hof00

The Pontos ones are mini kits in themselves,with etch and brass rod, not easy to put together, but neither is it impossible. Comes together beautifully, and I have left the lid off for the moment for ease of painting. It just requires soft hands.
 
Next will be the crane, sans the Arial which was taken off before the final mission. 

Yup Sir,
Looks good. Can visualise where your sub assemblies go.
The work is absolutely fantastic.
 
Awesome detail!!
 
Thank you!!
 
Cheers....HOF.

Yup Sir,
Looks good. Can visualise where your sub assemblies go.
The work is absolutely fantastic.
 
Awesome detail!!
 
Thank you!!
 
Cheers....HOF.

more pics

Been very slow progress over the holidays but still tried to get atleast one strake of planking done per day.
with a bit of free time this evening after fitting another strake decided to tackle the issue of what to do with the underside of the stern cabin ,this may seem like a simple task but has troubled me from the early planking stage.
I have seen other builds and google images where people have run the planking right to the transom however I suspect this is not correct.
this is a few photos of how I decided to do it and may not be correct after all the closest ive ever been to a ship is a modern day passenger ferry .
 
As a side note I am always reluctant to dip into the kit materials unless I know what they are intended for so after receiving as a present the small proxxon ks 230 I am now able to rip new material when in doubt and save kit material.Ido have a full size table saw and band saw however to rip material so small I feel would be unsafe .
And for anyone wondering as I did if the small proxxon saw is capable of ripping planking material the answer yes most definitely and a fine consitant job at that

She has decks...  (would sound real funny in the New Zealand accent)
 
after marking and drilling every hole for the pins with a 0.75 mm drill bit on my drill press i have the forecastle waist and poop decks on as well as the sub decks in. i pulled the hull out of the cleats to check the false keel for bow and there was none, i will leave it in the cleats until a few planks are on so it does not move. next job is going to be planking the decks and as cog suggested i went out and got a dark silver marker, from a little test piece i did i looks real good. Here is few picks of the fitted decks.
 

 

 

 

 
Cheers Rexy.

Hi Boyd,
Merry Christmas, Happy Guy Fakes!!
Good to catch up and nice to see your "Post."
 
Yup, we have a vested interest in your "Precision" build.
 
My two cents worth.
 
Cheers....HOF.

Hi Chap,
Was thinking of A PM today, see how things were going?
 
Cheers....HOF.

Yup,
Hit the "Like" button too!!
Like everyone else, would like to see the Planking progress and the precision that you have so masterfully executed thus far.
 
(No stress though )
 
Cheers....HOF.

Thanks for all the nice comments guys and everyone for the likes.
 
 
Grant I have thought about soldering but don’t have a soldering iron at the moment.  I have had a play around previously with the soldering torch but remembering the wire is only 0.2mm in diameter it was difficult to heat it up without destroying it!  Too gentle approach to save the wire affected the silver solder paste as it didn’t really get up to temperature.
 
There was a couple of times where it just flashed the wire enough not to destroy it but enough to get the silver solder paste to flow but the window of opportunity is very small.  I also tried using rosin core solder but it didn’t like the torch at all.  The plan is to get a soldering iron and some solid solder and a flux paste/fluid and play around again.
 
The problem comes down to holding the wire in place as it is so small just touch it wrong with the tweezers and it ejects itself across the room.  For a different project making up a grill with 0.5mm wire which I can easily silver solder I tried taping down all the pieces but of course it burned off with the torch and I guess the fumes contaminated the joints as the silver solder failed to hold.  I will certainly try playing around when I get a soldering iron.
 
Incidentally I could have done the handrails by bending the 2 outer supports from the handrail and would only need to worry about the centre stub which doesn’t need to be a strong joint as the handrail and 2 outer stubs would be one piece and self-supporting.  Hindsight is a wonderful thing LOL
 
 
Okay next bit of progress is structure 16 and all the parts are shown below.  I haven’t gone into much detail as the construction is essentially the same as the previous structure 15 posted earlier.  It was a bit more complicated due to all the ins and outs and I am not as happy with how it turned out compared to assembly 15.
 
Several of the side skins were over length and needed to be trimmed considerably to fit; also I ended up cutting instead of folding some parts to make fitment easier.
 

 
 
Here is a photo of the completed structure; doors? check, portholes? check, windows? check.  The only different items on this structure are the addition of some handles on the end.  I did double check to make sure these are vertical and not the expected horizontal of step irons!
 

 
 
My first fabrication of step irons (or handles in this case). These are 0.2mm diameter wire which I annealed using the soldering torch as this brass just snaps if you try to do too tight of a bend otherwise.  I checked the distance between the pin pricked holes with the digital callipers and then went around measuring everything I could think of to match the width.  It turns out two 6” steel rules gripped together was perfect.
 
The rulers were pressed down on to the wire and the legs folded up and then given a squeeze with tweezers.  The over long legs were trimmed back a bit with nail clippers.  The legs were fed into the pin pricked holes and a 0.5mm drill bit was placed in the hoop and the step iron pressed home for a consistent distance.
 

