Hi,

I want to build a new diorama with the “Douche Boat” from Masterpiece Models that i bought last year.







Unfortunately there is still no tutorial on brownwater.net,so i have to work with the instructions given with the model.
These instructions are photo’s from the master of the model,like this one :



With the instruction :assemble the engine so you’ve to search “a little bit” in all the bags to find all the right parts.

But first we begin with “the easy” part,the Hull Bar Armor.









With the other riverine models i’ve built,the only problem i had with these parts,they were always too thick,but now
I think the person who casted these parts,surely had a off day

Only one part (i must have 32 of them) was correct.



All the other parts,too thick (no surprise) and just look.







A lot of extra work to correct these errors,but never mind,no hard feelings i still love Masterpiece Models for making these magnificent models.
Just need some Milliput,Evergreen strips and

Holy crab, man! This will be a job and half. I`ve seen this model built and painted. Looked impressive but I never thought it would be such difficult task to build. I will follow this build, good luck.

Dear Ronaldo,

in another blog someone asked what makes a kit "a dog" to build. Well, you certainly found the answer!
"Chapeau" for trying to build this one. I was also thinking of buying one of these cool boats but now............?
Certainly not!

Keep going!

Greetings,

Mark

Hi Andy,thanks,but it is not such a difficult task,just some extra work.

Hi Mark,of course it is not my intention to discourage people and this kit is certainly not "a dog" to build.
As i said,with the other riverine models i built,i did not have these errors with the Hull Bar Armor and there is nothing wrong with all the other parts.
Come on Mark,what about

The next stage,the deckhouse and the bar armor,is the same as with the “Tango” that i’ve built,so that will be no problem.
The bar armor supports are a little too thick i’m almost afraid to say that.



watch out for your fingers



The deckhouse bar armor,i’m almost used to make these things,but not to get bored,i only make two or three of them and then wait a little while and work on something else.



Some Milliput around the the helm,the rear gunners raised firing position and the deckhouse.

Does this boat smell fresh as a country morning as well?

Very nice progress. I have one of their ATC(H) kits waiting in the wings. I hope to start it soon.

Shell,with a little bit of my imagination,yes

Gino,is that the same kit you mentioned 19 months ago????

Yeessss. It is still on the "To-Do" list, which seems to keep growing. I'll eventually get to it.

The helm bar armor supports,as you can see,a lot of extra resin,but its so fragile,can’t use the hobby saw,i’ve (in the beginning,i thought i had) to use a stanley knife blade. (only the blade,i always use it like that)



The following 5 photo’s are from last year,when i built my first “Tango”,after 30/45 minutes,i got rid of all the resin.





I couldn’t use it like that,so i cut the lower part and replaced it with Evergreen strip and why didn’t i think about that right at the start.
So for the other helm bar armor support and now for the Douche Boat,i only need a few minutes for these supports.



Then the bar armor and almost ready for the next step.

Hey Ronaldo!
You are doing an awesome job on this MP kit! Not exactly 'snap together'... (alleen bij het zien van je foto's al zakt de moed me in de schoenen ;-) )

Any plans to put this baby in some sort of dio-setting?

best regards
Mark

Hey Mark,

Thanks,i’m going to make another diorama,although i have no much room for it anymore.
Sometimes when i think about all that work,that still needs to be done,then ...... (mijn moed zit dan al onder mijn schoenen )

This time,mainly with figures from Verlinden,no much choice,i already used the "non fighting" figures from Bravo 6 in another diorama,so this time Verlinden.





It wasn't easy to order the figures from Verlinden,a half year ago i almost ordered them from Historex,but with all the holidays ahead of us,i thought i wait till the next year.Two month's ago i wanted to order,but most of them were sold out.
Now i had to search on the internet and ordered them "all over the world".

What is a Vietnam riverine war diorama without a sampan,accidentally (usually i have no stash) i still had two sampans from Verlinden.



I don't want the sampans look alike,so i sawed one sampan in the middle and used the middle of the other to make one large sampan.





Because i really dislike the smell,when i’m sawing resin,especially from Verlinden,i worked to fast and ruined it.





I was so concentrated to repair the damage,that i made another huge mistake,only after i glued some parts and used a lot of Milliput,i saw what i've done.
Did you notice it,i forgot the front part of the sampan and used the back of it,twice.



So,with a little patience and “some” Milliput,the damage was fixed.



With the roof and all kind of stuff on the bottom,you don’t see the damage anymore.
I’m making the roof myself with cardboard,bandage and rope.

All the parts for the well deck.



The water cannon.





The engine,i've used solder wire for those two "pipes" don't know exactly what to call it,but it took quite some time to make it.







