The Ship Model Forum

Jim, your model is superb and inspiring as always! Those self-crafted parts and level of details is out of my imagination! I will be dead if I try to make to make my model like yours or it will take me 10 years or more to finish one! Amazing! :woo_hoo:

I saw this model in Telford. The pictures don't do it justice. It is incredibly fine and the rigging is really something. You do need a white background to be able to see it. Congratulations Jim for the category winner and gold medal!

Looking forward to see the Normandie, that is a big ship.

Lovely build and well deserved accolades Jim, congrats!

Hello all!

I am suffering from the 'post- Telford 'crash....

==> The model was well received by all who saw her

Today at last managed to shoot some ' proper' photos of the '91 Hood for submission to the gallery...

I am spending the evening cropping and selecting a usable bunch from quite a lot of photos...(! ) :big_grin:


Kind regards all

and thank you for following this thread.

next up is NORMANDIE .... ( at last! ) the wonderful 1930's French superliner --as built....-- in 1/700--

herewith a quick selection of pics

[quote="JIM BAUMANN"]YES ![/quote]

:thumbs_up_1: :big_grin: :thumbs_up_1: :big_grin: :thumbs_up_1:
Really looking forward to that one!!!

But first, have a nice show in Telford! :wave_1:

@ wefalck

hahah! its a relic of my somewhat less discriminate buying pattern over the last 25 years... :cool_2: :cool_2:
and whilst modern PE frets for large 1/350 projects ARE expensive per se

my stock--albeit considerable ( !) was monetarily much less than nowadays
and in any case-pro-rata --- brass is much cheaper than beer or petrol !
...==> that is how I sell it to myself!

Much of the OLD( 1990's :big_grin: ) PE is unusable for ' modern' / ' fine' modelling

BUT can supply the raw material for a number different aspects of re purposing
( awning stanchions from handrail, aircraft wheels for pulleys-- even the lettering .

Much old girder work PE can be reused

etc etc

@ Marjin...

YES !

cheers
JB

Fantastic work Jim! She looks beautiful! :thumbs_up_1: :thumbs_up_1: :thumbs_up_1: :thumbs_up_1: :thumbs_up_1:

And I guess she will be ready comfortably in time before Telford.
I wish I could come over to see here there in the flesh... :(

Will the Bretagne still be your next project?

Cheers,

Marijn

One thing that has puzzled me for a long time, Jim, is the stacks of PE frets you must have. How the heck do you find anything in them - and why does one have these stacks of them, they are not cheap ... ?

The one, who struggles just with a few internal struts in a funnel at 1:160 scale only ... :scratch:

@: Pascalmodel

drtdock eh...?

have a look here-- not mine-- but Italian e-chum built it!

http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery/bb/fr/henri-270-sp/sp-index.html
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meanwhile....

We are getting there....

The rig is now completed...--phew!

intense and careful study of the photos available eventually revealed where the bracing lines for the yards went

aft- it was -sailing ship style to the gaff-- was a ' discovery !

The Ensign was made by crumpling an old DunAgain Decal, and then washing in white and painting in crease shadows

[attachment=4]P1220937.jpg[/attachment]

fwd ...-- the yard braces went to the upper fighting top.
All the sun awning rigging was done around the perimeter as well on the bridges and fwd and aft supports

[attachment=3]P1220930.jpg[/attachment]


The ships boats slung outboard had canvas straps-- these were made of ' flat'-stretched sprue in brown plastic
The advantage is that one can -by softening the stretched sprue with liquid cement--
get the sprue " canvas " straps to follow the ' kinks and angles of the boats
to give them a taut look-

(alas -often these straps on models look too loose / and sagging ==> - and therefore not fulfilling their function. )

[attachment=2]P1220927.jpg[/attachment]


the remainder of the rigging was merely slow and tedious- !

[attachment=1]P1220931.jpg[/attachment]


The firs coast of wet-on-wet sea paint have gone on

[attachment=0]P1220938.jpg[/attachment]

more coats and layer today hopefully

:wave_1: :wave_1: JB

I really wish one day you'll do a dry dock diorama of one of these early Victorian battleships!!! This thing has such tiny free board I wanna see the lot that is hidden beneath the waves!

