Ryland Craze

Hi Tony,
 
I've only had to use CA to stiffen the cardboard in a couple places on this model. So, I haven't had to worry about CA glue economy. On this model, my main cement has actually been contact cement. Which works fine of the CA'd parts. 
 
For my HMS Alert model that I built several years ago, I used wood glue for much of it. 
 
I'm no paper model expert, so I can't say which one is absolutely best. But, I've been having good luck using the contact cement so far. You just need it fresh, so it's doesn't get stringy. Plus, rather than using the brush that's attached to the lid, in most cases I just use a thin scrap of wood as an applicator.
 
 
Chuck,
 
I've been sidetracked trying to get some other work done for the past couple weeks, but I think I'll get back to it this weekend. On applying the color mix, the number of coats I used depended on how much I thinned the paint, and if I was happy with the coloring.
 
Once I was confident with the color mix and technique, I painted the whole sheet of planks at one time. After it dried for 24 hours, I did go over much of it a second time with a thin wash. Also, I chose random planks to either skip or do again, to get a little color variation between some planks.
 
I say, go with whatever looks better. Darker is fine. In fact, one question I've seen asked about the color scheme is "shouldn't it be darker?"
 
 

If you have issues with Hunt's documents, do have a look at the planking tutorials pinned that the top of this sub-forum.  

Thanks Bob.  I did just that.  I thought about trying to un-glue the planks but decided against it.  I did dry fit the #3 plank and all is well.  When all the planking is complete I will do a final fit and gluing of the filler piece.  Still enjoying the build and will never let a small problem like this discourage me.  I have read the oops feed and many builders have overcome much greater problems than mine.  Have a good day and stay safe.  Bob

I'm probably not the best person to be giving you advice on this problem but, since no one else has responded yet, I'll give it a go. I had a similar looking spot on my longboat in about the same location. I don't think I did anything with it at first since it was not very prominent. Eventually, after completing the planking and while doing a final sanding, I glued a tiny piece of wood in the gap by the keel with white glue and sanded it so that it was flush with the keel and the planks. I may have added a tiny amount of either Elmer's Wood Filler or white glue mixed with Alaskan Yellow Cedar sawdust too. I can't remember exactly. It was practically unnoticeable after that. I'm not sure it's the best way to manage the problem but I was ok with it after I was done. 
 
It would probably be wise to at least to shape and dry fit the next plank or two to see if the frame is consistently too low or just in that one spot. If it is consistently too low, you might want lift the planks and shim the frame since it's probably going to create problems later as you go along. These kind of small errors tend to creep and become more prominent as you continue planking. 
 
Thinking about it now in hindsight, it may have been better if I had used some CA debonder on the frame or frames so you could lift the planks just enough to be able to glue a small shim on the frame and raise it up a little in the low spot and perhaps further down the frame as well if necessary. I think that would help prevent the error from magnifying itself as you continue the planking.
 
I hope someone more experienced than me will and their advice since I am certainly no expert with these matters.
 
Good luck and hang in there. My model isn't perfect but I I'm very pleased with how it turned out. 

Hi all,
   Final pours done. The draft ended up about 3/4", and the total depth about 1-1/4". I ended up using the whole gallon, about seven pours total. To facilitate handling the boat, I removed most of the furniture and cannons. I was lucky... the Tyvek and Vaseline trick worked, the only moderate resistance when I removed the boat was some suction (probably the Vaseline). As the final coat set, I poked and prodded it to simulate ripples and swells. After the resin finally sets (about 72 hours) I'll start with the gloss ModPodge to detail out the ripples and edges of the resin where it meets the boat. After that, I'll add the soil, foliage, trees and grass and touch up where the water meets the shore.
   Now that the hull is finally fitted to the base, I can start completing the boat. All the furniture, masts, fittings and cargo are done, and just need attaching. After that, I'll start rigging. I'm so happy to have achieved this milestone, I was so afraid the boat would be permanently stuck to the base... that would have been very bad...
 
Here's some pics... I like the sun reflections off the water on the hull.








 

Hey all,
The pours have begun!!!
   First, I put the resin in a sink full of hot water and let it sit for about an hour. I attached the dams, and Tyvek'ed the boat and dam sides. Then I put the base out in the sun to get good and warm. After everything was nice and toasty, I got all the stuff ready for the pours. I attached the boat to the base with three screws to keep it stable. Don't want it to float away!!!

