Model Boat Mayhem

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length.
Pages: [1] 2   Go Down

Author Topic: 1/48 US Coast Guard Island-class cutter - RTR rebuild  (Read 20586 times)

Edward Pinniger

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 531
  • Location: Berkshire, UK
    • Plastic Ship Kit Previews
1/48 US Coast Guard Island-class cutter - RTR rebuild
« on: December 23, 2008, 05:03:17 pm »

I probably won't be able to get any major work done on this until the New Year - but I thought I'd get the thread started. This is my third attempt at rebuilding a cheap ready-to-run model boat - after the "Seaport Workboat" tug and Sovremenny-class destroyer. This one is a modern US Coast Guard cutter (patrol boat), specifically a 110-foot Island-class vessel. See here for more info: http://www.uscg.mil/datasheet/110wpb.asp

The RTR boat was produced by "NKOK" a few years ago and seems now to be only available second-hand, though some dealers in the USA may still stock it. Model-wise, it's like most RTR "scale" boats, superficially plasticky and toylike but basically accurate in shape and capable of being improved a lot with a repaint + some extra detail. At 1/48 it scales out at 72x19cm (28x7"), a reasonably good size for a working model, and the scale is large enough that fine details like railings + ladders aren't too fragile. As a small warship in a large scale, this is just the sort of subject I like for building as a R/C model - the subject is a bit modern for my liking, but the very striking USCG paint scheme (certainly a change from grey!) makes up for this.






Here's what you get in the box (more or less - a few small bits have got broken off). Some crew are included, but they're rather crudely moulded in rubbery vinyl plastic, so I'll probably replace them with modified 1/48 aircraft ground crew figures.

The working parts, though, are pretty awful - you get a 9.6v rechargeable battery pack and a half-decent though crystal-less TX/RX but the twin motors (no rudder) are of the "pod" type, in (supposedly) sealed plastic containers underneath the hull. The RTR RNLI Severn lifeboat uses the same setup. Pod motors are IMHO one of the worst ideas that R/C manufacturers ever devised; they are about as durable as chocolate teapots, with only a couple of centimetres between the prop shaft exit and the motor, water is guaranteed to get in and wreck the motor after only a few runs. Many of them are also badly made and leak around the seam between the pod halves, and/or don't have any sealant grease around the prop shafts.

Additionally, the model I bought second-hand on eBay (sold as "like new"!) was in a wretched state. The pod motors were rusted solid, and the interior of the hull was also very rusty due to the steel ballast rods. It looked like I'd have to completely replace the works with a full set of new components including rudder, servos etc. at a hefty cost.

However, after testing the built-in radio receiver (in a sealed plastic container, so not affected by the rust) I found it was still in good working order - as was the battery and transmitter unit. As I've found from past experience that twin-prop RTR systems actually run quite well, providing the prop shafts and motors are properly sealed (i.e not in pods!) I decided to opt for a compromise, connecting the existing radio to motors installed inside the hull driving prop shafts. This cost less than £10 for a pair of props, shafts + tubes and a pair of motors of the same type as originally installed in the pods (connecting larger motors to a RTR system is not a good idea, it will usually overheat and burn out the RX)



I cut out discs of plastic to cover the ends of the pod sockets, and glued these in place with several applications of epoxy glue (on both sides) to thoroughly seal them. The inside of the hull looks rather grotty due to the rust from the ballast, but it looked a lot worse before I cleaned it!



The prop shaft tubes were glued into holes also drilled into the pod sockets.



The motors are on a wooden mount and held in place with metal brackets, allowing them to be easily adjusted or removed, a thin layer of foam helps to deaden the motor noise. The motors are connected to the RX via extra lengths of wire and connector blocks, so the hull can be completely separated from the deck if necessary.



The model needs a fair amount of ballast, the steel rods already fitted are about the right weight but had rusted badly, I cleaned them up with limescale remover, then when completely dry sealed them in duct tape to keep them watertight, they are also duct-taped in place so they can be removed if necessary. The ballast is a bit further forward than originally, but the added weight of the motor mount helps to counter this.

