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R25 class Räumboot - building finally


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As promised, here is the completion of the deck planking. In all, about 250 individual planks were laid.  The challenge is making the sides even and that is compounded by the fact the planks are knife cut (I'm guessing).  This leaves a rough edge that doesn't take the sharpie well and also leave the plank width varying by ~+-o.15mm, which is noticeable in a 2mm plank and compounded across the nearly 50 planks  width is material.  So, each plank had to be cut and then edge sanded, boring, very boring...The planks were glued with medium cyno giving a little room to adjust before gripping (sometimes bits just gripped immediately, generally in the wrong place)

 

Sounds like moaning, not really, it was a steady old job as they say, spaced over a few days.  The fo'c'sle has a broad centre plank in the photographs, not sure why.  Actually it looks like two planks, I had to make do with 3 as I didn't have 5 mm maple strip to hand, it won't matter much.  I framed all the hatches/skylights and the breakwater and shield before planking to the frames, which is good practice.

 

Here you can see the aft deck completed and the fo'c'sle features framed ready. Ahead of the wheelhouse you can see my angle mistake with a short infill timber.  The removable deckhouse was cut back to fit the new opening.  This allows me to complete the planking and still have the deck house assembly removable.  It is a nice gentle fit, slips down almost effortlessly.

 

DSCN2754

 

Here I've completed the work to the breakwater and inserted the wide central planks to the bow.  The rear deck and this section were planked from out from the rear metal walkway, then back in to the centre forward of the wheelhosue.  Forward of the breakwater I worked from the centre out, one plank each side at a time to control width creep so as not to through the cut-ins off line

 

DSCN2758

 

Next came the fun part of cutting in all the forward planks, 1/3 across square.  This is pretty fine work and stretches the ability of the wood as fibres break away easily and not always where you want them to.  The planks were edged on the inner side and also on the cut in side which covers up some of this irregularity.  Never use the sharpie on the end, the end grain sucks the black and spoils the plank.  The natural gap left between the ends provides the same dark line

 

DSCN2760

 

Overall I'm OK with the finish, once its covered in rope and other equipment, it loses the focus it has now.  Not doing another wooden deck for a while....  1/4 inch scale is really the smallest individual planks make sense, but its satisfying to know I did it that way and not simply marked the planks on a ply sheet.  The ply circle is the forward gun mount btw

 

DSCN2761

 

You can see the edge finish is not perfect, still I don't believe actual weathered boats were either.  It still needs sanding and finishing which will tone things down somewhat.  I've done a couple of experiments but I'm not happy yet.  It is of course temping to just varnish this lovely wood but that would not look at all right.  Teak goes silver grey when weathered so I'm trying some silver and grey wash effects to tone the deck down prior to sealing it.  More on this later

 

Then I returned to the roller fairleads and spotted this picture in my collection

 

R25b

 

This is a great photograph and will really help lay things out, but it is an earlier subtype with a gun platform and the anchor in a hawse pipe not scallop.  That said, the fairleads didn't change as other slightly worse pictures show.  Now this picture makes it clear that these fairleads where on a single raised plate, not individual mountings as I'd made earlier.  So they had to come off and be remade wiht this result.  Those rollers turn btw....

 

DSCN2764

 

Should study those photographs more closely....

 

Next major task is plating the rear section of the deck-house, should be fun

 

Cheers

 

Steve

 

 

 

 

 

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On 22/10/2022 at 17:20, Steve D said:

You're right Jeff,, I should have said marine flappy things... 

 

I actually think they may be Motorraum-Lufteinlassgitterabdeckungen , :book: what say you @Jochen Barett?  You gotta love German portmanteau words

Thank you for you confidence!

 

It is possible a "normal" engineer would call these flaps ("Klappen") Motorraum-Lufteinlassgitterabdeckungen but I fear "at sea" they might call them "Verschlüsse" ("shutter") rather than "Abdeckungen" (covers), but for sure the Kriegsmarine would have a special name for them ("Klappe, Abdeck-, Lüftungs-, seefest")  and the crew would have a nickname for them. If there is an opening behind it so a person could crawl through the hole they might be called "Lukendeckel" (hatch / hatch cover but it seems "hatch cover" implicitly refers to a Laderaumluke / cargo hatch cover), but not in case there is a window ("Fenster") or a lattice ("Gitter").

