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PostPosted: Mon Jan 10, 2022 7:45 am 
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Thanks for the tip with putting the wires into holes for working on them. I knew it, but had forgotten about it. Will have the opportunity to try it out later today, as I will have to cut half a dozen 1 mm long section of 0.1 mm wire to simulate hinges ...

For cutting off wires flat I also use so-called 'cutting tweezers', as used e.g. by watchmakers:

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They have an asymetrically ground cutting edge, allowing to cut off flush to a surface. Unfortunately, these guys are not cheap, but it is worthwhile to look around for offers. Paying for a brand may be worthwhile, as they are made from different types of steel, some are meant to cut only soft copper wire, while with others (particularly those bought from watchmakers supply houses) you can cut thin soft steel (they are used to preciely shorten balance springs).

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PostPosted: Mon Jan 10, 2022 8:06 am 
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wefalck wrote:
Thanks for the tip with putting the wires into holes for working on them. I knew it, but had forgotten about it. Will have the opportunity to try it out later today, as I will have to cut half a dozen 1 mm long section of 0.1 mm wire to simulate hinges ...


Wefalck am flattered. "The cutting tweezers" are really interesting, i'll try to get a pair asap, thank you for the tip.

EJFoeth wrote:
I too encountered Marijn's work first with the Godverdomme diorama when I was using duct tape to hold my models together :big_grin:


..which was more or less what i was actually doing at the time too :big_grin: . Good to read from you EJ!

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Last edited by SG1 on Tue Jan 11, 2022 12:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Tue Jan 11, 2022 3:05 am 
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Many thanks everyone for the tips! Very interesting discussion! :thumbs_up_1:

One question though: don't the nail clippers and cutting tweezers get blunt quickly when cutting brass (even thin wire)? My scalpels quickly get indentations from even 0,2mm wire...

And many thanks for the compliments SG! :smallsmile: :cool_2: :smallsmile:
I always really enjoyed publishing in Model Time and Soldatini in the past. And I really missing travelling to shows in Italy... The last one has been more than 10 years ago now! That's really too long... :(

wefalck wrote:
Unfortunately, there is little in machining one can do with 0.2 mm diameter brass wire. I have a 0.2 mm collet for my watchmakers lathe and my hand-held archimedes drill would also clamp it, but if it sticks out more than half a millimeter or so it would just bend ...
:mad_2:

Steel wire would be stiffer, but is difficult to cut, while molybdenum wire would be even stiffer, but is near impossible to cut ...

Yes, I have also found that on the lathe, rigidity (well, mostly lack thereof...) takes on a whole different meaning when working on tiny pieces like we modellers tend to do.
For turning parts in brass under 1mm, I tend to start from 3mm wire, not 1 mm, simply so I can get enough stick-out to leave room for parting etc. Of course, that means turning down a lot to the final diameter, but it pays off in rigidity I feel. But even then, there is plenty of flexing, and I need to constantly make spring passes, and measure the diameter with calipers instead of relying on the crossbed indications.


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PostPosted: Tue Jan 11, 2022 3:08 am 
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marijn van gils wrote:

One question though: don't the nail clippers and cutting tweezers get blunt quickly when cutting brass (even thin wire)? My scalpels quickly get indentations from even 0,2mm wire...


Strangely enough my clippers are still sharp after years of use; don't clip above 0.5mm, more the smaller stuff.


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PostPosted: Tue Jan 11, 2022 3:20 am 
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Ok, that is reassuring! ;)


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PostPosted: Tue Jan 11, 2022 7:13 am 
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My cutting tweezers are from Dumont. The cutting edge is much more wedge-shaped than on a scalpel, which helps to keep the edge. Yes, I don't cut anything above 0.3 mm diameter with them.

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PostPosted: Wed Jan 12, 2022 5:38 am 
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:thumbs_up_1:

I can see some online shopping in my near future... :big_grin:
Those cutting tweezers will probably also be very handy for rigging, for example for cutting lengths of (copper) wire rigging to the exact size when one end is already glued in place, and the piece is surrounded by a spiders web of masts and rigging. A version with more narrow jaws may be handy for that, so I'll be looking around...


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PostPosted: Wed Jan 12, 2022 6:46 am 
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and also....

try this

FISKARS F9808 CURVED EMBROIDERY SCISSORS (4"/100MM)

the curved blades mean you don't catch the continuation of the wire etc

I used them to great effect as a 'retro-extraction ' here....

viewtopic.php?f=59&t=168156&start=200#p866650

and the choices here
viewtopic.php?f=59&t=168156&start=220#p866927


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PostPosted: Wed Jan 12, 2022 9:06 am 
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Woohoo! More shopping! :big_grin: :big_grin: :big_grin:

Thanks Jim! :thumbs_up_1:
I do have some small and large scissors of course, but maximum strength and sharpness is of great importance for these tasks indeed, and I could use some improvement... ;)


Meanwhile, I still added some details to the guns.