This is mad and completely wonderful!

still intensely modelling to get her completed.... in time for Telford

( now exactly 14 days to go...)

where I to be retired it would be easy... :thumbs_up_1:
-alas running my own business it does rather put a aqueeze on spare time --when I am not just simply tooo tired !!

but I have managed 18 hours or so of hold-your-breath-rigging so far.... :cool_2:
=======================================================

the first thing that I did was to install the painting 'chains'
( these would be substituted for hemp ropes when funnel painting/ cleaning--but thin chains were roved through the pulleys when not is use as the hemp ripe would rot with potentially disastrous consequences!

[attachment=1]funnel chains.jpg[/attachment]

[attachment=0]P1220857.jpg[/attachment]





The lower shrouds on the real ship were quite monstrously thick cables-- the upper shrouds only slightly thinner !!!

[attachment=7]shrouds.jpg[/attachment]


[attachment=6]shrouds2.jpg[/attachment]


I have rarely made such thick stretched sprue to rig with!

( My method is SbS here )

http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=37536





The aft boat boom( derrick?) was slightly thicker in diameter than the fwd one
( I guess so as to be able to be lifting heavy steam pinnaces)
As such the the aft boat boom also had additional purchases on its pulley blocks !

These large pulley blocks --for consistency--were made of 1/700 aircraft wheels with the undercarriage struts snipped down so as to be usable as the chain attachments.

The funnels stays were quite nerve-wracking-- as the attachment on the funnel is minimal-
-and the 'landing' on the deck is " blind"

[attachment=5]P1220911.jpg[/attachment]

The overall effect was quite pleasing

[attachment=4]P1220913.jpg[/attachment]

[attachment=3]P1220916.jpg[/attachment]

The awning rigging interwoven by the shrouds was a test of patience

with the foot ropes--made of sprue ( muuuch thinner than PE ) was also testing...(! :Mad_5: :Mad_6: :censored_2: :mad_2:

fortunately there were only 2 yards that carried them

The signal halyards ( incomplete in the photo ) were made all as 'twin' lines

[attachment=2]footropes, awning rigging and halyards.jpg[/attachment]


At the rate I am going I guess another 10-15 hours of rigging...

More soon

Jim Baumann

I love how you tackled the name on the stern - inventive! Looks great, too!

another small step..

The flat coating-using my trusted Windsor and Newton Galeria varnish
( airbrushed thinned 50/50 with distilled water )
was completely successful ( phew! )

[attachment=6]galeria-matt-varnish.jpg[/attachment]

a small detail had been bothering me.... that of the large name letters aft...
[attachment=5]aft hood lighter -hms-hood3.jpg[/attachment]

when my alps printer was still alive I would have simply made a gold decal, alas my current printers are simply are not good enough

in any case these letters stood a bit proud of the ship.

Handpainting the name ( for me alas ) was out of the question

So I found a 1990's PE set from WEM in my old PE boxes -- in BRASS :cool_2:

The description of the fret ( and / or parts thereon) in those days was etched out-- not relief etch engraved.

alas the lettering:
w[b][i][u][size=150]H[/size][/u][/i][/b]ite ensign m[b][i][u][size=150]0[/size][/u][/i][/b] [b][i][u][size=150]D[/size][/u][/i][/b]els 1/700 [b][i][u][size=150]H[/size][/u][/i][/b]ms [b][i][u][size=150]D[/size][/u][/i][/b] [b][i][u][size=150]0[/size][/u][/i][/b]d[b][i][u][size=150]0[/size][/u][/i][/b]

meant I was till missing an [b][i][u][size=150]O[/size][/u][/i][/b] tediously the [b][i][u][size=150]0[/size][/u][/i][/b] from the 700 was a noticeably difference font...

[attachment=4]P1220895.jpg[/attachment]

I searched all my old PE stash but did not have a second old fret

from an old IJN cruiser GMM set of similar vintage.... in stainless steel there were also more etched thru bits of lettering;

[attachment=3]P1220887.jpg[/attachment]

These were slightly smaller still and easier to cut being attached only one side-( so I thought )-but the springy stainless steel
made it hard work , and many letters pinged thru the air--despite being cut inside a plastic bag !!! eh..?!

and [b][i][u][size=150]H[/size][/u][/i][/b]'s on that fret were precious ( plenty of O's and even a few smattering D's !!)

once these were cut and retrieved successfully...

