The Ship Model Forum

Fliger, thanks for saying its a wonderful build. Let's hope it will keep saying that way after the next phase. It will include the use of balsa for complex shapes.

On to the next phase.
The hull is having its warp resistance tested by the forces which bring order in the universe with a west country accent. RIP David Prowse.

Meanwhile i started working on the superstructure by tacking the captain cabin and owners' cabin under the boat deck. I build my superstructures by building down from the deck above it using styrene strips and this one was an easy start.


The other two levels have a curved front which leans back slightly. This is difficult to get right using styrene profiles so I have used two pieces of balsa in front which were roughly sanded in shape. I am now building and detailing the straight (back) parts and will return to the front of the superstructure levels when I have paintedn and glued the back parts together.

I have built a rough version of the stack in order to see if everything fits together and agrees with my references.

While the rest of the superstructure were getting filled in with the sides and windows. This is much easier than working on the hatches. One round of filling and sanding and they will be off to the shed for a coat of primer.

I have had excellent results skinning balsa shapes with paper and then saturating it with thin CA. The resulting surface is smooth and can be lightly sanded. I have used this with success for ventilators, blowers and whatnot with small curved surfaces. Perhaps even good for bulwarks.

Good luck! Tom

Hey Tom,
I've been using balsa/styrene for quite some time. Using styrene as the outer layer means I can use ordinary primers and acrylics 'out of the paintjar'. The plating and planking effects shown in these pictures can IMHO only be painted with good brushpainting acrylics over a fine (Tamiya) primer in styrene. It also shows why I do not use wooden deck stickers or deck decals on my civilian builds -not convincing to my eye. Model will be decalled, rigged and finished when I'm at the same phase with Irish Cedar as I am designing my own decals for both projects -will be one sheet I hope.



Otherwise I do not have much to show at the moment. Superstructure levels are being primed and sanded and the funnel has been built up in balsa.

And this is why I combine balsa and styrene for my superstructures. I build up my windows and plating over a balsa core and carefully gouge away some balsa behind the windows. After some filling, sanding and filling again they will be primed and painted.

As I am 'essential' in the current lockdown I'm actually working more hours now than before the pandemic.
I did manage to squeeze in some modelling during the past few weeks and I was home during daylight today so I could take some pictures.
The funnel has been plated in styrene and its mast has been started. I am using a resin 'sprue' from an Orange Hobby kit for this.

Walking down from the funnel (the original actually had internal stairs to the mast platforms) we get to the bridge.

As I will be leaving a bridge door open I have put in a rudimentary interior.

I have also started working on the curtain plates of the lower superstructure decks.


And the first styrene and brass has been cut for the winchhouses and masts.
With everything stacked together she finally starts looking like a ship.

Nice work. I swear, every time I see your post, I read the title as Irish "Cheddar", not "Cedar".

_________________
Martin

"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday." John Wayne

Ship Model Gallery

After being sidetracked by an aircraft carrier I'm continuing this project. I have used one of my last BFM windlasses on this buil.

I have build the masts by taking 1.5mm brass rod with 2mm circles on top, punched of from styrene sheet using a punch and die set. I have tied speaker wire in small knots around the masts in order to make the boom supports, working lights and pulley supports. Ladders are from the spare box.


The funnel was detailed and painted in a pale yellow color (vallejo 916 sand yellow).
Still have to add some crew members and close the bridge.


Finally the hatches and their opening rails were painted and added the the hull.

I am now looking at ways to build the walkways and the heavy railings on the main deck.

Some progress. The bridge is almost finished now and has been glued to the rest of the superstructure.

The winches have been built and attached, they are modyfied Shelf Oddity winches. Probably the most expensive items in this project but I like the looks.

And I have been thinking about the way I'm going to present the ship. The plan is to do a small late 60s or early 70s diorama of the Nieuwe Maas in Rotterdam as this means I can use some drawings and pictures I have collected over the years. The harbor tugs will be the beautiful semi-streamlined Smit tugs of the era and I may add a passing 'Kempenaar' barge. So far it is just the basic hull shapes in styrene.

Nice work, the smallest scale I have seriously built in was 1:550 where I constructed a DE (WWII vintage) that I used to drill on. I also use the same technique to build the superstructures levels upside down from the deck above. For the DE I made life lines from an Ex girlfriends long hair, which has worked quite well! Very strong. Balsa is easy to work and very satisfactory if sheathed with a good surface material. For my Missouri I used styrene over balsa which was effective for many of the complex shapes around the bridge and fire control tower.

Keep up the good work! Tom

Great to see some update. Glad you decided on a diorama for it. Love the work on those masts and winches as well, the devil is in the detail.

_________________
The merchant shipyard

I'm really enjoying this build so far.. can't wait to see the end result...
Keep it up..

Paul

Your positioning of the barges reminds me of watching from my hotel ships and barges moving with the tide on the Huang Pu in Shanghai.

Keep up the nice work! Tom

Thanks for your comments. The build slowed down a bit but I did manage to do some work over the past few weeks. Cedar had some very prominent catwalks which I tried - and failed- to make in styrene. So I ordered the IJN oiler catwalks set from L'Arsenal and have used these.

The front masts/derrick posts have been added with their very visible 'bridge' in between which will support some of the ships' lights.

And I'm on the home stretch with the bridge superstructure. The only major thing left to do on this side of the ship is to build (...raid the spares box for) the boats and their davits.

And the rest of the project. The current plan is still to have two tugs supporting her on the Nieuwe Waterweg for unloading in either Eemhaven or Maashaven while meeting a typical inland barge, a 'kempenaar'.
One of the tugs, Apollo, has now been skinned in styrene and has had its various bollards added. Like Jim's Schelde she has the extra bollard posts to prevent the superstructure being struck by a runaway towing cable but unlike Schelde Apollo will also have a towing hook.

Most of my work recently has been put into the kempenaar. I wanted to get a convincing inverted 'V' hatch coaming ('luikenkap') on a hull with substantial sheer. After a number of failures I managed to get something looking right by having a very light razor saw run on the back (plain) side of a strip of Evergreen 2025, folding the strip and glueing it down on a flat strip of .5 mm styrene.

The kempenaar also needed some bollards and like those on Apollo they were made from . 5 mm styrene rod.


And as i was finishing my photo session someone came 'round to have look.