The boat runs at a good "scale" speed and is very manoueverable (it can virtually turn on the spot, and runs quite well in reverse). With the ballast balanced right it's quite stable (despite the tall superstructure + mast) but has plenty of freeboard, water never gets onto the deck even when turning at speed. Here's a few photos of it on the water today:







To sum up, this is a good low-budget conversion for these pod-motor RTR boats if you don't mind still having a twin-prop steering system! It makes the model a lot more durable as well as better running (the pods aren't a very efficient shape, creating a lot of drag and obstructing the water flow to the props) for the cost of a set of props + shafts; the motors from the dismantled pods can be used if they're still in working order.
I'll probably end up converting my RTR Severn in the same way.

This particular project is (hopefully) NOT going to end up postponed indefinitely due to technical problems, like my sub chaser and steam yacht - I've thoroughly tested the working parts, including the operational range of the radio, and have run the boat on the pond several times.
Logged

Edward Pinniger

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 531
  • Location: Berkshire, UK
    • Plastic Ship Kit Previews
Re: 1/48 US Coast Guard Island-class cutter - RTR rebuild
« Reply #1 on: December 23, 2008, 05:06:53 pm »

Now I've got the working parts sorted out, I can start work on rebuilding and detailing the boat. Rather than dismantling the whole thing into its component parts (as I did with the Sovremenny), I'll attempt to do the rebuild in stages, so the model is still in a reasonably presentable and intact state to run on the pond!. First of all I'll work on all the surface details on the deck and superstructure, such as hatches and doors, windows, portholes, handrails and ladders, along with basic deck fittings like bollards; then I'll give the whole thing a base coat of paint, and start work on the mast and the more complex fittings such as the crane, winch, armament, searchlights, etc.

Apart from the hull + deck, I'll definitely be keeping the superstructure, the main "lattice" part of the mast, and some of the smaller fittings (searchlights, bollards) with extra detail in some cases. Some other parts like the crane may also turn out to be usable with some work. Everything else will be scratchbuilt or replaced with commercial fittings. This is going to be a much more comprehensive "upgrade" than the 1/200 Sovremenny, which basically just needed a repaint and a bit of extra fine detail - but the much larger scale of 1/48 makes scratchbuilding replacement details a lot easier and also more interesting (working with millimetre-sized bits of styrene and brass wire can get tedious). Reference material for the Island-class cutters is easy to find, as there are plenty of very high-res photos on http://www.uscg.mil.

I've made a start on a couple of areas - mainly the cabin windows - but probably won't have much time to work on the project until January, so I may not post any updates for a week or two.



The main superstructure/cabin is going to need a lot of work on the surface detail as well as the fittings. I've drilled out a hole below the location of the mast, which will be the new location for the aerial wire (I'll eventually add a tube inside the mast to conceal the wire)







The cabin windows are all moulded solid, I decided to cut them out and add glazing, as the plastic is fairly thick I had to resort to the method of drilling holes around the edge then cutting between them, the edges of the window were then cleaned up with a file. I also drilled out the portholes (including those on the hatches - which will also get new hinges + wheels later on) and added new surrounds from the spares box. Glazing will be added (much) later when all the other surface detailing is complete and the superstructure has been painted. Most of the surface details you see here (except the hatches) are going to be cut off and replaced with more in-scale and detailed scratchbuilt bits.

Logged

craftysod

  • Guest
Re: 1/48 US Coast Guard Island-class cutter - RTR rebuild
« Reply #2 on: December 23, 2008, 05:15:00 pm »

This is going to be another good conversion,
now to start looking for one of these
Mark
Logged

Edward Pinniger

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 531
  • Location: Berkshire, UK
    • Plastic Ship Kit Previews
Re: 1/48 US Coast Guard Island-class cutter - RTR rebuild
« Reply #3 on: December 27, 2008, 12:49:33 pm »

Here's some of the work I did a few days ago:





There are about 20 holes around the deck edge for the attachment screws, covered with rubber seals. These look rather unsightly, but I still need the deck to be removable to access the hull interior. So I decided to fill in all but 6 of the holes, leaving one each side at the bow, stern and amidships. The other holes (after removing the screws) were filled with styrene discs, which I then sanded flat.
The deck fits into the hull quite securely (and has a rubber sealant strip underneath), and the boat never gets water over the deck when running anyway, so this should be enough.





