1930's Aberdeen Steam Trawler - Modified 1/48 Calder Craft Milford Star

[Ian M]

Looking very nice Derek. Are you going to dot all those rivets?!?!

When I did my mini sub, "Seehunden" I mixed up a very thin wash of turps and oils paints. Burnt sienna and Burnt Umbra. A fine pointed brush then just dot it on top of the detail. It will self find the edges and be darker in the edges. Places where there is lots of water run off there will also be rust stains.

Ian M

 

[Caledonia]

Andy/Trey, thanks for the encouragement.

Ian, Life's too short for that method I think, besides the trawlers were not painted very often and in those days they had no shot blasting and spraying; in Aberdeen at least, and used chipping hammers (latterly pneumatic) and wire brushes, so the rivet heads tended to be caked in paint. I am going for the blistered paint look see photos below. I am still tweeking the look, I get up each morning get out the brush and paints and do an treek. As you can see I am just starting the planking outside the wheelhouse. Cheers Derek

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[Caledonia]

Hi All, Have finished the planking around the wheelhouse and dirtied it up with Micro-Mart's Weathering Powder.

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I used Micro-Mart's 'Window Glazing for Models' on the Portholes and Engine Room Skylights

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Now have the Wheelhouse, Funnel and Engine Room vents added to the superstructure; still have a lot of small detail to add i.e. lifebelts, spot lights, ships bell etc etc. The more observant of you may notice that I have removed the Stove Pipe from the Wheelhouse roof, didn't look right, and a photo search shows that they were not fitted. I used Tamiya 'Smoke' to dirty the Funnel.

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The Engine Room Hatch was covered with a chocolate foil wrapper and painted green. On the Trawlers of this era all the hatches were fitted with wooden planks and covered with a tarpaulin - no fancy steel watertight hatches in those days.

I just realised that the Wheelhouse roof is missing a compass housing, not supplied with the kit, so will scratch build something for this.

Cheers Derek

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[Ian M]

Great work Derek. It is really starting to look old and used. That stuff you used for the port hole windows, any chance of a photo when it is cured. I use Micro-scales, Kristal Klear for the same job and am interested in how the stuff you use looks when dried.

You have really started some thing with this build. I have been looking at boats again, Andy (skyraider) has bought one, Ron is thinking about it and there are a couple of newer members that are building boats as well. I would like to say thank you for kicking some life into this section.

Ian M

 

[mobear]

fantastic mate looks like its been out at sea a while,love it

mobear

 

[Caledonia]

Great work Derek. It is really starting to look old and used. That stuff you used for the port hole windows, any chance of a photo when it is cured. I use Micro-scales, Kristal Klear for the same job and am interested in how the stuff you use looks when dried.]Hi Ian, Here are a few shots of the 1/4" dia Portholes, I've used the Kristal Klear, but personally prefer the Micro-Glaze, see link below. I think it dries uicker also.

Search Results - Micro-Mark

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Ian/Ole thanks for your kind comments.

Cheers Derek

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[Caledonia]

Have been 'out of service' for part of last week as I was ordered to decorate the kitchen. Anyway the superstructure is about 95% complete have added the flood lights, lifebelts, ships bell, scuffed up the timber handrail at the wheelhouse and added some more dirt.

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Have started painting the hull exterior, will paint it initially as it left the shipyard, then rust-it-up. Cheers Derek

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[mobear]

magnificent work there,love the rust spots really effective

mobear

 

[Caledonia]

Thanks Ole, I'm quite pleased with how its turned out so far.

Have now painted the base coat for the Hull. The Main Deck is as the Superstructure i.e. Lifecolor UA 097 'Sand'. The Forecastle Deck is Lifecolor LC 01 'Matt White'. The Hull above the waterline is Lifecolor UA 617 'Green', and the Hull below the waterline is Lifecolor UA 616 'Red'. I hand painted the Decks and above waterline, but airbrushed below the waterline to get some colour modulation. I varnished the Decks and above waterline with Lifecolor LC 77 'Satin Clear'.

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Now for the hard bit, the weathering. Colour photos of Trawlers in the 1940 -60s are very rare,but to give people who are following this build some idea, I have attached a link below of a Berwick built Trawler the 'Bervie Braes' A414, registered in Aberdeen; scroll down the link a little and you will find her and understand why the Trawlers of that era and earlier had the other nick name of 'Rust Bucket'.

