Topic: My First Model

[agentfunky]

Hi, thanks.

I am really pleased at the amount of advice and help I have have had from posters over the last couple of weeks.

I've been taking my time and reading the destruction manual, getting the equipment I need.

I have just ordered the Futaba 6EXA radio set.......I have three models that I have acquired and figured that something that will remeber the trim settings would be useful, and Futaba have been a reliable make for as long as I can remeber with the Aero stuff.

The "12 knot" thing you mention made me chuckle. I mentioned 12 knots as a toungue in cheek expression really. I would imagine the  model would be pretty unstable at that kind of speed. I have visions now of the look of horror on some the the faces of the guys on the water at a fletcher lass destoyer cutting a 12 knot wake down the lake......it doesn't bear thinking about really.

Thanks for the heads up on the idependant prop control...I was wondering which way to go with that but I'm going to opt for a single control for the props. I will have alook at the ruddr situaltion at a later date.

Been out and bought some Davids filler (easy sandable) as a result of the advice you have all given me. I was looking to use epoxy but it is clearly best to use the car body filler. (not to mention a whole lot cheaper)

I'll be starting construction in earnest tonight. I'm going to build the stand tonight and I've bought some sugar soap to wash the hull down (inside and out).......The hull prep seems to be something very important so I need to get it right. Any hints and tips? how many times should I was the hull?  I was going to fill the bath and scrub the hull inside and out with sugar soap a couple of times to make sure everything is off, and then use sugar soap wipes to keep the hull clean while I work on it. With a final rinse and wash down before painting.

I want to sand down the mould to the right size as well and get the fiinsh right on the hull. I'll e using the plan as reference but there really soesnt seem to be much to take off and there is no clear line  to work to with a felt tip and sanding block. Do I use my eye to gauge the correct amount of sanding or do you guys have a more scientific method of getting it right?

Thanks again for all the advice.....

[Belgium Crazy Team]

Personally I clean (wash) the hull, then add all hull fittings (prop shafts, ...) then lay a deck without fittings...
Then I try to give the hull a basic primer coat.
The definitive painting is done much later in the process.

[Belgium Crazy Team]

small remark:
Before laying the deck, try to have already all your RC equipment in the hull but make sure that you can access everything at all time.

[agentfunky]

Personally I clean (wash) the hull, then add all hull fittings (prop shafts, ...) then lay a deck without fittings...
Then I try to give the hull a basic primer coat.
The definitive painting is done much later in the process.

Thanks...that's what instructions are saying as well.  My main concern is making sure I have cleaned the hull enough....don't want to get halfway through spraying the undercoat only to find I've done half a job.

Makes sense to add all the running gear and RC gear before tackling the decking....Its not a huge hull so access is going to be critical.

The triming and sanding of the hull is a bit of a worry as well....don't want to make a mess of it. The hull looks as if not much triming is needed and there is no clear line demarking the top of the hull and marking with a felt tip or pencil dean't look loke it will make much difference.....my free hand drawing has never been good.......I was going to use a 300 wet and dry to start with and finish with a 1200 W&D using the mark one eyeball

Any better ideas?

[colin]

I am glad that this Forum is being of some use to you!!

personaly if the Deck forms a joint with the top of the Hull, i put the Deck in first then sand down to the Deck, a much nicer finish is achieved...

[agentfunky]

Never thought of that one!!!!

Might try it and see if I can work something similar.

Thanks.....that even more useful info!!!

[karlgalster]

I may have confused you agentfunky. You said today that you were going to use Davids filler for the prop shafts fixing instead of epoxy. Are you thinking about Davids P38 easy sand? This is great for general filling but has little bonding strength. What I was talking about was Davids Fastglas Glass fibre kit.  It comes with a can of resin, a rolled sheet of fibre glass matting and a brush etc. It is orange in colour. Buy youself a can of cellulose thinners for cleaning up brushes and containers afterwards - take care with the fumes.

I attach a couple of photos showing Kelly before deck fitted but with RC installed - note orange epoxy around the prop shafts.

[Belgium Crazy Team]

I suggest to use the easy sand filler on the outside and a stronger (epoxy like) on the inside.
On my models I glue the prop shafts with a drop of very fast second glue.  Then I make sure with tape that all holes are covered and fix the interior with an epoxy.
When everything is dry, I remove the tape, sand this area and then use the easy sand on the outside of the hull.

[karlgalster]

agentfunky - you have been very quiet. Hope you have not given up in disgust. By the way I have just started my Z37. Brings back all the memories of HMS Kelly build - some good, some bad. I think I must have fogotten about the bad experiences! Getting on quite well until today. I have today bonded in my two A-frames and the propeller shafts with Davids Epoxy and fibre glass tape - extremely strong. A bit depressed now as I have just checked the drawing against the model and discovered my propellor shaft is about 4cm too close to the stern making the rudders very close to the stern. This is down to Deans Marine as I faithfully followed their instructions and drilled the holes for the A-frames in the dimples moulded into the hull for marking the A-frame leg hole positions. Very annoying. Will probably stick with it as to undo the work will be very difficult.

