Forum

Hints and Tips.

Fine Detale Sander. Hi guys another little tip. If you have some old scalpel blades that are blunt and you normally replace them with new ones, how about gluing a small piece of fine sand or wet/dry on to them. Then trim to the shape of the blade. It then becomes a nice thin sander that will get into those little awkward places.(especially if the blade is a long pointed one) Martin555.

5 years ago by Martin555

Forum

TRIAL FITTING SMOKE UNIT TO THE HSL

Doug, Have you though about spring loaded launchers activated by a servo ? (a bit safer) Ref:- magicians flash . It would be interesting to know and see some experiments. Martin555.

5 years ago by Martin555

Response

Re: Over sized Deck!

Surely Ed you must have some packaging of food items that come in a carton or box packaging? Taco shells? Sugar? Salt? Popcorn? Soda Crackers? Pasta? Wax , Aluminum Foil? All these are products that might come in a carton versus plastic pkg.

5 years ago by Ronald

Blog

Graupner Hertha Jeep

Okay, so I’ve just finished the Graupner Taucher Wulf, and I’m one of those modelers that likes to have the workbench..ahh..working. Now, the Wulf was a bit of a pain in the rump to build, mainly because the instructions were almost non existent. There were pictures, mind you, lots of pictures, some even contradicted each other..but precious little info, measurements, that sort of thing. Anyway, I swore up and down that I would never build another modern Graupner boat again. I have a small stash of kits and a couple of boats to restore..nope, not doing it. Then, that little voice in my head returned..same voice that tells me it’s okay to drop the hammer at a red light because that voice didn’t see the police cruiser in the parking lot..same voice that says “you’re not THAT full, one more slice of pizza wont kill you”. That voice. The one that said..”Look! The little Hertha Jeep is on sale! You’ve already seen the worst with the Taucher, go ahead and buy it. You KNOW what your getting into this time...ahhhhahahahahaha!” So theres a Hertha Jeep on my bench. And, again, lots of pics, a little more info this time, some things that make me scratch my head and some that make sense. The hull is blow molded..I think it’s ABS but it just looks different from any plastic I’ve ever seen. Nicely made though. The kit parts and fittings looked good, so I dove in. I decided that this time, I was going to build everything as sub assemblies and make sure everything fits to my satisfaction before I build myself into a corner like I did with the Wulf. The first thing I started was the cabin. It’s built from some very thin laser or machine cut abs. Much thinner than the Wulfs pilothouse. The cabin roof is molded in either resin or plastic and primered, and I used that and the hull to jig up the cabin. Everything fit okay until I got to the forward windscreen. The oblique angles and the way the darn thing fit had me stumped. Then I trimmed it, which was a mistake. However, it started to look decent when I realized that some of the ca had dribbled down and glued the bottom edge of the windscreen to the hull. !!@&&%!!!! I had to break the bottom edge of the windscreen to get it loose from the hull. However, I was able to fix the damage with some scrap plastic and a little “modelers bondo” (Tamiya plastic filler). This was a rookie mistake, I was thinking of protecting the hull with wax , but I didn’t heed THAT voice, and got burned in the process. Lesson learned. Once the cabin was done, I built the insert that goes into the aft part of the hull. I don’t have pics of that yet but I’ll post them soon.

5 years ago by Cashrc

Response

Re: Billing Boats St Canute Tug Kit

Hi Richard, Little tip re sanding! I'm assuming you have used the sand by hand! Then your finger tips will follow every depression and thus take away more filler (whatever it is) than you wanted to 😭 Use a sanding block (2x1" wood offcut or commercial rubber block from the auto branch) which is big enough to follow the curve of the hull (or whatever) you are sanding without going into the depressions. Meself, I use a two part polyester fine finishing filler from the auto branch for all larger filling jobs, and on my smaller Plastic Magic projects, or minor finishing blemishes on larger boats, I use very fine Plastic Putty. For possible results see pics: Before and After😊 Hope this helps, Cheers, Doug 😎

5 years ago by RNinMunich

Forum

Marine steam engine wanted

Thats fine, I can see with an enlaged view on my computer as opposed to my phone, I think its a one ?

5 years ago by mturpin013

Forum

EeZeBilts From Keil Kraft

This is all above me I just use and pencil. If it doesn't work out then rub it out and redraw LOL! Martin555.

5 years ago by Martin555

Forum

EeZeBilts From Keil Kraft

Hi DG, The CAD program that I have been messing with is Designspark. I gave up it is easier and quicker for me to use and pencil, at least I don't lose my temper with that. Martin555.

5 years ago by Martin555

Forum

EeZeBilts From Keil Kraft

We have a product here Peter which is almost the same thing. A common brand is International Everdure which is a sealer and preservative used inside wooden boats. It is a very thin epoxy resin with anti mould properties which you mix 1:1 with the hardener. You can just make a batch and pour it into your hull and tip it around to get it in all the spaces ( hull needs to be reasonably sealed before doing this as it will find its' way out like water). You can work it for about 6 hrs on cold days and brush any spots you have missed with what goes to the bottom. The remainder settles to the bottom of the hull and makes the keel like a rock, (you can remove excess with a brush and towels if you don't like that idea. The beauty of this epoxy is that it finishes as smooth as a babys' bum and you can even coat the decks with it as well (did the deck of my ST and you would think it's varnish) Another brand we have is Norski which is the same sort of product. Reasonably expensive but magic stuff (smells strong for a few days then nothing, smooths out nicely too) John B

5 years ago by jbkiwi

Response

Re: 36'' Maiami Crash boat used for camera boat.

