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David Merriman's 57" Seaview
part 7 |
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Would you be interested in a kit of the Seaview Observation Room?
Email CultTVman@aol.com
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Glancing through the
CultTVman bulletin board, reading the SEAVIEW and FLYING SUB threads -- current and future model building/kit-assembly ideas being kicked around by some of the Guild members can be a problematic
experience for me. On one hand I see a profound interest in the SEAVIEW and the FLYING SUBMARINE (FS-1) out there in Cult land. A good thing.
On the other hand, as I glance through the gabbing
that goes on in the boards, I detect a disturbing lack of real commitment and discipline out there; the best most of you can boast is an opened kit box with a few pieces sloppily stuck together with
crazy glue, your evidence a fuzzy, e-mail squeezed digital image taken as your shaky hands hovered over your just smeared together pride and joy.
Please, most of you are all talk and little
build/assemble; many, many words used as you fret over the minutest of vehicle detail, spouting enthusiastically what you PLAN to do, yet, inevitably, when all the hot air has been issued, precious few
finished models are presented for examination. No, most of the chatter is simple gum banging as you engage in the constant, never ending ego dominant sport of, 'I know more about the effects miniatures
than you do'. Yeah, I'm talking about the bulletin board at the Cult site. I can only imagine the amplitude of the tonalities, issued by the usual suspects who resonate within the Cult chat sessions
whenever the SEAVIEW and FLYING SUBMARINE are brought up.
How about getting off your collective butts, pushing yourselves away from the keyboards, enter your respective work shops (you people do
actually have dedicated working spaces for kit-assembly, don't you?) and BUILD/ASSEMBLE SOMETHING!!!!!!
Why my fury? Try this:
One of you characters,
asked the inevitable hot-button question, "... is the recast of an item no longer available a bad thing?" The statement was likely instigated by a previous poster who suggested that the Oz Shop SEAVIEW (an excellent kit) was the subject/victim of one or more recaster's over the years.
Yes, recasting without the properties owners permission is a bad thing. Always. Here's why: If a company decides to go dormant for a period of time with a product, that companies interest in that
property does not go away simply because they have taken it off the market.
Example:
A few decades ago I produced a resin kit of a von Braun rocket. During the initial run I produced and
sold approximately fifty units. I hope to reintroduce that kit some day. However, using this rational, (and I'm assuming here that in his loaded question, submitted to the Cult bulletin board, that he is
looking for tacit approval of the practice of recasting favorite, but unavailable kits) it's Ok for someone to take one of my kits, use it as a ready-made box of masters, produce tooling from them, to
then go to market with recast items under another label - they're action predicated on the assumption that I was out of the game, my right of ownership forfeited because I failed to keep that particular
kit in constant circulation. Damn it! It doesn't work that way!
Hey, get it straight: Recasting without the owners permission is stealing. Wake up out there! Recasting is stealing.
By the
way, I've seen the Oz Shop kit and it's a great piece of work. Also, I have to concur with falcondesigns praise of the limited run Paul Lubliner kit, that thing stands as the Gold standard of SEAVIEW
kits. By the way, for what it's worth, I hereby certify Paul Lubliner as the absolute authority concerning all things Voyage related; the man is not only a top notch researcher (on a par with Gary Kerr)
he's also one of the finest craftsmen I know.
I too wish that Paul Lubliner's little resin SEAVIEW's were currently available. And God help anyone I find knocking his kits off.
You know,
it occurs to me that the issue of pirated kits would be solved if there appeared on the scene a large-scale injection kit producer of the SEAVIEW; an outfit with the legal assets and clout to keep the
thieves at bay. Also, if, by some miracle, a big time injection kit manufacturer invested the time and treasure to produce an accurate model kit of the SEAVIEW we would not have to suffer through a pile
of expensive resin and vacuformed kits of this subject, each varying in quality of material and accuracy of scale. This 'Ultimate SEAVIEW kit' would put a stop to these ever droning threads about 'which
is the best garage kit of the SEAVIEW out there?
One more thing, while I still have ink:
Through my considerable efforts here at the Cult site you have been gifted with the how-too of model
building. Now you, instead of constantly harping about the quality/accuracy of a garage kit, can manufacture your own garage kits of whatever SF vehicle/figure you hold dear to your heart; I've given you
the know-how to design, work out a methodology, make the masters, produce the tools, and make the model parts. And I've shown you how to assemble and paint them too. This resource is now on hand and it's
just a mouse click away, tucked safely within the pages of the Cult site. LOOK FOR IT before you post again.
Drink deep and learn. Or, regrettably, keep wasting your time on the Bulletin Boards,
forever bogged down in the minutia of 'research' and the adolescent game of gotcha.
