Louie da fly Posted March 26 Share #1 Posted March 26 As if I didn't have enough to do, a guy from the Men's Shed that I play at 2 days a week has brought in a damaged model yacht for me to fix. It's not really in terrible condition - a break in the mast, two breaks in the boom, bowsprit broken in at least three places and part of it missing, a broken part of the stand. And needs cleaning. It's a decorator model, solid hull. I've worked on it for about a day so far, allowing for breaks while the glue dries, and have made a new piece for the stand and repaired the mast and the boom. I left the sails and rigging in place as I was worried I wouldn't be able to work out how to replace them. A bit of a problem with tangled ropes as I fixed it, but I think it should sort itself out with a bit of patience. The bowsprit was beyond repair so I told the owner to buy a piece of dowel the same diameter and I'd make a new one. I'll post photos when that's done. Fortunately I was able to find some woodstain that matched the existing, so it's looking like it should all work out OK (touch wood!) Steven druxey, davyboy, GrandpaPhil and 5 others 8 Quote It's not really a ship model unless you've bled on it. CURRENT BUILDS Venetian merchant Ship from Basilica of San Marco Golden City - Ballarat paddlewheeler FINISHED Australian couta boat RMS Titanic HMVS Cerberus 11th century Byzantine dromon Winchelsea Nef - Late 13th century Mediaeval ship Henry Grace a Dieu - Rebuild of 1:200 model I started in 1967 https://modelshipworld.com/topic/36379-mistydeefer-by-louie-da-fly-finished-restoration-decor-yacht/#comment-1040663 Mistydeefer - restoration of decor model yacht Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Black Posted March 26 Share #2 Posted March 26 Did he provide you with the backstory on how it wound up in this terrible state? mtaylor 1 Quote Current Builds: Wood Hull Screw Frigate USS Tennessee Decorative Carrack Warship Restoration, the Amelia Completed: Early Swift 1805 Model Restoration Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louie da fly Posted March 26 Author Share #3 Posted March 26 Something about it being in a back shed for years and years, and the sellotape repair of the mast he blamed on his wife/kids having broken it and tried to hide the break. At least the sellotape kept most of the pieces from getting lost. I'll have to get some more backstory from him and how it came to him, whether it's some kind of family heirloom or what, but it's a pretty cheap mass produced model - the mast and spars are just bits of dowel and the finish is pretty mediocre. I'm doing it as a "love job", which is why I wasn't prepared to buy the dowel to replace the bowsprit myself. He's getting the work for free, after all. Steven druxey, GrandpaPhil, mtaylor and 1 other 2 2 Quote It's not really a ship model unless you've bled on it. CURRENT BUILDS Venetian merchant Ship from Basilica of San Marco Golden City - Ballarat paddlewheeler FINISHED Australian couta boat RMS Titanic HMVS Cerberus 11th century Byzantine dromon Winchelsea Nef - Late 13th century Mediaeval ship Henry Grace a Dieu - Rebuild of 1:200 model I started in 1967 https://modelshipworld.com/topic/36379-mistydeefer-by-louie-da-fly-finished-restoration-decor-yacht/#comment-1040663 Mistydeefer - restoration of decor model yacht Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Lad Posted March 26 Share #4 Posted March 26 Nice of you to do it for him, Steven. John Louie da fly, druxey, Keith Black and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louie da fly Posted March 26 Author Share #5 Posted March 26 I'm a nice guy . . . Steven Paul Le Wol, Jim Lad, druxey and 5 others 6 2 Quote It's not really a ship model unless you've bled on it. CURRENT BUILDS Venetian merchant Ship from Basilica of San Marco Golden City - Ballarat paddlewheeler FINISHED Australian couta boat RMS Titanic HMVS Cerberus 11th century Byzantine dromon Winchelsea Nef - Late 13th century Mediaeval ship Henry Grace a Dieu - Rebuild of 1:200 model I started in 1967 https://modelshipworld.com/topic/36379-mistydeefer-by-louie-da-fly-finished-restoration-decor-yacht/#comment-1040663 Mistydeefer - restoration of decor model yacht Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louie da fly Posted March 28 Author Share #6 Posted March 28 I've cleaned the hull (didn't need much work- just dusting), and the mast and boom are now glued back together and I've shaped the new bowsprit and dry fitted it. The repairs needed sanding and a bit of staining to match the rest, as did the bowsprit. The replacement piece for the