RMS Titanic Lifeboat by David Lester - Artesania Latina - 1:35 scale

[David Lester]

I thought it would be fun to build a simple model for a change (and avoid all that rigging.) This boat is very attractive and I think it will make a handsome little model. I located it at Cornwall Model boats and it was quite inexpensive.

 

It would seem on the surface that such a kit should be considerably easier to build than a large intricate one, but already I'm not so sure. I know I would be up the creek already if this was my first "starter" kit. The instructions are weak and the illustrations are pretty poor too. 

 

There are a couple of ridiculous "stiffeners" as they call them to be installed at the bow and stern, but I soon discovered they are all but useless, so I cut them out and added filler blocks. I'm a little concerned about the planking. It's clinker, which I've never done before and the material provided is 1.5 mm thick which seems like it will be very heavy to bend over the short length of the model. I'm considering substituting 1mm planks, but I'm not sure if the scale would be noticeably off. I will do some experimentation.

 

My fears may be premature, but I suspect I'm in for a bit more of a challenge that I anticipated when I bought this one.

 

David

 

[SigEp Ziggy]

Wow, 1/35 scale, that's armor scale. This build should have some great detail. I will watch intently.

[David Lester]

Well, I'm just about ready to throw this thing across the room. I have made four attempts to plank it, never getting more than three planks on and then dissolving the glue and starting over. 

 

I was hoping it would be a little in-between project bringing me nothing but joy😀, but it is the most aggravating difficult thing I've tried to do out of all the models I've built. There are many problems to solve: the bow and stern are identical, so if I try to use one plank for the whole length, it has to be cut and fitted perfectly at each end, rather than fitting it only at the bow and just cutting it off at the stern - the planks overlap, so it's very difficult to figure out how much to taper each one at the ends - I don't know what the planking wood is, but it's very hard, very thick and is too heavy and inflexible to work with against the weak and flimsy framework. If this hull was about 24" long with sold bulkheads it might be ok but as it is it's like framing a wall with 2x2's and trying to nail 2x4's on as the siding - and last, but far from least I simply cannot get this clinker planking to blend from the overlap into a flush fit at the bow and stern without looking like hell.

 

As you have probably inferred by now, I am not having fun with this one, so it's going to have an indefinite time-out and I'm going to focus on my Pride of Baltimore. At least I didn't spend much money on it.

 

David

[Jim Rogers]

I have never done a clinker myself but I think what I would do is just plank it like you normally would and then clinker over it.

[David Lester]

Jim, Maybe I'll just plank it normally and leave it at that. Thanks for the suggestion. It isn't too late; I haven't thrown it across the room yet.

David

[GrandpaPhil]

Clinker planking is a pain.  

I did it for the boats on my Prince de Neufchatel.

Take it slow and no throwing your model across the room, lol.

[David Lester]

I haven't thrown it across the room, although many years ago I did throw a garden bench I was building across the room. The top and bottom rails for the back had dados in them and there was a series of slats that had to line up perfectly in order to get the top rail on. It did not go well. However I managed to salvage it and we used it for many years.

 

I've decided to plank the hull conventionally and see how that looks.

David

[shane762]

I started on this one and enjoyed it but not too far into it I realized that those thick planks were making it very difficult.  I've long meant to return to it but get new wood for the planking.    I started a build log on it which, though very incomplete, might have some useful bits of information for you.  Mainly as a list of things not too do.