Fire Island Lightship

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May 11, 2014
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May 11, 2014
The "Tub"
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June 5, 2014
This kit is based on the Nantucket Lightship. Serious scratchbuilding of the bridge and new deck houses are needed to portray the Fire Island Lightship
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June 5, 2014
New bridge underway...
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June 5, 2014
Bridge and deckhouses coming along. The kit supplied parts for the Nantucket are in the foreground. The kit's rear cabin is acceptable but will be modified.
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June 6, 2014
Construction in-progress of middle deckhouse
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June 6, 2014
Middle deckhouse coming along...
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June 7, 2014
Railings on the bridge are done.
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June 8, 2014
Bridge doors made from plastic sheet.
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June 8, 2014
Door attached to bridge. Notice the "gingerbread" trim that has been added to the bridge.
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June 8, 2014
Plastic rod for door hinges.
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June 8, 2014
Plastic strip for hinge tines.
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June 8, 2014
Wire door handle.
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June 8, 2014
Finished door with kit ladder.
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June 10, 2014
The kit's rear cabin has been striped and sanded down. A couple of the portholes have been filled.
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June 10, 2014
More details added to the bridge, including brass handrails.
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June 10, 2014
Re-building the rear cabin.
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June 10, 2014
Making hinges for the mid cabin skylights.
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June 10, 2014
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June 10, 2014
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June 10, 2014
Finished hinges on the skylights.
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June 11, 2014
Replaced the chunky plastic cable on the hoist with nylon string.
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June 17, 2014
Making a new smoke stack out of rolled plastic sheet.
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June 17, 2014
Added trim from half-round and flat plastic strip.
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June 17, 2014
Added stack cap from plastic sheet.
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June 17, 2014
Adding deck features. The brown wood block is from the spare parts box.
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June 17, 2014
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June 17, 2014
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June 19, 2014
Finished and attached the smoke stack.
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June 19, 2014
Getting closer to being ready to paint.
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June 24, 2014
Had to make the four top funnels for the foghorn out of plastic rod and tube (curved by melting), and filler. The main-stem funnel is a modified kit part.
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June 25, 2014
About ready to start painting!
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June 29, 2014
The hull is primed with oxide red, which will also be the base color below the waterline.
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July 1, 2014
Paint: gray deck and cabin roofs; red hull
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July 2, 2014
Masking the gray cabin roof areas with Silly Putty so white paint can be applied.
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July 3, 2014
The dirty yellow color now being applied is called "spar".
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July 5, 2014
Printed from WordArt in Word on white decal paper using pink ink so any edges wouldn't show too bad after I cut-out the decals. Happily, the ink washes off!
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July 5, 2014
Starboard side done.
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July 5, 2014
Ship's bell in place. The dirty looking spots on the bridge are black oil-paint wash for weathering that has not yet been "rubbed-in" to the latex base.
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July 17, 2014
Boats are done; light prisms added (bare metal foil)
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August 3, 2014
All finished except for the rigging!
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August 3, 2014
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August 3, 2014
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August 3, 2014
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August 3, 2014
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September 5, 2014
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September 5, 2014
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September 5, 2014
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September 5, 2014

Comments

11 May 2014, 10:44

George Bacon
Back to building after a little hiatus of a few weeks. Update on the Fire Island Lightship is posted.

5 June 2014, 20:10

Hunter Cummins
Im liking it alot.its very interesting

8 June 2014, 12:56

George Bacon
Thanks Hunter! Lots of scratch-building to get the ship I want 🙂

8 June 2014, 15:24

Hunter Cummins
I can tell. And im learning alot about scratch buiding

8 June 2014, 15:26

H K
Welcome back George. This is a strange looking tank 😄

9 June 2014, 07:51

Jonathan Llewellyn
Great admiration for scratch building. Something I've never attempted.respect

9 June 2014, 08:00

George Bacon
Thanks H K! Building ships is a tank-less job 🙂

Thanks Jonathan. I like kit-bashing and scratch-building 🙂

10 June 2014, 18:09

Hunter Cummins
Update please?? Lol

1 July 2014, 13:53

George Bacon
Hi Hunter. Started painting! It's a big job on this project 🙂

1 July 2014, 15:45

Hunter Cummins
Yaay. I want to see you weather herl0 lol

1 July 2014, 18:21

George Bacon
All finished except for the rigging, which can't be done until after she is mailed to her new owner...

3 August 2014, 21:29

Acki
Hi George, this is so great! Like it very much. 👍👍👍

3 August 2014, 21:53

George Bacon
Thanks Acki! Not quite as good as your Biber, but it has been fun!

5 August 2014, 03:00

Acki
Very kind George, but the Biber can´t match with your light ship. Du sollst dein Licht nicht unter den Scheffel stellen! No idea what the translation is.

5 August 2014, 11:10

George Bacon
Finally finished with the lightship LV-114, Fire Island! Some new pictures up.

5 September 2014, 17:52