'Jenny' Shrimp Boat by Fright - FINISHED - Lindberg - 1:60 - PLASTIC

[Fright]

Started on March 19, 2019

[Fright]

   I was looking at plastic kits online when I came across Lindberg's 1:60 scale shrimp boat. I immediately had a vision of Forest Gump's 'Jenny' shrimp boat pop into my head. The price was right so I made my purchase on Ebay. I just completed my build of Lindberg's Nantucket lightship so I was aware of some of the problems with these kits. Poor fitting parts; lots of excess plastic; a good deal of sanding is why many look down upon this company's kits. Well, I wanted a shrimp boat and not much is out there to work with so here I go.

   I downloaded a few pictures from the movie of Jenny to use as a reference. There are very few pictures out there from the movie to look at. There is one good movie snippet that can be found on Youtube that shows part of the stern deck; Forest at the stern wheel (made just for shooting the movie); and quick glimpse of rear of cabin. So this will be my attempt at re-creating the 'Jenny".

 

 

 

[Fright]

I washed all of the parts with soap and water and let dry. I sprayed all parts with grey primer. After watching a couple of videos on youtube using hairspray and salt techniques to create weathered paint, I painted some blotches of yellow, bluish green, and brown on the hull. I sprayed a layer of hairspray and then sprayed a thin layer of flat white paint over the hull. After drying, I scraped the surface with a toothbrush to expose the under colors. 

 

I wet the entire surface of hull with water and sprinkled course salt and let dry. I then sprayed another coat of flat white paint and allowed to dry. I then went in and used a toothbrush to remove the salt crystals.

 

I'm sorry that I did not take any pictures of piecing together the cabin structure. The cabin roof is not glued nor is the cabin structure to the deck in these photos. The deck was weathered by brushing blotches of the yellow, bluish green and brown over the primer and then spraying the deck with flat white. I then used a stiff bristle brush and a little steel wool to remove some of the white to expose the under colors.

 

I used enamel spray paint for primer grey and flat white and decided to use acrylic craft paints purchased from HobbyLobby for brush work on my boat.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 6, 2020 by Fright
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[popeye the sailor]

the hull came out rather well,  considering that the combination of paints usually don't work well together.  I wouldn't change a thing     great start....glad to see another fine project!

[BobG]

Wonderful! I love seeing realistically weathered models whether they are wood or plastic. Learning to to good weathering is high on my list of things to learn about painting.

[Fright]

Taped off upper hull and used water and salt once again before spraying red oxide to lower hull. After drying, I then brushed off loose particles of salt. I sponged dark grey on the springer rail. Added a little more rust weathering to the hull. I also added the Jenny name plate to both sides of the bow.

 

Edited March 7, 2020 by Fright

[BobG]

Simply superb. She's going to be a realistic beauty!

[Fright]

   Until this build, I have always used rattle can sprays and either Testors or Model Masters enamels in jars. My wife does a lot of crafting and she turned me on to using acrylic craft paints from HobbyLobby. For this kit, I basically am using an Oyster White, AC Flesh and Khaki Tan for most of my weathering by brush. Two brands are Delta Creamcoat and DecoArt Americana that come in 2oz. containers and are very inexpensive.

   With that said, here is the start of my cabin. I'm sorry I did not show all of the pieces but they consist of four panels and the top deck. I had to do some sanding in order to get all of them even for gluing. I then went about weathering the cabin to match up with the hull. The cabin sits over a large opening in the deck. A gentleman by the name of Don Stauffer put in a floor for the front of his cabin. He has some fine models and great work! At this point I decided to borrow his idea and create a total floor and cabin furniture for some interest. Almost all of this will never be scene but I had a good time putting it together. I also decided I would add lighting to the inside of cabin.

   For my lighting, I am using a 3v Pico size warm white light and coin battery with on/off switch by Evan Designs. His products are so easy to work with and produce great results. I highly recommend checking out his sight!

   The floor, bed and desk were created with Evergreen styrene sheets and rods. The stove was created by using a plastic safety covering over a computer plug. I doodled around for a couple of weeks and finally completed everything. Again, most of this will not be visible. Here is what it looks like at this point.

 

 

 

 

Edited March 7, 2020 by Fright

[BobG]

56 minutes ago, Fright said:

 Until this build, I have always used rattle can sprays and either Testors or Model Masters enamels in jars. My wife does a lot of crafting and she turned me on to using acrylic craft paints from HobbyLobby. For this kit, I basically am using an Oyster White, AC Flesh and Khaki Tan for most of my weathering by brush. Two brands are Delta Creamcoat and DecoArt Americana that come in 2oz. containers and are very inexpensive.

