Kit-Bashing the King of the Mississippi Riverboat (7/21/20)

allricksstuff

allricksstuff

Joined
Jun 19, 2020
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Location
Central Arkansas
Hi all,
This kit is, Artesania Latina 1/80 Scale, King of the Mississippi.

Going to start my build log today but please be forewarned, I'm going to take my time and it may be awhile between photos. At the age of 72 (Never ever thought I'd live this long.) with medical complications I don't always feel good day to day so bear with me, please, I'll do my best. :)

I'm using an old Sony Camcorder of 20 years or better so the pix won't be of great quality, I'm afraid. The door latch is broken, the light no longer works but it does still take pictures and videos... of a poor quality tho. :rolleyes:

miss1.png

miss2.png

miss3.png

miss4.png

This kit was so old that all the rubber bands were brittle and broken but everything seems to be there with no warpage or broken parts. It was an ebay auction for $130 and the hull is all I was really interested in for kit-bashing. I thot the price was pretty good for a hull with lots of extra parts. That's how I looked at it anyway. ;)
 
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Kkonrath said:
If you don’t have one I suggest in purchase of caliper. Digital is best. Very affordable at tool store such as Harbor Freight.

Will help in identifying boards by size
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I happen to have two of them. ;)


Peter Voogt said:
Hello Rick.
Good to see you are started with the paddle steamer.
The pictures are ok, I can see what you will show us ;).
Looking forward to the rest of your build.
Regards, Peter
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It's the little details I believe will be affected especially if I want to share something with all of you.


OK, here's my plan;
1. The original model looks something like this. I'm sure most of you know this already.

kotm1.jpg


2. And here is what I plan to kit-bash it into;

kotm2.jpg

Charles H Spencer, Boat.jpg

sternwheeler.png

Get the idea? :)

So, we'll see how it goes... :)
 
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Tonight I popped out the hull parts and did a little sanding and fitting and trying to identify the pieces. After a little over an hour or so I broke out into a sweat so decided to brake for now.
It seems to be a very nice kit. I know the KotM model is a beautiful work of art.

miss6.JPG

miss7.JPG

Be safe and ENJOY!
 
Hi guys,
I think I have a problem and don't know what to do about it.
Ready? The bottom of the hull is made up of two pieces. The rear or back of these pieces need to be sanded to an angle to match the stern of the boat. But when placed in the proper position the front/bow is waaaay off.

miss8.JPG

The stern to be sanded to that angle


miss9.JPG

The bow is waaay off!


What should I do??? Is this an anomaly of the kit?
I can cut off about a 1/2" or so of the two bottom pieces then sand the bow to mold in. Is that what I'm supposed to do?
 
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Flip the hull upside down and see how much off the bottom of hull is from the center keel, based on angle to be sanded it doesn't look that far off.

On the back you may just have to cut and sand to fit the keel, lots of folks use balsa wood to help fill in when sanding to make more solid area to work with, on bows and sterns of ships.
 
Hi Rick. I haven't built this model but just by studying your photos I see a couple things.

1. The bulkheads that span across the keel need to be pushed all the way down so that they rest flush with the top of the keel itself.
2. It looks like your keel needs to be moved forward to match the front of the deck, then sand the rear to fit the shape.

There should be a picture in your plans that shows how it should look..
 
Kkonrath said:
Flip the hull upside down and see how much off the bottom of hull is from the center keel, based on angle to be sanded it doesn't look that far off.

On the back you may just have to cut and sand to fit the keel, lots of folks use balsa wood to help fill in when sanding to make more solid area to work with, on bows and sterns of ships.
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I just noticed that you are a moderator. You happen to chime in whenever I respond with questions. Thank you, you've been a big help to me on these forums.
I see we don't live all that far apart... me in the Little Rock area and you in OK city. :)
 
Jim J said:
That should be a rather easy kit bash. You probably have most of what you will need in the way of wood from the kit. Will be looking forward to your build. I really like old riverboats.
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ONE of the reasons I wanted to kit-bash this model was to have all the extra wood left over from my bash. You can't have enough extra wood on hand, I always say. ;)
 
I have seen several kits I worked on with parts to be tapered cut extra long, just to give you room to work.

In the bow of your photo, it looks like the bottom is way long, but when angled it should not be much excess.

You have to remember they are cutting pieces that end up slanted with a vertical cutting machine, so they have to look at the long end not the short end on angles to determine where to cut.
 
I have this same kit in my stash to build down the road, I have always like the big steam boats, and lived in Louisiana for years, but not near the Mighty Miss!
 
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