BLACK VIKING

With my foray into plastic, I've done four Accurate Miniatures kits - well, I guess technically two were in-house creations (the F3Fs), while the F4B-4 and the P-6E were repops of some older Monogram kits.  I was looking up other kits with yellow wings and came across the AM Vindicator - I had read about the plane, but never knew what exactly it looked like.  When I found it, I was like, man this is quite the ugly bird, but kinda in an attractive way.  Plus, when I saw there was a yellow wings version available, I was in.  The knock on the kit is that a number of them had an ugly depression in the side of the rear half of the fuselage, which was a pain to fix because it was in that area that looks corrugated.  When I bought the kit from UMM-USA, I asked if the particular kit they were selling had that issue and the owner, John Vojtech, kindly included another set of fuselage halves that look perfect.  What a nice guy!
 
Thanks for the clarification on it being pre-way versus neutrality patrol.  I think I had actually copied those words from either the instructions or another build log, so good to have my terms correct!  I'll probably go with the kit markings, as they are different and I won't have to paint the cowl a separate color. Otherwise, I have the Yellow Wings decals set for this plane and can do it up in the typical fashion of other yellow wings (like the other planes I built) with the belly band, painted cowl and tail, etc.:
 

 

  
For the wing fold, the kit does not include any instructions at all, but includes the insert pieces necessary when you cut the wings in half.  Another gentleman actually went through with it, and posted pictures here:  http://www.hyperscale.com/2008/features/sb2u1cb_1.htm
 

 

Building the rear "floating tank"
This seemed to be the simplest of the 2 to build, so I started with this.
 
Top

sides
"bottom"

 
rear plate
Ready for sanding an cutting

 
rough shape ready
Next to do, the front floating tank.
Thanks for following

Third in the 'Marina Raskova' series. Minesweeper T114 torpedoed with heavy loss of life.
W/C 14” X 10”

So a few cool action shots from the rear section, the torpedo launchers 


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I have been reading this forum for several years and have learned a lot.  I finally decided that I would post a build log.  I have been building models all my life, including model trains, military armor, and airplanes.  This is the second sailing ship that I have built.  The first one was the Lindberg Jolly Roger that I built as the La Flore.  You can see images of it in my album.  My current build is the Black Pearl.
 
I started the Black Pearl by scratch building a replacement bulk head out of styrene and then painted and weathered it. 
 

 

 
I then painted and weathered the decks.

 

 
I wanted to have some lighting in the ship.  So I installed some flickering amber LED's.  I also programmed an Arduino to adjust the flickering rate for the captain's cabin and the lanterns using conventional LED's
 

 

 
The kit's parts that are supposed to be used for the stairs are horrible.  I decided to replace them with 3D printed parts that I designed. 
 

 

 
I then painted and weathered the rest of the ship.
 
 

 
Here are a few current photos.
 

 

 

 

 

Got a little more done over the last 24hrs. Frames 7A/B, 8A/B and 9A/B are now almost built, minus bevelling. I need to fit chocks to 8A at the moment and do some refinement on all frames.
 
Seems like a silly question, but would I actually glue the A/B frames together? It wouldn't make much sense (to me) to add another layer of potential screw-up when all frames are going to be fastened side by side in the keel....or should I glue? Maybe gluing will just create a stronger overall assembly. I'm aware that potential timber thickness tolerances could possibly cause issues if I do glue them together before fitting to keel.
 


 
Whilst waiting for glue to dry under clamps etc, I took the opportunity to remove and clean up the parts for the next three double frames 9A/B, 10A/B, and 11A/B.
 
I also removed the parts for the last three double frames 12A/B, 13A/B, and 14A/B, but these aren't yet cleaned up and the joints prepped for assembly (squaring up internal CNC curves).
 

Oh by the way, I checked my piggy bank and I am a tad bit short of the $9 million dollar+ sticker price for this beauty. I'll be thinking about starting a "go-fund-me" page for the shortfall. 🤑

Hello,
it is always a great pleasure when you see that others show an interest in what you do.
Many thanks for that.
The tye blocks for the main mast top have also been completed in the meantime.
I hope that the pictures speak for themselves.
 


