / set up photos. I hope this is okay.
  9. As I near the completion of Barque Stefano, I had a hankering to build something that was simple, where I could just follow the instructions, straight out of the box. Time will tell how closely I manage to do that, but having looked longingly at Nordkap as a teenager, she was the vessel I settled upon. Here's a picture of what she's meant to end up looking like Nordkap builds up into an 81cm l.o.a, 21cm beam vessel - so there'll be loads of room in the hull for all the radio gubbins. She's also small enough not to be too cumbersome to move around when building. I bought a new building board, and set about separating the laser cut frames from the "sprues". Then I looked at the plans and noticed some strange discrepancies... There are two sets of measurements on plan 1 - the first shows the gaps between the forward extents of the frames (4-7) - this should measure up to 159mm. A second set of measurements show the filler blocks that will sit on top of the keel - these are 48mm, 50mm and 50mm - 148mm, leaving only 11mm for three frames - but the frames are 4mm at the least - closer to 5mm in fact... The instructions simply say that the frames are "quite vertical" and then leave the builder to work it out. Instead of guessing, I decided that using the deck would be a neat way of ensuring that the frames were essentially in the right position, so this part was cut out as well and used as a guide to get the frames in the right place. So... so far I've fitted the frames, and added the blocks in between - which have all turned out to be around the 48mm mark. This _may_ come back and bite me later, but I feel much more confident knowing that the deck fits with the frames in their locations, than simply hoping for the best. The observant among you may notice a curvature of the keel (higher in the middle than at bow and stern - it's around 4mm, although it looks worse, perhaps because of lens distortion in this photo) - ironically, having cut the keel parts to be 55cm and 52cm respectively, I now realise that these are perhaps slightly short for the deck... removing the deck after gluing the frames in place got rid of this curvature entirely, and so I probably will need to modify the deck a little down the line, but that's fine - it'll be millimetres here and there, not centimetres, and the hull will be the right shape. The next step is to add the stringers along the bulkhead tops, and as I do that I can ensure the keel is straight. I'm not worried about modifying the deck to fit, I just wanted everything to be in the right ballpark. I've also added the doublers that create something of a rabbet at bow and stern. More soon Rob
  10. Was debating doing a build log for this older kit that was given to me from my brother, as he received it from a co-worker that had recently passed away, and wished to pass it to him and thus to me prior to his passing... It is classified as a beginner build but these "beginner" kits from Billing Boats are in my opinion so basic in design and parts and given the poor tolerances for fitting out of pieces and parts, that it in fact it is not a beginners kit. The high end large kits (now laser cut) with fitment being so perfect, that though classified as advanced, it perhaps could be qualified as much easier to build... anyway my thoughts. I decided to do the build and pass it back to my brother given the emotional connection is truly with him. My wife is Dutch descent and given my trips to Holland and having seen my fair share of Dutch river barges... I do find them absolutely beautiful! I have decided to build it completely out of the box with no upgrades with the exception of the sails. I started this in the fall and worked on it here and there... I did forgot to take some early pictures but this is what I have to show for... This thing was not easy to plank at the bow for me and given it is single planked construction, I knew really quickly that this was a plank and paint project... which all of the working Dutch barges' hulls are anyways - painted.
  11. Santa has been kind to me , looking forward to making a start on this model of a truly historic vessel. St. Roch was designated a national historic site of Canada because: she became the first ship to cross from the Pacific to the Atlantic by the North West Passage; she was also the first ship to complete the hazardous journey in both directions. The Canadian-built St. Roch is valued as an excellent example of Canada’s maritime history. She navigated the Northwest Passage, arriving in Halifax in 1942, after spending two winters frozen in the ice. She was the second ship to make the Passage, and the first to conquer the journey from the Pacific to the Atlantic. In 1944, the refitted St. Roch returned to Vancouver via the more northerly, deep route of the Prince of Wales Strait in eighty-six ice-free days – the first to navigate the Northwest Passage in a single season. Retired in 1948, St. Roch was sent to Halifax via the Panama Canal in 1950, making her the first ship to circumnavigate North America. Under the command and leadership of Sergeant Henry Larsen (1899-1964) who was first mate and captain for twenty years, the voyages of the St. Roch demonstrated Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic. She extended and maintained Canadian control over its vast northern territories as an all-purpose supply, patrol and transport vessel and governmental representative to service isolated and relatively inaccessible R.C.M.P. detachments by settling disputes and conducting a census of the Inuit. During this time the St. Roch was the only federal presence in the far north. During the Second World War the St. Roch was sent through the North West Passage to protect war industries in the north, specifically a mine in Greenland which was the sole source of cyrolite essential to the production of aluminum. The heritage value lies in the original design and the multiple refits that were designed to deal harsh conditions and reflect the changing technologies in marine transportation over the course of her working life. The St. Roch has been restored to her appearance during her epic journeys between 1940-1944 that was a mix of original elements and subsequent refits. Additional value in her material fabric include the spare and well-considered details of her design in terms of the efficiency and economy of her living and working quarters.
