Here is a picture of the model that I am building

The build pictures start at the bottom of the page and work upwards

The template in the instructions was traced and taped to the wheelhouse roof. I then drilled 7mm holes in the correct locations.

I have now completed the control desk which was much more successful than the fittings discussed previously.

I have an earlier post saying that the filler that I use is good, but melts plasticard if used carelessly. I used the filler to fill a couple of the lower superstructure parts, so that they would be stronger for sanding and filling. However, I put too much in at once and the heat produced melted the plastic. I will have to remake the parts.

The shape made from the spatial awareness test! This needs filling and sanding.

One of the fittings to be made of plasticard, otherwise known as "the spatial awareness test"

The edging, showing the overhang so that I can sand to the exact shape of the superstructure that it fits to.

Here I have finished the housing for the navigation light and started to fit the edging to the upper part of the lower superstructure

I have cut the port holes in the lower superstructure. The white metal fittings will hide the slightly rough cuts I have produced.

And the green starboard side light. The green cap is slightly different to the red lamp so I have purchased another one which is better

Fitting the port side light

Keeping Tamiya (paint department) in business!

Painting the doors (custom built), captain(!) and screens

Adding the instruments on the control panel.

Most of the inside of the bridge is now painted as shown above (with dust from sanding!)

Most of the inside of the bridge is now painted as shown above (with dust from sanding!)

modifying the funnel trim. The starboard side trim was thinner than the port so I have added a strip of plastic card. I will tidy it up when the glue has set

Another experiment. Which colour for the deck? The photo does not do it justice but the darker green is very dark. I think I might go for the lighter "cockpit green" colour.

Painting the furniture with a custom colour - using mid grey and white. The piece at the top is an experiment to see which colours look the best for the fake stairs in the bridge.

Here are some of the furniture items with a figure from the kit to show scale.

The detail in the bridge will include (fake) stairs and bannister.

As there is no detail inside the bridge included with the model, I have decided to design and build some furniture and control console. All pieces are to scale although I have guessed what the bridge would look like.

The floor of the bridge structure has been painted. See the white mark? That's where I put something on it to test that it fitted ... before the glue was dry! Doh! sandpapering and recoating shortly!

As the inside of the bridge will be inaccessible when assembled, I have started to paint the inside of the bridge walls. The front and rear section needed to be bent to the shape of the side pieces. Some of the window frames snapped during this process as they are quite thin. In the picture here, you can see that I have glued and filled the resultant gaps in the frames.

There is no yellow cap available for the yellow led, so I bought a white one and painted it with Tamiya clear yellow paint. Here it is after one coat. I will give it another coat.

There is no yellow cap available for the yellow led, so I bought a white one and painted it with Tamiya clear yellow paint. Here it is after one coat. I will give it another coat.

Here is a close up of the leds and a white and red cap.

I have purchased the leds for the lights on the boat. They are 3mm (superbright type) with coloured caps as the leds are "water clear" making them look more like lights than leds. They were very expensive (for leds) but they look right for the boat. I have also purchased the wiring for the boat. I chose white and grey colours for + and - as they are easier to hide than red and black (for instance).

Here is the bridge accomodation taped together to see if the cut parts fit. I am going to put detail in the bridge and rear room which is not included in the kit. I am currently considering some different designs.

I've put the rear deck cover in place. At least it looks better than the view of the bottom of the hull that was there before.

Holes cut to route the wiring. At this point there will be many cables, so I have made these holes quite big. The cables will be hidden by the additional parts to be added to the superstructure.

The base for the navigation lights. I have not decided which way the wiring will go for the working navigation lights, so I will not add the complete housing yet.

I have added the trim to the top of the funnels

The superstructure has been filled and I will sand smooth when dry. The above photo shows the next parts ready to fit to the superstructure / bridge and funnel finishing strips (bend pieces).