 
 
Here is the cheapo water colours I used to paint the iron work.  It goes on so much easier to the tiny wires than brush painting Tamiya paint and dries to a more complementary black also.  You can also use this type of paints for edge colouring but at the moment the PITT pens are easier and more convenient for me.
 

 
Final shot of it in its spot.  I have also temporally placed the 3rd of the 3 skylights, which were made previously.
 

 
I only have 3 more days before I fly out again so will continue working on the sub-assemblies.
 
Cheers
Slog

It's been slow going but lots of progress. All knees were shaped, painted, and installed. The one at the bow was most difficult. These parts seem to get smaller and smaller! Locker hinges are installed. I painted the brass strips black and used the eye hooks as hinges. I left those unpainted for contrast. Oar locks and windlass are next!
Steve

Ditto to the above.
Awesome, love to see the progress and PE enhancements!!
(A safe and careful Christmas.)
 
Cheers....HOF.

Hi Mark,
Don't worry too much, during my build of this model, I had plenty of frustrating times.
Took me six years of weekends and I'm glad I persevered.
 
Sometimes I'd go into the Ship Room and walk straight back out....
 
What you have done thus far is looking really good!!
(Agree wholeheartedly with Don/Russ's comment.)
 
Keep it up!!
 
Cheers....HOF.

Just Awesome Sir!!

Finally garbords are on, and rebate has been cut into the stem.
Now its time to plank.



 
It is a bit unconventional leaving the false keel off,
but that will make it easier to get the thickness right.
It will be fixed on before 2nd planking
I will probably make it a bit higher, as it is now
there is not much showing under the planking.
 
hooroo Chris

Masts
 
The kit provides dowels, laser cut wood, crow's nest, blocks, vertical ladders and eyes to make up the masts.
 
Here’s what the Fore Mast looks like, minus the ladders which will be added later, and the eyes which I have replaced with scratch pad eyes:
 

 

 
I added additional details to include railings, the Forward Range Light, halyard blocks, pad eyes for the stays and shrouds, cargo blocks for routing the jumbo boom rigging, rings for stowing the 5-ton booms in the vertical position, and working lights (lenses for the lights will be added after the final painting). 
 


  Here’s the finished mast dry-fitted to its mast house:  

Just Awesome Sir!!

Just Awesome Sir!!

Just Awesome Sir!!

Thanks to everyone for the likes.
 
Hi Nick, I am glad you are getting some ideas from my log.  I have just started using the Roket glue myself so experience is a bit limited but really liking it so far.  Thanks for the heads up on the Glue n’ Glaze.  I have watched some YouTube videos and it looks like it would fit the bill for the bridge windows when I get there.  I see the place I got the Roket glue also stock it so will keep it in mind when I get to that stage.
 
 
Hi DR, thanks for your comment.  I would say it’s more like I am getting to get grips with card modelling! One of the challenges I have found with card modelling is just how much thought needs to go into putting them together, what with incorrectly shaped parts (as the example above) and dealing with diagrams which only show the completed assembly.  They usually don’t show you how they got there.
 
 
The last parts of this structure are some skylights which run down each side.  The top left strip shows 3 porthole options; the printed portholes (which I do like), middle skylight is the 1.6mm GPM portholes which are slightly too big and the right hand sky light shows the small portholes from the Borodino detail set which I forgot about.
 
The detail set ones were a better size for fitting in the limited space but I don’t like working with these. They are so much thinner than the 1.6mm GPM ones and difficult to handle.  The bottom strip shows all the skylights punched out and the portholes inserted with mylar glazing.  The mylar had to be trimmed very close to the portholes so it didn’t go past the hatches.  The port-holing (?) was done prior to cutting out as the parts are pretty small and to prevent the punching operation distorting the sides.
 

 
 
The complete skylights are pretty simple only having 4 parts; the body and 3 hatches.  The fold lines were carried through to the backside and scored ready for folding.  The 2 ends were folded inwards and the top down and then glued up.  Here the glued up body is sitting on the end on a square so I could press the hatch down flat for gluing.  The hatches were cut out using the same method as the doors in the previous post.  I glued in the middle hatch first then the 2 outer ones so I didn’t run off the end of one side.
 

 
 
The finished skylights glued into position and that completes Assembly 15. 
 

 
 
Final thoughts? Well firstly this is the kind of structures/components/assemblies I love doing.  I reckon it turned out not to bad and pretty chuffed with it.  It’s a pity about the forms being wrong but this type of thing crops up with card modelling and it wasn’t a show stopper, just annoying.
 
Certainly I could have done better. The main thing that springs to mind is some of the areas where the top and side skins butt against each other aren’t perfect; the side skin popped up proud or dipped down below the top at some areas.
 
You may have noticed a couple of white squares on the top of the structure, well this is for a couple of additional skylights (Part 19) so I thought I may as well do these now to add a bit more detail to the structure.
 
 
 
 
There are a total of 3 No.19 skylights; 2 for the completed structure above and another one for a different part of the build but I decided to do all 3 rather than come back to do one later.  Again not much parts to these; a base, a top and 4 little hatches with portholes.
 
The diagram also shows that I need to add hand rails b2 and b3 round the perimeter of the skylight and these will need to be made up with 0.2mm brass wire.
 

