The Ship Model Forum

Welcome back Sir! Nice to see some updates on your ship!

Dino

Perhaps the most distinguishing feature of the County Class were their three raked funnels.. The forward and aft funnels were both circular in plan while the center funnel had semi-circular fore and aft ends with a straight center section making it approximately twice the area in footprint of the other two. I was able to find cpvc plumbing pipe of the proper diameter and cutting the pipe at the proper angle - 8 degrees from the vertical � and length for the fore and aft funnels was quickly done. The middle funnel was somewhat more difficult in that a couple of lengths of pipe had to first be cut in half longitudinally and then joined in the middle with two straight sections. The basic forms of the funnels were thus completed some time back.
At the tops and bottoms of each circular funnel tube is sloped circular cap and skirt. These are basically truncated conical forms cut from thin (.010 inch) plastic sheet using a pair of dividers with very sharp points. There is an excellent diagram that shows how to calculate the proper radii in Scale Model Warships edited by John Bowen, and once you see how its done it becomes fairly easy. Some of the steps in construction the skirt are shown below:
The skirt for the center funnel is somewhat more complicated but the basic steps are the same:

Steve,

That is brilliant work, simply brilliant!

Brilliant way to scratchbuild thanks for sharing!

Dino

Some interesting technics you have there for scratchbuilding the funnels. Taking some notes here!!!
Good job Steve...lovely build!

I do comprehend your problems with the funnels, especially the middle one, as I have experienced similar with mine.

Very interesting technique in building the canvas supports! I had also Problems with soldering, but a collegue gave me hints:

1. use balsa wood for a quick positive form.
2. cut all wires and put them together
3. Use "soldering liquid" (?)
4. hold the soldering iron with a bit of lead against the junctures. Wizz - thats it!

Similar to your technique you need to "fix" the parts first and then use the soldering process only to join the parts.

Here are some pictures from my collegue how he done it.


Please note the holes drilled in the baseplate for the brass wires.

Thank you Torpedo for the soldering tips. I've tried some of those techniques in the past, but my results have not been good. Something I need to practice to get right I suppose.

The funnel caps are also conical sections, made just like the skirts, of a slightly smaller size. Atop each funnel cap is a pipe framework used for supporting a canvas cover to protect the funnel opening when the ship is laid up or the engineering plant is down for any length of time. The first step in making this is to construct a circular frame of the proper diameter. To do this I used an old circle template used for drafting in the days before computers. I cut a piece of .020 inch diameter plastic rod to fit inside the circle and then lightly applied liquid cement to the joint. I then laid the first curved piece across the frame and gradually added the other frames radially until all eight were in place. I then supplemented the liquid cement with small drops of cyano on the underside of all the joints and let everything dry thoroughly. The completed frame is then attached on small tabs which raise it slight above the rim of the funnel cap. Its probably a bit on the heavy side, but attempts using smaller diameter plastic were not successful and I do not have the soldering skills to fabricate it from wire. Below is a photo of the fore funnel with skirt, cap, band and steam pipe fitted. The next photo shows the completed funnel cap with the framing in place. You can also see the four steam pipes in place as well as small brass eyelets (a model railroad product) for the guy wires.


The fore funnel has several unique features, the most noticeable being the ship�s horns with associated piping, access platforms and ladder. The fore funnel also contains the galley stack, which enters the funnel near the base on the port side and extends up the interior of the funnel and through the cap. The horns themselves are another railroad item while the rest is made from various bits of plastic rod, tubing and photoetch.

Looks excellent! I wish I had you typhoons, as they would have fit better than mine on the B-110...

Superb!!!


Jef

Extremely Impressive!!!! Great job, they'll do justice to the model for sure!

Very nice indeed!!!

One question: How did you made those ladders?

The ladder is a commercially available photoetched item. I'm not sure exactly where that one came from, several companies make them in 1/192-1/200 scale and I've got a bunch of them in my parts box.

SUPERB JOB

Your DORSETSHIRE looks like it is going to be a real classic, Steve.

Has the IWM put the Ough DORSETSHIRE back on display? I haven't seen it there since 1976---not in the '80's, not in the '90's. If it is, I hope somebody posts some huge images.

I've not seen it there since the turn of the millenium when I first visited their musuem, they always keep a lot of their older ship models in storage it seems

In 1976 they had a number of Oughs on display---I had just bought the light blue reduced scale planbook of his plans and was on the lookout for him. Then they had a huge display of ship models compared to what I saw in my last years in London, 1993-95. Really irritating what they have done to the ship models. They are such a valuable resource they should have their own museum!

I've been working on the raised searchlight platform that surrounds the after funnel and the 36" searchlights. Here's the progress so far: Construction is basically a matter of cutting the floor to the proper shape and then cutting and fitting the straight and curved side pieces. The photo below shows the support structure supprting the plattform. Not a great deal to look at, but it represents more than a few hours of work.

Very high quality work !!!



Jef

Very impressive!