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I'll be building the Niko 1/350 YMS as MSC(O)-47 USS FULMAR to honor my father's memory. He commanded this ship when it was based in Perth Amboy, NJ during the 1960's.

fulmar-atsea_zpsajwuot0b.jpg

This was his favorite ship; he claimed his fingernail marks were left on the deck when they dragged him off to his next command...

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I have various photos of FULMAR and her sister LORIKEET as primary documentation. I also have ships plans from Henry B. Nevins, Inc. (in City Island, NY) as well as 1/48 model plans.

As you can see, the 3"/50 mount was removed; perhaps less visible, the bulwark cap rail was bright and the main deck was natural wood.

There are two 1/350 kits available, from Iron Shipwrights and Niko--the Niko kit is substantially more advanced of the two. There used to be a 1/48 kit from Sirmar, but it is sadly no longer available...

Here are the kit's bits

fulmar-kitset_zps5xn3trec.jpg

The kit includes resin, laser-cut wood deck, wire and plastic rod, PE, and decals. I won't use the decals. I wish the deck planking was engraved with planks following the sheer line, as was the case on FULMAR. The provided planking pattern is valid, as these ships were built by yacht and boat-builders, and there was some variance. What I know I need to do so far: add the bridge awning, remove the 3"/50 mount and fix the rest of the fo'c'sle, add proper markings (hull number, ship's name, call sign), ensure the sweep gear is correct.

It will be a couple/few days before I get to this as I have an F-16 to finish that didn't quite make the Tiger GB

Edited by dnl42
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  • 2 weeks later...

Great subject, looking forward to this build. I've always been attracted to the smaller "workhorse" ships vrs the huge BB's or CVN's.

Would have loved to have seen you build that 1/48th kit!

John

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I started studying the plans and parts, and I must say, I'm blown away by the detail :worship:/>

fulmar-kitset2_zpswhwaopk9.jpg

fulmar-kitset4_zpspm5iized.jpg

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For all of you doing 1/700, take at look at Niko, they do most of their kits in 1/700; they also have detail parts available.

Edited by dnl42
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While looking for some stain for the deck, I found some old Floquil Marine Colors in the garage.

floquil_zps28upkjqq.jpg

I'll have to see what kind of shape they're in.

There are two bottles of anti-fouling red, but photos tell me the underwater hull should be black. I may do red in any event because that's what's expected. :P

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Don't just go with what's expected, check navsource.org, see if you can find out for sure!

I just looked it up, nothing definitive. I could see an argument for either case, a wood hull may not have anti-fouling.

Edited by rightwinger26
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  • 4 weeks later...

ARRRGGGGHHHHH! :explode: This morning, I contrived to flip a small tray into a low earth orbit (LEO). Sadly, it contained various bits I was actively working on, namely the deck, superstructure, bulwarks, and the pour-plug containing the shafts, v-struts, and rudders.

The deck and bulwarks survived. The superstructure broke, but is repairable. But that plug? It's now in in some other dimension, probably with Fenchurch. It may re-appear some day in the future, but it's nowhere to be found now. :bandhead2:

Fortunately, I have plans, Albion tubing, and enough PE scraps to guide me in scratch building those bits.

Anyway, I repainted the hull a lighter gray last night and it looks much better now. I was going to paint the bottom black per photos, but, well, the airbrush is having a snit. Sigh... I think I'm done with modeling for the day...

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Oh that sucks buddy, I had an accident getting out of my truck, coming home from my club meeting Saturday that destroyed my favorite biplane, so I can appreciate your pain. Sometimes the best course to steer is to sit back for a day or two, and cool off.

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  • 1 month later...

The end of August and through this weekend are spoken for with family activities. I'm bonding with my smoker starting now through tomorrow with Candied Salmon, a full packer brisket (9h-14h), 3-2-1 baby back ribs, and Chicken Lollipops. :banana:

But starting next week, I've got building time booked! :yahoo:

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  • 4 weeks later...

OK. Got the Goose going, so back FULMAR.