I haven't run nitro boats for a number of years now Doug, same with the planes, everything has been converted to electric long ago, (all the nitro planes included.) No more mess and smell of burnt fuel in the house, no having to take a roll of towels and soap sprayer and wash your plane or boat before putting it in the car, and no more having to put a plastic 'nose bag' on the planes to hang them up so you don't get oil dripping on your carpet! Re- Graupner 'Premium Line', certainly sounds like their quality has dropped, you couldn't fault them in the 70s, gone the way of all the others due to competition from the home of Oolong tea by the sound of it.

5 years ago by jbkiwi

Blog

40'' Seaplane Tender, new build L

Bit more progress, bit slow as I had to have a change and 3/4 finish some 1/2 finished jobs on the house). I've fitted the toe rails, glued on the cabin roofs, made the floors, (both 2pc so as to be easy to remove to get at the bilges,) made the shaft support blocks, milled out the shaft slots and slotted the hull to match, ( still have to epoxy blocks in when happy with shaft angles ), made the motor mount plate and trimmed the inside edge excess off the deck. Still have to make the rear cockpit floor and rear cabin /door panel but I'll wait till I've fitted the motors, as I have to see where the engine boxes end up, (they will probably end up being in the correct place with the motors partly inside the cabin but if I'm clever enough it won't be noticed. The odd pic out is of some of the tools we use to make our models and don't even think about. I know most of us have our special home made 'tools' for different little jobs (ie sand glued to flat or shaped blocks etc) but I thought for anyone just starting, it might give them an idea of what they could need to make it easier to build a model. Obviously there are fillers, paints, brushes, planes, drills etc (couldn't fit my mill on the table, weighs about 400lbs) and a number of other items for doing the larger bits. Mostly it's some of the simple smaller tools which are the handiest (assortment of modelling knives, small hacksaw, cutting board, pencils and sanding blocks/. If you are fortunate enough to have a lathe you will obviously save a lot of money on scale fittings, shafts etc, but most people don't have one and have to come up with other methods or $$.

5 years ago by jbkiwi

Blog

40'' Seaplane Tender, new build K

Deck is now on and trimmed and chine spray rails and gunwale rubbing strip are on. Will be making the toe rails next and a few tweaks here and there, and inside edge of deck trimming to balsa facings (to be fixed) before undercoating. Cabin is a work in progress and still to be 'fitted'to deck ( whole sand sheets strapped down tight to deck, and cabin placed on top and sanded fore and aft till a good fit) Cabin will fit over an internal coaming/upstand to keep water out. Spray rails and rubbing strip are hard balsa toughened with cyno (toe rails will be the same) Glue for decks was West System 105 resin with 404 powder additive (magic stuff, most widely used epoxy for full sized boats in NZ.)

5 years ago by jbkiwi

Forum

Hintsand tips - Decals made easy

If anyone is looking for a cheap easy way to make any decals of photos name plates, designs etc, here is an idea you might find useful. I use a waterslide decal on which you can print anything you design, draw etc on your inkjet printer. I buy this from a company in Australia for around $30 NZ for 10 A4 sheets. You can buy clear or white. What you do is just print your design, photo, text etc onto the (plastic waterslide coated), let the ink dry, spray with either a clear lacquer or Helmar clear (the best), allow to dry, trim,soak in warm water as usual and apply. This material is quite tough and will not tear easily and you can spray lacquer over it to seal it on the model. It is a similar stuff as sold by Testors in a kit but is a lot more cost effective. I've included some examples of decals I've made for my boats and planes . For small decals you can cut a small piece a bit bigger than your design, print your picture on A4 to see where it will come on the page, sellotape the piece of decal over the print, (tape horizontally top and bottom) put the page back in the printer with the same orientation as is was, and print onto your decal. This saves wasting a whole sheet of decal which cannot be re used. If you find a nice clear sharp design it will come out nicely on the decal

5 years ago by jbkiwi

Forum

Hints and Tips.

No pics, but when I do lettering on a model, I use sticky backed characters. I’ll line everything up on wax , once it’s to my liking I take a thin strip of masking tape and place over the lettering. This way I can peel the letters off the wax (they won’t stick to it) and place the finished lettering on the model. Once it’s burnished down, you can slowly peel the masking tape off, and the lettering stays in place.

5 years ago by Cashrc

Blog

She has a heartbeat

Hi everybody. Got a bit more done, added the fwd deck inserts and then installed the radio. I was going to lay down ply floors on either side of the stuffing box but all I had on hand was way too thin, less than 1/16. THEN, I found a piece of coroplast. I cut the floors out of that, scuffed the gluing side down with medium sand, and glued them in place. The battery is velcroed in, as is the esc, while the steering servo uses Tamiya’s very thin, very sticky black servo mounting tape. Once set, this tape mounts very solidly with very little give. The rx is velcroed high up the hull side, and the servo and esc wires are trapped by Velcro just underneath. I could run her this way, but I have a bit more to do first. Cash😌s

5 years ago by Cashrc

Response

Re: HMS Cottesmore in 1/48 scale.

