Orca by FlyingFish – FINISHED - Scale 1:20 - from the movie Jaws.

[FlyingFish]

"I’ll catch this bird for you, but it ain’t gonna be easy. Bad fish! Not like going down to the pond and chasing bluegills and tommycods. This shark, swallow ya whole. Little shakin’, little tenderizin’, down you go".

 

Thought I'd have a go at the Greener harpoon gun... until I saw how small it is in 1:20 scale!

 

 

I could of course do it with the lid closed, but that would be no fun, right?

 

 

Gun length spot, on, but too wide. Varifocal specs can be a pain...

 

 

Need to make the twine coils (the made them up to 1200lb breaking strain apparently)... roped up a length from three twists of 8/0 tan fly tying thread. 

 

 

 

Putting the elements together...

 

 

 

Tight fit, but happy with the result. Just needs handle attached, corners and tapes between lid and base.

 

 

[FlyingFish]

A bit more eye candy for the lower cabin...

 

 

Some of these are ridiculously small - I was using a hot air drier and blew several away someplace. 

[FlyingFish]

Carving out the M1 Garand 2 1/4" at this scale. (I use this photo to help scale items by eye).

 

 

 

 

[mtaylor]

Beyond impressive.  You've captured the devil in the details very well.

[Moab]

Wow! Great miniatures!...Moab

[neilm]

Absolutely brilliant. Stunning detail. Beautiful.

[FlyingFish]

Thanks all for kind words, quite undeserved. 😊

Orca is going into the paint shop for a bit... I am thankful that the original had such a beat up awful paint job; it's my default setting. 

Giving my new airbrush a try..(pause for sound of experienced air-brushers slapping hands to forehead)... got to start somewhere. All advice accepted gratefully. If you don't hear from me for a while, you'll know what's happening!

[neilm]

brush would be better as you get the rough grainy look of the brush strokes. More character that way. My opinion only. 

Still fantastic though. 

 

 

[FlyingFish]

2 hours ago, neilm said:

rough grainy look

You're right neilm, might well be the way to go. Warlock was white and her paint shows through in places, so need to learn how to get that look.

 

 

[FlyingFish]

Firstly, congrats to Neilm for completing his build of this boat in style. Great job, check it out if you haven't seen it.

Pressing domestic chores are keeping me from making progress. However, thought it was time to name the old gal.

 

Wait....

 

Hang on - 

 

 

 

 

Cora? Just a minute -

That's better.

[neilm]

Thank you Flyingfish.

always a nice feeling once those letters go on. It instantly becomes the Orca. Lovely build.

[Winnie]

Wow what a build... Stunning.

 

Oh and I kinda like Ocra...

[FlyingFish]

I mentioned in the intro to this build that I was hoping to shadow the full size orca build by Louis Sauzedde on his excellent You Tube Channel 'Tips from a Shipwright'. Well today he released Episode 1 of the Orca build, and I am really pleased that much of what he said about the shape of the hull in this video is what I had worked out from my research. He is so knowledgeable, and has access to the people who converted Warlock to Orca for the film. 

I know that I haven't got one thing right - there is more tumblehome at the transum than on my model, but overall I think I've been on the right lines. 

Here's the link if you are interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdqDIY_LeYU&ab_channel=TipsfromaShipwrightTipsfromaShipwright 

 

[FlyingFish]

2 hours ago, Winnie said:

Oh and I kinda like Ocra.

🤣

[FlyingFish]

In the little time I have, I've painted the hull with the base colour coat - no weathering or effects yet. I have to admit to a rookie error. I think I 'thinned' the black paint for the airbrush with airbrush cleaner by mistake; (sound of experienced air-brushers sighing - what a plonker.) I'm not a good painter, as you'll see.

Still I recovered the finish, (start again job) and now ready to get on with some decking and superstructure build again.

If you are interested, I used artists acrylics; the lower hull is mars black with raw umber and a hint of mixing white and flow improver. The upper hull is burnt sienna, crimson raw umber and mixing white. The deck is cerulean blue, light umber and titanium white.  All will be dulled with top coats later.

 

 

[GrandpaPhil]

Looking great!  Very impressive miniature work!

Edited July 8, 2021 by GrandpaPhil

[FlyingFish]

Thanks for comments - good to see some new faces on board.

Been busy with summer domestics, and as a fly fisherman, the trout have been calling.

 

Time to get the decking down and cover up all that earlier work!

Planking machined from field maple (planted by my wife over 20 years ago)  – great close grain and very dense. First stained with a mellow pine spirit dye to give it the yellow hue it will need when sanding back, then a red mahogany. Both rubbed back with grey Scotchpad, and brown paper to shine it up a bit.

Decided to use some 0.42 styrene sheet in between the planks for the caulking, which will take the spirit-based weathering washes later.

The spacing is exactly as in Orca I, and the hatches formed over the steering box, fuel tank pumps and engine.

 

Going...

 

Going...

 

Gone!