She just keeps looking better and better. I would think that brushing would be preferred when you are trying to do weathering since it can give you a rougher paint job than spraying.  

 

1 hour ago, Fright said:

 For my lighting, I am using a 3v Pico size warm white light and coin battery with on/off switch by Evan Designs. His products are so easy to work with and produce great results. I highly recommend checking out his sight!

These look excellent. Where will do you plan to hide the coin battery and switch?

 

1 hour ago, Fright said:

The floor, bed and desk were created with Evergreen styrene sheets and rods. The stove was created by using a plastic safety covering over a computer plug.

I was wondering if wood could be used for thing like the table even though this is a plastic model or is it just better to stay with plastic for everything?

[Fright]

Bob - The acrylics seem to allow more versatility when it comes to scrubbing, wiping away, using steel wool to create the weather effects. Using several underlying colors also gives the illusion of years of built up paint. 

   I plan to hide the small coin battery inside the base. I'm still toying with ideas for my base. The on/off switch will be on the back side of base.

   Wood would have worked but I had a lot of different sizes of Evergreen styrene sheets in my stock. Here's a test run with one Pico light that I did in the dark. 

* the cabin's top deck is not glued to cabin

 

Edited March 8, 2020 by Fright

[Fright]

Today I worked on putting together my parts for the aft steering column. This was created strictly for filming Forest at the wheel. The figure came with the kit. The control box and U shaped frame was made with Evergreen plastic. I drilled hole in control box to allow me to place a wire through and bent the handles with a fine pliers. Used Elmer glue blob to create the round knobs on controls. The wheel is a spare part from a pirate kit. I cut off the extended handles and remove 4 of the inside rods of wheel. I also drilled holes into the bottom of U frame so I can insert a wire for more support when glued to the deck. 

 

[BobG]

3 hours ago, Fright said:

Here's a test run with one Pico light that I did in the dark. 

The lighting looks great! I'm loving your build.

[popeye the sailor]

coming along really nice Robert!   

[Fright]

     I was able to get quite a bit of work accomplished with Jenny. I went back in on the lower hull and with a stiff brush and added Green Grunge weathering powder from Bragdon Enterprises. I then sprayed the hull with a coat of Testors Dullcoat to seal the powder.

    I repainted the hatch covers to a light greyish white and glued the covers to the deck. I added a bit more 'grunge' to the deck with some brushed on graphite dust and then flicked some water-downed red onto deck and hatches. I think she is looking like a working shrimp boat similar to the movie version. 

     In the movie, the life preservers are hung high on the side of cabins. I removed the square frame and the glue pin from the back of the preservers. I added some line and a rope coil (which hides the original placement hole on the cabin's bulkhead) and glued into place. 

     I put together the winch assembly. The instructions are really vague on the placement of end parts so be careful. If fitted incorrectly, the winch will sit too low and interfere with the main hatch. Painted assembly and the wound some line around the pulleys that will go to the stabilizers rigging and glued into place.

     Glued the aft wheel assembly to the deck. I drilled hole into the deck where the center steering column glues into for extra support.  

[lmagna]

Amazing work on what is normally a pretty plain Jane model Robert.

[BobG]

It just keeps getting better and better, Robert! Thanks for explaining how you are doing the painting. I love these realistically weathered boats and I want to learn how to do weathering like you are doing. How did you learn these techniques? Do you have any particularly good resources that have been helpful to you?

[Fright]

Bob - I majored in Art while in college so I have some experience with painting. Also have practiced on a cheap model with trial and error. Here's a couple of links on that I found on line: 

Hope these will come in handy for you down the road! p.s. Say hi to Old Town Sacramento for me. Had a wonderful time there! I am originally from Los Angeles.

Edited March 10, 2020 by Fright

[Fright]

Lou - thank you so very much for your comments and for following along with this build. Lindberg has a reputation for low quality, inexpensive model kits but with some time and a little extra work, they can come out looking like little treasures. My previous Lindberg kit was my 1st attempt with lighting and creating a seascape diorama base. That model was Lindberg Nantucket Light Ship 1:95 scale plastic kit.

[BobG]

12 minutes ago, Fright said:

Hope these will come in handy for you down the road! 

Many thanks, Robert.

[lmagna]

2 hours ago, Fright said:

That model was Lindberg Nantucket Light Ship 1:95 scale plastic kit.

I followed that build as well. It turned out nicely.

