HK Models 1/32 Lancaster (Nose Section) Project Abandoned, Photos lost.

[Bertie McBoatface]

On 6/29/2022 at 12:13 PM, Sam said:

you‘re an artist. 

 

I am, especially on pension day, but probably a different kind of artist to the ones you are thinking of. 

 

Unfortunately Sam, that's a very British, very laddish joke and I don't think it will translate well.

[Bertie McBoatface]

Page two already, and with two and a half hours remaining until kick-off, that's a record even for me.

[Bertie McBoatface]

Looking at my toy Lancaster, I feel that I have absolutely nothing to lose today and that’s quite liberating. I’ll take full advantage of my freedom to experiment on The Victorious Virgin by oil-canning her fuselage skin today.
 

It’s something I haven’t done before and that’s bound to make life interesting. 

 

Knowing that the nose art is going to be a major focal point of the Virgin, I have a definite front side and a back side to tackle. As it’s my first time too, I’m going to begin on her back side and see what I can get away with. 🍒
 

Most of the dodgy photos I have looked at on line seem to show the wobbly parts sticking out. I don’t think I can manage that anymore so I’m going to try making dents with my proxxon instead.
 

In out. Out in. Who will notice anyway? As long as she looks well used by the end of the session I will be a happy man. 😜
 

And so it begins…

[JeroenS]

Oil-canning... I had to look that up, you learn something every day. Off you go Bertie!

[zebra]

Great idea Bertie, looking forward to seeing how the oil canning works out

[Bertie McBoatface]

11 minutes ago, JeroenS said:

Oil-canning... I had to look that up, you learn something every day. Off you go Bertie!

The Virgin’s  ‘underwear’, the frames, lingerie and strings etc would keep it all stiff but her skin would stretch a fraction every time she went out. 
 

The other, extremely expensive  1/32 Lanc has this effect moulded in very nicely but my attempts will be a bit rough and clumsy I fear. Never mind, by the time I’m brave enough to tackle her front side, I’ll have a better idea of what I’m doing. 

[Sam]

13 hours ago, Bertie Psmith said:

 

I am, especially on pension day, but probably a different kind of artist to the ones you are thinking of. 

 

Unfortunately Sam, that's a very British, very laddish joke and I don't think it will translate well.

Dont you worry, I got it 😜👍🏽

[Bertie McBoatface]

On 6/27/2022 at 1:55 PM, Bertie Psmith said:

Think 1970 Revell and knock the quality back a bit and you get an idea of the quality of the moulding.

 

I take that back and apologise ... to Revell. When it comes to fitting the pieces together, I'm glad there aren't many of them. Think Lindberg circa 1962 and knock the quality back a bit. 😁

 

 

The alleged 'mating' surfaces of the fuselage are a bit like this. Kinda shapeless and in need of some flatting on a big sheet of wet and dry. That means that I'll lose the 'locating pins' but that were microscopic and located nothing at all so I can manage without them. 🙂

 

 

Mating surfaces. They aren't even meeting. They have each stood the other up. Either that or there's been a misunderstanding and one of them is waiting at the bus stop in the rain while the other one swears they arranged to meet inside the cinema. Their relationship will always be tainted by this awful first date.  😄

 

On the bright side, this toy is meant to last in the hands of its 10 year-old target market. The plastic is really thick at up to 2mm, and twice that over the framework. It's tough and will accept a lot of hacking and bashing. Why, I could probably put it on the floor and step on it without doing any damage, unlike some fragile ships I could mention... 😏

 

And mentioning ships, I now have a ton of woodworking clamps to torture the Virgin into submission. I'll make those surfaces mate if I have to weld them. 😆

 

 

I sharpened up the corners of the inner framing, because I usually do. To be fair, it was a waste of time, crude as it is, the framing is sharp enough in the corners to take a wash well. I'm thinking that a few rivets and bolts might improve the somewhat vacant look of it? 😎

 

 

That's what it looks like as delivered. I only 'sharpened' the one side because I couldn't see that it made any difference.

