jwvolz

Nice work on the paint scheme. I built this kit a few years ago, it really is nice. 

Panel line wash is now finished and landing gear installed.  Need to flat coat now and complete final weathering/details. 

Cockpit has been painted. I am out of British Interior Gray Green, and no stores are open to buy it, so blended my own and airbrushed that. I think it came out darn close. I replaced the seat with a resin one from Ultracast. Aside from that it will be just kit parts other than decals. Next I need to gloss coat all of this so I can apply a wash. 

Panel line wash is now finished and landing gear installed.  Need to flat coat now and complete final weathering/details. 

Panel line wash is now finished and landing gear installed.  Need to flat coat now and complete final weathering/details. 

Nice work on the paint scheme. I built this kit a few years ago, it really is nice. 

Black primer to prepare the body for some depth. Instead of darkening the panel lines, I do it the other way around, which I found to be easier and give a more realistic effect

I decided to do a bit more on mossie as the tv was rubbish,   so  I thought I would have a go at the props and spinners, these are a Three piece  unit considting of the prop  a backing plate and the spinner cap,  first I  cleaned up the prop  and discovered it was a bit to thick  and lacking shape,  simple adjustment  by samding it to reduce its thickness  while also giving it some shape.
I then dry fitted  it.
 
OC.

Hi all,    thank you for all the likes and comments,    so  while waiting for the paint on the fuselage to harden,  I decided to do a bit more detailing on the wings  with shading and highlighting  to give it a bit of realism.
 
OC.

This is the kit that just keeps on giving. Here’s how I overcame the latest challenges

Build board assembly

This boat is meant to be built upside-down, with the tops of the formers glued to a build board to hold the ribs and keel stable while planking. This is sensible, and matches other small-boat kits I’ve built, but once again poor design and instructions get in the way.

The instructions tell you to glue four sets of square stock to the build board, 1” apart, between which the rib formers will sit. Problem is, they use the same instructions for all different size boats, so odds are 1” isn’t the right spacing. Luckily, I was forewarned by a previous build and probably would have checked that anyway, but it would be an easy mistake to make. This an example of poor design, because you need the formers to be spaced exactly as they are on the keel to keep the ribs straight, and any filing you might have done to widen the slots in the keel could change that spacing. Also, you're better off gluing on the formers first, then adding the stock, rather than the stock first and hoping the formers fit. This is especially true as the ribs change shape and width during bending, so they're not the same width as the formers by the time you're ready to do this. Therefore, I decided to glue on the #1 former, add stock around it, then measure the rest physically using the actual keel.

This let me discover another problem: the stem is too tall for the assembly! When you try to invert the keel and slide it down onto the rib, you find that the stem hits the build board well before the rib enters the notch! Also, the solid bow former that they told you to glue in place right away is also too high, and hits the square stock before the keel notch can settle onto the rib. Thank goodness I started with only #1 and didn't follow the instructions. Both problems can be seen below:


 
I gave up on the build board at this point and decided to put the rest of the rib formers in by eye. At that point, I found that I had to refile the slots in the keel, because the ribs had widened from soaking (and possible crimping while bending), so the slots were once again too narrow. Of course, despite being very careful and doing this with gentle pressure on a solid surface, I broke the keel at slot #2:


 

I decided that glue alone wouldn’t fit such a delicate break, so figured that maybe gluing it together with the rib would be better. So I set up a temporary “build board” on a metal square using clamps, and glued formers #2-4 into their slots (while regluing the broken keel). I aligned these by eye, which I think worked pretty well under the circumstances:

I decided to leave out former #1 (it should be where the foremost clamp is) because (a) it’s glued to the build board now and (b) it creates a really sharp turn in the planking at the bow, which I’m suspicious of. I want a narrower bow, both to avoid planking problems with delicate materials and because that would look a bit more like the boat I want (a riverboat yawl rather than a maritime ship’s boat). I then glued frames #2-4 to the original build board, leaving #1 in place on its own until I bother to chip it off:

This, at least, gives me a sensible place to start from. There's some really delicate fairing to do and I'll probably add more bracing between various formers. We'll see what new excitement comes in the next chapter.
 