The superstructure has loads of very crude, simplified and overscale detail moulded on intended to represent hand rails, lights, fire hose reels, etc.
I decided to remove all of this at the same time, as cutting, sanding + grinding the moulded detail off is a very messy job, and if I did it in stages I'd probably end up damaging details which I'd previously added. The locations for the new scratchbuilt details are marked out in pencil.
I kept the hatches, which are about right in size and shape; new scratchbuilt hinges, catches + wheels will be added later.

The second photo shows the temporarily assembled structure, as you can see I've also cut out the windshield for the open bridge (I thought of rebuilding this from scratch, but keeping the original framework will give it a lot more structural strength) and cut down the mast by about 2cm. It actually needs to be a bit shorter to be the correct height, but to do this I'll need to modify the attachment "pegs" to get it to fit in place.
The mast will also need a lot of detailing work, but this will have to wait until later on in the build!

This will probably be my last update for a week or two, as I don't have much time for modelling at the minute! Here's a photo of a (static) model I built last year - a USCG 95' Cape-class cutter. These were built in the '50s and were more or less the predecessors of the current Island-class (they went out of service in the 1980s). The model is built from the 1/72 Lindberg plastic kit, with some scratchbuilt additions. Some people have managed to convert this kit to R/C.


Logged

Edward Pinniger

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 531
  • Location: Berkshire, UK
    • Plastic Ship Kit Previews
Re: 1/48 US Coast Guard Island-class cutter - RTR rebuild
« Reply #4 on: January 06, 2009, 03:40:05 pm »

Originally I was going to complete all the basic detailing work on the superstructure first, but it seems to me that it'd make more sense to start with the hull + deck fittings. Before painting + varnishing the hull I added some extra detail:



The anchor hawsepipe (with circular strengthening plate) is added to the starboard side of the hull, along with some other detailing from styrene stock. Everything looks rather messy at the minute - mainly due to having to sand off the white paint from the red plastic hull in areas where I needed to glue things - but will look a lot better when primed + painted.



The fairleads and "bullnose" (large bow fairlead) in the forward bulwarks were drilled out (the fairleads were made by drilling two adjacent holes then cutting + filing between them). The bullnose has a rim added using a brass eyelet. I then added some basic structural detail to the inside of the bulwarks. Again,



Engine exhausts and water outlets were added at the waterline (on both sides) from thin plasticard and styrene washers from the spares box.



I then sprayed the whole hull with a base coat of grey primer.
Logged

Edward Pinniger

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 531
  • Location: Berkshire, UK
    • Plastic Ship Kit Previews
Re: 1/48 US Coast Guard Island-class cutter - RTR rebuild
« Reply #5 on: January 08, 2009, 02:36:56 pm »

Next, painting:



Once the grey acrylic undercoat had been left to dry for 24 hours, I sprayed the upper and lower hull with white and red oxide acrylic primer. The red oxide is perfect for the hull bottom colour, but the white didn't turn out as well - despite the base coat of grey, it took on a slight pinkish shade in the areas where I'd originally sanded down to the red plastic! So I added a couple of coats of brush-painted Lifecolor matt white acrylic. The surface finish isn't quite as good, but at least it's the right colour now...



The boot stripe was masked and painted by hand using Revell matt black acrylic.



Finally, the USCG "racing stripe" again masked + brush painted by hand. Decals will be added later (I have a sheet of 1/48 USCG helicopter decals which include emblems and text in about the right size). I also corrected the boot stripe at the bow (it should be straight, rather than following the curve of the "knuckle") - I certainly wish I'd got this right the first time, as white paint doesn't cover very well when painted over black!







The hull, at least, now looks more like a scale model than a plastic toy - now I just have to do the same to the rest of the ship! The hull still needs decal markings, weathering and a protective coat of enamel varnish, it also needs an anchor which I'll scratchbuild later.
Logged

Edward Pinniger

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 531
  • Location: Berkshire, UK
    • Plastic Ship Kit Previews
Re: 1/48 US Coast Guard Island-class cutter - RTR rebuild
« Reply #6 on: January 08, 2009, 02:41:59 pm »

Now the hull is complete, the next stage is to add the basic deck fittings (more complex assemblies like the gun and boat crane will be added later), once I've done this the deck can be painted.


