Utrecht by tlevine - FINISHED - HiSModel - 1:72

[tlevine]

I hope to have the build log started shortly.  Until then, this is the completed model.

[Nirvana]

Toni, you are amazing - taking on one project after another.

Mentioning projects, I should go back to mine.......🙃

[tlevine]

If you have not read my kit review, take a look at it before you begin.  https://modelshipworld.com/topic/36826-utrecht-172-by-hismodel/

The first (and most important) step in any build is to read the instructions and understand what they are trying to say.  Reading the instructions was easy…there is very little written.  It is essentially all drawings and computer-generated graphics.  Most of it made sense and I figured that the confusing areas would make themselves obvious further into the build.  I have not built a plastic kit in many years.  Construction sequences are different in a plastic model versus wood.  They are certainly neater to build.  No sawdust!  I need to apologize ahead of time for some sloppy painting.  My goal was to review the kit, not make this my magnum opus.

Since everything gets painted prior to installation, I needed to buy paint and glue.  I was told that many plastic modelers swear by Tamiya Extra Thin (the green label) and bought a bottle.  There is a paint chart in the manual listing the names and numbers of four suppliers as well as the RAL equivalents.  RAL is a system used in Europe for color standards.  It started in 1927 and is administered by the German RAL Institute.   I noticed a few problems.  The RAL equivalents were different than some of the paint colors.  Some of the item numbers did not exist.  The yellow specified was bright yellow, whereas the replica ship’s yellow is more muted, closer to mustard.  Even thought I am building OOTB, I could not stand the bright yellow and used Tamiya XF15, flesh, which closely approximates the replica.  Since I knew I would be blending paint, I stayed with a single manufacturer, Tamiya.

 

The first thing to be done is drill numerous holes for eventual insertion of ringbolts, cleats and belaying pins.  Larger holes were drilled for the scuppers.  The drill size is specified on the plans but in several cases, these are larger than necessary.  I drilled all the holes initially with a #77 bit, enlarging them as required.  Drilling plastic is much different from drilling wood.  The bits do not like to bite and the holes need to be drilled by hand to prevent melting the plastic.  After all the holes were drilled, the two hull halves were glued together.  I do not know what the fit-tolerance is for plastic kits.  There were several areas along the seam line that needed to be filled because of gaps.

 

Part 3 of the instructions is called Components Assembly.  It shows drawings of the various parts and their color.  The nineteen pieces window glass are noted as part “TF”, transparent foil but this was not provided in the kit.  I decided to use Saran Wrap.  I started by assembling and painting the two hatches and two pillars, even though they would not be installed for while.  The construction was straight forward.

There are a lot of things in this kit which were well thought out.  Other things…not so much.  One example of this is the deck.  This is the Premium version, which comes with a wood veneer to place over the plastic deck.  This increases the thickness of the deck, requiring the deck beams to be thinned by the thickness of the veneer.  The deck beams already are thin and bendable.  Decreasing their thickness made them even more flexible.  For anyone building this kit, I recommend either strengthening the plastic beams or replacing them with wood.   Here, the mounting pads for the hatches and pillars have been painted red. 

The veneer has been glued onto the plastic deck.  Because they are dissimilar materials, I used CA.  My plan was to apply Watco’s Danish Wood Oil so any bleed-through from the glue would go away.  You can see the coarse grain of the wood in addition to the diagonal saw marks.  I was afraid to sand the deck because the scribing for planks was very shallow.  The deck structures have been placed onto the deck temporarily.

 

[BSteinIPMS]

Well, well, well, she excels in plastic as much as she does in wood. Excellent!

[tlevine]

As mentioned in my previous post, the deck beams are not thought out well.  They are very flimsy pieces of plastic less than 1/8” thick after sanding down for the wood veneer.  There are tiny tabs on both sides of the beams which insert into notches in the hull.  The idea is to flex the beams to insert them into the notches.  When I attempted this, something very disconcerting occurred; the two hull halves separated.  I sanded the joint line and glued the halves together again.  The next day, the joint was still not solid.  I took some scrap pieces of sprue, sanded them flat and tried to cement them together.  I could break the joint.  I then looked at the hatches and pillars.  A tiny bit of pressure and the glue lines separated.  I don’t know if it was the cement or the composition of the plastic that was causing the problem but from this point onwards, everything was glued with medium viscosity CA.

The deck was installed next.  It slides into the hull from the open aft end.  There is no glue involved.  The deck is theoretically held in place by the inner bulwarks.  I was not comfortable with this concept and glued the deck to the aft deck beam after it had been slid into the hull.  After the finish was applied, the diagonal striations in the deck became even more apparent.  For someone building this model, I would suggest a hand-laid deck from thin veneer.  Apply the planking to the deck before inserting the deck into the hull.

