The Ship Model Forum

small steps but steps nonetheless....

the real ship had the fwd central portion of the fore-deck painted in a ( looks to me) a kind of red ochre colour

based on this image
and these two (both colourised I think )
I set about mixing something akin...

I shall touch up the bow with a brush and clean up the edges with a blade

I am happy enough with the shade--bit not the intensity


So as to remove the ' colour bite ' ...I will wash it down with some pale filter coats
Having given the hull another coat of anthracite--and soon needing to do the boot topping

I removed the hull from the building board and transferred it to my favourite clamps,


which attach conveniently to the transverse bulkheads.

The clamp attached sideways allows me to put the whole ship assembly down without it falling over

The elegant hull shape is--at last-- starting to show.
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whilst waiting for paint to cure,

I have been experimenting with the depth of the black bands on the funnels.

Obviously I scaled a photo and measued off it -- but it did not look 'right' to my eyes

so out came self adhesive tapes

the process is still ongoing-- results soon
more soon

JIM B

I wonder is this is not simply linoleum (corticene). French warships had linoleum decks since at least the early 1890s.

I would think this to be rather unlikely at such exposed area at the bows. However, the colour may emulate that of 'Battleship Linoleum'.

looking at the plating strakes all over the foredeck
( which I will not replicate in 1/700 ) (!!! )

I think the red ochre area ( looks to me) to be

a painted section

It was and is common to make 'non-slip' surfaces by mixing paint with sand and spreading sand on the fresh paint. The superflous sand is washed off and you get a nice surface with grip - but don't fall onto it

slightly off subject--

on lightweight racing sailing dinghys we used to apply varnish, and in the varnish sprinkle sieved sugar

when varnishw was dry-- wash off sugar--


leaving nice clear see through rough non-slip surface with beautiful sapelle grain wood underneath

Sweet!

Sweet!

I see what you did there! I nearly laughed.

Looking good Jim

Cheers Jab

Wish they had done the sugar-thing on a nice mahagony 'Kiel-Zugvogel' (a small keel-boat class) I did my first sailing-class on in 1971: after a rainy night I stepped onto the fore-deck to set sail - and slipped right off-deck into the water ...

hahah! sweet indeed...

meanwhile...

I have been trying out various ideas to 'circumvent ( pun is intended!) ( on the spare practice hull ! _)
the wretched square-cast-should-be-round(!) portholes.... ( a lot of ... arghhh! )
such as ,...

1) spinning a 3B pencil in the aperture --this works REALLY well when the aperture is round...

2) drilling with a larger drill bit ( portholes end up too large ==> looks toy-like ..)

3) using a soft spring-loaded centre punch ( this did reform the resin very nicely and was totally repeatable
but the resulting dish was too large
==> Good for 1/350 though-- and for for future reference .

4) PE portholes--OK but on Normandie the portholes were flush

my findings are further down below



Truthfully-- Giving up was considered, but was a non-option--too much money and effort invested already
and I am not the the giving up-sort !
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Previously I had established the lower row of portholes had surrounding protrusive rings


but first I had to make them ............using fine copper tinned wire

I have been asked many time show to do this-- so here is how goes with pictures!
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1) select correct size rod/ tube that matches the INSIDE aperture of the porthole and insert into fine jaw pin-chuck
2) cut a short length 4 inches ( 100 mm) or so, insert a kink on the end --this will locate the wire in the pinchuck
3) pull wire gently and apply 1 x turn
4) rest the brass shaft on a finger to apply light pressure to wire and let finger act as an ' inclining' guide and turn the pinchuck slowly but firmly
5) when the end of the wire is reached stop turning and leave a small tail
6) slide off and admire your coil spring!
7) cut single turns off in the same place using a sharp blade on a hard surface
The resulting rings are flattened ( sandwich between metal blade on bladeand appl;y light pressure, tweaked to join in a ciurcular
==|> it is laborious, dull with a 50% plus waste rate (!! )
and so the protruding rings were applied to the row adjacent to the waterline-- these are of course over-scale-

- but when paint is applied they ' shrink in effect' an the effect is pleasing
( I did try thinner wire --but these rings proved very hard to keep round, to flatten or join -

-both stainless steel ( B)
and ( C ) copper wire were not a seffective as the tinned copper ( A)
and when painted --all but ' disappeared )
I made and added an overboard discharge(?) pipe vent


so this brings us full circle ( haha) back to the remaining portholes...

