Jeff Porteous's Repair Yard

[steveneill]

Re: Jeff Porteous's Repair Yard

I love that commerical! And IO know you will build it. It's a rare kit for sure. I only made two and you have the second. I still have mine and despite the offers will not sell it.

Thanks BD!

Steve

[steveneill]

Re: Jeff Porteous's Repair Yard

Got the holes cut out so the Manta lights just press in tight. They will be removed for painting.

Got the magnets installed for the bottom bow hatch.

Got the deck installed with magnets that seat into deep recesses to aid in proper alignment and hold down. This is very strong and difficult to get open with fingers alone. Good! The hydraulic pressure should not be an issue in popping it off.

Got the seam that Jeff hated soooo much blended. Gone.

Tomorrow I’ll blend the rear seam and close the gap. Go over the entire boat and get the bad spots. Red putty, preen and paint.

Lights should be here Monday and in they go.

More tomorrow. It will be all one color top and bottom.

Steve

[thor]

Re: Jeff Porteous's Repair Yard

Very nicely done, Steve! BZ...

[steveneill]

Re: Jeff Porteous's Repair Yard

Thanks Matt!

Steve

[steveneill]

Re: Jeff Porteous's Repair Yard

Been preening filing and sanding all day. I sprayed on about 4 a layer of primer on which happens to match the correct color. I used white primer on the bottom. Just about have all the blemishes. Still have the louvers to blend in and I fixed the Tesky…I mean pesky seam in the back.

A bit more tomorrow and I can install the lights. Then we wait on the sound board, battery, radio and observation deck to get here. Jeff’s working his hard on all of that. This gives me some time to preen some more, let the many layers of paint dry and clear coat it.

More tomorrow,

Steve

[steveneill]

Re: Jeff Porteous's Repair Yard

I’ve spent two days now going over the surface again and again to get her smooth. She’s looking great now. Louvers all blended in and the final paint on.

As you can see the stern seam is pretty darn clean now. Got the under sides of the dive planes in the stern and the sail painted white.

Opened up the underside of the deck holes even larger at Jeff request they are just to the edge of the deck which makes for nice clean looking limber holes. Not to mention the free flooding!

Tomorrow I will install the lights, lens and the rest. We should have a look at her all lighted up by tomorrow at this time.

Steve






Pick, pick, pick, I did a lot of this sort of thing.







Getting these louvers in wasn't easy. They didn't match the curve of the Nacelles well as they were designed for the DeBoer hull not this one.



Ready for lights and windows.

[pirate]

Re: Jeff Porteous's Repair Yard

Very nice Jeffrey, and nice gills.

That's how my oldest son used to pronounce girls when he was little—gills. Seeing them on the sides at the stern just reminded me of that—nice memory.

Pete

[steveneill]

Re: Jeff Porteous's Repair Yard

It took all day but she’s lighted. Randy’s Voodoofx custom lighting package like always wired up and worked as advertised. There’s a lot of wiring, soldering the board to hook up resistors and then there’s all those connectors. I made reflectors from half hemispheres. Tool dipped the bare wiring.

Currently she is light with the static displayed supplied 9 volt power source. A standard 9 volt battery will run her in the water. So when she’s on display in Jeff’s office or shop she can be lite.

Tomorrow final preening on the paint. Got to finish off and attach the head light guard. Paint the bridge area of the sail white. Little stuff while wait for the OR and the radio-batteries.


Steve

[greenman407]

Re: Jeff Porteous's Repair Yard

Looking great for sure. Hey whats with the brass wire cover for the main headlight?

[jefftytoo]

Re: Jeff Porteous's Repair Yard

Gotcha, Greenman! Take a look at the original VTTBOTS movie (particularly the minefield sequence) and/or any of the First TV Season bow closeups and you'll see that the eight-window version had a searchlight cage just like this one. ('Course this one isn't painted yet.) Credit goes to Paul Lubliner's research on same long ago, and his willingness to share the exact shape and design of what is usually obscured by murky underwater photography and/or bright backlighting by the searchlight lens itself. My intent (with the exception of adding a lot of speculative deck detail extrapolated from a few full-size deck set shots) has always been to go for as much accuracy as possible. Thanks for noticing!

Jeff

[pirate]

Re: Jeff Porteous's Repair Yard

Steve,
Where'd you get those half spheres for the lights?
Those would work perfect in my Perry mini sub.

Thanks,
Pete

[steveneill]

Re: Jeff Porteous's Repair Yard

Hey Pete. Right here: http://www.kitkraft.biz/home.php?cat=1263

Steve

[jefftytoo]

Re: Jeff Porteous's Repair Yard

Sunday, 7/3/11 --

Happy Fourth, everyone!

Spent the afternoon with Steve Neill. Went there intent on delivering my radio, receiver, one-piece plastic windows, completed sound FX boards from Neil Schmidt, and my own "finished" Observation Room. This all in preparation for Steve's WTC wiring work and eventual trim testing this week. Wound up trying to stay out of Steve's way while he chased bugs out of a suddenly finicky lighting system during much of the afternoon. We discussed plans for fitting out the boat's interior (it now looks like the battery and sealed lighting board will have to reside in the wet area—we're out of interior space and access) and in general caught each other up on the process. It was good to see my baby close up and in person again, now with a terrific Steve Neill paint job! Steve's really got his work cut out for him this week if we're to make my self-induced travel deadline next week. But a good start was made when he figured out that we could still use my (thought to be too large) original Futaba receiver by shoehorning it in without its outer shell, rather than having to resort to ordering a preferred smaller unit and losing precious time. Good luck, Steve. I hear the "Mission]Seaview[/i] work on this thread. I've been working on the Observation Room over the last couple of weeks almost to the exclusion of all else—or rather, it's been working on me. I finished it this morning (with explanation—see below). Here is a progression of related pics...

