The Ship Model Forum

Hi Guys ,

I built yesterday afternoon two superstructures , one being the CO's cabin , the other the "main" superstructure , which will be removeable to get access to the RC gear & battery inside the hull

the main superstructure encloses , from front to astern : boiler room , galley , engine room , access to the Officer's mess

CO's cabin :

first of all , to get cardboard of the desired thickness , we had to eat some lasagne ...



not bad at all , with courgettes , sweet peppers & lamb chopped meat , garlic and thyme

not forgetting the unavoidable glass of french red wine

hmmmmmmmmm ?

oh yes , the CO's cabin ...






the sliding door to go into the cabin , door being made of 6 parts of mahogany wood ( still have to sand it to shape )


To make my portholes in the cardboard , I use such a shoe maker plier , to make little holes in leather belts , for instance ...



Now , the main supertructure :

same cardboard , same method ...




ths superstructure being painted , three coats of primer from the automotive industry , in cans ...




I discovered later that the CO's cabin was too low ( 1 mm ) , so I'll have to rebuild it at the correct height

last work I did yesterday , the boat's deck , being cut to shape , some part of the planking has been drawn , the two holes for the funnels are made ...



after part of the boat's deck , with the place where the 4.7 incher has to come , the hole for the after mast , and two square holes , the one a little aside is an ammunition hatch , the other one being a stairway to the Officer's mess entrance


That's all for today , I guess , depends on what CIC decided to do this afternoon ( I'd take a nap , for sure , it's sunday after all )

Regards ,

Laurent

WOW very cool and RC too but how are you going to keep the water of the cardboard and keep it from warping and betting mushy.

Hi Reid ,

I'll just impregnate the cardboard with polyurethane resin , in the case of the superstuctures , just the inside will be coated , the paint on the outside will get a layer of matt varnish , and that'll be it ...

for the plating , same material , but the polyurethane coating will be on the outside , once all the plates are glued on place , two or three thin layers of paint and matt varnish on top ...

Don't worry , I have enough experience with cardboard , Zinnia will be my fourth RC sailing model with cardboard plating ...

Regards ,

Laurent

That's shaping up to be a very nice model.

BTW, can you tell where the name 'Zinnia' comes from?

If I'm not mistaken it's a flower. All the Belgian minehunters and replenishers were named after flowers. Zinnia and Godetia were the last replenishers.

This is indeed a very nice model Laurent, I like the anchor pipes! Very clean build!

Hi Michel ,

the WW1 "flower" class sloops were named after ... flowers .

the WW1 "flower" class vessels are also known as the "herbaceous borders" ...

Anyway , there was a subdivision among them , three sub-classes existed :

- "Azalea"
- "Acacia" ( Zinnia belongs to them )
- "Arabis"

hereby two links to the sub-classes , with a lot of pictures :
http://www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk/acacia_class.htm
http://www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk/arabis_class.htm

Dimensions between the sub-classes were little , some were a little longer & broader , but the machinery ( two boilers and a four cylinder triple expansion propulsion engine ) was the same ...

The French Navy got eight sloops , very similar to those , built in UK , but with a more powerful machinery ...

Thanks , Neptune ...

Indeed , the Belgian Navy continued the tradition , & named two of the auxiliaries built in Belgium in 1966 & 1967 after flowers , "Zinnia" ( after this one ) and "God�tia" , after a WW2 corvette , manned by Belgian Sailors

When Belgium got involved in the tripartite minehunters program , they also called their vessels after flowers ...

Interesting note to all the historians here : all the RN ships completely manned by belgian sailors during WW2 were the only ships in the whole Royal Navy to wear two ensigns : the white one ( british ) and the belgian one .

Belgium is also the only foreign State which may do a parade with armed troops around the Cenotaph at London on the sunday before the Belgian National Day ( 21th of July )

Regards ,

Laurent

Hi Guys ,

hereby an update , with the non watertight doors being glued & painted on the main superstructure , I left the door handles in brass , just to give some "Ol'Navy" fashion...





the accesses to the sailor's mess under the f'c's'le deck , before the deck is glued on :




the f'c's'le deck being glued on ( not a lot to be seen there under ) :



the new raised CO's quarter :



Yesterday eve , I began with the building of the Chart room , just above the CO's cabin , and there up , the wheelhouse , open to the elements , as it was in use on those days .

Material used : cardboard again ( glossy thick paper in this case , coming from a 2006 calendar )

Wheelhouse looks a little rickety , there is no roof on the chartroom yet ...



inside the wheelhouse ( pic sucks ... )


I still have a problem with those "portable decks" !

I got some information from a french fellow modeller on another board , he told me , without being sure about it , that those portable decks were just gratings , fixed on the deck , to protect the planking from the gangway's scrubing

might be an option , anyway .

I thought that those "portable decks" meant that there was a hole in the deck , but I don't think so as for now ...

hereby a picture of the two places I thought I had to cut , but I'm waiting for more information about that ...



see you next time for more updates

Laurent

Very Nice.

Looking sharp laurent!

It all looks nice an perpendicular-with--as far as I can see--good symetry!



JIM B

High quality work




Jef

So, a flower. I thought it might have been something from Belgian folklore or mythology...

Hi Laurent Superb job and a good deck camber .
Dave Wooley

Hi,
these photos looks very nice. Wonderful building!
And first of all, thank you for such detailed photos. They will be very helpful

Hi Guys ,

thanks for the comments ...

the next step , aside of the main building , will be the building of the two 27 feet whalers .

But I'll do a full "step by step" building of those whalers in the "tips & tricks" section ...

Stay tuned & have a nice weekend ...

Laurent

Looking very good! The deck planking looks great, I'd never have thought you could use cardboard like this.
I'll be interested to see your post on building the ship's boats - this is something I need to learn myself.

...I forgot to mention, my dear neighbour, that your Zinnia is looking very fine!

MichelB wrote:...I forgot to mention, my dear neighbour, that your Zinnia is looking very fine!

Thanks Michel ,

which part of the Netherlands are you from ?

if you're not living too far , my Zinnia will be visible at the MODELMA event , at Brussels , in March this year ...

To EPinniger ,

the pattern ( mold ) for my 27ft whaler is done , I'm writing the full article right now , I just have to put pictures , it should be ready by sunday eve ...

Regards ,

laurent

Laurent wrote:

MichelB wrote:...I forgot to mention, my dear neighbour, that your Zinnia is looking very fine!

Thanks Michel ,

which part of the Netherlands are you from ?

if you're not living too far , my Zinnia will be visible at the MODELMA event , at Brussels , in March this year ...

To EPinniger ,

the pattern ( mold ) for my 27ft whaler is done , I'm writing the full article right now , I just have to put pictures , it should be ready by sunday eve ...

Regards ,

laurent

Utrecht, so 'above the rivers' as we say. But most part of my life I lived within 5 clicks of the Belgian border. Grew up on belgian tv...

Hi Guys ,

didn't do a lot on Zinnia last week , I was busy with the building of the two 27ft whalers , see topic here :
http://www.shipmodels.info/mwphpBB2/vie ... hp?t=16105

I just painted the chart room and the wheelhouse , nothing is glued for the moment , just dry fit ...









By the way , before I ask it on the main forum , has anyone any picture or drawing of the Welin davits used to stow those 27ft whalers on RN ships of that era ?

Cheers ,

Laurent

Hi Laurent a typical davit as fitted to RN warships of the period requested, hope this is of some help.

Dave Wooley