In reality, those heavy steel barrels don’t balance perfectly on their trunnions with their rear end floating in thin air like this :big_grin: :
Image

Instead, they rested on wooden beds and were elevated with chocks.

Much earlier, I had prepared different sizes of chocks for this purpose. They were cast in resin together with the guns and other details:
Image

So, now I added the beds in plastic sheet strips, bed bolts with stretched sprue (barely visible though…), and added resin chocks where needed:
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I only did this to the visible gun carriages: mostly on the forecastle and quarterdeck, but also the upper deck guns in the waist as they may just be visible:
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The carronades received their elevation screw (cut from 1/700 PE railing; stainless steel for rigidity). The starboard gun is at the upper limits of the screw, while the port gun had the upper end added with a tiny piece of stretched sprue:
Image

The guns and carronades of Redoutable received the same treatment. Her carronades were also given a handling bar, and this dismounted gun barrel received trunnions (stretched sprue):
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 12, 2022 10:03 am 
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Did they already have BlueTack in Napoleonic times ... :big_grin:

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PostPosted: Thu Jan 13, 2022 2:42 am 
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:big_grin: :big_grin: :big_grin:

Yes! Napoleon even ordered the development of a weaponized version, but the project never produced good results...
Hence it was mostly used as an experimental alternative for breeching ropes, to halt the recoil of the guns.


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PostPosted: Fri Jan 14, 2022 4:12 am 
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My Proxxon MF70 is in the mail as well... I have something complicated planned for it.. I want to have a few brass davits to the side of the hull connected via a few mounting pins running through & soldered to the davits... The test drills you did convinced me to give that a try and will hopefully reinforce the arguably weakest point of a very fragile assembly. May not work out, we'll see :smallsmile:


Last edited by EJFoeth on Fri Jan 14, 2022 7:35 am, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Fri Jan 14, 2022 7:33 am 
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:thumbs_up_1:

I'm looking forward to that! :smallsmile:


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PostPosted: Fri Jan 14, 2022 1:05 pm 
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Quote:
Yes! Napoleon even ordered the development of a weaponized version, but the project never produced good results...


Well, that's what happens when you have alchemists working in your labs.


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PostPosted: Wed Feb 02, 2022 4:16 pm 
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Thanks to a throwaway comment from Evert-Jan on Britmodeller, I have only just discovered this build - and 2.5 hours later I have just finished devouring all 38 pages of it.

Ridiculous. Just ludicrously good.

Clearly I need to get over here more often! Thanks, Marijn; not for the first time your work is completely inspirational (I am 2+ years into a 1/350 Ark Royal, using the Merit kit as the starting point, albeit so heavily modified by this point that less and less of the original remains in use... and your Lexington has already given me many ideas).


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PostPosted: Thu Feb 03, 2022 8:07 am 
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Welcome to Modelwarships.com !
For matters maritime you will much info and support here;

I am sure it will be useful visiting !
-- many of the threads and build reports here are inspirational!

if it is of help :big_grin: :wave_1:

here is a link to mine--

http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery ... index.html

OTHER USEFUL THREADS FROM A MODELLING PERSPECTIVE

rigging viewtopic.php?f=4&t=37536


water viewtopic.php?f=4&t=37923

and many more to be found here ;

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=37923


and here

viewforum.php?f=5

a thread pertaining to the Ark Royal ( 16 pages)

started eons ago but may well contain some useful info to you

viewtopic.php?f=46&t=4870

Best wishes

Jim Baumann

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PostPosted: Thu Feb 03, 2022 1:46 pm 
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Thanks, Jim - though I have only just started posting I am a long-term (if irregular) lurker; I’ve been a member for 8 years, according to my profile! In particular, I regularly check the “Calling All Ark…” thread.

That’s more than enough hijacking of Marijn’s wonderful build, so now back to our normal programming…


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PostPosted: Sat Feb 19, 2022 11:10 am 
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Many thanks for you nice words FAAWAFU!
And sorry for this late reply. I checked out you Ark Royal build: wonderful! :thumbs_up_1: :thumbs_up_1: :thumbs_up_1:


And an update:
I figured that preparing the seascape would be easier before slapping paint on the models, so that’s what I spent my modelling time on recently.

