JohnWS

Sorry Kev, there's too many details for me, lol. It is looking good, though. John

Hi Stuart, Just personal preference, I guess. The trim along the top of the bridge bulkhead was glued around the bridge opening in the superstructure. I wanted good alignment & a nice clean joint where the top of the door 'frame' is glued to the 'L' shape corner trim piece, so I glued that joint first. I cut the frames & rails from .4 mm thick plastic sheet & glued them in place over (around) the window opening using Tamiya extra thin cement. Cutting the frames was a real pain & resulted in a lot of rejects before I had the 4 good pieces that I needed. John

Happy New Year, everyone! I've been able to spend more time on this build, but unfortunately haven't got a lot to show for it. It seems the smaller the parts, the more time it takes. I been focusing my time on adding a few details to the main superstructure and the bridge. The superstructure details included little things like drip rails over the door openings, window frames/mouldings, trim around the bridge opening, and the most time consuming part - the spray/wind deflector around the large superstructure opening, as shown below. All these parts were made using white Evergreen plastic sheet or strip. Next, the bridge. I want to air brush as much of the bridge as possible. So, I decided to make a separate bridge enclosure that could be assembled in the superstructure after the bridge is detailed and painted. The four bridge bulkheads & deck were assembled using tape to allow detailing & dry fitting of the bridge sub-assemblies, and then allow disassembly for painting. I've built the main control panel & the helm (using the Perkasa model's ship's wheel), the bulkhead separating the bridge into two parts, the storage lockers that are located along the aft bridge bulkhead, and three doors, all using white Evergreen plastic sheets of various thicknesses. I've also drawn & printed off decals for the main control panel, My plan is to use the decals, augmented by bits of plastic, to give the panel a 3D appearance once the panel is painted. There's still lots of work to do on the bridge, e.g. locker latches, compasses, torpedo & gun sights, Captain's chair, etc., plus painting. The subassemblies dry fitted in the bridge enclosure ... And finally, the enclosure was dry fitted in the superstructure. Next up, continue adding more details to the bridge and superstructure. Thanks for following along. John

Looks great, Kev! Lots of curves & angles. John

Me to! I like seeing to various modelling techniques you're trying, as well as the results - good & bad. They all add to the learning experience. John

Hi Steve, I'm just guessing, but It looks like the gun shield could be a modified cut-down version of the similar Mark V mount 6 pdr shields used on the early Fairmile 'D's. Here's a link to a full frontal enlarged view of Grey Fox's 12 pdr shield - https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/Grey_Goose_FL4607.jpg John

John

She's looking very fine, Steve. Another awesome project to watch & learn from. You're setting the bar pretty high again for the rest of us. Your chart house is similar to the one on my old Fairmile 'D' build. I remember the number the attempts I made using paper card before I got it all those angles 'just right'. I can't imagine having gone through the same exercise building it out of wood. John

Now I know why I build boats. j/k Your Avro is looking pretty good, Steve. John

Sorry! (Speaking as a good Canadian, eh!) John

After a mild 'green' Christmas, we woke up to this, this morning. Brrrr!!!! John

Nice looking build, Rob. Great detail for its size. John

My apologies Kev & Martian. I guess too much celebrating over the holidays is causing my old brain to hallucinate about green aliens. Nice to hear your bottom is safe Kev. BTW, that's a really nice job on on the hull damage Kev. Very realistic! John

I thought maybe a hungry alien (could be a Martian) took a bite out of your a.. , I mean your hull. John

Nice! I'll be following closely. John

Merry Christmas, Peter. The detail on your build is mesmerizing. John

Those are really tiny Oerlikons. Happy Christmas to you Rob.

Christmas shopping is finished, so I was able to spend a little time modelling. I've scratch built the remaining 3 large deck structures, again using Evergreen plastic card in various thicknesses. Here's a couple of photos showing the main structures dry fitted; She's starting to look a little like Brave Borderer; Since this will probably be my last update until after Christmas, I'd like to wish everyone here on BM a very ... Thanks for looking in. John

I agree. There's not much info about the use of canvas on boat decks ... & wood decks look prettier, too. Interestingly, I did find this - https://www.tonygrove.com/articles/nordic-folk-boat.php . It's a very long article describing the restoration on a Nordic boat, including installing a new canvas over plywood deck. The author is a fan of canvas covered decks stating - "I have seen traditionally laid canvas on boats that were around a hundred years old and every time I am excited to see that there are very few problems with the decks and, if anything, because they are able to breathe and work with the boat, they are usually the reason the boats are in such good shape." John

Not an answer to your question Kev, just a thought. Some vintage yachts I've seen had a canvas material covering the decks & cabin roof. The canvas was painted white. I'm guessing the decks/roof were make of plywood & the painted canvas was used for waterproofing. John

Thanks everyone! I don't know if you noticed, but I keep a first aid kit handy in case things get out of hand. John

Well she's not pretty, but she looks the part. After a lot of filing, sanding, puttying, filing, sanding, puttying, ... (you get the picture), I finally finished the outside shell of Brave Borderer's main superstructure, using the two repurposed Perkasa model parts and various thicknesses of Evergreen white plastic sheets. The many curves & angles offered quite a challenge. As it turned out, reworking the Perkasa model's plastic parts took the most time. In addition to having no chart/wheel house, I found BB's superstructure very different to Perkasa's, e.g the size & overall shape including the front door covers' curved profile and narrower width. I ran into a problem when filing and sanding to obtain the new curve profile for the front door covers. I needed to remove so much plastic material that the wall thickness ended up too thin to hold its shape. To fix this problem, I reinforced the underside of the curved portion with a layer of putty, let it dry, then drilled small holes in the thin area, filled the holes with CA glue, let them dry, and then sanded the areas smooth. The combination of the putty & CA glue added the strength needed for the plastic to hold its shape. The superstructure also includes two semicircular bumps, one on either side of the bridge. I found a string of 15mm diameter wooden beads at the local Michaels store. These were relatively easy to cut to the required shape (Bandsaw Steve would be pleased ). The next two photos show the build status to date. The plan is to build the bridge separately & glue it in the superstructure shell, in the hole provided. Before building the bridge & adding the finish detail to the main structure's shell, I plan on building the aft turbine air intake structure next. I'm not sure how much time I'll have to work on it over Christmas, but hopefully I can finish it early in the new year. Thanks for looking in. John

Nice work on the decks, Kev.

Martian, Here's a link to a detailed paper (more late night reading) describing three bilge pump types. It's pretty wordy but the good news is there's lots of drawings & photos (listed on pages ix & x). The History and Development of Ships' Bilge Pumps, 1500 - 1840 Hope this helps. John

Nice start Martian. Out of interest, where did you order the grating material? I'm wondering if it could be used for bridge/deck flooring. Funny, this was the first thing that came to mind.