Miss Unlimited by LMDAVE - FINISHED - Dumas

[LMDAVE]

OK, this is going to be an interesting build. We are setting up to have an estate sale for my Mother and Father's home. I was remind that an old boat that he was building may still be up in the attic. I remembered the boat from seeing in when I was young in the 70's and 80's. Just remember it being a speedboat of some sort. Well anyway, the estate lady did find the boat and handed it over to me and I didn't know how it was built, or where I would go from there.

 

After asking some questions on here yesterday trying to find out what kit this was, I had it narrowed down to Miss Unlimited. I asked the Estate lady if there was a box for it, and she said no, So I figured I had to scratch build the upper section of the boat (which comes as plastic molds). But surprisingly a few hours later I received a text with these pictures asking if this is what I was looking for:

 

 

 

I was ecstatic to get to see this. I drove over and picked up the box. I want to finish this boat as a tribute to my dad, but I didn't have and intention of making it motorized/RC controlled, just for display. I don't know if I will change my mind later. But for now I just want to finish it and give it an interesting paint job. There isn't a whole lot of pieces left to finish, but I'm still going to make a build log for this. Working with a model that has been in the attic for 40 years will be a challenge. I already had to seal a lot of spit plywood with a thinned out wood glue mixture and some clamps. That worked out great.

 

Also, the model appears to have a whitewash paint over it, it came with mahogany sheets for the top, but so  much for making a nice varnished top. I will improvise with the paint job to get a finish I like. The main reason Im glad I found the box was for the plastic molds. The contests of the box left are this:

 

One other funny thing:

[bruce d]

I love these old hot-rods! Mind if I watch?

[gjdale]

Looks like an interesting build. I’ll pull up a chair too.

[John Ruy]

Count me in, should be great ride. 
 

What a great find and an opportunity to honor your Dad finishing his build for him.

[LMDAVE]

Jumped right in yesterday/today with making some progress on the build. I added in the bracing strips for the aft decking. I had to form some pieces out of wood scraps for joining the aft deck contour to the front deck. . Then glued the decking panels on. They slightly overlap, so there's a lot of filing and sanding to do for it to follow the hull. I filed/sanded one side already. Still a lot more to go.

 

I decided I'm going to plank the whole upper deck with 3ft. mahogany strips (1/4" wide strips are on order). Since the forward deck was already painted white and sanded, I'd never get the aft to match. I want a nice varnished mahogany deck front to back, with solid paint hull, and possibly a white trim line dividing the two. Still planning that part out.

 

 

[LMDAVE]

Continuing on with bringing this old model back to life. I trimmed and filed the aft deck panels to match to contours of the boat. Other than that it's been a lot of filling and sanding , then filling more spots and sanding just to get the little imperfections out from some cracking edges over the years. Other than that, I'm waiting on the decking walnut strips to come in. I didn't realize I ordered from overseas (modelers central) to USA when I ordered, so it may be a little while.

I added this filler brace to the front access panel cavity because it was teetering on the middle brace, and panel wouldn't always sit flush. This assures a flush fit every time its installed.

 

I need to make a little filler triangle here where walnut decking will be. I'm not very happy with how you had to cut the plastic formed cowl pieces out of the model kit. There's not a good guide where the exact cut should have been. I'll still use the pieces (because I really have no choice), but for what's going to be a nice wooden sturdy boat, these flimsy plastic cowl pieces are not going to be the best. Although I have no plans to make this RC controlled, I'm still leaving access just in case I change my mind.

[LMDAVE]

Still waiting on the Walnut decking to come in, so I moved on with a few things. I decided on a paint/style I was painting this. Walnut clear poly deck, Blue body, and gold cowl. I also designed a little paint scheme for the back fin. So, I worked on that this weekend, I'll be clear coating everything afterwards. Also, since this boat will be a tribute to my dad, I remember when I was young he was part of a CB radio club and his handle was "TRUE BLUE". So that is was this boat will be named. I'm even making so decals from waterslide printer paper to go on the body.

 

I don't feel this is straying from the "Miss Unlimited" the kit is titled, because the kit is meant to build 1 of 4 or 5 separate popular boats from it's age, I'll just be customizing my own.

 

[yvesvidal]

Your story sounds like a fairy tale. This is so great, that you would first find the skeleton of the kit and later on the original box with all the missing parts.

 

Great build so far. I am following with interest.

 

Yves

[Louie da fly]

Interesting hull shape, too. So different from the normal run of models you see.

[LMDAVE]

Thanks guys, I've been busy this week with the deck. My strips came in and I got it all planks. Here's some pictures of the steps. This is just the raw sanded wood. I cant wait to get some Poly on the walnut to make the color and shine come out and it should really pop.

 

 

 

 

[Louie da fly]

That's looking very good, Dave. A nice crisp job of planking, which will look even better with the poly. It really transforms the look of the boat.