Hi Martin, Nice idea using the baking like that, I hadn't thought of that, I have a roll in the workshop though I use it mainly so I don't stick the work I am assembling to the bench!

5 years ago by stevedownunder

Forum

Being Sociable.

Light the blue touch and retire a safe distance.😎

5 years ago by marky

Blog

Painting the hull – Part 1 primer & anti fouling.

There’s no putting it off any longer, I need to start painting the hull before I do any more on the boat so the hull was given a final rub down with a fine abrasive and then the deck and gunwales carefully masked off. I used some panel wipe to thoroughly de-grease all the surfaces and then put the hull in the ‘spray booth’ on my turntable and applied two coats of Halfords grey primer. I left this for a couple of days to dry and harden off before setting it on my bench. The next stage involves levelling the hull fore and aft and side to side so that the waterline can be established. Fortunately the well deck floor is meant to be perfectly level when the boat is afloat and at rest and this is the datum I used to level to using a couple of spirit levels. The rough waterline points were measured off the plan and transferred to the hull to be used as approximate starting points for the waterline. For my previous build I bought a self-levelling laser to indicate the waterline so this was brought out for the same purpose. The laser level was placed on another workbench a couple of metres away and gradually raised with packing pieces until the projected line agreed with the rough position marks I’d made on the hull and then finely adjusted until the line was correct and pencil marks made at intervals along the projected line. The process was repeated for the other side of the hull and then also marked across the stern, fortunately the stern line and bow markings joined up accurately confirming that the levelling was spot on. Good quality low tack masking tape was then applied all around the hull and the area above the line masked off with a couple of layers of news. The exposed hull was then keyed with a fine Scotchbrite type pad and cleaned off with panel wipe before two coats of Halfords red oxide primer applied as the anti-fouling.

5 years ago by robbob

Blog

Spraying Again.......

Well had a break of a few weeks, now back on the job. So now have a Red Oxide boat rather than Yellow one……………… Although these next stages are a bit ‘ samey’, I have learnt a few things as it happens. For example, I had put three coats of the Halfords filler/primer on a couple of days before I had a break. Now when I left it all looked dry, well covered and ‘solid’. When I came back to it some weeks later the longer drying period had shown up some gaps. Well not gaps actually but ‘mouths’ where tissue I had overlapped had pulled apart slightly. interesting, easily fixed with some 240 grit sanding, showing that the drying period is longer than it would appear. At least for filler/primer which is a much thicker substance than just spray paint. With the sanding, I had not appreciated the difference between the grades say from 240 upwards (or is it downwards) as my experience was with doorframes and floorboards. For the stage I am at, 240 and 400 seem very effective and leave a good surface. What I did find was how important dust becomes……………… The sand rides on it (the powdery dust) and so becomes much less effective and I found brushing with a thin 2 inch brush worked well, using the vacuum cleaner to clear up later. I did try blowing it off with the heat gun but that put the dust up in the air too much. it is my intention to try ‘wet and dry’ approach for later coats and looking for a better answer when it comes to finishing coats. Another interesting discovery was coverage per rattle can. It may be my ‘beginner’ technique, but it seems to take a lot of paint. On this size of boat hull, 44inches (112cm) by 14 inches (36 cm), it took a 500ml rattle can of yellow filler/primer for three coats. For two coats of the red primer it took the whole of a 300ml can. Also discovered, using these ‘rattle cans’ for the first time, that the primer on its own comes out differently to the filler primer. This unsettled me for a minute or so but appreciate may be due to the different density so will be aware next time. Another issue that became obvious was…………..I must improve my ‘masking off’ ! So that is it so far. Next stage is - going to buy a couple more cans for the finishing coats, do a bath test, mark the white line point, more sanding down and then start applying the finishing coats. Any helpful comments will be much appreciated. NPJ

6 years ago by NPJ

Blog

Now Coating and Matting

On to Coating and Matting. (as well as sanding!) Now have at least finished all the stripping. Then did the ‘bright light in the hull bit’ to look for areas that needed patching. The major problem area was in the bow and that did not receive the light as it is a totally blanked off compartment. However, it was obvious from the outside anyway so, could I assume it was the only leak? Decided to put a fine matt over the whole hull, not deck, just to be sure of best chance of success. I can imagine what will be said here if it still leaks after all this! I had ordered some supplies ready for the next stage and drew up a plan view of the boat to help think through layout of electrics and other items. Made my usual mistakes about size. Some fittings purchased too small………However, never too large now that’s interesting. Some materials purchased too large. Now have a life’s worth of Resin……(when does it ‘go off’ by?) Also have a lounge floors worth of tissue matting! Also Sand. Now there is a mine field. So now I know a bit more about that and which way the numbers work! When I forgot to put the mask on, I had some of the crispest 'bogies' in years.............. No images posted! On the plus side, although I never wanted to get into this stripping sanding, filling sanding, sealing sanding, matting sanding, painting sanding, painting, sanding bit……………. I now feel I started out with someone’s boat I had bought and now it has become “my boat” for real! I am at the stage now where I have put some filler in and applied the first coat of Eze-Kote from DeLuxe Materials To use Eze-kote read stuff from RNinMunich on this blog or the’ leaking boat’ thread. Washes out of the brushes very easily. There is such as this ..... Youtube link - watch?v=yP05qv3QtUk RNinMunich or Colin H. and the like have bits of extra comment and experience that is always very helpful. BTW, after that finer sanding before first coat, I did the dust down and vacuuming bit but it still felt a bit ‘chalky’ so I gave it a wipe with Methylated Spirits. Now I realise that has water in it, so if anything goes wrong it could be blamed on that................. Having left the first coat to dry I started to cut out the light matt to apply after the next sanding. The matting I have is called Glassfibre Surface Tissue EGlass from FibreGlass Direct. A part of Tricel Composites (NI) Limited. Available internationally in lengths from a metre upwards, it is quite fine in weave so we shall see what happens. I have left quite a wide margin at the moment but may reduce that when I have tried using it! This is another first for me so plenty of room for mistakes............... Will need to cover with the matt in stages as I cannot get around all the boat without changing its position. Going for the bottom of the vessel and stern board first as I figure they are going to be easier than some of the other bits. Then will leave that to cure before moving the boat. Really worried about the joins/overlaps and how well I will cope with those, not to mention the curved bit! Started to look at electrics and layout for a bit of a change. I will post again when I have had the first battles with the matting! TTFN. NPJ

