Lake Victoria Gunboat - Part Three

So today’s report from the slipway, sees the top deck completed and painted.

The first thing to be completed was the wheelhouse. This was constructed from plasticard and then undercoated it black.

Next I glued a strip of light card around the outside of the top deck sides to smooth out the curvature.

The deck was in danger of looking too bland, so I added some clutter. First was a safety wall around the stairwell – proving that health and safety concerns were addressed. Second I added two sets of storage lockers along the sides, one along the rear of the deck and one in front of the wheelhouse. The whole assembly was then undercoated black.

When the undercoat dried, both the wheelhouse and the main structure was painted with two coats of grey and then weathered with a black wash.

To finish the funnel, the top 10mm of the was painted black.

Finally the wheelhouse was fixed in place.

The portion of the super structure roof that was not covered by the upper deck was covered with thin card, painted various shades of brown and deck grooves drawn on the deck with a pencil. The deck was then varnished to protect the pencil lines.

The superstructure was then glued to the hull and held down with a weight until the glue set. Then the top deck was glued in place.

When all the glue was set I looked at the model and decided it was too dark so I gave the whole thing a light dry brush of very pale grey and a bit of weathering.

I made a small rowboat from off cuts of foam board that was shaped then covered with green stuff, painted white and glued to the stern deck.

All that remains to complete now is the armament, anchors, chains, ropes, bollards and some general deck clutter. This will be added a bit at a time during work on other projects.