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seacon

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Everything posted by seacon

  1. Hello folks I am looking for a set of basic drawings to make a US Army Large Tug LT154, a design # 293, wooden boat built by Hodgson-Greene (Long Beach, CA) in 1944, about 127ft long, 27ft beam, twin engined, rather standard looking tug (for the era). I know that these were an Army Quartermaster design, mostly built on the the West Coast, that were almost all sold off to private interests right after the war. No luck on navsource or the usual reference sites. Can anyone help with this? Thanks M
  2. Oh! Well..! I am giving a try at it with what I have on hands (a Trumpy Huron in 1/350). I Plan to use the hull, decks and a few other things. If I can get the hull shipshape, I may even complete it with some 3D printed parts... I am moving this to the work in progress (to me it means The Unfinished) section to show what I come up with. Thanks for the insights. Marcello
  3. I am alive! Just very busy... BYMS is on the back burner. M
  4. I see... pockets are deep enough but I have T-Rex arms and cannot reach that far! I'd rather do the research on my own, if I could enter the UK... In the end, I figured out that I can base my Premuda on a Tribal class hull and scratchbuild all the rest. This said, all I need is a main deck plan! Thanks for your insight M
  5. Hello folks I am exploring the possibility to scratchbuild RCT Premuda, formerly RJN Dubrovnik in 1/350. Dubrovnik was a somehow larger than contemporary British destroyers built at the Yarrow yard in Glasgow between 1930 and 1932. More like a flottilla leader, faster and better armed, but retaining the main general features of the E and F class destroyers, Dubrovnik was captured in 1941 and used by the Italian Regia Marina for about a year on convoy escort duty. I am looking for the hull lines (which are not like the British destroyers, with a curved bow and what looks like a mine laying sloped stern) and/or as build blueprints or a detailed plan (external views, top and sides). A british destroyer in Italian camo is quite something!!! Can anyone help me? Thank you Marcello
  6. I am good at starting. Finishing a project is a completely different matter!!! I might do an open wheelhouse as well. The galley is too dark to be a significant feature of this build. Thanks for following my build. Marcello
  7. Interesting. Thank you! I will definitely consider that. I am building on a whim so I did not spend much time thinking about engineering the hull shell. I normally carve whatever material I am using and do not do much "plating". Rgds Marcello
  8. Quite a few people were interested in knowing the name and brand of the putty I mentioned earlier in the thread. Here it is. I do not know anything about availability of this product outside Italy. Enjoy! ciao M
  9. I partially installed both gunwhales to see if I could obtain a seamless contour. Another experiment that might work... Later I will bend the gunwhales to shape and CA glue them to a couple of brass rods, I am planning to install the rods drilling from above the forecastle into the main deck to provide a strong support (the plasticard gunwhale will have to bend and keep the shape). more later... Ciao M
  10. Now, this might be interesting to some. Having to deal with the bow issue I described earlier, I have been looking for a type of putty/filler that would stick to styrene, easy to sand and work well when applied in fairly large amounts. There is a car bodyshop right in front of where I live. Walking home after work, one day, I saw one of the chaps working there slapping a layer of this putty on a car, shape it with a spatula, let it dry just a couple of minutes and sand it to shape without much effort shortly after. That got me curious so I walked in and ask if he thought that it could work to fix my minesweeper hull. He said 'bring it in, let's take a look' and after about an hour I did not have a hull problem anymore. This is an industrial grade car repair two-component filler very similar to the old and stinking polyester putties that used to be around. Sands very smooth, is kind of flexible and hangs well on plastic. Here are the results:
  11. I am cutting these to get some proportion and test my circle-cutter. The magnetic sweeping cable reel is one of the more notable features of the BYMS. It woud be nice to see some very detailed photos to understand how the reel were made. A quick search on the web provided just one close up. Can anyone else help with that? Ciao M
  12. Small stuff that will need to be placed on deck before the gunwhales will go on... I prepared the bollards and other details masters. Someone among my model club buddies will make a few copies in resin. ciao M
  13. Transom done for now. The galley is painted and the deck fitted. This will require some adjustment. Right now I want the sturdiest hull possible. Look! ... a boiler!!! A couple of friend are getting curious about my simple-tools-and-some-plastic project. Stefano had to paint the galley. I do not know the exact colors so I went for a mix of US and Italian blue for floors, wood refrigerator door, steel boiler and black and steel range. You cannot see that but there are two large pots of pasta cooking. With all this firmly glued together, it's about gunwhale time ... Ciao M
  14. Back to the transom for a bit. The stern gave a lot less problems than the bow... Nothing that couldn't be dealt with a couple rubber bands. Had to make these before I am going on. A drill bit case provided a flat surface for my T square. Green cap Tamiya is perfect to glue the bumpers (?) to the transom. Then, back to ... the front. The epoxy is holding. For once I must have done the right thing. Looks like I will have to get some of the gunwale ready before going on. More about it later. I have an idea... Ciao M
  15. The plasticard sheet is either too thin or too soft. I need to block it in position to be able to provide some support for the massive amount of filler that will be needed to bring the hull to the proper final shape. Good thing that Leroy Merlin is close by and open on sundays! I was out of the 5 minute epoxy that I plan to use to fill the front of the hull in the hope to strengthen the whole structure and block the caved in plasticard sheet. After the cure has ... cured! Let's give it a rest to make sure the hardener works. ciao M
  16. Just a little progress. I downloaded a papermodel to understand the basic shapes of the minesweeper. This has provided a pretty good insight on the sides of the shell expansion (strange, uh!? This is a wooden boat!!!) to cut some 0,70mm plasticard. That is what I had planned for but now that I am at it I think that this was a poor engineering choice and that this will need to be address over and over again later in the construction. Looks the part but it starts showing that my concern was real... No issues with the stern but the forward part of the hull does not hold the simple BYMS shapes. Some filling is in order... Ciao M
  17. Verbena alongside one of the newer AMS' in Genova. The end. Decommissioned BYMS waiting for disposal in La Spezia at the end of the '60s. M
  18. A bit messy. But with all the sweeping gear around the deck planking will disappear... The engine casing turned out OK. Debris from the deck planking scribing litter the place. It is time to fit the transom. I need to reinforce the whole area to give some support for the transom. The piece is relatively small and tends to spring back flat rather than keep the shape. Quick solution: cut it in two to make it sit properly. Later I will sand it to shape. That's enough for today. Goodnight M
  19. Dry fitting the decks. Glue time. I do not like it like that. On many period photos of YMS/BYMS you can often see an open door on the port side. That was the galley and this offers the opportunity to peek inside the crew living areas. My Verbena will have some interiors! To be able to do that I must chop off part of the keel to build the galley and the dining spaces, with a full complement of stoves, preparation tables, refrigerator and the water boiler... These are the things that I do on a whim without too much thinking. After a couple hours of work I have my galley... too bad it will disappear in the darkness once the deck will be fitted... Oh, well... I know it is there! Next, the engine room casing and ... f@#ยง!!! I could have scribed the deck plancks before doing all rest... Oh, well... Let's scribe them now! This is going to be messy. Bye for now M
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