Blog

Speedline 1/48th scale Huntsman

Have started to build. Like all good builders I started with the stand. this comes with the model and Is laser cut from perspex. not easy to photograph!!! The hull has been trimmed and the chine strips and rails have been added. Also the slot for the prop shaft and the hole for the rudder post have been drilled. The final photo Is just to give some scale to the model. The unfinished project In the background Is my Sea Breeze. Cant wait to get to the electrics, I think I'll need a microscope!!!!

10 years ago by jeremy

Response

Re: Painting continued

Thanks for all the nice comment re the finish. I have to say - yes it does take an awful lot of preparation and to be honest I was also surprised at the final colour finish, it still will be flattened with 1500 wet and dry and then a final gloss lacquer after the transfers are added. Peter Red Oxide? is indeed red oxide and for its final finsh it will be lacquered with a satin finish I actually bought it from Halfords (Simoniz acrylic, see picture). For general information all the other paint work is in cellulose which I use a compressor and top fill gun similar to the one in the picture. I hope that helps.

4 years ago by mturpin013

Forum

Humbrol enamels

Thanks Doug. I think I've killed the idea that 50ml tins are available and although I know a lot of people use s, I never have. I know they are, with proper screening etc practical for large areas, but somehow I've always steered clear. It's the traditionalist in me fighting back. Cheers, Nerys.

5 years ago by Nerys

Forum

Humbrol enamels

Hi Nerys, Haven't seen the 125ml tins for decades either ☹️ But now they do some 50ml tins and 150ml acrylic s. But not all colours, 13 basic colours only 😭 Cheers Doug 😎 https://www.humbrol.com/uk-en/shop/paints.html

5 years ago by RNinMunich

Media

MORE SMOKER STUFF 2

Trying air injection to break up the water flow. The air pumps I ordered finally arrived a week late but are too small to be of much use. I need a much bigger and faster volume of air to achieve what I want, which is for the water to almost be ed out in a mist. Might need to mod the water outlet by fitting fine tubes or stoppers around the inner smoke tube to build up a bit of back pressure, which might be another alternative Unfortunately, as I've said before, you can't scale water, due partly to surface tension etc (why it either drips or runs out of a small pipe), so to make it fine you have to pressurize/vaporise it at the point of exit (ie garden er) which is the hard part on a small scale. Lots of fun trying to perfect it though, and it keeps me out of trouble, and keeps the brain working - (although it's just asked for a pay rise due to all the work it's been doing lately!😂) Tip,- if you run both videos at once you can see the difference between this and the last vid. It also breaks the smoke up. JB

5 years ago by jbkiwi

Blog

Fire Monitors Part 3

Having created the “rotating” monitors I have to deal with the rotation mechanism and since the design requires the central tube to rotate I have a few different options to consider, they include:- 1 solid rod drive 2 Belt driven 3 cord driven 4 modified servo 5 gear driven Having looked at the rotation of a standard servo which appears to be about 170 degrees, if I want to have something in the order of 300/360 degrees there will have to be some sort of increase in end movement. Option 1- rod driven although very controllable it’s limited to about 170 degrees otherwise it gets locked at either end of the cycle. Option 2 - Belt driven needed a couple of pulleys machined up this meant the large pulley was 50 mm dia and the small one was 10mm dia. The drive belt was an “O” ring. This option works very well and could be a possibility. Option 3 - Cord driven this system is simply a cord running from the servo arms round a 10mm pulley twice (to give some grip) but between the servo arm and cord is a spring to give some tension in the cord, again could be a possibility Option 4 – a servo modification (addition of resisters) servo this has already been shown by Graham and although an easy option for an electronics engineer a bit more difficult for me, but achievable. However for my configuration it’s not suitable as I can’t drive onto the end face of the rotating tube. Option 5 – Gear driven would need a pair of gears at a ratio of 10 teeth to 50 teeth and some modification to a gear to fit on the servo. This was the last option to be tried and looks as if it may be the best option. The rotation of 360 may be OK but from a practical point of view I don’t need water ing over the cockpit or front deck. So I decided to change the gear ratio to 30:10 this gives a rotation of about 280 degrees which I think gives a good spread of (see top view of deck). All the prototypes were built on scraps of ply and with an old servo. Having proved my system; I will now build it into the cabin roof in such a way that the gear ratios can be changed if required.

