Graupner Manhattan 74

nice work james very nice can't wait to see her on the water

Cheers Andy. Might be a while yet before she's anywhere near water, but I will definitely give you a shout
when it's time for the maiden voyage.

A Fine model, and extremely well built. Well done James

Cheers Tony! I'm trying my best.

Work is still continuing, it's just that it's more of the same at the moment and not really worth taking photos of.

I have to keep telling myself that I only get one chance at this and to be patient so I have to take breaks or "time out" as
the Americans say.

It's been a while since my last update. The boating-budget has taken something of a nosedive recently, but I'm
going to try and continue as best I can in the meantime.

Finally the hull gets a top-coat above and below the waterline.


Masking off the rubbing strake took quite some time and makes it look oven-ready.


I used Alclad paints for the chrome effect, and was quite pleased with the results at this stage.........


...........right up until I peeled off the masking tape 4 days later. What can I say? I didn't get a good edge, and that's the first time
that this has happened to me using Tamiya tape. Considering just how many stripes there were on my last model boat, each one perfect,
to have this go wrong now on a gin palace is seriously frustrating.
Either I didn't press it down hard enough, or wiping the strake with a paint-prep wipe was a mistake - the moisture of the wipe lifting the edge.
Whatever, I don't have the budget to repaint the hull, so I'll have to live with it.
Maybe I can tidy the edge a bit with some very fine wet and dry as the white top-coat has already been flatted with same to take the final
clear-laquer coat.

The Sunseeker stripe is dark blue vinyl. I'm now glad I didn't try masking that as well. lol.








As you can see, I did not like the colour scheme in the box-art, so found a different one on the net.

It's looking really great James.

Thanks Damien, it would look much better if it wasn't for my silly mistakes.
The previous photos don't show it very well, but I've found the macro setting on the camera now, so....

This was the problem - nasty blow through. Yuk!


Desperate measures required. Tape up desired edge


Wet-sanded the scruffy bits with 1500 grit


Incredibly it seems to be working. Who'd have thought it!


Wow, it actually looks okay. Skin of teeth job to be sure, but much less hassle than repainting everything.


It really does look like chrome too. I hope the final coat of Halfords clear doesn't dull the shine too much.

That Alclad lacquer is definitely the mutts wotsits James I've used it before to create a chrome bumper on a nitro hotrod but as you pointed out not cheap

Ever seen a grown man cry?

Sunday was a bad day at the boatyard. About as bad as it can get really without pianos falling out
of windows on to my model.

All was set for the final coat of clear laquer and then being able to draw a line under the hull as finished and being able to progess. But
it was not to be. Not having sprayed clear coat before, I misjudged how fast it was going on - which was much too fast, and then it started
to run in a big way.

If that wasn't bad enough, I forgot to test the Alclad aqua clear for compatibility with halfords laquer. I did test their gloss black base, and
the chrome with it at which point I assumed all the Alclad stuff would be okay with it. The fact that the aqua clear had a different make-up
didn't register with my idiot brain in time. Result - massive bubbling reaction.

Oh dear!

I'm not sure how I can dig myself out of this particular hole, or even if it's possible. But I suppose I have to try.

Any helpful suggestions that don't include "scrap it" would be gratefully accepted.

Starting again would involve sanding back to fibreglass and replacing all the lights and the rubbing strip even assuming I can
achieve all the even edges that the running laquer has altered. And assuming I could afford it, which I wont be able to for the foreseeable
future.

Anyway, here's the photos of my mess....

There's not a lot that can be said here. If and when this happens to me, it has and will again no doubt, I tend to put the model on a shelf out of sight for a week or two to prevent me throwing it in the bin out of frustration. So I really do feel for you mate.

Yeah, thanks Phil. Sounds like good advice.

I am a tad gutted I have to say.

I bet you are mate I've lost count of the times I've either got careless with the airbrush or impatient or both and regretted it for weeks after but I still make silly mistakes occasionally so, so much for once bitten twice shy lol

On the plus side taking your hull back down to bare FG isn't really necessary as if you give the runs and bubbles enough time in a warm well ventilated place you'll find they do go hard enough to sand back down with fine wet/dry allowing you to start again much quicker

Thanks Phil, yeah I am going to try when I have calmed down some.

I don't really have anything to lose by trying. My only worry is the runs stand out so far that just
sanding laquer without breaking through the top colour-coat is going to need serious patience. I also will have
to remove all the black paint that covers the white, without going through the white to the primer.

Fun stuff. Thinking calm thoughts.............

