Thank you for your kind words gentlemen.!
Progress has been solid -- if not swift--whilst getting bogged down in the minutia... ( as ever! )
after 'discovering' the winches and the skylight on the plan--they were duly made of styrene , drilled and painted.
The winches were cobbled together of small bits of brass and resin scraps--both were added with some degree of difficulty (!)
to the well-deck
through the delicate lattice-work of the boats support structure
The boat decks had the hatches added-made of decal strip --so as to keep a low profile once painted --as I believe the hatches were actually inset near flush on the real ship
( source- Brian Kings model )
an omission that had been bothering me for a while-- but I thought it would be ok..( ha! )
were the distinctive boarding steps fwd, midships and aft-
....this uneasy feeling became all the more glaring an omission (! ) after I studied Bill Livingstone's steps on his 1893 HMS Hood model ...
viewtopic.php?f=59&t=66011&hilit=hood+b ... =0#p380804
Of course these would have been easier to install BEFORE I installed the model in its sea... ( plan ahead ! )
Hey ho...--I practised on the under-scale casting from the Chinese kit ( which oddly had some PE ladders glued onto the master--
which whilst fairly correctly located -- did not look at all convincing
I used stretched black sprue for the steps and matt varnish as the adhesive as it allowed me a lot of wriggle time to try and square up the steps... ( mostly successful )
the end result is not as razor sharp as I would like--but in the melee of boat booms, hatches and rigging they ought just about to pass muster--apart from when subjected to huge enlargement on the PC screen!
--though making six sets was enough to try my patience
The steps on the real ship are
not all the same size either--varying in width considerably
( not just my sloppiness! )
Extended study of photos of the ship showed there to be 'texture' on the upper edges of the superstructure splintershields/bulwarks which when viewed really closely revealed itself to be a small beading on the fwd and aft splintershields
I added this using thin copper wire ( soft ) in situ, overlength and snipped with sharp scissors --when painted it gave a pleasing look akin to the real ship
for some light relief (!) I made the aft flying deck of multiple pieces of brass and glue ( which will be mounted on the masts a few stages further down the build )
The resin supplied kit item was the right size in planview--but had solid resin ' railing' and was of course far too thick in every dimension
Back to more current progress--these ships had a gargantuan sternwalk at the stern
I made the platform floor using brass PE fret scrap and cut the two halves,joined in the centre with a glued brass fillet
The giant slot in the hull ( intended for the insertion of the the rather thick resin sternwalk deck ) was too large for my thin brass deck.
after I attached the stern walk the gap was filled by running a black decal strip over the gap and blended in with paint
Under the sternwalk were 2 x hawsepipes ( sealed with lids ) and a horizontally stowed anchor each side.
The hawse pipe-lids were filed up our of brass with some small brass detail ( old gunsights)
I used some very old Toms anchors which before painting had some texture added
( not seen yet in photo )
The roof of the stern walk was made of paper--the distinctive hanging pelmet was formed in situ using some flame softened thin brass strip (old 1/350 PE rigging cable
!! )
where it rejoined the hull I left a small gap ( my paper cutting was not that good ! ) which was infilled with white glue as in this job it is self levelling
Once painted it looked pretty sharp-- I will add a bit of texture with watercolour should have it looking much like the real thing in the photo
The very distinctive railing ...
I had one small piece of left over WEM Iron Duke PE which contains a piece of very fine most suitable railing..
alas it is too short--fortunately after contacting Richard Harden ( Toms modelworks and the 'new' White Ensign Models ) 2 x new WEM Iron Duke frets are en-route from the USA to the UK...
( better to have tow of the same matching 'vintage' etch than mix my 10 plus year old with new--maybe minute differentials so would not be a perfect not a match when joining ...
with two new railing sections I can splice them together to give the required length-- phew!
the torpedo net shelf on this vessel is not continuous..- it has gaps within to allow the net booms to stow... this took some working out as both of the plans I have are far from helpful or conclusive-- the spacing of the booms and a few oblique photos gave me some of the answers
the shelves themselves are not solid--but rather a lattice type construction ( water drain , strength etc )
I used some textured narrow strips of PE ( old l'Arsenal Liberty ship 1/350 PE ) cut up and installed - guided by the boom angles/ positions and photos
The net booms were made of drawn brass wire dipped in a small puddle of white glue when half set this was flattened to give the impression of the re-enforced mounting plates -- the stand-offs for the booms were small slivers of styrene
The model is at last starting to come together...
Next gargantuan ( seemingly never ending task ) will be the making of the myriad of small boats and launches, mounting these on their cradles
before the real ' fun'
(!??!! ) begins
making and installing all the bridge and pilot house decks foer and aft on their spindly supporting legs
more soon
Jim Baumann
)