 

 

 

 

Hi again to all –
 
As you can tell, I really like POW models.  I first ran into one at an antiques show that my mother dragged me to when I was about 10.  I found that it was pretty interesting looking at old artworks and furniture.  But a large, intricate, bright white model of a sailing warship captivated me.  When I was told that it was made of bones and rigged with human hair, I begged my mother to buy it.  I have no idea why she decided not to  spend $7,000 (about the cost of a good car back then) on such a simple request.  In the 60 years since then I have learned many things about them, such as that they were not actually rigged with hair, and that I still can’t afford one.
 
I do get a bit of satisfaction in restoring them for others.  I have been fortunate enough to be given this pleasant task several times.  Each is its own unique fine art object, and each has its unique set of restoration puzzles to be solved. 
 
For this one I spent that past two days trying to solve the hull puzzles.    The easiest one to access was the small triangle at the gripe where the wide stem plank had lost its point.  It had been repaired by replacing it with a piece that was much too white for the surrounding bone planking.
 

 
I removed the offending triangle with a dental pick.  It turned out not to be ivory, as I expected, but was actually a hard plastic.   Not very original.  The old glue in the corners was removed with the pick and the tip of a hobby knife.  
 

 
To fill the hole I used the ivory top of a piano key.  I have a small stash of ivory, most of it whale tooth ivory, from when I was playing around with scrimshaw.   It was also too white, but unlike the plastic I could change it.  Many years ago I came across an article that recommended using used coffee grounds as an ‘aging’ agent for ivory.   Fresh grounds have too much acid and volatile chemicals to use for this.  I have used the method before with good results.  Here is the key with its left end having been buried in damp grounds overnight.  
 

 
After drying out, a piece of the stained side was cut and fitted.  It was installed with PVA since it is mounted on the wood of the stem.
 

 
I next turned to the figurehead.  It had obviously suffered some serious damage in the past.  Although the figurehead itself was in pretty good shape, the area behind it was missing all of the hull planking.  It had been crudely filled in with a putty of some kind that was tinted grey or had aged that color.  As I said in an earlier post, I also did not like where the head was fitted.  My understanding is that the back of the bust’s head should be at the level of the topmost rail, which is why it is called the ‘hair rail’.  This bust was mounted at least ¼” too low.
 

 
Using rotary tool I carefully ground away the putty.  I used a flat bottomed bit to help insure that I would not unintentionally dig too deep into the original substance of the model.  With the putty mostly removed I found that the entire tip of the stem was a replacement, being a separate piece of wood carved to fit.  Removal of the putty also revealed a hole in the shoulder of the bust, probably indicating where a separate arm once fit.   It was while taking this photo that I realized that there was a gap between the bust and the scroll which the bobstay runs against.
 

 
On the port side the putty was similarly removed.  It revealed a clearly broken end to the upper planking.  It must have been quite an impact to do that much damage.  But the bobstay appears to be original and shows no break or repair.  How that could be possible I don’t know.  The loose lines that are in the photo are some replacements that ran to the incorrect and broken martingale.  They were soon removed to keep them from getting in the way.
 

 
I thought about moving the bust up to its proper place and then carving a middle piece, perhaps a dress, out of ivory.  But the bust would not come loose with gentle leverage, so I left it in place.  All I could do was to fill in the open spaces with new planking.  To take the shapes needed I laid on some translucent tape and drew the outlines.
 

 
The tape was laid on the aged ivory and pieces cut out.  I drilled holes for metal pins that would help secure the pieces to the hull.  These are for the port side
 

 
Here they are test fit, ready for final shaping.
 

 
And here they have been glued and pinned in place.  I also carved a rounded wedge of ivory to fit in the gap below the bust.  This is the finished port side
 

 
And the starboard side.
 

 
I’m considering scratching some ‘grain’ into the ivory to make it look a bit more like bone, but that may be a bit on the obsessive side.  It’s still an option.
 
Stay safe
 
Dan

Soviet Catalina sighting a lifeboat from 'Marina Raskova' and two minesweepers, sunk in the Kara Sea with heavy losses. w/c 16” X 11”

I added lines/coils/ropes to the belaying pins, using the pin method. First the rope a few turns around the pins, under 90 degrees angle, and then made some turn-arounds to tye the rope together. I used a needle underneath to have some space under the ropes to pull the ropes underneath.
It makes the appearance of the belaying pins much better, but it is also a pity that this hides the 'real' belaying knots..
Also a picture of the deck, with the coiled ropes, from the sheet lines of the lower sails, on deck.
 

