rvchima

Bridge House - 86 hours over 57 days
 
The bridge house is framed up in laser cut plywood, and then planked with limewood (basswood) strips. The instructions said to build the whole structure before doing the planking. As soon as I started planking I realized that it would have been MUCH easier to plank the deck before adding the curved rail, and to plank the cabin before gluing it in place. From now on I'll try to read ahead a little.

 
My wife and I are in Florida for a while. She is an author and only needs her computer to work. I tried to bring enough of the Anteo kit, tools, and supplies to keep me busy. But I forgot my drills, and I brought all the wrong paints. So I'm jumping around in the instructions and building what I can. I'll try to sort it all out when I get home.
 

Bridge House - 86 hours over 57 days
 
The bridge house is framed up in laser cut plywood, and then planked with limewood (basswood) strips. The instructions said to build the whole structure before doing the planking. As soon as I started planking I realized that it would have been MUCH easier to plank the deck before adding the curved rail, and to plank the cabin before gluing it in place. From now on I'll try to read ahead a little.

 
My wife and I are in Florida for a while. She is an author and only needs her computer to work. I tried to bring enough of the Anteo kit, tools, and supplies to keep me busy. But I forgot my drills, and I brought all the wrong paints. So I'm jumping around in the instructions and building what I can. I'll try to sort it all out when I get home.
 

Windlass
 
The parts for the windlass were mostly turned brass and were incredibly detailed. With a little work and a real motor you could probably make it operate. The brass was so pretty it was a shame to paint it.

Bridge House - 86 hours over 57 days
 
The bridge house is framed up in laser cut plywood, and then planked with limewood (basswood) strips. The instructions said to build the whole structure before doing the planking. As soon as I started planking I realized that it would have been MUCH easier to plank the deck before adding the curved rail, and to plank the cabin before gluing it in place. From now on I'll try to read ahead a little.

 
My wife and I are in Florida for a while. She is an author and only needs her computer to work. I tried to bring enough of the Anteo kit, tools, and supplies to keep me busy. But I forgot my drills, and I brought all the wrong paints. So I'm jumping around in the instructions and building what I can. I'll try to sort it all out when I get home.
 

Windlass
 
The parts for the windlass were mostly turned brass and were incredibly detailed. With a little work and a real motor you could probably make it operate. The brass was so pretty it was a shame to paint it.

Bridge House - 86 hours over 57 days
 
The bridge house is framed up in laser cut plywood, and then planked with limewood (basswood) strips. The instructions said to build the whole structure before doing the planking. As soon as I started planking I realized that it would have been MUCH easier to plank the deck before adding the curved rail, and to plank the cabin before gluing it in place. From now on I'll try to read ahead a little.

 
My wife and I are in Florida for a while. She is an author and only needs her computer to work. I tried to bring enough of the Anteo kit, tools, and supplies to keep me busy. But I forgot my drills, and I brought all the wrong paints. So I'm jumping around in the instructions and building what I can. I'll try to sort it all out when I get home.
 

Windlass
 
The parts for the windlass were mostly turned brass and were incredibly detailed. With a little work and a real motor you could probably make it operate. The brass was so pretty it was a shame to paint it.

Bridge House - 86 hours over 57 days
 
The bridge house is framed up in laser cut plywood, and then planked with limewood (basswood) strips. The instructions said to build the whole structure before doing the planking. As soon as I started planking I realized that it would have been MUCH easier to plank the deck before adding the curved rail, and to plank the cabin before gluing it in place. From now on I'll try to read ahead a little.

 
My wife and I are in Florida for a while. She is an author and only needs her computer to work. I tried to bring enough of the Anteo kit, tools, and supplies to keep me busy. But I forgot my drills, and I brought all the wrong paints. So I'm jumping around in the instructions and building what I can. I'll try to sort it all out when I get home.
 

Windlass
 
The parts for the windlass were mostly turned brass and were incredibly detailed. With a little work and a real motor you could probably make it operate. The brass was so pretty it was a shame to paint it.

First Layer of Planking Completed. 58 hours, 39 days

I completed the first layer of planking the other day. This boat is BIG! I don't know where I'm going to put it when it's done.
 
After a lot of sanding, I filled the wood with a coat of Behlen water-based grain filler (available from Woodcraft.com). This stuff has the consistency of yoghurt, it dries quickly, and it sands off easily. I was amazed at how many cracks and depressions it found! You can see all the white areas in the photo. The stern is still pretty rough, especially around the prop shaft.
 