 
   I started at 9 AM, hoping to get at least three to four 1/8" deep pours done. Most 1:1 epoxies (if it's a warm day, it's 80 deg F here, and sunny) can be re-coated in about 2 hours, so I hoped I could pour to the bottom of the rudder today.
 
   The rudder is a separate challenge, as I will have to cut off and embed the part of it that will be under water. I'll drill locating pins in the resin and also the upper part of the rudder so everything will align properly when the final pours are done tomorrow.
   
   Here's the procedure I followed (from the brand I used, but the method is similar for most 1:1 resins). First, I mixed up 4+4 oz. of resin to use as a seal coat. Measure by volume, and stir until the mixture is no longer milky. I then used a disposable brush to apply the seal coat over all the base that would be under water. I did find one small leak in the lower front corner, easily fixed by a toothpick pushed into the gap. When the seal coat was tacky but not sticky (use a cotton swab... if it tacks but doesn't pull cotton away it's OK for the next pour). For my first flood pour, I mixed 8 oz. of resin and tinted it a tiny amount with some green and brown mica powder. I poured some resin in all four corners of the river bed, and evened it all out with a craft stick and toothpick. I was lucky, the seal coat worked well and because all the materials were quite warm, I didn't have any major bubble trouble. The ones that did pop up were easily removed with a heat gun. 
   
   Doing four more 8 oz. pours, I was able to pour up to the bottom of the rudder (total pour depth so far about 5/8", or half way there). The resin is hardening nicely, even and smooth. The base did get pretty hot as the resin set, but it's cooled off with no apparent damage to the boat. The part I'm apprehensive about is the boat sticking to the base. In a few hours, I'll attempt to remove the boat, we'll see if all my precautions worked... (fingers and all appendages crossed...).
 
   Here's some shots after today's pours:




 

Thanks Chuck I am going to think about it.  
 
Thank Bob!  
The carvings are included in the kit.  I think the kit comes with resin castings and the boxwood ones are an extra.  Sort of an introduction to carving
 

Starting to get the rear seating area started.  I am painting the uprights as it will be difficult later as the bench tops overhang a bit.
 

 
As I am waiting between coats of the paint I have been practicing carving.  On each piece I am getting better and doing less damage.  This time was able to avoid knocking off any of the tips.  It is about 60% there, still need more practice.
 

 
This is just a test piece so I decided to use a small portion of the most valuable thing in my shop and release it from the backing.  The isopropyl alcohol soaked in and in about 15 minutes it just floated free.
 

 
After letting it dry I just dropped it on the model to get an idea of what it would look like.  Would probably use some wipe on ploy on the final pieces.
 

I think the trim pieces should have been placed closer together but o well to the unaided eye it looks fine.
 
 
Now back to painting...

Since it appears to be an important issue, they are all gone.  During the Second Depression, I losr everything, savings, retirement, eventually my house to foreclosure.  Had already sold all of my construction equipment, all of my contracting tools, most of the gun safe contents.  So, when it was time to cram everything into a 8 x 10 x 16 box, a lot of stuff had to be left behind.  To include virtually all my furniture, my drafting table, and the hobby desks, and paint booth.
The consortium who bought my property in the foreclosure sale used a bulldozer and knocked down the house and every tree but one, and slapped up two "Aggieshacks" in it's place.
I spent rather a lot of 2012 and 2013 living in guest rooms and garages.  Then, was lucky to find my present bedsit.  Priorities have been focused on trying to get back to even, and I'm still not there yet.  And this plague has not helped any, as I have a third computer on my one desk (which is a disaster area).
 
My only intention here is to offer information, to share experience, particularly wher eI have handles the items in question, strode the decks (or been on the beach with Marines attempting to run over me with one each of every vehicle in inventory).
 
I intend no critique, criticism is all opinion, and usually only represents self-aggrandizement.  I may well be guilty of this, my feet are clay, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.  But, it is not my intent.

Thank you Chuck.  
I corrected the central window.  She just needed some sanding and love. 😁



I used the Byrnes table saw and sliding table to make the bollard timbers after I sanded them to shape.  I used the thinnest blade I have, adjusted the hight and used the stops to place the cuts. I have a dummy timber to do the cut fist and adjust before switching the keeper for the final cut.  Thank goodness Chuck gave us 3 sets.
 