Thanks for the various comments from folks who've tried these. I hope you'll stick around as I struggle through. I already have several ideas for how to adapt the second one to be easier and better and will log that too.

I'm currently working on some plastic models as well as the Latham, so things aren't proceeding as rapidly at the moment. I did get the cap rails installed and the hull painted. Hull was painted with the airbrush. I was going to scribe the cove as per prototype, but tests showed that was not going to work very well in the basswood so I decided to just paint it on, which turned out much better. 
 
I used water slide decals from Microscale for the name. I couldn't find gold in the font/scale I wanted so had to use white. 
 
 

Finished the seine boat. I did not take in-progress pictures past that initial one on the build board. Let's just say the process between there and finished was not pretty, but in the end came out reasonably well. The plans themselves are very good, it's the method MS gives you to get there that isn't...
 
There is still a good bit of finished detail to add, but I'll leave that for later on at this point. 

The problem with these boats is even if you manage to pull off the build, the shape is just horrible. They look nothing like any prototype. 
 
On my Cruizer I used one of Caldercraft's nice resin boats. I was painting it anyway, and it detailed up very nicely. 
 
Good luck with that ME boat. 

I continue to be so impressed with your metal work Richard.  

While I was changing engine box I noticed the boom crutch I made was not right as per the drawings (I think I was looking at Phil Eisnor drawing) and I had put the shaft for the engine hoist to low so have now made out of Boxwood as per the drawing provided, did find a picture on the web to help with my build if not allowed please remove.
 

 
 
 
Making the new boom crutch I looked at the kit supplied items and again the white metal parts were not very good and also see how I had made awhile ago.
 

 

 
Started by making the bearings out of brass and 1/32" shaft (it said on the drawing provided shafts were 2 1/4" dia) then made two pinion gears, one which will go under winch gear and the other to go on counter shaft stand, size was .148" dia x .044" thick and made it 12 tooth should have been more but only had a .020" ball cutter, this worked out to one tooth every 30 deg, did use two cutters started with a .031" ball cutter and finished off with the .020" ball cutter.
 

 

 
Then I looked at the winch gear and it didn't look right with my pinion gear so made the teeth part .045" wide by .500" dia made this with 36 teeth so every 10 deg used a .04" ball to start and then finish off with a .031" ball, then put in the mill and cut spokes did it right and cut six 😃 did the spokes by eye so they are a little out here and there, but it did match the pinion teeth fantastic.
 

 

 
In the end made all teeth an 8 tooth, and two 13 tooth (one should have been an 12 tooth but who's going to count 🤔) then made the bell shape winches and the teeth parts for the Pawl's
 

 

 

 

 
Didn't like the Pawl's supplied in white metal so made both out of brass
 

 

 

 
The last thing I made which was the most difficult was to make the counter shaft stand again did not like the white metal one, it was bigger than the drawing so made from brass angle and brass sheet, bearings I machined from brass rectangle each stand was made from six parts and soldered together, all parts were then blacken with Birchwood Casey brass black, last things to make will be the levers for clutch.
 
Whit metal stand

 

 

 

 

 

 
This was a first for me to make gears, and I found I had a great time making all of them and I do feel it is a big difference from the supplied parts.
 
Until next time
 
Regards
Richard

Another update. Again, these are selected images from the eventual instruction manual. This is a sort of abridged version and represent only a few of the pictures that will be published in that book, so I've picked key ones for MSW. 
 
Chris suggests that the first two (bow) and last three (stern) bulkheads are bevelled somewhat before installation, including the other bow cross-bulkhead pieces. This is a pretty sound plan as it saves a whole load of work when it comes to fairing the hull. I used the same methodology in my instructions. I used my Dremel for this, set at a comfortable 9000rpm. Once all the bow bulkheads and cross-slotted pieces were bevelled, I glued these into place. I'm sure this looks familiar to builders of Speedy! Also notice the doorway on bulkhead 10. This has a pear wood door fitted to it with a brass nail as a handle. I also fit the deck support pieces across each bulkhead.
 



