Narco Sub! From Chinese laser cut fishing boat kit

pebbleworm

pebbleworm

Joined
Jul 26, 2013
Messages
380
Points
158

I've been a little stuck drawing up dimensioned plans for an overly ambitious scratchbuild- Silly me, I didn't think I'd need them. But I have also been itching to cut some wood. With Columbian Narco Subs in the news and one of those ten dollar Chinese laser cut fishing boat kits at hand I decided to build one. The kit is this one:
www.aliexpress.com

8.3US $ 43% OFF|Ship Assembly Model Diy Kits Wooden Sailing Boat 1:50 Scale Decoration Toy Gift|Model Building Kits| - AliExpress

Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com
www.aliexpress.com www.aliexpress.com
An astonishing bargain, and very nicely done. Since EVERYTHING is laser cut, the fittings are a little crude, but it would build into a nice fishing boat kit. It is also small, which made planking a little difficult. Since the real Narco Subs are lumpy fiberglass, that really won't matter. The hull went together in a day, with the stem sharpened up and the stern extended and rounded off. I'll post pictures when it starts to look interesting. If you are not familiar with these modern pirate ships, just google the term. Or the mother lode of information is at:
[/URL]
 
Here is what it looks like now under a coat of timber mate and supports for the upper deck and grossly over-engineered but quick to install mounting points for the deck hardware. I'll be using the paper backed veneer samples in the picture for the deck itself, and probably a layer of fine fabric over the entire thing to simulate the fiberglass.
I100719B.jpg
100719A.jpg
 
Serendipity! My wife scrapped out a silk blouse this morning that should look like 1/70 or so scale fiberglass cloth if the paint and adhesive doesn't fill up the warp and woof. Or weft if you are a stickler. English is a very strange language. At this scale it probably should, and I don't have to go looking for fine weave fabric.
 
Some progress. The silk blouse material is now on the hull. I'll be sorry to cover up the pattern with paint, but as sharp as it looks it is not authentic... I covered the hull with a a few layers of shellac, and after that had dried I used a small clothes iron to attach the silk. Shellac melts at a low temperature, and the iron smoothed out most of the wrinkles in the fabric. Any stubborn folds were just slit open and ironed down again. Deck house and forward bilge piping are in place. Vents, hatches, exhaust, heat exchanger and little mysterious details can be added now.
silk on.jpg
 
It's still in progress! I wasn't happy with the paint and needed to find a way to show how low in the water she rides, but have found some solutions. Most wood glues melt and re-harden under heat, so it is a useful trick I learned from furniture refinishing. More news as it happens.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top