 
Hope this makes sense. Happy to give more details if not.
Best,
G
 
 
 
 

Next I did the wales.   It helped me sand to shape the lower corners of the counter.
thank you for the words of encouragement and pointing to things to improve.

This are holders I came up to hold planks in weird places.  The axis in the wood parts are eccentric and when rotated they put pressure in the plank.
The paper binders were shaped and filed to hold the planks gently and avoid marking the wood.  I remove the after a few minutes.  I used cyanoacrylate glue and wood glue for edges.


  I used the method of Chuck to bend the planks to shape with a travel iron.  I like to use a peace of metal (old sharpening plate) for the base to heat more the top and cool the wood plank faster.  Worked like a charm.




Next step,  fix the error in the central window.
best,
G
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

Very nice job on your Sherbourne.  You are making good progress.

It's what the plague doctors would wear during the black death (plague) 

Hi Vane,
 
The first batches of laser cut for Speedy (including all Master Shipwright kits) were sub contracted to another UK company, who did an OK job, but quite expensive. I didn't get my laser machine until late December, and it took a while to get to grips with it, so I sub contracted another 20 Speedy kits to be laser cut, lest I mess them up.
 
A lot has changed since then, and I would not consider sub contacting laser work out, not now that I know what my machine is capable of. I have never noticed the lines on the edges of that 2mm MDF, I do not think they are there on later kits. I had already made 2 models, one complete and one complete hull using the same laser cut files, and didn't notice those lines along the edges, I just knew the parts fitted together very well and I was happy with all of the fit. At the time, I used the best people I knew, who replaced the Italian sub contractors, as the latter samples were way too sloppy a fit.
 
Regarding where I am now, I have attached some recent laser cut samples I have done myself, for the future Flirt 2mm wood anchor stocks, and also the main anchor body in 2mm MDF. There are no wavy lines on these along the cutting edges.
 
I have also attached a few pics of current state of laser cutting, these are the Flirt MS 2 and 3mm laser cut parts. For the 2mm, I have shown sides of the sheets - I have spent a lot of time to eliminate laser blowback (as evidenced in my previous post), to make the laser sheets as presentable as I can, whilst also fine tuning both laser cutting and engraving, which the special edition Flirt parts should show.
 
ASAT - Regarding Bristol, this was meant to be my second kit. However, because my business plan has changed, and want to produce higher quality kits with higher quality materials, the costs involved for larger kits is much, much more. Initially, Bristol was going have lave laser cut basswood parts and Tanganyika planking. It still may come with Tanganyika (as the stock I have is very good and the colour is perfect), but it will have many sheets of pear or similar, which costs a hell of a lot more than cheap basswood.
 
With this in mind, I need to work up to the larger kits a little slower than originally planned, due to the (much) higher investment costs of even the smallest kits. But what I hope and am aiming for is that all kits will be of similar high quality. Bristol is not scrubbed, as I have already invested a few thousand pounds into the development, it is just delayed, and that delay will ensure Bristol and others that follow will be as perfect as I can make them.

Final prepping for the second spray session, TRACKS! 

Two sets of AFV Club AF35046 T91E3 workable track.... (same track used on the M41 Walker Bulldog)

The tracks are high pressure injection molded in individual links, 160+ links with separate rubber track shoes. My impression is it is lucky I needed two sets,the number of links with flash is high about 15% of the set, I tried to clean it off but unfortunately that didn't go so well, it is hard to distinguish the flash from the pivot pin so trimming the flash usually results in trimming the pin also. the track links cannot be forced together cause they come apart when it is time to bend them around the wheels. So essentially those flashed links are useless. It takes 87 links to make a single track for my M8, it would be less with an M41 so I guess they send extras. Good thing given the rate of unuseable links.

One set assembled, the long length is what is needed to track one side.

Very flexible, you do have to be careful as they will separate under pressure

Looks and movement are very close to the real deal....
 
