FIRST POST! Aug 27 2020

Some 8 years after completing my first wooden boat kit (Billing Boats St Roch), I've decided to invest time and money into a new launch - a Venetian Passenger Boat model by Panart. I actually followed someone else's build-log of this boat a few years ago and it was a stupendous build by someone called Steve Gogs. Sadly, his build-log was lost from the internet after a server crash and that is a great shame, because I was very much hoping to re-read it and benefit from his experience.

Luckily, there are some surviving images of Steve's completed build and I've also found another build-log by a lady called Francesca Castellett, so I'm not going in blind!

The Panart Art.703 is a wonderful kit and I can't wait to start it. I got hooked on the Vaporetto during a couple of visits to Venice and I've wanted to build this kit ever since, but personal challenges in my life prevented it until now. 

The photos below were taken by me in Venice.

 

CHOOSING AN AIRBRUSH

iWATA COMBO  08 Sep 2020

Rather than keep buying aerosols and risking running out just at the wrong time (as I did recently on my Bentley project), I have decided to invest in an airbrush system. Before just leaping in and making the wrong choice, I posted a question on the MSW Forums to ask for opinions on which is best for model-makers. I received lots of great replies, advice and tips as a result and this lead me to better research the subject online.

My main concern was that I didn't want to buy cheap and end up buying twice, so I was focusing on good quality systems right from the start. But equally, I didn't want to chuck a load of money at something that was not going to be used everyday. 

In my head, I thought for sure that I needed a compressor with a tank, in order to have a 'reservoir' of air and avoid pulsing, but then I discovered through watching lots of YouTube videos that the tank-less systems performed just fine as long as you didn't go cheap.

In the end, I settled on an Iwata Combo in the form of the Eclipse HP-CS Airbrush and the Smart Jet Pro MkII Compressor.

IWATA STUDIO SERIES - SMART JET PRO MkII

I wouldn't normally have gone this far, but I found this combo second hand on eBay at an extremely low price, so it didn't make sense not to grab such a bargain.  

I also then found another bargain almost straight away on FaceBook Marketplace - an AZTEK DELUXE PROFESSIONAL AIRBRUSH KIT. How could I justify buying a second airbrush??? Well I turned to my wife and suggested that it might be useful for her crafting activities too - so here it is 

I need to start 'brush up' on my painting skills now.

THE START!

 DAY 1!

Well, it's not much of a start because it's already early evening on a Sunday, but at least it's on the table. 🙂 I'll be writing this log as an inexperienced builder, having only ever built one other boat (St Roch), so if you spot any errors or looming disasters, please do shout out!

 

In between building the early stages of the Vaporetto, I'll be spending some time trying to learn to airbrush. Gotta build a little spray-booth of some sorts. I don't want to go overboard though - just something to allow very small parts to be painted indoors. Large parts (like the hull) will be done in the garage.

 

First job is to layout the drawings, identify the parts and write down the part numbers. Done! Sadly, I've got to leave it at that due to an amateur-radio net which is about to commence in 10 minutes. If I get time, I'll do more later this evening.  Oh yes, nearly forgot - the RC Motor arrived yesterday after a loooong delay. Not sure if I'll actually be making this in an RC model, but I've got the option.

 

THE KEEL - (part one)

Day-2

Well, before I could do anything tonight, I had to tidy up the spare room and make my workspace a bit more organised, so I started by putting my paint-organiser on the wall. Then I sorted the tables out and put some drawers underneath them. Found a space for the airbrush/compressor, installed the LED Light and hung "Drawing-1" on the wall.

Those paint-organisers are really very good! They go together very well and require no bonding. They just slot together and stay together!

 With that done, it was time to read the Vaporetto instructions and it was at this point that I realised that they're pretty dire 😄. Buried in the multi-lingual text, there's a single, short paragraph that attempts to describe how the two keel parts align. I didn't really understand it, but I dry-fitted the parts using spring-clamps until I figured I'd got it right. At least I think I got it right!

Unlike that Airfix Bentley model I just finished 🤪, the instructions are far from step-by-step and I guess they expect you to read a tiny paragraph of broken English, refer to the big drawing and just 'figure it out'!  I was wondering why the made the keel in two parts but then realised that it is, of course, because the prop-shaft has to go through the keel, so they split it in two and sandwich it with two reinforcing parts (Items '3'). 

 

Referring to the manual for some reassurance that I was doing the right thing, produced little reassurance 😂 since the next step shows the keel built and part-planked! I'll just have to go ahead and build it as I think is correct. I'm sure it'll be fine.

For those who are using this build log as a guide for their own build (God help you), I should explain that you need to insert 'BulkHead-11' into Keel slot 11 first of all, then push the propshaft through (positioning isn't really important (just use my photo as a guide)). 

Then butt up the two Part No 3's against the bulkhead and align them so that they match the curvature of the keel. Clamp them!  Now you can gently insert Keel Part-2 inbetween the Part 3's and adjust it so that it pushes squarely against the bulkhead and lines up neatly with the forward edge of the 3's.

Tomorrow I will bond these parts together and proceed with the rest of the keel which should be pretty simple.

THE KEEL (part-two)

 Day-3

Tonight I unclamped the dry-test-fit and glued on the Part-3's to the main keel and then inserted the small keel part inbetween. After carefully checking alignment (with the propshaft tube in-situ, I clamped them to let the glue dry. 