  12. Hello all, I Just want to announce that I started my HMS Victory build last January, but have only just gotten around to starting this build log, I'll add a few posts over the next few days to bring the log up to speed of where I am currently (78 hours in) with accompanying pictures. Opening the Box, numbering the parts, building the Slip and assembling the keel and the Hull Bulkheads took me to about 21 hours
  13. Hi all Well, I decided to re-do this build log, the only thing is the first part will be missing owing to the fact that my old computer packed up working and I lost all the photos and log details of the early part of the build. The old build log was only started after I had got the hull and deck planking done anyway and there was never any photos of this part of the build. Various other parts of the build were completed before the mishap with the computer, so I hope you will all bear with me as I try to recreate this log as best I can. It all started nearly two and half years ago when the Bounty was given to me as a Christmas present. The only other boat kit that I have built is a Bluenose II, so I am pretty green to model ship building. As usual the build began with the bulk heads and false deck, this all went together without any trouble and the fit of all the parts was very good. Once this was complete the carcass was made ready for the planking. Once underway with the planking my problems began, having never planked this type of ship before, I had no idea about how to go about achieving what I was trying to accomplish. In the end it all worked ok, other than where the planks were bent around the bow. These ended up having a clinker affect, which needed a lot of sanding to get a nice smooth end result. In doing this some of the planks became very thin around this area and so I decided to double plank it. (The kit is a single plank construction). The second planking was a lot easier owing to the planks being quite a bit thinner. Next was the deck planking, this went very well and the finish looked good, to me anyway. This was followed by the planksheer, this went on without encountering any problems. This was followed by the gratings and companionways all made up from the kit parts and installed in their respective places. At about this time I decided to deviate from the kit by adding a flag locker and binnacle. These items were not supplied in the kit and so had to be made from scratch using odd pieces of ply and leftovers from the planking. The steering wheel was made up using the kit parts supplied and fitted into its position. Moving on, the knightheads, headrails and the catheads were completed and this brings us to the part of the build where I can show you the pictures of the work completed so far. So here are a few for you to enjoy, more will follow when time permits. Regards Phil
  14. Got this kit as a gift from my father-in-law. Two previous owners have tried and failed to build it. This is my first boat kit, and also my first build of wood. I started modelling 1:35 armor in january and will try to transfer some of the weathering tecniques to this scale.
