hexnut

Update time!
 
I have made good progress on the starboard side first planking, starting near the bulwarks. Note how I terminate the planks on the underside of the gunport pattens towards the bow, not at the actual front of the bow itself. From this point onwards, all the planks will be tapered from bow to stern.
 
It's a slight departure from the instructions, but the instructions also tell you to let the planks lie naturally (which they are currently doing). But if I were to attempt to run the first plank all the way along the underside of the pattens, the clinkering would be extreme to the point of being impractical.
 
It's possible with *massive* amounts of lateral bending I could do that, but this does seem a more straightforward method to me. It's such a sharp upwards curve on this model compared to some, I think it needs a slightly different planking solutions. Anyway, some photos:

I've spent more time fairing the starboard bulkheads than I did with the port side. Bulkhead 2 is in my opinion too narrow in this kit, so I widened it a bit. I also think BH6 is a smidgen too wide (regardless of the fairing), so I took a millimetre off it, so the batten can run smoothly with no flat spots.
 
Fingers crossed the planking will be fine once it's on, the batten is looking smooth all the way up and down. The natural run of the planks at the bow is a bit unusual on this schooner due to the sharp rise, compared to some bigger ships, so some thought has to go into the best way to lay them.
 
Dare I say, a bigger ship may in fact turn out to be more straightforward in terms of plank positioning. We shall see.

Just some close ups of the tricky stern section.
 
I had to use a few stealers (or dropper planks?) to keep a nice smooth run on the planking. I basically terminated the original plank around bulkhead 8 with an inverted triangle - and shaped 2 new planks to carry on to the stern.
 
The second photo shows some of the sanding I've done by the keel to allow for the second planking to lay properly. I should have prepared it more before I began the planking, but it'll work out in the end.

Well, I've completed my first ever attempt at planking (on the port side..).
 
Overall, I'm really happy with how it turned out; there's one or two minor flat spots which will need to be filled and sanded again to get a perfectly smooth curve, plus a few of the planks dipped slightly between a couple of bulkheads (one of them in particular I probably should have ripped out and thrown away) and will need to be sorted. But that's relatively minor. The main shape is there and it's very pleasing to see the model starting to look like a ship.
 
I got almost all the bulkheads faired at the right angles. Some very minor clinkering near the bow, which can be easily sanded down. The bow on the Ballahoo does require a tiny amount of lateral bending in some of the planks I think. I'll take a bit more time doing the starboard side and see if I can get every plank down perfectly next time.
 
There really is no substitute for simply getting on with it and seeing how it turns out on a cheap model, and adapting your methods as you go.

Planking on the top half of the hull was easier than the bottom half, due to the more straightforward curve (towards the keel the hull does all sorts of funny things!). The planks were going on nicely, with a little tapering at the bow. I superglued the very ends to keep a strong hold, but it was mostly all PVA.

The gunport pattens were fiddly. Very fiddly. I soaked them in hot water for a while before shaping them.
 
I've seen them mentioned elsewhere as being a difficult part of this build, due to the slightly odd bow on the Ballahoo. I managed it in the end, but it was a bit of a struggle at first. I'm not totally convinced bulkhead number 2 is correct on this model, but we'll discuss that more later.
 
Started to lay some planks along the hull to get an idea on the shape.

On to the deck, which fitted nicely, with very little sanding required. I added some more balsa filler underneath the deck for the gunport pattens.

Next up, I added some balsa wood filler blocks fore and aft. I later discovered I faired my stern bulkheads a bit too much and had to fill it back out again, which also messed up the balsa blocks. But it was a useful learning process (at least that's what I told myself).

Here's some photos of the bulkhead fairing and gluing of the keel. I also carved out a rabbet of sorts, although I later found it wasn't deep enough and had to do some more.
 
I also made some mast supports inside the model, plus some strengthening supports for the bulkheads - having seen others do the same.

Ok so what am I going to be using to build this flight of phantasy?
 
The Tractor, AMT 1021-1 Kenworth Conventional W925...