5 years ago by mturpin013

Response

Re: What colors to use?

Hi E, There are three distributors in USA http://www.billingboats.com/articles/distributors-america.html Nearest ones to you are in NJ or NY. There's also one in CA. Only place in this list I know (knew🙄) is Las Condes, Santiago de Chile. Was often there in the nineties for meetings with MoD /Navy and our agent there.😉 The Billing paints are small bottles and quite expensive, and you'll need an air-brush for the big bits!! I'd look for the nearest R-O or Tamiya can equivalent if I were you. The excellent conversion chart that Martin found can help you there 😊 Cheers, Doug 😎 PS the paint numbers are on page 16 of the Building Instructions. Seems they've stopped putting them up with BB numbers, now just in triangles!! See pic.

5 years ago by RNinMunich

Response

Re: Chine strakes and hull painting

Graham, the boat is looking great, as others have said a new coat always improves things. I can also confirm the issue with tins (Acrylic) as the boat Ive just finiashed for my grandson had the same issue. Im am ing my crash tender with commercial cellulose using compressor and gun and although the drying time is also an issue in terms of time after a couple of weeks it hard enough to treat with flatting compond to achieve that polished finish

5 years ago by mturpin013

Response

Re: Chine strakes and hull painting

Hi Graham. I'm pleased to see that you have started a 'refit' blog, and from what you've posted so far shows a remarkable improvement. The addition of the chine strakes have clearly been a worthwhile addition too. I also had a similar issue with the Halfords gloss lacquer coat being very 'soft' for a long time and easily marked, the hardening process does seems to take some time and so I did have to flat down the gloss lacquer on my boat and re-finish it too. Body repairers use an infra red lamp to dry and cure base coat and clear coat finishes before they polish it to a high gloss finish as I found out when I had a small repair done on my car by a mobile 'Chips Away' type repair company. They advised me that the drying/curing process does take time if the finish isn't 'baked' in a paint shop booth/oven. Curiously the red anti fouling on mine was finished with a satin lacquer and didn't suffer from any such problems and the hull sits on some neoprene pads on the stand with no ill effects. Keep up the great work👍. Robbob.

5 years ago by robbob

Response

Re: Graupner Hertha Jeep

"I had to break the bottom edge of the windscreen to get it loose from the hull." Hi Cash, next time something like that happens (and we've all done it!) try a Razor Saw! Nevertheless, good start👍 I like the Tamiya cans too, better than the Revell ones. Great for the large stuff like hulls and saves firing up (and subsequently cleaning😝) the airbrush. I reserve that for the fiddly bits where I need a finer . Cheers, Doug 😎

5 years ago by RNinMunich

Forum

Work with Balsa wood

If you are bending things like stringers, chine rails etc soak the part you want to bend in a trough (if you have one- wallpapering trough is good) of boiling water for about 4-5 mins, -remove and bend around screws/panel pins set to the radius on a flat board and weight down till dry (long enough pins will let you stack a number of pieces). If you are bending sheet balsa, the softer the better, (across the grain and with it, careful bending across,- snaps easily if too firm or thick) This will also depend on how tight a radius you need, ( if only gradual- like a clinker dinghy) you might get away with firm balsa. 2mmx 10mm wide strips will follow a curve nicely. For a bow with a flare you will need to plank (vert or angled)with soft to med balsa strips (10mmx 2mm or thereabouts)- gives you room to sand and fair. The trick is to feel how the plank likes to lay around a flare with the least stress, and go with that angle if poss. If the hull past the flare is flatish you can use whole sheets to speed things up. For the truest shape, complete planking gives the best result (although a bit time consuming and a bit more sanding involved). JB

5 years ago by jbkiwi

Forum

Hints and Tips.

