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drobinson02199

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Everything posted by drobinson02199

  1. All ports cut now, and ribs removed from inside bulwarks, so now I'm ready to paint. Regards, David
  2. Harry: By "facimilie" for the ports, do you mean the port covers? If so, yes, there are brass ones with tabs. What happened when you didn't anneal them? Did they snap off? I've realized that this will be along build -- but that's OK. Regards, David
  3. Harry: Yes, the brass bulwarks would have been a help as I have to be really really careful. No need for template as I can take spacing and measurements from the drawing, but just need to be really careful when cutting them out. The ports don't hit any of the bulwark extensions, so no sequence issue there. And yes, those strips are rubbing strakes. So much for my nautical vocabulary. 🥴 Regards, David
  4. I've finished the second planking now and have applied 3 coats of varnish, but . . . The instructions puzzle me, because they call for finish painting of the hull, coppering, and applying decorative wood strips to the outside before cutting the ports and sanding the inside bulwarks. That seems to me to be a prescription for messing up the hull work. So I haven't done the final sand on the varnish or painting or coppering yet, and as you can see I'm cutting the ports now. Tough to get those square and lined up with each other. Then I'll remove the ribs and sand the inside bulwarks, and THEN I'll paint it and copper it. I'm only going to paint down to just below the waterline, so that the coppering (for which my plan is to use tape) will have a better surface to adhere to. One of you who has done the Cutty Sark before will likely tell me that I've made a serious sequence error, but it doesn't seem like it. Just another "look ahead" lesson. Regards, David
  5. I really appreciate the recent comments of appreciation -- but something odd must have happened on the website to create a notification, because I finished this ship last September. Nevertheless, thanks all! Regards, David
  6. First planking completed. I'll probably finish sand this once more and varnish again. The curved stern, which is made up of vertical plank slats, came out better than I thought it would looking at the rough slats before sanding. Regards, David
  7. Hof: My kit has the flat rail stanchions, and I think I'll live with those. Are the brass bulwarks specific to the Cutty Sark? Mantua has an extensive UK site (I think it's a distributor, but a lot of fittings) and the bulwarks aren't there. in the fittings section or the Cutty accessories. Thanks for the Mantua email -- I'll think about getting those. Yes, I am going to copper the hull, but after doing some research and reading about plates popping off, I am going to go with copper tape, onto which I will emboss rivets with a pounce wheel. I think it should make the coppering go a bit faster. Regards, David
  8. Snowy: I have cans of compressed air and I use that on the ships and the rigging about once a month. Regards, David
  9. Chris: I don't use display cases. I have them on track-mounted shelving in my office, which allows me to adjust shelf height as I go. When I run out of space, I'm going to put up shelves in my workroom and move my least attractive models there. Right now in my office, I have six on one wall with room for probably four more, three on another wall with room for possibly two more, and another wall where I could get 4-5. The Titanic is mounted over my flatscreen TV. Regards, David
  10. Henrik: You're right -- the deck pattern is printed on the deck plywood (see picture below). And it's not a stupid question. When I first saw the decks, I thought "oh, maybe I don't have to plank them." But then I looked ahead and yes, you do have to plank them. So I'm not sure why Mantua did this, but I suppose it's a good guide to get an even deck pattern. Regards, David
  11. A progress report on the first planking. Going very smoothly so far. Using my steamer at the stern. Pictures below. I'm making slow progress as I am gluing the planks in segments to be sure of a good fit, and I'm letting the glue dry for each segment. One thing I noticed reading ahead is that the frame ribs will all be removed above the decks. If you look at the picture of the deck, the bulkhead that will be left is very long, and I was concerned about its integrity. So I glued the planks not only to the frames, but to each other along the entire edge. I was only going to do the edge gluing for the portion above the deck, but have continued further it as it seems to produce a smoother hull. This is the first time I've done the edge gluing, and I'll now always do it, but I'm curious if it's actually a standard first planking technique and I'm just catching up. Do others of you do that as "standard"? Regards, David