Looking ahead in the plans I realized that all of the interior bulkheads will be removed down to the deck level, leaving a thin layer of planking to the side rails. A single layer of planking would definitely not be strong enough, so I'll have to bite the bullet and add a second layer. But I think I'll set that aside for a while and work on some of the superstructure. 

First Rows of Planking
 

The planking is 7 mm limewood. It's very flexible when it's wet. I glued the first few rows entirely with medium viscosity CA.
 

Maybe that wasn't such a good idea. Now where's my acetone?

Stand and Prop Shaft Housing
 

Here I made a temporary stand that is a tight fit on the keel.
 
The prop shaft housing was made of two rectangular blocks. I taped them to a 3/16" square stick with double sided tape, chucked them in the drill press, and sanded them at high RPM. THen I pulled the tape apart and glued the half-cylinders to the keel over a slot for the prop shaft.

Bulkheads and Subdecks Installed

Two subdecks have been temporarily nailed into place to keep the bulkheads aligned while the planking is applied. This will also eliminate any residual warping in the bulkheads.
 

At this point the model totally reminds me of Steze Zissou's ship, the Belafonte, from Wes Anderson's "The Life Aquatic."
 

First Construction Photos
 

The laser-cut parts popped out of the sheet easily and the 3-piece keel when right together.
 

Here's the keel with all the bulkheads in position. But here's also where I found a problem with the kit. One of the 6 pieces of 1/4 inch ply has a warp built in, and 5 bulkheads are seriously warped. I soaked them in hot water and clamped them to flat boards. I hope they straighten out before I glue them to the keel. Once the planking is attached they should be fine.

Another Very Different Model (for me, anyway)
 

 
My wife gave me another ship model this Christmas. Of course I gave her strong hints what I wanted. What I wanted was a working vessel with clean lines, a planked hull, and no rigging. After a long search I found the Anteo harbour tug by Panart, which seems to be a part of Mantua models in Italy. Please let me know if I am wrong about this. I ordered 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 Thursday. Amazing service. I gave the box to my wife and opened it on Christmas morning.
 
What's In The Box.
First of all, the box measures 37x11x4 inches and weighs a whopping 12.5 pounds! It is packed with quality parts.
 

There are two packages of fittings including funnels, the wheel, tires, the prop, line, portholes, lights, and the anchor.
 

Planking for a double-planked hull , heavy PVC stack.
 

Vacuformed lifeboat shells, rubber bumper material, brass prop shaft.
 

6 sheets of 1/4" laser-cut ply.
 

4 sheets of thin veneer ply.
 

A large sheet of photo-etched brass.
 

Instructions in 4 languages plus 2 catalogues. The English instructions are short and pretty rough.
 

4 pages of plans, 2-sided, 27x39 inches.

Bridge House - 86 hours over 57 days
 
The bridge house is framed up in laser cut plywood, and then planked with limewood (basswood) strips. The instructions said to build the whole structure before doing the planking. As soon as I started planking I realized that it would have been MUCH easier to plank the deck before adding the curved rail, and to plank the cabin before gluing it in place. From now on I'll try to read ahead a little.

 
My wife and I are in Florida for a while. She is an author and only needs her computer to work. I tried to bring enough of the Anteo kit, tools, and supplies to keep me busy. But I forgot my drills, and I brought all the wrong paints. So I'm jumping around in the instructions and building what I can. I'll try to sort it all out when I get home.
 

Windlass
 
The parts for the windlass were mostly turned brass and were incredibly detailed. With a little work and a real motor you could probably make it operate. The brass was so pretty it was a shame to paint it.

First Layer of Planking Completed. 58 hours, 39 days

I completed the first layer of planking the other day. This boat is BIG! I don't know where I'm going to put it when it's done.
 
After a lot of sanding, I filled the wood with a coat of Behlen water-based grain filler (available from Woodcraft.com). This stuff has the consistency of yoghurt, it dries quickly, and it sands off easily. I was amazed at how many cracks and depressions it found! You can see all the white areas in the photo. The stern is still pretty rough, especially around the prop shaft.
 

Looking ahead in the plans I realized that all of the interior bulkheads will be removed down to the deck level, leaving a thin layer of planking to the side rails. A single layer of planking would definitely not be strong enough, so I'll have to bite the bullet and add a second layer. But I think I'll set that aside for a while and work on some of the superstructure. 