"Sometimes I’ll have small parts that need to be painted, and my lack of patience makes want to paint the thing in one shot. If it’s a part where the bottom is glued down and won’t be seen, I’ll tack glue a scrap piece of balsa stick to the bottom, " I use double sided tape and an off cut of 2x1 for such parts. Usually a whole row of 'em. Otherwise not worth firing up the airbrush😉 Sits stable on the booth turntable and can be easily set aside for drying. Cheers, Doug 😎

5 years ago by RNinMunich

Response

Re: The deck planking.

Hi again, I have spent much time admiring your beautiful planking, staining and final finishing, really wonderful on the eye! A couple of questions if I may? 1. I have planked a few boats in the past, but have had disappointing finishes, mainly down to glue seepage causing ugly spots as they won’t take stain. How do you achieve your immaculate glue free stained deck and what glue do you recommend for gluing the obechi deck strips and black plasticard caulking. 2. I have bought some teak water based stain like yours. I have always applied yacht varnish in the past, but again, not the best finish. You have used a lacquer, was it a satin or brush lacquer? Thank you in advance for any advice.

5 years ago by Skydive130

Forum

Workshop

"Too untidy for pictures until its finally sorted" It will NEVER be finally sorted! Model workshops adhere to the universal law of "Stuff expands to fill the space available for it!" 🤔 Attached a few pics of my workshop from 2 years ago - currently sorting again so that I can use my little booth! Basically lathes and mill etc at one end, electronics with scopes, PSUs and soldering station at the other. Construction and painting in between. That's the part that tends to get cluttered with "parked stuff"🤔. Not included are the drill press and electric coping saw in the cellar for the heavy stuff. Ships all over the wall and bookshelf, more ships on shelves in the living room😉 You don't have to be nuts for this hobby - BUT IT HELPS! 😁 Cheers, Doug 😎

5 years ago by RNinMunich

Response

Re: What filler?

Hi Chris, Sorry for the delay in responding, sounds like your well on the way to a great model. As most of my models are vintage they are made in a similar way. Firstly with the balsa I cover with 2 coats of sanding sealer, once sanded to nearly there I use another coat of sanding sealer. When I am happy with the look and feel of the Hull I coat with ezekote and 0.03mm glass cloth. Allow to dry for 24 hours then another coat of ezekote. This is then rubbed down with 1200 grit wet and dry (used dry). Next I will with Halford filler primer, rubbed down and followed by a couple of coats of normal primer, then up to 3 coats of top coat. And finally 2 coats of lacquer of your choice. Not forgetting to rub down between each coat. Once you start on the actual paint I use 2000 grit wet and dry used wet with a drip of fairy liquid in the water. I hope this is helpful, if you have blemishes to fill after priming I use holts knifing putty as it's in a tube and easy to use and sand back. Don't take my methods as gospel, there are many ways in modelling, this is just my humble opinion. Cheers Colin.