I used a different technique than I used before: sculpting the sea in putty and sculpting clay.

I had some MDF cut to size in the hardware store, and made cut-outs for the ships, boats, and some of the floating debris:
Image

Next, I covered it in a layer of Magic Sculp putty and roughly sculpted the seas in it with my fingers:
Image

But I was not happy with it: the seas were too small, and too flat with ‘ridges’ at their edges. So back to start! :big_grin:
Image

My second attempt was much better. This time I didn’t use my fingers but a soup spoon, which made it easy to create nice concave seas. The knife is for cutting excess putty from the edges.
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I used the plugs I had made for vacu-forming the hulls of the boats to make impressions for the boats. I wiggled them around a bit for a loose fit.
Image

After this hardened, I wanted to create a tight fit for the ships too. I started by applying some freshly mixed Magic Sculp in the recess, only at the bow and stern, and a couple of ‘sausages’:
Image

I covered this with clingfilm to avoid the putty from, well, clinging to the ships:
Image

And I pressed the hull of the ship in the putty, wiggling it around for a slightly loose fit (for room for adjustment later), but making sure I like the position and heel.
I filled the recess only partly with putty because too much putty would offer too much resistance when pressing the model into it.
Image

After that hardened, the rest of the recesses were filled with more putty, which was left to harden too:
Image

Note how the finishing has been very rough so far.


Last edited by marijn van gils on Sat Feb 19, 2022 11:13 am, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Sat Feb 19, 2022 11:12 am 
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Next, I sculpted the waves in another layer.

For this, I didn’t use Magic Sculp but Super Sculpey Firm. Like Magic Sculp, it is one of the most popular sculpting materials in the figure modelling world, especially on the fantasy side. But it is very different from Magic Sculp: it is not an epoxy putty but a polymer clay.

The biggest practical difference: it doesn’t harden by itself but stays soft for as long as you want, until you bake it at about 135°C. The big advantage: this allowed me to take as much time as needed to sculpt the waves. I could also go back to areas I already finished a week earlier and adjust them or redo them.

I first applied a layer of a couple of millimetres all over the seascape, and redefined the seas with a smaller spoon:
Image

Next, I impressed waves with a cheap round-headed sculpting tool. I rolled the tool a little each time to get oval shapes, and I made sure to vary their size and depth:
Image

Next, I added smaller wavelets by going over the entire surface again with a smaller ball-headed tool:
Image

I worked in limited areas at a time.
Why did I first sculpt a layer with Magic Sculp before this, rather than doing everything in one thick layer of Super Sculpey? A thicker layer would be a little more difficult to bake, but most importantly I wanted firmly defined recesses for the ships that wouldn’t move while sculpting the final surface.
Image

After finishing the entire surface, I went back to many areas to improve them a bit further: introduce a bit more ‘irregularity’, shape some seas more to my liking, etc.

This sculpting took a lot more time than I anticipated, close to 20 hours, spread over two weeks of free time. I could easily sculpt an entire 1/35 scale figure in that time (at least when using commercial head and hands)… :twitch:
Luckily, it was really fun to do! And I love how controllable this technique is. It could be used to create very different kinds of seas too.

I filled the recesses for the boats again a little and used their plugs again for the final shaping. Left is finished, right not yet:
Image

I also sculpted recesses for the large pieces of floating debris:
Image


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PostPosted: Sat Feb 19, 2022 11:15 am 
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Finally, it was time to bake my cake! :big_grin:
I got lucky: it only barely fitted in my oven… :Oops_1:
Below the right corner of the seascape, you can see an oven thermometer. These are quite necessary for baking polymer clays, as it is really important to get the temperature correct. The temperature indication on ovens should not be trusted!
Image

And voila!
Image

I’m a sucker for a nice clean edge on seascapes (and groundwork). I feel they improve the feel of the seascape, making it look more like a piece magically sliced out of the world.
So I glued plastic sheet to the sides of the base, and cut and ground the top edge to follow the waves:
Image

The gap was filled with Magic Sculp (not Super Sculpey, as baking again would melt the plastic). I used a toothpick (sanded and covered in CA glue) to apply it neatly, smoothing out the last 5% with a small brush and water:
Image

And finished! :smallsmile: :smallsmile: :smallsmile:
Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Well, not entirely, because the plan is to cast it completely in transparent (but coloured) resin. But that’s for later! ;)
I will also add even smaller wavelets on top of the surface with AK Transparent Water Gel, so the final appearance of the surface will still change a little.


Last edited by marijn van gils on Tue Feb 22, 2022 10:19 am, edited 1 time in total.

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