6 years ago by NPJ

Forum

Leaking Boat!

Try covering the outside of the (dry) hull with kitchen or tissue and then fill the leaking compartment with water from the inside. With luck you will get a damp patch developing on the that will give you a pretty good idea of where the hole is. Ian

6 years ago by IanD

Forum

Bristol pilot cutter mascotte

Today I have masked of the boat ready for painting when the weather warms up . Materials used where frog masking tape and some packaging that came out of the last delivery box from Amazon. Firstly I went round taping of all the fidly bits before completely masking the sides of the hull before applying the

6 years ago by kmbcsecretary

Forum

Spraying/hand painting

Hi Colin, isolator is available in aerosol form, its about £10 from specialist paint suppliers, plus all the filler, , stopper, thinners and masking tape. Mark

6 years ago by jarvo

Forum

planking

I get all my family to grab for me, usually get about 200 a month from them. (£7-99 for a 1,000 on eBay). But free is best, I usually put mine in plastic containers to soak in stain then allow to dry on sheet of news before using.

7 years ago by Colin H

Response

Plating

Over the weekend I had been thinking maybe it would be easer to epoxy the plates together. Having almost finished the 2 bottom strakes I will continue soldering. Finding it easer with each plate, as I learn, little tricks. Cleaning the plates with a sanding drum (dermal), keep the plate flat on the bench. Otherwise the plate will cruel up and destroy the sand . Don't put to much solder on the iron, or I get lumps of solder as it runs down. I am now holding the plates in place with masking tape. That is working well. Two strakes are taking almost half a can, as there are 12 strakes I will cut up 2 more cans.

7 years ago by hammer

Forum

Billings Sea King in need of TLC

Thanks Marky. Hadn't thought of that. I have the waterslide which I used for some decals on my Grandson's RC car recently. Still think I will try to mask them if I need to paint the hull. Thanks again.

7 years ago by AllenA

Response

Shelduck

PS: I noticed that the waterline (transition yellow to red) follows the wave line! Small tip: to accurately set the true waterline and keep it straight set the hull up on the building board dead level and vertical according to the plan. Use spirit level to check port / starboard for horizontal! (I.e. athwartships in marine jargon!) Make a small right angled jig to hold a soft lead pencil (or simply use a small try square). Attach the pencil to the jig / try square at the waterline height from keel according to plan. Then just trundle round the hull marking the WL with the pencil point. Tip 2: use narrow (ca 10mm) Tamiya masking tape (from the plastic magic department) to mask off the line itself. The rest can be masked as usual with cheapo decorator's masking tape and news. Spray away to your heart's content. The Tamiya tape gives a wonderful clean line with no paint creep. Please don't be offended, nobody's perfect and I'm still in awe of your woodwork! 👍 cheers Doug 😎

7 years ago by RNinMunich

Blog

The window glazing & frames.

A full set of laser cut perspex windows is supplied in the VMW kit along with corresponding frames for all and they are all a pretty good fit in the window apertures of the engine room, forward cabin and wheel house rear walls, only requiring a light easing with a file for a secure fit. I left the protective film on the screens whilst gluing them in place with a very small amount of canopy glue applied to the window edges with a dressmaking pin and pressed into place so that they were flush with the outside of the cabin walls. The wheelhouse windows were a bit trickier as they are glued to the inside face of the panels and I had to remove the protective film around the edges of the outer face of the windows by running a fine sharp blade around the window aperture with the perspex held in place by hand. Canopy glue was then used very sparingly on the face of the perspex and the windows clamped in place. The central screen of the wheelhouse has the Kent Clearview in it and this needed to be carefully centred before fixing in place. When all had dried and set the protective films were peeled off to reveal nice clear ‘panes’ without any unsightly glue smudges. The CNC cut window frames are made from a flexible plastic material with accurate and well defined edges. They were all given a light sanding with abrasive as a key for the paint and were then laid out on a large piece of card paying particular attention to getting them the correct side up, in particular the wheelhouse frames which are ‘handed’ for either port or starboard. They were all held to the board with small pads of double sided foam tape and sprayed with two coats of Halfords metallic silver paint followed by two light coats of Halfords gloss lacquer. After a couple of days to dry they were removed from the board and fixed in place with canopy glue applied with a pin as very small dots around the inside face, aligned with masking tape ‘guides’ and a straight edge and then held in place with small tabs of masking tape. The installation of the glazing in the wheelhouse was made a lot easier because I had previously cut away some of the bulkhead and rear wall to give better access to the wheelhouse interior for detailing. This is not mentioned in the building instructions but is well worth doing for all the above reasons 😁

7 years ago by robbob

Forum

glass cloth or tissue?

