seems like a long absence alas -( almost 1 month !!! )
alas real life and 1:1 scale business as well as unusually good classic car driving weather..(
)
has conspired to distract me from the model ...
- only small steps-- but it IS coming together....
In the last update I had fitted the upright stanchions on the upper bridge and was contemplating how to make the additional canvas screens
I used the 0.047 mm Nitinol wire to ' frame ' it and then spanned the gaps with thinned white glue.
The effect is quite pleasing and satisfactory.
The aft accommodation ladder... I used the treads and grating platforms from a WEM Koenig PE set-- ( its WW1 German anyway !)
but the ( commendably fine!) handrails I was unable to use-- as the ladders on Vulkan had only a single rail
and the articulated stanchions on the outboard sides ( img )
I made new hand railings of nickelsilver wire to try and get close to the real thing
a hinged platform and a stowed accommodation ladder was espied in photos--made and added.
I noticed there was an additional skylight-- aft starboard only ( in this image)
and it IS shown on the plan ...!
So I made one !
The small sea boat which will be slung on the stb davits needed a wooden coaming panel adding
I used black gummed paper cut into thin strips, this was later painted a dull brown
The large pulling boat on the port-side was seen in images often to be suspended from the davits above the cradles
so is mine now-- ( though I still need to finish the rigging and paint the falls)
The navlight boxes were made of paper and brass and added after painting--they are still to receive their lanterns
2 x winches were made ( these operate the huge long fwd booms- not yet fitted)
There was a gangplank suspended midships across the void between two hulls
==> giving a short-cut rather than going 'around the ends...'
I made this item using some Torpedo net shelving ( sort of planked look )
and rails added to the sides
I reasoned that if the vessel was going to the open sea ( albeit the last trip !)
--then it was likely that the gangplank
would have been lowered to the deck and stowed... - it is now!
=====================================================================
Following on from Wefalck's research and findings about the undisciplined crew, the generally poor and neglected condition of the vessel having been laid up unused since the submarine school was disbanded in 1917...
and much inspired by the staggeringly fast appearance of rust on surfaces, hull rust leaching and streaking on a current-and-in-service RN ship,...(!)
( spotted on a recent boat-trip tour of Portsmouth Harbour...
and much encouraged ( and egged on!) by Maarten Schoenfeld
.....Observers of this build over the years will notice that the appearance of old and fresh
rust blisters and streaks has increased considerably in recent weeks...
More soon
JIM B
