Model Expo model shipwrights Kombo kit

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tball4217

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Yeah they finally arrived, and im going to do it all as one build, as they came in the same box.

These are my first noticed things about the kits that stand out to me.

The extra sheets for the kit is a nice bundle of printed pages stappled together. One sheet is a master sheet of the sailing pram ply wood shits with part names next to the parts. I guess its because so many people mention having to email model expo for this information due to it not being ON the actual plywood parts.

A bonus is that the Kombo kit, comes with ALL the paint. The paint almost weighs as much as my shipyard rattlesnake.
A detriment is that the "stain" is some sort of acrylic paint goo. Not an actual stain like youd get at the hard ware store.

The lobster smack looks good. An issue I have is that the kit supplied blocks are very nice looking. very nice, 10 levels nicer than what my Racehorse kit came with in 2001. The downside is, the photos on the box show one part of the rigging needs to be double blocks, and the kit only has the correct number of single blocks. The holes in the blocks are huge and could be intended for "two ropes in one hole" but I wont do that.

The cast metal fittings are really nice. The oar locks have a small section that seems intended for installation of the safety rope to keep them from going over side. The cleats are excellent, and do not have the triangular attachment to stick into the decking now. What I am not satisfied with is i cant find the holes in the turnbuckles to run the line through.

The manual talks about and shows multiple colors of rigging line being used, but only prvides 1 color.
 
tball4217 said:
some sort of acrylic paint goo.
Click to expand...
Are these tubed acrylic paints or bottles of craft paints? Ships and boats were painted, not stained so maybe they wanted to lend some realism by supplying paint in the kit. You can always buy stain if that is your preference in the end and save the paint for another project. :)
Allan
 
I've used the Model Shipways acrylic paints in the past. They might have been sitting on the shelf for some time. I've had success in adding a couple of drops of rubbing alcohol to thin out the mix.
 
AllanKP69 said:
Are these tubed acrylic paints or bottles of craft paints? Ships and boats were painted, not stained so maybe they wanted to lend some realism by supplying paint in the kit. You can always buy stain if that is your preference in the end and save the paint for another project. :)
Allan
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they come in 1 ounce plastic tubs. Same style as tamiya acrylic model paint.

As some of the models need maybe 2 parts painted a specific color, the amount is rather disturbing as I did have to pay for the unused paint. Also I have no idea how old the paint is, considering the kombo kit was out of stock when ordered, I would HOPE they used fresh paint. From looking at the containers without opening, the paint has seperated. The acrylic color material is like a pudding blob floating on clear liquid.
 
tball4217 said:
they come in 1 ounce plastic tubs. Same style as tamiya acrylic model paint.

As some of the models need maybe 2 parts painted a specific color, the amount is rather disturbing as I did have to pay for the unused paint. Also I have no idea how old the paint is, considering the kombo kit was out of stock when ordered, I would HOPE they used fresh paint. From looking at the containers without opening, the paint has seperated. The acrylic color material is like a pudding blob floating on clear liquid.
Click to expand...
It is not unusual for the paint to separate. In my experience model masters paint needs to be thinned and stirred. I would add acrylic paint thinner (usually a mixture of alcohol and water) and mix it.
 
Well I have started the Kombo project with out much fan fare.

The Lowell Dory:


Its not a bad project, once I swapped glasses the pages in the manual stopped making my head hurt as bad as my safety glasses.

Cut the solid one piece bottom sheet out to use. The included yellow wood glue isnt the greatest and I have a feeling it may be tightbond, but not sure. The fact the instructions call for the hot water bath made me steer AWAY from the 3 bottom piece version.
The yellow glue in the box even dried in the paint brush, dissolved in warm tap water and dawn soap in under a minute of washing. I have no inclination to watch the bottom panels seperate in hot water soak.

Issue 1.
The wood for the bottom cleats calls to use the 1/8" by 3/64" strip. Fact is, the 1/8" sided strip is to big to fit inside the laser scored lines on the bottom piece. So I dug out my Racehorse kit box and found a piece of lime strip that fit the laser burned outlines.

Right now it is drying, I did NOT try to do the "over abundance of glue" talked about in the manual.
 
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