Cort

Got another prop today. This is the Crafstman toolbox Quint was using when making the repairs to the shaft.

3 hours ago, KeithAug said:

Cort - I did wonder if you planned to live in it. Are you going to paint a wrap around mural for viewing through the windows? I am not sure about the lap top. I don't remember seeing one in the film

Haha! I’m actually going to be hanging dark grey material (sheets or curtains) on the outside of all of the windows to represent kind of the same color/feel when Quint gave his Indianapolis speech. Just kind of like an evening night. Not sure if it will turn out like I imagine it, but worth a shot!

1 hour ago, KeithAug said:

Fascinating. What are your plans for the completed reproduction once finished?

Good question Keith! It’s actually going to become my home office once I get it completed. It’s cozy and inspiring, so should be a nice creative space to work in on the days I work from home. 
 

It’ll be a bit before I get there though. Besides the obvious missing pieces, there are some choices I made with stain and other trim that I am not 100% thrilled about, so I may end up re-doing some parts of the bulkheads and other areas until I feel they’re good enough for me. I also need to run some power in there for my laptop, etc. 

The porthole!

This turned out to be a 10” Wilcox-Crittenden. 
 

These pics also show the final prop I need but haven’t been to find as of yet! The oil lamp. I’m guessing this is a signal lamp of some kind…maybe used when it was real foggy out? Can’t imagine why else they would need this aboard in the 1970’s. 
 

Two more props:

The Johnson and Johnson Family first aid kit. This wasn’t too bad to find. But I did have to wait until the right one popped up. 
However, the last mystery item just next to the first aid kit was quite a challenge to figure out. I had to think to myself: what other instrument could this be that would be needed onboard and that wasn’t already installed? So I started looking at pictures of the outside of Orca. 
 

I started eyeing the mast equipment and realized, hey, there is a wind vane up there! So I started looking for wind speed gauges…low and behold!

4 hours ago, FlyingFish said:

Quite extrordinary! Well done on your research Cort, and your tenacity in finding all the right props. 

Thank you Sir! As I’ve said before, your model of the Orca is truly exceptional. Thank you for commenting!

This is about where I am at currently with the build. I have to get the port side windows installed as well as the big back window. Then lastly I’ll build the front windshields. 

Table and cushions in. Table is a little big. I may have to cut it down and try again. 

Aft bulkhead coming together. 

The books!

I was able to find all but two or three of the books that were on the port dash. Throughout the movie, there are different books added/removed depending on the scene, so I based mine off of the best detailed scene when the barrel breaks the port windshield. 
 

The almanac I have is the wrong volume, but correct year. Still looking for the right one. I had to make/fake the water way guide and the cape cod coast pilot. All the rest of the books are the real thing. 
 

The tool box I found is a close match, but not perfect. I won’t bother trying to find anything closer though…for some reason these things go for a lot of money and are expensive to ship….

The water jug is a Hot’n Cooler made by general foam plastics corporation. Mine is slightly different as you can see it has ribs on the bottom. Good enough for now!

The little piece of paper on the forward bulkhead is a Naval Pennant chart. 

The little clock on the forward bulkhead is a tide clock/timer that is still made to today. Although they changed the unit slightly over the years. I had to buy it new as I couldn’t find a vintage version. Still keeping my eyes out for one though!

11 minutes ago, KeithAug said:

Amazing, and fabulous attention to detail. A great resource for future “miniature modellers but I can hear the groans of those who have completed models and are now reevaluating their models.

Thank you Keith! Yes, I definitely thought of the pains I might be causing others who have already built their Orcas…. Apologies to those folks! None of these details could’ve been figured out before the High-def version was released though, so everyone I’m sure did their best to get it right with only the old blurry versions available to see/scrutinize. 

The port side coming together. 

The Depth finder was a Lowrance unit. 

Now for the booze!

The Canadian Club was pretty easy to spot. But the other bottle was literally the hardest thing to find out of all the props! It took me months and months to figure it out since the label is scratched off in the movie. But I found it! 
 

The other bottle was cheap, bottom shelf vodka made by S.S. Pierce. This was a local liquor in New England. I can’t find a good used bottle of this so I made my own and had a little fun with the label. 

The stove is a Bernz-o-matic unit. The coffee pot is a Sears brand. The enamel pot I don’t think has a brand name that I could find. The coffee mugs I’m pretty sure are Buffalo China or similar. And it turns out that Campbells soup really hasn’t changed the label on the cream of mushroom soup in at least 50 years. 

Now for the Radio:

This was a Motorola and the model was either the Modor or the Metrum. Very close in appearance. I was able to find the Modor. 

The steering wheel is a 20” Perko. Both flybridge and lower helm were the same except flybridge was painted black and had brass handles instead of wood. 

And of course, the kidde extinguisher 

The clock and barometer were Swift models I believe manufactured by Schatz. 
 

Now that I’ve started showing some of the props, I guess it’s time to discuss them!

The gauges are all Stewart-Warner as in the movie. I found the exact same 3k RPM tachometer. The rest speak for themselves and are most likely what was installed based on my experience with boats. One of the temp gauges I installed is just a filler until I figure out what the 5th small gauge might have been….

After the glass was installed. And a comparison photo from a movie still and my helm. I was missing one switch in this photo, but have since installed it. 

Starboard side coming together. 
 

I made the “discharge of oil prohibited” sign myself. I remade the helm to the correct dimensions. 
 

I’m not very happy with how the cabinet came out and I may re-do the doors in the future. I wish I would have chosen less grainy planks as well. 

After the sole was completed, I started on the starboard bulkhead. As with the sole, I couldn’t find available tongue and groove planks with the dimensions and profile I needed. So I had to route out every groove by hand. 
 

This photo shows the incorrect helm. It is the first component I built and based on Orca 2 dimensions, which I didn’t realize were wrong at first until I studied more.