[Nirvana]

Very nice with the planking. 
There's a varnish called "Captain's Varnish" that will really highlight the wood. It is intended for real boats.

[LMDAVE]

Thanks. I’ll have to look Into that varnish but will probably stick with the poly since I already have some ready go on.

[gjdale]

That’s looking great Dave. If you are going to maintain an option for RC, then you might want to consider Spar Marine Varnish as it has UV protection built in to protect the finish from yellowing over time.

[LMDAVE]

2 hours ago, gjdale said:

That’s looking great Dave. If you are going to maintain an option for RC, then you might want to consider Spar Marine Varnish as it has UV protection built in to protect the finish from yellowing over time.

The Spar varnish is the part I'm up in the air about. Yes, I'd like to maintain the option, but I also did some test pieces of wood, since this will be a woodgrain deck and enamel colored sides with either white or gold line. The spar varnish I had from a previous outdoor project i did has a yellow amber tint when I put it over the colored enamel. I just didn't want to take any chances of ruining the finish after I have it how I like it. But at the same time I like the idea of keeping this RC ready. Unfortunately I already put the first coat of poly on. I'm not sure if spar works the same over poly. I read a few things that says its ok. But,  I'll just have to see about as I continue and may do some more tests.

[gjdale]

Dave,

 

If you want to see how the Spar varnish comes up over woodgrain and a painted bottom, have a look at post #280 on page 10 of my Chriscraft Runabout log:

 

 

I finished that build almost 3 years ago now and it looks as fresh today as it did then.

 

[LMDAVE]

Nice boat Grant, that looks amazing

[LMDAVE]

I've been busy the last couple of days with this. I've put on 3 coats of poly. Plan to continue sanding and coat, but this is enough for now before taping off the upper deck and paint the sides. I plan to poly over all coats together after that to get a uniform finish.

 

Also, as a side project, I made this stand out of some scrap wood in the shed, and I trimmed it off with the two colors that will be on the boat hull.

 

[Nirvana]

I am so glad you got this model. You have done a fantastic job of recovering her. She needs a special place in the house to honor your father.

[Louie da fly]

That planking has come up magnificently! And the stand is worthy of the model.

[LMDAVE]

On 6/27/2020 at 11:22 AM, Nirvana said:

I am so glad you got this model. You have done a fantastic job of recovering her. She needs a special place in the house to honor your father.

Thanks. I painted the boat over the last couple of days. That was the part I was most nervous about, the lines  and color scheme and how it would look. I have a few more touch ups to do before posting update pictures. This boat is a good tribute to my dad, hence the name "True Blue" I gave it.  (I know a male associated boat name is against tradition but seemed fitting this time).

[LMDAVE]

2 hours ago, Louie da fly said:

That planking has come up magnificently! And the stand is worthy of the model.

Thanks, I've been doing what I've been doing to finish this boat without any serious pre-planning, So, its been working out so far. I have a few hurdles to cross finishing the upper section so it doesn't look "cheesy". That was the only part about this kit that I was worried about is merging the cheap plastic cowl pieces on top of a beautiful wood mood boat. But I have some ideas to help it along.

[Nirvana]

True Blue is a great name, and in my opinion a neutral too.

I would have given my RC sailing yacht that name, hence the color, unless I had promised my wife to name the yacht after her. Mary II

[LMDAVE]

This is another interesting "sign" that happen while doing this, and true story. I know I wanted to call it true blue and had some shades of blue I was looking for, so I went to the paint store and was looking through the cans with my wife, and when I saw the color I wanted, look at the name of the paint:

[Nirvana]

The paint job on my yacht wasn't done by me, I had an auto body shop with paint both doing it for 50 dollars excluding the cost of primer, paint and  clear coating. 

I couldn't have done that nice job myself. 

That being said, using Krylon spray can product shows that you are really good at painting. 

[LMDAVE]

Well, I'm not saying it's going to come out as nice as an auto body shop. I've painted a few guitars over the years, and to me, a nice finish is based on the body prep and the clear coat, and not so much the color coat. But that being said, not all areas of the hull was smooth as glass before painting, but hopefully the final product will be to my liking. 

[LMDAVE]

Well this is the painted hull, with several coats of clear on it. I still need to polish it down several times and when I put the cowl on I'll have to blend the clear into it. But this gives a basic shot of paint. The decal was an issue because I could print clear backing decals because it's transparent, so had to pick a blue background of closest match.  So, you see the square.

 

 

 

[Nirvana]

Outstanding paintjob! To buff the painted area use 6000 grit and water then with feather weight pressure get that shine!

[LMDAVE]

Thanks, yeah I have these polishing pads, 10 pads that go in series from 1500 to 12000 grit. 

[Nirvana]

Perfect! Those pads are great to use.

But they have to be cleaned, still easy to scratch the surface if they have any dirt on them. Oh btw, let the paint cure for at least 72 hours before any buffing commence.