Patterns, What if they are Wrong?

Cool !I made this steel could cover from sheet plastic;. 

Hi Gene:

        Yeah! This will be seen by a group of Model RailRoaders that tend to build to the History of the Steel Mills and this Client/Hobby Shop Owner is a member of this group! He is very knowledgeable in Trains, not so much in Ships. He and His Missus are always welcomed with open Arms at our Train Shows. They are just all around great Folks!

Kudos to you for sticking with it and seeing it through!I hope the effort is worth it!

Thank You!Gene:

        The fact is one of Passedownedness. There is a chance that the client didn't know what was there. I inventoried the kit there were Glaring missing patterns and parts issues, right off the bat. I knew this going in. Now That said, the Kit is massive. There are draw marks on the hull from the Vac process. This was expected as I have dealt with this on larger Sailing and Powerboat kits.

       I will admit I was caught unawares by the lack of and offsize patterns. The kits I have built and developed over the years have had these things in the size for the model's size. Or at least they tell you, "patterns drawn at half scale-Enlarge to fit" I did not go into this without knowing there were repairs to be made. After all, How could I possibly leave lines of Dayports going downhill on the bow areas. She's looking good now. And I decided to open seven hatches showing the Taconite inside.The Taconite being modified Coal loads from larg Rail Gondola loads.

        This was done Because, if all the hatches were done closed I would've needed 1,025 little clamps of the style used to lock down the hatches. By opening seven and fudging a little I can get by with 200. The biggest problem? I have gone to Great Lakes Steamer sites and Museum sites, and can get NO good detail shots of hatches, or Wheelhouse details, much less the aft cabin roof details. Working obliquely is more difficult, because you sit sit and wonder ,"Well, is that part on centerline or port, oh, maybe Starboard side." I want this to be as good as I can make it for him. 

        Yes folks, I am a worry wart! Remember this is making me pull up memories from 70 years ago, and them clouded by time! I will get there! NOTE= GENE, the BEARCO firm only did Vac Kits and those only were Tanker Ships and Taconite/Grain/Ore ships from The Great Lakes!

Yes sometimes I use a profile gauge to make my own bulkheads when the kit supplied formers are wrong or absent .

The more esoteric or less served the market segment, the greater likelyhood the parts will not match the plans or the actual thing.  Or even fit.  It's one of those modelling axioms.  Vac kits even more so.

I have had the displeasure aircraft kits that had wings halves of differing chord and span, fuselages of differing lengths, heights, width and cross section profiles and such, and never mind the poor fit.

We make do with what we have on hand.  The vac modeller is especially aware of this.  Most times it is better to fabricate your own bulkheads rather than trying to trim and fit the kit's vague, blobby parts.

I have built several Vac Form aircraft kits and the fit was generally pretty good ,but they were from quality manufacturers such as Contrail,A model and Rareplanes.Never heard of Bearco but I think that they assume you are a pretty advanced modeler who knows how to overcome fit issues(you) .Glad to read that you are progressing nicely.

Yeah Ed: For Sure!

    I am at 45% on the build now and it is going fine.

Bill:

               I don't mean to sound whiney. I am just surprised that this particular niche of models has been so badly served. You and I know how to do this stuff, this did put me into a wee bit of shock. I began to understand why the Client then came to me.

      I was just trying to make it clear that maybe, Web Site or not, that BEARCO is no longer serving the public!! And to be a little whiney over a historic group of ships, truly underserved is Shameful to me. I do love a challenge, Maybe if others are floating around out others might Not want to be faced with it!

       Oh, and to further underscore the non-whiney aspect, that's why I buy a lot of Ships, Cars and Armor at train shows. "They's like a box of chocolates, You never know what yer gonna get" That kind of challenge I am up to. Remember when I told ya'll about the plane I was gonna buy and the fella couldn't find the fuselages for the two sets of plane parts and just gave it to me.Then when I got it home there was a bag at the bottom that had all four parts of the two fuselages in there,They were so clear we both missed it!

Bill, had somewhat similar situation about 48yrs ago involving i think Monogram Cheyene attack helicopter that had instructions for either the Huey or the Cobra. used the box art that showed the Cheyene to help me put the model together. i don't remember any mistakes in doing the model.

TB, I love you like a brother, but you are whining. Modeling always has its sets of challenges. I once bought two aircraft kits from a seller, no instructions included as stated.

For the sake of economy, they threw both sets of sprues into a box together. Problem- both airfix and both the same color styrene. It happens.

Bill

Fix 'em or live with them.