Help with resin hull please

[ChrisSC]

Hi All. I hope I am posting this in the right place. I am attempting to figure out how to build my first resin ship kit and am hoping for some help/advice with an issue I have.

The kit hull is 1/700 scale and two part. There is a joint at the waterline that gives you the option of building either a waterline or full hull version. Both halves are keyed to supposedly give you a better fit. I want to build it full hull.

The issue I have is the lower half of the hull is wider than the top along most of the point they join together. This is especially true amidship. There is no movement in either, they are solid as a rock. How would I go about making a seamless joining here?

I have thought of three ways, two of which do not appeal to me and of which I am pretty certain would not end well.

1. Saw down the middle of the supports in the upper hull and put something inside and across to hopefully force the upper hull to widen at the joint slightly.

2. Use filler to blend the overhang of the lower hull in.

3. Sand down the lower hull half to the width of the top half.

 

I do not have confidence in either numbers 2, or 3. If I try number 2, trying to use filler for this, I feel the scale and area is too small and I will wind up sanding away portholes and any other detail trying to blend this step out in the hull in.

If I try number 3 I feel I will not be able sand and fill well enough to recreate the subtle curvature and contours of the molded hull, thus ruining it.

Number 1 is what I would prefer to work, giving me the best chance of it joining correctly but the two halves are keyed and I also don’t know if the upper hull will stretch without breaking.

 

I was hoping with the small scale and the long length of this joint that the halves would line up better but unfortunately they don’t. I do realize I obviously need to use some filler on the seem to fill in the space between upper and lower halves, but was not expecting to have to widen or narrow one half of the hull.

 

Hopefully this is a common issue with resin and some with experience here can advise me on the correct way to make this joint invisible when the model is complete. Thanks in advance for any input I may receive.

Chris

[lmagna]

Looks like you will have a nice liner when you are done Chris

 If the lower portion of the hull is truly wider than the top then I would probably use your method #3 but with possibly some additional steps and cautions. 

#1 you could go ahead and glue the lower hull into place a nd then before doing anything more take a small drill and deepen the portholes, especially those on the lower couple of rows so that they do not get sanded or scraped away.

#2 I would use a straight edge or back edge of a knife blade as a scraper and drawing it down the full length of the waterline remove the excess lower hull a little at a time until even. If done carefully there should be little or no contact with the upper hull at all.

#3 Possibly remove the male portion of the keyway and glue the two halves together freehand using feel to make certain that tey are as centered as possible and then do steps #1 and 2.

 

I would never try and stretch or bend anything resin. It is very brittle and it is almost certain that you will end up snapping something. CA glue can do wonders with resin but it would still be a PITA. 

 

Good luck with your build, are you going to do a build log on her?

  

Edited December 10, 2020 by lmagna

[ChrisSC]

Thanks Imagna. I was experimenting with a few things today. I wound up putting the lower hull in a vise with soft jaws and squeezing it tighter. While it was under pressure I used a heat gun to heat up the resin and then cooled it off with compressed air. I did this all along the hull. It's much better than it was and if it holds its current shape then I think I can manage to make it look OK.

[lmagna]

Great job Chris

 

You are a braver and better man than me! If you use a strong CA glue and get it locked to the upper hull it should hold the new shape.