1/100 Chaconia LPG carrier

[Dave Wooley]

Hi Roel the best way to protect that precious model a good carry box , and it keeps the dust at bay Attended the National Warship Weekend and we had the D-Day modellers over from Belgium , a great time was had
Dave Wooley

[Neptune]

So here are the pics.

In these pics she weighs about 15 kg, 15,000t in scale. That's a good ballast weight and a very possible condition. In reality it would have been devided better to have less trim. I shifted around a little during this trial, but I haven't sailed in that condition since the ballast wasn't fixed like that. In the end she can have 5kg more to be in a better loaded condition.
First trial, without superstructure (I was going to keep it as a relic when the hull sank )



And then with a little more confidence:




And at speed, already overspeed compared to the real ship I guess.






The noise problem seems to have solved itself. Not sure how that happened. The only thing I changed was add an oiling point and fill more oil in the shaft seal. Perhaps that was the problem.
She's steering rather well, better than the real thing. Even at low speed and without any prop wash, the rudder is still useful. I guess that's because the rudder motion is much faster than the real ship (which allows you more motions/corrections in a short period of time).

[Capit�o Norbert]

remember the model is still new and the parts are new.
adjustments take a little while yet, but the model is very beautiful and behaves very well in water.

[Neptune]

Thanks Norberto, indeed I'll need some adjustments. I discovered my rudder function was opposite. Didn't pay attention to that during the tests at home. Only in the water I noticed something went wrong

Of course this test was a good motivation to continue my build. I thought it was kind of sad to see the ship without bridge or mast. So I decided to at least fix that, so that it looks more "normal" next test.
I also painted a couple of things like the tank domes and dry powder stations. In the follow picture they are just dry fitted though.



The mast is a model on its own. A typical function-built thing. Function: support lights and radars, cheapest way to accomplish that: lattice mast structure, way to avoid trouble with vibrations: add as many stanchions as necessary
So it's a mess. It's made up of lots of different diameters of stanchions, platforms and equipment. The part you see here was actually the easiest part. The "Christmas Tree" still has to be built. It's the aft stanchion on which around 9 side branches with lights are attached.
This mast is also dry fitted and drilled in the bridge top plate (1.5mm styrene). I tried to drill and flatten as many surfaces for the stanchions as possible in order to get some strength.




Radar scanners were carved and filed from solid pieces.
So next up is the "Christmas Tree", the platform for the magnetic compass, and some ventheads.

[Capit�o Norbert]

Hi Roel
i have a tanker to do too. i love tankers.
your model looks super fantastic the works on the main
deck are splendid i like the appearence of valves etc...
i would like to ask you if you pretend add some rust.
keep the good work

[Neptune]

and a couple more details on the mast. I drilled 0.5mm holes in the end of each horizontal stanchion for "lights". I'm still indoubt about the way I'll do that. Brass wire or something else...





Norberto, I intend to add rust, but I have not done that on any ship before. I also intend to make small weathering. I have a couple of pictures of the ship a couple of voyages after her dry dock, I will try to get to that result.
On merchant ships, the hull is often in a very different state than the deck and equipment. The hull is done in dry dock, deck and equipment mainly by crew during voyages.

[Capit�o Norbert]

and a couple more details on the mast. I drilled 0.5mm holes in the end of each horizontal stanchion for "lights". I'm still indoubt about the way I'll do that. Brass wire or something else...





Norberto, I intend to add rust, but I have not done that on any ship before. I also intend to make small weathering. I have a couple of pictures of the ship a couple of voyages after her dry dock, I will try to get to that result.
On merchant ships, the hull is often in a very different state than the deck and equipment. The hull is done in dry dock, deck and equipment mainly by crew during voyages.

I asked because I want to do well in my model HMS KGV and I also never did it, but I want to make my model look again, but I can't make some mistake in effect, let's see.

[Neptune]

I will go very slowly and gradually with oil paints, some rust and perhaps some greenish (very slight) near the hawse pipe. The rest of the hull I'll see.

Some progress on the roof of the bridge, which is called the "monkey bridge". Back in the days when captains weren't enslaved to an email computer they were often taking a sunbath over there.

One ventilation duct on starboard aft, an odd construction if you ask me. Two boxes for back-up batteries for the communication (GMDSS) module. Still have to add some vent pipes to these boxes.


The platform for the magnetic compass. The very fine mesh grating is done with one of these new tea bags. Very fine mesh and ok for painting. The compass itself is supported by its own stanchions and platform in the centre.




And the satcom dome on portside front. It's made of the top of a cheap hotel pen. I'll sand it and repaint to get rid of the gloss. It's just fitted preliminary for now, I'll make a bottom plate as well. Looks like a correct size. The only thing remaining is the lights on the mast and some painting.

[Neptune]

Couldn't wait for too long could I? So today another test run, this time with the bridge attached, also put something like the foremast in place at correct height, but not fully finished in shape of course. Also one ventmast remained in place this time. For the rest I removed everything which was dry fitted before. I can run with it since the water is really calm, but I decided not to take the risk. More fun later I guess

I did notice after the run that the ESC and motor were pretty warm. And I only ran for about 20-30 minutes. She's highly overspeed, so I guess I'll limit the running to half ahead, would that help against the warming up? Or does it mean the motor is really too small/weak?

