ndeconte

So I wasn't happy with the first floor I did. Used sheet balsa that was painted with some colored pencil lines.....over time the sheets "peaked" at the joints. So I pulled the interior pieces I had done and the back wall of the cabin and pulled it all out.

I cut correct width planks out of 1/8" balsa sheet and used white cardstock between each plank to mimic the flooring. Got it all glued down and one of the interior walls mocked up.

And thanks for all the kind words!

Hello all,

It's been a long while BUT I'm finally getting back to this project!?

Updates coming soon!

Amazing work as always from you Dan!

Here's a couple photos of the boat from Christmas........

Hey all!

After a looonnnngggg absence, I'm back! Life got hectic, busy and out of hand, but we've got things somewhat back to the norm.

Never got the boat done for Christmas, made little advancement before and showed it to my step-son who this is for....he's lovin it!!

Haven't really touched it since December, just dustin her off and getting back into it, want it done this year! 

Will post some new photos this weekend sometime........Have to go back though and fix all the broken image links in the post.....I hate it when this happens!

Insane detail, my hat off to you!

some more updates, interior and the round window in the cabin. Sorry for not really going into too much detail how the processes are done, time is limited as of late since I'm desperately trying to get this done for Christmas!

Any questions tho, let me know.

 Started with getting the bench situated and framed up:

This one shows the round window in place. still needs final detailing on it:

then attached the front and top boards to that. Once this was done, I started on the cabin front section:

LOTS more work to do!

A few more pieces done:

Mast bottom flange:

Small porthole window to mold and cast:

And the bell for the mast. Bell made out of rigid foam as the other items above, arm made from styrene:

More progress om the mast......

Made the boom from a piece of Poplar wood I had laying around.

Added the pivot point to the end and made up the bands from aluminum sheet and some styrene rod I had.

Slowly but surly it's getting there, hoping I have it done for Christmas!

some additional work done to the mast......

Lamp bracket creating from sheet styrene;

steel bracket to attach blocking for swing arm. Made from square styrene tubing with the support bracket created from sheet styrene.:

And the mast top which holds a flag/banner of some sort.  Also, with the reference I've dug up on this, it seems that the four arms off of this have fish tails attached to them?! Bottom bracket made from sheet aluminum which I bent and hammered to fit top of mast..

And here are some images from the DVD I used for reference:

Nice work Danny!

Made some progress on the mast details.........

Wooden cross bracing in place and foot pegs made from brass wire and 0-80 nuts, bolts & washers.

First metal bracket assembled. made from aluminum sheet and 00-90 nuts and bolts.

It's a rigid foam..... Visualize a slab of bondo, almost the same density

So it's been a while since I posted, life has been busy for us here and it always seems that there's some new issue round the corner that needs to be attended to.  I've had limited time recently to put into the boat, but I'm determined to get it done for Christmas!

I've added the lettering  and the round cover plate to the back of the boat:

Here's a photo of the original lettering that was auctioned off from the boat, I used this to go by for the lettering.

Also added the re-enforcing plates, threaded rods and nuts to the locations on the hull. The rivet/bolt heads that are on the plates themselves are actually drops of 2 part epoxy, only way I thought of replicating them in this scale since nothing I found was small enough.

And I cut a master barrel out of a block of Ren-shape on the lathe, still have some re-working here and there and final sanding to do. Will be adding the 2 covers to the top then I'll make a mold off it and cast them in back urethane. Once this is done, I'll paint the appropriate yellow color and distress to match the origninals.

Coming along nicely Frank! I use a lot of acrylic paints also, the squeeze bottle type you can pick up at your local craft stores. I tend to build large items and it's economical to use them.

Do you usually seal your baked clay with some sort of solvent based primer or clearcoat? May be beneficial to do, may stop the problem. 

LOL Jim, right!? 

I'm trying my best but the pressure is truely on! 

Haven't had much time to put into her this week...... Got the decorative bracing done on the inner frame of the upper helm and the dash, instrument panel and it's support done.

And here's something that I'm working into the display base, as I said earlier, the customer I'm building this for is a huge Jaws fan and he has no idea I'm doing this........ This is one of the last remaining sections of the fibreglass hull of the original Orca 2, the stunt/sinking boat! You can still see the red & black paint on the section, and after seeing this piece and viewing the movie again, I've had (and I'm sure others have also) a big misconception from the beginning on this boat, the lower hull was actually a dark grey, not black.

The one photo of me and the woman holding the piece, she's actually the wife of the owner who purchased it directly from Universal Studios.

Nice looking kit Rich, have fun with it!

Looking for recommendations on sealing balsa/basswood before paint.

My first choice would be airplane dope, others?

John,

Thanks for noticing! I hate having unanswered questions when it comes to a project like this, so good reference is critical.

This is for a client who is a die hard Jaws fan, so it has to be as accurate as possible.

Agreed Bob! There were quite a few visual repairs that were done while shooting the movie (Hell took almost a year to shoot!?) so those have to be taken into consideration also.

Did work on the Upper Helm this week.......

Got the walls glued into position and got the majority of the inner framing done. Still need to do some clean up on these and some angled relief cuts on the framing edges, Some bracing under the dash still needs to be built and there's a secondary dash that holds the instruments and wheel that I still need to construct.

Here's some screen captures from the film.......

Decided I'm going to be lighting this model, so I need to start planning that out. I'm hoping to have all the running lights, flood lights, interior lights and instruments to light.

One piece of reference material that I picked up this weekend was a copy of the paperback book, "Jaws, Memories from Martha's Vineyard". Has some GREAT photos of both boats and some of the props in it. Kinda pricey at $49 dollars, but I love the behind the scenes books on movies.

Thanks Augie!

Michael, John, thanks for the kind words!

I'm happy with the project so far, I'm usually a figure model builder, so this is all new to me.

Trying to make it as accurate as possible to the actual boat...... Have noticed slight differences in the hero and stunt boats which can cause confusion since there's a few close up shots just on the stunt boat......just picking and choosing the best I can.

Michael,

VERY impressive workmanship, my hat of to you!