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

[Goodwood]

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.

And this, folks, is why modelling is just as much�if not more�art than science.

[Chuck Bauer]

[GewoonWouter]

wow that's some serious masterclass building going on here. You must have nerves of steel
Cool collection of classic cars too!

[Dan K]

Simply superb, Jim.

[propmeup1]

At one time I was considering taking Marin Quinn's Norm off his hands. Jim you ruined that idea for me. I love yours and have no need to build one. I'll make a space on a shelf for your's when it's complete. Just have it shipped over please.

[Rui Matos]

Hi Jim

After all these years of astonishing builds and upgrades/ improvements / corrections to every single model you have tackled, this is surelly the most challenging one!
Although with huge strugles along all steps, it is looking spot on and a very very beautiful representation of the real ship!

Carry on - the light at the end of the tunnel is in sight!
Cheers
Rui

[JIM BAUMANN]

Hello all

Thank for your encouraging words--
The very warm summer and post -lock-down work stress has alas made some inroads on
my available model-building time, but there have been a few quantum leaps

The recent photos of the aft decks of my ship model have been conspicuous
by the swimming pool having still been incomplete

From the air--the pool looks neither very blue or the surround ever so very bright

from different angles in different lighting

closer up in black and white ....

even in colour

a few years back --having also bought the 1/350 version by OMK...
they had provided a pretty good decal for the pool surround
which I had scanned for future refs in case of damage etc so that I could reprint the decal .
That build never happened--domestic pressure-its a biiiiig model-- so I sold the kit to a friend.

I dug out the scan which pretty accurately captured the tile pattern-- BRAVO ! OMK

I had already measured my pool surround--in 1/700 its pretty small 10.1 millimeters loa = 0.34 inch
I reduced the size of my scan and softened the contrast and colour hue to give a less stark effect

and printed various versions with sizes =/- 0.1 mm at a time to get an exact fit

version no 1 was unsatisfactory , I had simplified the surrounding railings, the contrast was too great , too much blue etc

when trying to make things better they often get worse first

to the extent that I also replaced the inboard timber pool surround with a thinner version

after quite some jigging and poking about with very small railings and people it
looked a bit more like an overhead view photo

a closer view

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

Once that was done I avoided " the elephant in the room " ( the lifeboats.....!)
by diverting my attention to making the forward funnel siren platfrom



The original platform was cast on the funnel --- but was lost during the funnel reshaping and sanding
viewtopic.php?f=59&t=168156#p748736
....==> way back in November 2018 (!! )

a new platform of CA infused paper, some GMM gold plus railing cut down and shape completed this task quite effectively

[JIM BAUMANN]

So-- having run almost out of things to do ( haha!! ) to avoid tackling the ships boats

I added the very distinctive very large tannoy speaker to No 2 funnel

so back to the boats...

all I could do... was...--. to do them !

My biggest dread was how to get the boats aligned perfectly ,

the first of these issues was dependent on �( hopefully! )
my having previously installed and aligned the davits in a a sufficiently accurate manner

my second worry was how to actually get the boats to adhere to the davits, whilst allowing some
wiggle room and adjustment.

but first a few last minute preparations.
I had previously painted and prepared all the lifeboats back in November 2019 (!)

viewtopic.php?f=59&t=168156&start=120#p806471

all sitting on red pushpins for port and green for Starboard...



along with the 2 x large launches which now received the keel skegs of brass wire and white glue, the spade rudders ( brass) and the props in PE brass

I started on the Portside first ...-- for no good reason...
I found that despite the davits lining up almost perfectly when viewed along and eyeballed
that on 2 x boats on the portside I needed to ( brutally!) notch the bow section
on the inboard(un-seen !) face

The actual attaching of the boats went as follows ;
I propped the ship-on-its-sea-base at such an angle that the boats would " lie " broadly speaking in the cradle of the davit
without ' rolling ' off.
each one was test-fitted--with the boat being held in tweezers padded with sticky side out Tamiya tape
Once happy that they would site well
I added a small drop of fresh white glue to each pair of davits so that this would be hidden from view
and added the boat !
==> white ( Evostick woodworking ) glue has high grab and skins very fast.
but allowed final fore and aft as well as rotational adjustment for about 15 mins.
when things went wrong-and they did...-it removed willingly with no damage

first few boats on port-side

both sides completed... ( only 11 hours work !! )

The ship no longer looks undressed !

more shortly!

JIM B

[pascalemod]

What a beautiful ship and model of one!

[Willie]

Meister Baumann, ich bin sprachlos wiedermal. I am again speechless...
You have to be the punishment for our sins in three previous lives, nothing less...

All the best from this side,

Willie.

[MartinJQuinn]

Magnificent work! Your perseverance has paid off!

[bgire]

Hi Jim,
I'm afraid but seems some rivets are missing... particularly here
This has turned to a reference building... always very inspiring.

How did evolve the PE side long parts with time? No dilatation/ contraction trouble?

Cheers!
_Bruno

[JIM BAUMANN]

Ahoi Bruno !!

the contraction issue remains as predictable , bad, and without a physical solution as ever
( we cannot alter the science alas )

I have simply adapted the situation to my favour and overcome by keeping the base of the ship permanently warm at a constant temperature with the vivarium heater hooked up to its thermostat !

illustrated step by step here:-- from January 2020

viewtopic.php?f=59&t=168156&start=140#p818795

Many thanks for looking in !

JB

[bgire]

... So your Normandie is turning into a living warm-blooded animal
Seems I'll encounter the same trick in the future... Time to find another solution before doomsday
_Bruno

[Frank Spahr]

Epic doesn�t begin to cover the sheer scope of this build!

The amount of uncompromising dedication and attention to any given subassembly is stunning.

All the best for the final stretch, Jim!

[kurusu]

What a beautiful ship and model of one!

To be precise(as Thomson would say to Thompson* ). What a beautiful model of a beautiful ship.


Edit. * To me they are Dupont and Dupond like in the original, But this being an English language forum I'm using the names of the English version. And it should be " Je dirais m�me plus".

[marijn van gils]

She looks fantastic Jim!

The water in the swimming pool looks perfect too. How did you make that?

[pascalemod]

The way you nailed the pool is simply mindblowing. I mean sure, the whole ship is off the charts, yada yada. The fact that the pool looks like a photograph of the real thing is just amazing. Thank you for sharing this build. I can't wait to see what kind of water colour base you pick: the cold dark blue Atlantic or something warmer? Going at speed through an ocean sweell, or gently gliding through the calm? Or docked in New York or passing Statue of Liberty or a bridge? An amazing array of options and all so romantic!

[wefalck]

[JIM BAUMANN]

Thank you all for your kind words;

In answer to the water.... ....

....we are doing 30 knots on a grey day just off the southern tip of the British Isles
-en route for New York !!

still working at it, but its coming along;
Normandie's wake pattern was always very clean--thansk to her Yurkevich Bow ( early Bulbous type )

Unlike here contemporaries, RMS Queen Mary et al-- she made relatively little water spray or white water

The boundary foam layer was also clean.

so here it goes in 1/700...

all I have to do now is to finish the other side !!!