stand split (mainly my carelessness in cutting out the slot) so I had to make a new one. I'm thinking of making some crosspieces for the stand so it'll be more stable - it's quite narrow and it's first damage was from being toppled off a shelf by a cat. The rigging is slowly coming together, but I'm not worrying too much about it until I've got the rest done. The backstory on the model is that it was made for the owner by a modeller in Williamstown (a harbour suburb of Melbourne) back in about 1996, and he had it in pride of place in the house - until the cat got to it. Since then it's been in storage in a back shed, and I think he'd resigned himself to it never being fixed. It appears that there was more damage while it was in storage, which he hadn't been aware of . . . So, coming along nicely. No more work on it over Easter, but it looks like only a few more days' work, all going well. Steven GrandpaPhil, davyboy, mtaylor and 2 others 5 Quote It's not really a ship model unless you've bled on it. CURRENT BUILDS Venetian merchant Ship from Basilica of San Marco Golden City - Ballarat paddlewheeler FINISHED Australian couta boat RMS Titanic HMVS Cerberus 11th century Byzantine dromon Winchelsea Nef - Late 13th century Mediaeval ship Henry Grace a Dieu - Rebuild of 1:200 model I started in 1967 https://modelshipworld.com/topic/36379-mistydeefer-by-louie-da-fly-finished-restoration-decor-yacht/#comment-1040663 Mistydeefer - restoration of decor model yacht Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louie da fly Posted April 6 Author Share #7 Posted April 6 (edited) The stand was too narrow and prone to tipping over (probably why the model got damaged in the first place) so I added some cross-beams to stabilise it a bit. Also added another coat of stain so everything matched. Then I got to work untangling the rigging. Turns out -AFTER I'd undone and redone the tangles that the model had been made to be disassembled so I might have been able to untangle everything more easily by simply pulling the mast out and rotating it. Sigh. Anyway, finally got that all sorted, added the bowsprit and main boom, re-rigged her, cleaned the deck again, and *finished*! Regarding the name, I asked the owner. He had a cat called Misty and a dog called Deefer (think about it - Deefer dog). So she's Mistydeefer. The owner's very happy with it. Steven Edited April 6 by Louie da fly druxey, Keith Black, GrandpaPhil and 5 others 7 1 Quote It's not really a ship model unless you've bled on it. CURRENT BUILDS Venetian merchant Ship from Basilica of San Marco Golden City - Ballarat paddlewheeler FINISHED Australian couta boat RMS Titanic HMVS Cerberus 11th century Byzantine dromon Winchelsea Nef - Late 13th century Mediaeval ship Henry Grace a Dieu - Rebuild of 1:200 model I started in 1967 https://modelshipworld.com/topic/36379-mistydeefer-by-louie-da-fly-finished-restoration-decor-yacht/#comment-1040663 Mistydeefer - restoration of decor model yacht Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Black Posted April 6 Share #8 Posted April 6 Very nice, Steven and good on ya to lend a hand. Louie da fly and mtaylor 1 1 Quote Current Builds: Wood Hull Screw Frigate USS Tennessee Decorative Carrack Warship Restoration, the Amelia Completed: Early Swift 1805 Model Restoration Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
druxey Posted April 6 Share #9 Posted April 6 Adroitly done, Steven! mtaylor, Keith Black and Louie da fly 2 1 Quote Be sure to sign up for an epic Nelson/Trafalgar project if you would like to see it made into a TV series http://trafalgar.tv Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Lad Posted April 6 Share #10 Posted April 6 Well done, Steven. John Keith Black, mtaylor and Louie da fly 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrandpaPhil Posted April 6 Share #11 Posted April 6 Nicely done, Steven! Keith Black, Louie da fly and mtaylor 2 1 Quote Building: 1:64 HMS Revenge (Victory Models plans) 1:64 Cat Esther (17th Century Dutch Merchant Ships) On the building slip: 1:72 French Ironclad Magenta (original shipyard plans) On hold: 1:98 Mantua HMS Victory (kit bash), 1:96 Shipyard HMS Mercury Favorite finished builds: 1:60 Sampang Good Fortune (Amati plans), 1:200 Orel Ironclad Solferino, 1:72 Schooner Hannah (Hahn plans), 1:72 Privateer Prince de Neufchatel (Chapelle plans), Model Shipways Sultana, Heller La Reale, Encore USS Olympia Goal: Become better than I was yesterday "The hardest part is deciding to try." - me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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