drobinson02199

Finishing off the main cabin interior. First picture shows the curtains up, as well as the magazines and maps. Closeups of those follow -- they are real mag covers and real maps, all reduced to miniature in the kit. A build tip: the instructions call for the curtain cloth to be sized with diluted PVA glue to give them some body, but that didn't do the trick -- after folding they were too floppy. So after folding and tying, I used hair spray to stiffen them. The bow picture shows the moldings covering the join points. The final picture shows the molding reversed to act as a flashing where the sides meet the hull deck. A build point: looking ahead in the instructions, the hull deck is made up of a 1mm frame and 1mm planks, so when installing that flange, I needed to make sure I had 2mm underneath it all the way around. Regards, David

Don: The planking looks terrific. As to your deck, it's way above the average standard on my builds, and looks great to me. I know what you mean about finishing planking. Seems like it will never end -- until it finally does! Regards, David

Chris: The curved couches are made of some sort of "leatherette" material. The square ones flanking the table are painted wood. Regarding more interior detail -- stay tuned. There is another wave of interior detail coming, but I need to do some other steps first. Regards, David

Finished the sides and mounted them on the boat. The first picture shows that with the superstructure off the hull. Note that there are moldings at all the deck and side joins that I haven't installed yet. There's a detail picture of the vents. Nice touch is the side curtains. The third picture shows how they are installed on the sides from the rear, and then there's a closeup of how they look from the front. Finally, there's a picture of the superstructure mounted on the hull, with the flying bridge mounted on top. The flying bridge will get a significant amount of finishing, but I'm not quite at that step yet. Regards, David

Another note. I mentioned above that the instructions incorrectly called for part 77 to be used as a bulkhead support, and wondered where it would be used. Turns out that part 77 (two of them) are the arms of the captain's chair. Regards, David

I ran into a problem after the last step. In the first picture below, you can see the beam that was added to the transom. Picture 2 shows that it sticks up above the flying bridge support bracket in front. That left the flying bridge tilted up and not fitting flat. The small instruments precluded sanding that beam down. So the solution was to cut a slot in the base of the flying bridge. You can't see those little instruments when the bridge is mounted anyway, so having them go partway up into the slot is no big deal. Now the flying bridge sits flat again. Regards, David

Incredible attention to detail. More than I can muster! Regards, David

I have now finished the main cabin furniture and cabinetry. In the pics below, the superstructure is dry fitted into the hull, but the sides aren't on yet. Several views -- almost all of what you see is mahogany. I particularly like the instrument panel and controls. More when I get the sides on (which are also mahogany on the inside). Regards, David

Don: I've just caught up to this log, and your beech planking looks wonderful. I love the way you did alternating boards and lined up the joins. I'm going to sign on to see the rest. Regards, David Robinson (the "other" one)

Forgot to mention in my previous post: there's an error in the manual. In the second picture above, where you see the curved extension come to rest on one of two stub posts: the manual calls for those to be part 77, but that clearly doesn't fit, and in later pictures it morphs into the part you see here. Took some looking ahead to suss it out. I'm not sure part 77 is ever used, although it's marked as a "sofa part". We'll see. Regards, David

Here's the full superstructure with the flying bridge added and some parts painted. Note that the sides are back off. The flying bridge is made to be removable so that you can see into the interior of the main cabin. The panels you see in the second picture are mahogany, which gives an idea of the finish level of the interior. The rest of the interior is made up by a lot of small pieces of cabinetry (all in mahogany) and some cushioned seats. Interior deck is "carpeted" (decorated heavy paper). So I have to build a lot of "doll house" furniture now. I'm enjoying this one. It's very different from others I have built. Regards, David

Chris: The build continues to look terrific. Just for fun I did a Google search for 1:50 horses and came up with this. Second item on the page. http://www.scalefarm.com/index.aspx?page=search&did=SCALE-1-50-SIKU&order=&search=horse Regards, David

What you see is the result of a dry fit (called for in the manual) to ensure that the sides fit properly and are sanded flush with the stern. But it gives a good sense of what the boat will look like. The interior of this boat has a very high level of finish -- note the mahogany interior sides, which should look really nice when varnished. I also popped it onto the hull to get a sense of how it all fits together. There is another structure that fits on top of the center structure you see. By the way, the hull will eventually be wood-planked before it's painted. Regards, David