 

 

And there's the wrinkled and stretched back side of the Virgin after a fierce morning session. I now have a much better idea of how I ought to have done it and when I get round the front of her I'll be a lot more gentle and certainly not go so deep. 

 

Now for a quick lunch before I flip her over.

 

🤣

 

[Bertie McBoatface]

Unfortunately, after lunch I just didn't fancy another session on the plastic princess. You know how it is after a certain age, once is quite enough for one day. 👴

 

(I did manage another three and a half hours of modelmaking but it was on the boat. Sorry, but I had to go to where the fun was to be had.)

[Grandboof]

Hope this isn't an indication of the fit of the full kit . Looks like you and the "Virgin" will be spending some time together . 

Martin H  

[Bertie McBoatface]

1 hour ago, Grandboof said:

Hope this isn't an indication of the fit of the full kit . Looks like you and the "Virgin" will be spending some time together . 

Martin H  

 

All this banter about The Virgin made me recall a little poem of Max Miller. His timing is better than mine so I invite you to listen to the first minute or so of this recording

 

 

[Bertie McBoatface]

This is an extract from a post I just made on my WIP of the build of the wooden model ship Beagle. I have just finished laying the planks of the deck...

 

There are ninety planks on there and I wasn't bored for a second of the fifteen hours it took to lay them. I know each one individually like a farmer knows his sheep, though they may look identical to you. I have to tell you, this woodwork has taken my enjoyment of the modelling hobby to new heights. It's as different from building a plastic kit as playing your own guitar is from listening to a recording of someone else doing it; my song might not be as good, it might not even be recognisable to anyone else but it's mine. 

 

Since the start of this year I've made several models. First was a Hornet which I painted in a strange way to simulate the evening light of the tropics. I finished it, photographed it for posterior and immediately threw it in the bin. Next came the Tamiya F-4 which is the best engineered plastic kit I ever saw. Despite that I battle damaged and modified the ping out of it in order to stay interested enough to finish it. It's survived in the back of the display cabinet because I knew it would be my last aeroplane model ever. I had no more pings to give in that genre. 

 

Turning to armour, I completed a Valentine tank project which involved turning a Mk2 into the prototype and 'short tracking' it in a very strange way. The idea of building a straightforward gun tank doesn't float my boat at all, it doesn't even wet the pavement. I built a cutaway Lee tank from a very complex and deeply difficult MiniArt kit and dropped it to total destruction within a week of finishing it. I started and abandoned an AEC armoured car soon afterwards. Then I started a plastic HMS Victory on impulse and wrecked that 'accidentally' (?) by standing on it. And last Friday I started a Lancaster Nose Art kit in 1/32 for the Canadian GB. I've managed two short sessions and despite the ruinous price of the thing, I have a zero mojo situation there too. I think I'm starting to see a pattern.

 

For six months (actually a lot longer, when I look back further) I've been floundering from one thing to another trying to maintain some interest in plastic kits, a hobby that has lasted with a few gaps since I was about eight. It's gone. I've had gaps before but this feels like I was walking down the road to Damascus when I crossed the River Rubicon and burned the bridge behind me. Plastic is dead to me, in fact it's even made from very dead marine animals from 300 million years ago.

 

Fortunately, and thanks to @Dubz's wooden ship WIP, I discovered just in time the antique arts of boatbuilding, the old school way. Lad's and lasses, be careful about trying one of these. You may find that once you've had wood, there's no way back. The stuff is as addictive as crack, or 'shake' as we woodworkers call it. I love it so much, despite its ability to go horribly nasty on me at times, that I wrote a poem about my immutable conversion.

 

 

The Kits Not Built, by Bertie McBoatface

 

 

Two hobbies diverged; plastic and wood,

And sorry I could not build both

And be one modeller, long I stood

And looked at one as far as I could

To armoured cars in the undergrowth;

 

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was harder and needed more care;

Though as for that the working there

In either genre, really was about the same,

 

And both that morning equally lay

In boxes sealed in piled up stash.