 

 

 

Here is a brief recap of some decisions made along the way. One of the problems I had on the first kit was that the frames were not square to the keel. This was because I used some 99 cent hardware store brackets for alignment.
 
For this round I decided to purchase a Hobbyzone Small Building Slip. It gets decent reviews and cost $34 in the USA plus shipping. It’s better than anything I could cobble up. With a minor modification I was able to fashion a poor man’s “jack aubrey style” alignment jig.
 

On to the framing. Interestingly the strake plywood in this kit was quite different from the first kit, lighter colored and more rigid, harder to bend in the narrow direction. In fact, I snapped the garboard strake when gluing it, something that never was close to occurring on the first kit. Breaking the strake was a disappointment, but I repaired it so even I have trouble finding the spot, so it was actually a good learning experience.
 
But as I continued framing I still could not get the strakes to lay flat on the frames, a déjà vu experience. Using scrap pieces, I tried the Amati instruction’s suggestions of soaking in 50/50 glue solution and scoring the strakes so they bent, but had poor results from that.
 
I learned that applying heat with a travel iron seemed to work. However, I had no good way to clamp the hot wood, and it would unbend when cool.
 
Then I thought, what if I glued the overlapping part of the strakes first? The glue could act as the clamp so I could heat and bend the remainder of the strake. I tried this and it worked really well for strakes 6,7 and 8.
 
You can see in these photos where I heated the strake and it conforms to the ribs. I’d make my way down the strake two ribs at a time. It was actually fairly easy and those new Woodcraft clamps helped a lot.
 

 

 
I had to get the strake hot enough to bend but not so hot that the glue melted. This was learned from experimentation on scrap.

A long time ago I bought a resin model of an M29 Weasel at an IPMS exhibition.
The idea was to use this model as an example and to make a series of Weasels.
The construction stopped for reasons I no longer remember. The unfinished models went in a box in the closet and the magazines that served as information were later also lost (sold).
 
Recently, the Weasels unexpectedly reappeared while searching for parts for the Centurion. 

And after searching the internet I found enough info to restart this build.
http://www.lzmodels.com/135-American-M29-weasel.html
https://lzmodels.wbs.cz/35501/m29_instructions.pdf
 
http://www.lzmodels.com/135-American-M29C-Weasel.html
https://lzmodels.wbs.cz/35503/m29c_instructions.pdf
 
This build will be slow, making a series of models is very time consuming. So, this build will only be continued if other models require the glue or paint to dry.
But with time, patience and plastic this build will be finished. And now I have a good reason to finish this project, MSW members are watching 🧐
 
General info of the Weasel family
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M29_Weasel
 
Current state of the models and my new source of info. 

The scratch chassis were then made of plastic sheet. 
For the time being, there is even no idea how the tracks will be made.
 
To be continued
 
 
 
 
 
 

The finished model - After carefully inserting the rear engine in the body and locking the numerous screws, we can finally admire the model, fully restored: 
 

 

 

 
The view below shows the rear air brake designed by McLaren to slow down the "rocket" from 240 MPH to a more civilized speed. The on-board computer is in charge of the air brake and will not deploy it under 40 MPH. However, certain owners knowing that it was lined up with pure gold foil, intended to show their wealth, even when stopped at a red light. By tweaking the Computer program, you could actually deploy the brake even while standing still and simply by pushing the brake pedal..... 
 

 

 

 
Showing the Gold....
 

 
The most common view of the McLaren F1 on the road, at least for a second or two....
 

 
Above is the electrical and luggage compartment. McLaren was offering (or proposing) a set of luggage that would fit both compartments and allow a couple of people to go on a weekend trip. You could even place a golf bag, by using one of the passenger seat.
 

 
The door articulation and mechanism is directly inspired of the Toyota Sera (not sold in Western countries): 
 

 

 
Sliding in the middle seat requires some agility and a good back.
 

 

 
Notice the two mirrors, since the rear middle section of the car is used for the air intake.
 

 
I hope you enjoyed the step by step restoration of the precious and rare model. It will now it with my small 1/12 collection of motorcycles.
 
Yves
 

Hello friends. I finished putting deck boards down on the quarter deck. I'll give it a good sanding after it's dried overnight. 

The decking is in place and I have filthied it up a treat. I think it looks like a working boat now. Little to do now but rig it.
 

