The Daring Project

[jaffro]

Thanks barry, I'm pretty happy with it so far.

There's nothing like a coat of gloss to show you all the bumps and ripples though These first two shots were taken after the first coat of red. Before this there were about 3 coats of matt black, each coat was sanded back with 240 grit wet and dry sandpaper (dry for obvious reasons ). The black paint also came in handy when sanding back the filler putty I used which was a neutral white colour.


hull7.jpg

hull8.jpg


As you can see I'm working outside... if it was winter I'd possibly get away with doing this inside, but wouldn't hear the end of it until the following winter.

Here she is after the second and third coats were applied, both at the same time to save coming back out later.

hull9.jpg

hull10.jpg

Next up it's back outside for some more sanding and prep before the final coat, but first I need to make some props and rudders etc.

[Lex]

Super cool! This hull surpasses the quality of a plastic one!

[jaffro]

Thanks Lex,

I have noticed a small problem today while sizing up my props... the whole thing is just a bit too long. I was assuming it was the same size as my printed plans and didn't check up until now, and it appears to be about 3 or 4cm too long.

I could cut the stern shorter, but then the stern keel would be in the wrong spot... I have no intention of cutting the bow shorter, that would be way too much of a mess. The only real option would be to cut a section out of the middle and rejoin it together.

The chances of me pulling that off without totally stuffing things up are pretty slim, so I've decided to go with the "i'll just throw it all together and hope nobody notices" method that has served me very well in the past.


That's all for now... I just thought I'd share that with you.

[barry]

Stay cool do not cut it sent you an email proportionally it will all end up as a uniform scale.

barry

[jaffro]

Thanks barry, got the email.

just a quick pic of the start I've made on the props... paper purists might want to shield your eyes about now, I used brass sheet.

The blades came out fine, I drew the shape by eye then traced around it 6 times on some brass sheet I picked up from a hobby shop. As for the "bullet" shaped bits, I'm not having a good time trying to get my brass into this shape at this scale. I decided to sand the end of a pencil into the shape I needed then wrap the brass around it in some way... this idea didn't give me the desired results either, I really want that part to have as few seams as possible. I've tried resizing a few of the props from other ship kits but it's just not working for me.

That's why there's now 2 bullet shaped pencil ends in the pic, cos I found an "easy way out" now I just need some gold paint.

props1.jpg

I just hope my props come out a decent size and shape after shaping and gluing, because i really didn't have a good view of them on the plans. If the plans are trying to show me... I can't see it.

[jaffro]

The props are on hold until I can find some gold paint or something to paint my pencil bullet thingies.

In the mean time, I should really be designing the superstructures etc but I really had no idea where to start.

Once again, I am very pleased to say that barry has come to the rescue, offering to continue on with some more structure, so he too can build a Daring of his own.

I can not even begin to say how gracious and lucky I am to have barry's help on this, the more I looked at the plans, the more I realised just what I was trying to do here. I've always been fairly confident of scratchbuilding small stuff like extra details, and all the various "clutter" that will be scattered around the decks, but now that I see just what barry is going through trying to turn the plans into a 3D model, the more I realise how unprepared I was.

Seriously Barry, I can't thank you enough!!

So, while barry wrestles with the model, and I chase down as much reference material as I can get my hands on (you really never can have too much of that) here's a pic of where it's up to now.

Actually it's a bit further than this, but more on that later.

daringbasics.jpg

[jaffro]

Barry has done such an awesome job continuing on with the 3D model, I am really keen to start knocking the superstructure together but I'm determined to get the whole "underwater" section finished before I get too far ahead of myself.

It's coming along nicely though, with the whole underwater section now ready to assemble in time for the final coat(s) of red paint.

Barry sent me the metasequoia model of the props instead of a PDO, and as much as I tried to get it to unfold into a buildable state, I had no idea what I was doing and kept unfolding the whole boat, which got a bit messy.

I resorted to scratch building in the end, all except for the bits where the prop shaft exits the hull. Yes, as you can see I'm pretty good with my technical naval terminology... I'm sure those bits have a name.

I cut my rudders out using a stencil I drew by eye looking at the plans. The rudders themselves attach to a bit of wooden skewer with a strip of card glued to it, to give the rudders their tapered shape.

I already had a PDO for the shaft hangers, these and the "bits where the shaft exits the hull" were the only two printed parts, the rest I made by hand. I made a couple of tubes for the propshafts to sit in, where the hanger bits attach. For the prop shafts, I used wooden skewers, then wrapped standard copying paper around the shaft till I had the thickness I wanted, then added extra strips for the wider part that sits in the hanger.
I also cut a couple of strips to use as bilge keels.

Here's some pics to try and make sense of the rubbish I just typed, unfortunately I still have no camera of my own and this one isn't a big fan of macro / close up shots:

propbits.jpg

And of course, with the obligatory coat of black paint (hopefully the last time I need it, as I just ran out doing these parts).

blackpaint.jpg

Then some red....


redpaint.jpg


I really should have built and painted this whole underwater section in one go, but impatience got the better of me. So far the model hasn't suffered for it though.

Next I will attach all these bits, take care of any gaps or rough spots, then the whole underside will get a fresh coat or two of red. It's had a lot of paint thrown at it by now, but it's also had a lot of sanding as well so there's black paint starting to show in the spots I cleaned up for the shafts etc to be attached.

Here's some close up shots of a few of the parts, to show the kind of finish I achieved. they look and feel like plastic parts already, without their final cleanup... ignore the fingerprints, that was Mr Impatience again.

Rudders:

rudders.jpg

Prop shaft:

shaft.jpg

Shaft Hangers:

shafthanger.jpg


The props themselves are done, in brass, but I'm not happy with them, they got a bit stained somehow by the epoxy I used so I think I might do them again at a later date, unless they can be cleaned / polished.

[Lex]

Nice going Jaffro!! Just a sidenote, you could paint the propellers with metallic model paints if that helps ^^

[jaffro]

Thanks Lex,

Yeah I was thinking about spraying them, but I've made props with this brass stuff before and as long as I get the size and shape right they'll look pretty good. It would be a shame to have to use paint to cover my brass while trying to end up with them looking like brass... but I had considered it.

Having said that, once I mounted my improvised props I could'nt help thinking they look a bit too big so it won't hurt to rebuild them... also I had a new idea for the "bullet bits" on the props that I want to try out.

Here's how she looks after attaching most of the underside stuff, there's only one bilge keel left to put on now then I can go for the final coat of paint. There's been a few accidents along the way, but nothing that can't be covered up by the paint.

propulsion.jpg

[barry]

Hi Nick

Don't if this will help or not

The props are not small judging by this

I like the real brass idea

barry

[jaffro]

Thanks barry, that does help... they don't seem to be as oversized as I thought...

or are you just trying to tease me with that limbo launcher... looking good there...

[barry]

Jaffro the latest version hull and superstructure are the same still

[jaffro]

Wow barry, that's looking awesome... not much progress to report on my end, the deadline has been lifted so I'm not rushing it anymore. Still tempted to start a new hull, but the first one is still holding up reasonably well.