Hi y’all. I decided to finish painting the hull after getting groceries early this morning. I used Tamiya NATO Brown for the upper part of the hull. I then used Tamiya Pure White for the waterline stripe. I’ve never painted the waterline before, always used trim tape. Anyway, once that was dry I shot the hull with semigloss clear. The brown is almost flat, the red very glossy, so the semigloss evened the colors out. I went ahead and painted the deck too. It looks good but I have a couple of places to fill and touch up, plus I need to clean up the bulwarks upper rail and paint that with a brush. I’m close to getting ready to do the superstructure, masts and details.
Cash

Just a quick update. I did a little more work on the skeg on the aft hull. Once the primer was dry I painted the lower hull with Tamiya bright red. I like the Tamiya rattle cans. They’re a little pricey, but being synthetic lacquer it goes on well and dries quickly. My goal is to have the hull and maybe the deck painted by this weekend, then I’ll turn attention to superstructure and other on deck details.

Hi y’all. Quick update. I made a rear skeg about of 4 layers of 2mm plastic sheet. I felt like I could get it to blend in better than the white metal one supplies in the kit. It’s been sanded and filled, but I need to sand one side again. I also primered the hull with Tamiya primer. At this stage anything I need to sand or fill will be more prominent, thus easier to see and correct. Once I clean her up and reprise, she’ll be ready for paint.
Cash

Hi y’all. I decided to get to work on a kit I received last Christmas, a Deans Marine herring drifter. This will be the second Deans kit I’ve built, the first being the PBR from a much older kit.
First things first. Many people tend to badmouth the Deans line, but this kit is markedly improved from the PBR I built a couple of years ago. The hull is gel coated fiberglass, the plans are readable and in color. The instructions while not great, are much improved from what I’ve seen before. Most of the plastic sheet parts are machine or laser cut. The fittings are..okay. And….it comes with a picture dvd that show a lot of details not in the written instructions. What I don’t like, I won’t use. The prop supplied is a rough casting, I’m using a Graupner prop and I’ll set the kit prop to practice on later. It’s designed for a five pole brushed 385 and 5 nimh cells….who uses 5 cell packs these days? I. Using a 1000 kv 28 mm outrunner and a 2 cell lipo for power. From my calculations I’ll be a little overpowered, but not much. Some of the fittings I’ll use, some I won’t.
Anyway, it’s a pretty straightforward kit. I’ll just go over a few things for now. After the hull gets cleaned up and the edges sanded, the next step is to sand the inside, as it’s a little rough. I sanded the upper side where the bulwarks rise above the deck. Once the rudder tube and stuffing box is in place, you glue the deck on….and build a stand. I had some thickish basswood I wanted to use up, so I built the stand from that, and glued hardwood strip across the grain for strength. The deck is another place I veered away from the instructions. The kit uses layered 2mm thick plastic strip for the deck supports, I used 1/4 triangle balsa stock for all but the aft end, there I used 2mm plastic rod. The rod bends around the stern curve easily, and once glued in place and blended with the triangle stock the deck set down nicely. The mas supports were made up on the bottom of the deck then the assembly was epoxied in place. The aft edge of the deck is just a bit shy of the hull, the instructions call for filler, I used filled epoxy. After that it’s time for the bulwark rail and supports.
That’s where I’m at as of now. I have to have a cornea transplant in my left eye (Fuch’s Dystrophy) but the consultation isn’t till late September, so my goal is to have her ready by then, before the surgery. I’ll do more this week and post the progress.
Cash