Using the afore mentioned spring loaded centre punch



the point of which created a shallow divot to make a repeatable and safe centre -
-as opposed to a catchy square edged hole..(!)
--into which I popped a 66Y drill bit
and then inserted my rings -- bedded on matt black paint-- so that they would sit flush
( using a sightly radiused end of tweezers handle ) so as to roll the eyes into the hole to sit dead flush

( the join in the circle sits at the top and will be disguised by the eyebrow above ( where applicable )

==> that's another brain-ache for later next week

the only drawback is that there are many hundreds of them to do...

(maybe I will see you in 2022)
when painted they left a nice sharp round hole

and look a long way superior to the original flawed offering...

brutally enlarged image alas...

For lack of better words. Awesome!

Nice work! I wonder where the balance between doing it all yourself and modifying the kit will end!

I noticed that you cut the rings by prying the blade between 'coils', rather than cutting perpendicular to the rod... that may give you some trouble with the ring shape after cutting? I used the same approach for making anchor links but cut along the length using a template to guide the knife (or it would slide off). The cut is (sort of) perpendicular to each ring.

Somehow, I have the feeling that Jim one day will come to the same conclusion as me concerning kits: there is usually so much to change/improve that it might be better to start from scratch right away ...

wefalck wrote...

>>> there is usually so much to change/improve that it might be better to start from scratch right away ... <<<

getting there....

Foeth wrote:
....>>> that may give you some trouble with the ring shape after cutting? I used the same approach for making anchor links but cut along the length using a template to guide the knife (or it would slide off). The cut is (sort of) perpendicular to each ring....<<<

==> perpendicular cutting eh...!

Usually ...when making circles or eyebrows in ( your big scale !) 1/350...
I usually cut 'thru the coil by placing the( thin pointy ) knife blade INSIDE the coil as yoiu suggest.

in this instance the coil spring is very small and thin and I cannot get a blade inside
-- and as you say the blade would slip off if cutting along the top of this very thin rod...

BUT..-- what I am doing is effectively is making making a wire plain 'scarph joint ' -

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarf_joint

-ie because the the cut angle is ( pretty ) repeatable and as it is not a butt join, when I flatten the wire slightly --its almost always perfect.

Because, when I cut the circles off the coil , the ' tail' is held in blue -tak
==> so as to prevent the coil from rolling whilst cutting--

so the consistency of cut and repeatability is actually surprisingly good.

and of course I am using soft copper wire rather than harder brass-- so the blade sinks through very easily

( in fairness..== I have been --since taking that pic- using scalpel blades- which slip far more easily between the coils- .

==> .less prying apart = less problems

( its needs to be easy... with the number I have to make!!�!!

I see your point! A bit of work to 'flip' the wire ends but should work Cutting along the axis is no sure solution either; I had to very gently 'tap' the knife to avoid rotating the wire...and that is using a template you do not need.

Jim,

I've got a quick question about your use of decorative nail tape.

I'm experimenting with several brands and I'm having trouble getting it to stick...it's a project I will share when I get further along.

I want to use it for hull plating effects in conjunction with some other techniques. I'm trying to stick the stuff on to the smooth hull plastic directly. I wanted to apply it to the unpainted surface since I am gluing stretched sprue around it also.

Have you had any difficulty with adhesion? If so, what is your work around.

Great work on those portholes, Jim. Thorough to the Nth degree, and perhaps a little exhausting.

Great work (and a lot of it!) with great results Jim!

Have you considered the 'default' technique of filling and redrilling the portholes?

Thank you all for your kind and encouraging words

@ Dan K-- exhausting indeed--

the obvious answer would be a fret( or 6 !) of correct sized ( probably custom made ) PE portholes...
alas that would take even longer to get --- and the clean up of PE porthole snip edges might take almost as long ..? ( probably not! )

@ Marijinn...

Lack of foresight and planning ahead on my part alas....(!!!!!!!!)

I thought I would get away with spinning a penciland paint effects --so wrong!!

... soas I did not want to disturb all the previous windows with dirt and dust...

I made life just that bit harder for myself!!

@ Strategos Augustus

I have bought a LOT of different nail tapes ( they are so cheap!!!) but some of them are stickier than others.

The really thin and narrow tape I used for the rivet strips ...the moment I had applied mine ...I sealed the ends on with matt varnish brushed )

and then sealed them on with paint and varnish

HTH

JIM B

JIM BAUMANN wrote:Lack of foresight and planning ahead on my part alas....(!!!!!!!!)

I thought I would get away with spinning a penciland paint effects --so wrong!!

... soas I did not want to disturb all the previous windows with dirt and dust...

I made life just that bit harder for myself!!

I get that often too!
With such an involved build, it is impossible to precisely plan everything ahead...