Zappto: Really, really beautiful -- the model, but also the workmanship. You mentioned that this is an old kit. I think it's now discontinued (Mamoli is out of business -- right?). Where did you get it? Regards, David

Chris: She looks fantastic. Your attention to detail is marvelous. I love the figures on it. Regards, David

The basic frame of the superstructure is done. It fits into the fiberglass hull, but isn't glued in. It remains removable for R/C access. Since I'm not going to do R/C, when the boat is done I'll probably glue it down. But until completion, it will stay removable. The fit of these parts is really marvelous. So far, a really nice kit from Amati. Regards, David

Here's the first part of the superstructure. It fits into the molded hull, and I've looked at the manual and it's built up and finished off the hull. Also made to be removable for R/C purposes. A few build points: Frames 6 and 7 are reversed in the drawings of the laser cut sheets, but it's easy to figure out because of the way they fit. The frames you see are MDF, and Amati put a note with the manual saying that they have substituted MDF for plywood for 5mm laser cut pieces, because it doesn't chip and works better. Having worked with both ply and MDF I tend to agree, but I have seen some debates about MDF on the forums here. The other thing is that the drawings showing what part is on what laser cut board require some interpretation. For example, what looks like one board with three square areas of laser cut is really two separate boards, and on the one with two areas one of them is inverted -- but it's pretty easy to figure out. More to come. Regards, David

Wow Zappto, that is a gorgeous model and incredibly fine workmanship. Regards, David

Before getting to the model itself, I revamped my model building space. The rolling chair was gouging a hole in the concrete floor, and all of my supplies were in boxes and bags scattered on the floor around my work table. So I found some industrial plastic tiles on the internet (they just interlock and lay down -- no adhesion so easy to remove). The nice thing about them is that I can replace individual tiles if the chair eventually chews some of these up, or they get too groady. Then steel shelving to hold all the "stuff". See attached picture. Now I'm ready for this model. This is the Amati Grand Banks, and I'm not sure if there has been a build log done on this one before. See picture of the box cover. I picked this one to create some variety from the historical ships, some relief from rigging after the Revenge, and finally because it's Amati. I'm getting the sense that their kits stand a head above others, at least the manufacturers I have tried (AL, Bluejacket, Constructo, Dumas). There's a "what's in the box" picture, and the usual laser cut sheets, wood, and boxed parts are there. But this one has a pre-formed fiberglass hull, because it can be built for R/C operation. I'm not going to do that. The hull is REALLY thick and solid (compared to the Dumas Mt. Washington, which was a thinner plastic and also R/C adaptable). Finally, there is a very well-illustrated manual. See pic. Plus a number of charts to go up on the wall. So I'm looking forward to this one, and because it's not the usual double-plank construction, I'm expecting some new twists. Regards, David

Thanks, Chris. I have some floating shelves that I use for models this size, and I'll put a new one up in my office for this model. It will be on the same wall as three others I have built that are about this size. Regards, David

FINISHED!! My build of King of the Mississippi is now complete. Pictures attached. Need to create a shelf for this in my office, and do a cleanup on the workroom. Might start the next one (Amati Grand Banks) before I go away on the 6th for a week in the Carib. Regards, David

Another adaptation: one issue with this kit is the lack of any spares, and in some cases (eyebolts), some serious parts shortages. And in many cases, you get just enough wood, and you have to be careful to use it up efficiently. When it came time to make the forward mast, I found that I had just enough of the right diameter wood -- but in two pieces! Earlier cuts of that diameter had left me with two shorter pieces in place of one just barely long enough. My choices were to either use a smaller diameter, or do what I ended up doing -- which is to create a two-part mast. Looks kind of interesting. The mast in the picture isn't varnished yet. Regards, David

Scott: She is gorgeous! I'm in awe of your craftsmanship, and the model is spectacular. Regards, David

Antony: If you look at the third picture above your post, you'll see a semicircular guard on the inside of the third deck, which I assume was to keep passengers from getting close to the pipe. That replaces the handrail at that point. However, down on the second deck there IS a handrail and no internal guard, even though there would have been passengers and crew there who could get too close to the pipe. I built it the way the model pictures and drawings show, but I suspect it's historically inaccurate on the second deck. Regards, David

Now all the railings are up, so I guess I really am getting close to the end. What remains is the masts, some light rigging, and the deck ornamentation. I particularly like the look of the bow and stern curved railings. Regards, David