gjdale

Thanks for the words of commiseration/encouragement guys! Okay, so re-painting is underway. I used a new tin of Humbrol today, just in case the last lot was "off". Spent a lot of time mixing the paint back into itself - don't know about you folks, but whenever I open a tin of Humbrol the paint pigment seems to set in a semi-solid ball in the bottom of the tin and its a B* of a job to get it to re-combine into the paint. I was assisted in this by a neat little battery operated paint stirrer that I picked up from MicroMark some time ago but had not yet used. Have managed to apply three coats today (thinned and applied with the airbrush). I'll see how it looks in the morning but might need to do one more. In the meantime, I've been working on some of the internal fittings. To start with, I made up the thwarts using a combination of Pear with a Holly trim. I then made a mast support from a piece of brass tube and some brass strap that I silver soldered together and then blackened with Casey Birchwood Brass Black. The big news here is that I think I have finally passed my Chemistry Prac., as it actually seemed to work. I discovered a huge secret - follow the instructions on the bottle!!!! :P Honestly, instead of all the variety of combinations of dilution strengths and soak times, etc. I just did what it said on the bottle. Clean thoroughly (I used the Casey Birchwood cleaner), rinse in cold water, apply blackening solution straight from the bottle using a cotton bud (you might know them as Q-tips), wait for one minute, rinse in cold water, then repeat until you have desired depth of colour. I ended up doing this four times to achieve a result that I was happy with, and it didn't rub off either! Here's a picture of the completed support fixed to the thwart: There is a little bit of glue residue evident in the photo, but that should clean up okay. I have also completed making up the footwalling. I used Holly for this and ran a pencil lead along one edge of each plank to bring out the joins. I made this up on a paper backing, which was subsequently removed. In the picture below it is ready for installing. I have also completed the cap rails and painted them in preparation for installation. And I have made up the risers to support the thwarts. I did these on the Byrnes saw by temporarily spot gluing the two pieces together, marking out for the rebates for the thwarts and then running them through the saw. These too are ready for installation. The thwarts are all assembled as blanks with one end finished and the other end to be cut to size on fitting. All I need now is to successfully finish off re-painting and I'll be ready to move forward again.

Nice paint job Sjors. Don't overdo it on the cake or you'll need to join the bicycle race to work it off!

More fabulous work Daniel

I actually tried to get the Testors Dullcote, but the Hobby Shop didn't have any in stock. The Tamiya was the only one they had, and man does it smell bad! You can almost feel your insides being stripped away. Might have to search further afield to find the Testors. Hope they don't decide to discontinue it like they did with the Floquil paints.

Quite possible Andy - I've probably committed a cardinal sin by mixing paint types here. The white is a Floquil flat enamel paint, the yellow ochre is a Humbrol gloss enamel, and the matte varnish is something I picked up in an art supply store as I didn't like the overpowering smell that came from the Tamiya flat clear. The art supply variant claims to be for use on both oil and acrylic paint, so I figured it should do the trick. Of course, I didn't do anything sensible like testing on some scrap first! Where would the fun be in that?

Minor setback today. I sprayed a Matte varnish over my little boat this afternoon. While the interior was fine, the band of yellow ochre on the exterior puckered up and started to lift off. I don't know whether it was a reaction with the yellow ochre paint, or whether I might have sprayed on far too much of the varnish. The only difference on the exterior was that the yellow ochre was painted over the top of the white paint, while on the interior it was straight onto the wood (the interior seems to be fine).. Don't know if that might have had something to do with it. After waiting for it to dry, I then scraped off the yellow ochre, using an Exacto knife. Interestingly, the white paint underneath seemed unaffected and the yellow ochre came off quite cleanly. I've since re-masked in preparation for another go at the yellow ochre tomorrow. No pics for now - forgot to take any of the puckered paint job. I'll re-post once I've finished fixing it.

HOLD THE BUS!!! :D Happy Birthday Sjors, May Anja treat you to even more goodies for the toy (er, I mean tool) shop. :P

Wow! Great job Sjors. REALLY well done my friend. You should be very pleased with the result of your scratch efforts here. Looking forward to watching your slow transformation to the dark side. Bwahahah!

Nicely done Mobbsie, Good pick up and fix on the transom too - I'm sure you'll be well satisfied with it once completed. Looking great. I expect you'll be on to the rigging by next week at your usual pace of building.

Hey Andy, A while back we were sharing our favourite Farside cartoons. Given the venerability of some of us, this one seems kind of appropriate:

Congratulations Brian - you won't be disappointed, I'm sure.

Looks great Augie - you're certainly sneaking up on that finish line!

Yep, gotta agree there. As well as having all the ones Mark mentioned, I just received my copy of The Restoration Warship. Got it for a very good price through Abe Books. Another nice addition to the Library / Coffee Table. Hello, my name is Grant and I am a ship modelling book-aholic............

You can live in hope Andy..................

Very nicely done Ben.

Yeah, wot 'e said!

Welcome home Patrick. Glad to hear you enjoyed your holiday. Looking forward to seeing more progress now that you're back.

Don, I think modellers at all levels will appreciate this book. There is much to be learnt, and also much to drool over and aspire to.

I don't think you need variable speed for a sander. Incidentally, I have the Proxxon Pen Sander and love it - a very useful little tool.

Simply stunning Doris - a real work of art!

Mark, It was your initial post in this thread that made me go looking for this book. And I agree with you!

This is starting to look like one of the Farside cartoons, "oops, wrong classroom!" So, let's see then: Mike likes your rear end. Wayne is encouraging you to eat Augie's oysters. And Popeye likes your contours, is sending kisses and calling you "big boy" ............ <backs very quietly towards the door, hoping no one noticed>

Nice touch Matt

Very nicely done Rusty - looks great.

Brian, With postage, the total cost was 108 Euros (I opted for the slightly more expensive postal option as it included insurance). Even with the postage, I still think this book well worth the cost.