I bet you had a good time. My Dad always wanted to go back to italy as he had a good time there in the War. There are likely to be 65 year old gingers running all over Naples! Thank God I didn't get the ginger gene! I went to town to get some tissue and came away with stuff that reminds me of Izal arse . Remember that stuff. Great if you had an itchy bum, but useless at wiping things. Then we went in anther big shop and they had cotton waste sheets as clean up rags. Perfect! Dozens of big cotton rags for a quid! So they will be epoxy soaked and slapped on the hull. They're amazingly strong too. Might then lay up the Izal arsewipe on top. it'll look like do as you like day at Kids R Us! But paint is a wonderful thing. Martin

7 years ago by Westquay

Blog

The Hull Markings

The paint on the hull has sufficiently hardened and needs a couple of coats of clear lacquer to protect it but before that happens I need to apply the hull markings. The waterslide decal set that was supplied with my kit was probably at least 5 years old when I bought the kit on eBay and they had deteriorated so badly that when I put the large ‘FIRE’ lettering panel in some warm water it fragmented and clearly was not usable. I called Mike Cummings at vintage Model works and explained my dilemma and he very generously agreed to supply me with a replacement set, and in addition a set of the recently available printed vinyl letters and markings that they now produce. I decided to use the vinyl set as a quick test piece with the waterslide set revealed that the white ink is not solid and therefore not completely opaque. Furthermore I could not eliminate the ‘silvering’ effect that happens on waterslide decals despite using various lotions and potions such as Humbrol Decalfix and Microsol/Microset solutions. A test piece with the vinyl lettering sheet was far more successful and when over-lacquered on the test piece the results were very acceptable. Starting with the large FIRE lettering I cut a template the same size as the complete word and fixed this with low tack masking tape on the hull, this was then outlined in more masking tape to form a window and the vertical spacing of the letters transferred to this to keep the correct spacing. Vertical strips of tape were then used as positioning guides for the letters which were individually cut and placed so that I could eliminate all but the solid white letters and give them a hard edge. Feeling very pleased with myself I removed the masking tape guides and realised to my horror that I had set the baseline of the letters far too close to the waterline and the vertical proportions were completely wrong ….disaster 😱 Feeling ashamed that I could make such a basic error I abandoned the lettering and called Mike at VMW and described my foolish error, no problem he said, I’ll send you another vinyl sheet and also some additional drawing that were missing from my kit that would help with detail finishing. My second attempt with the new vinyl sheet employed the same process but I was careful to measure, mark and check the positions (several times!) before starting. The roundel and numerals positions at the bow and the stern were carefully measured and marked using the supplied drawings and masking tape ‘guides’ used to fix their positions before application. Lastly the roman numerals that span the waterline at the bow and stern were marked, cut and individually applied. I also took the opportunity to fix in place a couple of modified 6mm portholes to replicate the aft cockpit drain outlets, in the photo is the ‘94’ waterslide decal which I later removed and replaced with vinyl when I could not eliminate the ‘silvering’ problem. A big Thank You to Mike Cummings at Vintage Model works for replacing the lettering sheets TWICE! and for the extra drawings, I call that exceptional after sales service !. Cheers Mike 👍👍 .

7 years ago by robbob

Response

Spraying the hull black.

Hi Javro. You could be right about SWMBO and the Bacofoil, the next day my sandwiches were wrapped in news 😆

7 years ago by robbob

Blog

Spraying the hull black.

Now that the red oxide has dried and hardened it’s time to mask it off in preparation of spraying the upper hull black. First I had to very carefully flat back the ridge in the red oxide paint left by the edge of the masking tape that might prevent the new masking tape laying flat. I chose two types of Tamiya tape, the first is the very thin and flexible type to get the sharp edge and this was then overlaid with the wider flexible variety. Once this initial masking edge was established all round the hull and at deck level I could mask up the rest fully. As an experiment and to prevent any possible bleed through of solvents through regular news onto my lovely red oxide anti-fouling I chose to mask with some ’Bacofoil’ which actually works very well for this purpose as it is quite strong and easily folded and formed to the hull shape. I didn’t use too much of this from the roll, and my wife never noticed it’s absence from the kitchen whilst I was nicking it …result ! The hull was thoroughly wiped over with a tack cloth and panel wipe to remove any traces of contaminants that could spoil the paint finish and then it went into the booth. The pre-warmed paint went on very easily but at one point I noticed a bit of blooming on the surface in a few places but much to my relief this soon disappeared. Even after only one coat the finish looked very smooth and glossy. I left this first coat for a day or two to fully harden before wet flatting it down with an 800 grade abrasive. The second and third coats were applied in the same way, each left to harden for a day or more before flatting with a yet finer grades wet & dry . With the final coat on the finish greatly exceeded my expectations 😎 The masking tape and foil was very carefully removed to reveal a very sharp line where black meets red although this will be covered with the white ‘Trimline’ tape I bought from SHG Model Supplies at the Bristol model show in the summer. After a further couple of days drying and hardening I gave the black paint a bit of a polish with some Halfords cutting/polishing compound. I’m extremely pleased with this finish and at the same time frightened to death that I’ll ruin it in some way with a clumsy knock or in the lettering and lacquering stages 😓 …

