thibaultron

Looks like an indexing setup. Place a piece between the centers, and cut X number of flats, or drill X number of equally spaced holes around the circumference. Used with the milling machine. For example make a round bar, into a hex bar, then drilling a hole centered on each face, Drilling four holes in a mast, at 90 degres apart, etc.

I don't know how sharp the teeth are on your model, but T-Rex teeth close up were a blunt triangular cross section shape, with serrations on the edges. Designed to hold up to their massive bite, and bone crunching ability. More like a triangular punch. Look up pictures of them.

I built a similar one. Use CA for the joints. The press fit joints between parts, are not strong enough to support the weight of the pieces, especially the skull. I tried Canopy Clue, the first time, but it failed after a few weeks. It makes a great model!

Canopy glue? The plastic modelers use it.

I watched a lecture given by the curator of the Wasa museum. They had a replica of one of the cannons cast (I think a 24 pounder), and test fired it against a replica of the side of the Wasa.The cannon ball passed completely through the side of the hull, even if there was a frame in the way! The difference was fewer splinters (the main killer in such a situation), if the ball only hit an area without a frame. He said they calculated that the ball would likely also go through the other side!

Even if you have paint chips, for modern equipment, you may still have problems. Gray paint, in particular, can vary between batches, even from the same manufacturer. A story I heard in the 70s is: An upper ranking officer was going around and comparing the gray paint on radar units, and almost all of them varied from the paint chip he had . Afterward he sent each installation a paint chip, and ordered them all to repaint the units in the proper color, or else (he used different words, but this is a family forum). At the appointed time he reinspected the units, and all but one still did not match! The other unit maintenance personnel were demoted. Later some of them asked the person in charge of the one that passed, how he did it. He responded that he repainted the chip, at the same time he painted his units.

Vallejo makes two types of paint, Model Color (for brushing), and Model Air (prethined for airbrushing). The Model Color can be airbrushed with thinning, but the Model Air has a finer pigment flake size. A majority of the two paints have matching colors. Their site has charts for color matching the two, as well as matchings for several of the other brands.

Nirvana, could you post a link to your T37 build, a search of the forum did not turn it up.

varnish should work, as you've already varnished parts of the interior. As far as the PVA/sawdust mixture, others will have to chime in. I've never tried it.

Use very light cloth on the outside, and at least a coat or two of resin on the inside, after the outside is finished.

Use a marine epoxy type resin, not the polyester (automotive) type resin! The polyester has a tendency to pull away from wood. The marine epoxy type is designed to stick to wood and will stick much better, in the long run. If you find either has trouble setting, heat the hull in a semi sealed container (plastic tub, etc.) in the sun. The resins use chemical heat as part of the setting process, and thin sections may not generate enough heat to do the job. You may have to paint on a second coat of just resin, after sanding.

I should have started with the bottom parts, and fit them between the shims, then built the upper sections.

