Ice breaker Krasin in 1/700

[Dino Carancini]

...eventually I found the time to read all this post, a lot of fine modelling between the lines, keep them coming and we will make good use of your experiments

bravo!

dino

[JIM BAUMANN]

The recent bout of fine weather in nippy February UK has had me outside enjoying my old cars in the crisp sun-shine- so modelboat progress has been slowed a little

Nevertheless I have made some new additions:


The cranes supplied in the kit bore no resemblance to the actual items on the ship--which in fairness are not exactly well documented in the photos I have found so far

But........ careful study of photos showed these to a latticwork crane jib.

I blieve I have succeeded in making something that will look like a fair representation using some elderly GMM IJN Carrier PE

These will have streched sprue added to the upper surfaces along the edges to give the jibs some vertical depth and extend the 'point' a little further to accomodate a PE pulley wheel



The boat davits are mounted outboard on the tumblehome, and are supported by triangular gusset plates

The gash chutes were made of fine styrene strip passed through the railings

It being beyond my patience to fabricate triangular gussets that matched the hull.... I resorted to a different ruse...
These supports were made using scratched brass wire davits, a small piece of PE strip for the upper girder, stretched sprue for the diagonal lower and then the aperture in-filled with thinned white glue.

When painted I think they convey a fair impression of the real thing

Lastly the large coir fender/bumper on the stern--that was not present in 1928 --but in the later early 1930's guise that I am depicting her in, was made of automotive cellulose knifing putty--this remains workable for around 3 hours...

The next stage will be erecting the new long tapered pole masts...


JIM B

[callen]

You know something that isn't often mentioned is the fact that innovation is, among other things, a risk. I have more than one model that I took a risk on that did not pan out and will never be completed. So having said that, it's one thing to take risks with a kit one has spent money on, it's another thing to take pictures and post them on the internet for the world to see, while still trying to find solutions that will enable the completion of the kit. Of course, you've been at this a while, so maybe it's not as big a risk these days as it might have been in the beginning, but still, I'd just like to say 'hats off' and keep up the good work. I am in awe and envy of your frequency and industry.

[JIM BAUMANN]

continuing on with possibly my slowest model ever....

The boats were not suspended from the davits when underway--but sat in cradles.

I sought guidance from the larger scale models, images that I had found in Russian forums....

-that were based on the many-time mentioned erroneous plans...and once again they proved to be so in this area also!!!

( with apologies to the evidently skilled Russian builder)

but not so.....


Having been frankly baffled as to what these cradles ought to look like--most of my images of Krassin showed only hints of what they might look like ... and none of them sufficiently conclusive

until I found this one!!!

Aha--now all the hints in all the other photos made more sense...

The above is a crop from a mighty useful -rare-on-deck photo...

A = the boat cradle

B = hatch coaming

C = handrail with swept-outboard top-rail

D =locker

E =Vent rotating rod ( which I had previously already installed)

I made my cradles from cut down PE cradles and a brass centre post--fiddly-- but -the effect is worth it I think....

The bridge wore - in almost all photos-- canvas dodgers ABOVE the timber pannled bulwarks--presumably to reduce the wind chill factor in the polar climate she operated in

I have endeavoured to replicate this--using stretched sprue, PE and white glue... the results are quite ok- I would ' next time' try and make the dodgers less tidy!!!
The Binnacle on the bridge has the balance balls..

The long tapered pole masts were made as usual in the dremel; brass rod chucked and held ioth downward pressure in a pre-cut tapered V-shaped groove in the bench and running a file across the spinning metal, finishinh off with emery cloth

wear safety glasses !!!

I had a a few flying failures....potentially very very dangerous....

The platforms were rolled up of PE waste strip, the V-brackets underneath were of stretched sprue with scratchbuilt floodlights

It did take some getting psyched up to cover the decks with snow--partially cleared after a blizzard ....

Ther are photos of the Krassins decks coverd in snow ice....- I had wondered about the residual heat within the ship--but having seen-and cleared snow-- fromhouse-roofs... I went for it !!

I will reinforce this with some of the crew engaged in clearing snow- the ship is standing still in the ice...

a few general shots next...

[JIM BAUMANN]

Just a few - poor-depth-of-field workshop-snaps of the current status quo

The ship isnow sitting in the ice-- matt artist acrylic gel.

[Stefano Salesi]

superb model. really beautiful and "different" from the classic cruiser or bb.

really love your method of building, i find it very inspiring and a goal to (hopefully) reach in term of quality and detail.

Jim, you are the Master Yoda of shipmodelig.

[drizzt73]

Wow- simply superb, what scale is this again?

That display looks so good, that top down shot looks like you are hovering above the arctic.

Well done

Cheers

Anthony

[Rob 2]

Very impressive Jim.
I hope you have some suitably clad crew figures to avoid any shivering on deck.
Rob.

[Dino Carancini]

Jim the snow looks convincing, and considering the small scale you did a miracle!

just a remark if I may, the white wash on the side walls is a bit too heavy ( under macro lenses ), but considering that this is a WIP I suppose the final aspect will be more blurred.

Very nice!

