Here's a side view from http://www.polishnavy.pl:
http://www.polishnavy.pl/ships/mineswee ... lka_01.gif
This is a small vessel - 45m long, or 22.5cm in 1/200 - with a simple bridge superstructure and only one main gun, so it should be a quick and straightforward scratchbuilding project. There are a couple of distinctive features of the hull which need some work to get right; firstly, the deck line angles noticeably upwards towards the bow, and secondly, the stern has a very odd shape (curved outwards then inwards). To represent the latter on the model, I had to assemble the stern seperately and attach it to the rest of the hull when completed. (See the first photo). Additionally, the bridge front is curved, its shape matched by the larger platform on top where the binnacle + compass are mounted.
I assembled the hull by my standard method of cutting a piece of thick (1mm in this case) styrene card of the correct (maximum) width and length for the deck, marking it at intervals (2cm in this case), then measuring the deck width at the same intervals on the plans and marking the measurements on the styrene. I then cut between the marks using a sharp knife and metal ruler, then sanded the edges to get a smooth curve. The hull sides were made from a strip of 0.75mm styrene cut to the right width, pre-curved with the handle of a knife, then glued in place sloping slightly upwards to the bow (see above). As the bow of this particular vessel is quite sharp, it was made seperately from the rest of the hull.
Once the glue had set, I cut down the hull sides to leave a ledge of about 1mm, then sanded the whole thing flat. Join lines at the bow and stern were smoothed over with filler.
The superstructure was a fairly straightforward (other than the curved front) assembly from 0.75 and 0.5mm styrene card.
(note that the curved bridge front is too wide - I've since partially corrected this)
More updates + photos later as the model progresses. (I've already added some of the details to the deck + superstructure, such as mine rails and splash shield, and started work on the 3-inch gun and the lifeboats). Hopefully it should be completed (if not painted + weathered) within a few days!
The plans I have are of the Jaskolka, but the other ships in the class - Czajka, Czapla, Mewa, Rybitwa and Zuraw - were virtually identical in "as built" condition, so I haven't decided which one I'm going to build my model as yet. It'll probably depend on which letter decals I can find in the right size and typeface (the first letter of the name was painted on either side of the bow)
