Return to the BUILD
In this issue, we will attach more decking to the Central Boat Deck, then add a winch and lifeboat davit details to it.
Contents
Parts
Materials: The Decking is wood veneer, but the rest of these parts are plastic.
Magazine
- 20th Century – Games, Toys and Models
- Step-by-Step Instructions
Digital Instructions (click image to download)
Agora Models consolidated the printed build instructions for Pack 9 (Issues 45 – 50) into a single digital PDF file:
Build
The First Two Lifeboats
As before, I airbrushed this Winch (and the Winch in the next issue) with the same Vallejo Game Air 72.729 Sick Green acrylic paint. I then hand-painted the two windlasses (horizontal rollers) and the base of each Winch using Vallejo Model Air 71.054 Dark Grey Blue. I enjoy contrast and this is a nice mix of the two possible colors. Finally, I washed them (brushed on and wiped off) with Citadel Nuln Oil Black to darken down and ‘dirty’ them a bit:
To give our lifeboat ‘ropes’ a more realistic look, I painted the Lifeboat Block Gear with Vallejo Model Air 71.023 Hemp acrylic paint. I used diagonal paint strokes to simulate the twisted nature of natural rope:
Step 1
Retrieve your Boat Deck assembly from the previous issue. Test fit the Decking on the starboard (right-side) surface of the Central Section of Boat Deck. When happy with the fitment, carefully remove the backing paper from the Decking.
Be very gentle with this Decking as it is fragile and can easily snap apart:
Then, slowly adhere it into place minding the forward staircase, lifeboat supports, and aligning all the holes as shown.
As with all of my Decking, these pieces were sprayed (on the exposed sticky side) with my 3M 45 General Purpose Spray Adhesive:
Step 2
Using super glue, secure the Winch into the matching holes at this location on the new Decking. These holes are different sizes so the part will only fit correctly one way.
On my model, I have only been press-fitting these details in place just in case more detailed version become available at a later time:
Step 3
Glue the two pins of Davit Arm A (45E) into the matching holes of Davit Base A (45I), aligning the curved notch of the Arm (arrow below) as shown.
The various Davits Arms and Davit Bases are not the same – this may help to differentiate the parts. All the Davit Arms here have their pins facing up:
As these are the first of many Davits we will be assembling, I took additional closeups of these parts so we can become familiar with them:
The Davit Arm pins are slightly different sizes, so this should only fit to one side of the Base. While these Davits fit together quite well on their own, a couple drops of super glue definitely help keep them in place:
Note how the curved notch in the angled Davit Arm fits around this ‘pulley’ detail on the Davit Base:
Step 4
Glue the two horizontal pins of a Davit Arm C2 (45H) into the matching holes of Davit Base B (45J), as shown:
On the other side of this Davit Base B, glue the two pins of Davit Arm B (45F) into the matching holes of Davit Base B (45J), again aligning the curved notch of the Arm (arrow below) as shown:
This curved notch fits around the round ‘pulley’ detail on the Davit Base:
Step 5
Glue the two pins of a Davit Arm C1 (45G) into the matching vertical holes of a Davit Base C (45K). On the other side of this Davit Base, glue the two pins of another Davit Arm C2 (45H) in the matching horizontal holes as shown:
Note the ‘pulley’ detail is to our left in this picture:
Repeat this process to construct another identical Davit Base C assembly with the remaining Davit Arm C1 and Davit Arm C2:
Step 6
- Glue Davit Base A we created with Step 3 into the matching holes at this location on the starboard-side Decking.
- Glue Davit Base B we created with Step 4 into the matching holes at this location on the starboard-side Decking.
- Glue the two Davit Bases C we created with Step 5 into the matching holes at these locations on the starboard-side Decking.
The Decking holes are different sizes, so these Bases should only fit one way. For additional reference, the ‘pulley’ details should always face inboard.
TIP: If you feel comfortable doing so, you may want to wait to install these Davit assemblies until later on in the build. We will need to handle these large Deck assemblies quite a bit going forward and we risk damaging these small details as we go. One option is to place them in small bags marked with part numbers so they can be identified in the future, as I have done here:
However, for those who choose to install them as instructed, these are the four Davit Base assemblies and where they are installed on the Decking:
Step 7
Fit a Tarpaulin onto the top of each Lifeboat:
I have not yet decided if I am going to modify the look (colors) of these Lifeboat and Davit assemblies:
Slide the thin pin of a Block Gear into each of the matching slots in the top of the Tarpaulins, matching the orientation as shown.
Do not use any glue in this step, but be careful as these Lifeboat assemblies are not secured together yet:
Thoughts
Ah, the Lifeboats. Too few, deployed too empty and too fast. We will never know if Titanic’s outcome (and notoriety) would have been entirely different had today’s naval safety rules been in place. Prepare yourself to repeat all of the steps in this stage as we duplicate it on the port side in the next stage.
Next Up
Issue 46 – Lifeboats 4 & 6/Block Gear/Tarpaulins, Winch, Davit Arms/Bases, Decking