M.R.Field

Finished deck planking today, then, after lunch, had a grand sanding session with the triangular orbital. That takes a surprising amount off, but you must be careful. Taped up all holes to stop dust ingress to the hull insides. Wiped with cellulose thinners, 2 coats of cellulose sanding sealer, sanded thoroughly and then heavily waxed with 3M's wax. Good stuff that is used on all narrowboat paintwork (which is why I still have some). Well pleased with this. Timber heads and bulwarks next. Martin

Satin varnish? Why? A car like an Aston, especially, would have been beautifully finished in gloss and contrary to some views that WOULD be reflected (pun intended) in a scale model of that size. All our slot cars are finished in a gloss clear and look right accordingly. Martin

Thanks, Colin. Better pics. tomorrow, I hope, after the big sanding session. Martin

Here's today's progress. I have just three planks per side left to lay, so tomorrow should see it done, then the BIG sanding session. Martin

Hi, my son has bought a resin machine and would like to know if there are any parts people would like him to make on it. He would need files as he can't yet do CAD. Message me and I will pass on requests. Resin SL is where a UV light hardens a layer of resin and then the part shifts up one microscopic layer and it happens again. The result is a very smooth lineless, unstepped finish. Costs are quite low as materials aren't especially expensive. Martin

Nope, I tell a lie....68, dammit! Martin Attached...wire wheels from Mitoos and BRM/Racer. The latter are absolutely gorgeous where you need dished wires (250 GTO, TR4 SLR, etc.) and the Mitoos are fine for all the rest (Astons, ACs, Healeys, etc.)

Hell, CDW, I used to sell those kits in the model shop where I worked on Saturdays when I was 14. I turn 67 this year! Martin

Nick, if you want to improve the look of the wheels, there are turned aluminium wheels you can buy into which you can fit much better resin inserts for the wires, or go the whole hog and buy photo-etched wire wheels, which do look good. You can get all that stuff and perhaps more suitable tyres from RS Slotracing. http://www.rsslotracing.com/ Check out Mitoos wires there. I use Molotow chrome pens straight onto the surface. I don't bother with a black undercoat. I also use Sellotape aluminium self adhesive foil and burnish it down onto things like grilles and bumpers. It goes onto painted surfaces better than bare ones. As does Bare Metal Foil, which I find a little fragile, having used both. Martin

When I used veneer (Swiss pear) to represent the 7 planks a side of the Riva Aquarama Special I scratchbuilt I had to shape them to a surprising degree. I did that by using Weetabix packets, which were exactly the same thickness as the pear veneer. Then cut the veneer exactly to the shape I'd got on the cardboard. Finished off with a file to fair the edges of the veneer with a slight undercut, so a very hard edge was touching that on the next planks. The upshot was about as close as you can get to matching the amazing timber selection on the outer layer of the three from which Rivas are cold moulded. Then epoxy put on with an old credit card, rub down then spar varnish. And yes, I used a 10" 2nd cut hand file, but held the plank VERY tightly close to the edge and gently stroked the file along the plank. With pear you can use metalworking tools almost exclusively. Martin

Oh I was not aware of that, Colin. I'll have to look out for that one. Martin

Colin, that Leon looks beautifully made. It is a pretty ship. Definitely deserves a refit! Underhill's books and his plans have been with me for years (I used his plans for a large model of the Zulu "Muirneag"). I've had "Black Sailed Traders" since my late teens when it came up at a Library sale, so, with "Wherries and Waterways" I have those covered. I also had all the early Model Shipwright magazines when they were hardbacks. Not so keen once they went paperback. John Leather's "Clinker Boatbuilding" is an essential for wherry building too. I get a wonderful sense of "somewhere else" when I read boat books. "Boadicea CK123" was just such a book. Druxey, I'm so glad you're getting it. Colin I forgot Boadicea had a transom. But I think the stern of Leon may be similar to the smack? I have restored Austin 7s in the past and worked on others, but I bought some well seasoned ash to do the frame of the Cambridge Sports body for my A7 Special, but the landlady wanted me to be rid of the caravan I used for storage, so I had to sell it all off. So now I have a box of body bashing tools and an English wheel and nothing to use them on. My son has a 1951 Triumph Renown, for which I made new aluminium A pillars, using the information in an English DVD on body work without fancy tools. Best £25 I ever spent! Once this plague has gone we should meet up as where I live has been variously Norfolk and then North Cambridgeshire according to politicians' whims, so we can't be far apart. (PM coming). Cheers, Martin

