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rvchima

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Everything posted by rvchima

  1. rvchima
    Shamrock, The engine kit has been mentioned on a couple of sites but it seemes to be completely unavailabe. And at the price I think I can do without it. Rod Shamrock's image of the Ferrari engine was lost in recent problems with the server. This is the closest that I could find. RVC 4/11/14
  2. rvchima
    Time for some color I couldn't wait to paint something red so I made this footboard assembly. The photo-etched aluminum pieces actually have raised tread marks on them. Nice touch.
  3. rvchima
    Hull Sheeting in Progress The hull is sheeted with several pieces of 1 mm plywood. It's impressive how closely the pieces fit together without trimming. The upper surface will eventually be planked with mahogany strips held in place with headless brass nails. The bottom sheeting isn't quite done yet. Much of it will eventually be covered with photo-etched aluminum sheets held in place with standard brass nails.
  4. rvchima
    Ferrari Hydroplane, day 1, 5 hours The laser cutting on this kit is beautiful! The frame is 1/4 birch ply. There are no burn marks and the cut line is hairline thin. I still needed a razor-sharp carving chisel to separate the tiny tabs that hold the parts to the sheet. The hull is framed in two sections, fore, and aft. The assembled frame weighs a hefty 1lb, 5 oz. The next step will be a lot of sanding to fair the square edges of all those bulkheads.
  5. rvchima
    Eindeckker Complete The extremely cold temperatures caused several unexpected delays, so my model airplane took longer than I expected. But I'm done and the Fokker Eindeckker is cute as can be. Some day six months from now I'll take it outside, wind it up, and give it a toss. But for now, back to the Ferrari hydroplane!
  6. rvchima
    A (Hopefully) Short Delay At the moment there is a Fokker Eindecker (Dumas kit) that needs covering sitting on my workbench. Give me a week to get that done before I start on the Ferrari.
  7. rvchima
    What's in the Box The kit is packaged beautifully. Fit for a Ferrari. Heavy molded plastic fin, seat, and cowling. Laser-etched aluminum parts and cardboard instrument cluster. Laser-cut keels and bulkheads. Tiny brass pins for the planking, beautiful diecast wheel, rudder, and exhaust manifolds. Plastic and brass flashing, mahogany planking. Instruction pictures (24 pages), and text in Italian and English (8 pages.) Separate book with text in French. Full-size drawings of exterior, frame, and RC installation. I will just build for static display.
  8. rvchima
    And Now for Something Completely Different - Arno XI Ferrari Hydroplane, 1:8 scale, by Amati I now have three tall ship models in my house, a Spanish Galleon built by my grandfather in 1933, a MS Flying Fish that I built in 1969, and my recently-completed US Brig Syren. One can only have so many big plexiglass cases in one's house before one's wife starts to object, so for my next build I decided on something easier to dust, an Arno Ferrari hydroplane. Besides, with a glossy red cowling, polished mahogany planking, and chrome exhaust, wheel, and rudder, who can complain? I bought the kit from Cornwall Model Boats in the UK. Even with shipping to the US their price was significantly cheaper than anyone else. I ordered the kit on a Sunday and had it in my hands the following Friday. I knew that I wouldn't be able to start on it until after the holidays, so I gave it to my wife to give to me for Christmas. She didn't object. There's not much information about this kit on line, so I'll start my build log with What's in the Box
  9. rvchima
    Hi Augie, I still pop in ocasionally to check on your progress, and the Confederacy is coming along beautifully! I hope you have a Merry Christmas and great new year. I should be back on line soon with a new build log. Stay tuned. Rod
  10. rvchima
    Back in July Thomas placed a separate post asking if anyone could sell him their copper stamping jig for the Syren. I offered to lend him mine if he would pay shipping to his home and return the jig to me when he was finished. He immediately sent me $10, I sent him the jig, he made the plates, and that's the last anyone has heard from him. Here's hoping that he sees this post and returns my jig.
  11. rvchima
    Mike, I bought 0.093 in. thick Optix brand acrylic sheet at Home Depot. The total cost was around $90 so glass might be cheaper. The acrylic sheets come in widths that are multiples of 12 in. My width was 12 3/4 in. so there was a lot of waste. You can buy a tool to score and snap the plastic. If you score it many times perfectly along a straightedge and are very careful, it will snap right along the score. I screwed up my very first cut, so I gave up and used my table saw. I cleaned up the edge with sandpaper. The table saw turned out to be a good idea because I had to recut several pieces slightly undersized to make everything fit. Rod
  12. rvchima
    Syren Update - Case Completed I just completed a case for my Syren. It is my own design made from quarter-sawn white oak and plexiglass. The inner dimensions are fit to the Syren at 34" x 13" x 27" and the outer dimensions are 36" x 15" x 28". Plexiglass is 1/6 the weight of glass so the case only weighs a few pounds and I can move it myself. The case is finished with a coat of Watco walnut stain, two coats of orange shellac to seal the grain, and several coats of a 1:1:1 mix of polyurethane varnish, boiled linseed oil, and mineral spirits.
  13. rvchima
    Thanks Augie. That's about what I expected on the width but I wanted to be sure. The price on that case is quite reasonable so I'm tempted to order one rather than build my own. Rod
