NORMANDIE in 1/700 scale - a non-grey fleet ship !

[Timmy C]

What tool did you use to trim those railings away? I've been trying to find some *really* thin-tipped nippers, but not sure if such exist.

(awe-inspiring as usual, of course!)

[Goodwood]

Our very own Modeling Jedi strikes again!

[JIM BAUMANN]

Hi Timmy

Nice to see you looking in on my marathon....

ref cutting PE

I have for the last 20 plus years been cutting all brass , nickel, (!) , (and stainless steel )PE as well as decal
with these three models of Fiskars scissors ( see images below )

I use Fiskar scissors ( the largest of ) in my Boat-cover business for cutting tough Marine canvas fabrics--(up to 8 layers at a time !!)

The scissors are ' relatively ' expensive and I buy fresh ones of the small pointy ones every 6-8 months or so

and I then relegate the previous models ( marked with a colour band on handle) !

to cutting steel wire, brass/ copper/ aluminium Albion alloy tube, sprue , resin casting gates etc

eventually they end up in the garage where the still serve well for cutting automotive electrical wires, fuel hosed, vinyl trim etc etc !

but --when fresh and new--they an unsurpassed edge for cutting PE ( even in situ as on the platforms )

No need for sanding / filing et al when cutting railings from the PE fret-
keep blade flush aligned with rail or PE part and it is completely clean cut,
so no dents or kinks whilst holding to file or sand

Bizarrely the tiny scissors a much the same price as the much larger one
guideline costs (in the UK) ( Amazon generally has the best offer-
-but one can be lucky on e-bay / ETSY also)
beware of specialist sewing / craft/ embroidery shops( and online ! ) --often 40 % plus extra !

ensure shipping is included otherwise those bargain Fiskar scissors can be less attractive !


this what I use for LARGE PE ( these last 2-3 years ) � 11.00 - 13.00
( these are NOT essential but can be useful !)

This is what I use for cutting railing and PE parts � 10.00 - 12.00

and these are also for railings but especially when used in in situ- 11.00-13.00 for straight and curved
the curved blade version is not essential-- but can save the day as it keeps away from the bits you want to keep !

The small scissors are small and barkingly sharp!

[blacman]

I love your and Dan threads. They are always bringing package of finest modelcraftship and usefull information about history and technoglogy�

[Timmy C]

Thanks Jim, now I'm down the Amazon rabbit hole of tiny scissors...micro-tips, titanium, etc...

Cheers!

[marijn van gils]

Our very own Modeling Jedi strikes again!

What he said!

[USSCYCLOPS]

Quite a treat to watch your ship being fitted out Very looking forward to see your next update
Since Timmy has brought up the questions about tools, I also got a prolonged issue with cutting,hope you can help me with. Namely, what are your preferred tools or ways of cutting, when it comes to remove considerably large chunks from either plastic or resin parts? Say, huge solid deckhouses or protruding hatches on decks? I often use a heavy duty blade like the one below, but it turns out to be quite clumsy to handle and in many times it chipped away everything in its path, including other details I intend to keep. Are there any other tools that can get this job done nicely ?

[JIM BAUMANN]

For removing cast on lumps, obsterperous plastic off s[prue

casting gates etc

fro the basic removal

I use the equivalent of these two tools

Buy the best you can afford

Buy the ones with the biggest " hollow " behind the cutting blades

HTH

JB

[USSCYCLOPS]

For removing cast on lumps, obsterperous plastic off s[prue

casting gates etc

fro the basic removal

I use the equivalent of these two tools

Buy the best you can afford

Buy the ones with the biggest " hollow " behind the cutting blades

HTH

JB

Thanks Jim,brilliant idea. I think a small carpenter's pincer will do just fine.

[JIM BAUMANN]

Hello Normandie build followers;

Progress has been minimal -- due to three main reasons:
1) Post lockdown easing of restrictions our business exploded back into action-
-becoming an all -time consuming monster leaving me working 14 hours days with
hardly a thought for the Normandie

2)Unusually good and very warm weather in the UK- for weeks and weeks !! especially down on the South Coast
rendering the model room ( which faces south ) mostly untenable for working on the ship

3) but probably the main distraction--bearing in mind the fine warm weather....
are my four other French temptresses... ( aside from NORMANDIE ...!!)
alas they are an easy pleasure-- stress free and pleasurable

BUT-- tomorrow is Saturday --and the weather chaps have forecast rain and strong winds all day...
so no chance of prevarication or procrastination!

onwards for a 12 hour shift in the model room-- surely some progress will occur
I shall report in due course

JB

[gscott]

Beautiful cars, sir.

[wefalck]

The Panhard always looked rather alien to me ... I loved the Peugeot convertible - rather more elegant, than the small Simca one. My father had a row of DS Breaks. All these are childhood memories of vacations in France.

[kurusu]

The Panhard always looked rather alien to me ... I loved the Peugeot convertible - rather more elegant, than the small Simca one. My father had a row of DS Breaks. All these are childhood memories of vacations in France.

The small convertible in the photo is a Renault not a Simca.


And, I also like Jim's "Frenchies".

