1/700 Zhemchug

[JIM BAUMANN]

hello all again
with Novik now finished....

I now intend finishing her Russian built sistership Zhemchug


Novik was a very fast and elegant light cruiser built by Schichau In Germany for the Imperial Russian Navy.

After receiving the vessel the Navy commissioned a further two near identical vessels to be built in Russian yards



At first glance the main difference twixt the sisters is that Novik always had a central single mast and lino decking throughout whilst the Russian sisters Izumrud and Zhemchug had the rather more dramatic 3- mast rig and were timber decked

I made a start on her intending to parallel build her with Novik--but that was not to be !

so.... I had made a start by removing all overscale deck fittings and thinning down bulkheads etc before much sanding to fair up before giving her a base coat of black


The vents in this old kit were actually a fair starting point --alas I had already raided this kit for the Novik build...!

so I searched though my stash and came up with a Seals model kit of an IJN cruiser that rendered suitable vents as a starting point...

These featured a rather ugly flash/moulding web

which had to be removed with a blade.

the wall thickness of the vent and the mouth depth was not to my liking

so I proceeded to deepen and the thin the edges using various burr tools held in pin-vices.

Zhemchugs vents like those of Novik were not perfectly round nut a gentle oval.

the thinned vents were squeezed from behind using some Jewelers pliers to achieve the desired shape

The bridge deck and aft superstructure deck in the kit were rather different from those in the drawings-- paper patterns were made--folded down the center to help with symmetry--ad then cut out in thin styrene

the photo shows 1 x paper pattern and 1 x styrene deck

More soon!

JIM B

[JIM BAUMANN]

Making progress....


The strakes have been added of nickel silver wire- this took quite few attempts to prevent buckling and kinks...

tacked at each end--glue drawn along the strakes with a section of stretched sprue as the glue carrier

the fwd breakwater had a beading added to the top edge which was made of very very thin copper wire (from a old headphone cable.)

..,partly because it was there on the real ship and partly to better define the shape and outline of the breakwater

more progress soon!

JB

[JIM BAUMANN]

Zhemchug had an unusual bridge wing support arrangement--quite different from Novik.

This was made using curved pieces of longitudinal pieces of 1/350 PE railing

The strips curved aft, fwd and outboard ( as far as I could ascertain from photos !)

The pilot house that sat above the conning tower on the brdge deck was scratch built of styrene sheet around a block of resin
Window frames were made of suitable pieces of PE Ladderstock( WEM Koenig ! )

The lower level was brought out to window level using a wrap of vinyl tape ,
cut to size after application and sealed with CA

upper rails were fitted in place

alas I have no photo yet fo it in paint--but it looks pretty good!!
More progress soon!

JB

[Channell]

as usual... WOW!

[J. Aguilar]

Convincing painting on hull, always impressive work.


regards



JAM

[LE BOSCO]

Hello Jim

This is an absolute delicacy!!truly inspiring
regars
Nicolas

[Forlornhope]

She is coming up as nice as her half sister. Thats a brilliant idea using the tape on the bridge area
Looking forward to seeing more
Cheers Callum

[Plastic Habit]

Your railing on the bridge and wings is absolutely amazing seeing how it is 1/700. Incredible!!

[JIM BAUMANN]

Progress on this is steady... helped much by having studied Novik so intensely ....

and by proxy also Zhemchug and Izumrud !

The pilot house in paint. the window panes are still to be toned down

The superstructure is receiving additional windows and doors of PE

I spent quite time manufacturing the aft searchlight platform...9!!)

The curved brackets are made of stretched sprue-- the photo shows the stage of being attached at lower level

..next stage will be to create the desired curve and melt off the excess using liquid poly glue...

More soon


JIM B

[Rob 2]

I�m in awe as usual with your work Jim.
Rob.

[Tom L.]

Already light years in advance of my build from years ago, Jim.

[MartinJQuinn]

Magnificent work, Jim.

[JIM BAUMANN]

Thank you all for your kind words!

==> it is encouraging to carry on!

meanwhile...

I must congratulate North Star for their excellent cable reel sides--finer etching I have not seen yet!

I improve them by cutting away the non-correct cross-braces--and make life very hard indeed for myself as it all hget wobbly and fragile!

Its all getting a bit more interesting nw with the addition of small vents made of solder wire, compabnion way hatch made of styrene block etc etc etc

Hull side the addition of the anchor hawsepipe covers and TT tube hatches are on

Alarmingly ( for my sanity !!) I had 5 attempts at making this compass platform ... each taking nearly 1.5 hrs...!!!

The rails are WEM ultrafine ( they are!) - with a small piece of stretched sprue across the ladder access so as to seal the oval -the floor is white glue, whilst setting I dropped in this brass cruciform cut from 1/350 handrail so that it sank in flush so as to give the base a bit more solidity.

When the white glue dried clear I lightly coated the underside with thin CA and then propped it all up on a piece of styrene rod-- which was then placed into a pre-drilled hole on the ship!

More soon

Jim Baumann

[DariusP]

And here was me thinking that main difference between Novik/Zhemchug, Izumrud were 2 extra 120mm guns...

Nice going Jim!

[JIM BAUMANN]

Thanks Darius !

-though the hull shape is broadly the same as Novik--and the funnel and deck-superstructre is broadly; similar...

whilst the Russian built sister-ships were broadly speaking a copy--there are innumerable differences...!

meanwhile--progress is ongoing

The ship is now mounted--which should prevent further handling damage-- funnels are up
( I prepared these when I built Novik).

The black demarcation was done using decal stripe--sharper than I can paint...

Lots of small vents are now being made of solder wire and installed


The vexed platforms!

[Captain pugwash]

Lovely bit o work there.

Just love the scratched items and what can be acheaved with odds and ends.
To bring out such detailed and small things,'fantastic'.

[JIM BAUMANN]

Thank you C'ptn P !

more of the same ... small fiddly bits that do much to enliven a model...


I spent a surprising (!!) amount of time on making the fwd and aft searchlights

the upper bridge had some attention--according to photos and plans
( The Binnacle bowl will get a lick of 'brass' paint...

however there are some bits I am unclear about

ideas anyone?

[LE BOSCO]

HI Jim

jim
I propose that



always ,your work is "crazy of accuracy"
cheers (rainy weather in england today )
Nicolas

[Guest]

I think the "?" aft of the compass could be the search light control.

[DariusP]

I like the idea of search light control but I don't know if central control for search lights existed at that time. But could it be "???????? ????" (antena terminal) which was present on Boyarin's bridge? As for the "whatsit" in front of the chart house... Could it possibly be an engine room telegraph?

Boyarin


35 - compass
36 - voice pipe,
51 - engine room telegraph,
52 - ???????? ???? (antena terminal).