This is a 2019 reissue of a kit originally released way beck in the late '60's. It represents a 1970 Kenworth W925 which by 1977 would be called a W900A. It has to be updated to represent a '73 which has some detail differences. But it is the correct short wheelbase conventional. A note about the W25 designation, when the kit was originally released it had a torsion bar suspension on the duals. it was a difficult suspension to assemble being very fiddly with many small parts. About 7 years after initial release AMT re-designed the kit with a Hendrickson walking beam suspension for the tandem unit. (and released it as the "Alaskan Hauler" kit. In real world terms this makes the kit represent a W923 model kenworth truck. But alas they didn't change the artwork on the box. So we will have to replace the rear suspension to match the movie truck. Fortunately, there is aftermarket to do this conversion.
 
The Trailer, the trailer in the movie is a 1977 48 foot Hobbs bead sided dry goods van with a dummy non-functional Thermo King reefer unit. It will take two trailer kits kitbashed together to built a movie correct trailer.

Believe it or not, these kits are identical except the holiday trailer (released in 2018) does not have the reefer unit that the Watkins trailer has. the Watkins reefer is an original release from 1968. It represents a Fruehauf 40 foot bead sided reefer trailer model FB. We are in luck, Hobbs trailers back in the day was a division of Fruehauf trailers and their trailers were built to Fruehauf designs. So as far as details we are good to go. (but we will have to bash the two together to arrive at the correct scale length and height) The details on this kit are outstanding for the most part, even the interior is detailed, and it's equipment matches the movie trailer perfectly, the only thing missing is the spare tire carrier.

Hi, my first build log, actually this has been in progress for a couple of months now but I figured for a first log I will do what I'm familiar with.
 
Plastic..... Styrene to be exact, it brings us tangible proof that the imagination really exists....

The Iconic Kenworth Truck, pulling a 48' Hobbs Reefer van. The Tractor is a '73 and the Trailer is a '77. There are a lot of people who have built a model of this combination using the available kits in the marketplace. there are aftermarket companies that make the mural decal for the current available kits. But unfortunately there is no dedicated model of this subject, '77 Trans-Am's no sweat, there are a plethora of them from many many companies. I think all of them made a model of the darned car and said to heck with the star of the show..... And that truck is definitely the star of the show. The Model companies tried to correct their error and made a model of the GMC General and it's Fruehauf trailer from Smokey & the Bandit II but it's pretty much forgotten in the model world except in the most avid truck modeling forums, and it's hardly iconic.....
 
I say Iconic because there are over a thousand replica rigs roaming america's highways today with some form of the mural gracing their huge billboard sides... This truck sticks in the american conscience, that makes it iconic.
 
Well to the initial details... They used three trucks in making the movie that appear on screen, A 1973 Kenworth W900A and two 1974's. Also they used two 1977 48' Hobbs anti-sail dry goods vans for the trailer. The first truck appearing in the movie, (the opening scene where the truck starts and proceeds to the Truck Rodeo at the fairgrounds) is the '73. It was a line truck hauling the I-40 corridor for three years when it was bought for the movie.
Black in color with gold trim it is also a 50 year anniversary tractor celebrating Kenworths 50 years in business. This is designated on the truck by the gold hood ornament and side lettering. Other than that it is a pretty typical american over-the-road truck. The two '74's were bought from a dealer, they were purchased cause they needed a backup to the '73 and a film rig to be towed behind the film truck for the interior shots of Jerry hacksawing the steering wheel. They were Coffee Brown in color. Well there were no black trucks available with the gold trim package. Pantone color reference to "Coffee Brown"  lists Model Masters Gloss and Flat Black as the closest representation to coffee brown in the MM lineup... As close as your going to get to black without actually being black. 
 
1973, Truck #1 below....

1974, Truck #2 below....
 

Casually watching the movie you cannot tell the difference. (but there are differences)
 
As research I have gone thru the movie taking screen caps frame by frame and identifying the differences. Truck #1 is seen in 75% of the driving road shots and Truck #2 makes up the rest of the road shots. Truck #3 was used for the interior shots.
 