Colin, here's a link to the book:-https://www.amazon.co.uk/Boadicea-CK-123-Story-Fishing/dp/1906510156 You can read the introduction on that site too. Believe me, for 6 quid, you'll not regret it. Martin

Oh they're nice, Colin. Loads of character. I love the dust on the finished model. We'll have to get you cracking with perspex! Make a case to protect it. Have you read CK 123, by Anthony Frost. It's a good read and may (I lost my copy) have pictures of the stern as he restored her. I have the 2 volumes of Edgar March's Inshore Craft of Gt. Britain and Ireland, which are full of great drawings. Harold Underhill's Plank on Frame Models also has a lot of constructional stuff in it. But the back end is always a pain. I had trouble with Vanity on that score and because it's a working model I had to just wing it based only on the drawings. I had to use Clara for Vanity as no lines exist, but Clara is very close in size and style and nobody can tell the difference anyway since nobody does this kind of model! I want, next, to do a Norfolk wherry, being a Norfolk resident and having holidayed up here since I was a kid. And, as ever for me, it's different. I once bought two GRP wherries about 3 feet long, but they were Albions, so were carvel built, not the normal clinker, so I flogged them off. I still don't know who made them. But it looks like I'll be making this one in 1/8th thick ash. I have ash left over from a vintage car body frame restoration. My only experience of steaming was 34 foot long planks of 10"x2" oak for our old wooden canal boat! 5 hours in a steam chest and 7 seconds to fit and bend it before it goes rigid! For now, my back has cried enough! It'll be a sit down job tomorrow. Thanks for your interest and photos. Cheers, Martin

Colin, what a wonderful think to read! That'll be the two of us then! I have almost given up trying to find "our" kind of vessels. I'd love the time to do a series of coastal fishing types in 1/4" scale. And perhaps a series of vintage mahogany speed and record boats in maybe 1/24th scale. I don't have any space for more 1/12th working models, alas! But thanks for the response. There I was planking away and a huge black cloud came over and suggested I and the yacht might suddenly get very wet! So I had to hurriedly put it on the slot car track, rather than under it as normal as I had just slapped two tall clamps on it holding rather slow epoxy glued carlins in. To think I was racing on that track only a week ago, now I can hardly see it! I am hoping to finish Vanity this time around as not much is happening anywhere else! Cheers, Martin

I have been involved with the making of an all brass master pattern of a Vincent Black Shadow motorbike in 1/6th scale. Incompetent suppliers have made the whole thing into a nightmare for the client, who knows nothing of the model industry, so muggins here is left to sort it all out! But this plague has given me some new time with nobody asking for stuff. I also took up model flying last year, but haven't flown since October due to weather and then plague, so I thought I could do worse than a) mend the slot car track I made last year too and b) slide the Vanity model out from under it and get on with it. It's the trouble with having too many irons in the fire, but I don't have a fancy private pension, so I have to build up for the big retirement day. And anyway, what else would I do? Cheers, Martin

I was wondering how to arrange a demountable rig when there are three sets of deadeyes each side to work with that can't be done every time I want to sail it or transport it anywhere. I think I could make the deadeyes up with wire instead of rope, to keep them stiff, attach them to strops in the shrouds in the normal ways, then have hooks to attach them to links in the chain plates, (3 each side). They'd have to be exactly the right length to be taught, though a discreet bottle screw might make sense at the top of the shrouds. Any views on that? Martin

In the absolutely calm day (unusual in the Fens) I got the deck furniture out and rested it on the deck for a sneak peak. For some reason (probably caution) I left too big a hole for the main decklight. I checked the fitting of the sail winch system and can get it in and out with the actual decklight sized hole, so will reduce that. I think she'll look lovely when finished. More deck planking after lunch. Martin

Jerry, thanks for your response. The mast on the cutter would be too high to put in the car, so has to come off. Even if it did fit, it would be damaged by the state of the roads round here. Broken springs and new joints already inside a year. Cheers, Martin

