Ocean-going tug "Rowangarth"

[Will Vale]

Hi folks,

I was waiting for paint to dry on something else and decided to clean up the parts from this little resin + etch tug.

(click for bigger)

Just a dry fit so far. It's pretty nice, but needs some attention in places. The casting blocks are biggish (especially the one at the back) and need to be removed with damaging the (rubber bumper?) detail - I used a razor saw followed by files and sandpaper.

There were also quite a few tooling marks on the curves of the hull - I'm pretty sure this is cast from a 3D-printed master and this wasn't cleaned up 100% leaving some visible stepping. I've fixed it in some places and left it in others, e.g. the foredeck, where it won't be very visible.

Looking at the picture it would be worth making some effort inside the curved corners at the stern.

I also removed the Zodiac, which had no undercuts and looked like a vacform I chopped it off with an etched saw and sanded down the deck, then thinned the boat itself and curved the underside. I'll need to make a simple mount for it.

One other problem - my kit had the small parts sprue misaligned. I've cleaned up the funnel and small deckhouse, as well as the mast. The mast still looks ropey and it might be better to re-make the beacons (?) on the front from plastic rod?

Not sure how fast this will proceed - it's not that complicated but I'm supposed to be finishing a couple of other projects before this one.

Cheers,

Will

[Martian]

Looking forward to seeing what you make of this!

Martin

[Will Vale]

Thanks Martin I've done a bit more cleaning up on the hull - removed the ugly bitts and their various moulded webs with a chisel and sandpaper, and sanded off some more ridges. I think it needs primer now since it's getting hard to see exactly what to do.

I also fitted the funnel and mast, after more clean-up work on the latter. I had to lose the ribs on the funnel to sand it, and it might well need some more work.

Again, it's hard to read the finish of the resin because it's translucent, and the dust tends to sit on it and interfere (even with washing!) so I think primer is necessary.

Pleasingly, once the moulding block was removed from the superstructure it fits really neatly into the locating lines on the deck. This means I can build it as two main pieces plus details. That's good since I can fit the etch to the bull before painting, and still paint the decks from inside. But also not have to worry about a gap around the superstructure when adding it later.

(My pet hate on ship models is gaps between deck and superstructure...)

Cheers,

Will

[whitestar12chris]

Hi Will, you are right the best way forward with this type of resin is give it a coat of primer to make any proud areas stand out, then rub down and repaint, had a few models like this, very interesting build.

All the best Chris

[Will Vale]

Thanks Chris, I've added a couple of coats of primer and while the corners are nice and sharp, it does show up the 3D-printed-ness even more. The prow is the worst place but there are plenty of other issues.

So more sanding to come The finish on the flat faces looks like about 400 grit, or slightly coarser, and that's the sandpaper I usually use before priming, so it shouldn't take too much work to get something that'll come out nicely under paint and matt varnish.

It's interesting - with injection moulded styrene you get soft external corners and fillets in internal corners, but usually lovely smooth flat surfaces. Resin made this way is almost the opposite

Cheers,

Will

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Nice looking model, though; once you have sorted the sanding, you're going to make it look superb