[JIM BAUMANN]

Thank you guys

@ Wefalck- I underatnd now---you meant (mistook for a Simca) the pretty blue Renault caravelle..?

not elegant? Ha!

[wefalck]

Sorry, I didn't want to denigrate the Renault - but it is something more for 'boy-racers' - rather I find the bordeaux Peugeot 504 convertible more appropriate for a seasoned mid-60s guy like me ... thinking of touring around the backhills of Proven�e, the Luberon, along the Corniches, or down to the Promenade des Anglais ...

[kurusu]

Sorry, I didn't want to denigrate the Renault - but it is something more for 'boy-racers' - rather I find the bordeaux Peugeot 504 convertible more appropriate for a seasoned mid-60s guy like me ... thinking of touring around the backhills of Proven�e, the Luberon, along the Corniches, or down to the Promenade des Anglais ...

Not really a "boy-racer". The Renault Caravelle/Floride was aimed at the "young woman" market.

As you can see here with Brigitte Bardot.

Slowly drifting the thread as I wait for more updates on the Normandie.

[JIM BAUMANN]

Good day kind people!

It being England the weather could not last-- and as result I have been busy with a myriad of tiny things on the Normandie
all of which consume many hours.

as built ( as is my model) the ship had the name emblazoned on her upper deck as a large illuminated sign

The real thing -- close up -- looks like this

Noteworthy is that the sign is a U shaped box section-- braced longitudinally on the reverse
with light-bulbs arranged to reflect the light within the U-box. The sides and back are painted black.

I decided against the light-bulbs... ( this is 1/700 !!! )

I had the option of the kit PE lettering ( too simplified, very soft- in brass )

3-D custom printed lettering--correct in that it had fine edges, and was a proper ' U-box'

or my custom stainless steel relief etched PE lettering

The problem with the 3D printed lettering was that whilst it was ' correct ' it was dimensionally correct ..
. in 1/700 on the ship it just looked a bit " BIG "
The bracing on the reverse was also a bit heavy for my liking

compromises and preferences...


The stainless PE -although in section -may appear a bit thin when enlarged brutally....

But when offered up to the model ship it had a more delicate appearance
-- and -looking at photos, taken from a distance of the real ship
my perception of the under-size section depth was actually more to my liking

They all were quite a fiddle to paint, to hold and paint!. I stuck them on to the sticky side of a post it note
( stuck down to the bench with doublesided tape )
and further secured the lettering to the post-note with Tamiya tape -
-so that when running the 00.3 pen along there would be no shifting

the bracing was added --in much thinner strips of stainless steel PE ( ex PE rigging )

Much touching up and paring away the paint with a curved edge scalpel blade was needed to get a reasonably acceptable look

The lettering was installed; the angled supporting props on the inside will be added shortly in situ

======================================================================================

in the meantime I added the funnels... some of which needed ' assistance' to bend to my will

======================================================================================

the vent deck -- surrounding the aft funnel ( non-smoke function ) had a variety of
fiddly and very fine railing .
I found this very helpful schematic on-line of the aft funnel ventilation functions

I digress--the railings proper were part of my custom PE frets, and being Nickel silver and pretty fine are also very delicate.

The degree of wasted PE rail caused by mis-bends, accidental bends, wrong cuts, and bent stuff suddenly not fitting, being dropped, lost, pinging its way across the workbench etc in general was frankly of an EPIC scale...
completely disproportionate to what was actually fitted to the model !!!

the designer had added fold-up feet-- which were a little bit large -and very difficult to bend without damaging or distorting the stanchions.

I elected to cut the away individually and aim for a crisper look.( and making life much harder for adhesive contact !

The technique that proved most successful( after quite a few failed attempts!!!)

==> was to tack on with matt enamel varnish, and then run a cats whisker ( yes really!)
with a tiny drop of CA glue at the base of the stanchion

Despite the above mentioned wastage--the end result was quite pleasing.
( I have since removed the ( dented !) centrepiece between the steps
the stair rails will be painted silver also next session

careful observers will have noted that the liferaft stacks at the funnel bases are now all in place.

===================================================================================

whilst dealing with fiddly rails I added the stairways from the aft lamp deck

comparison of kit piece ( with 2 bar rail instead of 4 ).

( after the photo ) -I filled my gaps at the ends of the steps with white glue and painted white to homogenise!

Thereafter for some light relief and pleasure I added the tannoy loudspeakers aft
( as well as trying to add simulated deck lights.... )

Its starting to look shippy with funnels in place....

More soon

JIM B

[MartinJQuinn]

Sweet mother of pearl. Fantastic details. I love what you did with the ships name.

[wefalck]

An tremendous amount of details and attention to them

How did you do the display case ? I am asking, because I will have build one myself again, but have difficulties sourcing the material I used to use, namely milled brass angles, which is quite strange.

[marijn van gils]

Fantastic work as always Jim!

The name looks great! Sometimes, the look and feel of items is more important to the final result than absolute metric accuracy. I think you made the right choice here.

The details like the speakers and deck lights are great too! It is this kind of stuff that makes the difference between an 'idealised' and sterile feeling model, and a model that feels like a real living and breathing ship.