Revell Northsea Trawler (Complete)

Do an image search for "Grimsby Trawlers".

A white hull would look nice.

Darkhorse, I picked up this kit the other day after finding an ad online for a real one for sale that had been converted into a mini cruise ship. Only 12 cabins, very cozy. So that’s what I’m envisioning; a mini cruise ship running on the Great Lakes in summer and moving to the Caribbean for the winter. Follow the snowbirds as it was. 

  I’ve so far trimmed off two of the three fish hold covers and at the suggestion (read that; DEMAND) of a good friend in Tennesse, I’m going to make it look like there’s a pool installed.

As far as colors, I agree. That baby puke color of the superstructure has to go. I picked up a can each of Testors spray Gloss Bright Blue for the hull and Gloss Yellow for the superstructure. I think it’ll be pretty eye catching when it’s done.

This isn’t the exact one I saw, but it gives you the general idea.

https://m.boatdealers.ca/boats-for-sale/361131/custom-north-sea-expedition-trawler-powell-river-british-columbia

Well;

 If you were going OOB the deckhouse colors , to me were wrong anyway . Long Distance trawlers didn't have that much Brightwork showing period ! Bright-work makes a yacht look nice .We are talking about a working vessel here . Tuna Clippers were even more yacht like than most folks are aware . Many were all White with minimal brightwork and chotskies . 

 Then there were the " Showboats of the Pacific Fisheries . Brightwork out the wazoo and , very yacht looking . My Uncle's boats were a light sand color with No external brightwork . His thoughts , They are workboats , not toys !

 Most Trawlers and Long - Liners looked close to scrapping . Why ? the catch was more important than the looks ." Get on the fish , not in the yards ! " 

Thanks for the tips. I found a pretty good image via google of the St Georges, which could be a good guide (although this looks 5o be an old hand colored photograph, so it may not be accurate). The hull is more of a gray-blue and supersructure ochre instead of the odd beige, some reds on the deck that pop. I’m planning to use acrylics for this project.

That is Nice : 

    This is an excellent photo to go by . Yes , Some did have what the Coast Guard calls Buff . It's either a reddish or doeskin tan and every shade in between .

  Hull color is good . Now bear in mind , some trawlers ran their rig on one or the other side and some show heavy signs of this . This is like the model , a side trawl vessel .

  Stern Trawlers are a whole nuther animal . Many have the rig you see on salvage and research vessels .The big gantry on the stern for handling the net !  T.B.

The USCG generally uses the term "Spar" for the buff topside color. But that's neither here nor there- this is a commercial British verssel. 

This type of boat did a lot of fishing in the Arctic, and they get pretty beat up.

I'm working on a purse seiner right now, out of Spokane by way of Monterey CA. She's white with black trim, smart looking.

I don't think there's any color scheme that could be called "wrong", just no polished brass.

Well ! Ditto " G " 

Merchies often have "unique" paint jobs; fishermen doubly so.

I remember one that appeared to have been painted by a color-blind skipper.  Or, just a cheap one who only bought returns--imagine a miz of lavender, coral, pink, and some red-violet.  In patches.  Maybe 5 gallon's worth at a time.

I've also seen hulls in nothing but red primer.  Decks, too.

Unless you have pulled out a specific reference photo to match, the choice is yours.  So, pick something you will enjoy.

You can absolutely go to town on the paintjob here. Paint it whatever colour you like. There's tonnes of weathering you could do to it too. Rust, grime, seagull poop! I wouldn't mind having a go at this kit myself after I've finished Victory (so, in about 35 years).

Your last Comment !

 I was reading a book and in it there was a fictitious game called " Pigeon Poop " The goal .Let your pigeons poop on as many landmarks and folks as you could . Hmmm. Pigeon Poop replaced by Seagull Leavings ?

I’m finally digging into the project. Working with brushing with the Vallejo paints I purchased has been going well, but my first attempt with the airbrush and the acrylics was sort of splatty (maybe too much of the Tamiya thinner?). I gave the airbrush a good cleaning and I‘ll try again this weekend when I do the hull.

I did most of the deck by brush, only taping the containers and airbrushing a dark base coat. The detailing is really odd in that the grain and spaces between the planks is raised instead of recessed, I tried to make it work and it made painting individual planks easy. I decided to make the ship a real working vessel and making it seem pretty worn. 

Hmmm;

 I see fish juice and scales already in the corners .Alright !

CapnMac82

I've also seen hulls in nothing but red primer.  Decks, too.

Wow, that looks great.  can't wait to see more

GMorrison

Hey, I had a car like that

Saw one the other day that looked almost camoflaged from all the different colors of gray primer on it.  The hints of both red and green Bondo just reinforced that impression

I’m starting  paint the hull today and I started having trouble taping things up for the waterline. I improvised.

I don't know why but some hulls just drive you crazy trying to get the tape to form a straight line along the lenght of it.

