Riva Aquarama by aydingocer - FINISHED - Amati - RADIO - A new challenge for a so-far static ship builder

[aydingocer]

Very interesting to watch your build. Informative and motivational though maybe too much as my wife saw me reading through it yesterday and gave me one of her "don't you dare buy that" look. Lol. May have to approach this one with a bribe...

 

Yes, wive's bribe is often omitted in the total cost calculation of such hobbies, good that you've already realized it   . Though I assure you you'd save some if she'd seen a few photos of the finished model, as this is a definitely SAF-10 stuff (Spousal Acceptance Factor of 10, I mean)   .

[gjdale]

Yep, spouse approval factor is very important! My Chris Craft build is already designated as my wife's boat - it will even carry her name!

[Keith_W]

Love it, Aydin. Just a question - what exactly is the difference between direct drive and reduction drive? I saw from some of the later posts that reduction drive gives "more scale speed". If so, how much faster is direct drive?

[markjay]

What a great build and log, very tempting project...but unfortunately no room for something that size.

[aydingocer]

Love it, Aydin. Just a question - what exactly is the difference between direct drive and reduction drive? I saw from some of the later posts that reduction drive gives "more scale speed". If so, how much faster is direct drive?

 

Hi Keith,

 

I was curious also after your question and I counted the pitches. The gear ratio is 20/38, in other words roughly reducing by 1/2. 

[aydingocer]

BUILD DAY 7. INTERIOR DECORATION, DRY-FIT

 

Enough experimenting  with the radio control gear for now, having duly noted the following:

 

• I will need to order a suitable servo, receiver, transmitter and a battery
• The propellers that come with this 390€ + 150€ kit are crap. They are plastic. I will order a pair of decent propellers (3 bladed, 35mm diameter, M4 screw fit, 1 left hand and 1 right hand drive), most probably brass.
• I will be using reduction gear
• Engines are working (tested with a 9v battery)

 

I will move on to task of building the interiors, which I had stopped before. I have decided to use the “leather-like” material for the floor, seat base, and dash. I realized that a faux leather sheet would look fine, but with a significant fact: it will have the patterns of a 1:1 scale. At 1:10 scale the leather patterns should look much smaller, hence use the “leather-like” sheet, which came with the kit, looking like a better option in terms of scale. I am not sure about how to decorate the seats just yet. I am still looking around for the older version of those seats, which use real fabric and look more realistic than the plastic ones in the new version.

 

Anyway, here we go today:

Edited May 22, 2016 by aydingocer

[aydingocer]

The grill in the compartment on the front with its frame.

 

 

The frame is supposed to be stained with mahogany effect (why stain? Why not with a matching mahogany veneer just like everywhere else in the kit? I don’t know. Maybe the manufacturer thinks that because the compartment is hidden under the hood all the time it won't be at all visible normally).

 

Luckily I had this “antique” stain left over from an earlier project (I had stained Bluenose masts with it, if I remember correct).

 

 

Applied 2 layers with a paper napkin and it looks acceptable enough:

  

 

Frame in place (using CA glue):

 

 

And the component in place in the compartment (took some filing before it fit nicely):

 

Edited May 22, 2016 by aydingocer

[aydingocer]

Parts for the two seat bases:

 

 

I used the grids on the cutting mat to ensure that the shape keeps correct while the glue is curing:

 

 

See the structure is not totally rectangular:

 

 

 

 

The sharp corners need to be filed round to match the rounded corners of the lid:

 

 

Done (showing one of the bases):

 

Edited May 22, 2016 by aydingocer

[aydingocer]

In the mean time, I thought it is good time to start finally varnishing the interior.  The varnish has an overcoat interval of  4h-48h, therefore if I do 2 overcoats a day (one before going to work and one after coming home), with 10 layers planned, it will take about 5 days to get it ready.

 

Here is the 1^st coat using 20% thinner + 80% varnish, after slight primary sanding with 120 grit wet sanding paper:

 

 

Already looks promising (of course the varnish is just wet):

 

Edited May 22, 2016 by aydingocer

[aydingocer]

Bedroom matresses, using “leather like” material:

 

Draw the outline with a pencil:

 

 

Apply CA glue:

 

 

Press the part:

 

 

Roll on  from the fabric side in order to eliminate any bubbles:

 

 

Fold back and fix with CA glue:

 

 

The result (there are altogether 3 of them. All of them are dry-fitted at the moment, just to see how they will look):

 

Edited May 22, 2016 by aydingocer

[aydingocer]

Similar treatment to the seat bases. The non-rectangular shape of the bases give some challenges.