Now whilst I want to try to give my Trawler reasonably heavy weathering, I think the Ref Photo would not be very attractive as a model, so will tone it down a bit.

Fishing Vessels

Not looking forward to this bit.

Will post some photos when the weathering is finished. Cheers Derek

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[treyzx10r]

Just catching up on this Derek,the rust is really spot on. The link is really cool, see what ya mean about rust buckets WOW! Looking forward to seeing the next update!

 

[Caledonia]

Thanks Trey for your support.

After many hours of Googling etc I still could not find an adequate colour photo of a well weathered Trawler on a Pontoon or drydock to show me how the hull below the waterline corrodes, so I have had to guess. The results are below for better or worse. I used Lifecolour UA 701 and UA 702 and used a stippling action with a large and small stiff brush. I have thrown in a couple of shots at the end showing the superstructure in place (temporarily).

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The hull was given three coats of flat varnish from a Tamiya aerosol after first coating the Vinyl Decals with some Lifecolor clear varnish in order to protect them.

I deviated from the instructions for the vinyl decals as I found aligning individual decal letters very difficult. I found that if you gently peeled of the backing sheet by generating a tight curve, the complete word(s) could be left on the front backing sheet thus allowing the complete word(s) to be positioned in one operation,see below.

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I going to do the stern and winch platforms now followed by planking the deck and weathering. Cheers Derek

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[Sky Raider]

Looking fantastic Derek. I will need some of them rivits for my next project and stock... is there somwhere in England i can get these from.

Cheers

Andy

 

[Caledonia]

Looking fantastic Derek. I will need some of them rivits for my next project and stock... is there somwhere in England i can get these from.Cheers

Andy

Thanks Andy, I don't know of any U.K. supplier, but Micro-Mart are excellent, have use them a few times now and I always get delivery in 7 to 10 days. Cheers Derek

Search Results - Micro-Mark

 

[Sky Raider]

Thanks Derek, i see they do 2 sizes O and HO, for a ship the size of the one I'm building next, which is 1030mm long scale 1:50, would they be too small.

Cheers

Andy

 

[Caledonia]

Thanks Derek, i see they do 2 sizes O and HO, for a ship the size of the one I'm building next, which is 1030mm long scale 1:50, would they be too small.Cheers

Andy

Andy my Trawler is 1/48 so your 1/50 is as close as you will get, you need the 'O'-scale sheets I used 4-Packs for the Trawler. You get 2-sheets per pack.

The 'HO'-scale is 1/87

Cheers Derek

p.s American 'O' scale = 1/48; U.K. 'O'-scale = 1/43

 

[Sky Raider]

Thanks Derek, ill get some on order.

Andy

 

[mobear]

the rusting below sea level looks very good to me derek,well sea worn from salty water,nice job all round

mobear

 

[Ian M]

That Hull looks great! All the effort of the rivets has really paid off, With the paint on they really look fantastic.

Ian M

 

[Caledonia]

Hi all. The kit is supposed to be supplied with three 750mm lengths of 4mm x 2mm wood for the stern and winch platforms, non were supplied. There was one 900mm length of 3mm x 1mm wood which did not have a home so I used that for the stern platform, for me this looks more in proportion anyway. I have deviated from the kit instructions in so much as I have only partially planked the platform as I am guessing the lifeboat support cradle would be secured directly to the roof of the coaming and not the timber sheathing. The central strip is to support the lifeboat keel. Will make up the cradle from scrap wood later (nothing supplied with the kit).

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For the winch platform no kit timber was supplied, so I decided to use my 0.5mm x 3mm lime strips, I sandwiched these strips together to obtain a 1mm thickness. I have shown them in position with the winch temporarily. The winch probably looks too rusty at the moment, but you have to visualize it with the planking and deck heavily weathered.

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I am now starting to plank the main deck. I am guessing that on the trawler the timber sheathing would be roughly 16ft long which is 4" to scale. I have started to cut the decking from 0.5mm x 3mm lime wood strips which looks about right; I need roughly 300 to 330 of them. They will be sanded all over and I will use super glue as I did with the stern platform above. I give the wood a thin coat of the glue; it dries in less than a minute; I then apply a second coat and fix it to the painted deck. I use the loctite which comes with a brush, see photo below.

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Cheers Derek

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[steve244]

going great guns there Derek looking very nice indeed and the weathering looks very good dont know how you do it. steve