The Ship Model Forum

I have a small addendum regarding the cutters. It didn't seem right to me to leave the oars unsecured in the boat.
So I secured them with a rope to prevent them from slipping.



And this is what it looks like now on the Mikasa.




And with that, I wish you all a wonderful and peaceful Christmas.

Joelle wrote: Tue Dec 23, 2025 1:40 pmWhere did I get the idea for the wire ropes from, Marijn? Let me think, ohhh, from you.

As I learned it from others (Jim Baumann, Werner Dekeersmaecker, Philip Reed, ...)!


Good call on the ropes holding the oars. Much better!

NiCr-wire (stretches less than Cu) is recommend by Lloyd McCaffery in his 1988 book 'Ships in MIniature' and copper wire was used by McNarry already in his 1955 book ''Shipbuilding in Miniature'. I have used wire on larger-scale models in the early 1990s, but think it is best used only on small-scale models, where one can fake the actual rigging practice, rather than repeating it in miniature.

Wonderful detailing.

Thanks a lot, guys.

I used lead wire, Ebehard.
It's the easiest to shape and isn't under any stress at this point.

Very nice work on these cutters!

Many thanks, EJFoeth.

I’ve slightly opened up my assembly jig again to determine the positions of the launch and cutter.

To do this, I removed the davits from their injection-molded frames and inserted them into the designated holes. Then, using a small strip of styrene profile, I positioned the boats at the same distance from the outer edge of the hull.



So far, it’s looking pretty good. It’s definitely a tight fit, but I can get all the little boats in place. Before I secure them, though, I’ll make sure everything is perfectly aligned.



I simulated the rope of the pulley system with a wire, and it fit quite well on the cutters.



However, this doesn’t work with the barge. The arrow shows where the rope hits the stop and the barge has shifted backward. Here I need to raise the davits or modify the pulley system.



And so the ship continues to take shape.

There is often a roller rivetted to the side of davits, in about the middle of the arc, that directs the runner to a more convenient hauling point and also down to the cleat.

Hello Eberhard.
That's also how the Ponos kit is designed.



I only used the copper wire to simulate the entire system because I didn't want to cut the photo-etched part out of the circuit board yet. The davits will be installed much later. I was only concerned with the position of the lifeboats.

That looks strange and unusual - I don’t know what the Japanese did, but normally, one has a double block suspended from a swivel-hook at the end of the davit, which forms a double purchase with another block, which in turn hooks into the boat. The working end is lead to a sheave rivetted to the davit, as indicated above.

I have this picture of Japanese davits, where the pulley system is clearly visible.



But I think that's what the photo-etched part depicts. Except that the reel is attached to the davit in the middle. Probably for safety.

The image represents essentially what I described, but the photo-etched part doesn’t get it right.

Good morning, Eberhard.

I've now compared the davits again and numbered the positions of the individual components.



1. This is the loose roll. In the drawing, it sits directly below 2. the fixed roll. On my component, I believe it's attached in the middle of the davit to prevent it from rattling around. And 3. is the deflection pulley, which is simply in a different position in the two pictures.



Would that be an explanation, Eberhard?

Hello everyone.

I used my time off to recruit even more crew.

They’re actually members of the German Navy. But as soon as they received a nice new styrene flat cap, they started speaking Japanese.

So I’m further increasing the number of available figures.



Everyone dressed up and ready to board the ship.



I remembered Dafi's words, which he gave me in a German forum. He spoke of group formation, and I hope I've implemented it appropriately. With a group of sailors chatting amongst themselves.



What could the boys possibly be chatting about as soon as the officer turned his back on them?!



Something needs to be repaired on the fan cover, and a sailor is bringing more equipment to the storage lockers.



An officer steps out of the armored command post and the sailor gives a brisk salute.



At the stern, a sailor goes into the control station, and an officer keeps an eye on the boys working in the pinnace.



I’ve already distributed the figures on the lower deckhouse, so now the upper bridge with the cams can finally be installed.



I would have difficulty reaching those spots afterwards, so that’s how I did it before.



Even these figures are barely visible afterwards, but again they give the model depth and a touch of life. The good thing is that I could easily use the DKM sailors with their incorrect clothing.

Great figure placement Joerg!

You clearly understand the main trick: have each and every figure have a purpose, no matter how simple, and if possible have the figures interact with each other or with parts of the ship.
That, and be sure not to spread them out too evenly over the ship. Some areas can be nicely busy, but don't be afraid te leave some areas without figures too.

Happy New Year, everyone!
Let’s get our glue out again in 2026 and, above all, stay healthy so we can continue our wonderful hobby.

Thanks, Marijn.
It's really not that easy to maintain the balance between building up the team and leaving space.

I used my day off to tackle another tricky task.You might remember that I wanted to do things differently than planned when mounting the posts that support the bridge on the bridge deck. First, I glued the bridge securely in place yesterday and let it dry thoroughly until this morning.Then I pushed the posts through the holes I had already prepared.



The profiles at the top were cut to size, and that was it. A little brown paint, and you can’t see them anymore.

Then I attached the support pillars at the front. That was a bit tricky, to be honest, but it worked. Thanks in part to my assembly stand, which allowed me to lay the model on its side again and made the job much easier.



And so the bridge and its supports are now in place.



It wasn’t easy to align all the support pillars perfectly straight and parallel to each other.



I really like working with the team below me.



The posts still need to be aged, but I’ll do that this weekend.

I've finished the bridge and its girder and am now starting to add more details.
First, I'll take care of the signal flags. So I created this prototype.



For this, I've built a small wooden cabinet out of styrene to store the flags, which I'll probably make from tissue paper.



I'm toying with the idea of having a figure here later, holding one of the signal lines to raise a flag, something like this...



Now I have to build four of these little cabinets first, I'll keep you posted.

This is an inspiring build for me, I really like the way you made the weathering (I've been told many times that my ships are too clean...). And the details are really nice too

Many thanks, Sszabi.

I have mor from that.

Today I completed a small but exquisite detail, exactly as written.

But let’s start from the beginning. The forward bridge building was still missing some colored lights—the navigation lights.

Port…



And starboard…



Now I could finally get to work on my shelves. First, I cut a lot of profiles to size.



Painstakingly glued together and painted brown. I folded long strips of tissue paper using an accordion-like technique, colored the ends, and then cut them off. That’s how each letter was created.



Here you can see A to E.



I couldn’t get more than five in a row, so in the end there are only 20 letters on the shelf. Please forgive me.



Then I set it up on the object of my desire to test it out and let it work. I really like it.



And I also made the attachment points for the ropes flatter. They were still too high for me.



Successful Sunday.

Next, I tackled the crane boom and the wind vents.

I’m actually installing the crane boom very early on, for two reasons.

First, this allows me to finish the work on the amidships deck, and second, I want to put the upper part of the masts in place as late as possible. On the Mikasa, they are much taller and more delicate than on the Bismarck, making the model quite unwieldy.

And so I got started.

First, I created a mounting for the pulley on the boat deck. This consisted of two deck eyes and a base plate. The nice thing about this was that it gave me a little more leeway when aligning the crane boom. The hook could be moved up and down a bit in the bracket, which simplified things.



Then I assembled the missing wind vents.



And without further ado, let’s get all that stuff onto the model.



The crane boom is placed on a support.



And the pulley system can be conveniently parked on the deck.



It’s a damn tight fit, but it works.