[BobG]

4 hours ago, Fright said:

Hope these will come in handy for you down the road! p.s. Say hi to Old Town Sacramento for me. Had a wonderful time there! I am originally from Los Angeles.

I just saw this part of your post. I am an avid cyclist and I live about 3 miles from Old Town and I ride through it all the time getting to the beginning of the American River Bike Trail. I don't know how long ago you were there but the downtown area of Sacramento has been undergoing a fast paced renaissance with lots of construction and rehabbing going on everywhere. The Golden One Arena, which the home of the Sacramento Kings, ushered in the new era downtown. Now there are high rises going up, lots of old building being renovated, many new restaurants and bars and a whole lot of mixed use commercial and infill apartment housing squeezing in everywhere. Old Town is generally the same but the nearby waterfront is also undergoing more development and there is a huge plan underway for using the old Sacramento Railyards as a massive commercial development including a new soccer stadium for the Sac Republic FC, a medical campus, 6-10,000 living units, 3-4 million square feet of office space, half a million square feet of retail space, 775,00 square feet of mixed use space, half a million square feet of historical and cultural use and 33 acres of open space. The town is really growing up.

[Fright]

Bob - It was years and years ago when I last visited Sacramento. I have a long time college friend that lives there. On one of my ventures up to the Bay area for a Who concert, she took me over to Old Town for breakfast. I sat there for at least 3-4 hours ordering drinks and people watching. She came back to pick me up and, needless to say, I was ready for the concert. Although I lived in SFV and Hollywood area, I constantly drove up to SF for concerts at the Cow Palace, Oakland Stadium, Fillmore West, The Fab Mabuhay Gardens etc. for concerts. I'm land locked here in Atlanta but my wife and I are hoping to move near Ocala Fl. About an hours drive to the Gulf and 1 1/2 to Orlando. We miss so many of our friends in CA but we no longer could really afford to live and have fun there. Our daughter and her family live in Loma Linda, CA. 

Edited March 11, 2020 by Fright

[BobG]

You just sparked a bunch of memories, Robert, when you mentioned those concert venues in San Francisco and the Greek Theater in Berkeley is still one of my favorite venues for concerts...just a few concerts I remember the most were The Stones, ELP, Paul McCartney and Wings, Ten Years After, Fleetwood Mac ...oh man, those were the days. I love the Bay Area and San Francisco is one of my favorite cities on the planet. However, it is ridiculously expensive...right up there with NYC I would think. Sacramento is a good compromise and a really up and coming city...an hour and a half to SF and 2 hours to Lake Tahoe...pretty nice! 

[popeye the sailor]

your doing a super job on this one Robert.....your weathering skills have sharpened  a lot    she looks great.......

[Fright]

Popeye the Sailor - Thank you for your compliment and you're right - my skills have improved. Thanks to yourself and many others that are here at MSW, I improve with each new model. I now have 6 kits to my name. Your models are always a pleasure to watch them come together. Your T78 Norden build helped to inspire me with my Jenny.

 

It's good to be back modeling. I had some health issues last year and I stepped away for a bit. One month turned into another and... we've all done that. I keep getting sidetracked on building Model Shipways 1:48 18th Century Longboat. This would be my 1st attempt with POF.

[John Allen]

Am impressed with what you created, bears no resemblance to a base plastic kit. Wonderful job keep on. I agree on the cheaper acrylics I purchased some real cheapies Wal-Mart 2 ozs they go on great and still look good after a long period of time. I did a half model sailboat and tried their enamels also cheap as dirt, could not believe how well it turned out, never any brush marks either one.

 

I know a lot of these folks poo poo these paints to each their own. Myself being in the empty pocket bracket of society enjoy a deal.

 

Keep posting doing a great job.

[Fright]

DecoArt and FolkArt acrylics in the craft section are very inexpensive and provide good coverage. I have a HobbyLobby very close to my house. My wife does 1:6 and 1:12 scale figures and creepy doll house furniture. She got me hooked on using these products. A wonderful marriage indeed! 

[Fright]

Stayed up late and worked on detailing the deck and gluing Cabin and scratch built compartment under smokestack to the deck. 1st haul for Forest - 'there's no shrimp'! Toilet seat, rain boot and misc. crud. Scooper against bullwark. Small box added to lower right. Oil barrel and stack of cans added behind the cabin. Still need loads of line on deck but almost ready to install the outriggers and try net.

Edited March 29, 2020 by Fright

[BobG]

Exceptional! l love it!

[popeye the sailor]

interesting detail