Ok, you might need more than one drink.....

It's amazing how a model building group
can motivate you to get some work done..

We left off with the salt lightly misted on the model drying. This was ready for the light coat of white to help random the paint fading.

Things I learned this week:

• Accept that some things are just out of scale and can't be helped.
• Don't use to much solvent for your decals.
• I need to get the hood with the magnifier on it.

Here is the wheel house of the tug boat with a light coat of diluted flat white. I used distilled water as my thinning medium because if I used a thinner as a medium I was worried it would hurt the underlying paint.







Here is the smoke stack to the tug, this will help with the weathering process.











Here is the hull of the boat drying with its light coat of white paint.












Here is the main deck quarters drying with the salt trick.










Here I used a wet brush to scrub off the salt, because I used a water as a medium I was able to take off some of the white.












A shot of the main deck quarters.











The wheel house did not fade as well as I would have liked. Oh well next time.











Here is hull of the boat after the light coat of white. This turned out the best as far as altering the nice black paint.










Stern of the boat nicely weathered and faded.












Now, I sprayed down a good layer of Future so that I can put on the decals. If you put on decals without a glossy finish first then what it can do is tarnish or alter the edge color of the decal film.

Not to mention this coat of Future seals in my weathering.






So here is the equipment needed to lay down your decals. There are two major solutions needed for the decals; micro-sol and micro-set. One solution is stronger than the other. There is a GREAT article on the ARC (see resource links) that walks you through putting decals on.







Here is a completed decal on the stern of the boat.. Meet Lucky XI...











Here is the port (left) bow with the decals on them. See the white'ish hue to them around the edges, that is ok. That is part of the solvent 'softening' up the decal (far as I can tell), when it all dries it will clear up.










Here is the starboard bow (right). I had to guess where the depth measurements would go. I think they are to large for this scale, see lesson learned above.









So, the main deck railing (where you see the Lucky) separated from the deck. No clamp would hold it down due to the curve of the boat and no where to pinch it. I had to be smarter than the boat. Used a stick to run across the top and a large clamp to provide the positive pressure down.








So, I had to weather the decals to make them look as though the paint is chipping. I used a 350 grit sand paper and 'lightly' scuffed up the decal. This also takes off the white so it is not so bright and new.








Here is the bow decals worn down.













So break out the magnifier glass and a piece of hair because we have some fine detailing to do.

Now of course I am way to anal to just let the port holes stay painted red. So each port hole is painted brass with the bolts as well. Trust me there so many port holes I think I might be permanently cross eyed.





Here is the smoke stack, I painted the port holes with brass and painted the ladder white. I did this because I will weather it and make the steps look old and worn.










And you thought I could not get any more crazy. Yes that is the name of the boat on the life ring, Lucky XI.











Yup, did it to the stern of the boat too.. There you can see a ax as well. The two little white dots at the top of the picture are overhead lights getting ready to be painted yellow.









Here is my life boat that I have built. There is a problem though, this boat when installed on the tug is way to big. In some of the images you will white davits (or little cranes) on the upper level. When the life boat is placed where it should go there is no way it would be able to get past the two davits.

I have removed the davits and will find a way to incorporate the life boat into the display.




The finished tarp.












Here I have attached the wheel house to the main deck quarters. You can see the two white davits there, and the empty space where the life boat would go. The life boat would not be able to swing between the two davits.

I have added the life ring boat in place of the life boat. It is not often a tug (harbor tug) has a full size life boat on board.




Here I have attached the main deck quarters/wheel house to the main hull. Davits have not been removed yet. If you look closely I installed windows on all port holes and the wheel house. The only place I did not install windows was on the smoke stack port holes, way to small.







Here I have removed the white davits on the upper deck and put the orange life ring raft down in place of the life boat. Much more to scale this way.

I have also installed the ladder on the bow (front).








Now it is time to lay down some serious coats of Future. My next steps will be to weather the boat with oils. Due to the turpentine and oils you need a got coat of Future (or gloss coat) to protect the paint below.

I have elevated the boat so I can spray all 360 degrees around and under the boat in one shot.






Here is the stern of the boat letting the Future dry. A 48 hr dry time is best to let the clear coat cure.



















Finally here are the oils I will be using to weather the tug.

There is still a problem that needs to be addressed; the boat bumpers. I have been working on those at the same time for the past week. I will post my progress on that another day due to the length of this post.