WW1 Royal Navy paddle steamer mine-sweeper in 1/350

[MartinJQuinn]

Looks great Jim. I really like the little details you pick out and then add to your kits.

[InchHigh]

Outstanding build of an interesting subject. Are there any drawings of this class around?

[JIM BAUMANN]

drawings....

probably at Greenwich.

There is also a builders model @ the IWM-- alas in storage

If interested--send me an e-mail and I will send you what I have!

Regards
Jim Baumann

[JIM BAUMANN]

making more --albeit (snail-like) slow progress...

mainly because of me obsessing about minutia !

Some reasonable PE companionways are supplied on the PE sheet
-- to be fitted ( allegedly !) going aft to fwd to the aft edge of each bridge wing
Now then ....( puts on the pedantic hat )
-- absolutely nowhere could I find any evidence that this was the case

nope!

not here either ...

I surmise that perhaps the kit may have been developed in part using this ( rather flawed!) plan (?)

This photo is the ONLY photo from aft that gave me a clue as to what may have been
( its a educated (!?) guesswork to a certain extent anyhow!

backed up by this useful photo--albeit this is the same ship in WW2 service-==> note the angled funnels
nevertheless this ties in with the aforementioned gap in the railing and dodgers of the ship in WW1...

The kit supplied PE railings--aside from them not being long enough now
due to the need to fill in the gaps left by the now absent stairways
were definitely not fine/ thin enough for my liking --
I have always wanted to avoid the clunkiness often seen on on smaller ships with overscale railings

So I used some over-etched railing from an old WEM set--
the horizontal line thickness and material thickness sis about a third
of the kit item

This was carefully 'cut-and'shut' to ensure a stanchion on the corners and symmetry ( with much patience and quite some wastage...
due to the very delicate nature of the railing!) ( noted in photos small dink on port fwd!)

I also formed( forced!) the deck of the bride wings downwards--as this is seen in photos to be pronounced and noticeable

The bridge access companionway now in a satisfactory position ( as far as I can ascertian)
- was was made using an old WEM item

The resin funnels I was just not completely happy about--after painting they just looked a wee bit 'bumpy'

so I removed the funnel caps and made some new funnels of Copper tubing with the resin caps -cut with my tube cutter tool

The donor cowl vents from a Seals sprue that I had hollowed out with a varity of tools

were cut off and added to some shafts of styrene of varying heights.

Thereafter I re-profiled the rears of the cowls to more accurately match those in the photos

The installation of these should transform the vessel and make it look more interesting ( and encouraging!! )

On the way I cleaned up and installed the tiny castings of mooring bollards , fairleads, coal scuttles and other deck hardware.

More updated progress soon

Jim Baumann

[wefalck]

Nice research and work (as usual, of course) !

P.S., what happened to the site www.finewaterline.com ? It seems to have disappeared ...

[Daniele]

Nice research and work (as usual, of course) !

P.S., what happened to the site http://www.finewaterline.com ? It seems to have disappeared ...

Finewaterline have a new website
http://www.finewaterline.org/

Daniele

[JIM BAUMANN]

small steps;

The canvas dodgers on the lower bridge level were covered with canvas wind breaks ( dodgers) as per the 3/4 stb bow view of HMS Atherstone

( later in WW1 they also covered the upper level rails of the bridge with canvas dodgers
but in model form ( as well as on the real thing !! )that looks too clumsy to my eyes !

First I painted the INSIDE face of the rails a darker grey ( for better contrast )
then I used thinned white woodworking glue spread across the railings with a long soft brush ( rigger brush) so as not to
break the contact and thereby ' pop' the white glue film

( PVA or Elmers in the US will work fine also)

White glue dries clear as below

==> therefore when the dodgers is painted on the outside only--

the darker grey rails are still visible on the inside with sharp demarcation

which is a pleasing effect I think.

The bridge wing supports of PE had a connecting piece for easy building-- but looked clunky- so was cut away

The overall look of the ship is becoming more to my liking

Note the deflected bridge wing angles

and now...-back to endless cowl vents...


Jim Baumann

[marijn van gils]

She is starting to look great Jim!

Excellent idea to only paint the dodgers from the outside! The effect is very convincing and sharp indeed.

Cheers,

Marijn

[modellmariner]

Very good, Jim!

[iangazeley]

Those canvas dodgers really look very realistic.