5 years ago by Colin H

Forum

EeZeBilts From Keil Kraft

Well, if we have finished discussing ladies' underwear, I would like to go on with the discussion on plan creation... Actually, paint finishes on EeZeBilts is a bit of a problem. It's true that balsa is not a good surface to paint on, and a common trick has been to cover it - with tissue, brown paper, nylons or fibreglass - and then work on that. I have always found this to be a bit fiddly and time-consuming, and prefer to get a reasonable surface with sanding sealer, then use car paints and finish off with lacquer. Remember to seal the inside as well - balsa can swell like anything if it absorbs water. I'm currently trying ed acrylic paints in an effort to lower the cost - they seem to work if well sealed.. Anyway, back to the design... It turns out that this hull is not a simple one to convert to an EeZeBilt. The angles on it make the shape critical to get right, and we have no measurements or any precise pictures at right angles. Still, we will do our best... Now we have got a basic hull shape, we look at it, compare with pictures and see if it looks right... When I did this, I thought that the stern should be fatter and the hull should taper towards the bow. Martin555 pointed out that the funnel should be lower and wider, and the mast should be wider... so I tweaked the hull and superstructure until it looked a bit closer... compare fig 10 with fig 11. As we develop a reasonable plan and elevation, we can start to consider cross-sections. In this case I am thinking about powering the hull with water-jets, so I think about where they will fit. Most of the hull can be a simple box structure which the egg-box design is great for - it will only need a different approach at the bow. In fig 12 you can see various stern cross-sections being tried out for jet fitting and similarity to the rear photo. A CAD package is really handy here - you can just nudge lines and angles until they look OK. When the hull shape looks like it's settled down, we can add the cross bulkheads. You can see these in fig 13. From this drawing we will be able to generate the bulkhead shapes, the deck and sub-deck and the keel, just by measurement. But only for the main part of the hull. We will leave the ways you can do EeZebilt bows for the next session...

5 years ago by DodgyGeezer

Response

Re: The Instrument Panel.

Nice job Rob! If I might offer a suggestion which might make it easier to make gauge panels for future projects. To save trying to cut around tiny prints, (fingers/eyes don't work so well with age) what others do with aircraft dashes etc is to drill through the dash panel with a spur drill (pictured) of the appropriate size for the particular gauge, against a piece of hardwood, after marking the hole positions on masking tape applied firmly to the panels' face (to prevent damaging the face). You get a nice accurate hole which you can edge seal and blacken, thereby giving 'depth' to your gauge cluster. You can then roughly cut the prints to size and position/glue them on a backing panel and with clear, or sandwich them between some thin acetate sheet, the backing plate and your dash panel. Probably selling snow to Inuits, but others might be able to use the method. John B

5 years ago by jbkiwi

Blog

40'' Seaplane Tender, new build R

Most of the motor electrics fitted (just rudder servo and lights to set up yet.) ed a few coats of heavy acrylic undercoat on and sanded back. Will another coat or two before top coat. Weather was good for painting today, so set it up and ed it outside in the sun. Both motor covers are now glued to the bulkhead so the coamings come off as one piece as previously mentioned. Made a Mahogany door for the aft cabin and will probably do the same for the internal door from the wheelhouse. Faired the shaft tubes as well with some West System resin and filler powder.. Gets a bit more exciting when you can start painting. May give the coamings a yet, but need to make sure I don't need to correct anything. Ordered the grab rail stanchions from CMB, also another sound unit from Ali Express. I have dozens of coloured LEDs for the lights (miniature Xmas string lights) which I bought on an end of year sale which are perfect for nav and interior lights (just cut off what you need and solder on some leads). They seem to handle the voltage ok . The clear ones I usually paint dark yellow to get a more realistic colour, and power them with a small 2 AA battery compartment (which comes with the lights) which is wired to a remote switch. Haven't done a lot the past week as I've had a bad case of the plague and I'm just getting back into things.

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 paper towels and soap er 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

The Waterline/Boot Topping.

I don’t know what it is about successfully applying a white waterline to a hull that gives me so much grief. I had problems with getting a good result with my Crash Tender and similarly with this model too. The common denominators are; 1. Me. 2. The hull. 3. Trimline Tape. On both occasions I’ve used this tape it has refused to adhere properly where it crosses the rails and on this occasion it also lifted in lots of places along the hull sides so that when the finishing lacquer was ed on it got behind the tape, lifted it more, and looked awful 😞 and this was despite meticulous cleaning and keying of the surface before application. Without meaning to do an injustice to the product I suspect that it’s just the way I was applying it and perhaps I had greater expectations of the product. Consequently I had to remove all of the tape and flat down the step in the lacquer coat 😠 and consider another approach, perhaps masking tape and white paint or an alternative tape. I decided to persist with the ‘tape’ method so I found a seller on eBay that could supply very thin PVC car body ‘coachlining’ tape in any colour or width to order, so I bought 10 metres of 4mm in white for just a couple of quid. What a difference!😊 This stuff went on beautifully straight, sticks like the proverbial and has stayed firmly in place over all of the contortions of the rails and hull. Furthermore when the hull was re-lacquered with a clear satin finish it behaved impeccably….success at last.😀👍

5 years ago by robbob

Forum

Bow Fenders.