First step at Milliput-building up some of Merriman's upgrade kit's white metal straight-back chairs into the colorful Observation Room bucket seats we see up front near the windows in the first TV season.


Now filed and sanded.


More buildup for buckets and arms.


Beginning to alter the HO scale railroad (1/87 as opposed to 1/96) ready-made "policeman's desk" into the size and shape of the Seaview's Observation Room Control Desk.


Drilling holes for the legs of Merriman's credenza that holds the tiny version of the builder's Seaview model displayed on the Observation Room set.


Assorted ready-made white metal parts]http://i1143.photobucket.com/albums/n637/jefftytoo/IMG_3757.jpg[/img]

Adding thin brass rod legs to Merriman's credenza.


The finished and painted model-holding credenza.


Putting the legs on the HO scale railroad credenza. This one does not actually look much like the one on the set. Nelson must've been going through his temporary "Early American" period when furnishing the room for this patrol...


Building the side walls for the room.


Digicam-captured DVD freeze-frame image of the Giant Seaweed Monster from "The Condemned" episode of the first TV season—a favorite. This image will be reduced and printed to go inside the TV monitor in my miniature Observation Room—ostensibly the view brought in by the "nose camera." Our boys will apparently be battling this awesome fiend on every patrol!


First step to making a decent battle lantern]http://i1143.photobucket.com/albums/n637/jefftytoo/IMG_3776.jpg[/img]

Added silver paint for the "wall socket" and transparent Tamiya red for the bulb and I had my battle lantern.


Assorted tiny parts painted and now ready for installation]http://i1143.photobucket.com/albums/n637/jefftytoo/IMG_3784.jpg[/img]

Finished crew figures and bucket chairs. "Crane" and "Kowalski" were Floating Drydock white metal 1/96 sailors painted up as officer and enlisted. "Adm. Nelson" (seated) was a figure included with an HO railroad scale assortment. Of course, I had to paint him in khaki colors, adding "long sleeves" to his bare arms.


Figures and chairs being dull-coated.


Assorted views of the finished Control Desk. Many details added]actual[/i] one from the filming set, PhotoShopped out of a clean DVD screen grab and cleared of cast members' view-blocking hands and arms by SC buddy Tom Kisler. I then reduced it to print at scale size. Amazing. Looks good, don't it? Thanks again, Tom—great job!




First views of completed room. Some scale issues show up in these shots]love[/i] Mr. Merriman's tiny sculpted Seaview model. Also very happy with my own scratchbuilt fire extinguisher (it took three full attempts!) and hanging white wall phone. Can you find 'em in these or later shots? Just for fun, I added one of Merriman's white metal reel-to-reel computer consoles to double as an audio tape deck. Apparently, Nelson has been doing research on whale songs for the upcoming giant sperm whale (Moby Dick knockoff) episode, having the passive feed piped in from the Sonar shack. Obviously, he needs a clipboard and triangle for this. Big ashtrays everywhere too, of course. Poor guy never rests.


Look for the battle lantern in the next two shots. I'm pleased with it.



In this shot, Capt. Crane is clearly once again in solemn conference with Kowalski over the boat's dire predicament. Behind him is the set's familiar World wall map. Again, this is the actual map, not some model company's approximation, because Kisler PhotoShopped it out of a clean DVD screen grab, removed stuff blocking a clear view, and I reduced it to print at scale size. BZ again, Tom! To its left is the boat's Builder's Commissioning Plaque. Actually, in type too small to read except perhaps by microscope, this tiny printout lists all the providers of work or parts or know-how to this collaborative Seaview effort—from Rick Teskey and Steve Neill to Merriman and me and several others. Thanks to one and all.


Now the one-piece girder network, its build detailed earlier, gets added to the mix...



In the following three shots, you can sorta view the scratch recreation I made of the Builder's Plan Profile occasionally seen mounted to the filming set's port wall. It's sometimes seen in Nelson's cabin and elsewhere around boat as well, as is also that Seaview model. I'm sure there was just one of each of these things and the set decorator moved them around from shot to shot. Budget, y'know.




Finally, my experimental waterproofing method is attempted]http://i1143.photobucket.com/albums/n637/jefftytoo/IMG_3819.jpg[/img]




Thanks for following along with all this. See you at the pond sometime with my new NIMR grad/dreamboat. But first, more from Steve below, I hope, as Seaview goes together in final form, gets masts and last details and touch-ups, and of course, heads out to the pool for trimming and testing.

Later,
Jeff

[PaulC]

Re: Jeff Porteous's Repair Yard

Wow, Jeff! What a beautiful job on the observation room! Can't wait to see the boat in action. She's a winner!

[jefftytoo]

Re: Jeff Porteous's Repair Yard

Many thanks, buddy. You can see why I've been so preoccupied the last few weeks. Just added in some forgotten copy above if you wanna look it over again; my brain was pretty fogged when I was posting all this stuff (very) late last night...

Jeff