Hi mate lovely job on the masts I use a etch primer from Halfords for my metal parts but you have to make sure they are clean and dry before use
Hope this helps
Martyn

Very happy you should be.



Looks great WTG.

Regards
delboy271155
(Derek)

All coming together very nicely, well done....

Regards

Alan

Hi Trevor,
Yes, I used balsa wood blocks to fill the big gaps at the bow and stern.
I didn't actually glued/pinned the hull planking into the balsa wood (only into the frames) but these fillers helped me during the sanding/shaping the hull prior planking to get it into the correct shape.
The balsa blocks fit in between the frame gaps, you don't need to cut anything out from the frames. You just cut a rectangular piece to fit between two frames, glue it there and then sand off the excess corner and shape in together with the frames.
I hope it helps.

Booms look good especially with all the blocks in place,

Great build enjoying it

Jase

Hi Laszlo,
I have just been browsing your build. Compliments on your great modeling skills and attention to detail.
I'll be following your build with interest.
Kind regards,
Garth

Great job with your build and I like the idea of the stand, it should make working on the sides a lot easier.

Graeme

Hello All,

Thanks for the good comments about my stand, much appreciated.

Regarding Walter's (DaDokta) comment, yes, it looks dangerous but the "tip over point" is still far away, actually it still can be tilted bit more vertical and still safely tilted.
I'll also keep it in the tilted position only when I'm actually working on it.
For storage it kept vertically (3rd picture).
The legs at the back and front are adjustable (rotate), to provide easy access to the part/area where I'll work on it.

The scary task started... painting the hull, Issue 66.

First I marked the rough position waterline.
Then painted a black stripe. As advised by the magazine I made the "edges" of the stripe feathered to avoid the stripe being visible when it's painted with the next layers.

Then re-drawn the waterline on top of the black paint. After it dried, of course.

Marking the waterline wasn't that easy because the height of it has 2 mm difference between left and right hand side due to slightly different position of the whales.
So I had to cheat on both sides to "bend" the waterline up/down towards the stern/bow to make sure they meet at the front/rear.

Then I used 2 mm wide masking tape all around the hull.
It was very tricky where the waterline crosses the bottom of the lower whale, there is a step.
It took a while but hopefully the step will look OK when painted, however I might need to correct it with fine brush, the masking tape doesn't wanted to stick on the edge of the whale.

Then I used a 6mm tape half way covering the previous tape to increase the masked area.
I nicely managed to bring the waterlines together at the bow/stern.

Tomorrow I'll paint the hull copper.