Here is the bent piece in more detail. The cutout will house a navigation light either side. I made the housings slightly wider to accommodate the leds that I am going to use as lights

Here the front of the bridge base is fitted. The sides are bent around to fit the structure as shown in the picture above

I have attached the funnels after modifying the base for the front inside edge of each funnel to fit correctly

The funnels "placed" in order to test that the fit is good. Wow, do you think it might look like a boat one day!?

The funnelstaped together to test that the fit is good

Strengthening to the roof as there is a bit too much "give" if weight is placed on the roof.

This shows the 6x3mm strips I used to joint the parts together

Fitting the base in situ.

On to the base of the superstructure. This has to be built in place to ensure it fits over the frame made earlier in the project. This will allow access to the bow-thruster and any electronics fitted near to it. That's if I ever get around to kitting it out with remote control gear, that is.

After successfully testing the stickers I plan to use for the name of the boat and hull markings on varnished paint, I decided to spray varnish the hull at this stage. Here is the boat masked up and ready for spray varnishing. The port holes for the anchors have been fitted. After several coats of varnish, there is little difference. This is good, I suppose, but it does mean the hull is less easy to scratch (this is what I found from testing a spare piece of plasticard).

Here are the holes for the anchors from the bow of the boat.

Here I have added the bling! These are the anodes on the rudders and kort nozzles.

and painting the anchors too.

Painting the port holes for the anchor

Scary! I forgot to cut a hole in the hull for the anchors, which I now cut after I have painted it. Worked out OK 'though.

And here is the bar linking the servo arm for the rudders. This enables one servo to move both rudders equally.

Here are the rudders completed with the bottom guides glued in place. Actually there is a little tidying up to do that you cannot see here.

As some of the clean up exposed bare metal, I have re-painted some primer on the rudder bases.

Here is the rudder close up showing the excess glue that needs to be tidied up.

The rudders fitted. You can see the bottom rudder guide was broken off when I bent it to one side like the one attached. I bend it once too many times and it broke off. These guides will need to be glued anyway so it does not matter

The propellers have been polished and attached to the shafts. The shafts were then greased and inserted into the shaft tubes. This is because it will be difficult to fit them when the rudders are on.

I have glued the two halves of each rudder together with epoxy, filled, sanded and painted with primer. The shafts have been sanded where the rudder will glue to the shaft and the rudder servo attachments now have a link to ensure both turn together when attached to the servo. The dowels you can see were used to hold the rudders while painting.

Testing paints and suitability to paint over other types of paint (enamel / acrylic / spray paints). I will also test the effect gained when painting thinned varnish over the spray paints as the instructions suggest, to ensure I am happy with it

I am pleased with the finish in general. I will need to match a colour to touch in the inside of the balwarks and tidy the waterline, but I am going to leave the paint to completely dry over the next few days first

Some slight (expected!) overspray through the port holes etc. The inside of the balwarks will need touching in too.

Here is a close-up of the waterline. I am generally pleased with it but it will need tidying up in places (see the right hand third of the photo - there is some overspray).

And here is the hull with the masking removed after many coats of paint. I masked slightly short of the red oxide primer added earlier, to create a white waterline.

Here the bottom of the hull and the decks are masked off and I have started spraying the red colour of the upper hull. Lots of coats needed as the paint is very thin.

And the stern. I have since added another coat of paint or so as the kort nozzles are not quite covered here.

And here is a close-up of the bow

The finished bottom of the hull, sprayed with red primer

As the bow thruster will be hard to spray, I have given it one coat of paint with a brush in case it does not cover fully. I used the spray can, spraying some into a glass jar and thinning with white spirit (as it dried too quickly to work with otherwise).

And here is the boatstand that I have made for when the hull has had it's coats of paint

Here is the boat after being washed in soapy water to remove any static, ready for painting

The waterline was marked by leveling the boat and then modifying a cutting compass with a drill, to hold a piece of lead.

There are a few places to tidy up before the boat is ready to paint. After sanding, I will wash in soapy water to illiminate any static build-up ready for painting

Tidying up the opening and the balwarks, you can see the water line here that I have drawn. How I did this is explained later