If you want it to look older and a bit used you could it with water and sprinkle some instant coffee granules on and again then let it soak for a while. You could also sprinkle bits of OXO stock cubes on it. I know it is starting to sound more like a restaurant than a fender.LOL! But you will get the different variations in colour. Martin.

5 years ago by Martin555

Forum

WaterProofing and Painting

To answer your question first, I would seal the wood inside and out with several coats of sanding sealer or primer - checking that the glue joints are sound first - and then use cellulose car for the final colour. Once decals are in place a final coal of car lacquer is a good idea. But you will find that everyone has their own approach to painting. Many people would advise covering with a fibreglass skin and epoxy, particularly as it's a racing boat... Is it this Dumas kit? http://www.dumasproducts.com/product_info.php?products_id=391 I believe that that boat kit comes in different sizes, and has been around since the 1970s. It's a racing hydroplane, and not the first choice I would have made for a beginner to model boating! Here is a video of an electric one running: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mb0kYvPZOe4 You may just intend to build it as a display item, but if you are thinking of running it then you may find a bit more advice helpful? I suppose that the first point to make is that that old World Engines radio is quite out of date. If it's 27Mhz it's still legal, but, even if you have all the bits for it I would advise against running anything with a vintage radio which may be unreliable. Don't throw it away - it's worth good money to a vintage collector - but a modern 2.4Ghz set will be much more reliable. I see that the boat comes with an I/C motor. If you are not experienced with model boats I suspect that you have not used one of these? Again, these are becoming a bit of a specialist skill since so many lakes ban their use. Converting the boat to electric would bring it more into line with modern practice. Common advice is for beginners who have little experience to go and talk to the nearest club, and I think that applies in spades here! Racing boats run fast, need careful expert set-up, and are easy to crash - possibly damaging more than just your boat in the process. A club will have more experienced members who know where to run the boat safely, will help you set it up, and may let you practice with simpler boats to learn how to do things properly before taking your (and your uncle and grandfather's) pride and joy out on the lake... Here's someone else with a similar problem to yours... https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?1661638-1970-s-Pay-n-Pak-boat-NEED-HELP%21

5 years ago by DodgyGeezer

Blog

40'' Seaplane Tender, new build K

Deck is now on and trimmed and chine 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 sandpaper 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. 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

Blog

New supplies required!

Had to do the ‘glue run’ today. Was in Southampton so went to the Poundland there to buy my tried and trusted two part epoxy and super glue. The cans are also great to have and a new product which I hadn’t seen before were the pack of four tweezers. All for a £5 note!

5 years ago by GrahamP74

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 paper on which you can print anything you design, draw etc on your inkjet printer. I buy this paper 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 paper (plastic waterslide coated), let the ink dry, 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 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 paper 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 paper 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.

Most of the paint on the Acapulco and Neptun are airbrushed acrylic. Easy clean up, and completely waterproof when cured. I still use Tamiya Lacquer from time to time too.

5 years ago by Cashrc

Forum

Hints and Tips.

