SSBN659's ALFA OVERHAUL

[Kazzer]

Which Rustoleum exactly. Some are oil based and others a water based. I would imagine you put an oil base on first, then a water based primer.

[SSBN659]

I'm using Rustoleum Automobile Primer containing Toluene, Xylene, and Acetone, fast drying and wet sandable.

SSBN659

[Kazzer]

So, you're applying a Rustoleum primer over the top of a Rustoleum top coat? If so, I'd suggest you have a word with Rustoleum's tech support guys. It's obvious you're using the wrong thing. Maybe a coat of Kilz would help? You can get that in a rattle can.

[NavyICman]

You don't want to apply LACQUERS over ENAMELS. This is because the solvents used in lacquers are stronger and faster evaporating than enamel solvents, and the lacquer solvents can 'dissolve' the enamel paint underneath them, leading to "alligatoring" or cracking or other things that TOTALLY ruin the paint finish. When something like this happens, your best bet is to wipe the whole mess off with a paper towel soaked in lacquer thinner, allow it to dry thoroughly, sand anything else off if necessary, and start over with the finishing process...

[SSBN659]

Many thanks for the advice. I now believe it was the clear coat that caused the problem and have started removing the primer with lacquer thinner as suggested.


I've jumped ahead a bit with the paint issue but will get back on track in my next post. Thanks again for the help.

SSBN659

[NavyICman]

No problem. I had a similar issue when I was putting together an old Kyosho Fairwinds sailboat (yes, a honest to goodness kit, not the RTR FW II or FWIII 900). I wiped the hull with lacquer thinner and laid down a Enamel primer. Then proceeded to paint the hull with an lacquer automotive paint. Needless to say the enamel alligatored ruthlessly on me and thus my lesson was born. I had to wipe off everything and sand it down. Then I re-primed the hull with an appropriate primer for the paints I was using and the hull came out gorgeous.

Tim

[SSBN659]

The lacquer thinner suggestion worked, thanks again Tim, but I had to go over the upper hull twice to get rid of all the primer and the clear coat. Also, I can see where the primer has filled in much of the scribing so re-scribing is another extra to add to the specs for this overhaul. I’ll talk about that in a future post.


Now back to the plan for correcting the gap between the upper and lower hull. Recall I taped the compressed hull and set it in the sun for a few hours and thought that took care of the problem. Unfortunately the upper hull “migrated”, for lack of a better word, and the gap opened up again.

So, I filled in the gap as shown below using blue tape and petroleum jelly to mask the hull. After spreading the filler I let it cure for a few minutes then pulled back the tape while it was still a bit soft. It looks like a nice clean fit but we’ll see if it stays that way. I guess that’s the downside of polyester resin hulls.


SSBN659

[SSBN659]

I’m still playing around with the joint between the upper and lower hull but I’ll eventually get to a point where I’m happy with it. For now I’ll set that work aside and cover some of the scribing work I’ve done. The first two pictures show the condition of the upper hull after I removed all the primer and clear coat using lacquer thinner.


Then I started re-scribing circles and squares that I had templates for. Still some work left to do there as you can see in the next two pictures.


I needed an ellipse template for the torpedo doors but didn’t have that fit so I experimented a bit. After several trials I found a way to produce a reasonably good template using a piece of plastic cup sandwiched between two pieces of wood and cut at different angles on the drill press.


Then I taped the template to the bow and re-scribed the doors.


Finally, I applied a light coat of grey primer (no “alligatoring” this time) to highlight flaws needing more work. I penciled in the re-scribed doors for the following picture just to show the results better.


Still needs more work but I’ll get there one day.

SSBN659

[Peter W]

like the way you did those Torpedo doors, the Alfa's looking good.

Peter

[SSBN659]

Thanks Peter, it's getting there - slowly.

SSBN659

[SSBN659]

It’s been awhile but I’ve re-scribed all original scribing work on the Alfa. Because I don’t do it every day scribing is a time consuming effort for me. Mistakes are easy to make and easy to correct and I find that each correction must be sanded, primed and cleaned out with a fine tool.

Here are pictures of the work in progress.


At this point the Alfa is very close to being ready for painting. Because the upper hull still will not line up with the lower hull the way I want it to I will make some indexing tabs for the upper hull. If that doesn’t work I may try installing raw earth magnets in both upper and lower hulls to keep them lined up.

SSBN659

[SSBN659]

Update on the indexing tabs – it worked out and although I have the rare earth magnets, I did not have to use them. I covered the hull with plastic from the drycleaners, taped it down and epoxied some fiberglass ribbon so it would conform to the hull radius. When dry I cut the ribbon to proper length and epoxied one each side to the inside of the upper hull.


I did a test coat of flat black on the upper hull to see what it would look like.


It reminded me of a visit I made to the submarine base at Pearl Harbor in 1980. The boats I saw docked there were a very threatening looking flat black. At that time I knew very little about modern day subs and I never did learn the names of the ones I saw although I assume they were attack subs. Anyhow, I decided to use a satin black enamel instead and dull it down later with a flat clear coat. Seems like every time I touched the flat black it left a scuff mark.

Then I painted the under side with a satin red enamel not bothering to do any masking at this point. I would mask the red before painting the black hoping to mask only one time.


After painting the lower hull I wet sanded the upper hull with 320 grit, then masked the lower hull using blue painter’s tape and newspaper.


Although I painted the upper hull this afternoon, I haven’t yet taken any pictures. That will come in my next post.

SSBN659

[greenman407]

Beautiful, to say the least. Thats one sleek looking boat.

[greenman407]

You mentioned you got the boat unassembled from Canada? Who produced the hull, if I may ask? I think Matt Thor used to make one and also Scale Shipyards.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

If, through a test, you find that Minwax satin clear will work with your paint, make that your final top-coat -- very tough, very flat.

M