realworkingsailor

Out of simple curiosity, is there another way to notify the MSW membership of an outage outside of Facebook? I’m sure there are more than a few members (myself included) that want nothing to do with that site. Can another method be setup? (“Sign up here to receive email notifications”?). Rather than pestering the hard working admins with countless messages asking the same question. Andy

Saw this today, thought you might be interested: https://apple.news/A9jAAwtorQLWmWpPU-oZE1Q Andy

Looks good, but ya need some dunnage! (And lashings!) That load of pipes looks like it’s ready to cut loose in the hold and smash through your fine handiwork! If you really want to go all out: https://www.walthers.com/products/accessories/super-detailing-parts/rolling-stock/freight/load There’s a lot of railway car specific stuff (bulk loads and the like), but if you dig through, there are some other interesting items to fill your holds with. (If you use their dealer locator, Walthers has many locations in the UK, there should be someone near where you live). Andy

An unfinished past build can still come in quite handy! The benefits of keeping (hiding?) the leftovers! Your progress looks great! Andy

Bored? Nonsense! It’s just as interesting to see your build as it is to see those full frame wooden model thingys that others are building elsewhere around here. Besides, for me, there’s also a strong sense of familiarity, since I’d spent nearly twenty years of my life mucking around in very similar thingys. Keep up the great work! Andy

I should have been more clear, I meant the engine kit. Andy

What are the finished dimensions of the kit you have? It looks pretty good. The big slow speed marine diesels could be upwards of three stories high, so it might work for you. You could always scan it and scale it down on your computer to the size you want. Looks like there are a few Walthers distributors in the UK: https://www.walthers.com/storelocator Andy

Haha! Easy big guy! Found this intriguing offering: http://www.dhsdiecast.com/mobile/Marine-Engine-Load/productinfo/IMC33-0182/ It’s in 1:50 scale. Otherwise, Norscot offers a bunch of CAT engine models at larger scales (1:35, 1:12) that may also work as a main engine, with a little tweaking and a repaint. Not the cheapest, I’m afraid, but maybe workable. Andy

Looking nice! Will you be detailing the engine room? I had a couple of thoughts thought to help you get started: https://www.walthers.com/emd-567-prime-mover-kit https://www.walthers.com/refinery-piping-kit-509d60 https://www.walthers.com/piping-kit The first is a 1:87 styrene kit for an engine and generator (you’d need three), and the other two are a collection of pipe works and other fittings (valves, unions etc) that you can assemble as needed. If you feel like diving down that particular rabbit hole 😁 Andy Edit: Found this too: https://www.walthers.com/tanker-truck-loading-rack-kit-7-x-3-1-2-x-3-3-16-quot-17-8-x-8-9-x-8-1cm It has a bunch of pumps and other useful bits.

Nice idea to show some cargo too! There’s a trick model railroaders use for bulk loads where they start with a block of insulation foam (the rigid pink stuff). The block is then cut to the size of the opening and sculpted to resemble the shape of a heap of cargo. After painting the appropriate colour, a layer of “cargo” (iron ore, coal, etc) is then glued onto the “heap”, and then sealed (dullcote or whatever). Saves weight and “cargo” materials. I wonder if perhaps cornmeal might work better than sand to represent grain. The colour would be perfect for grain. As long as it’s well sealed it shouldn’t cause any problems. Andy

The hatch crane looks great! When you’re finished, will you show it doing its job? Or just parked? (Seeing as I see an open hatch) Andy

I wouldn’t worry about the wavy lines. As you said, things will straighten out as you build. It looks great so far! It’s a shame the kit isn’t offered in thicker card stock or even styrene sheet, if only to help combat the wavy paranoia. Andy

I wouldn’t drink it or take a bath in it… Most (all) styrene cements are not healthy products. No matter the company, every type of plastic cement should be used in a well ventilated area, and proper precautions should be taken to avoid skin and eye contact, inhalation of the vapours or ingestion. Andy

When it was still available, Tenax 7R was a great plastic cement. I’ve since had success with Squadron Plastic Weld. It’s not quite as aggressive as Tenax, but it still works well. Unless you’re using Plastruct products, avoid their Plastic Weld glue. It’s designed for ABS styrene, and can be a little too much for other, softer types of styrene. I have some and I also find it tends to gum up (and then solidify) my fine applicator brush. Andy

One more quick question: What does your current cockpit look like when surrounded by your high polish metal exterior finish? As is, it looks pretty nice. Andy

It begs the question, do it correct as it was, and risk losing the details in the blackness, or bend the truth a little to show them off? (Fully appreciating that you want to keep things as accurate as possible) If you have a spare cockpit (or cockpit pieces) leftover from another project, maybe you could try a side by side to see? Andy

Have you considered maybe dry brushing a little silver on the wearing surfaces and panel edges? Areas like the forward edge of the seat, for instance, and anywhere the pilot would have rubbed off the black paint through the routine actions of flying. Andy

Good luck with your re-(re-re?)start, Kevin! Andy

Welcome to the world of boat ownership. Whether home built or bought… Bust Out Another Thousand 😜 Andy