Want to build better models? ... Was that a plaintive, muffled 'yes' I heard out there? ... Then,
build models! Get away from the keyboard, read my articles and practice the craft.
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The completed Navigator's table. The chart atop the table is, by the way, a reproduction, in miniature, of a topographical map
of our local r/c model boating site, Lake Trashmore. The table was a single cast resin piece further detailed with a cast metal, hand-held microphone (seen in almost every Irwin Allen SF
production).
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The drafting machine, drafting triangle, and clipboard were also cast metal pieces. Preparing them for painting, the metal and
resin pieces were degreased in lacquer thinner, the metal parts pickled in acid, and all pieces primed with automotive lacquer primer. Painting consisted of a spray coat of automotive lacquer off-white
for the bulk of the Navigator's table. The other smaller items were hand brushed using water-soluble acrylic paint.
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Special knifes were ground to shape from hacksaw blades and mounted in an X-acto blade handle. These specialty knives were used
to scrape and cut within the tight confines of the assembled and glued girder network. All unions between the girder parts had been glued with CA adhesive and, where significant gaps presented
themselves, filled with automotive two-part filler. The special knife blades were handy as I got into those tight joint areas between the 'H' sectioned girders to knock down the excess filler and glue.
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The 'computer' console situated in the aft port quarter of the Observation Compartment was a single resin piece. Two cast metal
reel-to-reel machines, inserted into wells atop the console, further detailed the piece. Here you see the results of a rather involved painting session, needed to get this item up to the scheme seen in
the last season of the TV show. The light green of the consoles and red of the reel drives was applied with an airbrush.
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The rest of the paintwork was done with small bristle brushes. After all painting had been done the model was spray coated with
a gloss clear and, when that dried, the entire unit highlighted with a black wash to pick out corners, switches, and other high relief items. The silver rub strip around the table portion of the console
is a narrow piece of self-adhesive Bare-Metal aluminum foil
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The significant Observation Compartment masters. These were built from plastic sheet, Ren Shape (a synthetic pattern making
'wood'), and Electrician's tape. Here each master - representing the after bulkhead with corrugated 'crash door', the two side bulkheads, deck, girder foundation, Navigator's table, computer console, and
two short transverse bulkheads (patricians that separate the forward 'Officer's country' from the rest of the OC) - is shown just before application of the first primer coat.
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The painted sub-assemblies that make up the Observation Compartment. This photos well illustrates my philosophy of keeping the
'model' parts separate and apart for as long as possible during the many stages of construction and finishing. The five vertical wall and bulkhead pieces, figures, Navigator's table, Computer console,
the girder network foundation piece, they all secure to the deck with machine screws.
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The figures, spiral stair case, wardroom table, FS access hatch, FS access hatch guard railing, chairs, and even the floor
mounted ashtray, secure to the deck by pins mounted in the base of each item, those pins passing through corresponding holes drilled into the deck.
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Partial assembly of the Observation Compartment. In fact everything seen here is held in place either with the aid of a 6-32
machine screw or a friction fit pin/hole fastener. Only the girder array foundation piece has yet to be mounted to the OC deck.
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The advantage of keeping as many model sub-assemblies free, as unique units unto themselves - not gluing everything together at
the first opportunity - permits the builder to work each sub-assembly to the final painting stage without interference by adjacent structures. Note on the outboard side of the OC unit a foundation piece,
one of two used to secure and align the OC unit within the bow of the SEAVIEW model.
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All metal parts were readied for priming by first soaking each in Ferric Chloride acid. This is called, 'pickling'. The
microscopically pitted surface of the treated metal parts are thus endowed with the 'tooth' needed to better grab the primer, assuring strong adhesion of primer and the subsequent paint coats to each
metal part. .
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After a quick dunking in acid the part is rinsed in fresh water, wiped dry with a lint free cloth, and then primed. Those metal
parts already bonded to plastic pieces are treated like the others - the acid does not attack styrene, ABS, or most other plastic materials used in model construction
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The assembled Observation Compartment, ready for installation within the fifty-seven inch long DeBoer SEAVIEW model.
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It's my sincerest hope that you take the work I've presented so far, and in future installments, and make use of these
techniques and materials as you work your own specific model building/kit-assembly projects.
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The DeBoer r/c'ed SEAVIEW model at a flank bell, ballast tank filling, on its way down 'express' to patrol depth. The
Observation Compartment, discussed in this installment, is but one of several major modification/additions done to enhance the look and performance of this exceptionally fine GRP (fiberglass) model kit
offered by DeBoer Hulls (AKA, North stare Productions). Check this kit out at,
http://www.deboerhulls.com/Seaview.htm
coming next: section 8 which covers the sail
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