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HMS Beagle - Occre by TedR

MThomas said:
I have a white dye, for shellac, that I'm going to try on some pearwood for a current build. It'll be more of a transparent whitewash than an opaque paint. I'll let you know how/if this works when I get to it.
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The nearest finish to nothing I've found is Minwax Polycrylic Clear Ultra-Flat--basically invisible. And water-based. Fool-proof.
 
Ted Robinson said:
Main deck planked. I'm beat for the day. Significant bowing to the false deck. I don't anticipate any problem.gwtto f it flattened upon installing. It's a little ratty. I suspect it will improve during finish sanding/scraping.View attachment 585845
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Good morning Ted. Yep that will scrap/sand up nicely. Cheers Grant
 
Ted Robinson said:
I also like the natural finish of a hand rubbed French polish. I mixed both of my new projects together. Also bought a vintage Revell Cutty Sark to build at the same time. I'm leaning towards stains and dyes on the Beagle. I gave a bottle of Indian ink for the black. Don't know what stain I could use for the white band.

Got some new carpenters glue and med thick CA for the project too. Now all I need is a kit.View attachment 584723
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The white on Beagle's hull was obviously paint. You are not sacrificing realism to use the same. It would look fine with a black stained hull. Alternatively you could plank in black hornbeam and maple/holly for the white? Otherwise does an effective white stain exist? Certainly not transparent!
 
I ordered the OcCre Beagle paint set from Amazon. Seems overpriced but it should provide what I need without any hassle. I'm all about reducing my stress and anxiety levels. The plans and instructions call out several woods at different lengths that are just not present. IE: 0.5 x 5 mm x 120mm limewood. There just isn't any wood in the kit that short. I see where they also call out 0.5 x 5mm x 200mm sycamore. The sycamore is all 600m. Never having built a model with instructions is this just a convention with the manufacturers? Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.
 
I found it very hard to work with the Occre instructions. Right from the start, there's errors and problems. The list of materials suggests there should be some lime wood strips and some sycamore strips. In fact, there is only one sort of pale wood in the kit.
When they specify " 0.5 x 5mm x 200mm sycamore", they just mean: cut some 200mm pieces of 0.5x5mm from the 600mm lengths.
Investing in the paint set is a good call though, even though you won't use about half of the colours.
If I was going to do this kit again, I'd buy some matt water-based varnish, to use instead of the satin varnish in the kit. And I'd lightly stain the deck, but that's just personal preference.

I think the key to building this kit is to remember all along that the instructions are often wrong and you just have to make it up as you go along.

Looking great so far!
 
CoastHiker said:
I found it very hard to work with the Occre instructions. Right from the start, there's errors and problems. The list of materials suggests there should be some lime wood strips and some sycamore strips. In fact, there is only one sort of pale wood in the kit.
When they specify " 0.5 x 5mm x 200mm sycamore", they just mean: cut some 200mm pieces of 0.5x5mm from the 600mm lengths.
Investing in the paint set is a good call though, even though you won't use about half of the colours.
If I was going to do this kit again, I'd buy some matt water-based varnish, to use instead of the satin varnish in the kit. And I'd lightly stain the deck, but that's just personal preference.

I think the key to building this kit is to remember all along that the instructions are often wrong and you just have to make it up as you go along.

Looking great so far!
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I had just about reached the same conclusions. The only way to get more rudimentary on the instructions would be to say build the hull. The quality of the wood seems good so far and the cast prices are really nice. Any recommendations on the Deck staining color. I didn't mark the sides of the planks with anything thinking I would use the thin CA glue to highlight the joints but have had to abandon that method. I only have the upper stern deck to plank so I will be consistent and then stain or wash all of them the same. Fitment on this kit is good.
 
Ted Robinson said:
I'm not going to use the Olha batcherov method of finishing the decks. Don't have a bottle of thin CA glue, inadequate ventilation and don't want the management here in the nursing home.e.looking at me.funny and suggesting I not build my model during my stay.
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I personally 'love' Birchwood Casey 'Tru-Oil' for finishing decks and other things. Wipe it on with an old sock, let the wood soak it up, then wipe some more on after 30 minutes or so. It gives the wood great character, seals it and isn't as messy as CA glue. It 'does' smell though. I think most 'all' finishes are going to have an odor. Do you have a safe outdoor place where you can leave your model for a few hours, while the smell goes away?
 
I'm in the uk, so any recommendation on brands of stains and varnishes will be irrelevant... but my current favourite finish for light wood (eg, Beagle deck) would be to dilute a "medium oak" water-based stain 1:3 stain:water to give the deck a wash. The colour will seep between the boards and colour up the joins between the planks, to look like caulk. Sand the deck down lightly with fine sandpaper to bring out the grain, then finish with a water-based matt varnish.
The advantage of the water-based products is that they don't stink the house out.

When I did my Beagle, I used the satin varnish in the paint pack for the deck and it looked awful and plasticky (although the satin varnish looked good on the hull).

However, if you ask 10 other modellers for their favourite finishes, you'll get at least 11 different answers.

I think the YouTube video instructions are OK until you get to the rigging stage, and then, well, there's lots of us on SOS here who can offer help if you're struggling with the utterly incomprehensible instructions.
 
MThomas said:
I personally 'love' Birchwood Casey 'Tru-Oil' for finishing decks and other things. Wipe it on with an old sock, let the wood soak it up, then wipe some more on after 30 minutes or so. It gives the wood great character, seals it and isn't as messy as CA glue. It 'does' smell though. I think most 'all' finishes are going to have an odor. Do you have a safe outdoor place where you can leave your model for a few hours, while the smell goes away?
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Yeah I gave a spot to place the model. I'm looking the stuff up now
 
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