I bought my kit probably only a couple of years after it was released. Right off the bat, I had to get a replacement for the false deck as the laser etched markings, hatch openings (and the centre line) were anything but centred. Everything was 1/4” or so off to starboard. Unbeknownst to us modellers, I’m sure Model Expo has revised the kit over the years to tweak any errors (as reported by builders). Andy

The solution to the problem. Make a new fo'c'sle clamp from scratch. This is by far the best way (fingers crossed) to ensure that everything will be as it should be going forward. The laser cut piece is on top and my replacement below it. Basswood being fairly easy to work with, basic tools are all that's required (hobby knife, ruler and sharp pencil). I used the laser cut part as a base template, and extended it as needed. The locations for the notches for the frames where measured off the plan (overhead view). A little refinement is still needed, and of course the notches for the beams cut out (which will be double and triple checked vs the plans!) Here's the original clamp in place (with a 3/16" scrap strip below it). The forward end isn't beveled to the bulkhead, so the error at the after end is slightly more than is glaringly apparent in the above photo. And finally the replacement in position. The forward end has been roughly bevelled, and the aft end will need a little bit of further refinement (the whole piece, to be honest), but this is something I can work with. Notice how the beams now will actually line up with etched marks for the base of the stove, which looks correct as per the plans, and even more critically, they're now spaced equidistant from the foremast. Onwards! Andy

I think this helps to illustrate my point in the above post: Taken from the elevation view, you can see the laser cut clamp matches the drawing virtually spot on. (Please forgive my fingers, but here in the plan view, you can see how quickly the curve begins to throw everything out of alignment after the first beam, with an increasing amount as you go aft, to this point: Of course, as the curve decreases, the error between beams equalizes, but compare the error between the second beam and the last (which is well over 1/16"). Methinks I needs to gets me some 1/16" basswood sheet and remake the clamps from scratch.... Andy

I did think of that, but I’m not sure how that would play out when positioning the deck details later on. Hatches, and other openings), bits as well as the foremast could be drastically affected by the resulting repositioning of the deck beams. I was just going over the plans, and it seems to be an error of projection. The laser cut clamp matches the 2D elevation view, but it doesn’t take in to account the curve of the bow. Which means the clamp would have to be cut into multiple segments and stretched proportionally to the amount of curvature. Andy

Something is not right. I am running into a couple of errors. I'm fairly sure the errors are not mine, I think. As I made mention before, I have decided to begin planking the bulwarks. Things got off to an ok start. The 1/4" spirketing strip lined up with the gunport cills as described in the text. Big sigh of relief, that part worked. Starting from the bow, I began adding the 1/8" strips building up around the gunports. Tedious, but not challenging. When I had added the first four strakes as far back as the hull sheave, I thought it would be a good idea to follow up with the instructions and do a little pre-test to ensure that the fo'c'sle clamp would line up. That's when progress went sproing.... Following the instructions, I placed the fifth 1/8" strip on and then the fo'c'sle clamp. As you can see from the above photo, it's low. one sixteenth of an inch low, to be precise. Checking a little further along in the waist, everything is going to be 1/16" too low. Then the gears started turning. Not long ago then I made the QG stools, in order to line up with the transom, I had to mount them even with the bottom of the QG opening, counter to the instructions which say they need to be 1/16" below: This is why I have doubts that the error is solely my own. I know I took great pains to ensure that the gunport framing, the positions of the wales and the run of the planking matched as closely as possible, the laser etched marks on the bulkhead. There is far too much consistency in this error for it to be the product of sloppy building. There is no way that I missed the entirety of the outer planking, wales etc, by 1/16", as well as the run of the gunports, and now the internal planking by 1/16". Consistently. And based on preliminary observations, on both sides as well. Equally. I don't think this error is insurmountable, as far as the fix. It's simply a matter of using a 3/16" strip in place of the 1/8" strip, and then hoping that there's no other trap further down the line. The second error I have run into, is the fo'c'sle clamp is too short: Or the hanse piece is too long, or the bulkhead just ahead of the hanse piece is in completely the wrong position. In the above photo you can see that using a 3/16" strip brings the clamp to the correct height, but with the forward end butted up to the beak head bulkhead (although not yet beveled to mate flush), it's short. I'm still forming a plan to tackle this issue as well. There are two approaches (I think): (a)gingerly remove the hanse piece without destroying the outer planking, sand the forward end to match the aft end with the clamp, replace and sand down the planking to match or (b) use some of the spare leftover pieces (for some reason there where hanse pieces in both basswood and ply included in my kit) as a template to mark the new aft end and then sand the aft end to the marks. (BTW, that janky looking plank end by the hull sheave will be fixed before painting. Closeup photography does no one any favours 🙄) Again, I'm not sure where the error comes from, as there also seems to be the same issue with the other side. The bulkhead is as close to square as I could get it, and the error seems to be consistent from port to starboard. Sigh. Suggestions, comments, observations always welcome. Andy

Looks really nice and tidy! Sounds like we’re having the same thoughts regarding the bulwark planking; get as much of the heavy work done before the fragile stuff goes on. Andy