Landlubber Mike

Thanks for the tip on Bob Smith Gold medium. I’ll try it out. So far I’ve been fine, but might as well take more precautions. As a side hobby, I turn pens and when using wood blanks, I like applying a CA finish. When sanded and polished, the CA turns into an ultra durable glass-like finish which is really spectacular looking for woods like burls and spalts. The process involves having the blank spin on the lathe, add a drop or two of CA onto a small piece of paper towel, and then quickly run the paper towel across the blank while it’s spinning. I’ll add anywhere from 10-20 coats like that, so the fumes get very intense. I usually run my shop vac near the lathe to pull in most of the fumes while also wearing a respirator. Otherwise, I could definitely feel the effects from the fumes. Nasty stuff!

Thanks Alan really appreciate the kind words!

Thank you! This build has regenerated my interest in going back to wooden ship models, so I might dust off one of the three builds I have going. My Pegasus is pretty far along, so maybe I can get back to that one. Otherwise I have enough plastic models in process to keep my busy. I have a 1/72 Planet Models Gamma 2J that is just waiting on weathering, and started a Planet Models 1/48 SNC-1 earlier this week which should be a quick build. Thanks again!

Thanks guys, really appreciate the kind words! The staining did come out a lot better than I was expecting, but pretty close to where I was hoping. I think using a more toned down white and black also worked nicely. Thanks again!

That's an incredible amount of very fine detail in your model Alan. You're doing a really great job! I've tried Gator's Grip glue, and for me, it's fine for some things but others where you need a quicker set time, I just seem to get along better with CA. I typically use medium CA (thin i find too runny and uncontrollable) applied with a pin, and if I need a quick set, I'll use an accelerator that comes in a pump bottle as opposed to the aerosol can. I just unscrew the top, dip the head of a toothpick to get a small drop of the accelerant at the tip, and then touch the glued pieces. Of course all this sounds a lot easier than it is in actual practice. I used to really hate using CA, but we've come to an understanding and I've gotten a little better with it. But there are just times that are so frustrating when the glue doesn't seem to want to hold the parts, or on the flip side, will grab immediately before I've had a chance to finalize the position (or somehow immediately glue my fingers). Some of these guys on YouTube seem to have no problems at all but maybe they have similar moments at times which end up on the cutting room floor and aren't included in the final video. Oh, and don't get me started on railings. They are my nemesis!! I'm not sure I've totally figured out a way to do them, but pre-bending is definitely a helpful step. On my first 1/700 I tried using Gator's Grip but I think the cure time was just too long and I couldn't get it to work. So now after pre-bending - even for slight curves in the hull - I add a little CA in the first section, then slowly work my way down and add CA down the line. Even then, I'll sometimes get gaps, portions of the railings will pop off, etc. and it ends up taking me much longer than one would expect to finish them. Now that you reminded me about Gator's Grip, what I might try is to start a section of railing with CA to get a firm anchor point, then use Gator's Grip for the rest since it probably has a little more flex to it and won't pop off as easily as can happen with CA.

Thanks guys! Really appreciate the kind words! One point I forgot to mention earlier. I think someone had mentioned problems with super glue causing wood areas not to pick up stain. I was very careful with my glue applications and sanding to make sure that I didn't have any stray CA on the stained areas. I did have a couple of small areas that didn't pick up stain very well, despite plenty of sanding. I think this might have been due to the fact that the kit wood is plywood. So, it's possible that I had sanded down the top layer to the adhesive between the first and second layer, which would probably cause the same issue of the stain not completely penetrating. Just a thought and probably worth remembering should I work with plywood in the future.

Finished! Somewhere I think I read that this kit takes about 20 hours to build. It probably took me 40-50. I had to backtrack a bit and rebuild the hull because the stem and stern settled off kilter. With the super glue method of construction, it was fairly easy to pop off the planks, sand off the glue, and re-glue. For paints and stains, I used the following: Unpainted sections: I used a combination of Minwax Golden Oak for most of the interior, and Minwax Gunstock for the rails, seats, frames, etc. These were sealed with Minwax Polycrylic clear semi-gloss. Painted sections: I primed all painted sections with Rust-Oleum Flat Gray. The white was done using Rust-Oleum Heirloom White, which I liked because it was a softer, almost cream white instead of a stark white. I originally used Rust-Oleum Charcoal Gray for the black sections, but I thought it was too light for what was supposed to be carbon fiber. So, I ended up spraying with a 2:1 mixture of Tamiya Nato Gray/Tamiya Flat Black. I then cleared with Rust-Oleum Clear Semi-Gloss. All in all, this was a really fun kit that used different construction methods than we typically use in wooden model ship building - so, I certainly learned a lot. I would definitely recommend it (or the other CLC kits) if you're looking for a quick palette-cleanser. It's a fairly long model, so my apologies for the poor pictures - best I could do! Thanks for looking in!

I haven't yet. I kinda paused to think about how to do the rigging, then got caught up in some Group Builds on LSM. It's on my list to get get back to and finish, especially after finishing the catapult set. I have to say I was really impressed with the Airfix kit. They did a great job making sure things fit nicely and securely. The plastic used was of good quality as well.

Looks really great Dan!! Nice job!

I was really tempted to buy this kit as I love the looks of the subject and the kit looks great, especially with all the options. If it builds like their Walrus kit, should be a really fun build for you.

Very cool colors on this one Chris. You're doing a fantastic job as per usual!

Nice work Craig - great work on the decals, wow!

Very nice work Andrew!! I'm finishing up a 1/72 at the moment, and can say that it's not an easy scale - you make it look easy though! Well done!

Just catching up on this board. Really nice job Alan! Great work, and quick project!

Wow, what an epic build at an epic scale - this is looking fantastic, thank you for sharing your build here.

Really nice start!

Yep, it's 1/32. Has some pretty interesting marking options - maybe I'll start mine shortly while inspired by your build: http://www.silverwings.pl/de-havilland-dh82a-tiger-moth.html I got mine at a pretty steep discount on one of the FB auction sites. Not only did the auction have the kit, but it also had a ton of aftermarket detail pieces from CMK and Eduard for the 1/32 ICM kit. Not sure I'll need them, but nice to have.

Really cool subject! I just picked up a Silver Wings kit of the Tiger Moth so will be following your build with much interest! Great start!

Wow, that came out great! Hope you're feeling better.

That came out really great Craig, fantastic job! Amazing work on the yellow - not an easy color to paint!

The tonal variation you achieved is spectacular. Very nice job!

Wow, that's amazing!! Great job!

You must not be married? My wife would kill me if she saw me working on a project like this. All kidding aside, this looks like a really epic project. Looking forward to following along (and living vicariously through you)!

Just caught up with your log David. Looks like a fun kit! Nice start!

Looking forward to following this one. I didn't realize Flyhawk did vehicles either.