 
 
After gluing in the stern bulkheads into place, bulkhead #16 is bevelled along the top to match the sheer, and then the two long deck support beams are slotted and glued into position. This creates a really strong frame that stops the bulkheads bending, as well as being another great support for the deck that'll sit on top.


 
 
One difference (of many) in this kit is the replacement of the MDF stern frames for more resilient birch ply parts. These are now glued into position. Many parts in this kit are replaced with alternative material ones, such as the lower mast tops which will now be pear, as well as the stern face itself. The stern counter remains in ply. The deck is now glued into position. This needs bending somewhat and then allowed to click into position. It only takes a minute or so to install the deck and it sits perfectly on all the beams, no exceptions...



 
 
To protect the stern frames, the stern counter and stern panels are now glued into position. The keel is temporarily fitted with the supplied MDF clamps, so the counter can be correctly positioned. 

 
The hull is now faired. This only took me less than an hour, with the stern keel area being thinned out to about 1/3 it's original width to accommodate the planking which will then bring it up to the original thickness. I can sand that thinner too later, to accommodate the second layer of pear.

 
 
The inner stem post is now glued into position and left to dry before I fit the ply gun port strips.


 
 
That's it until I get more work done. I have built the cannon and capstan, but I'll not post those yet, for the sake of getting things in order
 
More when I've done it!

Hi Guys, update to my build. Firstly how do i add pages rather then going down the same thread. I’m ex construction engineer and lorry driver. Not computer minded lol. Also would like to make things more interesting by adding decryption below my photos. Anyway to the build, i’m happy with how the second planking went learning as i go really. Tried at first to follow the first layer pattern, but i do know from some experience that the second layer really needs to lay flat against the first. So just tried to keep everything flat to the hull. It worked beautifully the last 6 planks i came up from the keel. Started sanding the hull this is when i’ve made my first error simply explanation over sanding. fortunately it’s an easy fix because of where it is. I’m cutting 4 windows in the stern as I don’t like the cast ones. So i’ll run 4 planks from gallery side to gallery side between the mouldings. It made me think about sanding the rest. I’ve also glued the keel into place and it’s nicely square although I haven’t taken pictures of that yet. The model is looking good a few headaches to come like finishing the gun ports also the holes for the masts. That should be my next job. Enjoy the photos until next time. 

Hi guys, been busy since my last visit i got to complete the first layer of planking. Thanks for the planking link mtaylor it helped a lot. Really pleased it went so well and looks like I don’t need any filler before adding the second layer. Shame I couldn’t keep the planking as it is and not put on a second layer. Next on the list i will be doing the gun ports and drilling the holes for the masts. Think they it would be better to do them now rather then leaving them to late. I’ll also make up one of the cannons to get correct hight. Anyway enjoy my latest photos until next time.

But where to put them when done...
 
In all seriousness, need to purge a bunch, as there are better options available now for some, and interests have  changed a bit too. 

But where to put them when done...
 
In all seriousness, need to purge a bunch, as there are better options available now for some, and interests have  changed a bit too. 

But where to put them when done...
 
In all seriousness, need to purge a bunch, as there are better options available now for some, and interests have  changed a bit too. 

Don't fight it Mike. There are roughly 110 aircraft kits in my attic, and a few pieces of armor! 😄

But where to put them when done...
 
In all seriousness, need to purge a bunch, as there are better options available now for some, and interests have  changed a bit too. 

Don't fight it Mike. There are roughly 110 aircraft kits in my attic, and a few pieces of armor! 😄

But where to put them when done...
 
In all seriousness, need to purge a bunch, as there are better options available now for some, and interests have  changed a bit too.