mtdoramike

Run don't walk to the nearest exit and look for another hobby........, just kidding, ship modeling can be fun and rewarding. Rigging is my favorite part of ship modeling, it's what brings the model to life and makes people Ooooo and awwww over it. There are books on thre fundementals of boat rigging and once you realize they are all basically rigged the same, it becomes fun although a bit mind numbing at times.

What a beautiful ship, great work on her.

Oh boy, can't wait to see this beauty take shape.

You are making hewr proud.

Absolutely stunning work. People don't appreciate how hard it is to do really fine work on smaller scale projects. You have done an fantastic job.

Thanks Bob, the previous builder did very well on the build.

A Billings Nordkap R/C finishing boat. A ladies husband recently passed away while working on this kit. I was asked if I would accept it and finish it, which I humbly agreed to do. I was not only humbled, but honored that I would be asked to do so. I will strive to make his vision for this model a reality and make her all se can be. I have several projects going, but couldn't say no, nor did I want to.

Upon looking at the portion of the hull where the copper plating is showing, it looks really good, but it also appears to be peeling away from the hull. If this is the case, did you seal the hull first before plating it? I always sell the hull with a few coats of poly or varnish before plating, the plating will not stick very well to bare wood.

What a shame not to finish such a beautiful model and your work seems to be quite good.

Yeah and we all know bigger doesn't necessarily mean better.

I agree, most if not all Victory kits or builds require 2-5 years to complete. Now with that out of the way, back to your question, which I hate and which pops up every now and again whether it be a victory, constitution or what ever. A boat or ship model kit is a kit is a kit is a kit, no more no less. I have built well over 100 kits of various subjects over the years by many manufactures and have found that all kits no matter of the manufacture are good quality kits. Now whether the subject model builds into an acceptable representation of the subject is totally up to you AND NOT THE KIT. A kit is only a starting point of the journey you choose to take, but the quality of the build will be all on you as the builder. To me, the research of the subject is far more important than the quality of the kit, which can be changed, manipulated into what ever you want it to be. My point is, if you find something not historically accurate about the model per the kit, change it and make it so. You will never get a museum quality model from a kit even though the manufactures touts it as such. I rarely ever build a model based on the kit. To me the kit is only the starting point. So to answer your question, all of them and none of them.

I would love to see it built as rc operational.

Beautiful work.

yeah, my go to cloth is 2oz cloth

Oooo, I often wanted to build this Sterling kit. Are you building for Radio Control use or static display? She is looking magnificent so far.

I hope to see some build logs started and these free orphaned kits actually being built and not just continue to collect dust in another place.

I always build a wooden frame around the model, staple cardboard to the exterior of the frame and fill the void with packing material. I have only had one model get damaged by Fedex out of close to 100 models shipped.

Well there is your answers, your hopes and dreams dashed in an instant. But on the bright side, there are other Wasa kits on the market just as worthy of your hopes and dreams. Like I always say, a kit is only the beginning of that journey, it's up to the builder to make it special.

I should have mentioned that like all orphaned kits that I adopt usually show up with missing parts, in a total mess and this orphan didn't disappoint hahaha. I have begun the transformation by stretching her out 3", adding another number 4 frame as well as another number 5 frame. You can see the additions with the lighter colored wood.

Here is my latest project, a Dumas 1955 Cobra kit that was "yes" an orphaned kit that a friend sent to me. But I will not be building this to kit specs. It will be moderate to heavily modified. The original 18' Cobra as with the 21' Cobra was notorious for poor handling, especially in turns and the stern or transome sat so low in the water that there had to be a cut water edge added to the rear sides and transome to keep the boat from being swamped. The kit is no exception. Now, the first modification probably won't help with the mechanics of operation, but will mainly be cosmetic because it is my kit and I can do what I want to it, which will be stretching the front section of the boat 3" from the cockpit forward. This will give it more of a front deck and look more proportional than the original which was 27" in length. But now it will be 30" in length. Next, I will try and address the stern section by building it up by 1/4" to 3/8" to give it a better profile in the water and hopefully help with the swamping issues. Lastly, I will address a glaring issue from the kit to the actual Cobra boat, which is the design of the transome (see picture). Hopfully this all goes well because with every action there is a reaction, so I will have to see which problems are caused by each modification. You can see the corrected version of frame 9. In the photo of the two Cobra's, you can see the corrected transome on the Cobra to the right. These were compliments of Gary, a friend of mine. Wish me luck!

WOW, talk about ambition.

Thanks Bob, the Chris Craft Cobra is one very unique boat to say the least. I received some bright gold .004 gold metal flake that I intend to use on the fin by laying a layer of gold paint down on the fin, then mixing the gold flake into epoxy resin and laying a coat of the resin over the gold paint. That gold flake should make that fin sparkle like no bodies business when the light hits it.

This will be my next project, a 1950's Dumas Cobra kit. One of the many previous owners detached all of the parts from the parts sheets, but they at least numbered the parts, which will help. I had to order new plans, as usual they were missing. I'm curious to see what else is missing hahahaha.

Hey Bob, actually my next orphan is a Dumas 1950's Cobra that had been bounced around for about 20 years. Some parts are missing, which is no surprise with orphans, I accept them as they are, not what I what them to be, it's up to me to make them presentable enough to take to the dance and hopefully find a forever home hahahahaha. The original version is like 27", but I plan to stretch it out to about 30" and refigure the transome because it's really not quite accurate to the real Cobra boat.

The Yoda is pretty much finished. I'm awaiting a flag for it and a brass bell, which I usually have laying around, but I have been a bit lax on keeoing up with my inventory. The Lady will be setting off to her new home shortly, I'm just enjoying her a bit before she goes and bids me a fond farewell. The person who received the original smaller version of the Yoda also requested this one as well, so now he will have a matching set. It couldn't have worked out better because that was what I was hoping for during the entire build.