Building SMS Vulkan (sub-rescue ship )and its tugs in 1/350

[JIM BAUMANN]

Well here we go again!!

A new model of a unique subject-- and rather off the beaten track-- and an 1: 350 model for a change...

the starting point for my model is the Alliance modelworks resin and brass kit

reviewed here at MW.com

http://www.modelwarships.com/reviews/sh ... eview.html

The historical synopsis cane be found here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Vulkan


Te real thing is fairly well covered in photos--showing a lot of external detail- from which much can be gleaned and detected.-alas I have yet to find an 'on-deck' photo...

Anything visible from above is therefore subject to supposition and guesswork in the absence of photographic evidence .


here is a period postcard from my collection

I was fortunate in obtaining a pre-production example of the kit ( having contributed much of the material from which the kit was designed)

The current run of kits have been improved and there are also upgrade PE frets available.

Alliance Modelworks are to be congratulated for listening to critique and responding positively in every instance


Is there such a thing as a perfect kit...?

Errr... actually no!

Partly of course is that me being an obsessive-==> - there are many things that I will alter and / or try to refine-- so some of the minor shortcomings of the kit may seem seem to be exaggerated by my compounding small errors with own ( possibly excessively obsessive .!!) quest for greater accuracy or refinement ...

I ignored any usual conventional order of a build and launched straight into the delicious PE fest!!!

The gantries are surprisingly challenging to construct nicely...-- the PE parts are well designed and in concept work well--in practice I ended up trimming bits down and a bit of cutting ' to-be-bent' assemblies into individual pieces

The truss arrangement midships alas suffers from being inverted on the PE fret--I have drawn this to AM's attention and this part will shortly be revised.

arghhhh....

In its original issue the kits PE deck-planking had the planks running athwartships-- quite possible --but most unusual in German ships....

It is possible that the PE designers were mislead by the strange scan lines visible on the plans and interpreted these as athwartships planking...

I queried this with Alliance Modelworks --

their commendable response was to create and make an alternative deck fret with conventional fore and aft decking available!!

[PetrolGator]

...definitely following.

[JIM BAUMANN]

Onwards with the build...

As built the ship had a continuous bulwark-- as shown in this photo and the plans that AM used

This later was cut down--so that the legs of the gantry sit midships on the pieces of side bulwarks

This is where an error has crept in--the test-shot built up models all have the gantry legs a little offset

However close examination of photos shows the real thing to be a little different...

This has a consequence that the upper bridge deck then is a bit short --as seen in the image below in my test fit

Fortunately the kit contains a spare alternative upper bride deck so that an extension can easily be constructed.

I suspect that the deck could also be wider -- as photos show the deck overhang the gantry frame a bit

A solution could be to use the two supplied PE decks cut in half ( one offset a little!) to create a new wider and longer deck using the two supplied decks--

AM have said they will address this and produce a new upper bridge deck

I have my own plan on this --more later...

The hull feature plenty of cast hull surface plating.

I am sure this could look fine when painted-- - certain photos do show the plates

But in most images only the longitudinal plating strakes are visible

However... as I am ( volubly !! ) not keen on either visible butt -ends in planking or indeed plating butts on hulls--

I often feel that much like in a similar vein that pre-shading panels on aircraft start to create a " Modellers Model" -- ie a model that looks too 3 dimensional-- with exaggerated depth-- almost a caricature sometimes...!

.....rather than an accurate depiction of the real thing -- whose appearance is directly comparable to a photo...

So --- always being a glutton replenishment! - I very carefully with a blade pared off ALL the external plating (!!! )

and replaced the strakes using Bec vynil tape

while allowing the tap to set under a coat of matt varnish-- I attacked the making of the fine looking PE pilot house.

This consists of 4 x PE brass sides / ends and a nicely rendered resin roof and pilot house core.


The resin core block has a channel cut to give depth behind the windows ....alas the Grove is not deep/ high enough.

I actually like the partial see though look-- so elected to remove all the lower parts of resin ( grinding) and use the remaining roof only!

The gantry positions have another small problem--the PE deck pieces do not allow the gantry to sit correctly

( which is merely a minor alteration)

that is the current state of the model-- more progress oon

Jim baumann

[sgtryan13]

glad to see you geting into the real building at 1/350 Jim! That is of course until I can make it over the pond to telford, in which case I will be cursing you!

[Hallis]

Looks like Alliance is really putting a lot of effort into doing their homework. Or possibly more accurately the homework that you, the head master, assign to them

That is a very interesting ship. But you rarely build things that lack in interest. Going to be keeping a close eye on this build.

[Stefano Salesi]

Oh, look, another build from Jim Baumann.

ok, bookmarking this. Given what you ACTUALLY do on 1/700 models i'm wondering what you COULD do on this strange ship.

[JIM BAUMANN]

thank you all for your encouraging words!

A few additional modifications I have made...

The digital mastering process seems to have resulted in bow's (!) that were fatter than I interpreted from photo's of the real ship

after some paring and sanding it looked more like a knife edge

I cut away the edge beading where the athwarships gantries would be secured

AM can supply now an alternative PE deck with longitudinal planking which works fine--requiring only the minor mod of moving the inboard gantry support piece( cut off-- position a sliver of brass underneath with glue and place the cut of piece back in the correctly lined up place

Of course I decided to make life much harder for myself....

using some generic wood decking from MK1 design--which so far is to my eyes the most pleasing of the wooden decks-- featuring very subtle butt ends--most of which I shall remove using fine sandpaper until they are a merest shadow ...

I used the brass parts all taped together as a template--and lightly modified the dimensions in places.