PART 16 Now that the traveler is fixed, I mounted the hull onto the plastic stand, using Canopy Glue. The Canopy Glue dries crystal clear, and doesn’t damage the paint. First I placed the hull on the stand, until it looked level. Then I measured the waterline at the middle of the hull using a pair of calipers. I then moved them to the back and front of the hull, and compared them to the waterlines there. I slid the hull along the base (which has two different height pedestals), to raise the lower end. After a couple iterations of this the waterline was level. I did not put the masts in to check that they were vertical, as the pedestal contacts both sides of the hull tightly. For a bigger or better model, I would have, but did not feel like shimming, or trimming the painted base. You can see the two spots of fresh glue, in the pictures. Now that I’ve gotten to the point of adding the spars, I needed some sort of temporary protective “cabinet” to store the boat in between building sessions. For this small model I decided to use foam core board. After a trip to the store to pick up a couple sheets, I was ready. The model measures just short of 8.5” long and 8.3” tall. The spars and sails run parallel to the length of the hull, which is only about 2.5” to 3” wide. I set the cabinet dimensions at 10” long x 10” tall and 6” wide, on the inside. I cut the back, ends, sides, top, and bottom pieces accordingly. There is no front piece, as this is just to protect the model from bumps, not dust. I store it in the covered spray booth, so dust isn’t a problem. I assembled the box using tape to hold it together (as well as a few “T” pins), and ran a bead of wood glue down the inside edges. To keep the glue from dripping all over the place, I did a few edges at a time so they could be level until the glue set. Allowing for drying time, this took a couple days. When all the glue was set, I had to add a second coat of glue to a couple of the edges. While the glue in the cabinet set, I built a sliding base for the model to sit on, and allow for removal to work on it. I cut this base slightly smaller than the inside of the cabinet, and put the boat on it, so I could figure out where it had to sit. I marked the position of both ends of the plastic base, and pulled it out and removed the boat. Then I glued pieces of foam board at these marks, as well as at the back, so the base would be centered front to back. I held them with pins, until the glue had set. Then I added two more pieces at the base ends, that overhung the lip of the base, to lock it lightly in place. I can still slide the plastic base out, to work on it, as needed. While the glue was setting, I put the base piece back in and glued two layers of foam board inside the cabinet ends to hold the base in, but still allow it to slide out. Here is the boat in the cabinet, ready for me to continue. Total cost of the foam board was $.88. For a larger, or more delicate model, I would probably use 5MM plywood, but for smaller ones like this, it will work fine. I have a cheap plastic model enclosure in the mail to put it in when finished. I need to clean out and rearrange my display cases, then it will be put one of them, without the cheap case, which will be barely big enough for it. I couldn’t see spending $40 or more for a case, for a cheap model, that can sit perfectly well in my nice glass display cases.

Part 007 Well two steps forward and one back, a little better than the other way around. As I mentioned last time, Frame 6 would not fit back between the shims when I tried to put it back into place. The only solution was to unglue all the parts (I found a couple other mistakes, and will correct them all at once), and start over with building it. I softened the glue joints (Elmers) by soaking them with 90% Isopropyl Alcohol. To do this I held the joint over a plastic tray and dribbled the alcohol over the joint using a pipette. I’d dribble a little on, let it soak in, then turn the frame over, and hit the other side. I’d wait a few seconds and do it again. I generally did this 3 or 4 times. After allowing a minute or so I’d try the joint, and continue if it wouldn’t separate under moderate pressure. Most of the joints yielded after a couple of tries, but some took 5 to 10 minutes of effort. When a joint would separate, I then scraped it with my fingernail to get as much of the glue off as I could. I’m letting the pieces dry for a few days, and will start over.

Welcome!

PART 15 Well, I’ve finally finished the major part of my shop renovations, and can now get back to modeling. I mentioned in a previous post, that the plastic traveler on the stern had broken, and further deteriorated as I tried to reglue it. I measured the pieces and drew it out in my CAD program. It is oval/elliptical shaped, and dimensioned as shown. I printed this out, cut one oval out, and glued it to a piece of basswood. Then I used some small chisels, and a hobby knife to carve out around the print. Next I took 20GA Dead Soft Brass Wire, and coiled it around the pattern. While 20GA is way too large for the traveler in real life, it matches the diameter of the broke plastic part. The flattened iron attachments are already installed and I needed the wire to match the drilled out stubs in these parts. I was, also, not sure that thinner wire would hold up during handling, as this part is very exposed. I had originally thought to carve the straps off the stern. The wire was still too hard to flatten easily, and several failed attempts at bending the wire at the bottom of the loop, while getting everything symmetrical convinced me to go with just replacing the loop. So I made a new loop, and cut the wire at the bottom, rather than bending it. The next picture, is the remains of the plastic part. I trimmed them flush, used a pick to center mark them, and drilled through with a series of wire drills, to a few thousands larger than the wire. Then I put the ends of the loop, into the holes from each side and used CA to fasten it. It is not perfect, but looks good from a distance. I painted it with a couple of coats of black Stynylrez primer, brushed on. It looks as good as the original part. I may leave it black, or paint it white, like in the box art, but photos show either color used on existing boats, and it is already overly thick. I do have to trim that little blob of paint on the inside of the loop, though.

Welcome aboard!