Marcus

It was a rainy day in Southern California yesterday, so I made a lot of progress. Now onto the superstructure! It’ll have to wait, though. I’m off to a mine in the desert today. That part on the deck with the rope/nets was horrible: the set has ridiculous flashing, which that part had in spades, and it was terribly formed. I had to do a lot of fine sanding, scraping, chiseling and basically sculpting to make the part look presentable.

Here’s a closeup. 

Would You Please get that fishy smelling thing away from my fine Yacht ?  You are doing very well there . I would have recomended taking the Winch and rope and re-doing them scratch . 

 There's a lot on that boat you will find with flash . Remember it's been around for over twenty years and Gosh knows how the molds have been cared for . I wouldn't be surprised if you have problems with the deck-house and upper stuff .

Hey " G "

Is that your daily driver ? LOL.LOL. that's something you don't see much anymore , a real Jeep !

Oh, no way. My F-in-Law left it. Neither his daughter or her brother wanted it as a project, so it's gone.

Purely a hunting car, hence the rifle box in front of the windscreen.

This trawler is looking good. I'd recommend at this point to get it permanently mounted to a base.

Tanker - Builder

Would You Please get that fishy smelling thing away from my fine Yacht ?  You are doing very well there . I would have recomended taking the Winch and rope and re-doing them scratch . 

 There's a lot on that boat you will find with flash . Remember it's been around for over twenty years and Gosh knows how the molds have been cared for . I wouldn't be surprised if you have problems with the deck-house and upper stuff .

 

Thanks! Any tips on how to go about doing that aspect of scratch building? I’ve never done it before, this is only my second build. 

I‘d like to learn some scratch building because, as I mentioned in the diorama forum, I want to alter the set of the Russian nuclear icebreaker Arktika to make the other icebreaker Yamal (a very striking vessel).

Actually ! You did not cheat !

 The normal way that Waterlines and Boot stripes are done on any model , unless it's molded in , is this . The model is supported in a position that's level , side to side and fore and aft to where the lines should be . 

 Then here's the rub , You get a good soft lead pencil Or a Sharpie marking pen Medium point . Take this and rig a block you can hold , That is the right heighth when the pencil or Sharpie is on the hull . Now take the block and slide it to the point where the writing tool touches the hull at the bow .

 Gently slide it along the hull following the hull's curve . This has worked for hundreds of years and still works now . When done you will have what you need .

 I use the Sharpie  because under a coat of Acrylic Semi-Gloss it is as black as paint . I picked this up from all the car guys I know , that use Sharpies to do the black stuff around today's modern car glass .

 It makes Boot striping easier And you can also ( if you are brave ) use a scribe or engraving tool . Mark the hull with a scribed line instead . Then tape off and spray or brush paint the lines freehand .

You Know ;

 I concur with G on that . Now's the time to mount it to a base . With Pedestals , Yard type blocks or whatever .

Sounds like a good project . There are lots of tutorials on scratch building here and in Kalmbach's dvd of Model Ship Builders Collection . That DVD is specifically for model boat builders . 

 I could show you a way to make a winch for instance out of the right sized push pins and some .040 plastic . The drawings and explanation would take a day though . Doing it for my classes took about an hour .

 If You want I will send drawings and text to you by snail mail if you want ! Just contact me on the message board . Tanker Builder 

It’s been a week, and I’ve finished the bulk of the superstructure (still unglued to the hull). What a slog! I learned thing or two about planning big parts like this out. Thankfully the windows were actually quite easy to do, I was dreading that part but I took an unconventional route of just filling them in with my Faber Castell artist pens (the finest-topped one they make). On the while I’m finding using acrylics far more easier and fun to work with, the downside is that the paint seems quite fragile. I do prime, so the paint does have some teeth, but still it’s easy to wipe or wear or chip off paint at the high points.

Hi,

That looks incredible.

Tanker - Builder

Actually ! You did not cheat !

 The normal way that Waterlines and Boot stripes are done on any model , unless it's molded in , is this . The model is supported in a position that's level , side to side and fore and aft to where the lines should be . 

 Then here's the rub , You get a good soft lead pencil Or a Sharpie marking pen Medium point . Take this and rig a block you can hold , That is the right heighth when the pencil or Sharpie is on the hull . Now take the block and slide it to the point where the writing tool touches the hull at the bow .

 Gently slide it along the hull following the hull's curve . This has worked for hundreds of years and still works now . When done you will have what you need .

 I use the Sharpie  because under a coat of Acrylic Semi-Gloss it is as black as paint . I picked this up from all the car guys I know , that use Sharpies to do the black stuff around today's modern car glass .

 It makes Boot striping easier And you can also ( if you are brave ) use a scribe or engraving tool . Mark the hull with a scribed line instead . Then tape off and spray or brush paint the lines freehand .

 

I had no idea that was how it's been done over the years, but that's exactly how I did the fouling/water line on my Black Pearl build. Just seemed like the simplest way to do it at the time. 

Flint