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January 2012
1/8 '32 Ford "Big Deuce"

Building a 1/200 scale "North Cormorant" Oil Rig

SECTION 21  :- Vent pipes

Some of the modules have got vent pipes for waste gases, aircon, etc.  These are solid pieces, so to give a bit more realism I drilled out the ends of the round ones & after painting the main part grey I did the drilled out section in black.  The more experienced modellers may want to spend time doing the same for the square ones, but I did not have the tools, in my view, to do a good job of getting the insert square.  These then were glued in place using the original module instructions for guidance.

SECTION 22  :- Life boats

These come in 2 halves & as a nice touch if you use a small amount of glue on the top half the join is actually not visible.  On rigs the boats are a very bright Orange colour & I found 2 coats of Humbrol's gloss Orange (18) did just the job.  

The davits for the boats glue onto the bottom of the walkways & these were sprayed in the same main rig colour of broom yellow. I found it best to glue one of the davits in 1st & allow it to set, then using the boats you can get the correct distance for setting the 2nd as there are no guide marks or holes provided.  I turned the model over to to show where they glue but you should not need to do this on your rig...

SECTION 23  :- Pipe area & Crane supports

At this stage I glued down the completed pipe storage area to the top of modules 9/14.  Some more of the infamous walkways need to be painted & glued in place on it but remember to leave a small area free where it meets the upper walkway on module 14 to allow access to the cranes. The crane supports have a circular walkway near the top of them & have a ladder made between them & the upper floor on module 14. the supports go through the hole in the walkway & glue to the bottom walkway on module 14.  I then fitted the pre made & painted circular walkways.  The ladder shown on the instructions does not have any kind of rail for the driver & as I had some offcuts of rail left & just decided to make some & then glued this to the supports. 

SECTION 24  :- Accommodation block area

Now the larger parts & fragile parts are going on & the rig is starting to take more form.  The accommodation block was glued to the top of modules 1 & 2 & allowed to set.  The pre built helipad was then glued to the block. 

The plates for the rig's name was glued onto the side of the accommodation block, module 2 & against the wall where the burner gantry fits.  The pre built & painted structures for module 4 were now glued on & allowed to dry fully.  Now you can put on the decals on the plates & when dry coat with a matt varnish.  

SECTION 23  :- Main tower area finish (module 13 & 14)

Now to finish off the main drill tower & buildings. The tower has got a structure 1/2 way up it & another that fits around the bottom of the parts you bit back in section 10.  When built & set these were painted in the red primer used in the rest of the rig & glued into place.  Inside the tower glue 2 lengths of spare drill pipe, the outer pipes that run up the tower & then the top walkway & railings.

The building that goes next to the tower is just a basic box & a set of walkways, steps & railings, & as you are now skilled in these know what to do...

There is a small set of stairs that go from this building to the tower but hold on where will it enter??   Yes Revell forgot to put one in, so all that was needed was to use some thin strips of plastic I had lying around  (Evergreen's .4 X .75) to make a simple doorway for the stair to sit against. These 2 units are ready to be glued onto the rig, but I will leave it till last as I need to do some delicate work on the next section...

SECTION 24  :- Fitting burner gantry

This is just a case of gluing the burner gantry to where it sits against the firewall.  A very small amount of superglue is best, then touch it up with paint if needed.

SECTION 25  :- Crane building

Now comes the final & delicate fitting of the cranes.  Looking at what the instructions said the rigging of the cranes did not look right & the pulleys themselves show where 3 cables can be fitted.  The 1st job was to test fit where I wanted the actual cab to point & then glue the small ladder in place.

I then drilled 3 small holes at the rear of the cab roof to feed through 3 lengths of the thin rope.  The 1st two are for the crane's jib.  The simplest way to tie the rope is feed it through the top of the cab & pull it through with tweezers so you can tie 3 knots in it & then pull it back tight.  The two ropes are then fed round the pulleys, down the inside of the jib & then tied at the bottom of the jib at whatever angle you want...

All.you now need to do is fit the centre rope the same way & feed it over the centre pulley & tie on it pipes or the crane hook etc...

Well that's it. You have now completed one great model, not lost your patience & still have your wits, but never want to do railing for a few months.......