1/96 SEAWOLF Turnkey Build, Part-1

A Report to the Cabal:

Matt Thor built up the hull of this kit and sent it to me in primer gray. I outfitted
the provided WTC's with the electronics and hooked up the control surfaces and
trimmed it out (still in gray) at Lake Trashmore last weekend -- the boat worked
like a dream.

Matt also provided a killer shipping crate for the thing, so I'm sure it will arrive

alive and ready to run.

This little photo essay will deal with my work from primer gray structure up to completion of the painting, weathering and final trim dive before sending this thing along to the customer.

One of my stock WTC-3's was sent to be along with a built and primed 1/96 Thor kit of the USS SEAWOLF. Here I'm outfitting the WTC motor-bulkhead with the r/c receiver, servos, speed controller, APC-4, and BEC. Took about an evening to get the WTC up to speed and installed within the model.

Last weekend I operated the boat in the water for the first time -- worked just fine: good turning radius and rock steady depth control. No problems (other than a loose set-screw on the rotor, which necessitated a swim by me in some very cold February water!) encountered. From Trashmore to home where I gave the entire hull and appendages a good wet-sanding with #600 grit sandpaper.

The paints I use nowadays are the fine ChromaSystem system produced by DuPont. This two-part polyurethane system dries very quickly, is rock hard when cured, and has excellent density, no matter the color. All application was done with my old trusty Paache H Model outfitted with a No. 3 tip. Typical air pressure is 30 PSI.

Primer gray parts ready for painting.

First color to go down is the anti-foul red. Here applied to the appendages attached to the hull -- always start with the edges and holes, then the appendages, and finally the hull. As this was the first color, no need to mask anything yet -- just remembering to overspray will above the centerline of the hull. The tops of the four stern planes, lower rudder, and lower portions of the after shroud pieces were also painted anti-foul red.

Incidentally, years ago I went to a Navy supply center where I was permitted to lift a paint smear off of a can of 'Anti-foul Red, Formula 141' -- the real stuff. I have since used that chip to have custom batches of automotive paint (first the Lucite lacquer till that became unavailable here, I now use the ChromaSystem) to that specific color.

Everything in anti-foul red.

Once the anti-foul red had dried -- about an hour! - I went ahead and laid down masking for the 'brown' seen on some boats, between centerline and the waterline. Masking was also applied to the control surfaces as well.

The brown went down with plenty of overspray atop the hull, above the waterline. Here you see the after section of the pump-jet ready for the brown paint, a 50/50 mix of anti-foul red and the 'black' I formulated for submarine models.

Masking removed from the red/brown demarcation line. Time to mask off from waterline down to ready the model for the black.