7 years ago by robbob

Blog

Spraying the ‘anti fouling’

I have seen examples of this boat with a bright red gloss finish for the anti-fouling and as nice and shiny as it looks I have decided to be true to the original colour scheme as much as possible. Red oxide primer is a very close colour match to anti fouling paint, apparently, so I found some Simoniz red oxide paint on eBay at a very good price. I’m led to believe that one paint maker (Holts ?) makes the same paint for Halfords, Simoniz and others, it’s an acrylic paint with a matt finish so there should be no compatibility problems. Masking off the hull with a couple of layers of news is quick and easy and it’s ready to go into the spray booth. First coat on and it’s looking good, second coat after 20 minutes or so and I’m really happy with the results and the Simoniz paint is perfectly compatible with the Halfords primer. For good measure I’ll spray a third coat after the first two have hardened overnight, I’ll give the surface a very light key with a fine abrasive pad first. Then it’s on to the rest of the hull with the black gloss.

7 years ago by robbob

Blog

Strips

The pictures are slightly out of sync but no matter...Now ready for the chine (cedar) and spray rails from triangular section plasticard strips glued with rubberised cyanoacrylate. Paint used was auto acrylic spray cans; lots of filler primer sanded back and a couple of topcoats.. I thought masking the waterline would be a problem but using thin lengths of blue masking tape to get the line then adding full width with mask, it worked out fine.

7 years ago by manyboats

Forum

nordkap trawler

Hi Colin Merry Christmas to you too. I will get some pics of Malcs model interior in the near future and post details online. I usually cover my hulls in fibre cloth and resin but tissue and sanding sealer will also seal the hull. More to follow Dave

7 years ago by Dave M

Blog

Fibreglassing the hull bottom skins.

The hull was prepared for fibreglassing, any pins are punched below the surface, filled and rubbed down with a fine grit . The wood does not need any sanding sealer applied as this will react with the epoxy resin. I cut the cloth roughly to size and shape and laid onto the bottom skin, the upper edge was lightly taped with masking tape to hold it in place. The resin is mixed to the correct 100:30 ratio and stirred well, the pot life is 95 minutes and will allow me to take my time to get this right. My previous test was very helpful in establishing a working sequence and I know how the materials will react when I start working them and how much time I have before the brush stops brushing and starts dragging the resin. The cloth is folded over to the other side of the keel and a thin coat of resin applied over the skin and the side of the keel and then the fabric is carefully folded back onto the wet resin. The resin immediately starts to draw the cloth to the surface and a very light brushing from the centre outwards helps to make it smooth and flat, the remaining resin can then be gently brushed onto the cloth so that there is an even coating. The cloth needed to be pushed up against the keel sides and I used a steel rule edge to get it into the junction of hull and keel. I decided to trim the cloth just at the bow along the line of the join in the skins whilst the rein was still wet so that I would have a clean butt join in the cloth in this region instead of an overlap, probably not really necessary as an overlap should sand down ok and that join will be covered by the chine stringer, but it seemed like a good idea anyway. I did a similar thing on the keel below the propshaft and around the skeg. This was done with a sharp new Stanley knife blade without disturbing the cloth and the excess cloth removed. Once the cloth is on you must resist the urge to brush on any more resin or smooth it out any more, this first resin coating only needs to be light as subsequent coats will build up and fill the cloth weave. I let it to cure overnight and the following day is still felt tacky so I erred on the side of caution and left it for a further day until it was entirely dry to the touch. The excess cloth was then trimmed back with a sharp blade. Caution, be careful because the cut edge of the cloth is itself very sharp, as I found out the hard way! Feeling quite satisfied with these initial results and a great deal more confident I repeated the process for the other bottom skin. At this rate of progress, allowing for proper curing of the resin, it will take 8 days just to cover all five faces of the hull with cloth alone, but a wise man said 'a job worth doing is a job worth doing well' 😄

8 years ago by robbob

Place

Derby Model Boat Club

Yes, it's true. The club is in it's 40th year. A friendly, informal club Formed in 1976 by 4 members of the disbanding Rolls Royce Model club. In the early days the club sailed at Alvaston Park as well as Markeaton Park here in Derby. We now sail exclusively at Markeaton Park and the annual summer regatta will be held here on Sunday July 10th.Being a little special this year we are appealing for former members who may have any old club related news articles, photos etc. to bring along on the day and share some of your memories. If you can help please contact me, Andy either through this site or you can find my contact details on the membership page of the clubs website.derbymodelboatclub.co.uk Thanks,Andy. Scale and membership secretary.