First Rows of Planking
 

The planking is 7 mm limewood. It's very flexible when it's wet. I glued the first few rows entirely with medium viscosity CA.
 

Maybe that wasn't such a good idea. Now where's my acetone?

First Construction Photos
 

The laser-cut parts popped out of the sheet easily and the 3-piece keel when right together.
 

Here's the keel with all the bulkheads in position. But here's also where I found a problem with the kit. One of the 6 pieces of 1/4 inch ply has a warp built in, and 5 bulkheads are seriously warped. I soaked them in hot water and clamped them to flat boards. I hope they straighten out before I glue them to the keel. Once the planking is attached they should be fine.

Another Very Different Model (for me, anyway)
 

 
My wife gave me another ship model this Christmas. Of course I gave her strong hints what I wanted. What I wanted was a working vessel with clean lines, a planked hull, and no rigging. After a long search I found the Anteo harbour tug by Panart, which seems to be a part of Mantua models in Italy. Please let me know if I am wrong about this. I ordered 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 Thursday. Amazing service. I gave the box to my wife and opened it on Christmas morning.
 
What's In The Box.
First of all, the box measures 37x11x4 inches and weighs a whopping 12.5 pounds! It is packed with quality parts.
 

There are two packages of fittings including funnels, the wheel, tires, the prop, line, portholes, lights, and the anchor.
 

Planking for a double-planked hull , heavy PVC stack.
 

Vacuformed lifeboat shells, rubber bumper material, brass prop shaft.
 

6 sheets of 1/4" laser-cut ply.
 

4 sheets of thin veneer ply.
 

A large sheet of photo-etched brass.
 

Instructions in 4 languages plus 2 catalogues. The English instructions are short and pretty rough.
 

4 pages of plans, 2-sided, 27x39 inches.

Bridge House - 86 hours over 57 days
 
The bridge house is framed up in laser cut plywood, and then planked with limewood (basswood) strips. The instructions said to build the whole structure before doing the planking. As soon as I started planking I realized that it would have been MUCH easier to plank the deck before adding the curved rail, and to plank the cabin before gluing it in place. From now on I'll try to read ahead a little.

 
My wife and I are in Florida for a while. She is an author and only needs her computer to work. I tried to bring enough of the Anteo kit, tools, and supplies to keep me busy. But I forgot my drills, and I brought all the wrong paints. So I'm jumping around in the instructions and building what I can. I'll try to sort it all out when I get home.
 

Windlass
 
The parts for the windlass were mostly turned brass and were incredibly detailed. With a little work and a real motor you could probably make it operate. The brass was so pretty it was a shame to paint it.

First Layer of Planking Completed. 58 hours, 39 days

I completed the first layer of planking the other day. This boat is BIG! I don't know where I'm going to put it when it's done.
 
After a lot of sanding, I filled the wood with a coat of Behlen water-based grain filler (available from Woodcraft.com). This stuff has the consistency of yoghurt, it dries quickly, and it sands off easily. I was amazed at how many cracks and depressions it found! You can see all the white areas in the photo. The stern is still pretty rough, especially around the prop shaft.
 

Looking ahead in the plans I realized that all of the interior bulkheads will be removed down to the deck level, leaving a thin layer of planking to the side rails. A single layer of planking would definitely not be strong enough, so I'll have to bite the bullet and add a second layer. But I think I'll set that aside for a while and work on some of the superstructure. 

Another Very Different Model (for me, anyway)
 

 
My wife gave me another ship model this Christmas. Of course I gave her strong hints what I wanted. What I wanted was a working vessel with clean lines, a planked hull, and no rigging. After a long search I found the Anteo harbour tug by Panart, which seems to be a part of Mantua models in Italy. Please let me know if I am wrong about this. I ordered 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 Thursday. Amazing service. I gave the box to my wife and opened it on Christmas morning.
 
What's In The Box.
First of all, the box measures 37x11x4 inches and weighs a whopping 12.5 pounds! It is packed with quality parts.
 

There are two packages of fittings including funnels, the wheel, tires, the prop, line, portholes, lights, and the anchor.
 

Planking for a double-planked hull , heavy PVC stack.
 

Vacuformed lifeboat shells, rubber bumper material, brass prop shaft.
 

6 sheets of 1/4" laser-cut ply.
 

4 sheets of thin veneer ply.
 

A large sheet of photo-etched brass.
 

Instructions in 4 languages plus 2 catalogues. The English instructions are short and pretty rough.
 

4 pages of plans, 2-sided, 27x39 inches.