Hi, I am making a model of a Victorian cutter and because of the size of the boat I will have to de-rig it to transport it. It has 4 shrouds each side fitted with deadeyes. How can I still keep those, but not have to string them up every time I go anywhere? I'm thinking of doing the lanyards in wire, with pelican hooks onto the chain plates, for speed. Or some kind of spring behind, out of sight (ish) Ideas anyone? Martin

Pat, they are my kind of models. Not for me the Nelson ships with their ugly shapes and old crock appearance, but I'm the same with veteran cars and 'bikes! Those models are beautiful. I cannot understand what's NOT to like or why anyone would elect to make a dull old tug when they could have a mahogany and chrome beauty. My current thinking is they like 'em well enough, but can't face the metalwork or getting such a fantastic finish on the woodwork. I love doing both. It's damned paint I hate! Notice mine is the only response so far. Martin

Nice weather again. After domestic chores and a ludicrous time queuing at Lidl's because they had a short queue(!!) compared with Morrison's or Tesco's, I finally got outside to have a crack at the deck planking of Vanity. I'd already cut some planks on my lovely new saw, so I cut and glued as many as my back and tea time would allow. I'm so glad I let my dear bride buy me 5 packs of Evo-Stik as I broke into those soon enough. I just mark the edge of each plank with a black marker pen to represent caulking. After all is sanded down it works a treat for a nice fine line. I just wish I could give it a whole day, but after just 2 hours, I'm nursing a half numb back. Maybe I should try out a bar stool I have for a decent working height. Here's some pics. Martin

Oh, well, in that case, Nick, rattle cans are your friend. I'm really no great shakes with a hairy stick. In fact my wife is so much better at that than I am! But I can spray a nice finish and for a car body I recommend you use a spray can from either Halford's or Tamiya. I'm orff outside to lay the deck on my Vanity model! Good luck. Martin

Nick, I have no trouble spraying metallics with back and forth strokes, but as popeye says, they are very much more demanding than plain colours. I have sprayed metallics using both Halford's rattle cans and Tamiya cans and the Tamiya were better. the paint is thicker and is cellulose, which will always be better on a model . But, best of all for metallics are Zero Paints. They are a MUCH finer grind on the pigment, including the metallic element. Much nearer scale, certainly on 1/32nd scale and above. BUT they need a clear gloss as they dry matt. That's fine as you can use a gloss like Mr. Hobby or Halfords clear. I have a gloss clear that dries in minutes like glass, called Lechler Akrifan. It's spray ready needing no thinners. I also get an enamel clear which is astonishingly shiney. It comes from Lidl or Aldi, but only when they feel like stocking it, so visit often. I got their clear, red, white and dark green, all ideal colours for model cars. The green is VERY dark, so ideal for Vanwalls and vintage Bentleys, in other words darker than BRG should be, but ideal for those cars who used a darker than BRG shade. I have also used Vallejo gloss varnish which, to my amazement worked well and dried hard. Amazed as it went on like milk, but then went clear as I watched! But it must go on thin with an airbrush. My Paasche Model H is perfect for it. I keep one for colour, one for clear. Bellet proof and so easy to clean, no hypodermic sharp needle to damage either. Now sold as Classic! As am I!. I hope this helps. I have been spraying and making model cars for donkey's years. I also make master Patterns for the likes of RS Slotracing, PreWing, TinTops and SMK slot cars, nearly 100 different body shells now! I try to paint each one as they arrive. Can't keep up with putting working chassis in them though! Here's a few I've done. I made all the patterns for them, except the Lotus 6, for which I did the front mudguard patterns in brass to be cast in white metal. I covered that in Selotape aluminium sticky foil as I hate silver paint. Cheers, Martin

Nick, I hope you get on with it. I tend to make a blob on a clean vice jaw and then brush it on. Some are buying refill pots and airbrushing it. Needs a Hell of a good shake first though. If you're a facebooker, you might be interested in this group I started a year ago:- https://www.facebook.com/groups/305373036843841/ It's for all car kit bashers, mainly slot cars, but covers all disciplines. I make slot car body patterns for kit makers and am a petrol head as well as a boat fan (not ships, I'm afraid...too big for me). I firmly believe that there should be more cross reference twixt disciplines. Martin

Have you tried the Moltow chrome pens? Very impressive chrome effect. But don't handle any of these "chrome" Paints. Aluminium foil is still best. Martin