The Unofficial Airfix Modellers' Forum

My entry(ies) for the Krap Kits build.
Revell "Robert E Lee", and Lindberg "Landing Craft Infantry". These will be cross kitted, and with also have a bit of scratch building. Both will be built to n scale, the L.C.I. is 1/160 (American n) the Robert E Lee is 1/297 but will have a scratch built superstructure, built to n scale.
The Robert E lee is generally not too bad a kit, other than very old fashioned in construction and the molds being tired. It required a lot of filler and filing, but I have built far worse. When finished, she will become a river monitor, based loosely on H.M.S.Conqueror. Launched 1881 she was a coastal defence/ram battleship. The Robert E Lee was flat bottomed so the model will built as waterline.



The Lindberg kit I know only by reputation, which is poor fit and clunky molding. Initial impressions are that its reputation is correct with addition of a fair ammont of flash.
Using the paddles from the "Robert E Lee", raiding the spares box and a bit of scratch building, it is my intention to build her as a full hull Victorian outline sidewheeler.



Your comments and criticisms are welcome.

Seems a bit premature to mark this as Did Not Finish, no? Is that what you meant to do?

It looks an intriguing cross kitting challenge.

David

Merely a comment on the amount of work that I have given myself to do.

I should have plenty of time to finish, as I am currently stuck at home with an injured foot. For those of you who saw me at Scale Model World, this explains the walking stick.

general rocket wrote:My entry(ies) for the Krap Kits build.
Revell "Robert E Lee", and Lindberg "Landing Craft Infantry". These will be cross kitted, and with also have a bit of scratch building. Both will be built to n scale, the L.C.I. is 1/160 (American n) the Robert E Lee is 1/297 but will have a scratch built superstructure, built to n scale.
The Robert E lee is generally not too bad a kit, other than very old fashioned in construction and the molds being tired. It required a lot of filler and filing, but I have built far worse. When finished, she will become a river monitor, based loosely on H.M.S.Conqueror. Launched 1881 she was a coastal defence/ram battleship. The Robert E Lee was flat bottomed so the model will built as waterline.



The Lindberg kit I know only by reputation, which is poor fit and clunky molding. Initial impressions are that its reputation is correct with addition of a fair ammont of flash.
Using the paddles from the "Robert E Lee", raiding the spares box and a bit of scratch building, it is my intention to build her as a full hull Victorian outline sidewheeler.



Your comments and criticisms are welcome.

This sounds like some creative project, indeed, i'll watch with interest :-)

Not a ship builder myself, but I certainly enjoy the efforts of those so inclined.

Will be watching and looking forward to updates,

The Great Auk

Don't follow me, I'm lost too.
I know virtually nothing about water craft and am building these freelance. As long as they look right to me, that is close enough. Like you, I enjoy other peoples ships, and wish I knew more.

And so to dive in.
First up, the landing craft/paddle steamer. First job is to remove all the flash.
Then remove the de-shipping (is that the right term?) ramps on both sides.



Nothing clever, just cutting, trimming, filing, filling and sanding.



It wasn't till I'd finished the second side (starboard?) that I noticed the crease half way down the hull. My first thought was that I had caused it by pressing to hard on the plastic while trimming it with a craft knife, but a quick look at the sprue shot at the top of page we can see that it was already there as a manufacturing fault.



A little more filling and filing and the problem went away. Here we see it with the next cut marked out.



At the moment I am undecided as to what to do about the panel lines, scribe or remove altogether. Any thoughts?
The Robert E Lee/monitor first jobs. Cut down the hull so that it is level front to rear, and the deck so it doesn't over hang.





After deciding on the height of the hull and cutting and filing, I am left with a dip to hide, just about discernable in this shot.



Immediate thoughts are to glue a piece of plastic card behind the hull wall and pile in the filler.

Comments and criticism welcome.

Good start. I think the term is dis-embarking but I could be wrong!.

You're off to a grand start and I think you'll successfully overcome any and all obstacles!

Card and filler is how I'd do it too, but I am no expert that's for sure.

The Great Auk

The Great Auk wrote:You're off to a grand start and I think you'll successfully overcome any and all obstacles!

Card and filler is how I'd do it too, but I am no expert that's for sure.

The Great Auk

Yep, looking forward to these!. It does seem we're all experts- at saying we're not experts!!

MarkyM607 wrote:

The Great Auk wrote:You're off to a grand start and I think you'll successfully overcome any and all obstacles!

Card and filler is how I'd do it too, but I am no expert that's for sure.

The Great Auk

Yep, looking forward to these!. It does seem we're all experts- at saying we're not experts!!

Well I really am not an expert, I just bluff well.

Spoken like a true expert!

gnomemeansgnome wrote:Spoken like a true expert!

With the side walls removed, and the centre piece in place to allow a clear mental view of what is required.



First job cut a doorway into the fo'csle, plastic card glued over the hole and a port hole drilled.
Boxes cut off (whatever they are). Then filled.



The paddle wheels needed deflashing and would not line up at all. Until I fetched my camera to show you how bad they were, at which point they dropped into place . Glue grabbed immediately.



The paddle wheel covers, before and after.



The other ship.
The hull. I decided to keep it simple, plastic card glued in place and trimmed to level.



The deck placed on the hull to help plan the cuts to be made.



Annoyingly, after a lot of work, I decided that I didn't like the end result, so I settled for a sheet of plastic card glued across the top. Filler was then used to deal with the gap in the middle.



Thats how they stand at the moment.

Comments and criticism welcome.

That's some excellent work and I really like the door and the paddle wheels, General Rocket.

Maybe we should start calling you Admiral Rocket instead?

The Great Auk