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[steve mahoney]

I've been steadily plugging away for the last 2 weeks and I've ended up going around in a big circle and pretty much ending up exactly where I was at the last update.

Last time I posted an update the superstructure was 95% completed and waiting for glazing.

On any build I hate making the nav lights (don't know why, but they bug me), but I dread glazing the windows. It's a delicate job than can make or break a model: fogged or scuffed windows, glue marks, and badly aligned frames can all ruin your day.

I usually (always) glaze the wheelhouse before attaching the roof. This time I put the roof on first. Well, there was a reason – the funnel top is built into the cabin roof, and I thought that I could glaze through the widows and open doors – at 1/32 they are much bigger than my normal 1/50 builds.
No such luck. I spent the best part of 3 days getting nowhere. Tried every trick in the book to no avail. Lots of bad language ensued.

Eventually I gave up and cut the roof off. This caused a bit of collateral damage: knocked off the bitt, engineroom vents, and all the ventilators, and damaged the funnel top, and paintwork in general.

It needed quite a bit of reworking but did make the glazing a breeze. The 'glass' slots into the PE brass frame from behind – there's a 0.5mm rebate for it
All good now, and everything is back in place, filled, tidied up and repainted. After a few large gins the stress levels have subsided.

[steve mahoney]

After the debacle with the glazing I had hoped that my next post would be all total victory about how I had rescued the project from the ashes. No chance!

While preparing to paint some bits and pieces I drained the compressor tank. This needs to be done every few months to get any condensation out. The valve is right under the tank, hard to get to and any dirty moisture inside comes out at 50psi so you need a rag strategically placed underneath to catch it. So I leaned the compressor over 20º and very gently rested in on a box so that I could get easy access to the valve.

Job done. Only, not quite – I had cracked the cast bronze exhaust elbow (part No BRC95EE) which disintergrated as soon as I turned the compressor back on. I know the part number because the distributor told me that particular part was very vulnerable and they redesigned the exhaust elbow several years ago – and no longer stock BRC95EE.

A new compressor later and I'm mixing up some paint when I drop a half full 1 litre tin of undercoat on the floor.

Do you know how far paint can bounce? All over the show! A 500mL paint grenade!

I jumped pretty quckly – not as quick as the dog, but it went everywhere – both legs, shoes, socks, sweatshirt, trousers, me, wall, floor. A*** hole to breakfast, as they say. And over one of our set of dining chairs that I had temporarily been using at my desk – against all advice from my wife.

Worst of all – there was paint all over her mountain bike – her pride and joy. I grabbed a handy bed sheet and started furiously wiping it up – I can make the sheet disappear.

After an hour on my knees it's all sorted. What sheet? My Nikes are in the bin and I can air out the chair for a few days to get rid of the stink of thinners. The bike looks OK but it will need a session on the chain and tyres with a toothbrush – hers, it's her bike.

At least I don't have to explain any bald spots on the dog.

[MikeMcP]

hello Steve
"oh dear" or its equivalent in Kiwi!


and I suppose you were too busy to take any pictures?


hope the recovery was successful!


cheers (and good luck)


btw love the model pictures.
Mike

[Mark T]

Just read your whole build and its a lovely job your doing there Steve 


Your episode with the paint had me laughing out loud - sorry 

[steve mahoney]

Thanks Mike. My reaction was a lot stronger than the usual ""xxxxx"!". My first thought was "can I command Z that?" – then panic.
No photos. It's bad enough me telling you about it, the last thing I need is hard evidence.


Thanks Mark. I've been following your build, it's a masterclass. Unlike mine, which is more like clown school.

[steve mahoney]

Things seem to be back on track – touch wood.

The list of things to do is rapidly reducing and I can definitely see light at then end of the tunnel.

I had made the exhaust stacks a few weeks ago, however, on closer inspection the stainless steel paint job just wasn't up to it. The color wasn't right and enamel metallics never look that good at scale. Too granulated.

I just about exclusively use Humbrol enamels but this time I got some advice and splashed out on some SMS metallic lacquer.

I'd seen it on a couple of youtube videos and it seemed to work well. Lacquer is as thin as water so goes through the airbrush really easily and after a few light coats gives a great finish. I got some chrome and stainless steel, and the gloss black base coat. I remade the exhaust stacks and sprayed them.

I'm happy with the result and the colour.

[steve mahoney]

I have been making steady progress over the last week or so – with no major mishaps, which is always a good thing.

