The Ship Model Forum

another milestone has been reached in the ships outline looking more satisfactory

in between fiddling about with tiny stuff such as vents and ammo boxes ..

I managed to install the steam pipes to the funnels and thence the funnels to ship.
I still need to do some fairing in of the funnel bases-

-I suspect that when I created the facets, I removed too much resin-material--so will probably retro build outwards with brass or paper..


we shall see if and how that works

Back again!


progress has been intermittent but steady-- business , a hot summer and classic cars keep distracting me!

also coupled with a bit of a set-back--one of the screws holding the ship to the plate- in the bow of the ship -stripped its thread in the resin--and the bows rose --alas rather majestically.... until we had rather more sheerline than desirable.

it stripped because I thought ...===> I will just nip up the screw a bit more.... Ha!

I made a rather "Heath Robinson" jig to be able to compress it all down whilst the Araldite epoxy set

scary moments with the toothpick acting as a spacer in the catapult tracks, the Stanley blade cantilevering on the tweezers,...

( so as to clear the installed railings ! )

allowing the monster springclamp to bear down...
however after that normal service resumed....



The paper-funnel-base-facets-retro-fit was fairly successful-- fiddly but worthwhile
lots of slow but steady making of cut and shut railing to ensure a stanchion in every corner
ship is looking rather more pleasing to the eye now

more shortly !


Jim Baumann

Much time was spent making the fairleads-- these are often represented on models grossly overscale!
I used some 1/350 ladderstock-- once painted ( brush) they assume quite a 3-D look

On smaller ships-( less of an issue on larger battleship sized vessels)-

I find that trying to make round mooring bollards ( bits ) in 1/700 can often result in clunky looking overscale structures...

albeit I can manage some nice individual ones-but it is the accurate repetition and finesse that is often lacking--with me anyhow..!

so I resort to 2-D with a dollop of paint!

I used in this instance some 1/350 PE depthcharge racks-- chunky and thick brass ( old L'arsenal?)

I cut these down as pictured below and glued the to a thin brass wafer plate

Voila !

Black paint adds some body to give some solidity

The slight 2_D is offset by their regularity and delicacy
Masts were next on the agenda...

The masts on ANCONA are outrageously tall!-- makes for a visally arresting looking nodel...


The lofty thin poles masts were made using Albion alloys thin brass tubing

I inserted stainless steelspring wire into the tubing and drizzled runny CA in to make strong bend resistant masts...( to ensure no tears at the rigging stage)

Later in her career Ancona had the open railinged upper bridge platform replaced with a seemingly circular structure


The upper look-out posts were made of brass tubing-- the viewing slits were made of black decal stripe

( they still needs their roofs making )
I was very pleased with my searchlight platform-- (with white gue drying to represent the canvas rails
alas 20 seconds after I took the photo I dropped it and managed to first lose it ... and then squash it whilst searching for it

...( simultaneous to finding it !! )



ah well

make another one!...!


Lastly a shabby un-sharp picture of the ship with her masts up !

more soon with better pics)

Substantial progress at last and ingenious solutions as always.
It's most entertaining and enlightening to follow your build log.
Looking forward to more progress!

Really interesting approaches!

She looks great with the masts Jim!
Good to see some progress on her.

Thanks for the detailed step by step. I'll be 'borrowing' your fairleads technique one of the next days for sure!

Cheers,

Marijn

hello all again..
Back from 2 weeks holiday in the Sun and launched straight back into my 1/1 scale business....

managed a bit of time at the bench...
----------------------------------------------

lookout platform added now
In my opinion....(!) many a fine model has been compromised and flawed
by having excessively thick( plastic or resin ) platform floors...

in reality these were often simply sheet steel--usually braced underneath

In 1/700 these are very very thin....

My method--successfully used for many years is to form up the desired platform shape in PE railing, then brush thinned white glue across the completed circle or oval...
Once dry--affix the platform to the mast and paint the floor -if a different colour to the railing from UNDERNEATH--the white glue when dry is clear and gives a clean demarcation between the deck and railing

In this instance-I painted the railing and the floor the same shade of colour--as the canvas dodgers are the same colour as the metal railing--
I then applied the white glue to the railing and when dry painted the railing-the darker railing intended to simulate the
shadow cast by the railing--gives a bit of visual texture and sort of scale shadow...(??!! )
I then made some liferings, of tinned copper wire, pressed flat with pliers and brush painted on an absorbent surface ( GMM envelope ! )

Simply fantastic work Jim!


Bob Pink.

Sterling work, Jim - this technique gives great results!

Hope you had a nice vacation!

Best regards

Frank

Slow progress , but great work!
Thanks for the detailed how-to; always very educational!

Cheers,

Marijn

I am now insane from the tiny details on this.

The white-glue trick is astounding. I am stealing it for my Nagara and other IJN ships.


That is freakishly impressive. Are you really a Gremlin, or Shoe-elf?