First are the bollards, of which there are 9 (four pairs and a single one at the bow). The bollards on the RTR boat are rather odd, mushroom-shaped things, nothing like the real ones! I didn't have any of the right size and type in my fittings spares box, but they aren't too hard to scratchbuild.


The new bollards are made from styrene sheet and tube. The caps were cut out of 1mm styrene sheet using a large paper hole puncher, which happened to be exactly the right size!


In place on the deck. Note that the forwardmost bollard is actually supposed to be at an angle. As you can see, everything else on the deck has been stripped off for detailing or replacement, and I've added the waterway strip at the deck edge using thin styrene sheet.
Logged

Edward Pinniger

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 531
  • Location: Berkshire, UK
    • Plastic Ship Kit Previews
Re: 1/48 US Coast Guard Island-class cutter - RTR rebuild
« Reply #7 on: January 14, 2009, 11:40:17 am »

Lots of progress over the last few days, I've now done most of the deck fittings and details.





Anchor handling gear. The windlass was missing from my second-hand RTR boat, but it was probably too crude to use anyway! The new one is scratchbuilt from styrene sheet, Grandt Line rivets and a metal windlass drum from the spares box. Also scratchbuilt were a circular hatch (possibly for the cable locker), the chain port (copper tube) and the "pulley" that the anchor chain runs over before going into the hawse pipe. The latter part was adapted from the fitting supplied with the RTR boat. Chain (and an anchor!) will be added later.







There are a large number of "gooseneck" ventilators in 2 different sizes along the edge of the deck, especially at the bow and stern. I scratchbuilt these from brass wire + styrene tube. Brass is a bit more expensive than plastic and adds to the top-weight of the model, but it's a lot easier to bend into curved shapes like this.






There are also several "mushroom"-type fan ventilators at the stern (at least, I assume this is what they are), these are scratchbuilt from styrene.




For the railings, I bought some Robbe turned brass stanchions - these are the best value brass stanchions that I've found so far, at about £3.50-£4 per pack of 10. The model has about 28 2-rail stanchions around the deck, and a few 3-rail ones on the upper superstructure.





Here's a photo of the stanchions temporarily in place on the model. I'll glue them in place later, when the other deck fittings are complete. The stern has a solid welded railing structure, rather than rigged stanchions. The figure in the second photo shows scale - hopefully I'll get some better crew figures soon!
Logged

tigertiger

  • Global Moderator
  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 7,748
  • Location: Kunming, city of eternal springtime, SW China.
Re: 1/48 US Coast Guard Island-class cutter - RTR rebuild
« Reply #8 on: January 14, 2009, 11:50:30 am »

This is transforming very nicely. :-))
Logged
The only stupid question is the one I didn't ask

Edward Pinniger

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 531
  • Location: Berkshire, UK
    • Plastic Ship Kit Previews
Re: 1/48 US Coast Guard Island-class cutter - RTR rebuild
« Reply #9 on: January 14, 2009, 03:40:30 pm »

Here's the next lot of photos:





Hatches: there are 4 of these, 2 at the bow and 2 at the stern. I cut off all the moulded detail from the original hatches, and used them as the bases for scratchbuilt ones. The hatches themselves are made from 1mm styrene sheet with brass wire handles and hinges from styrene scrap. The etched brass handwheels are temporarily in place, I'll glue them permanently after I've painted all the deck fittings.





Two 25mm ammunition lockers are situated aft of the gun platform, with a smaller one which is probably a pyrotechnics locker (signal rockets, flares etc.) in between. The parts on the RTR boat are usable with some work, I added styrene sheet to the sides to cover the "dimples" (the real lockers only have these dimples on the front hatch) and scratchbuilt the hinges and catches.