The outer outline was cut using sharp Fiskar scissors--whilst the insides were cut using blades

The entire one-piece deck was then taped to a hard flat surface-and the areas needing to be steel were pared and sanded flat

I then used the tape as a guide for cutting the "steel deck parts" from the timber portions so as to obtain clean paint demarcation without risking any bleeding along the grain.


Will it work...?

lets see in the next update


Jim B

[Timmy C]

Looking forward to seeing how well your adjustments to the deck buttends work!

(and everything else is looking great as usual)

[Forlornhope]

Now thats a strange looking ship, going to be great watching her come together though, looks brilliant so far nice work on the PE sections
Cheers Callum

[JIM BAUMANN]

and we are painting.....

It takes much longer to simulate the neglect of a ship at the end of her life.... ( flash photography is never complimentary to models!)

There is a theme going here... what am I planning...?

see if you can guess....

small quiz
=========

the clue is... Turners ' THE FIGHTING TEMERAIRE'


JIM B

[Timmy C]

It's going to be another sad story, isn't?

[Devin]

Nice work, Jim! I have this kit and have been sitting on it for a year, waiting for some WWI German subs to do a diorama with, but I'm tired of waiting, and will likely now build her full hull and put her on a mirrored display base.'

Really like the weathered paint job on this one.

[M�LDERS]

fascinating. Your build logs always have been a real trip, literally a dive, into the topic.
Hungry for more. Excellent!

[JimRussell]

Neglect - end of life - Turner's "The Fighting Temeraire", these are not clues but rather a statement of intent. I imagine a coal fired paddle wheel tug will play a role.

What you may not have realized is that you have now committed yourself to a new photographic backdrop, colorful, translucent, back-lit. Besides your usual standard of modelmaking you now have to out-Turner Turner (as an alternative there is always Photoshop).

Side note, I am 70 tears old, as a grammar school student (appx 12 years old) we had an art appreciation/history segment that included "The Fighting Temeraire". It was one of those rare moments that is clear almost 60 tears later. That painting "got" me.

[LE BOSCO]

Hello Jim

I saw this table it seems to me the Tate Britain or the National galery, I like Turner's!
I feel that you will make us another masterpiece,that'll put us on once more, "the buttocks "on the ground, because
you play in in the same court as Turner's
cheers
nicolas

[JIM BAUMANN]

Thank you for your observations and watching!!

The plan ( currently) is to depict the my model of the SMS Vulkan after World War One -- beyond useful service - neglected ...

formerly a proud and noble ship ....

just getting under way/ picking up/ transferring the tow lines-- on route to be scrapped in England--being towed by the 2 Dutch tugs ( to be scratchbuilt ) so there is the parallel to the Turner Painting...


Alas Vulkan never made UK shores-- she sank en-route in the North Sea....--

The title of the diorama may well be " DER ERLOSCHENE VULKAN " translates as the ... "The extinct volcano " ......

hmnnn?!


Allowing the paint to harden on the hull ...

I skipped around between various sub-assemblies and preparing parts.

Most of the work I have been doing is not really a valid criticism of the kit parts perse

==> but more a reflection my own character trait... of being a hopeless obsessive!

The cowl vents are very nicely rendered --alas they were just not deep enough for my liking- -- So I have been hollowing them out further

-and as Alliance modelworks had provides spares in the kit I reckoned I could risk breaking through ( if it all went wrong-- )

the photo with the burr tool( in a hand=held pin-vice ) shows how much more material was removed.

Is it worth the risk...? On balance...probably not !--

but I am happy in my own mind that I have opened them as far as I dare..


The cast funnels are really very good-- but looking at the photos, the funnel band that forms the funnel stay take-off band was a bit wide for me.

Removing them from the casting and keeping a smooth surface is tricky.

As the funnel cap has been rendered superbly I decided upon a hybrid funnel construction

I cut a groove into the copper tube with my tube cutter to be able to slip in the nickel silver wire ring

( much like a piston ring into a piston in car engine!! )

The skylights are supplied as resin casting with ( openable ) PE window framed hatches. ( looks like windos on the plans and other models I have seen)

These require a bit of patience to position symmetrically-- but look pretty sharp when installed..

After paint I filled in the windows with a sharpened pencil to give them a light sheen

A useful view of the fwd area of the inner area between the hulls show that there are some missing portholes in the inside faces of the hulls,

as well as some seemingly structural beams which look like they will support the fwd deck

which I am in the process of adding- ( none of which are discernible from the plans)

-along with a solid bulwark in the forward curve

Study of photos reveal the aft end of the casting in the area sub recovery well' twixt the hulls to be devoid of some features
( which are not shown on the plan !)

I believe the missing 'boxes' to be the toilets ( Heads) -- overhanging structures with small porthole....

either way I endeavoured to try and add what I believe I can see

The next task will be to add the porthole windows that can be seen on the inside faces of the hull sides

as seen in the above photo

--then onwards to railing before the upper deck can be applied

[EJFoeth]

What a magnificently weird subject

[JIM BAUMANN]

IMPORTANT

========> NOTE TO FULL HULL BUILDERS OF THIS SHIP!!!!!

For those who wish to show their model as a full hull model ( ie @ Devin) it is essential if you want to add the portholes on the inside face of the hull to do so BEFORE you glue on the lower hulls

as otherwise the drill angles will prove impossible to achieve a clean hole-- as it is now I used a pushpin in a pinvice to make a guide hole and then followed up with a drill


I have since also added the solid bulwark fwd and the beams supporting the deck

More soon

[Devin]

Honestly something that hadn't entered my mind at all. Thanks for the pointer!

[Dan K]

Nice build, Jim. I saw this in the Alliance booth at the Orlando NATS, with Devin. Cool project.