 

Having fun with German sailors' slang?

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_seemännischer_Fachwörter_(A_bis_M)#K

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_seemännischer_Fachwörter_(N_bis_Z)

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28 minutes ago, Jochen Barett said:

I fear "at sea" they might call them "Verschlüsse" ("shutter") rather than "Abdeckungen" (covers), but for sure the Kriegsmarine would have a special name for them ("Klappe, Abdeck-, Lüftungs-, seefest")  and the crew would have a nickname for them. If there is an opening behind it so a person could crawl through the hole they might be called "Lukendeckel" (hatch / hatch cover but it seems "hatch cover" implicitly refers to a Laderaumluke / cargo hatch cover), but not in case there is a window ("Fenster") or a lattice ("Gitter").

Maritime terminology is literally a minefield :rofl:

 

BTW, you may or may not be aware that English is full of naval idioms which were made popular in the early 1800's after Nelson's victory at Trafalgar.  Most people using them don't even know they are 18th century naval expressions, "to the bitter end", "in the offing" "its a long shot", "we were taken aback" etc, 

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3 hours ago, Steve D said:

Maritime terminology is literally a minefield :rofl:

 

BTW, you may or may not be aware that English is full of naval idioms which were made popular in the early 1800's after Nelson's victory at Trafalgar.  Most people using them don't even know they are 18th century naval expressions, "to the bitter end", "in the offing" "its a long shot", "we were taken aback" etc, 

My English is a mixture of English learnt at school, learned and exercised in the US, and "maintained" via the internet. So I kinda have a fair chance to understand a few things, but I'm not a cunning linguist to know where everything comes from and I should brush up a few things * . So I noticed the book of German naval expressions is full of English and Pidgin-English.

 

(  *  in case of questions:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0xSky90E4I

and please do pardon my French)

 

Oh, and by the way: I do like and enjoy that Räumboot-build.

Edited by Jochen Barett
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Sorry for the gap in updates, I've been a little under the weather and also dealing with some changes of direction on the model.

 

First, as promised, the deckhouse structure needed plating (it was made of steel) and so had a riveted metal finish.  Forward, the wheelhouse was also armour plated, 

 

My plan is to build the forward armour plating from a brass etching to incorporate the window openings and the rivet detail.  This will allow me to use a single piece on each side to also make the open bridge wings, meaning they will be strong and thin.  I had considered copper, but rivet detail is hard to work into the copper well, and I'm probably getting lazy in me advancing years, etched it will be.  However, the rear section over the engines can easily be made up in Aluminium and rivet detail incorporated with a pin wheel (actually two different ones).

 

Thanks to the access to the shipyard photographs, I found this great picture of them installing one of the engines

 

r25f

 

A number of things are clear from this, the first being that the entire engine room roof was removable, you can see it in the foreground with the roof (probably) bulb-flats that stiffen it.  From this I took a number of points.  The roof would have transvers rivet lines to secure these bulb-flats and large peripheral fixings round the edge.  It would also have a distinctive edge slightly inside the edge of the structure.  The other key point is the floor timbers shown in the red ellipse. I'd not realised this before as I have no photographs of the open bridge floor, but it was clearly planked fore and aft to facilitate drainage and anti-slip usage.  Without this photograph I'd have missed this detail as did the makers of War Thunder in their otherwise quite good 3D model.  Anyway, that will come a little later.

 

In deciding what to model on the rear section, this picture is also helpful as it shows overlapping plates running down the side and some other great details for later.  Note this is R25, the class boat and an early model that still has cowl vents.  They were not incorporated in the later sub-type I'm building. 

 

R25a

 

Two overlapping plates really are a little too fussy for the model scale, so I settled for a single plate to provide interest to the detail

 

Here is where this has got to.  I'm going to try to add the angle flange at the base but not yet.  I'll probably damage it handling the removable section.

