Hello everybody!
Thought I'd show some pics of my current build, Smit London by Billing Boats. It's a slow build, started a year ago but will eventually get there I guess. About the kit; First laser cut kit for me, I love the nice cuts and that some of the boring cutting out stuff is already done. When I decided on this kit I thought I'd go for the "special edition" version of Smit London. My advice to you, don't do that. It was a little bit more expensive than the Smit Rotterdam for no reason as far as I can see. A different box and a small wooden ball for a Sat com dome is all the difference I can spot. The instructions are a huge dissapointment, I've built two other Billing kits many years ago and had hoped for them to improve. One side of written instructions for this big kit is a little lame I think. BUT, the kit and material is great I think, and it's not meant for beginners anyway so with a little experience and help from fellow forum members it shouldn't be a problem. And the finished model should hopefully be as impressive as the original vessel. I've built the hull and epoxied inside and outside with glassfibre. This was the first time for me and I was a bit nervous about it. Read all the threads I could find on the subject and then just did it one evening. Very messy but the end result was very nice and gave me a very strong hull. For a second I felt like leaving it as shiny and glossy as it was when I had epoxied her, she looked like a wooden yacht! I've fitted my homemade bowthruster and right now I'm fitting propshafts, shaftbearings, korts and rudders. More updates to come hopefully.
Cheers!
Hama.