 

I marked with a pencil where the two ends of the fabric will overlap. This is in accordance with the photos in the instruction manual and are on the least visible spots once the bases and the seats are installed:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 22, 2016 by aydingocer

[aydingocer]

Checking with the seats (dry fit). The minor impurities, which I couldn't avoid during covering seem to be well hidden under the seats and in the small cabin space.

 

 

Edited May 22, 2016 by aydingocer

[aydingocer]

Dashboard and foot room coatings. These are to be applied on thick paper instead of veneer. I took a few copies of the paper just in case. It is always good to take backups.

 

 

Edited May 22, 2016 by aydingocer

[aydingocer]

Dashboard, floor and bottom of the back seat base are covered and dry fitted.

 

 

Edited May 22, 2016 by aydingocer

[aydingocer]

I wanted to see the looks with seats. I was just curious. This is the view at the moment:

 

 

 

 

Edited May 22, 2016 by aydingocer

[aydingocer]

END OF BUILD DAY 7.

 

5:30 hours today.

 

26 hours into build in total.

 

One more layer of varnish before I stop. This is the status at the end of DAY7 .Thanks for watching.

Edited May 22, 2016 by aydingocer

[gjdale]

Nice job on the seat coverings Aydin - it's looking great. I absolutely agree with you about propellers. I got a nice brass one from Dumas as an after-market addition. I know that MACK products also offer a range of nice brass props. I think that the ones offered by Dumas are actually made by Raboesch.

[aydingocer]

Nice job on the seat coverings Aydin - it's looking great. I absolutely agree with you about propellers. I got a nice brass one from Dumas as an after-market addition. I know that MACK products also offer a range of nice brass props. I think that the ones offered by Dumas are actually made by Raboesch.

 

I think I will order Raboesch. Cormwallmodels shop seems to have a selection of them. They look good enough and the prices are affordable. I don't need anything heavy duty.

[cog]

Aydin,

 

Your interior starts t look like an expensive hotel suite ... it looks marvelous so far. Before you can mount that brass prop you'll be a few days further, though, at least with the speed you are at currently.

 

Cheers

[aydingocer]

BUILD DAY 8. FIRST PLANKS

 

Today is the time to start planking, finally...

 

... which means a lot of filing before putting the first plank. So first thing to do is to cover the (currently being varnished) cockpit  against dust and accidental scratches:

 

Edited May 23, 2016 by aydingocer

[aydingocer]

Placed the hull on the ultimate base for filing and planking: a pillow. My best choice so far to absorb the friction and pressure.

 

Edited May 23, 2016 by aydingocer

[aydingocer]

Some details:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 23, 2016 by aydingocer

[aydingocer]

2 hours of filing and finally I guess it is ready. I will honor the dusty work by placing the first planks on the hull:

 

Edited May 23, 2016 by aydingocer

[aydingocer]

END OF BUILD DAY 8.

 

2:30 hours today.

 

28:30 hours into build in total.

 

One more layer of varnish before I stop. Looking shiny already. This is the status at the end of DAY8 .Thanks for watching.

 

 

Edited May 23, 2016 by aydingocer

[Nirvana]

Aydin,

 

I see you still have the Riva in the build slip, I would have removed it before any varnishing is applied this to avoid any splashing on the slip.

But that's only my two cents.

However, you are doing an amazing progress with her, she will be a big beauty on the water.

[WackoWolf]

Smart move with the cover.

[AntonyUK]

Hi Aydin.

Very nice progress.

The seats really do look the part in this boat.

Turning out to be a very nice kit. And you are turning it into a very nice model.

PS I like the days and hours you have worked on the kit at the start of the posts.

 

Regards Antony

[aydingocer]

Aydin,

 

I see you still have the Riva in the build slip, I would have removed it before any varnishing is applied this to avoid any splashing on the slip.

But that's only my two cents.

However, you are doing an amazing progress with her, she will be a big beauty on the water.

 

That's a good advice, thanks. A simple accidental drop of varnish on the slip can indeed render the slip unusable especially if it hardens on the way of  the moving parts.

[aydingocer]

BUILD DAY 9. DASHBOARD

 

Alright, I think that the cockpit has sufficient amount of varnish already and it is about time to install the final pieces: the dashboard. Planking may continue after that.

 

But before that, I would like to show something I had made earlier for soaking the strips. This has been my best friend at making it easy to bend the strips with the help of Amati plank bender. It is basically a plexiglass tube cut to size, water tightened from the bottom . It also has a cork to close from the top (see on the left, on the table), but since Riva Aquarama's strips happen to be longer than the tube, the cork is not applicable.

 

Having the strips rest in it a few hours, it is extremely comfortable to bend them.

 

Edited May 26, 2016 by aydingocer

[aydingocer]

Dashboard parts ripped, smoothened and lined up:

 

Edited May 26, 2016 by aydingocer