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Chris's Cobbling Bench

Posted: December 6th, 2017, 12:37 pm
by chrism
High time I had a place for the varied items I bodge my way along with, on here; so here goes.

At Telford this year I purchased a few resin boat kits from Coastal Craft, and on getting home set straight down to work on them, and my Airfix Vosper .... (and am also filling in time inbetween these when filler and paint need to set. with a build for the cold war table ...

The two Coastal Craft kits I have, are for their Fairmile D LRRC and a British Power Boat MK.V MGB
These first 8 images give an idea of the quality of components and resin moulding in these kits. There are sheets of etch for both kits which I will discuss in a later date.

First the Fairmile
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While the standard of the moulding is good, it is thin in places, and I very quickly managed to damage this fin piece under neath. Not that is mattered, as I was intending to set it in a sea-base. The hull of this one is incredibly heavy.

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and the MGB

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these just give you a taste of the resin fittings to go between the two:

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. . . and progress so far. It may not look much, but there has been an awful lot of fettling and swearing to get this far:
the instructions in the kits, did on initial glancing at them; look to be quite impressive, however in the dawn of reality when sat at my modelling desk, reality was somewhat different. Already I fear I am about to take on something akin to a jigsaw without a picture. . . These are not cheap kits.

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The MGB is sat on an Airfix stand. The one supplied with their RAF boat. The kit does supply a stand, but the two parts of it are identical and not shaped to fit the hull at all. CC (Coastal Craft) do give a rider on it, that it is generic, but surely it ought to be shaped shallower for any of their craft ???


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this one gives you an idea of the LRRC - with the Airfix Vosper on top

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the sea base so far, is just that - the start of a base - and it will have a lot more "sea" added and built upto the correct level later. I just needed to get something on the board, before I set the hull into it, and fixed it down (using hard as nails)

I shall also be reporting on this build, over in the Coastal command section, and may over the coming weeks give more frank thoughts on the kits and their components over there, as a build-log and review of the two kits once I get going with the removal of the resin blocks and share the assembly of the etch items.

For the eagle eyed knowing viewers of this log, the Airfix Vosper has had a tad of customisation on the deck, and the moulded on bandstand supports have been hacked off, and the area neatened over, in readiness for fitting the coastal craft bandstand which is an etch and resin affair. When it gets done, the Vosper will also be getting aftermarket torpedo tubes and a few other replacement deck fittings.

Re: Chris's Cobbling Bench

Posted: December 6th, 2017, 1:07 pm
by iggie
Nice to see your bench at last Chris, and I'm looking forward to what I am assuming will be a largely maritime focus 8-)

I've looked (mostly from afar) at the Coastal Craft offerings, but have wimped out due to the large amount of resin involved; my lungs do not react well these days it seems to CA adhesive and so any suggestions for alternatives will be greatly received. Watching your builds will also help me decide if I wish to invest the not insignificant amount of spondoolicks in having a crack at one! :roll:

Re: Chris's Cobbling Bench

Posted: December 6th, 2017, 2:30 pm
by celt
They look very complex builds,I will watch with interest.

Re: Chris's Cobbling Bench

Posted: December 6th, 2017, 11:28 pm
by chrism
Cheers Guys.

Iggie (and indeed anyone who would like to follow my build of the Vosper in detail) you can download instruction manuals for some of their kits, from the CC web site. Only one of the two I am building here, has that option:

http://coastalcraftmodelsuk.com/model_kits.php;

CC72003 the Mk V MGB - is the one to choose - it is the third option down the list.

That document is what they supply printed and bound. I will cover it and comment about it further in a later post.

Re: Chris's Cobbling Bench

Posted: December 7th, 2017, 6:37 pm
by ShaunW
Excellent, it's good to see you doing a WW thread, Chris. I recall looking at your Coastal Craft kits at Telford and they looked great. Assembly sounds a tad tricky, however.

Re: Chris's Cobbling Bench

Posted: December 9th, 2017, 5:44 pm
by chrism
These CC kits are certainly not for the fainthearted Shaun. In fact, you really do need a shelf full of additional reference material as the instructions really are a pain in the proverbial. I don't own the myriad of other material they promote, and have no intention to purchase ... so it will be interesting to see just how much of the stuff I can guess where to put and fix.