There are 3 liferaft canisters (some boats seem to have only 2 fitted) on the aft deck. I couldn't find any clear close-up photos of the canister storage cradles, so improvised as best I could. They're made from styrene sheet. The liferaft canisters themselves are the original parts, with the supporting pegs cut + filed off.

In the second photo you can also see the detail added to the storage lockers on the aft deck. The two red boxes are covered in red or blue tarpaulins in all the photos I've found (hence they're moulded in red on the RTR boat!) I'm guessing that they're storage lockers for the aft .50 calibre machineguns and/or their tripod mounts (the same red or blue covers are also often seen on the forward 25mm and bridge wing .50 calibre guns). The large blue bollard is an unmodified original part, and is just about the only one that didn't need any extra detail, although it does need repainting!

Unfortunately I've had to keep 3 of the swiveling catches for the battery compartment, but these should be a bit less obtrusive once they and the deck are painted.








The deck fittings are now complete and ready for primer + paint. There are still a few things to add (such as the gun mounts) but all the basics are done!
Logged

Edward Pinniger

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 531
  • Location: Berkshire, UK
    • Plastic Ship Kit Previews
Re: 1/48 US Coast Guard Island-class cutter - RTR rebuild
« Reply #10 on: January 15, 2009, 04:35:25 pm »











The deck + fittings are now fully painted. I used Revell and Lifecolor acrylics over a spray-painted base coat of light grey acrylics. USCG vessels have most of their deck fittings, as well as masts and funnels, painted in a yellowish colour similar to the "buff" paint found on Victorian ships, though somewhat more orange in tone. I used Revell "Ochre" which is a very good colour match.

The hull and deck of the model are now basically complete - the superstructure and mast are next! I'll give the model another test-run soon (if the ice has melted on the local pond!) to check that the balance is still OK. It may need some more ballast in the hull due to the additional top-weight of the added fittings.
Logged

Edward Pinniger

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 531
  • Location: Berkshire, UK
    • Plastic Ship Kit Previews
Re: 1/48 US Coast Guard Island-class cutter - RTR rebuild
« Reply #11 on: January 21, 2009, 03:31:02 pm »







To rig the railing stanchions, I was originally going to use thinnish (about 0.6mm) tinned copper wire to represent the steel cable. However, I later had a better idea: make scale(ish) metal cable by twisting strands of very fine (38 SWG) tinned copper together. I used a bench vice to hold one end of the two strands of wire, and a pin vice to hold the other end, which I rotated to twist the strands together. (A small hand drill would have worked even better, but I didn't have one with a small enough chuck) See photo 1 for the finished result.

This worked really well - the twisted wire both looks realistic on the model, and has a fair amount of structural strength and "springiness" so isn't too vulnerable to damage. As the metal is already silver-coloured it doesn't need painting!
Logged

DickyD

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 9,423
  • www.srcmbc.org.uk
  • Location: Southampton UK
    • SRCMBC
Re: 1/48 US Coast Guard Island-class cutter - RTR rebuild
« Reply #12 on: January 22, 2009, 01:36:03 pm »

You didn't need a smaller chuck as you could have used a cuphook in the chuck.
Get cable, fold in half, hold two ends in vice and hook loop of cable over hook.  :-))
Logged
Richard Solent Radio Controlled Model Boat Club http://www.srcmbc.org.uk

bigH

  • Guest
Re: 1/48 US Coast Guard Island-class cutter - RTR rebuild
« Reply #13 on: January 22, 2009, 05:36:12 pm »

 :-))   Edward you are doing a cracking job on this mate, made me quite envious.   I think I'll get my old Dicky Tug out and re-work it, keep on it, you have really got the nack..  look forward to seeing more.    bigH
Logged

Edward Pinniger

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 531
  • Location: Berkshire, UK
    • Plastic Ship Kit Previews
Re: 1/48 US Coast Guard Island-class cutter - RTR rebuild
« Reply #14 on: March 27, 2009, 01:50:10 pm »



Now the hull and deck of the model are done, the next stage is the superstructure. This is a single plastic moulding (plus a smaller moulding for the bridge) with a lot of very heavy and crude moulded detail, almost all of which I cut and sanded off. I also cut out the windows and the bridge windshield. In theory it would have been easier and quicker to build the whole thing from scratch using styrene sheet, but I don't have any plans to measure it from, and the supplied moulding has the advantage of having plenty of structural strength and built-in screw fittings to attach it securely to the deck.