[agentfunky]

Hi,

Yeah, things have been very busy with work, and the little fella has had a dose of chicken pox....absolutely covered in in them.....join up the dots and you get a 1 year old baby....

Needless to say, things are progressing slowly....only been able to look longingly at the box .

I'll be getting to it over half term when I have some time off work....can't wait. 

Had some great advice from you guys so I will keep you infomed about how it's going......

bear with me..

[agentfunky]

Hi

Had a very busy time with work away from home on operations and have had precious little time to do any modelling  

Have manged to do a lot of reading, research and picture gazing so I'm up to speed with that I want to do with the model and have been practicing making styrene boxes.....to simulate superstructure construction.....

Finally got to the point of starting the model. I'm at stage 1 and the first thing is to clean the hull. I'm going to use sugar soap inside and out to strip anything nasty away, and then rinse very thoroughly with warm/hot water, before sanding down the hull with very fine paper.

I'll be looking to get a grey primer spray over the whole hull as soon as possible to protect the outer skin from grubby and greasy finger prints before making a start on the interior hull structure.

Hows the Z37 going Karlgaster?

Any tips?

[karlgalster]

Hi Agentfunky, good to hear you have started. I would not prime the hull just yet as you have not done any work on the hull yet. By the time you have filed down your deck edge, drilled port holes, fitted the rudder tube(s?) fitted the prop shafts, bonded deck supports and templates and then the deck itself your hull will be covered in new scratches and stray glue traces from fingers! My model has not been primed yet and I have put in about 130 hours so far! On the Z37 progress is good but slow. The RC gear has been installed and tested and then removed again. I will put it back much later on. The decks are fitted and I am about halfway through the deck houses. I have discarded the kit vacuum moulded gun turrets as they were too rounded and not as my reference book photos/drawings. I have scratch built the new turrets from stryrene - the shapes are complex but not a curve anywhere - I think the Germans were very practical and decided there was no point in a pretty curve if flat plates rivetted together would do. Just got a bit bogged down with boiler room fan louvres - once again I have resorted to scratch building as the kit does not agree with my book. All this scratch building increases the build time considerably but is very enjoyable. Tip for you - if the Kidd is like the Kelly and Z37 kits you have to mark the inside of the hull 2 mm below the deck edge. This line is used as a guide for gluing the balsa deck support strips.  Very important to make an accurate job of this as well as the glueing of the balsa strips to the line and subsequent levelling/smoothing of the balsa and template tops. If you are not careful with this task the deck will end up like a roller coaster which will not look great. When you come to making the deckhouses life is made difficult if the deck is not flat!
Have fun

[agentfunky]

Thanks,

Think I'll leave the priming till last and stick with giving the hull a thorough wash down, and getting the internal hull structure and components in place.....Thanks for the advice.

The hull does seem slightly twisted which I'm guessing is normas as it is just a thin fibreglass structure with no supporting frames or keel at this stage. I'm just figuring out how to sand down the deck edges to get them straight and level...

[karlgalster]

If you think the hull is twisted I should get in contact with Deans Marine. The hull should not be noticeably twisted as received in the kit. I have not experienced this with my two kits although they do have a tendency to be a bit "belled out" at the forecastle break (Z37 and Kelly both have a two level hull) but I have lived with it as it is not obvious when the model is completed. Kidd has a flush deck so would not have this problem. A twisted hull is not acceptable as you cannot remedy this and continuing will be difficult - depends how bad the twist is. Speak to Deans Marine.

[agentfunky]

Alreadt checked it out with Deansmarine.....the twist is only very slight and it's probably a result of the hull being so shallow and long.....I've just given the hull a good scubbing and put it in the stand with some supporting foam  and it already looks more straight. The hull will straighten in the construction process according to Deansmarine. The hulls aren't very rigid until they get some supporting infrastructure inside and can be prone to some slight twist or flaring apparently.

I'm not concerned at this stage. It's only noticeable if you look at the hull from the stern, and you can see that the bow has a very slight cant to the right, probably no more than a couple of degrees. It certainly doesn't take much finger pressure to correct it.

I'm currently resisting the urge to dive into the construction process and stay awake for 6 days, fueled by expresso coffee and pro plus....

I recently purchased a completed Deans based model of HMS Venomous (Destroyer 1916)  It's a beautiful model and sits on a shelf in the lounge. Its inspirational to see what can be done...  I know it's cheating a bit but it's given me a great deal of pleasure and is a great reference tool when looking at the construction techniques.

Next stage will be to sand the hull on the KIDD to remove the shiny finish and start work on the deck edges. Its great to have finally started it.