Billings Adrea Gail

Rudder and prop fitted and rudder painted. The winch deck and its support has been installed and painted. I have added the 'tower' and started on the railings. Those on the winch deck are ready for painting as are the starboard side forward railings.



Some of the other fittings have been placed but not yet glued.



There is a conflict between the instructions and the plan as to which way the winch deck is fitted as its not symmetrical.

Barrie

The railings have now been painted - I hate painting railings
I discovered that the supplied stand was useless, so have made a temporary one from some threaded rod and a bit of the MDF building board. If the model turns out OK, I will by a better plinth for it. The rope drums and winch have been stuck down and the crane fitted.



Next up is the wheelhouse which has lots of fittings on its roof.

Barrie

Work has started on the wheelhouse. As its fitted out, it needs painting inside and I have started on that as I thought it would be easier before I got all the sides on. Next stage is to fit the glazing but I think I will paint the outside before I do that. You will notice that the four sides are not of equal height, so that needs rectifying  

Barrie

After sanding I gave the outside of the wheelhouse a coat of sanding sealer before a coat of satin white. The ventilator(?) on the back was made and attached. I have started on the roof which still needs some sanding before I can fit it to the cabin, after I have given the cabin another coat or two of paint, and glazed the windows.



I was sure that I had fixed that joint

Barrie

Over the last couple of days I have been making and painting the various fittings for the roof of the wheelhouse. Lots of fiddly bits of laser cut ply to try to sand clean then stick together. I think they are now almost ready to fix to the roof, then the roof can be fixed to the cabin and that fixed to the deck.

Barrie

Most of the fittings now stuck on the roof, and the roof stuck to the cabin. The cabin has also been stuck to the deck. Some ventilators were made from some 30amp mains cable - supplied! The plastic rod mentioned to make the bollard was NOT supplied, so I used dowel.

I have started on the mast - lots of very fiddly cutting out - lots of 'bridges' to find and cut. There are even more in the next parts - and they are in thin but tough ply  As is typical of Billings, the next part is the most complicated, and this is where the instructions get less details.  




Barrie

The mast has now been constructed! Its ready for painting - I am going to try spraying it with white primer then Halfords Appliance white as I don't fancy brushing all those spaces. There are 16 'oil drums' - all solid brass. I will spray those white primer, then may paint some in different colours.

Barrie

I seem to have missed an update somewhere. This is the current state



Its almost complete - just the boom arms to complete and attach. They have been painted. I also have a quantity of beads to paint red and then make some up into marker buoys, except there isn't enough brass rod  I'll have to see what I have in stock. Some of the white paint needs a touch up, and maybe some varnish, but as its a static model this isn't so important. The decals are actually printed on vinyl and are a bit too obvious for my liking, so that's an area I may try satin varnish.

I have modified the stand - or at least shortened the bolts so the hull sits on the stand.

Barrie

You've made a nice job of that so far especially after your problems with the hull.

Thanks SWAB. I hope to finish it tomorrow. I've become a bit disillusioned by it to be honest. All that intricate work on the mast etc leaves lots of raw edges which are very difficult to finish. They are too fragile to sand, and don't cover very well with paint

Barrie

Final Photos.



I am not sure what my next project will be. I had decided to build one more model and that was to be Mountfleet Models' Brede Lifeboat, but although it was advertised in the February Model Boats, it is only shown as available soon on their web site  I have messaged them to see when it will be available.
Hopefully if lockdown ends this year I may be able to sell some of my models, in which case there are one or two more I may decide to build.

Barrie

hi barrie,

that is a stunning boat, the detail looks fantastic, i know you had a few problems with the build but you seem to be a master at sorting these out, maybe you can be a trouble shooter  for problem builds   


david

Thanks David. I have been trouble shooting quite enough on the Forum recently. I don't find it easy when you can't get your hands on the problem.

Hope you've had your vaccination.

Kind Regrds,

Barrie

hi barrie, 

i had my jab on thursday we are  slow in wales. i suffered being very tired, and  flu like symptoms but ok now. wife was ok. 
that brede lifeboat kit sounds interesting hope it comes soon. 


david