 

DSCN2765

 

You can just make out the vertical stiffener rivet runs, also across the deck.  I didn't bother with the forward section which will have the planking support beams shorty.  The square hole is for the engine room hatch, I'll probably leave this open when completed.

 

I then attempted the skylight in aluminium clad wood (with etched roof light plates), here is the timber buck in place

 

DSCN2766

 

Anyway, long story short, it didn't work, just not good enough so it went in the bin to be replaced with a printed skylight, 3D model below

 

skylight

 

My plan is to print this and all the other skylights (also now drawn) in clear resin and mask the glass when painting.  I'll also paint the inside white (it is hollow), be interesting to see if this adds a little depth to the model...

 

While doing all this, I noticed that the centre deck section to the rear of the deckhouse is timber not metal.  In this I had been mislead by the War Thunder 3D model which has this in grey paint.  The centre section is actually just wider deck planks as it is on the Fo'c'sle.  So that metal had to come off and be replaced with wood including completing the skylight framing

 

DSCN2767

 

Next, I've been struggling with weathering the deck.  Decks are generally a sort of sliver grey, not the very yellow the timber is.  To add to my misery, this photograph clearly shows the margin plank to be a dark wood, probably either walnut or even mahogany, note carefully the section by the depth charge support timbers

 

R25b

 

This was not a good time to realise this as that margin plank cannot come out so it has to be painted.  I would never normally use a painted timber finish next to an actual timber finish, but I had no choice.   One the picture above, I also think the centre planks are the same dark wood as the margin, but in the end I decided this would just look too weird, modelling is full of compromises

 

Still, I've done my best, it still need more varnish but here is how it came out.  The maple planks have been treated with a very weak grey wash with a very small amount of dark brown, followed by some silver dry brushed and a final weak white wash in some areas, in particular the darker planks.   The effect is a variegated deck finish that I quite like, I think it will work OK once all the deck fittings and clutter are added.  The best bit is the margin plank colour now picks out the plank cutting in clearly, which is a nice effect, but doing it again, I'd use walnut, sigh....  It looks very brown in this photograph, but on the model there are a number of shades discernible, its not that flat.  Anchor scallop picked out in white, at least that looks the part.

 

DSCN2770

 

So, overall a number of steps back and forward, it is ever the way these projects go

 

Cheers

 

Steve

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  • 2 weeks later...

Been a gap in posting while I think a number of things through.

 

I've been doing a lot of 3D modelling and printing, still debating what to build up from etching and what to just print.  My new Anycubic printer and clear water based resin are giving me such amazing quality results that I'm in danger of suffering from "quality dissonance", not a problem I've faced before (in fact its probably a term I just invented).  What I mean by this is where components have different precision to the stage that it becomes noticeable and the overall look of the model suffers as a result.  The hatches I've printed are stunning, but maybe too much to the point they just show everything else up. :hmmm:  This may appear to be a high class problem to some, but its been worrying me a lot, hence the radio silence

 

Meanwhile, returning to old methods, I fitted out the wheelhouse.  The windows are very large on this vessel and the wheelhouse door is normally open (and will be on the model) so an interior is essential.  The longitudinal roof support beam got in the way of access so I cut it out (the roof is self-supporting anyway).  I have no drawings of the interior of the wheelhouse (like the rest of this boat....) but I do have this picture showing the helmsman's station.  This shows perimeter units with doors below and some basic equipment, all of which I can easily reproduce

 

R39n

 

Here is stage 1, cutting the bench sections to fit (4 separate pieces)

 

DSCN2772

 

And stage 2, the cupboard fronts installed.  These are all made up from 1/64th inch ply treated with a weak rosewood stain, the end result being quite like Oak.  These are removable, with  little fiddling

 

DSCN2773

 

And here they are with the equipment installed and varnished.  The floor is a reddish brown colour at the moment.  I'm not sure what colour it would have been (anyone?) so I chose a neutral colour for now

 

DSCN2779

 

The companionway ladder is missing, its on the build list.