[JIM BAUMANN]

Thank you all for your replies!
The Christmas period was occupied by relaxing from post work stress, family affairs and daugher school projects

nevertheless managed to get 3 days in-- so herewith the results;

The fwd gun platform--as can be seen in photos and on builders model of the first phase ( dark grey)

and second phase 'improved' version of the class ( light grey) ( HMS Hexham )

as well as --reading thru the pixels,,(!) on the subject of my model--HMS Atherstone

The supplied piece of PE grating looked agreeable-- and was raised by using some stainless steel 1/700 ladder-stock formed in a circle to support

end result looks satisfactory

Steam pipes , made of Albion alloys brass tubing, were added on the aft face of the fwd funnel...
and the fwd face of the aft funnel !
the stand-offs were made of small blobs of paint

The step to the quarterdeck--contrary to the kits instructions and other models I have seen had solid bulwarks pierced with 2 x stairways

as in image below--this was also confirmed by not being able to see daylight where expected in all the 3/4 bow-on photos

I made the bulwarks of stainless steel PE fret waste strip and added the strake beading in situ at the top using copper wire as previously

the over-standing pieces of wire were snipped off after installation

After painting and the installation of the two short steps it all started to look more agreeable!

[JIM BAUMANN]

Onwards...

Whilst wrapping wire around bulwarks at a later stage of the build...(!!!! )

I added the strake at the bow also-- I was in two minds about this-- not wanting to make the bulwark appear thicker

I scraped some resin away on the inside beforehand...
note to self--do this when the hull is still bare!

I wrapped the wire and snipped off

The kit supplied railings were just a bit too thick for my liking-- so I substituted for some WEM Koenig 3 bar.

These looked right to my eyes.
but ...when comparing these to the kit rails I agonised - too close? -as the stanchion spacing was a bit closer.

HOWEVER

study of the real ship photos, builders model suggested that I was ( probably!) on the right track after all

On the model it looks right--and light and delicate

The kit brass masts were alas-- according to my measuring of photos - too short

I also wanted the masts to run all the way thru the hull so as to prevent the rigging loads distorting the masts.

The fwd mast is taller than the aft (and carries 3 x yards)

with the masts installed, and the vents and boom poles giving vertical accents alongside the funnels it is starting to look more pleasing to th eye

More soon

[wefalck]

Well, what can one say ...

[marijn van gils]

Don't ask me, I'm also at a loss for words�

Cheers,

Marijn

[zs180]

Very nice and crisp as always. A delight to behold!

[JIM BAUMANN]

Thank you all-- most encouraging words from masters of their craft...

I havebeen having times when I like the model-- and others when I loathe it...

but is mostly 'self-loathing' of my own abilties --as nothing ever seems crisp or sharp enough--and I think I should be able to make it better...
... --then I take off my x 5 magnifier optivisor and it all looks tolerably OK again..."

but life is too short to worry I guess!

so herewith latest small steps.

The ship has a number of cable reels distributed around= these are not readily documented but some of their disposition can be gleaned and guessed at from rudimentary plan, some photos and builders models eg below

I started winding various lengths and diamtesr of metal and styrene tubing with various gauges of wire to represent the ropes and hawsers.

The actual cable reels were made ( and modified) from the elderly but venerable and fine 1/350 GMM reels PE fret

Once they were installed they looked quite pleasing

The large hinged gantry at the stern for deploying the sweeping gear...
was a substantial girder affair of a subtle I section as far as I could ascertain

The kits resin item was alas too small, bent and broken,
==>wrong material for this structure

I made one of PE fret waste, but it lacked the desired ' heft'

...so started searching though my box of old PE and came across some signal rodding from an O-gauge Model Railway PE set

( I bought a box of old scrap Railway bits over 15 years ago.)

This thick piece of Brass PE was etched ever so slightly out of register--but this gave a pleasing sharp texture to the outline once painted

More bits and pics soon

Jim B

[JIM BAUMANN]

progress is afoot...!

...ships boats--fortunately only 2 x whalers and a small gig fro this vessel...

the outlines of the boats were OK, however I did not much like the cast-on rope loops, but as I was unhappy with the quality of the surface the resin casting of the ships boats

it was no pain to pare it all off with a blade and sand the lot smooth--

This also allowed me to thin the coamings down and sharpen up bow and stern

I added the timber rubbing strakes in copper wire

The inner strake and thwart PE pieces looked OK--but despite the thinned down coaming inside as well as out,
I was unable to persuade the PE piece to sit within ( a PE dimensional issue ..!)