So how does one go about telling the differences? (the trailers were different also not observable casually, but under detailed inspection they were different enough to tell which is which)
 
So the first tractor appearing on film is tractor #1, the second, tractor #2 and so on and so forth, the Trailers I did the same with for Trailer #1 and #2......
 
Predominantly, in the movie it is Tractor #1 hauling Trailer #2. 75% of the time this is the combination seen on film..... Tractor #2 only appears in three scenes, Picking up the beer, Motorcycle Cop sneaking in the backdoor, and Crashing the gate at the fairgrounds. Tractor #1 does all the rest..... Below is a composite pic of the tractors where many of the differences can be readily seen..... Tractor #1 on the left, #2 on the right...
 

First thing that sticks out like a sore thumb? the exhaust stacks. They are not the same length on either truck. but more important, the short stack is on the opposite sides from each other, #1's short stack is on the curb side and #2's is on the road side.... You can spot that difference a mile away... Take a look at the mirrors, curbside #1 is a mack style oval replacement, #2 is a stock Kenworth rectangle. .... Take a look at the blind spot mirrors, #1's are painted white on the back, #2's are bare aluminium..... Bumper #1's has a center step bracket, #2's does not...... There is more but if in any doubt, try to find the lettering on the side of the hood, Gold for truck #1, Chrome for truck #2 & 3. 
 
The two Trailers.....
#1 on the left #2 on the right

The quickest way to tell the differences is that they had different murals on their sides... same subject, but painted different. #1 no cactus behind the Bandit's horse #2 it's readily seeable. #1 no cactus between the last horse and stage, #2 it's there plain as day, #1 cactus behind the stage in the distance, #2 no cactus behind the stage at any distance....
 
Tractor #1 and Trailer #2, that is the iconic Bandit Rig as it appeared in the movie.... and that is what I intend to model.....
 
Next installment will be what I'm going to use to model this for kits since there is no ready made kit.... It is going to be a kit conversion of the tractor and a kitbash of two trailer kits...
 
Stay Tuned....
 

A little update to show a lot of work. I spent my evening fabricating a compartment for the batteries. Something that looks more prototypical and that may explain how this submarine was designed and built. Only drawback, it will be hard to see once it is finished, but the satisfaction to know that all is there is priceless.

Basically, we have an entire box fabricated to hold the 18 Battery blocks. Some blocks have four cells, other only have three. On each side of that battery box, fuel tanks. I am skipping the fabrication of the wasted water tanks, as it is impossible to see from outside.

Here (above) we have a view of the fuel tank (lower position) with a window cut on the battery compartment, and topped by the water tank, arriving almost aligned with the top of the bunks.
 
Below, the small window to the aft batteries room will not allow me to depict a sailor filing up electrolyte in the cells, as I did in the front batteries room. I may skip the first row of batteries as it will completely occult the inside perspective. I still have to build the pressure hull, which will be used to finish the fuel tank in the front.


With the deck installed, we can say good-bye to the 18 battery modules..... Well, at least, it looks more realistic than the Trumpeter kit approach.

Finally, the complete sandwich, showing the rather large volume dedicated to the fuel tank. Next, we will be cutting the front bulkhead to open the fuel tank and the ballast tanks on the side.  After that, we can start painting all the walls and bulkheads, batteries and put everything together.

Yves

I started working on the kit again, and realized the extent of the disaster for this particular compartment. A lot of surgery and modifications will have to be done if we want this section to have some kind of semblance to the prototype. I suspect that this section was designed during a national Chinese Holiday and that their Rice based alcohol was flowing liberally....
 
Anyway, the first piece to get a massive cut is the back wall. For some unknown (to me) reason, that wall protrudes outside of the pressure hull to reach the sky, right under the deck.... Go figure.

As you can see below, once in place this is what it does. I assume that the ingress pipe for the engine and some air tanks are supposed to hide that mistake, but this is not very serious:


And so we cut..... and we will file later on.