 

Next I attacked the scuttles (portholes).  These are very large by small boat standards at 9 inch (225 mm) opening.  It would have had nice light crew spaces, so unlike the s-boats that only had limited deck lights.  I assume this results from the need to live aboard and undertake relatively long cruises, much more crew comfort on an R-boat.  Great for the crew but not so much for me trying to model this.  A simple etching rim with black paint and Clearfix glazing won't work at this size.  Also, in some pictures the white inner rim is apparent...

 

After some thought and given the success I've had with the clear resin printing, I decided to print up a clear plug and outer ring that sits in a short length of brass tube set flush in a hole in the hull.

 

This drawing should help explain what I mean

 

porthole

 

The hole edges were tidied up with putty and sanded and then the sides primed in white leaving the inner edge of the brass white to reflect a little light.  These are blind holes of course because of the balsa infill

 

The plugs were then glued in and the actual glazing area (which is slightly indented) covered wiht liquid mask) before a second coat of primer was added to paint the rims

 

DSCN2781

 

This has actually worked better than most of my new ideas...  

 

Next came the challenge of paint.  I officially hate painting, in particular the endless colour debates over wartime camouflage as I've written before. 

 

From the many images I've accumulated, it seems to me that 2 quite distinct concepts were used on R-boats

 

  1. a sort of complex dazzle approach, both curved and angular schemes were used; and
  2. long straight lined areas to break up the profile.
  3.  

The sub-class I'm building all went to the Norwegian flotillas where the latter approach seems more common.  The dazzle schemes seem to have be used in the Channel and Mediterranean boats.  I'm sure there were as many exceptions as rules here...

 

The boats were finished in the shipyard in Hellgrau overall and then the camouflage contrast scheme was added in Dunkelgrau, though which exact version of the later I'm not clear on.

 

In the end I've gone with Vallejo Light Grey for the base coat and Sea Grey for the contrast with a little black added as the contrast seemed too weak and didn't match the pictures.  For the rear steel deck I've used Vallejo Blue Grey (71.116) which is a very good match for Dunkelblaugrau.

 

As for design, I decided to follow the pattern used on R162 (another Norwegian boat) shown in the grainy picture

 

r162

 

The result is

 

DSCN2782

 

Below the waterline I've applied Nato Black from Tamiya, slightly greyer than pure black and available in a spray can.  Sample printed depth charge installed to check the beams are right.

 

I also completed the 3d model of the 4 bladed props for bronze casting.  Once the flak cannon drawing is complete this weekend, these will be send off to Shapeways for casting

 

prop

 

After much debate (with myself) I've decided to print the wheelhouse shield.  This curves in all 3 dimensions and I guess I could make it up on copper but adding the rivets will then be tough and honestly, I'm not sure my metalwork is up to it.  Back to the dissonance I mentioned earlier.  The best I can fabricate will still look really crude next to the printed details that are right next to it.  I can see printing is going to stop me making stuff from scratch in the end.....

 

Onwards

 

Cheers

 

Steve

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I was interested in the photo of the cabin double holes in the upper part of the doors. Handles are usually attached there. Is it for opening doors with your fingers? And is the horizontal strip between the holes a slot or a rope instead of a handle?

 

Excuse me for asking stupid unimportant questions again. 🙂

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2 minutes ago, Dmitriy1967 said:

Is it for opening doors with your fingers?

Ha, I honestly have no clue,

 

I suspected it was for opening as the image has no handles and I have seen holes used in place of handles elsewhere

 

However, one thing I do know for certain is that it is too small to reproduce at this scale, even if you could see them through the windows once the model is complete :rofl:

 

BTW, there is no such thing as a stupid question...

 

Cheers

 

Steve

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4 minutes ago, Steve D said:

However, one thing I do know for certain is that it is too small to reproduce at this scale, even if you could see them through the windows once the model is complete :rofl:

 

 

Especially on this scale, it will be difficult to put your finger in the hole to open the doors.

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Is the posted pic of the wheelhouse interior a different class?