 

 

 

 

Edited July 14, 2021 by FlyingFish

[Moab]

Looking excellent!...Moab

[FlyingFish]

Pilot House

Lots of references on the movie, but significant differences between Ora I and II which can be confusing. I guess the production design team relied on the fact that the background of the scenes is not examined too closely. I have tried to build this as in life; lots of joinery and framing that will be hidden later.

Here’s an example from the galley unit:
Orca I – T&G planking

Orca II – no planking

 

So based on Orca I references...

 

 

[FlyingFish]

Cheers Moab!

[Moab]

Just saw the movie yesterday. Your model is so much nicer than that skow...Moab

[FlyingFish]

Well after taking a look at those louvred pieces in the photographs, I decided to scrap them. They look out of scale and a bit rough.

I did a search to see if there was some clever way of doing these fiddly things, but couldn't find much on scratch building them.

The problem as ever is that the Mk 1 eyeball is really good at spotting when things are out of scale, or irregular.

I needed some sort of simple jig to place the 'slats' at the right angle and spacing apart.

So here's what I came up with...

 

Not very sophisticated, but it's a start. Working from the bottom of the frame each slat is secured with a tiny spot of CA glue. The ramp sets the angle and also the spacing. I decided to use card for the slats as the whole thing will be primed and painted afterwards.

 

 

As you work up the next prepared slat is brought down into place, and progress is not too slow. 

Doubling up the jig allows a pair of doors to be worked on together so that when finished the slats align.

 

This was my first attempt..

 

Still some irregularities on the left door, but the second larger pair below (doors to the lower trunk cabin) went a bit better. 

 

I think with practice and a more accurate jig this could produce a very passable louvred frame, and although this is 1:20th scale, I think it's possible to maybe get to 1:32nd with some careful work.

 

[FriedClams]

Very nice progress FF.  Using styrene sheet as plank caulking is a clever technique.  I like the louver jig also.

 

Gary

[FlyingFish]

Rebuilt the gally cabinet, and then started researching the stove. I had assumed this was a Coleman 435, but it turns out to be a Bernzomatic propane stove Tx 850L made in Rochester NY, and so for the sake of accuracy, that’s what I copied. Can’t find original dimensions so went for 18” x 12”.

 

 

 

Also gave the cast something to eat. I think Quint was a fried spam and eggs sort of guy. 

 

 

 

 

[FlyingFish]

This fiddly wheel design slowed me down - 

 

 

 

[Redwine]

First time poster here... I've followed ORCA scale model projects for over 15 years. I'm ECSTATIC that they are still being tackled to this very day.

 

I will be watching closely. My obsession with Jaws and specifically the ORCA cannot be over-stated. My fandom goes back to the days of Fred Stine and his original Project ORCA vision years and years ago. 

 

If you need any reference photos of past ORCA projects over the years, I know I've got a vault somewhere with dozens and dozens of differing takes on this fine piece of cinema history. Some are rough, others go to levels of extreme detail, including the second lower cabin. 

 

FlyingFish - I'm extremely impressed with your level of craftmanship and desire to get the bones "right." 

 

I'm not a craftsman, not a modeler, I don't practice the hobby in any fashion. But I am a HUGE enthusiast for the ORCA project alone, and as such I've spent over a decade highlighting, detailing, and saving any and all ORCA projects I've come across online for comparisons sake as well as just simple fanaticism! 

 

I'm sure there are many on Model Ship World; but one that sticks out is ndeconte's from a few years back: 

 

 

 

If you're interested... I can drum up a whole hell of a lot more that may give you some ideas/pointers/creative spurts of inspiration on the finer details of the vessel. You're well on your way to an amazing replication of the ORCA and again, I'm ecstatic this is still being tackled in 2021. Cheers and I look forward to more updates. Beautiful work. 

[FlyingFish]

Good to have you on board Redwine, and thanks for the offer of help - very kind of you.

[FlyingFish]

On 7/26/2021 at 7:20 PM, Redwine said:

one that sticks out is ndeconte's from a few years back

Yes, Neal made a great model - in fact I think he made three, one for his stepson, one for himself and one for a customer. He is a very talented modeller.

The one I have been most impressed by was done by Eric Hollander, who again models as a business. This image from his gallery is quite extraordinary, and is the build I take my inspiration from.

 

 

[FlyingFish]

Working of the gauges for the pilot console.  Found the exact ones from research and printed them out in high quality on photo paper, then fixed with clear lacquer.  Punched out, and rims from sections of polished aluminium tube, and sealed over with UV cure resin. At 1:20th scale there is no way you can see that the dials are the original SM ones but at least I did my due diligence!

 

 

 

Clock and barometers ditto.

 

 

 

Then 'turned' some 3/4" pins on a hand drill to make the  power levers for the throttle quadrant.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Redwine]

Love the barometers and dials. Excellent work.

 

And yes, I agree with ya; Erik's Orca is the quintessential (ha, Quint) example of a passion project. It's almost unbelievable how well-crafted his model turned out. I wish there were more than the 8 or so images out there of his Orca.