I built the stack. Drilling for the ladder, placing the rungs, and gluing them in was a breathing exercise.

fulmar-stack_zpsy2c0ijvj.jpg

I then started on the mast, and figured I should check out my FULMAR pix. Of course, I found this:

fulmar-aft_zpsx4vjuq5p.jpg

The kit had the rungs port-side aft; they were actually port-side forward. :bandhead2:

I did find an OK close shot of the mast. I'll need to build it differently from the kit's plan.

fulmar-mast_zpsphahrzrh.jpg

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Looking good though despite the issue with the rungs. I take it they are fixable if you choose? Looks like a nice little kit.

Happy modeling!

Regards,

Don.

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Thanks Don. I was actually thinking of leaving it. The rungs are fairly delicate.

The kit is fabulous! I had heard a lot of good things about Niko, and was thrilled to death when they did this in 1:350 as they usually do 1:700. My biggest concern here is priming those all-so-finely cast resin bits. I used a rattle-can to prime a Master Models MiG-21 pitot earlier but the primer globbed up the vanes. I'm going to try out airbrushing thinned Mr Surfacer 1000 to see if I can get a good coat and keep the detail.

As for the differences, I expected as such. I just need to remember to keep checking those pix as these ships were built by yacht builders, so plan v. as-built can be quite surprising.

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SWEET! This one is back on track! I love the work so far. I wouldn't worry too much about the grab irons, how many people are going to call you on it. I know this is a build with a personal connection, but worse things could happen to a model!

Bill

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  • 1 month later...

So, I redid the shafts and screws. I used 0.19" rod as the shafts, Albion 0.7mm OD brass tubes for the bearings, and Evergreen strip for the struts. I cut the tube into 3 lengths per side. One tube was partially embedded in the hull at the correct exit angle for the stern tube. I glued two strips for the V-strut at the aft bearing location; I set them at the approximate height, but didn't glue the strips together yet. I then placed the single strut for the middle bearing between the stern tube and V-strut. The shaft was then cut and placed into the stern tube with the other two tubes for the single and V-strut. I then trimmed and aligned the struts and glued the tubes to the struts with the shaft perfectly aligning everything. Once the glue set, I repainted the stern tube, struts, and bearings flat black.

The original screws were to be butt-glued onto the ends of the resin shaft with a resin boss. Instead I drilled the props for the shaft, rounded the end of the shaft, glued the screws on, and then finally twisted the blades into position. Finally, I inserted the shaft and propeller assemblies through the bearings into the stern tubes and glued on the rudders. I must say I'm really happy with how this all turned out.

fulmar-screws_zpszaeobesv.jpg

I also glued the hull to the pedestals and the deck to the hull. The house is just sitting there momentarily; I need to attach some columns that support the fo'c'sle deck and the ladders from the main deck to the fo'c'sle deck before I glue the house in. After that, I'll glue the bulwarks after I paint the bulwark cap rails as brightwork.

fulmar-mounted_zpsamr4ktlq.jpg

Edited by dnl42
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  • 2 weeks later...

Working on the davits. The kit provides flat PE davits with resin mounts. I replaced all the PE with brass rod using the kit's PE as the pattern. I have a PE rolling set from The Small Shop, and it's really very good for this type of bending.

fulmar-davits_zps4tn8paby.jpg

The jackstaff was a little harder; added a halyard.

fulmar-jstaff_zpsdjqc3nd0.jpg

Now I can prime and paint them.

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11bee,

Thanks for checking out the build. While my father had a DE after FULMAR, this was his favorite ship.

I've got a couple of builds going, and I was focusing on the Goose lately. But I'm back here with the intent to finish it during the Thanksgiving holiday.

I've gotten all the individual components built except for 1 of the 20mm Oerlikons and the mast. I had both Oerlikons built last night, but, well, this morning, it was clear that working on them til the wee hours of the morning was inconsistent with building them well. One was fine, and other not so much. Fortunately for me, Niko often provides an extra copy of resin and PE bits already provided in multiples. This will allow me to build another. The kit's mast is a bit different from FULMAR, so I'll have to see what I can do about building a better mast.

More pix tonight or tomorrow. :)

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All the fittings are ready for priming and painting

fulmar-fittings0_zpsjk6syba8.jpg

Here are the 20mm Oerlikons. I'm not thrilled about the lower one, as the barrel is short, and the sight and shoulder brace (?) are wonky.

fulmar-fittings1_zpsga3i9vfq.jpg

I'll probably replace with a Master Model 20mm Oerlikon set I just ordered.

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