The pipes and the non-slip platforms



The expansion tank + support frame,the engine,fuel tank + tool locker,etc,ready for a base coat.

Looking good so far. Looks like it has been alot of work. I have been wanting to build some Riverine craft since I model a lot of 9th Infantry Division subjects, but my modeling skills are not up to that level yet. I am sure I will be learning alot from your built.

Cheers,
James

Man o man you really are going whole hog on this one ! Nice work !
J

Thank you James,building the riverine craft isn’t so difficult,the work,as the bar armor can be very tedious,but i just don’t make them all at once and work on something not so boring as for example cut and fold some c--rations.

I’ve seen your vignettes/dioramas and love it very much,real masterpieces.I don’t dare to compare my modelling skills with yours,i’m the one who can learn a lot from your work.

Thanks Jerry,at first i have to say that i love your work also very much,seeing what you do with all those figures,you are a real artist.
”going whole hog”,i didn’t know that expression,knew what you meant,but nevertheless,at first i translated whole hog with google translate,whole
We have an expression for that,wat in het hoofd zit,zit niet in de kont,advice not to use google translate.

Thanks again,both of you,i appreciate it very much,especially you are so active with modelling,making topics showing us your work and still taking time to react.
Positive or negative,it’s always a motivation to continue on Armorama.

Nice update - seriously impressive modelling going on here.

I love the Brown Water theme, and I'm impressed with your work! Keep it going!

Thanks Paul and Edson.

Unfortunately there are only a few pictures of a “Douche Boat” on the internet,even in the excellent book Vietnam Ironclads from John Carrico.
There is a one,like the model from Masterpiece Models without,and a few with “a railing”.





Although i had my doubts about using all those Evergreen rod and strips again,i wanted to build a “Douche Boat” with “a railing”.
So here we go again.



Then the strip on the back,in the middle and cut in the right size.









After i had made several parts,i glued them on the boat to see what it looked like and decide if i should continue.





This is the Douche Boat with the railing completed.(the well deck with the base coat)



Look who's there again,the big helper,my faithful lurker.

That is going to be a really nice looking model once you get it completed.

Keep up the great work!
James

Thanks James,once it get completed
Still a lot of work,not only the Douche Boat,also the figures for the diorama,the the roof of the sampan,the cow cart,buffalo's,etc and this week : the Douche Boat canape.

Wow. You definitely have alot of work ahead of you, but I am sure the end result will be outstanding.

Cheers,
James

very curious where this will go....lots of figures as well!

keep this up please!

best regards,
Mark

Thanks again,James
Hi Mark (fellow modellers and lazy lurkers) I'm curious too.

The canopy was optional,included in the kit is a jig to help hold styrene rods so you can assemble the “trusses” of the canopy.



It had to be scratch built (I'm not crazy about that) and i didn’t have the dimensions of the canopy

I measured the height of the canopy with the help of these photo,it is exactly above the pipe.



I measured (quessed) the space between the “trusses” using this photo from the instructions of the model.



With the jig i made 6 of these “trusses” and then glued the rod between them.







It looked good,from above but seen from the side,the last two were uneven.
I carefully removed these two “trusses”,sanded all the parts and glued it again and then,”a moment” later I bumped it against a glass and exactly the last two broke down again.
That was just the beginning of the problems.



The cover of the canopy,at first i didn't know exactly what to use,tried it with a sheet of paper,cut it in the right size (several times ) and glued it (very carefully) had to succeed immediately,otherwise i would ruin everything.

You can't just "glue it" on top of the framework,so i thought of something like this :



Took a needle and thread (and glue) and this is the result.
Didn't like it very much,but nevertheless,can not change it anymore and continued on the other side.



It looked terrible,too much thread it had to be changed,removed (very carefully again) half of all the thread,that was much better and you did not see the damage/the holes.







Then the last stage,the horizontal rods,the plan was,glue a rod on one side,"drill" a hole turning it between my fingers (i had nothing else) check the hole with a piece of rod,then check it with the canopy and then continue with a rod on the other side,etc,etc.

This work was really frustrating,it reminded me of the time when i was a little kid,building one of my first models,an oldtimer.
At a certain moment,it did not work,the components did not fit and suddenly the car changed in an aeroplane and crashed against the wall.
I haven't glued 12 rods but almost 25,while checking,it is so fragile,sometimes one or more rods broke down again.(were stuck in the hole)
So it took me a couple of days to complete this.









Yesterday,i received my Vietnam magazine and read the story about the most decorated enlisted sailor in Navy history,James Elliott "Willie" Williams.
Everyone who is interested in the riverine forces in Vietnam should read this. http://navylog.navymemorial.org/williams-james-12