Mate, too many years in salt water . Tips? the secret? I really paint all my wood models so thoroughly and make internal wood coamings inside of the superstructures and actually hose down first thing at home with a soft hose stream to wash off salt. Most of my hulls and decks when the model is finished have been "painted" local hardware paint or ed with fibreglass resin thinned down about 50% or so on paint varnished wood ( even polyurethane 50% thinned ) of which BOTH are so clear and some models over 30/35 ( i/c and steam ) years are still impervious to attack and a bit bullet proof and every so often I do a clean down with say a household (any brand will do) kitchen bench type of cleaner, supermarket mist cleaner , you know the ones that smell so fresh and clean that they kill ONLY 99% of all germs and baddies ( what a crock ) and I then take the model/ bits onto the grass still smelling so fresh (UGH) and gently wash away the germs and baddies and just sun dry for a bit and put back in the shed for another day. I am so petty, I also save up the dry cleaning flimsy plastic sheets and cut the sides so I have a long sheet to drape over each model till the next run the sawdust of other shed jobs does NOT get on the model. I fold the sheets off with the dust side to the inner fold , hoping I do not forget which side is which ( I think I am getting OLDER )before I check out the model (radio test, fuel ok , just lightly SINGER oil carburettor shaft , rudder post prop shaft bits , check the glow plug works, inline fuel filter is clean , AND AND leave my engine settings alone year after year AND try to exactly mix the same fuel blend over and over by careful measure but you can slop a tad more oil in as *Oil is CHEAPER than steel , if a bit rich then one click on the needle yet my mates rib me as I leave it *ALONE ). I always check, ALWAYS on the day BEFORE next days run and avoid things that go wrong at the pond side , ( you know the guy who glitches and bleats it was going so well last time ) as I am in OPEN waters I do not chance fails. Regards and good boating Lyle from Oz.

5 years ago by Lyle

Blog

Paint prep

It’s time to start looking at some paint preparation as this is something that can be done alongside some of the remaining jobs. I have spent hours glassing the hull and deck and the cabin roofs and then finishing to a standard for the first coats of primer, this was achieved by progressing through various grades of wet and dry from 400 to 800. This gives a good adhesion surface for the first primer coat. As I have said in previous posts I made as many parts detachable as was practical, so on the forward cabin roof (which is in itself detachable) all parts are removed leaving a relatively flat surface to prepare, the underside was masked and then put in the queue for painting. Mid cabin and rear cabin roofs - again all parts were removed and placed in the queue/turntable, ing is a hazardous process whatever type of paint you use, so it’s essential that some sort of extraction is used and an appropriate face mask ( I use a P100 rated mask because it gives the highest level of protection in the widest variety of situations and will filter out 100% of both oil-based and non-oil-based particles.). This can also be used for most of my wood working activities, however; if this isn’t an option for you then I suggest you outdoors. My booth is made from an old cooker hood mounted in my workshop with a table below. On this I used plain sheets of hardboard which I made temporary fixings to hold a box together. The extraction element was a piece of old clothes dryer flexible 4” pipe which when I’m ing hangs out of the window. Back to ing, I use a compressor and small gun for this size of work so I purchased a litre of grey primer and 5 litres of thinners. I am no professional er but have ed a number of cars in the past and I have learnt that once again ”Less is more” so a number of light coats is better than one thick coat that runs, meaning lots of sanding and a repeat performance of painting. First three coats of grey primer applied and I’m pleased with how it’s going. I took the opportunity to some of the other parts that were finished while the gun was full of primer. ing is one of those jobs which is over before it’s begun yet the preparation seems to take weeks but it always pays off in the end. Next will be a top coat of Appliance White.

5 years ago by mturpin013

Blog

Planking the hull.

After shaping the frames to the hull profile and glueing shaped lime wood block to the bow and the stern, planking started at deck level. I happen to have a length of lime plank. So using a bandsaw cut lengths approx 2mmx10mmx a bit longer than the boat. I planked each side two planks at a time, glueing and pinning to each frame. Where required I soaked the ends of the planks to assist in the bending. Planks were shaped as required. Ones close to the keel needed a lot of trial and error. This all took a bit of time (4 planks a night). Once the planking was complete, the hull was sanded to smooth out the plank transitions and any bumps. The hull was then coated with car body filled, sanded, etc until happy with finish. A couple of coats of grey primer was applied using cans.

5 years ago by Hillro

Forum

Painting over epoxy

On fibreglass you could use an etching primer which is a modified alkyd primer that produces a sound base coat on wood, steel, fiberglass, aluminum surfaces. but you should use an ordinary primer before the top coat. Halfords do a etch primer.