Part 006 I continued on with building Frame 6, by assembling the other upper timbers, on the other side. A warning note: The instructions call both upper timbers Part 5F-6B-6 but those parts are mirror images of each other, so look carefully at the drawing in the instructions, to make sure you are putting them in the correct position. The carved surfaces are installed facing up. I continued by assembling the bottom sections of the frame. Note two mistakes I made. First, I should have left the frame in place, as the next step is to build the other half of the frame on top of this section. Luckily I did make the first mistake, as when I went to put the frame back in place. I found that the lower half would not fit back on the sheet! It was too wide to fit between the two shim pieces! Tomorrow, I will get some Isopropyl Alcohol and soften the glue between the chocks and the upper halves of the frames. After I trim the beam ends so all will fit where they should, I’ll fix this. From now on I will build the bottoms of the frames first.

Great model, and a great tutorial! Thanks!

Wire ties around the shank of the hook.

Part 005 Now that I have finally gotten my workshop back into some semblance of order, I got back to the Granado! I bought a new work bench from Home Depot that cranks up and down. Removing the Harbor Freight work bench I’d just installed, took some work. I started by mounting the frame drawing from the last part of the build onto the circular butcher block disk, and taped a piece of sand paper to the paper to use for sanding pieces, as needed. The first thing I found was that the butcher block was much too tough to insert pins into! So back to the drawing board. I bought a piece of ¼” X 4” x 24” basswood from Hobby Lobby, to use as a pin pad. I found some ½” cove molding in my shop, and framed the new “Pin Friendly” area with it. The area is 11 ½” x 8”. In retrospect, I should have gone with 11 ¾”. Just to allow for a little more area for the non-paper side of the hold down tape. I started with the bottom piece of the cove molding, cut to 12 ½”. The only finish nails I had in the shop were #6 x 2” ones, so I used those. #4 would have been better. I predrilled the molding in three places, using a 5/64” drill. The molding was put in place, and the first nail hole drilled into the base, then the molding itself was drilled out with a 3/32 drill. With the first nail temporarily installed I drilled the other two holes, in the same manner. I then removed the molding applied glue, and reinstalled it. Next a piece of molding about 7 ½” long was attached in the same way on one side, using a square. I cut it to 7 ½” instead of 8” for two reasons. The first was that it allowed a little wiggle room , if the basswood was not quite 4” wide, or I cut the molding too long. The second was so I have someplace to get under the basswood, in the future, when I need to replace it, due to too many pin holes. I cut the basswood in half, then clamped the two pieces together, and cut both at the same time, to insure that they were the same length. With the first two molding pieces in place, I placed the basswood on the base, and installed the top 12 ½” top piece tight against the basswood pieces. After gluing the top piece on I cleaned up the glue seepage, and allowed a few minutes for the seepage area to dry. Now with the basswood reinstalled, I installed the right hand side piece, again tight against the basswood. Once again I cleaned up seepage after gluing the last piece of molding, and allowed some drying time. At this point the base and frame looked like this. This picture shows the basswood temporarily installed to test the fit. Next I used a Dremel cutoff wheel to trim the protruding nails and cut and filed the ends of the molding to match the curve of the side pieces. Next I cut the top of the ½” molding down to level or slightly below the top of the basswood, when installed. If I had been thinking, I should have run the molding through the saw, to trim this, before I started! A sharp chisel did the honors though. Then I sanded the cuts with a sanding block. Next I installed the basswood. Due to pushing the molding tightly against the blanks, when installing the molding, the basswood pieces are held in place by friction, so I can pry them out for replacement, in the future. The frame sheet was then retaped in place, and I could finally start frame 6! The basswood holds the pins well. ½” basswood might be better, but Hobby Lobby only had 3” wide pieces of that in stock. I’ll have to be a little more careful with the fit of the parts in the future, as the camera shows the parts are not as well fitted as I thought when I glued the parts together. After I finish this frame, I’m going to run the round base through my table saw, and cut off the bottom of the round, even with the molding, this will allow me to get the base closer to the table edge, when working on the frames. This setup should work for many future models, as well as this one, and will be a basis for a future building board for my balsa, and Model Expo plane kits.

If you can provide a picture, so we can better see what is going on.

Model Railroaders swear on phosphor bronze over brass wire, It bends without anealing, and is not brittle like brass wire can be. It is used for handrails and grab irons. I have no idea if it can be blackened, but it does take paint well.

Alice would love this forum, more Rabbit Holes than you can shake a stick at!

Yaa!!!