  12. Hull structure completed, frames tapered and ready for first planking. Picture attached. This is my first Mantua kit. The materials quality appears to be very good -- the frames and keel went together perfectly. The instructions and plans sort of skim things at a high level, however, so I'm glad this wasn't my first (or even my third) kit. Lots of interpretation and prior experience judgment needed. Regards, David
  13. Thanks, HOF. I found them online and ordered both the general and rigging plans. Regards, David
  14. Hof: Not aware of "Campbell's Plans". What are they and how would I get them? Thanks for the heads up. I have just started -- one of my planned steps is to look for previous build logs to see what people had to work through. Regards, David
  15. Beginning a new one after a short break. Here's the "what's in the box" picture. This is my first Mantua kit, and I'll be interested to see differences from other kit makers. One thing I've noticed is that plans are printed on both sides of the paper, which may turn out to be cumbersome (vs. just posting them up on the wall). Regards, David
  16. COMPLETED! Here's a single picture showing the seats. Full completion pictures of the boat are in the Completed Kit-Built Gallery. It's been a fun build. Regards, David
  17. Micro Marine: Yeah -- I am constantly re-engineering my plan for my home office -- the only place I'm allowed to have them. This one will make 10. You mentioned the St. Lawrence -- in July we'll be in the 1000 Islands Area, and out on the water one day, so I'll look for some CCs. Regards, David
  18. I have cut and shaped and dry-fitted the seat cushions. When I paint them, I want the paint to continue under the cushions a bit so that nothing of the back side edge is visible. But that makes painting more difficult. My solution was to glue a thin stick to the back of the cushions, two to each stick, and use clamps to hold them for drying. Here they are with sealer on the balsa waiting to dry. Then I'll use the same approach when I paint them, continuing the paint a bit under the edge to the back side. The sticks will pop off and I can sand down any residue on the back. Regards, David
  19. Everything is now done except for the seat cushions. I have to be careful with those because they are made of the hated balsa wood, which has given me so many fits building this model. This went fast because once you get the finishing done, it's just assembly. BTW, it's supposed to have two horns, but one of mine was broken. The seats will be hunter green, which should look really nice against the dark wood. Regards, David
  20. Rear console, windshield and grab rails now installed. There's a bit more detail needed on the roof. It's still just dry-fitted -- I won't glue it down until I have all of the detail (hatches, pennant, horns) installed. For the smaller parts, I skipped the third epoxy coat, and it seemed to be fine, but I'm getting better at applying the first two. I would not recommend that for the hull, which is a large "mirror-like" surface and needs all 3 coats, but on the smaller parts, it doesn't seem to matter to my forgiving eye. The cabin roof is made of balsa, and it's a bear to work with. I drilled a 1/8" hole for the spotlight, and it chipped away -- had to fill with wood filler and touch up. So for the grab rail eyelets, I just pushed them through without drilling. I'm modifying my approach to the rest of the roof details to make sure I don't do any more drilling on it. Regards, David
  21. I'm now at the small parts stage, and with the epoxy finish process involving heat + mix + apply + hot box cure done 3 times plus at least one more spray coat, I decided to work ahead and prepare all of the remaining mahogany parts so I could finish them all at once. See pictures of the parts ready to begin the finishing process. Once these are finished, I can go back in the manual and start detailing the boat. Regards, David
  22. Rear cockpit now done, although lots of details left to do. The cabin roof is still not glued on, and the mahogany trim below it needs to be finished once the full handrail is done. The front seats are also just dry-fitted, but the rear is all glued in. Because it's a static model, I skipped a step to make part of the rear deck removable. The instructions are interesting -- they say to finish the seats "with your favorite material", which implies regular varnish. That would be simpler, but it leaves the seats out of step with the finish on the rest of the boat, so I did all of the rear (and the front seats too) with the epoxy/spray treatment. The epoxy/spray is not something you want to do a piece at a time, so I'm doing it in batches. My plan is just one more batch after this if construction permits that. Regards, David
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