Oh, I kept the plastic for another day.

Yet knowing how kit leads on to kit,

I doubt if I should ever come back.

 

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two hobbies diverged; plastic and wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

 

 

With deepest apologies to the shade of Robert Frost

 

And also to the Canadian GB community because I'm too pinging old now to waste time doing things that no longer give me joy. Best wished chaps and don't fret, the sad story of this dog of a kit was never going to be much fun for anyone. 😁

 

 

[Sam]

Bertie, I‘ve bashed the kit Xebec „El Cazador“ from OcCre into the Chébec „Le Requin“. It is a great thing to build a boat/ship (yes I know the difference, but still, they say „behind the boat“…). 
 

planking the hull was the most interesting part indeed. 
Planning, measuring, calculating, sketching. Deciding on the „extra plank“ (forgot the exact terminology). Wood, water, steam, glue. 
 

Great, humbling  and rewarding experience. It’s a fantastic feeling of achievement once you get the hang of it. Every person should at least once try planking a ship‘s hull!

 

Do you know www.ancre.fr?

They have an excellent collection of books, construction plans, documentation, how-to‘s. 
It‘s in french, and it‘s mainly french Navy vessels, but most of it has been translated. 
 

I too wanted to stay with wooden boats/ships. But: Being a pilot myself, my very first love of flying and aeroplanes, the pointy ones, brought me back to plastic. 
 

I HAVE TO build all of them before I return to the art of wooden ships. But I know I will. 
 

Sam

[Bertie McBoatface]

13 minutes ago, Sam said:

Bertie, I‘ve bashed the kit Xebec „El Cazador“ from OcCre into the Chébec „Le Requin“. It is a great thing to build a boat/ship (yes I know the difference, but still, they say „behind the boat“…). 
 

 

I want to do a xebec next. They are so beautiful.

 

13 minutes ago, Sam said:

planking the hull was the most interesting part indeed. 
Planning, measuring, calculating, sketching. Deciding on the „extra plank“ (forgot the exact terminology). Wood, water, steam, glue. 
 

 

You are talking about steelers/stealers. The extra plank.

 

13 minutes ago, Sam said:

Great, humbling  and rewarding experience. It’s a fantastic feeling of achievement once you get the hang of it. Every person should at least once try planking a ship‘s hull!

 

Absolutely.

 

13 minutes ago, Sam said:

Do you know www.ancre.fr?

They have an excellent collection of books, construction plans, documentation, how-to‘s. 
It‘s in french, and it‘s mainly french Navy vessels, but most of it has been translated. 
 

I too wanted to stay with wooden boats/ships. But: Being a pilot myself, my very first love of flying and aeroplanes, the pointy ones, brought me back to plastic. 
 

I HAVE TO build all of them before I return to the art of wooden ships. But I know I will. 
 

Sam

 

Never say never, I might return to plastic but I don't think I will. I have built them all. 😄

[Sam]

3 minutes ago, Bertie Psmith said:

I want to do a xebec next. They are so beautiful.

I STRONGLY recommend „le Requin“ from ancre. Don‘t waste your time kit-bashing. 
 

https://ancre.fr/fr/monographies/18-monographie-du-requin-chebec-1750-.html

 

[Bertie McBoatface]

5 minutes ago, Sam said:

I STRONGLY recommend „le Requin“ from ancre. Don‘t waste your time kit-bashing. 
 

https://ancre.fr/fr/monographies/18-monographie-du-requin-chebec-1750-.html

 

 

Plank on FRAME? Is this a scratch build from the plans in the monograph or an actual kit? I'm confused.

[Bertie McBoatface]

7 minutes ago, Sam said:

Don‘t waste your time kit-bashing

https://www.hobbies.co.uk/amati-xebec-wooden-model-ship-kit-1753

 

That's the one I was considering as my next build (next year)

[Sam]

4 minutes ago, Bertie Psmith said:

 

Plank on FRAME? Is this a scratch build from the plans in the monograph or an actual kit? I'm confused.