[attachment=2]P1220890.jpg[/attachment]

I had to paint them

I used Tamiya gold and contrived to stand the painted letters on end with the paintbrush so aid drying and removal from post -it-note

[attachment=1]P1220893.jpg[/attachment]


They were attached onto clear varnish ( on the end of a moistened cocktail stick) and then washed gently with thin black to dull down a bit

end result is alas a wee bit over scale...( !!) but the look is -I think satisfactory
and better than not at all

[attachment=0]P1220907.jpg[/attachment]

===> onwards !!!

-3 weeks to go till Telford...

no pressure!! :big_grin: :Mad_6:

JB

Onwards....

after fitting ( surprisingly arduously) the deck edge railing of very thin (over-etched :thumbs_up_1: ==> makes thiner still )
WEM ultra fine PE and gently depressing some- but not all - of the wire spans to give a gentle droop( as per original photos)

I turned my attention to the awning supporting poles

Hood being Mediterranean based was fitted with a vast amount of sun-awning supporting stanchions, dece eged as well a down the centre-line

these were made from 1/350 P E handrail longitudinals -

that way consistency in size of the material is guaranteed

cutting them from the handrail means that visual measurement is easy when judging cutting between the stanchions to give consistency

Each deck-edge stanchion--whilst mounted in cantilever mountings outboard of the rail -
-nevertheless had a tall supporting strut inboard also!

[attachment=8]P1220875.jpg[/attachment]

the same also on the aft deck

[attachment=7]P1220872.jpg[/attachment]

Ships boats that were suspended outboard on davits often( but not always) had a " griping" (sp /) spar to which the boat was strapped
against canvas/ rope covered pads

arrowed below

[attachment=6]QF_6_inch_gun_HMS_Hood_LOC_16922u.jpg[/attachment]

[attachment=5]IMG_20180106_0002.jpg[/attachment]

These spars had" stand-offs" in a vertical " V " so that boat would be suspended below the end of the davit concentrically

Making these to scale in 1/700 and not clunky and overscale whilst retaining structural strength was potentially tricky (!!)
so I err... simplified.

Uisng 1/350 hand-railing of appropriate width for correct distance davit spacing I cut some spars integral with stand-offs

[attachment=4]P1220861.jpg[/attachment]



Once painted by brush they took on a more circular shape, canvas pads were added with blobs of white paint
( note that in hood these spars varied from natural timber to painted white from year to year !!

[attachment=3]P1220863.jpg[/attachment]

[attachment=2]P1220866.jpg[/attachment]

[attachment=1]P1220869.jpg[/attachment]

The real ship had the boast suspened by ots block and tackles

I took the short cut of gluing the boat to the spar and will be adding the block and tackles afterwards

The full complements of boats is now in place

[attachment=0]P1220873.jpg[/attachment]



a few more bits to add and then flatcoat, rig ,(!!) make sea and voila!


My new ship project is looming already-- so Hoods completion will be welcomed!! :heh: :thumbs_up_1:

more shortly ! :wave_1: :wave_1:

Apologies for indifferent quailty photos in todays update...

my usual " bench " point and shoot had flat batteries so I reverted to another old point and shoot camera
-- which is alas noticeably of a previous generation !
( for finished model shots I use canon Eos 600 D SLR on tripod etc )
but I find the canon too un-handy at the bench when photographing in progress , otherwise I plod on and complete things and fail to explain.
=======================================================================================================

This is coming along wonderfully!
Hope to see it in flesh at Telford!!

terrific work mate

Most excellent and educational!!! (as always... :) ) :thumbs_up_1: :thumbs_up_1: :thumbs_up_1:

Many thanks for the thickened varnish trick. That's a very good idea indeed!

Cheers,

Marijn

Jim, wonderful work of art as usual. I have a question - what colour paint did you use for the
funnels and masts?. Was it your own mix or an available colour?. I only ask as i am looking for
something similar for another project i am planning.
Tim.