1-72 Scale Higgins Boat

[Neil Merryweather]

Thanks Andy.
I hadn't thought of that but it will probably work; I will give it a try.

Yes, I have seen the banter about John Race and his pyromaniac tendencies, it's clearly something that was a little before my time. I confess I thought Spanners' Rorke's Drift on fire was photoshop at first, but now I realise it was for real:fearful::flushed:,and I am rather horrified!

I have done some experiments with just filing down the superglue hardened end and that seems to work.I haven't painted it yet so the jury is still out on that one.
I've also tried tying the end first with thread before the superglue and that seems to be working ,but again no paint has been applied so we will have to wait and see.
And on the subject of thick glue, my first attempts were using an old bottle of thin glue and I was irritated because it had got a bit too viscous. I thought I needed a thinner one to avoid clogging the detail. Well, I used a new bottle last night and whilst it didn't seem to clog the detail it wicked so quickly into the weave that the fenders now have my fingerprints all over them, and my fingers have bits of shoelace all over them!

I can't see the prospect of any bench-time before the weekend, now ,so I will just have to be patient (not a virtue I am known for.....)
cheers
Neil

[JR]

Did some one mention my name ?:smiling3::smiling3:
Hi Neil.
Nice to see another face back.
Great work on the figures, and the amount all crowded in , very realistic. With having that many manufactures the result is more natural .
Like the middle on for the fender, suppose you could bash it about a bit with a metal hammer, as it had been crushed against the mother ship.
I agree with Andy on the flame use, but I've tried that in the past , but a word of warning, if too much heat the nylon melts and goes hard.
hope to CA has worked

John.

[Neil Merryweather]

hi John, it's good to be here!
I tried squishing it in a vice last night but it wasn't great. Bashing it with a hammer sounds much more like it!
I can't wait!
N

[Neil Merryweather]

Morning all.

Next up is the unnaturally stiff-looking grab rope hanging along the side of the Higgins boat
[ATTACH]326980[/ATTACH]
I have deliberated over this for a while as it is not clear how the rope is attached to the ship. I figured there must be concealed hooks or something. Zooming in to my googled copy of this picture was no help as it just went pixelated.

But I know now that there are many versions of these pictures up on the web, and some of them are higher resolution than others, so I embarked on yet another search for ‘D-Day Landing Craft’, ’Higgins Boat’ and all other variations on said search criteria….because often the same picture will have many different captions, depending upon which site it is on.

It took me a while but I got there in the end and look what I discovered.
[ATTACH]326981[/ATTACH]

It’s just two holes in the coaming.

Well there isn’t room on the model to drill these holes, so I am happy to just glue it into place with a clear conscience.

I used Constructo model rope as it is the right colour - I didn’t want to paint if I could avoid it.

I also had to figure out how to make it off the model, to avoid doing any damage. This is my solution.

[ATTACH]326982[/ATTACH]

I knocked some dressmaking pins into a piece of timber, onto which I had first stuck some double-sided tape. I left the backing on to prevent the superglue sticking the rope to it.

I only glued the rope at the top line of pins, and when it had set I removed the lower line, shaped the rope and then glued that[ATTACH]326983[/ATTACH]

I found that the superglue left me with some ‘flash’ around some areas, so I had another go with it spaced away from the board, and the result was much better.

[ATTACH]326984[/ATTACH]

Another problem of using natural thread was the hairiness that I referred to in the previous post. Inspired by the pyromaniac proclivities of Mr Race, something in me stirred up a dim and distant memory - possibly from Stan Catchpol back in the OLDEN DAYS.

I quickly ran a lighted match along the rope to singe off all the nasty hairs – and it WORKED!

I pinched the tops together with pliers to look a bit more convincing, trimmed the ends and job done.

[ATTACH]326985[/ATTACH]

I glued it to the side of the boat and got on with finishing the rope fenders.

I found that the easiest way get top shaping was to infiltrate with enough superglue so that the shoelaces became a solid lump. It was then a simple matter to file the tops and drill a hole for the suspension rope.

I went with the least bulky option in the end, even though I liked the more knobbly one I thought it was a bit out of scale. But I did use it for the stern fender.
[ATTACH]326988[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]326989[/ATTACH]


[ATTACH]326990[/ATTACH]

So this is as far as I’ve got for now.

I have animated the fenders in a flying forward direction because I plan to show the boat on a downward wave with a big splash at the bow.

And now there’s no avoiding getting stuck in with the water……..which might wreck the whole thing as I’ve never done it before. I have done a couple of experiments and I have some theories about which method I am going to use, so it’s time to bite the bullet!

Thanks for looking
Wish me luck!
Neil

[Steve Jones]

Stunning work Neil. It's been a joy to read your latest update. I use nylon thread rather than cotton as it looks more like rope and you don't have that hairy issue either. Cracking build sir!!

[minitnkr]

Excellent result to a daunting task. PaulE

[Jim R]

Hi Neil
Top job on the ropes and fenders. They look spot on :thumb2:
Jim

[scottie3158]

Neil,
Great work so far.

[Neil Merryweather]

Steve, thanks very much.
I must try that nylon thread.
I should also point out to anyone intending to try it that my superglue technique left the thread very glossy, so I had to paint it with a matt lacquer anyway. I may as well have just painted it it in the first place.

[Neil Merryweather]

Paul , Jim, Scottie -
very kind,thanks guys

[spanner570]

Hi Neil.
Missed this, sorry! Looking excellent.
Probably too late now, but regarding your seascape I just use any sort of powdered cement mixed with water to get some bumps in the sea. Some cheap 'In the tube' poundshop acrylics to paint it with and clear silicone for waves.
As you will already know there are loads of ways to model water, I just find the above works well for me.

Perhaps have a look in 'Ships and Boats' on here at the various ways the lads go about making seascapes etc.

Just keep it simple and have a practice - I do...... :thumb2:

Whatever floats your boat really........ Coat on and waiting for the bus!

Ron

[JR]

looking good Neil.
Glad it worked !
John.

[Neil Merryweather]

[QUOTE
looking good Neil.
Glad it worked !
John.

][/QUOTE]

Thanks John

Ron
thanks for dropping in! I had hoped to catch your attention, being the apparent watermeister here!
I'm a bit nervous of polyfilla etc as I don't have a water supply in the loft (apart from the tank, but let's not get into hair-splitting).
I've had the experiments scheduled for a couple of evenings this week, and been prevented for one reason or another-Grrrr! It will have to wait until the weekend, now.
I take your point about practice - I have been sweating on how to avoid damaging the boat if I screw up, but I've just had a brainwave.
There's no point in having 3D printers at work if you don't use them for personal projects once in a while:thumb2::smirk:, so I'm currently printing a dummy LCVP hull which I found on T'internet
[ATTACH]327461[/ATTACH]
(it's not a very good model so don't get drooling, anyone)
and I will make my first attempts with that at the weekend .
Fingers crossed
N

[stillp]

Could you just wrap your boat in cling film to stop the plaster/filler from sticking to it?

Pete

[Neil Merryweather]

Hi Pete,
thanks for looking in.
Clingfilm is indeed the plan for the final product, but for the experiments I want something less precious, especially if the first attempt doesn't work.