 

The inner bulwarks were installed next.  They were painted before installation and include a waterway molded into them.  This is what holds the deck onto the beams. 

 

It is now time to start the outer hull painting.  I apologize for the poor paint job.  I had difficulty with the brush applications.  Later on, I used an airbrush for the body of the hull and it became apparent that the paint was designed for airbrush application, not brush.  Lesson to be learned is if one is dealing with an unfamiliar product, experiment using it in a place where it will not be seen (inside the hull before it is glued together, for example) before applying it to the outer hull.  After the painting was completed the bulwarks were installed.  The kit came with a laser engraved basswood base, as seen in the next picture.  The slot for the keel is too wide and the outline of the base does not conform to the shape of the hull.  I would suggest using the outer pieces but make new cross-pieces that fit the shape of the model.

The lower transom is installed next.  It was not a good fit and required a significant amount of sanding and filling.

 

[Nirvana]

No plastic model is perfect, even with the latest technology.

 

Toni, I bow my head to you for overcoming these issues. Getting paint correct is another problem all of us are having hard time with.

[BSteinIPMS]

Dealing with fit, finish, and accuracy problems for injection-molded plastic kits has been a characteristic of these kits for decades. Plastic modelers long ago resigned themselves to being "modelers" rather than "kit assemblers". This means correcting the many and manifold flaws in the models as the good doctor has expertly shown above. Often this borders on scratch-building. Witness the plethora of aftermarket accessories in resin, plastic, photoetch, metal, & 3D-printing from suppliers such as Evergreen Scale Models, K & S Metals, Albion tubing, Gold Medal Models, Eduard, and so on ad infinitum. Well done, Doc.

[tlevine]

The directions indicate adding the sternpost and rudder at this point.  I did and the rudder was promptly broken off, so this will be added at a later point.   The fit between the sternpost and the hull required a lot of filling. 

 

The stern assembly was partially  painted off the model and then installed.  I don’t know whether the problem was myself or the kit but the rudder opening in the transom did not center on the sternpost.

 

The bulkhead and quarter badges were painted off the model and installed.  Veneer was glued to the quarter deck and installed.   This would have been a painted deck, not natural wood, on the actual vessel and is painted on the reproduction.

 

 

On Utrecht there is a painted metal plate on the stem.  This was used as an anchor for a mast stay and bowsprit lashing.  This was provided as two photoetch parts which simply needed folding and nailing to the stem.  It was well-shaped but was made from a white metal that did not like to bend well.  Since this is painted, I would use the provided triangular piece but replace the larger piece with something more malleable, such as softened brass or copper.

The rest of the stem parts were installed next.  The head timbers were molded to the top head rail.  This was glued to the lower rail and installed.  The starboard head rail/timbers were nicely molded and fit reasonably well.  The port side had molding problems; the foremost head timber was missing and the middle one was misshapen. 

The figurehead is a resin casting to which a brass crown is added after painting.  The only problem is that it looks quite different from the figurehead of the replica Utrecht.  The body is realistic but on the replica figurehead, the lion looks fierce and the kit version looks comedic.  A crown is molded onto the resin fitting and looks better than the applied brass crown.  The picture on the left is the replica figurehead.

 

[Schmidt]

I've been building the same model since the beginning of the year, and I've faced the same problems so far. Sometimes I have found similar solutions, sometimes different ones. Although I bought the premium version, I haven't used the veneer deck because I don't like the grain that goes across the planks. 
Basically, it is to be welcomed that a new manufacturer of plastic models has appeared on the market. It has been many years since one of the big companies last invested in the construction of an antique sailing ship (Vasa, Batavia). I would have liked a different kind of ship. There are kits of the Utrecht in wood and there was one in resin. But the HIS company probably relied on the attractiveness of the existing prototype in the Netherlands. I hope they will continue and that there will soon be kits based on more unusual ships. On the whole, I think the beginning is quite successful.
Schmidt

 

[CiscoH]

Quote

 

love the lion Toni

[tlevine]

Well said, Schmidt.  Like I said in the beginning, if someone wants to do some research and kit-bashing, this is a very nice kit.  When I took it to my local club, a couple of the guys had trouble believing it was plastic.

[Jsk]

This is one of my favorite reproduction ships! Looks like you're doing her proud even with the challenges.