  15. I have decided to start this build log because there is not a lot of information on the Norske Love out there. I have spent hours crawling around the web looking for a completed build log and was only able to find one. It is not just information on the model ship kit that is lacking but also acquiring information about the real life ship has been challenging. The up side to this is I’m working with pretty much a blank slate. I bought this kit online from Great Hobbies PEI, Canada in July 2019 and it has been sitting on my shelf as I completed other projects. This will be my second Billing Boats build so I am very much aware of the lack of instructions common with Billing Boats. However the detailed one-to-one drawings are a definite plus and require careful study to figure out where pieces fit. Right off the start the lumber provided for the keel was twisted. I tried to straighten it by soaking it in warm water overnight then clamping it to my build board. No good. I ended up cutting the keel from one of wood panels that contained the laser cut bulkhead pieces. Made of plywood instead of solid lumber it is dead straight and true. The notch at the bottom of some of the bulkhead pieces was only 7mm so they had to be carefully braced while fitting. Placed a one Krone coin on the keel for good luck. The first deck required a little tweaking to get it fit but the two sections lined up pretty good. The instruction called for the deck planking to be drawn on with pencil but I am going to use wood stock so I used nails to secure the deck to the bulkhead frames. So that is the start, I still work full time so this will not be a fast moving build. I hope to complete this project within three to four years but we shall see. Also my math skills are better than my english ones so grammar police take no offence. Cheers
  16. Started building a old Billing Boats kit. PS hull was told to be the last kit, they started a new production in wood some years later, available today. some tip about glue will be asked for 🙂
  17. RS1 Colin Archer, named for her designer / builder, was launched in 1893 in Larvik, Norway. The model, 1:15, is being kit built for Radio Control. The kit is by Billing Boats in Denmark. I wanted to build an RC boat and this one has a special appeal because Colin Archer also designed and built Leon, a 302 ton brigantine in 1880. I scratch built a model of Leon at 1:48. She now sits in a museum in Larvik dedicated to Colin Archer. Her build is described in forum "Build logs for subjects built 1851 - 1900". RS1 Colin Archer, after 40 years of very successful rescue operations saving many Norwegian fishermen, is now owned by the Norwegian Maritime Museum in Oslo. She is maintained and sailed at vintage ship gatherings in Northern Europe by the Colin Archer Cutter Club. The kit models her after the rescue years as she did not have an auxiliary engine until after she 'retired'. This picture is from the box top of the kit. On the way to being ready for planking, the hull is 37" long. Sparred she will be 50" long (62.5'), 54" high (67.5') with a 13" beam (16.25').
  18. About a year ago, an offer was made on a Swedish model building forum of a barely started model of Billing Boats Meta. At the time, I had just started to work on my Sloop from Roslagen and had begun to read about the costal sailers and small workboats of the late sailing period in the Baltic. I was considering a fore-and-aft schooner as a possible future subject. When I learned that Meta originally had such a rig, I reached out to the man offering the model. As it turned out, he lived just 15 minutes away, and I went over an evening in August last year. He told me that he had gotten the model in about 79 and had started to build it. But soon he went of to university, and it was abandoned. It had then been sitting in first his parent's house, and then in his own basement. Hopefully waiting to be finished. Now he had sold his house and planned to move to something smaller. Apparently he still felt for the model, as he had kept it all these years, and had now reached out to offer it to someone to complete. What I got was the box with all material and fittings, and the bulkheads and keel assembled. As can be seen from the pictures, this kit was made before the introduction of laser cutting. The paler wood looks like Obeche and the darker strips as Walnut. The pale wood is relatively soft and has quite visible grain, but is otherwise of good quality and clean cut. I plan to replace some, possibly all, of the wood with better quality. The same goes for the fitting, a few pieces looks usable, others must be replaced. The brass belaying pins looks OK, while the plastic blocks and dead eyes are terrible. When I got it, the keel and bulkhead assembly was slightly twisted. It might have been assembled such, but I though that it had been lying on the side for many years in a basement. I bought a building slip from Hobbyzone, soaked the assembly and put it to dry for several months while straightened in the building slip. It did not turn out totally straight, the last bulkhead must have been misaligned when installed. I have not decided if I should disassemble the offending bulkhead, or if I can correct it in place with shims on one side and filing on the other? My plan is to modify the model to make the model look like the ship was originally built. In a future post I will present what I have found out about so far, and what I plan to modify in the model to get her to look like it.