Second crazy thing, the molding of that bulkhead. This is the forward bulkhead separating the kitchen/sub-officers section from the control room. In my world (and the world of German engineers) there is a fuel tank going through and a water tank terminating at this location. So why are we getting a bunch of big bolts? I suppose it is an artistic license from the Trumpeter.

And so we file.....

Third incongruity: The floor for the batteries. The kit calls for a slanted floor, giving a nice inclination for all the acid to spill. In addition, the proposed floor is flat and not staged as the forward batteries compartment was. Finally, that floor only holds half of what it should, in term of batteries. So we are going to need some surgery, de-construction and re-modelling.
 
 First, I am using the floor of the second set of parts I have to build something that resembles the drawings (go back a couple of posts earlier for details):

Then I am cutting that floor in three sections, in order to create a stepped like floor with three levels: 

This is all glued back with styrene strips (your best friend with Trumpeter kits)....


Et voila. We now have something that looks more like the blue-prints.

Next, we will be butchering the bulkheads.
 
Yves

I am not ready to come back quite yet.... Just thinking ahead of what is to be built: the Unter-Offizier raum and Kuche ! This compartment is located forward of the Diesel engine room and after the Control Room. Although at first sight it resembles the previous Offizier Raum, it differs from it by a lot of details. The Fuel tanks are not so large and arranged differently. They also share the space with water tanks, for the crew. 

This view shows what I am talking about. Batteries are in the same location, more or less, but the side fuel tanks are smaller on the aft compartment. The compartment includes sleeping berth, kitchen, restroom and some storage spaces: 
    
The Sleeping area is surrounded by one Fresh Water tank and by a Grey Water tank, used for cleaning. These two large tanks seat on top of the Fuel tank. Finally, we have a Waste Water tank located behind the batteries, on the lower level: 

As you can easily guess, Trumpeter has not provided any of these important details. Therefore, we will have to fabricate some walls and re-organize somewhat the original kit.
 
Below are the Trumpeter instructions as an appetizer: 







Yves
 
 
 

Well, the deep space "submarine" Discovery XD-1 is now completed: 


It will be a little while before I go back to the U-Boot but who knows..... the urge may come back, quickly.
 
Yves

Merry Christmas to all and my Best wishes of Health, Love, Friendship and modeling passion for the New Year.
 
A few updates on that Christmas day. The Diesel engine compartment is now completed and the pressure hull has been installed. The two pieces of pipes for the exhaust as well as the fresh air ingress pipe have been glued and sanded flush with the bulkheads. I have added an extra air tank on the pressure hull, tanks that were used to crank up the diesel engines.

The electrical wiring has been completed and verified. We have four white LEDs in series, requiring close to 11 Volts to illuminate. With an adjustable resistor, I will be able to harmonize the intensity of the light, with the other compartments. The current is about 3 mA. The LED above the wood desk is a micro-LED and provides a more classic and yellowish color than the ceiling lights.






It is now time to insert the module into the hull. Again, at this point, it is difficult and delicate to go back. The existing wires are carefully inserted in the slots provided by Trumpeter, on each bulkhead. The module inserts in the rear compartment, through the torpedo recess and two large pins, hidden by some apparatus. The module is only glued on the front bulkhead. 


Closing the starboard hull, this is what we will be able to see: 

You see the importance of creating the side tanks openings: 

And a couple of pictures for the claustrophobic's: 


Folks, I have reached a point where I have two modules to build and countless details to finish on the deck, conning tower, guns and on top of each module, when visible. Some electrical work needs to be completed, as well as some paint touch-ups and light weathering in multiple places. I will finish this model but have decided to take a little break from it and tackle instead one of the two  projects I have at heart. One of them (there are many...) could go in this forum as it is boat related. The other one, not being something that floats on water would have to be developed in the "Shore Leave" section. Whatever is being done, I will provide a link to keep you updated. 
 
The Type VIIc will be placed back in its box (yes, the fully assembled hull fits) and stored for a few weeks or months. 

I wish you all Happy and Relaxing Holidays, and passion, fire and energy for many projects.
 
