"San Mateo" ferry - Orel - 1/200 scale

[BigGiraffe]

Hello,

The black window patterns mounted nicely on the sides of the ship, and I found that the sides fit the ship very nicely. (By the way, I checked and some of those side frames weren't going to align next to the windows very well, so I'm glad I chose this method.) (The misalignment was caused by the kit builder, not the kit designer...)

Take care,
Kurt

[BigGiraffe]

Hello,

The extensions for the car deck siding, Photo 2410, are printed in identical pairs instead of left/right mirror images. The odd-looking one includes the well for an anchor. Since the parts are printed so they are green on each side, I cut the well off of the mismatched side, folded it inside out, and glued it back in the proper position.

I'm a little disappointed by the figures and instructions for lack of clarity. Photo 2411 shows how the lines from the part numbers are identical in color, making it very difficult to tell one from the other as you try to follow the line. But then the end of the lines are placed only in the general area of the part itself, leaving you to puzzle out which part is really that number. My biggest problem, so far, is that I glued the stairway floors into place, thinking it was a flat part (Part 70) but later realized there were actually stairs provided to fit over those floors. It's too late to go back now because the floors are glued inside the stairwells. I have yet to figure out how the stair rails are to be assembled since it seems like there are parts missing.

Anyway, I wish they'd taken more time on the assembly figures. (The instructions do no provide part-by-part instructions, either.)

Best regards,
Kurt

[romanmodels]

nice work Kurt

[BigGiraffe]

Thank you!
Kurt

[Michael Mash]

Yes . . . it looks good in that center image.

[BigGiraffe]

Thank you!
I'm working some small details, then will start on the walls that sit on that second deck.
Kurt

[BigGiraffe]

Hello,

The second deck cabin walls are done. I printed black window patterns to glue over the marked places in the walls, as I did on the car deck sides, because it seemed odd to open those windows when there is no interior to the cabin. Later on, I discovered that the kit intends you to cut out these windows and then glue their colored window patterns on the inside of the walls to give some depth to the windows. But the instructions don't indicate this and the sketches don't show it, so I stumbled over it later on when I noticed some parts on one of the sheets. It would have been nice to know that option was available. And then, even if I had not cut out all of the window openings, I could have glued their windows over the places instead of printing my own.

From photos of the real San Mateo, it appears that the stairwell windows are open (no panes) and there were only a few and so I cut them out.

Take care,
Kurt

[FRD]

Kurt, I have given serious consideration to designing the whole series of WSDOT ferries, there are a total of 21 in seven different classes.


I was first approached about this nearly 30 years ago by Lou Dausse of PMI but have now a renewed interest and giving it renewed consideration, the research and obtaining enough reference materials would be the most difficult part plus there is a matter of licensing.

[BigGiraffe]

Hello FRD,

I would love to see those ferries done, especially all in the same scale. Although my first "vote" is 1/400 to match most of my other ships, I'd take them in any scale you choose.

I have an old book (1971) I got about a year ago, "The Evergreen Fleet" by Harre Demoro. It has all sorts of photos in it. I understand scaled sketches of the actual ferryboats are one hurdle to creating models. Anyway, I wish you great success and I'll be watching!

Best regards,
Kurt

[FRD]

Kurt, this would be a good starting point-> WSDOT - Ferries - Vessels