5 years ago by mturpin013

Forum

Painting over epoxy

I have used several Halfords Aerosol cans on boats over the recent years. In each case I have sanded the hull down to bare wood as the boats were vintage ones and did have coats of paint on them that could not be identified. Best to use thin applications of both primer then paint then build up on that after leaving 24 hours between each coat. Another good point is that Halfords also stock plastic primer in their paints range which is ideal if your boat has a polystyrene hull or you have plastic fittings. Boaty😎

5 years ago by boaty

Forum

Painting over epoxy

Halfods cans will work brilliantly of if you know of someone who works in a body shop get them to it with 2 pak paint for you Dave

5 years ago by Dave J

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 ‘ 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 newspaper. 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

Forum

soldering

Sound advice from Haverlock and Dodgy geezer! I have found La-co flux (from plumbers merchants) a fabulous "active " flux. La-co -on heat mat ( a gel) prevents heat travel away from heated area. An unsupported butt joint is inherently weak. I would suggest some sort of supporting insert into the tube to maintain the flush appearance,but with added strength.Eg: a smaller close fitting tube of smaller diameter/section.

5 years ago by drspock

Response

Painting

Thanks Doug. Do you have any idea as to why white paint is much more difficult to get good coverage with than most other colours.🤓

5 years ago by MouldBuilder

Forum

Sea Queen - strakes

Have you got any pictures of these triangular rails?

5 years ago by BOATSHED

Forum

Sea Queen - strakes

I found when fitting rails to use triangular stock like trailing edge section for aircraft wings. it looks neat and bends more easily than square stock.Fitted thin edge up the right angled face forming the deflecting face. Filled and sanded it blends well into the hull. Maybe not true scale but looks nice. it comes in many sizes and suppliers.SLEC is one for starters and Hobbies is another. Balsa Cabin another. Just loads if you use uncle Google.👍

5 years ago by onetenor

Forum

Sea Queen - strakes

The principle is simple. Fluid flowing over a surface tends to stick to it (Google Coanda Effect). it's worse at the low Reynolds numbers that models work at. The result is that water displaced by the boat at speed tends to flow up the sides of the hull, sticking to them, and can even pour onto the deck. This slows the boat down and can swamp it. If you have a sharp chine, you can force the water to move away from the hull at the discontinuity, because it can't easily flow around a sharp angle. ideally, you can deflect it downwards and get some lift, helping the boat onto the plane. So a lot of models have small rails along the chine, shaped to deflect the water downwards a bit. This is what many of the Aerokits models have. Deep Vee design relies on these a lot - the bottom of the hull has a series of parallel rails so that as the boat rises in the water the is deflected downwards by each rail in turn and an ever-smaller part of the hull bottom is wetted - reducing drag a lot. But the Sea Queen is not a Deep Vee, and doesn't need more that the one set of rails along the chine. Deep Vee rails can also help to cushion the shock when a boat drops back into the water after leaving it - but that's more useful in full-size practice rather than models....

5 years ago by DodgyGeezer

Forum

Sea Queen - strakes

I am about to start a Seaqueen build, as a complete novice, can anyone expand on the rail concept please?

5 years ago by vk6tnc

Blog

Keel

Printed out the frames /ribs drawings and outlined each in orange so I could easily see the correct lines. Cut those out and pasted to some plywood. The plywood is Baltic Birch 1/4" -5 ply, very nice quality that I get from a local woodworking supply store. it's a bit nicer than from the local warehouse hardware lumber yard, but that would work also. Used some rubber cement, ed only the paper back and stuck on the plywood. ing just one surface allows quick removal of the paper once cut. I don't have a bandsaw of scroll saw, so I use a sabresaw/hand jigsaw mounted upside down on a surface that secures to my drill press. Works pretty good. My shop is so tiny that I just don't have a space for larger tools. Maybe someday. Keel board was glued up, will show more tomorrow on that. Joe

5 years ago by Joe727

Blog

Fairly Hunsman renovation part 1

Pictures Rubbing down hull, Close ups of hull repairs Drill holes in transom for the exhaust pipes (water cooling outlets). Added rail to side of hull. Have found that I am having bad reactions to the fumes from Gorilla Glue.

