an experiment in cloning

     Time has past since first getting into this medium.   I have learned quite a bit since then,  but there is one thing that seemed to come natural......kit bashing.   From the start of the very first kit,  if there was something that I thought needed changing,  or I could improve on,  I did it.  A really big help with this,  has been going online,  looking up these particular ships and boats,  and looking at images of them.   Joining ship modeling websites and forums,  has been another way of gathering information and tutorials on how to do things.   One thing I have noticed,  with the time past,  is that as I buy and build these kits,  I seem to see similarities in some of the kits.  Billing's has a few kits that are quite similar,  as far as the hull design goes.  I began to wonder if this could be true in the creation of completely different boats.

     I had built the hull for a Billing's kit called the Boulogne Etaples,  a 1:20 scale fishing boat.  As soon as I saw the hull,  taking a step back to muse over it,  a couple of other boats came to mind.  I had already done an experiment in cloning other hulls from the parts panels of other kits.  The Billing's Cux 87 and the Mary Ann utilize the same hull design,  and I kept the parts panels from the Mary Ann kit.   By tracing out the hull parts,  I was able to clone two hulls.......one of them I had gone a step further,  by adding a few extra ribs to the hull,  making it longer.  That one became the scratch build called the Trawler Syborn.   The other one became the admiral's favorite boat,  The M&M Fun Ship.

     After the daydream I had with the Boulogne Etaples,  I jumped right on it and cloned out three more hulls,  using the parts panels as a template.  The idea and experiment is a good one.......but it does have it's limitations.   I can probably get one more hull from the panels,  before they become useless and unusable.   They were to become my second fantasy build,  called the Holiday Harbor Fleet.   All was going well,  until it came down to giving them a defined subject.   One is to be a Christmas Tree Boat,  a small boat that delivers and sells Christmas Trees from port to port.   The second one is going to be called the Jingle Belle,  a boat that you might find in a harbor parade with carolers on board,  singing holiday songs.  The third one......well,  I was a bit undecided as to what to name her.  They were shelved for a while to give myself some time to think.  During this time,  I had seen the movie The Perfect Storm,  a movie about the Andrea Gail.  The funny thing about all this,  is that this was the very boat that I had thought of,  when I first saw the hull.  I had tabled the idea,  since I had six or seven builds already in the works.  In my mind,  I had thought about the many modifications I would need to make,  in order to bring the hull into specs.......I even downloaded the Billing instruction sheets for the kit.

     During the summer,  I had fallen into a sort of hiatus.....I just couldn't create the focus to do any building at all.  It was a real drag!  I picked up a plastic car model to jump start my modeling desires, but that went over like a phart in church.  I thought of the Andrea Gail again,  and printed out the download,  so I would have something tangible to refer to,  and jumped on it.  Now here it is,  late fall with winter on our doorstep.  Some work has been done to the Boulogne Etaples,  the Holiday Harbor Fleet {one boat less},  and the modifications have been completed on the Andrea Gail.  It's looking more and more like the boat,  with every part that I add to her.  I have been wanting to do a group shot for quite a while now.  The last time I did it,  the only planked vessel was the Boulogne Etaples.

     From left to right: The Jingle Belle,  The Andrea Gail,  The Christmas Tree Boat {I haven't thought up a snappy name for her yet},  and The BoulogneEtaples.   I chose this particular hull design,  because of the wide deck.  As you can see on the Jingle Belle,  there is to be,  what I call a 'warming house' at the stern of the boat.  The carolers can go in to warm up and have a hot cocoa.

     The Christmas tree Boat will need the storage space for the wrapped up Christmas Trees.   On the deck,  there will also be everything you might see at a tree lot.  On the Andrea Gail,  the fore deck needed to be raised to make way for the upper level.  Under the elongation of the fore deck,  is the support stanchion,  and the beginnings of the ice maker.  What you see on deck is the raised podium and buoy rack.  I have made part of the trawl rig,  but the front section still needs to be made.  It's support will rest on the roof of the helm room.  I still also need to make the adjustable rear section for the rig,  as well as the rest of the deck fittings.

     She will have railings on the fore deck.....there's still more to make.  I'm doing as much as I can from scratch.  Looking at the bulwarks,  note that the curvature also had to be removed.......I did that with a belt sander.   The Jingle Belle and the Andrea Gail are waiting for paint.  What you see on these hulls,  is primer.........the same as the Boulogne Etaples.   The Christmas Tree Boat is going to have lighting done on her.....the reason why the hull is not totally planked.  Once I do the wiring,  I can close her up and get the hull ready for paint as well.  Here is the toast to all this madness,  The Boulogne Etaples.

AHOY!!!




 

Odd couple

     Odd things happen in the world of the modeler, things see during a build, can spark ideas towards a scratch-build somewhere down the road.  Since i started the Cux, I have been switching off my build time with the Nordkap.  In this fashion, I can keep the build logs flowing and keep myself busy between drying times.  The Nordkap is being built in the dinning room, the Cux, in the computer room....the only draw-back to this is when the Cux requires sanding, it has to be taken out of the room....boss's orders.  Normally, I take them to the cellar anyway, especially for the major sanding.  The Cux was on the wooden board in the computer room, drying from the first round of her assembly.  I has switched over to the Nordkap, to do the helm room and more assembly to the housing as a whole.  I had gotten to a point where it needed to dry, so I would place it on the Cux deck to avoid hitting it and knocking it on the floor.  I am also a video game nut and so I jump into a game to fill the time.

     At a later point in time, i had gotten out the camera, intent on taking some pictures of the helm build for my next build log, when it caught my eye.  the silhouette of the Nordkap housing sitting on the Cux frame was unique....to say the least.  I looked at it from one side.....and then to the other..........from above and behind... and then from the bow.  the scale was off, but I think that's what caught my eye the most, the way the rear decking of the housing seemed to fit the shape of the Cux's stern.  I did a slight adjustment to line it up better and snapped a couple pictures of it.  I will keep them, waiting for the time when I am able to reproduce the parts to create a hull and deck, a scratch-build of this idea.......a reality of what I saw.

      in scale, the relation of the housing on such a short deck, wouldn't give much room for a working ship, so it probably would have to be a pleasure boat of sorts......maybe a yacht or something along these lines.  One thing that is an asset for the modeler....a must-have....is a good imagination.