I therefore elected to laboriously ( precariously ) sand all the edges of the PE piece whilst held in small pliers

The results were satisfactory-

seen here before the oars were added

-though perhaps it would have been as quick
to lay in a flattened copper wire strakes with PE strip thwarts butt-edge glued

I had been putting of painting the crew....

The sailors had a light blue and white collar and tab, over dark navy trousers and top with dark cap on deck

The officers wore very dark Navy/ black jackets and trousers , white shirt and black tie

The collars were a stand-out feature and in 1/350 should be represented...

( I merely indicate their presence in 1/700 )

Much time and patience and quite some failures of arms , legs and heads on the L'Arsenal figures
( my clumsiness mainly! )

installed on vessel the officers looked suitably stern and sober in their ties and collar

The sailors were in contrast a little more colourful but harder to portray with their tabs and collars

slowly but surely populating the ship

as a diversion I wanted to install the midships derrick posts ( intended to haul on-board the seaplanes...)

The cast resin items ( unsuitable material) were not usable

The replacements were made of metal tubing.
Note the boats are now installed-- the sea boat on starboard side slung outboard on griping spar ( with white glue pads)

Nest step will be the 2 x 3 in Q/F guns, the kit items were Ok at a glance , but note close up.

More soon

JIM B

[Jabberwock]

And where are the pipes in the mouths of the officers Jim!

Shame on you!

(Looking REALLY good!)

Cheers Jabb

[JIM BAUMANN]

hah!

just for you Mr J.B. Wock

I will fabricate a very small(!) PE pipe and jam it a suitably placed officers teeth
=========================================================


meanwhile--details--If I can see it on a photo and I am able to make it.... I shall add it
==> irrespective whetherr not I can identify what it might have been in real life...

I spend many hours poring over old grainy -often low res images trying to make sense ..
is it a 'thing ' ? ....or just a grainy bit of photo?

Herewith some of the bits I could identify!

swan neck vents were littered all over the ship usually at the deck edges to vent compartments and bunkers

I made these of brass wire in various sizes

with paint they looked more subtle

and installed whilst they are not ' obvious' they do carry towards the collective 'busy' look
that old ships have

The Semaphore masts on ships is often portrayed as having its 'arms'' when at rest at aroudn 45 degrees (ie twenty-to-five on a clock)

yet photos often show them hanging down to virtually vertical

this was a useful image

so I made mine out of strips of brass PE fret waste

The PE breakwater that came with the kit was no use alas as it was too shallow in height as the fwd grating gun platform had been raised as detailed earlier

I made a breakwater of paper ( seen here at the pattern making stage -- I reduced its height significantly later

She carried --it seems--only 1 x accommodation ladder usually deployed ( it seems!) on the starboard side

I made mine by cannibalising various old PE parts--the hand-railing on the accommodation ladder was -it seems -on the ouytboard side only

and was not solid but made of wire cable-- hence I have only stanchions in place-- the stretched sprue droopy railing( with it raised )
I shall make at the rigging stage

I started adding some of the various spars to the masts--along with the (well shaped) kit resin cast crows-nests ( after drilling them out hollow)

The midships derrick mast and spars were intended for swinging in and outboard the Short seaplanes
though photos suggest they were rarely carried ( and images of the ships in later life show the derrick posts to have been removed

==>Hence the derrick booms were mounted on the outboard face of the derrick,-as opposed to the more usual fwd face
study of photos suggest there was a reinforced section underneath the gooseneck pivot point which I represented with white glue moulding...

The 'plans' as posted above show two steps on the paddle boxes to an access hatch
The kit supplied two of these per side as per plan--albeit quite large as PE items.)

offering up one of my 1: 350 sailors to the x 2 proposed step positions--and scaling this up to myself...

--the resultant 39 inch (1 metre) gaps between the steps would have been simply infeasible to ascend --

hence I added additional steps -- these were tacked in place with thinned white glue for grab and runny CA dropped on afterwards for strength

The current project is to make,complete and install the vertical small round vents ,small ( tiny!) mushroom vents

and other small unidentifiable' lumps' on the fwd wheelhouse faces

along with the missing watertank

more soon

Jim Baumann

[Aop Aur]

Beautiful work! The overboard paddle system looks very interesting. The planking looks very nice too. Also, the railings are very fine for this scale! I don't know why so many manufacturers don't produce a more in-scale railing thickness...

Aop