Hide it at the back of somewhere have a few cans give it a week or so then attack it with 800 then 1000 grit wet or dry (wet obviously) using soapy water and a suitable flat block you'll be surprised at the results you achieve, yes you may end up going into the white base coat but by the looks it'll be below the chrome line so only half a hull to respray at worst fingers crossed for you

No such thing as half the hull Phil. Sadly the rubbing strip does not continue around the stern
so there would be no way of hiding an edge there.

My only chance is to just sand the clear coat and reapply it. Then either put the Alclad stuff on top, or do it first without
the Alclad varnish.

Well in my opinion the alclad chrome stripe would likely be great done last and as its a lacquer will not need any sort of an over coat

Hey, did this ever get finished? If not and you fancy selling give me a shout!

I can sympathise with lacquer woes, I did something similar on my moonraker:





Repaired....

Hi all,

First, sincere apologies for not doing anything with this thread one way or the other. I never meant for it to take so long.

However, as I guess is so often the case, real life can annoyingly get in the way.

I only stopped working on this model for as long as it took my frustrations to dissipate, which was a couple of months or so. Since then
I have been doing work to the model. Initially this was just sanding smooth all the damaged paint on the entire hull, ready to start
over. But I've decided to leave painting the hull until the superstructure is ready for painting as well.

So for now I'm working on building up the interior as well as I'm able using internet-sourced photos for reference. It's pretty slow
going as it has to be done from the inside out, starting from the ceiling and working downwards which is quite tricky. But I'm fairly
pleased with progress so far. I have been taking photos of the build, but I probably wont post them until it's a good way
on the road to completion. But I will post them.

Since then I've managed to get sidetracked a little with Tamiya re-releasing all the RC cars I had as a kid in the late 70s, early 80s.
The nostalgia was simply impossible to resist. It was like all my childhood dreams coming true at once.

And then I've also moved to Amsterdam which disrupted model building for a while, however, My new workshop is starting to look
good and soon the slipway will re-open.

Thanks for the advice Tomhugill, your Moonraker looks great and your repair looks to have worked very well.
The Manhattan is not for sale sorry. Abandoning it at this stage would be bad for morale. Particularly as now it's discontinued,
so I'd have to live with any regrets.
That's not to say I wont ever sell it, just that I have to finish it first. Damn thing's not going to beat me.

Regards,

James

No need to apologise James................some builds and repairs take years................One of my lifeboats was started 8 years before I eventually finished it...............so don't worry..........just makes those who watch, keener to see the next bit of progress.

neil.

Hi Neil,

Well, okay then. A little something to be going on with..

brilliant, James......

that's what I liked about building my Graupner Rau 1X  many years ago......everything fit and fitted really well............superb kits, sadly now consigned to the history books.

Lol, thanks Neil. I'll take that as a compliment. None of those pics show kit parts.

The kit makes no provision for any kind of interior at all. It just has opaque black plastic widows that you stick on with tape.
A little like the black stickers that go on the lexan bodies of modern RC cars.

But we like scale boats here, so that was never going to cut it. I'm just winging it and hoping for the best.

looks great....top marks.

First off I'm really glad your posting the progress on this! The decision to do a full interior is a courageous one but I'm sure you will pull it off! I look forward to seeing how you get on.

hi james
hope everything is good your end boat is looking great mate hope when it's done you'll bring her back to yate for a sail 

Hi James. Nice build and I will be following you when I start my Manhattan. However can you advise me which marinetic portholes you are using I know there are two styles but I can't decide which is the right one. Thanks

I cant believe the skill of the model boat builders here 

First time I have picked up on this build.What a great example of patience and stick with it attitude .Congratulations on your build so far
Mick F

Hi all.

Apologies for the delay, but have recently started cracking on with the build again. I need to dig out my camera after the move; lots of stuff yet to be unpacked after
a year.  

Hi again Andy. Hope all is well. I'm unlikely to be back near Yate again for the foreseeable future as I've moved to Amsterdam. Not sure if I'm coming back at all yet
unless the EU business goes pear-shaped. Maybe the best I can do is a video when it's finally finished.

Hi Drunkenmatelot, no clue what marinetric means. Am just following the monkey see, monkey do, or in this case monkey build. Just basically copying this example
http://www.boatbookings.com/yacht_search/yacht_view.php?pid=2583 to the best of my abilities. With a dash of modeller's license to help what little sanity remains.

I've used the kit styrene portholes to give a clean shape to the apperture, and I've got myself an elipse stencil so I can cut a slightly smaller one to fit behind the main opening.
I may or may not paint this inner one chrome. I haven't decided yet.

Hi Topvideos1001 and Battleshipbuff, thanks! Hopefully will stick with it until the end. All I have to do now is figure out how I'm going to get the many Halford's rattle-cans I need shipped to Holland.