6 years ago by CB90

Directory

(Yacht) DMI 'Pirat''

Classic modell, in the 70's sold under the name DMI pirat. a full wooden sailboat without RC controls. the keel was extended to improve stability. In the 90's the wooden strips from the hull were so dried out, that I had to fill it complete with epoxy and ed the uniform 'baby blue'color. After a long period in the attic , it saw daylight again and the sails needed to be replaced. Now it is a static model with sailing capacities. (7/10)

5 years ago by Smaragd

Response

Fitting the rubbing strakes.

Nice one 'Cyril' 👍 Used much the same technique for the rail repairs and replacements on my PTB 109 restoration. Works a treat don' it. Pics show the before an' after. Following the build with great interest, as I also did the Fire Boat Rob. Great stuff. Keep it up. Cheers Doug 😎

5 years ago by RNinMunich

Forum

Propshaft Lubrication

You can still get greases that are applied in liquid form but they now tend to be in form. I personally do not use silicon oil or grease, it is fine until you need to repaint your boat, it forms a film that is almost impossible to remove, even cellulose thinners has no effect and any paint applied fish eyes and separates, there are dedicated removers but we tried one on a contaminated bike frame which had been blasted, with poor results we had to treat it several times and had to reblast it, we discovered silicone grease had been used in the bottom bracket. Keep silicone away from any surface you may need to paint.

5 years ago by TheBlacksmith

Blog

Crack in seam Repaired!

Captain's Log: Cracked seam Update! She has been sitting in the Domesticated Test Tank. For 20.0 hours and she is dry as a bone!😁😁😁 Eureka, Tug Brooklyn is now repaired! Now all I have to do. is her bottom! And just a few electrical repairs. And she'll be ready for her spring Maiden Voyage! Long awaited but, patients is a virtue!👍

5 years ago by figtree7nts

Blog

Hull ed

My son has finished filling sanding priming then ing in 2 pack. See photo smashing job, over the moon.l

5 years ago by Dick

Blog

Anteno 2 tug

Decided not to double plank as per kit instructions but skin the first planking with thin cloth 0.60 oz. Lot of rubbing down,now awaiting top coat Quick tip when using aerosol can or airbrush,use a large plastic storage container on its side as a booth.

5 years ago by Dick

Response

Anteno 2 tug

I used an old cooker hood as the basis for my booth with the filters taken out and vented outside, and has built in lights. I also use it as my silver solder/brazing and small welding jobs using the back wall as one side with simple hardboard sides and a rotary table (old party susan) if you can remember them, it works really well and allows ing in my workshop in the winter months.

5 years ago by mturpin013

Response

Anteno 2 tug

Point take Doug,I will get around to venting it. in the meantime my son has a full size booth,car size, and is now ing my hull in 2pack Merry Christmas Dick

5 years ago by Dick

Response

Anteno 2 tug

Hi Dick, To 2nd plank or not to plank - your choice but regarding the improvised -booth - Your storage container, neat idea, may prevent you from colouring the immediate surroundings, but it won't stop the vapours, explosive fumes and over dust from rebounding back into the room. 😡 Ask me how I know 🤔 To prevent that your storage container needs an extractor fan coupled to a vent pipe leading to the great outside world! DIY nuts can construct such using the guts of an old vacuum cleaner. I was about to try that when I stumbled across a booth with extractor and vent pipe at a reasonable price on the German Conrad site. https://www.conrad.de/ Have used it to good effect on my Sea Scout restoration. 😊 In the attached pic one can see it behind the freshly ed hull of my Sea Scout. To the left is an additional filter/fan to absorb any over that flies out of the little booth. I also use that when soldering with my ancient lead based multi-core solder. Happy modelling - but stay safe Guys 😉 Cheers, Doug 😎

5 years ago by RNinMunich