In addition to these kits, I am also tackling a huey and a set of figures to make something for the Cold war table for 2018 ...
the huey and figures are now at this stage:


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Then, in the category of "other long term things on the go", there are these two, one is the Airfix Vosper which is being given an upgrade with some aftermarket bits to make it still as a Type 1, but with better torpedo tubes and bandstand plus other vent pipes etc replaced, when we get to it. The other hull is an Airfix RAF boat one, which is being convertee back into an early MGB and I am following an old magazine article loosely. So far the netting on sides has been removed, and the rear locker removed, and all that mess filled in and made good and smooth ready now to proceed. This is going to be a long occasional build, and I have aftermarket items etc to now source, but did not want to do that until I knew I had made an acceptable job of hacking the deck about. This one may end up waiting till Telford next year so I can see items first, and then get the aftermarket etc I want for it.

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It is taking the parts from two kits to manage to get one good set of parts to build the Vosper from ... so if anyone needs a spare something for one, I have probably got a spare something but cannot guarantee condition..

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Now, where were we with the CC kits ....

this is the wheel house cabin bit which is moulded in one, for the LRRC, it has taken a tad of cleaning up to get this far. The resin is far too thick to attempt (for me anyway) to clean out the window apertures

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as for the MGB wheelhouse ... I did on this one clean out the windows and then thought I would put in the acetate they supply, but have had problems trying to get it in, and I dont want to try taking any more resin out from the inside, as the framing for the windows is delicate enough and caused me enough grief as it is ... so I am going to leave mine unwindowed. I have in past managed successfully to add acetate to various kits - eg old airfix vehicles Matadors and bedford refueller and such like, so it should not have been that complicated, but on the inside of this kit it was not even and smooth and there was not a lot of surface for mating it onto....


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a selection of other resin parts ready for adding to the deck; they are only part painted and will be completed once fixed on the model.
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the sheet of specific etch that is unique to this kit. Some of it is so small I can barely see it. In fact I cut the throttles off, ready to add to dashboard and could not then see them on the mat .. I am no etch virgin, but some of this is definitely not going to be used.
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this item, is the generic stand that is supplied. To me it is next to useless, as both ends are the same and the hull is not so surely they ought to have provided something with a tad of difference....
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that's all for now folks .... see you soon

Re: Chris's Cobbling Bench

Posted: December 10th, 2017, 11:27 am
by ShaunW
Very interesting stuff here, Chris. I look forward to seeing your further efforts with that Huey and figures for the CW SIG. Moving on to the boat building, wow, you have taken on some considerable work here. I remember lhaving a cursory glance at Coastal Craft's instructions and they did seem to be excellent - obviously that is not the case. It vexes me with expensive kits when the manufacturer expects the modeller to spend even more money or put in large amounts of research time - if they are charging three figures for a kit then what you need should be there in the box, including a useable stand! Anyway, rant over, you are making good progress. Before abandoning the idea of glazing the windows, I would suggest trying Glue 'n' Glaze - it's not super cheap but I have found that it will create lovely, clear, windows provided the window apertures are relatively small. The product is quite easy to stretch out to cover an aperture using something like a cocktail stick and I have made windows on models post-painting and decalling - those wheelhouse windows might well be OK size-wise. PVA can also be used but in my experience doesn't dry as clear as G 'n' G.

Re: Chris's Cobbling Bench

Posted: December 10th, 2017, 3:19 pm
by Ratch
ShaunW wrote:Very interesting stuff here, Chris.
Agreed :grin:

Re: Chris's Cobbling Bench

Posted: December 10th, 2017, 5:44 pm
by chrism
Thanks for commenting and looking in. I bought the CC kits and am now intending to build them ... but I am not averse to chucking something out if it all goes pear shaped.... (bite the bullet and put it down to experience), however if that happens and if things are not going well, I have no qualms about saying so, and conversely when things go well and are spot on, I am happy to say so ...

Things have moved on a bit on the MGB today.