Light conditions weren't optimal this time though.

[jcmackay]

Beautiful job and very nice detailing on an unusual subject! And RC to boot!

When do the gun turrets go on?

John

[Ticonderoga]

Hi Roel,

A lovely looking model mate, well done.

Andrew

[Capit�o Norbert]

i agree my fellow modellers
the model looks excellent and very stable in the water
Congratulations my friend

[Guest]

Impressive !

[Neptune]

Well thanks "guest", nice to see a non-registered user to take the effort to post something! It's a great encouragement, of course also the comments from the registered members are encouraging!

John, guns aren't good ideas on gas carriers I consider her cargo pumps as her weapons, those things are also giving me a serious headache and I'll see when I get around to making those...

I noticed it's been a while, but I haven't been sitting still.

First I continued with the tank domes, I had to get them sprayed/painted, then glued in place and add the supporting frames on the sides and forward and aft.
Here is a picture with these domes installed and a can of Revell Acrylic for size reference.


Here is the forward one;


Lots of items are dry fitted, I drill some holes for locator pins for several items as well. I've also continued the other ventilation fans since that's something I can take to club meetings.

After the tank domes I should have continued with the pipes, yet that wasn't such a good idea. Since I have to work from bottom to top, I had to first finish some smaller pipes, then build the supports over them and only then I could add the big pipes. That's where the hick-up came. The lowest pipes go around the deck house and are attached to supports that connect the regular pipe racks with the deck house itself.

So the first next logical step was first continue (and actually finish) the deck house, before mounting those supports, then the small pipes and then continue with the supports for the big piping midships.

Difficult piece of text, but since there is no manual to scratchbuilding, it explains one of the things that slows down these builds in my opinion. Every step has to be thought out thoroughly, not to get into trouble later on.

So on with the deck house (officially known as Compressor Room since it houses the cargo compressors aka cooling plant) Lots of stuff around that room. Mainly ventilation related.

[Neptune]

Oh yes, for all clarity the compressor room is still far from finished and only dry fitted here, not placed. Next step on that are some walkways around it as well as some fire boxes and I guess I'll also have to put the text on the sides before fixing it. On the sides will be "ANHYDROUS AMMONIA - LPG" and on the forward facing, it'll have the IMO number, all in black. On the backside above the windows should be NO SMOKING.
So lots of "writing" to do there. And of course a lot more details as well.

[Wis]

(I fact "Guest" was me, I didn't notice that I was unlogued )

When will you go back to your udaloy ?

Civilian boat is impressive... but it sink easily

[Neptune]

You'd be surprised how survivable these guys are. They put one LPG carrier on fire as a test, one week later it was still on fire and still afloat. Another thing that makes them rather strong is the fact that the cargo tanks are independent. As long as they are not punctured, the ship will float, even if the complete side of the vessel is cut. She will flood, but the tanks themselves act as floats in that case. They'll float inside the ship, pushing against the deck and by that keep the ship afloat. There are wooden blocks on the inside part of the deck to avoid the tanks from tearing through the deck.

As for the Udaloy, not sure. The reason I'm accelerating this build is because I have ordered my next build from Dean's Marine. The order in which I will complete the ships might still change, but I think first will be the Dean's kit and only after that the Udaloy. I'm not sure to which extent I will finish it. Either cut off the complete stern, since it's completely wrong and completed to a lower standard, or keep it like that and use it as a trash-boat. Either way I have to tear out the RC gear to align the motors to the shafts, perhaps put new shafts since they are bent.

Didn't want to keep this from you. I found a rather quick (but not perfect) way to paint the big markings on the deck house. I'm using what we call a Chinese Ink pen, but with acrylic paint. I tried with different pens etc. but most of them wash off with some water or with the eraser. With the paint I can erase the pensil lines without too much trouble.







I guess I've found the way to do this on the accomodation block as well now.

[Secondo]

Didn't want to keep this from you. I found a rather quick (but not perfect) way to paint the big markings on the deck house. I'm using what we call a Chinese Ink pen, but with acrylic paint. I tried with different pens etc. but most of them wash off with some water or with the eraser. With the paint I can erase the pensil lines without too much trouble.

You may try to use the pen that suits you best and then to seal the writing with a sprayed coat of varnish. As for the pencil guidelines, you can use some tape instead, so that you don't need to erase

[Neptune]

That is one of the problems. With tape you can only do straight things, while the letters and numbers have rounded parts.
I tried to cut them from the tape, but that's not so easy and some parts can't be kept connected as a true stencil. I think in reality these texts may be tack welded on the surface.
I was thinking about that pen as well, to use varnish to seal it, but then I could only seal it after really completing the piece, and then there's a chance that the spray won't reach in certain corners.
Just a couple of thoughts I had that lead to my decision to try this chinese pen with paint. It's pretty ok for now, the main "mistakes" I made was by unsteady hand, something I would have with any regular pen as well.

[Secondo]

And what about dry transfers then? They should be avaiable in the sizes and fonts you need.