Next it's time to fit Parts-17 which (I believe) reinforce the section where the rudder shaft goes...

After that, I placed a straight-edge across the top of the hull and noticed that there were some gaps 😲 but after referring to the big drawing, I could see that there should be some curvature front to back (sorry, stern to bow).

Finally, I placed the deck onto the hull and after gluing all the mating points 🤬 I placed a load of rubber bands around it and weighted it down with some cans (I'd ran out of caviar so I borrowed some beans from a neighbour) 😂

Oh - and I put up some "mood" images and bought some Chianti 🤣

That's it for tonight. Thanks for looking.

UPDATE : Next morning before work, I removed the baked beans 😂 and rubber bands and then applied a bead of glue to all joints like a 'weld' (even though most people would tell me that I didn't need to).

And instead of using the Titebond glue bottle with it's overwide and awkward applicator, I used one of the wife's hair-dying bottle which turned out to be a brilliant applicator! Thanks Garnier 😂

PLANKING & STUFF

DAY 4

Today I spent a little time on the Vaporetto inbetween other things. I thought I'd get some planking done, but only managed 2 planks per side 😂.  I really struggle with planking and it's not helped by the fact that I've managed to make a couple of cock-ups that will make the whole process even more difficult!

I chamfered the forward and aft bulkheads way too much ! As a result, the planks aren't sitting  against the bulkhead's edge. In the end, I had to put some material back on the edge of the bulkhead by bonding a piece of plank material (tapered off at the top). It sounds dreadful but is actually a very effective repair to my over-zealous filing. It means that I can continue planking the hull without trying to hide any dark secrets 😂

None of this planking will be seen on the finished model because it has a painted hull, so on the one hand, my cock-up doesn't really matter, but on the other hand, I'm disappointed in myself for not learning from the model I made in 2011 😟

After fitting 4 planks I decided to move onto something easier - cutting and forming 74 seat supports. I guessed it would be repetitive but simple. Well it turns out that it was me  that's simple because I got one of the bends wrong when making a mock-up seat. Good job I didn't make a big batch of them like this 😂

I started forming these bench-frames using a small vice and that's where I ended up making a mistake with the angles. Let me give you a bit of advice - forget the vice - just use a pair of long-nose pliers. It's massively quicker and easier! 

MAKE ONE PERFECT BENCH FRAME and then use it as your guide for the other 21 frames. Cut the aluminium rod pieces  (110mm long) and then using your "perfect" frame as a template, form the others with the pliers. It's quick and easy!

 

 

 

I then painted the wooden seat part in Light Blue and later coated them in Tamiya Flat Clear. I'll see how they look when they dry and may add more coats. After that, I decided to cover the inside of the hull with "Hull Red" just so it doesn't have an unfinished appearance when you remove the cabin for accessing the RC parts. Having already painted the seats, I knew that my tiny Tamiya paint pots wouldn't go very far at all when it came to painting the bulkheads so I made up my own Hull Red (roughly) with some acrylic paint tubes. I used Cadmuim Red and Burnt Umber. When the planking is done, it'll be relatively easy to finish off the inner painting.

PLANKING COMPLETED!

DAY 5,6,7,8,9,10 😂

It's no secret that I hate planking and that I'm useless at it. I have to admit though, that I feel a little bit wiser now and will probably do a better job of it on my next boat-build. I guess that's what it's all about at the end of the day - learning from your mistakes.

I have not recorded my planking efforts because I have absolutely nothing to offer in terms of knowledge or tips, so best to just say I got there in the end. It took me ages to get the planking done because I would just do one or two planks per day and then go do other things while the wood glue hardened. Of course, I should have followed to limitless planking guides on the forums, YouTube and in books. But I didn't 🙈🙉🙊

Anyway, here we are with a finished hull, ready to sand, fill, sand, fill, undercoat, sand, fill, sand, paint, etc, etc, etc. The images below show the hull with a few coats of undercoat and the first coat of acrylic Hull Red. 

 

Don't ask me why, but I used my IWATA brush to put that paint on and it was woefully inadequate because it had too fine a needle fitted to it. It was like painting the Titanic with a fine-point brush!  Thankfully, I have an Aztec Airbrush with nozzles wide enough for a project this size, so the next coats will be put on properly.

The Hull Red is just like an undercoat and is not the final colour, which will, of course be more reddish (although I haven't looked for the right shade in the Tamiya range yet). James H on the MSW Forums suggested a Plastikote RED OXIDE Aerosol which sounds like a good option!

WINTER COAT

 DAY 11

I went off in search of some PlastiKote paint at B&Q's superstore in Bolton but was disappointed to find none. A member of staff thought they'd gone bust and recommended an alternative from Rust-Oleum. It was an all surface paint and they had a pretty good hull colour called Crimson Red, so I picked up two and took them to the checkout. 

OMG they were £15 each!! 😲😲

Fortunately, there was a Doctor in the queue and he helped revive me from my feinting episode. £30 lighter, I left the store and wobbled my way to the car. Back at home I decided to do the painting outside in the garden or I'd have ended up with paint all over my garage. Thankfully, it was dry outside but bloody cold (yes, I only wore a t-shirt in winter). 

 
I applied a couple of coats (sanding in between) and the hull is now back indoors drying for 24hrs. I will sand it once more with 3000 grit wet and dry before applying a final coat. I feel like I could go on forever because every time I look at the hull after painting, I find gaping imperfections. One more coat and it is what it is!