Trabakul by donrobinson - FINISHED - MarisStella - 1:32 scale

[Blue Ensign]

Amazing the difference a coat of varnish makes, nice looking hull

 

B.E.

[donrobinson]

Thanks B.E., it's a real honour having you stop by. I must apologise, I have taken one of your little tricks without permission, that is the wrapping of the soon to be removed bulkhead extensions with double sided tape before gluing the strakes on. I will take any corporal punishment that is required for this infraction.

[EJ_L]

Don, I just spent my lunch break reading though your build and now I will be sure to follow along. Great job on her so far as she sure is shaping up nicely. It is always impressive how varnish brings out the colors of wood. Instantly takes something from bland and rough looking to a beautiful creation.   

[donrobinson]

Thanks E.J., I have always been a big fan of the natural look and usually only use paints and stains for highlights only. So I am still not sure what I was thinking when I applied the stain and two coats of poly only to remove it later. Lesson learned.

[cobra1951]

Maybe Don but the final version was worth the trouble

[donrobinson]

I agree Bob and Thanks. What is your shipyard up to these days?

[cobra1951]

Just taking a short break to get rid of the barnacles then i'm going to start on the Occre Endeavour (at least that's the plan )

Edited August 12, 2016 by Cobr@

[EJ_L]

I too am a fan of natural wood. Nothing wrong with a good paint job but if I am going to go through all the trouble of making nice wood look good then I want to show it off to it's best which means just clear coats to bring out the natural colors and that is it. I even prefer to use either a flat or at most a satin finish as I've yet to see a glossy tree.   

[DenPink]

Hi Don

 

If you don't mind me saying what a nice job on the planking.

 

The colour is just fantastic, I do like the way you have different colours of the planks very nice.

 

Denis.

[riverboat]

great!! looking hull Don....nice job on the planking...

 

Frank

[donrobinson]

Good morning all, it's been some time now and I don't really have much to show for it. I'm really not sure how my time has been used as of late but production is very slow in the shipyard, hopefully this will change as the weather cools off.

 Since last time I have finished the planking, added the scupper plank upper wale and the rubbing strake

 

 

Here I have marked and measured the scupper openings then cut them out using a 2 mm bit on my mill. As  you can see I just made up a little table for the mill added a fence then just cut the openings free hand. This is so much easier cutting in the scuppers off the ship, good design by MarisStella

 

 

Clamping and the end result

 

 

Shaping the top . 

 

]

 

Building up the bow

 

 

 Here the bow is being shaped and the final planks for the upper wale installed. It was at this point I ran into a little snag.....the upper wale plank was supposed to be .5 mm thick and I installed 1.5 mm thick pieces   . I was thankful that I used not only ca but also weldbond to glue these pieces on so no one method would get the pieces off without major damage . Next option was to sand off 1mm of the strake so, when I finally found my happy face, the sanding begun using a dremel. I suppose I was smiling so much I could not see that I sanded right through it in one spot thus requiring me to glue another piece on in this spot and do some more sanding......by hand.

 The good part of all of this is I live in the country with no neighbours close by to hear my "sounds of joy" and my dog has finally returned home. The pictures show the plank before sanding

 Next step is painting the rubbing strake and upper wale and the space in between them(not sure of the name for this area) I have begun this I will have some updates hopefully soon.

 

 Take Care and Thanks for stopping by

Edited September 25, 2016 by donrobinson

[donrobinson]

I just noticed there are no pictures of the rubbing strake installed so here are some pictures, the painting has just begun with four coats of grey so far and three coats of the blueish black.

 

 

 The paint is just cheap acrylic paint from Michaels, the grey is steel grey and the blue/black is a mixture of midnight blue and black. These are the brushes I used, also from Michaels. I didn't bother to mask as I am not very good at that so there are a couple of little touch ups to be done. The grey still needs a couple of coats and the blue will probably need another 4 or 5 coats

[Landlubber Mike]

Really nice work Don.  The wood in the MarisStella kits is really beautiful with a natural finish.  

 

By the way, I blame you for me now working on three builds at the same time  

[donrobinson]

Thanks Mike, . I guess we are even......because I blame you for getting me started on the Pegasus!!

[cobra1951]

Nice as usual Don . The Colours really compliment each other   

[Seventynet]

Don, it looks really, really good. I am sure I am going to have to borrow several of your approaches for my Brazzera build. Thanks for showing me the way.

 

Ian

[DocBlake]

Great job, Don!  She is coming together nicely.  Nice recovery on the wale, by the way!

[donrobinson]

Hi Bob, Thanks for dropping and for your compliment. It took a little bit of experimenting with the blue but I'm happy with the colours.

[donrobinson]

Hey Ian, how was the holiday? Your Brazzera will be real similar in many ways, she will be a fun build. These last few planks took a lot of bending, edge bending and surface bending but she finally came together with no major problems other than self inflicted ones

[donrobinson]

Hi Dave, I finally got a stroke of luck with the wale and it turned out good now with a few coats of paint and the proper photography it should hardly be noticed  .

 By the way sweet work on your AVS

[Seventynet]

The getaway was great Don. We are stocked up on wine for the next several months! Funny that you should mention bending. I am currently pondering how to bend, edge bend and twist the first interior plank (number 18) to follow the supporting bilge stringer (17.1) at the bow...otherwise known as wood torture.  .

​

Ian

[EJ_L]

Looking good Don. I will echo many of the others in saying those colors do look great. They compliment each other nicely and even match well with the natural wood on the lower hull.

[donrobinson]

Thanks E.J. much appreciated

[DenPink]

Hi Don

 

What can I say that others have already said.

I will say this WOW nice paint work very nice.

 

Denis.

[donrobinson]

Thanks for stopping in Denis and Thanks for your comment. It's always appreciated

[donrobinson]

Hey Zoltan, Thanks. Since this morning I've done three coats of blue on port side and one coat of blue on starboard. It's looking like at least two more coats of blue on each side and then probably a couple of coats of grey. Good part about all of this is the little naps in between coats of paint  

[riverboat]

Nice work on the bow Don...shes really shaping up....

 

Frank

[donrobinson]

Thanks Frank, it's always so good to have you stop by

[mikiek]

Wow Don - what a cool idea for scuppers! That bulwark area adds a lot to the overall appearance.

 

So - I can blame someone else for 4 builds at one time?

[donrobinson]

Thanks Mike, if you can put the blame on someone else you tend to feel better about yourself