A Conversion job Modern to Older

[model tugman]

My friend bought this Sun XXI off of an auction site, and then spent a few weeks painting it and getting it to look nice and bright, But the discovered that the superstructure which was made entirely of plasticard was not only warped but was also coming apart at the seams literally it was falling apart, so he asked if I could remake it into an older version Sun tug the Sun XII which was a steam tug, so here we go.

[model tugman]

First a couple of pictures of the real thing, the motor tug and the steam tug,
Back to the conversion, luckily the deck easy extremely well fitted and strongly made of wood.so not much work involved there.

[model tugman]

I started by making the main casing and then the engine room top,and rope cradle along with the after cabin top.

[model tugman]

Unfortunately when he brightened the original model up he varnished everything, so nearly a whole day was spent removing varnish from the hull and deck and rubbing it down ready for some undercoat,once this was done the forward bulwarks were altered, by removing the raised bow screen and new capping fittedand then undercoating the superstructure.
The new funnel was made next ,by wrapping two layers of 1/32nd ply around a balsa former and glueing them together, also the planked deck overlayscwere cut out.
More to follow as work progresses.

[tugboyben]

Morning George
Great job you are doing. can you tell me how you do the ply deck to look planked

Jason

[model tugman]

Hi Jason,  all I do is to cut it to shape from ply .on this size model I use 1/32nd, and on the bigger ones I use 1/16th, then carefully draw the planking design on with a black ball point pen, pressing down quite hard to get the caulking effect , then give it a light wash over with diluted wood stain and the Matt varnish it.  Geo

[sea monkey]

Good to see you back at the bench George.
Steve

[model tugman]

A little update to the build so far.

[model tugman]

Just a couple more pictures of the build mainly paintwork and handrails.

[tugboyben]

Fantastic  George
What's next's 

Jason

[model tugman]

The Christmas bar comes next matey, I always convert my little workroom to a bar this time of year,but I am looking at the Ocean Cock in her original guise with the gray hull and gold line around the bulwarks it's just a thought at the moment,as we are off on hols in Jan.  Geo

[model tugman]

Another little update on progress so far for the Sun XII

[tugnut]

Looking good Bro Trev will be pleased with her .

[model tugman]

Cheers Bro, 👍👍👍

[sea monkey]

I think we need some photos of the new bar in action.
Steve