T040a Lifeboat………….

Well it’s finally been released. The long awaited T040a Lifeboat from Scalescenes. I’ve waited forever for this release, and by the look of the kit, I can see why it’s taken so long! There are hardly any straight cuts, and the detail on the deck is phenomenal. I doff my cap to John with this kit, he has exceeded all of my expectations. The only problem is, the only place I have to do my modelling is in our loft. The heat up there at the moment is tropical!! I can’t get up after work because the heat from the day has heated the loft to biblical temperatures, so I’m restricted to a couple of hours on weekend mornings when I can get any work on the kit done. Anyway here we go. This may take a while. Just for clarification, I’m building the full hull version this time.

First job is to make the Cradle to stand the kit on during the building process. It’s easy enough, just B on top of A.

Next, cut out all of the windows for the Wheelhouse, before mounting onto clear acetate. Remember to not cut out the doors openings just yet. They get cut out once it’s been mounted onto the acetate. Be careful to align the cover layer up, so that the two circles line up in middle of the windows. 

 Next it’s time to start cutting out the Hull sections. Nothing too hard here. Just B on top of A, C on top of B and so on, until you get to F. Applying plenty of weight after each section is glued in place. Be careful to line up the red reference lines.

 When cutting out the Hull sections, with it being freehand cuts in 2mm card, you might have to refine your Hull sections with the Missus’ emery board. 

 Once you’ve glued up the Hull section up to F, flip the Hull over so that F is on the bottom and glue the Lower Hull A top into position, onto both port and starboard hulls.

 Cut out and glue into position Bow A. Lay the hull section on a level surface to ensure that the section is perpendicular. 

Next, cut out and glue Bow B over Bow A, and bow C over Bow B, then Bow D over Bow C. As before make sure the Hull is sitting on a level surface, and use a small square to make sure everything lines up.

Next, move the the stern and repeat the process by cutting out Stern A,B,C and D sections. But before you glue them together, don’t make the same mistake as me. Make sure you cut out and glue the stern B edges in place over Stern B. I skipped this step and had to retro cut and fit mine into place. Once the edges are in place, glue B over A and so on. Again checking with a square that everything is true.

Next, cut out the Deck Support sections. Lay the Deck Support A on a level surface and glue Deck Support B into place. 

Introduce a slight curve to Deck Support C and glue over Deck Support A, only glueing at the ends and where C meets B. Set aside to dry.

Once the Deck Supports are dry, glue into place on the Hull. (Taking note of Port and Starboard). The curved profile goes to the outside.

Next, cut out the two halves of the Keel and glue them together, print sides out. Apply weight and set aside to dry.

Once the glue has dried on the Keel, glue each side of the hull into place. Using the red centre lines as reference. Set aside to let the glue dry.

Next, cut out the two Bow Infills. With the print side down, and with a fresh sharp blade, make a wedge cut to the wider end. Introduce a slight curve to the Bow Infills. This helps them fit up against the Bow, and glue them into place onto the Hull.

 That’s as far as I’ve got for now. This has taken me two weekends now due to the heat. Hopefully I’ll get back up there next weekend to get some more done.

 

Until Next Time………….

Cargo Ship Revisited Pt3…………….

Well a lot has happened since we last met. I sat down and deliberated, pondered and finally decided to radically change the design of the ship. As you may know, I’m building this ship for the second time. I loved the last one I built but, I really wanted to build it again but in a different colour. The colour I preferred, was a shade of green, which adorns a group of vessels that visit the port I work at. The next problem was how to change the colour. I contacted Scalescenes and John kindly sent me an editable version of the plans. My wife Jak works within the craft and design industry, and knows her way around an editing suite, so she got the job of changing the colour for me. The next problem was, the ship I had in mind is a lot more modern than the original from scalescenes, so here was where I had to make that radical decision. I chopped of the stern to make it square!

Before……..                                                                                                                     ……..after.

      

I know it doesn't look much, but for someone who normally only builds to the plan, a bit of kit bashing scares me a bit. Especially as I’d come this far. If it didn’t work, there were a lot of hours gone down the drain. I should of thought about this from the start. Anyway it worked and with a bit of work and the addition of a kit bashed hand rail, I was quite pleased with myself.

     

     

The next challenge was the holds. The original old style has two holds with hatch boards. These would have to be changed to a more modern large hatch covers.

I had to set to and make a re-designed hold. I wanted to totally wrap around the original holds with one large hold and level off the top, so that I could make some large hatch covers. I have a large collection of scalescenes kits, so I had a rake through some of them, and found within the T009 Modern Industrial Building, a section of the interior wall that looked a lot like the side of the holds I was trying to emulate. With the addition of some uprights to the side of the hold, I was pleased with the result.

     

     

Next came the hatch covers. My wife Jak  just happened to have some foam mount board. This worked really well as it was 5mm thick, and when I lapped the edges and wrapped them in the green hatch colour cover layer, it looked like the greased rubber seals on the modern ships.

     

     

Right, you’re up to date. I’m off to fit these hatches, and try to find how to make some sort of gantry crane to move them.

Until Next Time…………….