[tlevine]

At this point, most of the deck structures were installed, including the pumps, windlass and pin rail that fits over the windlass.  The guns were made of bronzed metal, with good detail.  The carriages were simplified as was the gun’s rigging.  This would be another place where some research and scratch building would take this model to the next level.  The pins are nicely shaped and to scale.  Again, everything was painted before installation.  I could not figure out how to install the leeboards from looking at the pictures in the manual.  I looked at Angarfather’s scratch build log of Utrecht and was able to see how it was rigged.

 

The anchors were added next.  The hawser cable runs below the windlass and passes to below deck through a hatch behind the windlass.  I chose to show one anchor hauled in and the other hanging free.

The masting and rigging were next.  The two halves of the mast were glued together and weighted down until the glue had cured.  However, the two mast halves were warped in the plastic fret and even with weighting the assembly, it was warped.  I was able to partially correct this later with the rigging.  On this boat, the topmast bends forward and has a sheave running through it.  This can be seen in the round black bulge halfway up the topmast.  The pictures show the forestay, fore preventer stay, backstays and shrouds installed.  The manufacturer chose to show tarred like for the shroud and mainstay lanyards.  Again, I went to Hartmut’s build log for direction and he shows untarred line for the lanyards.  Additionally, the five hole block for the forestay should have eight holes, with a corresponding number of holes on the stem.  The instructions have nicely detailed sketches of the various knots and methods to rig the blocks and deadeyes.   In the last two pictures you can see that the port top rail and timbers is missing.  This broke off the model and fell into a floor register, never to be seen again!

The ratlines were installed next.  I used the same number of rows of ratlines shown in the instructions and was very frugal with the amount of line left at both ends.  There was not enough line provided to finish the ratlines.  I had line that was almost the same size and used that to finish them.  Since the model was not going to be moved much more, I installed the rudder.

 

The rigging for the gaff and yards was straight forward.  Each block is color coded, making it easy to select the correct block for the line.  These are very nicely shaped blocks, including the fiddle blocks used to haul in the gaff.  Sorry, but I forgot to take any more pictures until I started to work on the sails.

This is the premium version of the model, so it came with pre-sewn sails.  The instructions include full-sized templates for making your own sails, along with directions for installing the tabling, bolt ropes and cringles.  The fabric of these sails was of good quality but the hem was sewn very poorly, and there was fraying in several areas.  As this was an OOTB build, I did not resew them.  I would suggest to someone doing this build to not get the premade sails.  Make your own from cloth or silkspan and add the details.  I added the bolt ropes, cringles and metal rings to the sails. 

The sail rigging diagram was a bit difficult for me to follow.  There were instances where I could not tell whether a particular line was on only one side or both port and starboard.  There was one other minor issue; there was insufficient line to finish the model.  Specifically, the natural 0.25 line.  Again, I had line left over from an old kit which was almost the same diameter and used it as a replacement.  My estimate is that 50% more line was needed than provided.   I used 24-gauge brass wire inserted into some of the sail hems to give the sails some life.  Nothing was applied to the sails to otherwise stiffen them.

Finally, the flags were installed.  I cut them out and moistened both sides with dilute white glue.  While still wet, I shaped them and let them dry overnight.  They were hoisted and their shapes were tweaked by moistening them and holding them in position until dry.

 

So here she is finished.  As I said at the beginning, this was an as-built kit review.  There are a lot of nice things about this kit.  Hull, bulkhead and mast detailing is very sharp.  The resin decorations, including the figurehead are wonderful and fit perfectly.  The blocks are high quality.  There is a lot of room for improvement and correcting the inaccuracies.  As far as improvement is concerned, better quality control would have seen the miscast head timbers and the warped mast.  A modern kit should not require as much filler as this one did to correct gaps in the hull.  The photoetch windows were nice but the ringbolts should have been supplied as just that, ring bolts, not flat pieces of brass and white metal.  And finally, the inadequate supply of line is inexcusable.  If you are a plastics modeler trying to decide whether to start building ships, you are not going to have a stash of line to supplement the kit supplied material.

 

For someone who wants to detail a kit, this is a great option.  Even with the problems, she builds up into a pretty model.  There are a lot of small things that can be done to make the boat more historically correct.  The first two would be to purchase Ab Hoving’s book on the Utrecht and find pictures of the replica on the internet.  The pictures will allow you to use the correct paint scheme.  Other areas for detailing include hand laying the deck, correcting the inboard leeboard connections, properly rigging the guns, using the correct types of line for the rigging and making your own sails. Thanks for following along for this kit review.

 

[GrandpaPhil]

Very cool project!  Nicely done!

[druxey]

Very informative of what to expect, Toni. Well put together.