1/700 Auto Eco car carrier

[amdownunder]

Hi Nepture, nice job on the bridge, very similar to the bridge on my ship, my ship has two stern ramps, would like the to working ramps on my ship, how t to get the rams to work.

Back to my ships construction tomorrow night,still working on the Bow.

Tony from down under

[Neptune]

Either you get working rams, or thinking out of the box a little, just use a stanchion for hinges at the base, then fix the ramp to that stanchion to make it operational, you can then add the hydraulic cylinders as an ornament, just make them slide and it will look like they operate the ramp.
On most pure car and truck carriers the ramps are purely operated by hydraulic winches with wires, takes some time, but they are often a bit larger and heavier than the regular RoRo ramps. On RoRo you see either fully operated by hydraulic cylinders or partially together with wires for and extendable part. I guess it's a bit faster.

[Neptune]

Small update.

Continued with the detailing of the bridge top and finally attached the bridge to the ship. The forward, small mast is also in place and also the main mast is fixed in place awaiting painting and final detailing.

Also fixed the lattice vent mast in place and put the remaining bracing in place.

Currently concentrating on the quay along with last detailing of the vessel.

[Neptune]

Currently I'm mostly working on the quay. Not exactly my strong point, but I'm exploring a few new things again. The side wall itself was given some washes of brown and green since in reality they look like that as well (not visible in the pics yet). The result looks ok so far.

For the water I'm exploring mixing acrylic paints with the acrylic gel and then I'll see if I have to apply it in several layers with different colors to get what I need. The water is very muddy in the inner port (as well as outside along the entire Belgian coast, due to strong currents).

For the quay, the dark edge is the start of the asphaltum, the lighter part is a stronger type of stones for heavy vehicles. They're always stored closest to the vessels.
The yellow pieces are stretched styrene, in reality of course they are a warning so that the cars don't end up in the water.
The bollards are made up of bent brass rod of 0.8mm dia. I then filed them straight at the end and flat at the top to resemble the real ones. I used a small jig again to make sure they'd have the same dimensions.

I drilled holes in the quay at the required interval and used a piece of 0.8mm rod underneath to make sure they'd all have the same height.

The fenders have been produced, but I'm waiting to install them untill I have the right method for the water effect with the acrylic gel.

[Neptune]

Ok, so I've proceeded with the remaining jobs.
First layers of acrylic after a couple of test runs. Eventually found out that mixing the acrylic paint with the gel before application actually gives better results than painting and then applying the gel. The pigment is more evenly spread compared to any wash and, depending on the amount of paint you mix in, the gel gives a transparency to the paint.

The ship is only placed for effect. I chose to completely "treat" the base with gel and later on cut out the hull outline to mount the ship.

In the meantime I have performed that cut and was surprised to find out how easy it was. Whatever I had cut out, came off pretty easy, much like a mask. I then applied a new coat of gel, with a little more brown mixed in, and then mounted ship (glued in place by the gel).

I needed to get the mirky brownish-green color of the Zeebrugge port (and North Sea as a whole).

[Neptune]

Noticed I had some pics to show about the whole process. Didn't want to keep them from you.

The tricky part with mixing the acrylic paint with the gel before application is to estimate which level of transparency you will reach and which kind of colour.
Here you see some pics of the process. Unfortunately I had to use heavy gel since the shop didn't have medium available. So I had to mix it with water and paint, and due to this mixing I did get air bubbles coming out during drying.


Eventually the colour will be the colour as you mixed it in the jar. The difference in colour after mixing is basically the concentration of pigment = concentration of the final wash and transparency level. So the lighter your mixture, the more transparency your gel coat will have, but the colour will turn as dark as the original.

[amdownunder]

Hi Neptune, I put a search in on the port you are modelling, why is the water green, unusual, you are very close to the right colour, I found found a good pic of a auto car carrier with the ramp down , very good pic, most pics when you search say subject to copy right at the bottom of the pic, are you interested in seeing it. There is no actual copyright on the pic it's self.

With my ship I be using the blue tarp for the water and sit the ship on it, may paint the wash from the ship, my model is a water line model.

Tony from down under

[Neptune]

Hi Tony,

I actually have quite a few pics of the vessel with the ramp down, so no problems there.

Finally finished this one. Not very happy with the mooring lines, but eventually learned how to work with it. They are small wires from a PC electrical fan, they're about the same thickness as a hair. I straightened them by rolling between my steel ruler and the table top. Unfortunately they are not stiff and therefore you have only one shot. If it fails, you have to roll it again to straighten it out again.
The mooring lines were troublesome, since Had to make the eyes first, then place them and try to tension them before gluing on the vessel. If the mooring area was open, this would have been easier. But with the closed mooring area, tensioning and gluing was difficult without bending them.
Eventually I decided to add more detail than I intended to in the beginning. It brings a bit more colour as well.

The stern gate wires are always kept slack in port, I suppose this is to avoid shock loads and lifting of the ramp if another vessel is passing close-by or if the vessel surges by the sea condition.

As for the green/brown water, this is normal North Sea water. Due to the strong current flowing through the shallow English channel back and forth (3-6kts) it brings with it a lot of sand and other particles, the water's very nutritious creating a mixture of algae and sand.
The inner port of Zeebrugge is connected to the North Sea by the locks, so this water also enters the inner port.

[Pieter]

Haven't checked the board for a while as the weather makes me swim in the North Sea rather than looking at models of it. Really like the finished model.

[amdownunder]

Hi Neptune, pure awesome and well done, is there more detail to come like adding cars on the dock ready to be loaded and semi trailers picking up cars.

My Nephew in Australia drives for a company that delivers cars all around Queensland, pics them up at the Port of Brisbane.

I hope my build turns out like yours has, yes plan to model a dock as well, my ship will mainly sit under the bridge I be building for my layout, bridge will have a 14ft span and about 20 inches water line clearance.

Tony from very cold down under.

[maxim]

Great model! These car carriers look really interesting!

There could be printed car and truck models in 1/700 on Shapeways - unfortunately all these models are not registered as "vehicles" and "1/700", but somehow different.

[Maarten Sch�nfeld]

Hey Roel,

Glad to see this interesting and colourful model of yours! Super work, well done!

Maarten

[DrPR]

Roel,

A friend of mine makes small HO lumbering equipment model kits. He buys rolls of wire, and to straighten a section he just clamps one end into a vise, rolls out the section, and then gives the other end a sharp tug. That takes all the kinks out of it.

Phil

[maxim]

Found a set of cars and trucks:
https://www.shapeways.com/product/8UZYP ... d=59211980

[Neptune]

Thanks for the interest.
I've seen the Shapeways design, but never bought anything there before. I'm also a bit curious to see the actual printed version as all that's visible for now is the design...

Started the next ship build already, I'll see what comes along. I also still have the option to insert the Engie Zeebrugge LNG bunker vessel, but its complexity combined with tiny dimensions in this scale are not what I'm looking for at the moment. Perhaps some day in the future...

[maxim]

There is another set of cars:
https://www.shapeways.com/product/ZZP8Q ... d=83248483