  14. rvchima
    Hi Augie, I am glad to hear that you are home, feeling better, and back to work. I do have a question about the case for your Syren. The dimensions of my Syren are 32"L x 11 1/4"W x 26"H. The dimensions of the GM7W are 34"L x 12"W x 28"H. The width dimensions are pretty close. Do you have enough clearance for the width of your model? Rod
  15. rvchima
    Shameless Spousal Promotion My wife, Cinda Williams Chima, is a New York Times best selling author of young adult fantasy novels. When I'm not building models I build her web site. http://www.cindachima.com/ Her first series of books, The Warrior Heir, The Wizard Heir, and The Dragon Heir, are contemporary fantasy set in Ohio. Her second series of books, The Demon King, The Exiled Queen, The Gray Wolf Throne, and The Crimson Crown, are high fantasy. Think Game of Thrones without the sex and lower body count. Most of her books have been published in Dutch, German, Portuguese (for Brazil), Spanish, and French. And English. If you, your children, or grandchildren enjoy reading fantasy, please check her website. Rod
  16. rvchima
    Thank You MSW! I really enjoyed building the Syren, but interacting with all of you made it that much better. Many thanks to Chuck Passaro for designing such a magnificent kit. I couldn't have done it without Chuck's awesome instructions. Thanks also to Model Expo for producing the kit and convincing me to buy it at the Cleveland hobby show last October. And finally special thanks to Augie and Dirk and everyone else for helping with all my dumb questions. Rod
  17. rvchima
    Next Build That's a pile of quater sawn white oak, a Stickley table, and a case for the Syren. I designed a case for my Flying Fish (see page 1 of this log) and will scale it to the Syren.
  18. rvchima
    Details from Above Fore top. Weren't they from Motown? Main top. Gull's eye view of the Syren.
  19. rvchima
    Details from Below Dolphin's eye view of the Syren. Reconstructed hanging anchors. Dirk - I did not redo the knots on the anchor cable. None of my other knots are historically accurate. Why start now? I did use your salt and vinegar patina on the hull, and I love it! Don't you want to climb up there?
  20. rvchima
    Fore to Aft You just gotta love the jib with all those lines! The longboat was one of my finer pieces of work. I copied Augie's mount for the bell.
  21. rvchima
    Another Syren Hits the Seas I'm finished. 526 hours. 217 days. I actually finished Wednesday after a marathon 10 hour anchor reconstruction, but yesterday was my wife's birthday and I didn't have time to take photos. Happy Birthday Cinda! I'm back. I just read in Wikipedia that the real Syren was launched on August 6, 1803. I completed my model on Aug. 7, 2013. Dang - I missed her 210th anniversary by one day! I had my doubts about the paper flags, but I love the splash of color aloft. I had to add a tiny wire to the gaff to hold the flag. 526 hours. You probably can't build this model much quicker than that. I wasn't trying to rush but I do have other projects in the queue. I could have knocked 30 days off by skipping my vacation and my son's wedding.
  22. rvchima
    Anchors Aweigh While waiting for extra parts I jumped ahead and built my anchors. I installed them as shown in the photos in the manual - right up against the catheads. Then I read ahead and realized that there was no room to add the double block and line that the anchors are supposed to hang from. So as Dirk always says, "deconstruction!" A line drawing in the plans shows the anchors hanging from the cathead. I plan to redo them that way.
  23. rvchima
    Belaying Lines in Yellowstone If you've ever been to Yellowstone National Park, you know that the first time you see a bison (buffalo,) you stop along with 50 other cars for that perfect photo, and create a huge traffic jam in the process. After several days you've seen dozens of bison and just want to yell "Get out of the way so I can get to the lodge for a bison burger!" That's what belaying lines to pin racks is like. You do the first pin perfectly. Down to the left, up to the right, repeat, make a twist, over the top, add a rope coil. On the last pin there are 10 lines in the way and you think "Ill just glue this string to anything that doesn't move."
  24. rvchima
    Parts Shortage Update Model Expo The other day I sent an e-mail to Eric Snow at Model Expo explaining my shortage of blocks and rigging line. Eric responded immediately, apologized for their backlog, and offered to help. I told him that I no longer needed the parts (see below) and offered to send him a list of parts shortages and surpluses for the Syren, so that they can fine-tune the parts list in the future. Ages of Sail I e-mailed Roger Jeya at Ages of Sail again. He responded immediately, saying that they sold a lot of fittings lately (probably from all of you) and were having trouble getting enough Amati fittings. Today I received a package priority mail with 3 huge packages of beautiful Amati blocks. I think there are enough to rig another Syren. Thanks Roger! Rod's Model House In the meantime I made a bunch of 3/32" blocks. They weren't as bad as I expected. I also bought sewing thread that almost matches the 0.008" tan line supplied with the kit. It's not quite the same, but it's all on lower yards and looks OK. I'm almost done rigging. Photos tonight at 11 (probably tomorrow.)
  25. rvchima
    Augie, What are your plans for a case for your model? Did you buy a case from ME? What size did you get? I designed and built a case for my Flying Fish not too long ago and was thinking about building another for my Syren, but ME has a big sale going on .... Rod

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