Hello Folks
Four years ago now Jean Mahieux and I began this big project in partnership: designing and assembling a "quasi-full scratch" diorama of the port and Navy Yard of Mare Island, California.
Throughout our initial subject, which is there we showed the lengthy progression of our design and the prototype assembly by Jean, that is this dio�s first copy with the inevitable trials and errors for so complex a build.
Since the beginning of this summer, the diorama reaches "maturity": Jean confirms me step by step dio�s elements are "OK", giving me the �Go Ahead� to build my own project.
All over these years, Jean designed all the photo etched sets, using the huge documentation found on the Web (mainly the NavSource collection and some exchanges with people who helped us generously)
For each element, he used to send me flashed films for his PE sets. I etched them and sent back the metal sets to him. Jean did the prototype build and eventually sent me back corrected sets to etch again.
Every time, I kept the �last� film on hold, waiting for his Go-ahead to etch a set for my own build.
Many sets got only one single version, a definitive one. A few went into two, even three successive versions to improve the design and also to include my own progress in the etching technics.
Following is now "my build" of Mare Island.
The original Mare Island subject is here:
viewtopic.php?f=12&t=33372&st=0&sk=t&sd=a
It is still active as Jean will now continue to publish the last builds of the diorama.
As most of the historic background information or design histories are already in this main subject, I�ll make it "shorter" by showing only pictures of my builds, highlighting my modifications.
Chapter 1: the Delta King
This build of the paddle wheeled ferry used in Mare Island is the version 3.00 of Jean�s design. The design was a very challenging one as the original ship was often modified during the period which we�re considering (42-45), being successively fitted as a floating hospital, then a ferry.
The �beast� is about 125mm long (4.9�) and is about 95 % photo etching, with approximately 250 parts, not including the 200+ passengers. The only plastic parts are the funnel (cast resin) and masting.
Hull assembly (PE parts with prototyping board filling):
Wheel assembly. It is 12mm in diameter (.5"):
Aft block assembly:
Two small boats:
Deck preparation. Each deck includes etched planking and a supporting structure to be glued under it.
Here, I wanted to use real wooden deck stickers �for fun�.
Those accessories did make considerable progress over the last years and I thought it was the time and opportunity to use them in one of my builds.
I bought a Korean made �generic� planking sheet, that is without pre-cut 10x30cm deck for circa $15 to realize its planking details were thinner than most injected, even resin and our etched planking.
The planking is done on a veneer .23mm (.009�) thickness (16cm in full size, twice too much but some unexpected advantages - see farther).
With regard to the plastic version, the wooden deck has no "slot" between boards, as in the reality.
It is glued with an adhesive which "sets" after about 30mn.
Then, a very light of mat varnish layer (TopCoat from Mr Hobby) and we can paint and glue on it without having paint or glue bonding in the wood.
I used the original PE bridges as template to cut my wooden decks.
Then comes the assembly of sustaining structures under decks. I�ll describe here my method to glue those PE parts.
I apply of the glue using a micro-applicator (see photo of the wheel above).
I use three super glue types: the rose -super-fluid-, the green -standard- and the yellow -thick- even by mixing them to obtain the suitable consistency.
Typically I put the part in correct position, eventually securing it with a tiny drop of glue as a temporary step. The join between parts to be glued should be (near) perfect, excluding any bending effort during gluing.
Then with the applicator I put a micro drop near the joint, without touching the part: the glue spreads immediately by capillarity.
In the following seconds, I pump out the glue surplus with a Kleenex or kitchen roll.
The resulting gluing looks very neat and clean. Only remains a glossy aspect due to the glue which will be masked by the matt varnish during finish.
Deck assembly:
Jean designed four transverse bulkheads which fixed an accurate and easy fitting of each deck and ship�s sides.
The Great staircase :
This beautiful part is typical of those boats. Jean did a wonderful design, including a �carved� ramp.
However this has been masked by the numerous passengers I added later in the build!
Deck assembly, continued. This � build 3.00 � is far better than the prototype as Jean departed from the classical � one deck over the preceding � with all the miss-alignment issues. He opted for continuous vertical sides over three levels with surrounding outer and inner decks being fitted with positioning slots.
I addition, each deck�s sheer is carefully reproduced and the whole structure comes surprisingly rigid.
Now it�s time to ready my passengers. Most of them were female workers, the so-called �Rosie the riveter� who backed their boys in working in the industry during the War. We wanted to honor them.
Boarding the ship:
Fore deck :
There comes the navigating bridge.
First is the helm:
Then the captain (Jean modeled him after Captain Haddock)
The helmsman
Bridge is now ready:
Some benches to take advantage of the California sun:
And those who don�t like sun:
Masting (.75mm square Evergreen):
Forward railing :
Now the ship�s sides are glued. Both include separate railing super fine netting which has been etched separately� a challenging task!
All four have been glued by capillarity (see above).
Here I must tell about an unexpected good effect induced by the wooden decks.
They are too thick at that scale (.23mm equals to 16cm, twice the standard board thickness), but this dimension almost equals that of the railing lower band which doesn�t exist in reality.
This lower band is included in PE railings to make gluing easier and give some stiffness to the tiny part for better handling, bending, curbing.
The wooden decks just went level with the top of this band, virtually �masking� it.
Sides� assembly:
And then�. YUP�. AAAAAARGH : checking against reference pictures I realize all the masting and derricks are too tall� by 3.8mm exactly.
The cause: a flaw in the first deck design which prevented the mast from reaching the main deck.
A small surgical task on each mast and it�s OK.
I added small protections on sides and bow. Magic Sculpt (an epoxy putty), sculpted and painted in place.
Then goes the rigging stage.
To prevent this old ship (1927) from collapsing under heavy top weight, she was rigged with a complex net of heavy cables. I used stretched sprue.
To better show the improvements Jean made to his original design we took a �family� pictures of Delta King 1 and 3:
Here are Delta Kings last version. Mine is on the foreground, Jean�s (uncompleted) in the background:
Same group, but with Jean�s first project on foreground. Note the many small differences on the original build:
To be continued...
_Bruno