This is the real deal. All scratchbuilt from the monograph „le Requin“. It‘s not my work. I heavily bashed the OcCre kit, to an extent where I  might just as well have scratchbuilt it. 

[Bertie McBoatface]

5 minutes ago, Sam said:

This is the real deal. All scratchbuilt from the monograph „le Requin“. It‘s not my work. I heavily bashed the OcCre kit, to an extent where I  might just as well have scratchbuilt it. 

 

Too complex for me at this stage in my nautical career. Maybe later but for now I'll do the Amati one.

[Sam]

5 minutes ago, Bertie Psmith said:

https://www.hobbies.co.uk/amati-xebec-wooden-model-ship-kit-1753

 

That's the one I was considering as my next build (next year)

Don‘t waste your time!!!

It‘s totally inaccurate. Neither in construction (the requin is an exact scale replica of the real ship), nor in appearence (full of mistakes). 

I suspect you‘re a seasoned, talented builder, - and here let me quote Robin Olds: „ …there’s a spark, the desire to do well…“. 
 

If the Requin seems to much to tackle as first scratchbuild, or if you want to train your skills before building that sexmachine of a vessel, then may I suggest a smaller type to start with, for example this one:

 

https://ancre.fr/fr/monographies/92-s-caterina-pointu-mediterraneen-1759.html

(No, I do not own ancre stocks)

[Sam]

34 minutes ago, Bertie Psmith said:

You are talking about steelers/stealers.

That term alone gives me goosebumps and brings back memories. What have you done!!!!!

[Bertie McBoatface]

14 minutes ago, Sam said:

Don‘t waste your time!!!

You are telling me forcefully to do what you do not. Why would you do that? You have no idea who I am and what I want to do. It’s very strange. 

[Sam]

Just now, Bertie Psmith said:

You are telling me forcefully to do what you do not. Why would you do that? You have no idea who I am and what I want to do. It’s very strange. 

My apologies. I got fired up. 

I myself simply regretted buying a kit and having to bash it. 

 

I‘ll shut up now. 

[MRMRL]

Hi Bertie, it'll be a shame to lose you from the dead animal model fold, you're work is always interesting to watch unfold (and you tell it well). Please stay here to regale us of your wooden exploits 😉. I too am dabbling in both arts, however I find the wooden work so challenging that I can only manage short stints and expect to spend 5+ years per boat alongside the plastics. I have the wooden ships I want in my stash (Royal Navy/English ships of note), which combined with the plastic stash, should be enough to keep me going until somewhere close to retirement age (not too close but closer than I like ☹️). I don't see too many additions going into the collection now (I'm too fussy about scale and don't do many variants - space "might" be an issue too) and I don't see there being too many releases in my scales for things I want that I don't already have.

 

I hope you enjoy the hobbying whichever craft you end up doing. I've picked up my bug for it from my Dad, who built models of pretty much only 1/72 RAF aircraft for 40+ years, never really evolved his ability at all in that time. I expect he could have if he'd really wanted, but he was happy doing it the way he always had and never tired of it. Me, I've learnt a lot from forums like this and I've massively improved since I started (although I do think I'm hitting the limits of my skill now), a process of evolution that I've enjoyed, we all find our own groove I guess.

 

See you soon, looking forward to seeing how the Beagle turns out, great I expect if the Lady Isabella is anything to go by. I'd recommend Mary Rose as a future project, but you'd finish it before I do and put mine to shame 😉

[Bertie McBoatface]

6 minutes ago, Sam said:

My apologies. I got fired up. 

I myself simply regretted buying a kit and having to bash it. 

 

I‘ll shut up now. 

It’s ok. I’m not offended. I was wondering whether you would realise that it is YOU who wishes to build it, not me. 😀

 

I won’t be ready for that level of work for years yet and when I am I’ll build HMS Royal Albert. I already have the plans, printed in 1925. Very old school indeed.