I have made up some of the larger etch pieces, and started to add them, along with a few of the larger resin deck fittings, most of which have been part-painted ready for final coats and touching up once glued
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these next 3 images will give an idea of the small pieces of etch to use to build various other guns and small assemblies.

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The depth charges were one of the next sub assemblies I considered. The two pieces of resin were chiseled off their blocks, and then I turned to the instructions and the etch .... The etch is incredibly small, and the instructions incredibly vague ... I have no idea from the brief piece, exactly what to do or where to do it... and the barrel part of the depth charge is different as you can see at each end. Absolutely no guidance on what to do. I am not planning on fighting with those small pieces of etch, and shall just use the larger two resin pieces.

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Next came the Lewis Guns... The two pieces of plastic rod supplied were far too thick to use, so I substituted for some evergreen I had, but there is no guidance on how long a length one needs to use; so I resorted to getting one of the crewmen from the Airfix Vosper and using him to see if he could have plausibly handled the gun ... and guessed it from there The guns themselves are finely cast in resin, but are not upto withstanding much handling ... as two of them have broken, but I have patched them back together (eventually). The results of my endeavours with them will be shown next time, as I am leaving them to harden off before handling again ..

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That is about it for progress for today ....

This is the image I ought to have shown the other day, of the upgrade kit you can get for the Airfix Vosper. I will show contents in due course:
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I now need to go and get my hands all over Brad Pitt.... Logan Lerman, Shia LaBeouf etc ... ;-)

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Re: Chris's Cobbling Bench

Posted: December 13th, 2017, 12:02 am
by skypirate
Wow! That is some fine work coming together here!

Cheers,

David

Re: Chris's Cobbling Bench

Posted: December 13th, 2017, 2:42 pm
by ShaunW
I agree there is some great work here, Chris. That detail set for the old Airfix Vosper looks like it will really enhance the finished model - OOB the kit is now showing its age.

Re: Chris's Cobbling Bench

Posted: December 17th, 2017, 7:49 pm
by chrism
A week since I updated, but life has kept me active with general household activities. I spent a somewhat frustrating evening with the christmas tree lights and the challenge of getting them working again, rather than forking out for a new set .... which was one evening out this week, and then a few other household surprises presented themselves along the way ... hey ho

So, I tackled each of the guns as separate projects, and have been challenged quite severely in attempting to assemble them all.
Mainly down to the poor images and instructions.

A week ago, I tackled the 2 pairs of lewis guns, they went together OK (sort of quite easily, after a fashion) - a picture of them will follow later.

the rest of the guns would have been a lot easier to assemble if there had been a few more legible images and images in a larger size. The 2 main guns were covered by this one A4 page of printing. As you can see from the ruler in one image, the small images printed out for the instructions, are so small. The quality of the images is so poor, and it is compounded by the quality of the printer and printing of the document.

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After a lot of frustration, I have got the weapons assembled to this stage. I do have a few bits of etch to add yet, to some of these, and will add those once the majority of the painting has been done.
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With the LRRC kit, there is one good large and properly printed out in good colour, plan sheet to work with. It is such a shame that this kit, is let down by the lack of such an item.
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What I have got in this kit, is covered by these next 4 images; pretty poor home-printer quality and very grainy images, all of which are at the mercy of the quality and quantity of ink in the printer at the time of printing; and as you can see in some of these images there is ghosting.
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I even have parts on the large sheet of etch, that are not identified in the key-to-the-parts ....
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I have now this afternoon, managed to get a couple of coats of paint on these guns and a few other deck fittings, so I should be able to make some progress this week .... see you all soon on the next update.

Re: Chris's Cobbling Bench

Posted: December 17th, 2017, 7:58 pm
by iggie
As you say, a shame that such kits are let down by such silly shortcuts, especially given the cost.....
Still, the guns look good and will look even better with some paint on

Re: Chris's Cobbling Bench

Posted: December 17th, 2017, 8:10 pm
by splash
Excellent work going on with this build.

These builds are going to be stunning , keep up the great work Chris .

Re: Chris's Cobbling Bench

Posted: December 17th, 2017, 8:48 pm
by Ratch
My word! You have the patience of a saint, Chris :)