Dino

[mike mccabe]

Jim
All looks good to me, I dont find the show overdone. Whilst mine is complete and shows a slightly earlier fit I think (at the time of the Italia rescue), no photos as of yet, time / daylight has not permitted it.

Mike

[JIM BAUMANN]

Hi Dino

You know--that is what I thought having looked at photos of the real thing ...

but looking at the documentary movie .....

Link

http://www.polarpost.ru/video/Ledokol_Krasin.avi

( quite a big file--but a few priceless shots if you start really looking...


Its where I noticed the large amount of snow that remained on the anchor for example

here is a screenshot...( look at the midships section... )
and a few photos of the screen on the paused movie

waddaythink?

[aleccap]

Beautiful work, any chance of a close up side shot in profile ? Will you be modeling the ice (not to be confused with the white snow).

[MartinJQuinn]

Jim,

You are a bloody madman. Excellent work - the details you are adding really bring her to life.

[Dino Carancini]

here is a screenshot...( look at the midships section... )
and a few photos of the screen on the paused movie

waddaythink?

... now I understand your intentions, and my remark has no more reason to be

[modellmariner]

Hello, Jim, a really impressive work!

J�rg

[mike mccabe]

Photos of my model now online

http://www.finewaterline.com/pages/gall ... rasin.html

Mike

[JIM BAUMANN]

That looks very good Mike!

I am envious of your completed status!!! very fine rigging!

Look forward to seeing her in the flesh...

Tara

JB

[JIM BAUMANN]

meanwhile... moving on.... containing my envy at a completed Krasin...


Spurned on by "Cerberus jf" ...thank you!-. study of photos showed that there appeared to besome kind of grating/platform affair--hinged at its lowere edge--that seemed to stow in an upright position under the bridge wings.

Still unsure of its function I nevertheless tried to model it...

I used some relief etched doors form the WEM 1/350 Koenig set--and super-imposed upon it some 1/700 WEM Askold net-shelf PE

A = WEM Askold 1/700 Torpedo net shelf

B = WEM 1/350 Koenig doors

C = The completed assembly

The next thing to worry about was my previously installed crowsnest-- glued for permanence...(!!) onto my skinny turned mast...( the removal was a fraught business---I relied on the lack of CA's shear strength and with some faith and hope--whilst cursing my obsessive nature.......twisted the old crown nest off..

I rolled a new one of thinner brass sheet- by pressing a drill shank onto the brass-strip on a 'post-it' pad and rolling back and forth

I was happier now !

Mike McCabe had very kindly sent me some Russina star decals( aircraft supplies)

However--after I had applied on to the funnel it looked too... er flat...

The real thing had the stars made of , - I presume - iron plate-possibly timber..?

anyhow--these stars stood away proud of the funnel surface.

I wanted to emulate this.==-- ( in truth -- perhaps I have overdone them a wee bit ..??)

but the end effect when viewed 1/1 scale.... rather than a MASSIVE blow-up....... on a 19 in monitor... looks ok

These stars were made of paper--cut out with a scalpel...( I made a lot of them... to end up with four...(!!)

( ==> apologies for poor photo--it was late! )

Most of the crew have been installed,on the ship a few small swan-neck vents ( mad eof wire)
along with the breakwater struts; these were made of brown stretched sprue and given a light coating of snow .

Unusually the breakwater sruts were on the FWD face of the breakwater....


a brief overview of the status quo so far..

[BB61]

Fascinating stuff.

[JIM BAUMANN]

The path to madness!!

or ...

==> How to spend a considerable number of hours on a PC to achieve what must seem to normal people ..

very little... INDEED-- very small lettering-- 4.3 mm long precisely!

The Krassin had her name on the bow -- in 1928 --verifiably -- in Cyriclic only

in 1932 onwards she carried the name in Latin lettering as well

This is what it should look like on the real thing....

a rather more informative image as to the shape of the Cyrillic and Latin lettering shapes

I wanted to produce this as a white decal-- albeit a bit tricky...

The plan is to create the lettering shapes-- and then print them in reverse/negative

ie the lettering is clear with the surround to be printed in very dark grey.black

BUT... print it on white decal sheet--cut very close and a bit of blending...

should work fine-- did the same on the 1/700 Courageous build for the turret deflection scale decals

(http://www.modelwarships.com/reviews/sh ... index.html )






But I digress...

The initial problem was the lack of a Cyriilic alphahbet that had the same shape letters as seen on the above posted photo...

sooooo


I imported into Serif 8.0 ( drawing programm) the required letters from a russian website

alas these ' modern' letters looked not much like those on the ship- in particular the A ws always shown as a

therefore ....

I substituted the first three characters for Latin letters--and then the ..."" fun"".... began....


I needed to remove all the serifs from all of the letters, extensively reshape the C and the P and convert the letter H into a cyrilic K

this I could do only laboriously--with my limited PC skills -- by changing all the lines twixt the node points, and creating curves where required...

1) Getting the different alphabets sized the same

2) Removing the serifs

making the H into a K

3) Before and after --after checking all line thicknesses are the same and all is level...

Next the image will get reversed and then printed.

More progress tommorrow!

Jim Baumann