12 years ago by timgarrod

Blog

espania IV

As this is a static model I wanted to curve the sails, as though the wind was blowing. First stage soak cord in white glue over night. Pin the cloth down over polyurethane sheet. Mark out around a pattern with pencil. Stick the wetted cord on the pencil line with pins & masking tape, leave to dry. Next day remove the tape, cut out with a scalpel, leaving a margin outside the cord. Mark the seams with pencil, with this small scale the only way? Tape the sail on to a window with the marks against the glass, the light will show the seams so the other side can be marked. Lay the sail back on the poly sheet and paint with watered down white glue, the water prof variety. Suspend sail so it forms the required shape. Do not let the sail inside the cord touch any thing, it may not stick but will leave a mark. Cut with a scalpel tight to the outside of the cord job done. One other trick I use a lot is place a model on an old pillow, will not damage model & will hold it in various positions securely.

9 years ago by hammer

Forum

Crash Tender Shaft Installation

A photo would help but repositioning the shaft will make the model sail much better. I have restored several Aerokits from the 34" Crash Tender to a Sea Queen and all sail beautifully. You are effectively elongating the slot that passes the shaft thro the hull and will need to fill the space left above the tube inside the hull and restore the outside to make it waterproof. Plastic padding, as used for car body repairs, is easy to use, sets quickly and can be sanded to a fine finish. I have a long drill but you can use a piece of dowell slightly thinner than the shaft. Use evostick to attach some coarse sand and shape the slot to the required angle. it's important that you do not force the shaft as this may result in a bend. I usually leave a mm of play all round and when satisfied with the fit smear the shaft in plastic padding and refit, making sure it's all square and free running. Once set I check again and if all is OK I apply more PP to finish off the inside and outside. I use several small mixes as heat is generated in the curing process and a big mix will generate lots of heat. Some people are intolerant of the resin/hardener so use in a well ventilated area and wear rubber gloves if required. The dust is fine so a small face mask is a good idea and hoover up the dust when finished or it will get everywhere.

9 years ago by Dave M

Media

Noels Raft

This is a raft that one of our members Noel built from bean cans soldered together powered by a blower motor /12v 9mah battery it is a model of his fathers full size raft made from 45gallon drums powered by a car engine it was sailed off Cresswell near Newbiggin by the sea it made headlines in the local newss as Noel can no longer join us at the lake due to his failing health I will keep it and sail it on his behalf and use it as a rescue craft

9 years ago by Northumbrian

Response

Coast Guard Life Boat

After you have finished planking I use a matt fibreglass cloth. Put it on in very rough squares or odd shapes to suit. Do not worry about overlapping or odd lumps. Sand down higher bits with power sander. I use a WORX tool that has a triangular sanding pad of carbide at this stage. You need not be too fussy. P38 is a fibreglass filler having a 2 part mix. Used by car repairs. Easy to mix, do not mix too much at a time as it can begin to set in 5 min. Again spread P38 filling any hollow areas. I use a piece of 2x1 wood about 18 inch. long with sand strips of different grades stuck on each side for sanding the hull along the easy to reach areas and for inside curves a round or half round file followed by hand sanding. it may take 3-5 applications of filler before an acceptable finish is achieved. I then use car spray paint red primer to achieve a good finish but the first coat may show up any blemishes that may take more filling. if you have pin size blow holes these are filled with gell coat filler, it is very difficult to fill such minute holes with P38 as is is too course. I you want a devorce do the sanding in the lounge otherwise I suggest you wear a mask and do it outside...lol Hope this all helps.

9 years ago by HoweGY177

Forum

Spraying hulls

Alan P Be careful about WD40 or any of the other type of surface oilers/ cleaners some of them contain silicone as a water displacer, its superb for displacing paint. If your masking tape is leaving residue it is probably out of date, absorbs moisture and can leave the glue behind. Good for sticking parcels but not on our precious paintwork. Vinyl tape is ok but again use it quick, don't by bargain packs of tape, by top quality, 3M etc, or talk to your local car body shop, they might sell you a roll of the tape they use, they might even offer to give you a master class of masking up. Mine did, thought I was a bit of a nutter at first but showed him my Tug Amsterdam and he was very helpful. Still thought I was a nutter but who cares Mark

10 years ago by jarvo

Forum

dust on painted areas

Welsh fen man One problem that was not mentioned is the area you are using, once carefully cleaned, try hanging some damp news around your painting area, hang it up on strings like christmas cards, this will attract dust particles and cause them to stick to the not your paintwork. Also try using Tac rags, both on your paint surface and the surrounding area. Get them from car paint specialists, or Ebay, expensive from Halfords Mark

10 years ago by jarvo

Response

Resin and Glass Cloth

HI Ian, I got mine on eBay £13 and free p&p. Eze-dope is not the same, that's for using over tissue on planes. And you don't need to worry about clean up (even fingers) just soap and water and its gone. Colin.

11 years ago by Colin H

Media

Phoenix

In 1963/64 my father built a 34" Fireboat for me. Being only about 12 the job was a little above my knowledge or expertise. Another chap in my class at school had the same boat but rigged as a Fireboat. So I wanted something different.My boat was painted Red.White and Black. When I migrated to Australia I sold the boat about 1970.Earlier this year I had an article published in a Melbourne news saying I was looking to repurchase the boat I had sold 40 years ago. Although I was unable to get my boat, someone had a fireboat that had been sitting around for years.After purchasing the boat, I restored it to the same colours etc that I had had 40 years ago. Thereby naming it Phoenix.