I decided to first add the surface detail to the superstructure, then spray paint it; once painted I'd start work on the superstructure fittings (searchlights, etc.) and the mast.



First to be added were the numerous handrails, made from brass wire. The crew figure is from Hasegawa's 1/48 US Air Force ground crew set. These figures make quite good USCG crew with some modification (this one just had his ear defenders removed)



The forward door/hatch on the starboard side is different to the other two (not sure why), with no porthole and latches instead of a wheel to secure it. The ladders will be added later, once the superstructure has been painted. Also visible in this photo is one of the forward aerial bases, scratchbuilt using metal tube and styrene bits. The grey vent-like objects are lamp fittings, bulbs (probably carved from clear styrene sprue) will be added to these later.



Various details added to the superstructure deck and bridge area. Wheelhouse doors were scratchbuilt, as were the ventilator gratings (probably for the engine room) and the brackets for the machinegun mounts. The box aft of the bridge appears to be some sort of transmitter or other piece of electronic equipment, it has a bracket-shaped "TV aerial" on one side (made from brass wire; the aerial vanes will be added later using thinner wire)
Bridge instruments and detailing will be added later on once I've actually found some photos of this area!



The fire hose connectors are spares from the fire engine in Airfix's old 1/72 RAF Emergency Vehicle set, with copper wire for piping. Etched brass handwheels will be added later. Running lights are commercial castings in a scratchbuilt styrene housing.
Logged

Edward Pinniger

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 531
  • Location: Berkshire, UK
    • Plastic Ship Kit Previews
Re: 1/48 US Coast Guard Island-class cutter - RTR rebuild
« Reply #15 on: March 30, 2009, 04:56:45 pm »







It looks much better with a coat of paint! The superstructure is airbrushed with Lifecolor acrylic matt white over a base coat of Revell light grey. The base coat was necessary as the white colour of the plastic would otherwise make it hard to spot unpainted areas. It also gives the white paint better coverage on the metal parts.
Logged

Mark47

  • Guest
Re: 1/48 US Coast Guard Island-class cutter - RTR rebuild
« Reply #16 on: March 30, 2009, 06:49:25 pm »

Now that's looking real good. :-))

Mark
Logged

Edward Pinniger

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 531
  • Location: Berkshire, UK
    • Plastic Ship Kit Previews
Re: 1/48 US Coast Guard Island-class cutter - RTR rebuild
« Reply #17 on: April 01, 2009, 04:28:09 pm »



The windows and portholes are now glazed (after painting the interior black), the ladders have been attached, and the decks are painted.





The superstructure details have been painted and the whole assembly re-attached to the deck with screws. The aft deck (boat deck) needs a lot more work, including the support frame for the RHIB boat. The crane is located here on the RTR boat, but should actually go on the main deck (approximately between the hatch and storage locker on the battery cover)

The model is now (finally) ready to sail again. I've added some packaging air bags (basically giant bubble-wrap) to the interior of the hull, to add buoyancy - the model is very stable with plenty of freeboard, so hopefully this won't be needed!. Weather permitting, I should have some more photos of the boat on the water soon.

The next stage of the build is the mast - this will be removable via brass pegs fitting into holes on the bridge. I'd already added these by the time I took the last photo, but they need to be trimmed slightly as the mast is now too high. A replacement for the awful 25mm gun moulding is also a priority!
Logged

Edward Pinniger

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 531
  • Location: Berkshire, UK
    • Plastic Ship Kit Previews
Re: 1/48 US Coast Guard Island-class cutter - RTR rebuild
« Reply #18 on: April 05, 2009, 04:01:41 pm »










I gave the model a test run on the pond a couple of days ago, unfortunately the battery didn't have as much charge in it as I thought so I only got about 5 minutes run time. But the model certainly runs very well and is quite manoueverable with a realistic scale speed. I added a bit of extra lead ballast to the hull to counteract the additional topweight of all the extra detail (some of which is metal, such as the railing stanchions)




The next stage of the build is the mast. The Island-class cutters have a very complex mast for such a small ship. It has what appear to be dozens of aerials, radars and other electronic gizmos on it in addition to the running lights, searchlights, siren and other equipment, and ladders, wiring, rigging, flag hoists etc. Scratchbuilding all this is going to be quite a job but there are plenty of high-res photos available on http://www.uscg.mil for reference.





