ccoyle

That is looking spectacular, Tomek!

Thanks for the photos, gentlemen, but I already knew that the blade clamp portion of the hub was not a good likeness of the real thing. It's just one of several features of the kit that do not match up well with the original. It's kind of annoying, actually -- if I wasn'tbuilding this kit for a friend, it might have already wound up in the pile of Misfit Models. But I will muddle along. BTW, more faithful card renditions of these blade assemblies w/o spinners do exist in other kits, but they are also substantially more complex, as you might imagine. BTW #2: Doc, your photos make me sad -- because they reinforce how bad the air intake portion of the cowl on this kit is. 😜

Well, I live in the Deep South, and since I moved here I have yet to catch any catfish, whether by noodling or any other method. 😉

So, I promised a shot of the finished propeller, so here it is. Yay. My joy upon completing this task was cut short once I started work on the canopy. The vacu-formed canopy has proved to be roughly 20% too large for the frames. 🙄 Are the frames too small, or the canopy too large? Yet more puzzles to solve for this kit. 😑

Found my answers already: logo in front (which I expected, but needed to confirm), and propeller rotates counterclockwise when viewed from front. Also discovered that the hub assembly is not a good likeness of the real thing. 😑

I have, and I would likewise recommend it.

Okay, so no finished propeller yet, but I am slowly making progress on it. What I have learned so far is that this NOT a kit I would recommend for non-Polish speakers. Like I said earlier, there appears to be two different ways to build the propeller hub, and no hint is given in the diagrams about why or whether to use one over the other. The ring that holds the three blades is designed like nothing I have ever seen in a kit before, and this one part alone has been somewhat of a nightmare to build. I also discovered that some of the rolled paper parts are included in the 1 mm laser-cut frames set (?!?),which means that no one bothered to separate the printed structural elements into those that would normally require lamination (e.g. actual frames) versus those that don't (e.g. parts to be rolled). This partially explains why I seem to have more than the usual number of parts left over. One more ambiguity that must be dealt with (and the one that explains why I am even at my computer at this moment) is how the propeller blades should be attached to the hub. Of all the diagrams and illustrations in the kit, not a single one provides a clear indication of whether the propeller should rotate clockwise or counterclockwise, and whether the Hamilton Standard logo goes on the front of the blade or rear. So, I'm off to search photos. Thanks, GPM. 🙄

I have to agree that your first effort is not at all shabby -- you have made a very good start!

You mean like fishing bare-handed for catfish, or some other kind of noodling?

Never met him actually, but I thought it was pretty amazing when I discovered that out of all the navy ships he could have served on -- all those support ships, troop ships, tugs, and other types that performed valuable service but are now largely forgotten -- that he served on one of the immortals.

I had a third cousin, Oliver Coyle Sr., who was a Seaman First Class aboard the Sammy B. He is listed on the roll of survivors at de413.org. He passed away in 2011. The last Sammy B survivor passed away in March of this year at the age of 98.

Hello, Andrew. First, welcome to Model Ship World! These are interesting models, but posting a single link in a post is not really what we intend a build log to be. Because metal models are kind of a niche medium, we don't have a designated area for them. I'm thinking the best option would be for you to create an album in the kit models gallery and show us some of the finished models. You could certainly provide the link in the description of your album. In addition, your description should tell us something about the Piececool kits in general, as I doubt that many of our members know of them, but they would probably be curious about them. Cheers!

That has to be an Irish name. No other language on Earth has such an abundance of silent letters.

Brief update: I started work on the propeller hub. The diagrams appear to include different options for this, so I have to kind of guess at which parts to use. On the far right we have an engine cover, which is the only three-dimensional part of the engine that will be included in this build. It is a large petal structure. Normally I dread petal structures, because they are difficult to get right, but my new dapping tool set was immensely helpful for this chore. I'm pleased with the result. In the middle is the "hub," which is a long strip rolled into a tight cylinder around a plastic rod. On the left is the template for sanding the hub down to the proper shape. I chucked the rod into my Dremel tool and hit the 'on' switch -- and the rod promptly snapped off at the base of the hub. That happened last night and resulted in the immediate closing up of the shop for the night. Today I drilled out the broken rod and replaced it with a steel rod. I have shaped the hub (liberally stiffened with thin CA) and am now in the process of painting it. I will post another update when I get the blades added. Cheers!

😆 Since these will be incorporated into a ship model, I assume they are boattails?

Nearly all of the Caldercraft kits were designed by Chris Watton, the current owner of Vanguard Models. Chris' first designs for Caldercraft were innovative for their time, but they are now over 20 years old in some cases, and even Chris will readily admit that his designs have improved significantly since then. Plus, unless the folks at Caldercraft have updated and reprinted them since then, the older Caldercraft kits were very light on the instructions. The upshot of all this is that the Caldercraft kits will still make very nice models, but they are not as beginner-friendly as newer releases. OcCre kits typically include very user-friendly, photo-style instructions, and they are relatively inexpensive. The flip side is that OcCre kits are not known for accurately portraying their subjects. We have many finished build logs of kits from both companies, as well as from Vanguard Models. I suggest you have a look at some from each company and also peruse some of the reviews for each company in the kit reviews section. These will help you make an informed decision. Last bit of advice: choose a kit subject you really like, not just one that seems like the best model for a beginner. You need to feel a connection to your subject matter in order to stay motivated during the long haul of building. Cheers!

Don't fret -- I have an unfinished HMS Fly started in 2006. 😬

Nic, will she have sails? I know it's a display model, but a massive schooner like that will seem incomplete without sails.

Dis you miss the gallery link in the banner?

It's a very old Monogram kit, first released in 1956. https://www.oldmodelkits.com/index.php?detail=3543&page=74&soldarchive=1

It's worth mentioning that this kit is also available as part of Shipyard's "laser cardboard" series (translating Polish to English sometimes produces odd-sounding terms). The laser cardboard kits are complete projects in 1/72 scale that include kit, frames, blocks, rigging material, paints, and glue. But they are not cheap -- the Mercury kit sells for north of $400.

Takin' a break for a Fathers Day paddle on Lake Cunningham.

I probably shouldn't have looked at pictures of actual Hellcats just now, because now I'm seeing that the scoop on the model is all wrong, but I swear that's the best I could come up with based on the diagrams, and I can't see how it could have been done differently with the parts on hand. 😕 I swear my next airplane will be either a Halinski or a Kartonowa Kolekcja kit,

Well, another update. I got the forward fuselage and cowl finished, but it WAS NOT FUN. It took me quite a while to figure out how the various parts were supposed to go together, based on the somewhat nebulous diagrams. Then it took me another long while to screw up the nerve to actually start gluing stuff, and the stuff didn't just fall together but instead required substantial fiddling and shaping just to get at something acceptable. Then it took me yet another long while to do all the touch up work after the gluing was done. Blech!! First, a shot of various structures strewn about on my cutting mat. I had to do surgery on the forward-most frame to make room for the air scoop to fit in. The scoop itself is a complex shape made from eight parts. The front three cowl rings did not line up properly, which required some follow-up surgery later. You'll note that I opted to use the flat, printed engine cylinder piece rather than make the individual cylinders. Based on how difficult it was to make everything come together, this was probably a smart decision. So, here's the finished nose section. I had to do some additional nips, tucks, fills , and touch-ups to get this to look half-way decent. And here it is after gluing it to the fuselage. I noticed just now that the front of the cowl got a little deformed during the mating of the fuselage sections, so now I'll be off to fix that. Cheers!

Well, I thought I remembered seeing a build log recently, but perhaps I was mistaken. I might have been confusing it with one of the other BB kits.