Ladders, Railings, & Chairs

Continuing on with the details - and an abundance there are aboard the Orca. I decided that there were a few details that would be easier to create with piano wire than plastic. I started with the ladder and after cutting the wire to length I began soldering. To solder the wire together I use a small torch to heat the wire then apply the solder to the joint. This process takes alot of practice to do correctly and SAFELY. Always be aware of how hot the parts get while you are working on something like this. Adding flux paste to the joint prior to heating it will help the solder to flow around the joint evenly.

The frame for the deck chair.

The railing that holds the barrels.

Railing attached to the boat.

On the actual boat there where areas of the railings that were covered in rope. Just wrapping these areas in thread would not accurately represent rope in miniature so I had to make "rope". I started by taking three lengths of thread and secured them in a vise. The other end of the threads I locked into the chuck of my cordless drill. Then using a slow setting on the drill I twisted the threads together to create the "rope". If I then removed the rope at this point it would just unravel so I had to keep it together. I then took white glue and covered the rope with it and let it dry. When it still felt tacky I took the rope out of the vise and drill and wrapped it around the railing. With the glue still tacky it helped keep the rope stuck to the wire.

Part 2!!

It's here! Part 2 of the article on the Orca in the latest issue of Psyco Styrene. Be sure to pick it up.

www.psychostyrene.co.uk/

Back to the Workbench for Details

I've been side tracked lately building and refinishing furniture so the Orca has been stuck in dry dock collecting dust. Now that things have settled down it's back on the workbench and I'm back to work. To ease back into it I started work detailing the transom.

I needed to add a moulding around the edges so I went to my trusty poster board and cut out a template first to test fit.

After I was happy with the template I transferred the shape to a piece of sheet balsa and cut it out.

The same goes for the letters that make up the infamous name except I cut those out in styrene.

Hidden behind the round plate(not sure what this is for on the real boat) I hid the jack for the DC transformer.

Just a few small details to complete the rear of the boat.