 

 

 
Cheerio
Dick

I didn't have enough time to post this last update on the PBJ 1J.   assembly was down to the last few pieces.....the waste gunner's positions were added to the model.  I probably didn't have to worry about cement clouding,  since I painted the frames for the glass,  but I used the window maker cement anyway.

the things we do to assemble our models........straddling an empty soda box.  adding the props was no different.  supported by the wings....it was nose up,  tail down.

the wing lights,  the pilot tube{located on the starboard wing},  and the nose gear door were added.......I almost forgot to finish painting the nose door.
   the base for the profile series B 25 was the second one I made.......this one was the first.   as mentioned,  I wanted to do them a little different,  going with a cement looking tarmac,  rather than asphalt.  I also added a bit of terrain,  to give it an edge line.  not having grass,  I went with some beach sand, small bits of underbrush,  and a rock.  the step stool will also be on the base......depending how the plane is positioned on it.  the paint was the same.....
...flat tan,  with dry brush battle ship gray and flat black,  done with a small rag.

there are a couple wonky photos here,  but they looked good enough to use.  I went with macro and flash......later to add more lighting after I saw what was going on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

hard to believe that the nose used to be clear glass parts...very happy with how it came out.   huge thanks to Lou for taking the time to send me those links........I'd still be waiting for that silly part to resurface    thanks to you all for following along......your input and words of encouragement are always greatly appreciated!  
 
 

Dear all, assemblying of the main parts continues. These are the horizontal stabilizer surfaces where the riveting details are a bit heavy handed, recalling Airfix design from an older era. I sanded down these exagerated details.
 

 
The upper half wing panes are glued omitting any glue along the joint where the wing folds. This is made possible by the the nice way Airfix engineered the wing parts.
 

 
In fact, the wing panes can be glued to an internal support part:
 

 
As it can be seen, the surface details are nice, but a bit overdone. I will try to tone them down when I will paint the model. For now, I restored and rescribed  some of the details that were obliterated during the sanding and finishing of the joints:
 

 
Stabilizers needed filling of gaps with sprue wires and some Mr. Surfacer 500:
 

 
I started also with the cowling and the engine. The mighty 2500 hp Bristol Centaurus did not get any additional detailing because very little will be seen from the gap left by the carefully faired cowling and the large spinner.
 

 
It just got painted with Vellejo matt aluminium followed by Tamiya panel liner to pick up the details of the finned cylinders. Once inside its fairing, not much will be seen:
 

 
The main airframe is now completed showing the compact shape of the plane. The fuselage is almost etirely behind the envelope of the engine with the exception of the cockpit bubble which sits on top of a small 'hump'. The quasi-elliptical wing planform can also be noted now. The wing design was derived from the previous Hawker Tempest and was kept to make the plane more appealing to the RAF evaluators, who allegedly 'would not have bought anything that did not have an elliptical planform'.
 

 
Finally, I have addressed the fairing of the leading edge with its various openings, added the nav lights and thinned as much as possible the trailing edge which otherwise looks quite too thick (although, I see now from the picture that I still need to do some finishing on it).
 

 

 
Next steps will be the preparation for priming and painting.
Best regards,
Dan.
 
 
 

Hi all,
going slowly on with my build. The cockpit posed with the left fuselage:
 

 
As said, unfortunately little will be seen from the cockpit opening:
 

 

 
I also added few details in the wheel bay which otherwise quite empty. The pictures of the real plane show a lot of components and an intricacy of pipelines. Clearly, it was not my intention to realistically replicate it, I just wanted to make the bay look busier and I used the tubing to hide some extractor marks that were not sanded satisfactorily:
 

 
Once inside the wing, what remains visible seems OK to me:
 

 
Finally, the wheel bay was primed and painted:
 

 
That's all for now, until next time,
Dan.

the plane is fully assembled now.......all it needs are decals.

of course,  I can't put 'er on a shelf looking like this.......now Can I?  so,  I made a base for it.  one I made earlier looked good......different from the asphalt black ones I usually make.   my attempt to make a concrete tarmac.......started of using too thin sheet wood and splitting as I scribed lines on it

....did some patch work there.....

it was then painted a tan color,  and then dry brushed with flat med gray......and then a flat black,  using a small piece of rag.

once dry,  the plane was cemented on it.

 

 

 

finished for now,  but not forgotten   

Fair but if work required on the bridge section, I still need to work the arials a bit. 

Thanks for the compliments! You are far too generous!
I completed the structure of the formwork and the castle:
 

 

 

 

 

Starting on the bridge, adding the decals