Yves
 
 

The crew is in place, around the diesel engines. It is the last piece of details on this compartment, before sealing it with the pressure hull. A few pictures....


Everybody is very busy....






 
Let's enjoy all these perspectives, because it will not be possible again, when the pressure hull is glued on top.
 
Yves
 
 

Agreed...... mine ended up in a similar state. But no photo of the remains!
 
I scratch built a replacement stand using plastic sheet and rod and bits of the PE. I like your idea of using component leads though - I wish I had thought of that 🤔 - it's a lot easier!
 
I'm guessing that this was a maintenance/repair bench. The cylinder may have contained oil, or was a heating element. The vertical pipe should go up to the deck head so it's fed from something above?
 
PS. A word of warning - when you fit the deck head (ceiling) you may find that the fresh air fan mounted from the bulkhead hits one of the boxes on the deck head. I rectified this by cutting down the shaft on the right-hand side of the fan and re-attaching to the pipe.

Hi all,
 
MarisStella, in cooperation with The Art of Age of Sail, have just released their new kit, the 1:48 HMS Ontario. This is a multimedia kit, including many traditional elements, but also some 3D-printed , resin, and photo-etched parts. Finished model will be 81cm long. 
 
We promise to being you an in-box review of this as soon as we can. 
 
http://www.marisstella.hr/gotovi_modeli_galery.php?id=1111&tip=2&hms-ontario-81cm-1-48
 
 

Good evening everyone from a very damp Somerset
 
take two on the life boats,
 
i wasnt happy with the grab ropes, so i redid them, where i had originally threaded the ropes through the hull i filled them with eyelets,
 
wasnt happy with this

i drilled out the holes to remove the black thread, which had been secured with C/A

used 1mm thread with a grime wash

MK1 and MK2

need to tone down the weathering a bit, or use a different wash, i am still playing around with the covers

Good morning everyone
 
thank you for comments, messages and likes
 
i have finished on of the pair, 
 
im not 100% sure about the black hand hold

Good morning everyone
 
Thank you for the likes and comments
 
 
after letting the paint dry overnight, i then masked around the boat to get a cutting line
 
after trimming the cover fell away from the hull and allowed me to remove the bands and cling film
 
i have cut a few tabs from the off cuts to make a few securing positions
 
next will be to paint it again to cover the cut line and put a different colour on the tabs, then do it all over again on the other boat

 

Good evening everyone
 
today i turned my attention to the life boats 
 
i was thinking how to make realistic covers for them and came across this youtube video
 
https://www.google.com/search?q=modelling+creating+tarpaulin&rlz=1C1PQHB_enGB727GB742&oq=m&aqs=chrome.1.69i60j69i59l3j69i60l3j69i65.5792j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#kpvalbx=_waJFXqazI_mP1fAPmbOz8Ao19
 
so this is my take on that so far
 


i had to thin the keel a bit to fit in the davit rests

a piece of wire to stop any sagging, then covered in cling film to protect the boat, and held in place with elastic bands


instead of tissue paper i used some sail material from and old kit again held in place

painted with a pva/water solution with a few creases deliberately in place

when dry

i have used lifecolour grey paint for this (left over from the Bismarck build)

 
 

Good evening everyone
 
now that i have a system that works in getting a decent fit of the superstructure to the hull, i can continue and build the boat deck up, a lot less chance of damaging anything now 
 
the davits were made up a while ago, i just a white primer, as i wanted the flat white finish, today, they had a Flory grime wash over them and fitted to the deck, bollards, and handles, with the ropes and ropes are still to be sorted, but im happy with what has been done today, 

first day of retirement, and i have brought the hull back into the mancave
 
although not the way the instructions show, i have devised a system which allows the superstructure to be removed, using screws that are pretty well hidden. then is for any reason, the hull goes to someone else they can sort it out, my reasoning for it is that i wanted a tight seal not just a unit that lifted off, leaving gaps in places
 
i can now start work on the foredeck
 
thinking ahead i want rusty looking hull, im not quite sure how i am going to go about it, its not exactly a small unit