I kept the basic lattice structure of the mast from the RTR boat, as this has much more structural strength than a scratchbuilt one would (very important on a working model). Everything else will be scratchbuilt.



The mast is removable via lengths of brass rod which fit into holes drilled in the bridge deck.  This will make it much easier to transport without damaging the mast details. It fits very tightly so no danger of it falling out on the water!

I also painted the interior surfaces of the lattice structure (the exterior will be airbrushed once detailing is complete) and added a plastic tube to hold the aerial.
Logged

Edward Pinniger

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 531
  • Location: Berkshire, UK
    • Plastic Ship Kit Previews
Re: 1/48 US Coast Guard Island-class cutter - RTR rebuild
« Reply #19 on: May 13, 2009, 01:30:35 pm »





I've resolved to get this model finished within the next month or two - it has too much potential to sit unfinished on the shelf! As I previously posted, the mast is the next part to be done. I kept the central lattice structure and am rebuilding everything else (including all the aerials, lights etc.) from scratch.
The photos above show the first stage of construction. Most of the parts are made from brass wire and aluminium tube, and are also fitted into drilled holes rather than simply glued, so will hopefully have enough structural strength to reduce the chance of accidental damage! I also added a ladder which is from Slaters' O gauge (1/43) model railway accessory range.
Next stage is to add the various pieces of equipment that go on the mast - these will all be scratchbuilt from styrene stock + spares-box oddments - the whole assembly willl then be sprayed with a base coat of "USCG Spar" and the details brush-painted.
Logged

Edward Pinniger

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 531
  • Location: Berkshire, UK
    • Plastic Ship Kit Previews
Re: 1/48 US Coast Guard Island-class cutter - RTR rebuild
« Reply #20 on: July 15, 2009, 11:25:01 am »





The mast structure is now complete, other than the radar domes, lights, etc.:






and has been spray-painted and installed on the model. Still a lot of work to do, but it looks much more complete with the finished mast in place! It's removable so hopefully shouldn't be too vulnerable to damage...
Logged

Martin (Admin)

  • Administrator
  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 23,359
  • Location: Peterborough, UK
    • Model Boat Mayhem
Re: 1/48 US Coast Guard Island-class cutter - RTR rebuild
« Reply #21 on: July 15, 2009, 02:12:05 pm »

Great job!   :-))
Logged
"This is my firm opinion, but what do I know?!" -  Visit the Mayhem FaceBook Groups!  &  Giant Models

Edward Pinniger

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 531
  • Location: Berkshire, UK
    • Plastic Ship Kit Previews
Re: 1/48 US Coast Guard Island-class cutter - RTR rebuild
« Reply #22 on: July 22, 2009, 03:20:36 pm »









The fittings for the forward superstructure roof - searchlight, spotlights and horn, plus a couple of angled boxes the function of which I have no idea! The spotlights are completely scratchbuilt, the other fittings are the original parts, heavily modified. All of the fittings have external electrical wiring, which is quite visible on photos of the real ship, so I added it using thin copper wire painted black.





Railings added to the upper deck, along with the tripod mounts for the .50 calibre machineguns.
Logged

Solitary Sailor

  • Guest
Re: 1/48 US Coast Guard Island-class cutter - RTR rebuild
« Reply #23 on: July 23, 2009, 12:45:29 am »

Excellent job Edward, some really nice detail work there   :-))
Logged

Mark47

  • Guest
Re: 1/48 US Coast Guard Island-class cutter - RTR rebuild
« Reply #24 on: July 23, 2009, 07:17:20 am »

This just shows what can be done with an RTR. I'm still keeping an eye open for one for my son. O0

Mark
Logged
Pages: [1] 2   Go Up
 

Page created in 0.102 seconds with 22 queries.