SPA Modeler

After much procrastination, I finally got around to putting a few of my PBR pics onto photobucket so I could post them here. The next decision was whether to post them in the diorama thread or this one. I decided the Ship thread could use a little love. I'm still working out the little details in the diorama, considering I've never poured "water" for anything this large before, just small creeks and ponds for my railroad.



Here's a side view of the cabin



Talked to my sister, (Navy veteran), about knots. Yes, that's a tiny Bowline knot. Tied it using tweezers.



Here's the rope, coiled and ready for use.



Start of the dock construction



Basic layout. Lots of measure, try, cut, try, sand, fit, etc... going on at this point.



Finally got it how I wanted it.



Adding planking.



First layer (1/8 +/- inch) of "water" poured over paint to represent silt.

I had put a cardboard cutout in place of the boat for the initial pour, just to get an idea of the shape. The main purpose of this pour was to find leaks. Thankfully none. The next pours will all be clear, except the last one or two. I've been experimenting with tinting the epoxy resin used as water, and have got the right color to represent muddy, silty Mekong tributary water. The tire pier bumpers were some extra resin tires I had in my parts bin. Sanded the tread down so the look pretty bald. Uncle Sam wouldn't use new tires for dock bumpers. The dock itself was stained with Minwax stain markers, then I applied a light wash of gray to mimic sunbleaching. Added some fuel and oil stains, and except for a few details, it's done.

This is gonna be sweet! I might suggest some line to tie down the .50 ammo cans near the rear gun mount. I can't imagine them being loose stacked three high on any naval craft.

I'm a blue water squid, Joe but it looks as if you have the brown water guys figured out pretty well. I think this will be killer all in all. I am anxious to see it all done up.

Stikpusher wrote:This is gonna be sweet! I might suggest some line to tie down the .50 ammo cans near the rear gun mount. I can't imagine them being loose stacked three high on any naval craft.

No worries, Stik. The basic idea for the dio will depict the crew loading up for a mission. Once I get the final details worked out, the ammo cans will either be secured with rope/strap, or it will be laying nearby as if they're not quite done yet.

Paul wrote:I'm a blue water squid, Joe but it looks as if you have the brown water guys figured out pretty well. I think this will be killer all in all. I am anxious to see it all done up.

Thanks Paul. I think I've pretty much saved every internet page dealing with "Brown Water Navy", or "River Rats". So many options! Depending on what time frame, the boats could have been manned by all Navy, Navy pilot and Army crew, Army transportation units, MPs, or a mix & match of any of them. Being a former Army MP, you can guess which I'll be doing.

Yep. Air Force....

So which kit is that?

BorgR3mc0 wrote:So which kit is that?

This one. However, the figures will be cobbled from my "Frankenstein" box, as well as additional trinkets & baubles from my extras.

Very interesting and rare build, nice to follow !

- Kari

A friend asked me what I used for the ropes. The kit comes with a thin, braided thread for the anchor rope, which is what I used. As for the boat & dock bumpers, the kit comes with 6 small tires that look very similar to forklift tires, the dock tires, (as I mentioned), are resin from my box of goodies.

The "rope" attaching the dock tires, is actually 18 guage braided wire, cut to length and stripped of insulation. I then painted it a khaki tan and used a thin brown wash on it. The one for the boat itself, is 22 guage wire, painted and washed the same way.

I always have lots of wire around for my railroad, which has come in quite handy at times.