There is one more part missing from the kit. The M18 Generator that is usually carried on the back on the skid loader. Not all M8 HST's had a generator, in fact within a year and a half of entering service with the AA battalions the M18's were shifted to M7 generator trailers and the skid was used for personnel supplies or more ammo. An M18 Generator was a 30KW power supply, it was capable of powering a whole battery of M51's (4 guns) plus it's director (also mounted on an M7 trailer) This is why they discontinued carrying them on the back of the M8.

But I'm building an example of the complete system as initially issued/used.

So I need an M18 generator..... Luckily I have both the operators manual TM-9-617, (trailer mounted) and the depot repair manual TM-9-1617. Thank god I found them online because it is the only source of pictures of this particular piece of equipment.

Also to my great enjoyment the depot manual has a scaled measured drawing of the base frame and a picture of the finished frame weldment. Now the resulting model has to be scaled to the model of course. (we do want it to fit don't we) which will be a tiny bit shorter than the dimensions called out in the print.... That is one of the vagaries of scratch-building for an already designed model you have to adjust what your adding to fit the model....


Right Front

Left Rear

Left side open panels

Right side open panels

Frame weldment

Measured Drawing of the Frame....
 
Next, A basic idea of where we are at this point in the build....

Final subassembly before paint....
And, as a teaser, A shot of the subject model at this stage of assembly. Still in subassemblies, just prefitted before paint to make sure everything fits the way it should. After this we will be in it's first drab dress....

Cab pre-fitted to the deck, deck fitted to the hull with some of the body superstructure fitted in place.... I built the blade as a subassembly cause like the front plate, there is a lot of detail that will not be readily seen once assembled.... And at this point a note. this kit is right up there on the accurate detail end of the scale, equal to ANYTHING produced today. I am very impressed at the level of detail and the crisp clean molding. I would recommend it to anyone as a fine example of the M8A1 HST. This effort by Nitto is far and away better than their M4 HST in accuracy and manufacture.... Unfortunately it is not manufactured anymore, but Bluetank has the Nitto molds and has re-released this kit several years ago, it is still available at a reasonable price, and makes a fine addition to any artillery prime mover lineup.
 
Well, here she is, a new suit of clothes.....

I pulled all the superstructure off the back as they need to be painted individually. There are underneath places that need painted which wouldn't happen with the body completely assembled....
Need to let the paint cure for 24 hours before I can do any details or touch-ups.......
 
At this time I went thru the Kit from this point forward looking for any problem areas that may be laying in wait while the paint cured. Noticed that the M2 .50 cal was missing, the mount is here, what they call an ammo box is here but the gun is nowhere to be seen. All I can think of since the bags were sealed closed (mfgr. stapled) it must have fell off during bagging. OH Well! I went and found a replacement online... Asuka Browning M2 Machine Gun Set B w/Cradle. Said to be the best, better than resin & photoetch so I guess we will see. As I was prepping the remaining parts for spraying, I was looking at the body and thought something is missing....... but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.... 

Reels......

The M51 Skysweeper used two main sets of cabling, one set ran from the Generator to the Gun and the other from the Gun to the Director. And the kit has no reels.......
So where do I find reference to period US Army cable reels???? Google doesn't help, it shows current reels and those commercially available, nothing WWII/Korea vintage.....
So who in the US Army used Cable Reels? the Signal Corp of course! I searched on Signal corp operations and imagery and came up with two photos of what I needed to make....

France 1944, Signal Corps troops repairing the telephone system. A standard 22"dia cable reel is at the base of the pole.

Korea 1952 I believe, telephone work at an airbase. four standard 22" cable reels in the back of a cable service truck.

Making reels is fairly simple, two disks and a tube, 3/8ths tube and .020" sheet styrene cut in a 5/8th circle drilled thru the center to accept the rod......

Mounted in the Reel Holder, looks like they will suffice, but need more details.

.025 styrene rod used to replicate the six stiffener spokes on the reel....

Showing the method of glueing the stiffeners in place using liquid cement......

Almost finished with the stiffeners, a simple six spoke pattern flush with the disk edge....

Inner bearing disks glued over the center of the spokes and drilled, and the beginnings of attaching the rims of the reels.....

Mounted on the rod in the reel holders.

Ready for final sanding and paint..... The wide reel held the power cable and the narrow one held the director cable. Now I need to find a suitable material to simulate the cables. Standard wire doesn't cut it....
 
Next up, more Painting and Assembly, Tracks and looking forward to the Generator set which is not included in the kit.....
 