MB

Thank you for your kind words all-- progress is slow--

alas so many business and family commitments at the moment...

Matthew B-- this technique works particularly very well for IJN ships--

white canvas on grey rails

( though I have not built an IJN ship-( with canvas ) for many years
works well in 1/350 also

( temporarily stalled build of Vulcan

( scroll down to described and illustrated technique in this posting )

viewtopic.php?f=59&t=154091&p=605202&hi ... an#p605202

works well with light blue (!!?)!!! railings too ( 1/700 Smyrni )





last time used effectively with white on Admiral Nahkimov in 1/700 in 2006

http://www.modelwarships.com/reviews/sh ... ildup.html

It is so frustrating that most of my progress is slowed by Cat-hair.

The first four ships I have built (and the first dedicated "Model kits" I have built in nearly 20 years), have all been basically consigned to "Practice" and "Experimentation" kits due to the huge amount of cat-hair that wound up in their paint.

I bring this up because seeing clean paint turns my complexion greenish in cast.

And these models have some exceptionally clean paint.

Do you airbrush?

I discovered upon getting my first 1/700 kit that my airbrush had been stolen (probably a decade ago given how long ago it was I last used it), and I have been having to brush paint (which requires many thin coats - preferably without a layer of cat-hair between each).

But in seeing all of these Masterpiece WIPs here, and looking at the methods used, I understand that I am probably going to have to get an Airbrush (again).

How do you get the yellow on those stacks to be so crisp (unless by Airbrush - even then Yellows and Reds can be hard to do)?

MB

I too own cats...

but manage to segregate them from my ship models.

I only brush paint--usually one coat--I use mainly Humbrol enamels-- well stirred thinned about 5% or so with white spirit

If I end up with 'muck' in the finish-

-once dry and hard I remove said item by paring away an/ or cutting with a sharp blade

I do overcoat the final model with " Winsor-and-Newton-Matt-Galeria " varnish

Cheers

JB

JIM BAUMANN wrote:I too own cats...

but manage to segregate them from my ship models.

I only brush paint--usually one coat--I use mainly Humbrol enamels-- well stirred thinned about 5% or so with white spirit

If I end up with 'muck' in the finish-

-once dry and hard I remove said item by paring away an/ or cutting with a sharp blade

I do overcoat the final model with " Winsor-and-Newton-Matt-Galeria " varnish

Cheers

JB

Enamels... That explains a lot.

I remain frightened of enamels, due to not being patient enough to mask off the model well enough.

I work primarily in Acrylics now.

But when I was younger I worked in Enamels doing 98mm Historical figures. And they do create a lush finish.

MB

Hello Jim,

I used white glue for smaal steel parts on a motorboat and it was great even 3d shape colud be achieved by using 3 layers.
When building canvas-covered railings how many layers do you usually apply?

greg

Normally one . Sometimes needs a touch up when its really thin and might " melt" when you paint it . Remember paint only on the outside

ongoing progress...

I am sure it will soon be finished....

The various platforms and bridge all had struts and vertical supports added as per photos

I noted on the plans as well as on port side photos that there was a additional set of of boatrack skids-...-port side only it appears...
I made the skid supports by cutting up 1/350 old clunky handrail--so as to gain the sharp 90 degree bend...

Next will be some crew, yard arms and cross tress, paint sea and finally--my favourite part.. rigging !

Jim Baumann

As usual, very inventive work and an absolute treasure trove for medium to advanced modeling techniques.

I love following your "In-Progress" threads.

Have made some tangible progress..

The ships boats -a mixture of modified WEM, Kombrig and Modelkrak leftovers)

have been installed- they have had stretched brown sprue rubbing strakes
and a complement of stretched sprue oars as well as having their bulwarls thinne d down with a blade.


-The ships boats davits ( made of flat strip brass - bulked up with paint ) have been installed.

The on-deck crew members have been fattened, bent around , painted and installed

The entire model has now been --(at last ) been flat-coated,

which homogenises all the shiny and dull bits;

using Windsor and Newton Galeria Matt varnish ==> which is as matt as it gets!

quite milestone in any build from me-- as thereafter only rigging and painting the sea remains before completion !


herewith a few images of the model in general and the results--so far--some of my rigging trials...

( the extremely thin diamond oriented cross trees are 0.07 mm stainless steel wire drawn straight 'twixt pliers .


the twin ( !! ) halyard lines are stretched sprue about a third the thickness of human hair.




This is the aft mast-- note the that the halyards have not been tightened yet ( my smoke method )

as the cross-tree spars are so thin the sprue supporting rigging is actually functional!

I will have the model at Telford--I just need some persistence !!..

( as well as some patience when drawing very thin sprue --ever trying to get closer to scale size...

and a dose of luck that I do not DE-rig or worse even drop the model by a a careless tweezer stroke...

Onwards !


Jim Baumann