Item 5 (adding the grab ropes).
There
are two approaches to this, either using the GMM kit
ropes (recommended) or making your own.
GMM
Method:
Paint
the grab ropes while they are still on the `tree'. Once
done cut them off with a sharp hobby knife.
Remove
the 4 collapsible and Emergency boats from the tape
as the do not have grab ropes. Keep them safe somewhere.
To
mount these to the boats we used a three step process
to keep the mess down to a minimum.
Take
each full sized life boat and pull them off of the tape.
Flip each full sized boat on to one of its sides and
stick it back onto the masking tape where its 'silhouette'
can be seen. We found that having the bottom of the
boat facing us to be the easiest position for applying
the ropes.
Apply
a small puddle of CA glue onto to your gluing block.
Next grab a rope with tweezers by one of its ends and
dip the CENTER of the rope into the glue.
Place
the center with the glue on it in the center position
under the gunwale and allow to set. Make sure the rope
is sitting parallel to the gunwale before it dries.
Repeat
this process for all 14 boats. Don't worry about the
ends of the grab rope sticking up. Once all the centers
are attached to one side freshen your CA `puddle' and
move on to the next step.
Now
with a piece of fine pulled sprue, dip the sprue's tip
into the CA puddle and then coat one of the rope's tag
ends near either the stern or bow (whichever you find
easiest to work with). Then press this tag end down
to the boat with a wooden toothpick. Hold until it sets.
Repeat
the process for the opposite end. You should now have
the grab rope glued to the side of the boat at three
contact points and no glue marks showing at all!
Repeat
this process for the other 13 boats doing all 26 tag
ends. When complete flip the boats over and repeat the
center `tacking' and then tag end `tacking' all over
again. There may be other or easier methods, but this
is what worked for us with the absolute minimum of glue
damage.
Alternative
Method:
Now
if you do NOT use the GMM grabropes another method is
to use a very dark sharp leaded pencil and draw the
grab ropes on by hand which gives the same visual effect,
however, the GMM ones provide for a more 3 dimensional
appearance and is recommended.
|