 

This kit has been out there for a while, initially it was a motorized kit and had full operating suspension and a true rubberband track. The kit I have has everything from the older kit except the electric motors and drives. Reading reviews of this kit numerous reviewers stated that one needed to acquire a Walker Bulldog kit (Tamiya) to get the correct sprocket for the track which would have to be aftermarket, and, more than one set because the M-8 has one more road wheel than the M-41 making the track lengths 15% longer... So I bought the M-41 and the two track sets.... 
 

As you can see it is a full blown M-8A1 with the T-48 Body and Dozer blade.... Perfect fit for my M-51 Skysweeper
As I had been working on it, I decided to lock the operating suspension in place taking the ride height off the Tamiya M-41 hull....
 

Road wheels and return rollers on, unpainted, it's close to the point of painting it overall Olive Drab. I found out that the return rollers did not have rubber tires on them so they will be painted steel, the road wheels of course get a coat of rubber....
 
I build model armor as a series of sub-assemblies, Hull, Deck, Superstructure, Gun, Turret, Tracks etc. once the major subassemblies are done they are painted. (usually rattlecan for the base coat) US army vehicles of the period are painted the ubiquitous US Army Olive Drab overall as the base coat of paint from the manufacturer. The only markings being the registration number stenciled to the sides. (insignias and unit markings are added in the field) as I'm building I check what I have for decals and what is needed on the field units.... I don't build combat mud hogs or specific units so I need a clean set as an example of general usage to get the right look. So yesterday I spent half the day searching the internet for generic US Army stars & lettering, WWII/Korean war vintage in 1/35th scale. I settled on the Microscale #13-11 stars & letter/numbersets. One would be enough, but Microscale has a $20 minimum so I had to buy three sets. which is ok cause I have a number of old kits (and some new ones) that do not have US markings. (or what they do have sucks so bad I wouldn't embarrass myself by using them)

Nitto unfortunately does not offer US markings in decals. or rather they don't include stars as depicted clearly in the box art. I checked this out with the M4 HST kit I also have and they provide the rising sun flag for the Japanese versions but no US Stars. (and the reg numbers would look like they were painted by hand with a small brush) Totally and completely unusable.
 

Forward body, crew & engine compartments, upper left are the internal bulkheads, upper middle right are the engine compartment grilles, they will be hand painted black and dry brushed OD Green to show the grill structure.
 

This pic shows the sub-assemblies at this point, Cab in the upper right glass installed in the bulkheads upper center and below that the incomplete front engine plate which gets mounted to the lower hull before painting. All that is left is the copper rod and hooks to be installed.

Completed cab structure, all the little bits in place (those brush guards around the windows were a bear to get correct. the windows will be installed after the paint job. you'll notice the scuffed up look on the top of the drivers cab, it had three molded on track links that I had to take off, they were out of scale and looked like blobs besides they were upside down. with all the extra track links I have they will look much better and have the correct number of 4 links.

Before you can paint the hull, we have to mount the idler wheel and sprockets. this is an image comparing the rubber track sprockets, (in the center) and the scale Tamiya M-41 sprockets. I had an issue with the scale sprockets cause they didn't mount to the axle the same way the operating sprocket does. The hole in the scale sprocket is too small, so I drilled it out a bit larger than the operating sprocket, cut off a 1/8th inch length of mocha straw pushed it into the hole which now slips over the axle with no play. A little Formula 560 to affix it all together and we are good to go...

And finally the lower hull with the idlers & drive sprockets in place and a completed front bulkhead. At this point I would start mounting the hydraulics for the dozer blade and it would get a bit crowded so this is where the paint comes in.....
 
More subassemblies coming......
 
EG

The M-8 HST started life as a test article. The T-43 HST. which was a new design utilizing the running gear of the M-24 Chaffee Light Tank. Of course the M-24 was well known to be underpowered for a tank (even a light one) and as such, the T-43 HST did not survive automotive command testing. It was then ordered that a completely new HST would be developed using the complete running gear of the newly designed M-41 Light Tank known as the Walker Bulldog. Designated the T-42, it was eventually accepted as the M-8 high speed Tractor in 1945 with two development versions, the M-8E1 and the M-8E2, the main difference being the engine and transmission combination....... The M-8E1 could be distinguished from the E2 by the sloped windshields.....
M-8E1 with optional sandshields and general cargo body

M-8E2 on the Allis-Chalmbers test track without a mission body...
 