The reason I ask is the posted pic shows a definite edge to the cabinets to port of the wheel (for a companionway leading down perhaps) you've put cabinets across the foreward, port and starboard sides.

Great model!

Still thinking about an Airfix E-Boat and plasticard.

Tom

 

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8 minutes ago, Modelholic said:

Is the posted pic of the wheelhouse interior a different class?

Hi Tom,

 

Yes, I noticed that gap.  The picture is of R39 which is an earlier sub-class of the R25 class I'm building.  A companionway down to the forward crew flat makes sense there and perhaps they included it on the R150 subclass, I don't know. 

 

Quite honestly, I just made the bench round for simplicity, incorporating a companionway at this stage would not be simple to execute without making some degree of mess and its really not visible once complete

 

Take a house point for attention to detail though 

 

Cheers

 

Steve

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Short update on 3D models and printing.

 

After 4 attempts, I manged to draw the wheelhouse shield to a standard I am happy with.  This shield curves in all 3 dimensions, as it sits on the deck camber and the upper rim follows the camber.  The rivets have to follow the forward curve.  Where is @Iceman 29 when you need him...

 

This is absolutely the limit of by 3D skills, it's far from perfect but no one will notice

 

shield

 

The rear has vertical bracing plates with flanged edges.  I could not have done this a well in copper

 

shield rear

 

It also has 2 hose-reel storage bins but these will be printed separately, and of course, the forward crew flat access hatch, which I've also printed as a separate model

 

Anyway, after all the stress of drawing it, the print worked first time, loving this clear resin.. That shield is super thin, only 0.4 mm thick, quite fragile to handle

 

DSCN2783

 

Anyone panicking about the wheelhouse finish, this is going to be plated in etched brass to show the rivet detail, along with the open bridge wings.  The main etch artwork is next, it had to wait until I had sorted out the 2cm flak model so that I could work out what items I need to etch to super-detail these items.  The main barrel and cradle are to be cast in brass and will sit on a turned brass base.

 

This is my gun artwork, it's in two pieces so that it can elevate, though they are joined for casting to save money.  The gunners cradle, the sight, the shell case net framing etc will all be etched as they are too fragile to cast.  More on the build up of these guns later.  It is a little simplified to work at this scale, hopefully it will pass Shapeways printing review checks as these and the props have now been ordered, A total of ~£70 inc postage for the 4 items.  It's certainly as good as the commercial ones you can order direct from Shapeways, and with the extra etched detail, maybe even a little better

 

2cm flak

 

Lastly, I drew up the rubber dinghy in its vertical storage cradle (they were stowed vertically against the port railings on the main deck aft of the deckhouse).  This printed really well, I'll be sorting out the extra pieces (rope etc) later this coming week

 

rubber dinghy

 

Moving through the problems and build decisions now.. Most of the hard decisions now made

 

Cheers

 

Steve

 

 

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On 11/11/2022 at 15:07, Dmitriy1967 said:

I was interested in the photo of the cabin double holes in the upper part of the doors. Handles are usually attached there. Is it for opening doors with your fingers? And is the horizontal strip between the holes a slot or a rope instead of a handle?

 

Excuse me for asking stupid unimportant questions again. 🙂

I'd consider the holes and the slot as some kind of venting. There are locks (keyholes) and additional latches at the upper ends of the doors, no door knobs / handles.

It seems "awkward" to handle cabinet doors with your finger in a hole aboard a ship. My guess is these doors were meant to be kept shut most of the time.

On the other hand protruding knobs would be aiming at your kees all the time ...

Edited by Jochen Barett
latches not ltches and meant not ment
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3 hours ago, Jochen Barett said:

I'd consider the holes and the slot as some kind of venting. There are locks (keyholes) and additional latches at the upper ends of the doors, no door knobs / handles.

It seems "awkward" to handle cabinet doors with your finger in a hole aboard a ship. My guess is these doors were meant to be kept shut most of the time.

On the other hand protruding knobs would be aiming at your kees all the time ...

