George doesn’t make things easy sometimes. One of the major decisions on most kits that a builder has to make is, “How do I get into this thing once it’s built so I can fiddle with the mechanical bits ?”. Let’s face it, if you seal everything up solid you are guaranteed to have a breakdown immediately.
Most kits give various levels of hint in this direction. On many boats the break line is bleedin’ obvious – the superstructure can lift off leaving a hull and deck with a big hole in the top (if the hole is in the bottom you have other problems) allowing plenty of fiddling access. This isn’t an option with Tomsk.
So, I spent quite a long time pondering the problem. It was obvious that the top of the boat would need to be carefully cut so the middle could be lifted out. With the motor, in theory the component nearest the front of the boat, in place, I had to decide.
Ideally the join should be invisible to the observer. In practise you can run it along changes in level so it is hidden in a corner. No chance of that either as there are very few flat bits on the model and flat bits are easier to make neat tidy joins if you are as cack-handed as me.
You can see my solution marked out using a CD marker pen (ideal for this job) in the picture. On the front of the model I’ve made no attempt to hide the join – in fact I plan to emphasis it and try to convince people it’s a panel join. At the back the deck will be painted in different colours to hide the join. Beside the wheelhouse I had to do what I could. It’s not too bad and of course will easily pass the “Does it look OK from the other side of the lake” test.
All I have to do now is put a sharp blade in the scalpel and cut along the line.
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