While standardized in 1945 the war had just ended and there were plenty of HST's to go around for a peacetime army so the design continued in development with the M-8E2 eventually being accepted as the current standard and authorised for production of 500 units designated as the M-8A1.

The A1 had several body adaptations that could be made for it. Standard was a full length cargo body, much like the standard cargo bed of the M-35 truck. 
There was a specialized body specifically for the Skysweeper batteries. Known as the T-48 body, it has provisions for carrying the crew, the initial loadout of ammo, the cables needed to connect the gun to it's generator and directors and a skid hoist on the back which carried an M-18 30kw generating set to run the gun. It also had provision for the T-84E4 bulldozer blade, but this wasn't mounted on all vehicles.....
 

M-8A1 as standardised with the T-48 skysweeper body, this unit also has the hydraulic connection for the dozer blade prominent below the drivers window.......

The same unit as above with the dozer blade in action...
 
Now, for the kit....
The Nitto 1/35 M8A1 HST
 
 

Well, my interest in this kit comes from it being the Prime Mover for the M-51 Skysweeper 75mm automatic anti aircraft gun... I built the Renwal 1/32nd scale Skysweeper earlier, (I don't have a build log for that, just images of the finished kit) and the M8A1 HST was the designated prime mover for all M-51's as issued. (please bear with me as I show you the motivation for the build)
The Renwal Skysweeper, OOB......








Fairly nice kit, an old classic......... 
 
When I build artillery, I prefer to build it with it's prime mover, basically the vehicle that moved it around from location to location.  It's like the German "88" and it's 8 ton semitrack to haul it around, the Long Tom had it's M4 HST.... Etc Etc etc....
 
That's the way I like my artillery and in as issued condition... (no muck, no grime, no damage maybe a little paint fade from sitting on the apron for a while but nothing major)
Once the subject is chosen I do my research......
 
Next post, research......

The upper wale was installed today. I started by first gluing the plank at the bow then working towards the stern as shown:


From most angles, both sides of the hull look completely symmetrical as shown here:

But when looking a lower angle, the plank in the starboard side looks every so slightly lower than the port side plank as shown below. Maybe I am nitpicking about this but really not sure if this would affect the planking above the upper wale.

I am now confused on whether I should fix this or leave it and see how the planking progresses. I should note, the distances from the top of each gun port lintel to the plank on both sides were measured and were consistent in both sides with differences less than 1 mm. So it is probably just the natural curvature of the wood causing the discrepancy. Any advice on how I should proceed with this is very much welcomed!
 
Anyhow, here are more photos of the completed install of the upper wale:

Masts and cranes added. Tomorrow I’ll rig her,well, most of her, then do sone touch up painting and weathering before moving onto the deck details and guns. 

Ships boats on, funnels rigged 
 
next step the masts and start rigging them 

This is a test piece on scrap wood I made just to see if I like that particular color.  Wood is cherry and the top edge approx 1 cm has wipe on poly applied.  I just wanted to see if the paint looked different over bare wood vs the wop.  The right side has about 15 coats of very thin paint.  In certain light you can almost see a difference in the sheen/tint but it is very very subtle.  I would probably not wop before paint but at least in this small sample it didn't matter too much.  Next time I get the wop out I am going to coat the entire thing just to see what wop looks like over top of the paint.  Just to see because why not
 

Personally I wouldn't use wipe on poly where I was going to paint. 
In my build I taped  along the waterline level and applied poly above that up to the wale. I then taped above the waterline and painted below it.
 
B.E.

Hello - Hull nearly complete with the wale attached. The Wale was a little tricky but got there.
For some reason the Keel was a fraction too short - probably due to my dodgy build work - so a bit was added.
Capping rail in place plus trim.
 

 
 

 
Borrowed from that great builder Dubz - a bit of support / belaying pin rack at the stern which I have since see another builder had the same idea on his Sherbourne.
Just wish I could also borrow Dubz's skill........
 

 
The Bowsprit opening in place.
 

 
Thanks for the 'Likes' on previous post and thank you for looking.
Next is to paint lower hull section white.
 
Regards
 
Doug