Everything for the model has been made and now it's a matter of assembling everything in the right sequence.

I made the display stand posts out of several lengths of brass tube and rod. Usually I leave these as shiny brass and they are quite noticeable but this time I wanted the model to look like it was floating above the black base board, so they were sprayed gloss black. Got to use the little propane burner for the soldering. Now that was fun!

Next job were the tyre fenders. I have photos of Busby from over the last 30 years and the fendering is never the same in any two photos. I'm making the model as the boat was on the day I visited it in 2020 which is probably when they had the most complicated fendering arrangement ever. Truck tyres attached by a complex chain arrangement. At least I had some good reference photos.

I spent a morning trawling through some budget shops looking for some cheap jewellery chain in the right shape and size. Most jewellery chains are oval shaped links, real chains have straight sides and semi circle ends. Bingo! – found some that was just right, and only $3 each. Back in 2020 the galvanised chain had only recently been installed and was still very shiny. It dulls off with time so I gave my chain a light grey spray.

[steve mahoney]

I had made the tyre fenders a couple of years ago and had them stored away. When I unpacked them I was 2 short. I have a photo of the tyres being made and I had the correct number then. Simply disappeared. Gone. Luckily I had some extra ply discs in the right size to make a couple of new tyres. Pretty simple, although while I was cleaning them up on my little desktop disc sander I wasn't holding one tightly enough and it flicked up and away. So fast I didn't even see it go. I didn't hear it land anywhere and spent about 15 minutes on the floor and emptying shelves looking for it before I found it stuck in the collar of my jumper. Good catch, Steve!

Then the tyres all got another coat of paint and went through a jig to mark and drill the holes for the chains. Then a bunch of spacers were cut to uniform size on another jig. This scrap piece of ply has more jigs than an Irish pub.

Attaching the chains and tyres was a slow and fiddly job but it worked out ok. The chain slips into some PE brass eyes to hold everything in place.

Now for the starboard side...

[steve mahoney]

The starboard side wasn't too much trouble – only a couple of afternoons of fiddly work. Then the names went on – and just like – that the hull is all finished.

And look what was left over when I had all finished: 2 tyres and about 30mm of chain. No idea where the extra tyres came from. Magicked themselves back into existence.

As for the chain, some would say that I had meticulously planned exactly how much I would need, a masterpiece of 'just in time' production. Others might say it was judicious use of the material at hand. Some (less kindly) might say it was just dumb luck. I couldn't possibly comment.

If anyone can recognise the tool in the second to last photo, you're well and truly in the dinosaur league, with me.

[steve mahoney]

I've started attaching various bits and pieces that I had made earlier.

The PA speaker is not round – it has flattened sides so it was a little trickier to build. I made this over a month ago and can't remember why I had it clamped like this – maybe to attach the rim at the outer edge of the speaker? I'm going to have to learn a 3D drawing program, this would be an ideal subject, every build needs a PA speaker.

The radar is a mix of styrene tube segments and filler – lots of sanding, filling, sanding – rinse and repeat. Same for the horn. Both look OK when painted.

The wipers are PE brass – I was a bit too optomistic with the version at the top. The wiper arms are way too thin. The lower one is fine.

And here they are installed. The Raymarine logo and lifebuoy decals are from Bedlam.

[captain_reg]

Looks really great. Did you photoetch the brass wipers yourself?

[steve mahoney]

Thanks.

No, I had the etching done by PPD Ltd in Scotland. I've used them many times and the quality, service and turnaround is always excellent. I usually gang up the items for several builds to make the postage costs economic.

Knowing my track record with paint, glue and flux, I couldn't be trusted with ferric chloride, the etching acid. It's quite corrosive. Also, you need a film negative to do etching and suppliers of those are getting rarer and rarer.

[steve mahoney]

Lifebuoys are another thing that would be ideal for 3D printing. Every boat has lots of them and they all look the same.

These are old school ply with a loth of sanding. I used a simple jig to attach the grab lines. The lines will get a trim and then a coat of diluted PVA to stop any fraying or loose threads. The 'Whangarei' text is about as small and fine as you can get with rubdowns. Applying it to a curved surface was tricky too, luckily I had a few spares.

The lifebuoys must be the originals as they have Busby's initial home port: Whanagei, while the stern hull markings have the current home port – Auckland. In real life they are quite faded, but I'm keeping this as it looked on the day I visited in 2020, not long after it had been surveyed and painted.