  19. Well with winter round the corner, it's time to hunker down and get back into the shipyard with Cutty Sark. This is a model I have always wanted to build since starting out in this hobby with Billing's Mary Ann. Thanks to Kip (aka Sawdust), I was able to acquire this second hand model which he purchased from a neighbor for 2 bottles of wine. He also sold me Nepean's book and Campbell's drawings so I have lots of info over and above what Billing supplies which isn't much. Thanks to Lou's lead, I have also purchased J.J. van Griethuysen,s drawings which are spectacular. As you can see from the photos, this is an early Billing kit , from the 70's I would guess. Einar Billing includes a little intro with the Reader's Digest version of instructions they are known for. In them he states that the kit is intended to be built and not merely assembled. He expects the builder to exercise skill and imagination in the building of the kit. Sage advise indeed. As with all earlier Billing kits, the hull and fittings are sold separately. Billing believed some modellers might want to create their own fittings. They also recognized that many models are never completed so why buy a bunch of fittings that might never make it onto the model which will never be used. The majority of the wood in this kit is mahogany, which you can imagine is now rather dried out and a little warped. I have decided to replace the hull planking with obechi which I have used on previous Billing kits. It's not expensive, bends easily with a little steam and will be painted, so no need for top quality timber. As the build progresses, I will decide what other wood needs replacing. As can be seen from the photos, the kit is already started. The original owner of the kit did get it stared but then realized he no longer wanted to continue. So I have the kit framed and with the false deck installed. The rest will be all me. He has done a first rate job, and the keel is straight so it is a good point to resume where he left off. Job one will be to bevel the bulkheads. So here's a couple of pictures of what is to come...
  20. My Uncle had this one bouncing around his house (un-built) since probably the early 70's if not before. He asked if I could build it which I happily said yes. Win - Win. I build a ship, there is a place for it to go. So here we go! Note: This is the 'original' kit and not the new updated one. Actually pretty rough in the wood department - especially pre-cut stuff. I have spent quite a bit of time getting the pre-cut bulkheads to be usable as well as drafting my own plans off of the supplied ones to make something that fits the actual model. I am just going to jump in from where I am. I kept updating and modifying the plans based on photos and the the Billings Boats downloaded mini plans for the updated model. Finally I just said lets make some wood shavings and glue something. We can figure stuff out as we go. This model is a biggie - 30" hull length. I am adding a 1/32" false deck below the planking. The supplied deck will not be used (doesn't fit and stamped lines). This drawing exercise was essential for figuring out actual locations and good stuff like aft deck rake and bowsprit angle. In this pic the rear three bulkheads have been glued and now am gluing the forth from the back. I abandoned the slots on the left and right in each bulkhead since they didn't line up. I defined and cut the central rib going down the middle. Yes, there are places where things go below deck (faux stairways, etc) but I want it straight and strong. Once the false deck is affixed as well as the top level planking cutting through this rib will be fine. You can also see on the central bulkhead aft how much wood needed to be added for the upper deck. So the build is on, with LOTS of scratch upcoming. Sooner than later need to figure out how far the aft deck goes (my plans show much farther than the museum ship has or the new plans show). Cheers, Mark
  21. I bought this kit many years ago and it is now at the top of the pile - actually it is the last kit in the pile for now. Here are some pictures of the box and contents. The wood looks OK as do the larger laser sheets. The thin sheets are a bit warped so I may have to remake some pieces. There is just one two-sided plan sheet but it is a real plan and not an isometric view. There are some plastic trim pieces that I am not thrilled about but I'll deal with them when the time comes.
  22. Hey There! After a lengthy pause (which was filled by other non-shipbuilding projects) I've pulled out the Dragen from Billings. The level of difficulty was the reason I started the Will Evered. I'm just going through the parts now, and looking at the plans. I've also taken a look at the other builds of the same boat. When building the Will, I often complained about the lack of detail in the plans, and didn't think it possible that any other model would have even LESS information. I was wrong. The building plans for the Dragen leave even more to the imagination!
  23. Nearly forty years ago I was gifted BUR2 by Billing Boats as a birthday present. I started it, made a mess of it, got bored, and put it back in the box and the box in the attic where it has sat ever since. But, now I have a hankering to try model boat building as a hobby, and so I have decided to start off by completing this long mothballed project. Billing Boats have long since stopped producing the BUR2 kit, but their current "Rainbow Cutter" kit is identical in every aspect other than colour scheme and decals. So this build log will also be suitable to anyone building the Rainbow. The kit itself is mixed media. It has a lot of plastic: the hull is a single piece of moulded plastic; but it also has wood (strip, dowelling, and pre-cut), metal, rope, etc. Instructions are minimal although there is a large A2 plan sheet; fortunately builders of the Rainbow are much better served these days as Billing Boats now provide a proper instruction booklet that can be downloaded from their website. The big mistake I made with this kit as a child was painting the hull far too thickly. The paint ran leaving ridges of thick paint. I need to correct this by rubbing down the old paint and spraying a new coat over the top.
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