Sounds right 👍

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Where does the time go?  Just about a whole day on the wheelhouse etching.  This is a first for me, etching the entire wheelhouse external surfaces, and given the price of an etch sheet, it has to be perfect first time.  This entailed a lot of measuring to adjust the drawing to the as-built timber inner box.  Normally I would adjust it when fitting but this time, there is a lot of relief etched rivet detail (the reason I'm etching it in the first place) and those lines have to be right as they can't be modified.

 

So @Iceman 29, I'll see your rivet detail and raise you...:wink:

 

Here is a section of the artwork.  Remember, red is half from the front and cyan half from the back.  The support braces slot into the inner framing of the open bridge (top sections)

 

wheelhouse

 

This picture might help explain the artwork.  The openings low down in the sides are for the engine room flap vents covers, to ensure they position perfectly.  It will all become clear when I put it together

 

R40f

 

To ensure this artwork is a perfect fit, I cut it out and stuck it in place, only a couple of minor adjustments needed

 

DSCN2788

 

DSCN2787

 

To break things up, I made up one half of the engine casing handrails, commercial items with additional braces hard soldered in place.  Only one half as I ran out of 0.7 mm hard brass wire...

 

Note the wheel created rivet detail on the rear section of the roof, I hope that survives my clumsy painting

 

DSCN2784

 

Also, the depth charge racks are all made up with the wire sections added and primed

 

DSCN2786

 

Starting to get more cluttered now.  Pleased with the depth charges, amazing detail on the print which even includes the lifting eyes on each end.  They still need the retention cord adding, this goes on after they are painted.

 

More etching artwork tomorrow, my aim is to get it complete before next week, I'm starting to need the components

 

Cheers

 

Steve

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On 11/13/2022 at 5:32 PM, Steve D said:

Short update on 3D models and printing.

 

After 4 attempts, I manged to draw the wheelhouse shield to a standard I am happy with.  This shield curves in all 3 dimensions, as it sits on the deck camber and the upper rim follows the camber.  The rivets have to follow the forward curve.  Where is @Iceman 29 when you need him...

 

This is absolutely the limit of by 3D skills, it's far from perfect but no one will notice

 

shield

 

The rear has vertical bracing plates with flanged edges.  I could not have done this a well in copper

 

shield rear

 

It also has 2 hose-reel storage bins but these will be printed separately, and of course, the forward crew flat access hatch, which I've also printed as a separate model

 

Anyway, after all the stress of drawing it, the print worked first time, loving this clear resin.. That shield is super thin, only 0.4 mm thick, quite fragile to handle

 

DSCN2783

 

Anyone panicking about the wheelhouse finish, this is going to be plated in etched brass to show the rivet detail, along with the open bridge wings.  The main etch artwork is next, it had to wait until I had sorted out the 2cm flak model so that I could work out what items I need to etch to super-detail these items.  The main barrel and cradle are to be cast in brass and will sit on a turned brass base.

 

This is my gun artwork, it's in two pieces so that it can elevate, though they are joined for casting to save money.  The gunners cradle, the sight, the shell case net framing etc will all be etched as they are too fragile to cast.  More on the build up of these guns later.  It is a little simplified to work at this scale, hopefully it will pass Shapeways printing review checks as these and the props have now been ordered, A total of ~£70 inc postage for the 4 items.  It's certainly as good as the commercial ones you can order direct from Shapeways, and with the extra etched detail, maybe even a little better

 

2cm flak

 

Lastly, I drew up the rubber dinghy in its vertical storage cradle (they were stowed vertically against the port railings on the main deck aft of the deckhouse).  This printed really well, I'll be sorting out the extra pieces (rope etc) later this coming week

 

rubber dinghy

 

Moving through the problems and build decisions now.. Most of the hard decisions now made

 

Cheers

 

Steve

 

 

Hello Steve

these curvy, rounded shapes are still difficult and time consuming for me. I lack practice, and so many unnecessary attempts are made!

Your versatile skills are admirable, like working with wood, metal, and resin. This Räumboot will be a stunning model!

Cheers 

 

Andreas

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