12 years ago by Keith

Blog

Stripe pt 2.

Once the blue outer colour band was almost dry, the masking tape was carefully removed to allow the paint edge to bond to the underlying paint. Word of warning here, dont leave the masking on too long or you can end up tearing the edge of the new paint as you lift off the masking tape, always try to remove when it is still "touch dry", test this out on the overspray on the masking . When you can only "just" leave an Imprint in the paint, it is time to lift the masking off. I then painted in [by brush] the centre red stripe, this going over the white base colour gives a nice bright red colour, but still too 2 coats to achieve an even coat.

12 years ago by Gregg

Forum

The COROMANDEL

Having completed the re furbishment of my Fireboat and having found the activity quite absorbing, I started to look for another project. During my research Into my family history I discovered that my great grand father emigrated to New Zealand In 1873 as a farm worker. Somehow by 1880 he was the " providore " on a small coastal steamer. Unfortunately he appears to have fallen off this In Auckland harbour and was drowned leaving a wife and 6 children. As I have no photographic record of him, I thought It would be nice to make a model of this ship, that I could hand on to my grandson along with the Fireboat. I have no great experience of building model boats, but my activities with the Fireboat has Increased my range of tools to help In the build and I thought that It may be of Interest to others to record my saga of buiding a scratch build model. I know It Is not a Fireboat, but I understand that the organisors of this site have no objection to this great site covering other types of vessel. The first part of the research needed was to determine the name of the ship, using the Internet I was able to find a NZ news Item that recorded the drowning and name of the ship the " COROMANDEL". Searching the NZ maritime records provided a picture of the ship loading passengers, this gave me a start and I have attached a copy of the picture. I shall add blogs as I go along ( as I write this I am actually some way In, but It will be better to tell the story In bits and I am not that much of a typist ), so I have now provided the Introduction. nasraf

13 years ago by nasraf

Blog

priming the superstructure

Now that all the holes are cut and finished in the superstructure, its time now to apply its white primer coat. The grey primer was purely to make it easier to spot any blemishes in the mould and alsoits an easier colour to work with, when making alterations or repairs. White is too bright a colour to spot defects in. Firstly, the antI slip coating was applied to the roof and engine cover area. For these areas I used a sheet of emery cloth, 300 grit. I first cut a template to the roof shape, remembered to cut out a section for the roof number and then mixed an ample supply of epoxy resin, coated the back face of the emery with the glue then carefull placed on the roof, making sure to gently smooth all the air bubbles out. I then cut similar templates for the engien covers and hatch tops and glued them on too. yes, I do know there are aerosols available to put this type of finish on, but being as this is a flat surface, its just as easy to do it this way and less messy having to do loads of masking off. Once the grit has had a coat of primer, then a couple of coats of top colour, the roughness smooths out a little, but leaves the antI slip effect visible. Don't what ever you do, use a hogh number grit , or once you have applied all the pain coats, it will be too smooth as you have filled all the gaps up with paint, be brave and use a low number grit! You will notice in the latter pics, the orange top coat has already been applied to the hatch openings, prior to them being masked off for the top coat to go on.

12 years ago by Gregg

Forum

Use of Glues on Boats.

HI gregoryk9 Very common problem with wooden boats. Not confined to cyano glues but to most types of glue where wood to wood joints are made and subsequently exposed to the elements. My Billing Mercantic was a plank on frame built with cascamite over 30 years ago. The problem lies in the wood. This being a natural product absorbs water and subsequently in a hot environment (the attic say) loses water. This causes expansion and contraction and over time the wood will split adjacent to the glue join. A solution is to cover the whole hull in tissue and fiberglass resin. Once set you can smooth the finish with wet & dry sand and paint. if you want to show the wood on the outside of the hull you need to run just the resin round the insides of the hull. You can cut and use tissue if you wish, this will give a stronger finish. Many advocate using resin inside and out but this will add to the weight and is not always possible. Araldite will certainly do the job but the hull will leak at some time if you do not completely seal the wood. Good luck with the rebuild Dave

15 years ago by Dave M

Media

Aerokits PT restored by Graham Taylor

I rescued my PT Boat from EBAY in August 2005. it was owned by a young boy in Birmingham whose Dad had built if for him. it is an original Aerokits kit Fast Patrol Boat. When I bought the boat it had a sound hull with a few damaged fittings, which I removed. Since then I have made new guns, extended the front cabin to carry the life raft to make it look like a late World War II Elco PT Boat and added other new fittings. I have made 6 working exhausts in brass tubing, have fitted a new open prop shaft running an Octura race prop and a Merco 61 glow engine. it still needs torpedos, guard rails around the machine gun turrets and a few other fittings. The number 349 is from an original Pacific Theatre 80' Elco PT Boat whose name in Bee Bee, which I hope to add at a later date. I have also painted it in an original Pacific Theatre camouflage from a PT Boat book which I bought for reference and to make it look like a standoff scale model. This boat was also photographed by the local Burton Upon Trent news at the Fireboat day in September 2006. I ran this boat at the Burton Model Boat Club's Fireboat day in September 2006 briefly until I broke the exhaust manifold and had to retire it early.

16 years ago by froggyt996