 
 
The steps shown to make the basic skylight.  I did pin prick the handrail holes before cutting anything out for ease of access.  The bases were cut and folded at the bend lines as normal and the ends glued together.  The last step shows the top with the hatches installed as one unit.  I did also try placing the top first and then attaching the hatches.  Both methods have pros and cons but either or is fine.
 
The space for portholes on the little hatches is starting to get tight for space!
 

 
 
Two of the three completed skylights shown next to the handrails required to be made from 0.2mm brass wire.  Rather than try and mess around with tiny little stubs as they show I chose another way to do them, which was easier but still encountered problems as discussed below.
 

 
 
Had a lot of problems doing these.  Firstly the holes I had previous pin pricked had more or less closed up due to handling for the construction and of course the 0.2mm brass wire wasn’t stiff enough to re-open the closed up holes.
 
Secondly I went back to the needle to re-do the holes but without support the needle just pushed the sides in instead of puncturing the paper.  To get round this I headed to the hardware store and picked up a sheet of 2.5mm balsa wood and made smallish 8mm x 6mm (give or take) blocks and glued these inside the skylight.  I was then able to use the needle to re-do the holes.
 
The brass wire was dipped in some CA glue and fed into the holes.  The wire could be pushed quite a ways into the balsa easily enough.  To trim the ends to length I placed a piece of 0.5mm card next to the wire and used nail clippers to trim to length.  I think 0.5mm supports is a reasonable length for working to and visually for the scale as it would relate to 100mm (~ 4”) full size.  Probably still a bit over scale but smaller interferes with constructability (for me anyway).
 

 
 
To do the horizontal handrails I have never encountered so much frustration in all my days!!!  I honestly tried 4 different CA glues, I tried brass wire and 0.2mm elastic rigging thread (saw this used on another website build log to great effect) and finally ended up using good old PVA glue on brass, which I then dabbed the joints for good measure with some Roket card glue.
 
As this was the first time I had done these there were lots of lessons learned.  Main one is to spend the time cutting the handrails to length before gluing for a neater finish, which I did for the shorter end rails.  I glued over length pieces and then trimmed back to the support with the nail clippers again.  Surprisingly the glue joint wasn’t affected by this but couldn’t get right up to the corner because of the glue.  Secondly if cut to final length first the PVA alone would have been fine and I wouldn’t have such bulky joints.
 
The first skylight I did to try out stuff on and not shown here as too embarrassed I painted the handrails with a 00 brush and Tamiya matt black.  Despite thinning it still went on clumpy and of course it is ‘Black’ not like the printed ‘not quite black’ of the paper so stands out.  For the 2 skylights in the photo I used a cheap hard block of black water colour and used this as it went on smoother with only the odd lump but also I knew it would dry out a more subdued black better in keeping with the paper colour.
 

 
 
Lastly here are a couple of shots with Structure 15 and the additional skylights 19 on top, in their place of residency on the hull.  To say it was a tight fit under the ‘bridge’ is an understatement.  In fact it was so tight it didn’t fit!
 
I know why it didn’t fit as the side skins on the structure actually peep past the form but I didn’t want to trim this as it fits nicely on the deck and more importantly, which I forgot to mention in the log, the end skins have very slight curves cut in them to account for the deck camber.  If I started hacking away at the structure skins I know I would end up with gaps.
 
 
So the only resort and due to access on the bridge was to very gently sand the bottom of the bridge skin with an almost smooth diamond photo-etch file and only sanding on the in stroke towards the printed surface so I didn’t snag and tear out the bottom edge.  After an age doing this the structure slips smoothly in and out like a glove LOL
 

 

 
 
 
Well that’s one structure and some skylights knocked off the list.  I will probably have a break for a day or 2 before getting on with something else.  I really enjoyed doing this and will most likely make a start on structure 16, which is very similar but also has a funnel.   I know ,I know the hull won’t skin itself but I still don’t feel ready for the challenge of that yet!
 
Cheers
Slog
 

Nice Start Rexy!!
Nice to have a fellow modeller in New Zealand!!
All the best with your Build.
 
(My Endeavour on hold at the mo.)
 
Cheers....HOF.

Nice Start Rexy!!
Nice to have a fellow modeller in New Zealand!!
All the best with your Build.
 
(My Endeavour on hold at the mo.)
 
Cheers....HOF.

Monday, December 26, 2016  
In recent days, I proceeded to finish the hull on the external side, taking a special care to the bow and stern areas. The walnut wood is quite hard to work with, ergo was sometimes necessary to use "hard methods". Now it's approaching the moment to remove the bulkheads in order to be able to work inside the hull, first with a cleaning and finishing job, later installing the +/-30 planned ribs.  
A first top view of the inside of the boat:
 
01 - 20161222_085530.jpg
The external planking finished with sanding blocks and sandpaper.
 
02 - 20161224_173914.jpg
03 - 20161224_173923.jpg
Then I applied a couple of coats of very diluted stain, which has changed the color tone of the original wood, making it slightly more reddish. Operation that I know will be useless because the outside will be painted black, but in my heart I could not bear the many different colors of the strips for many weeks or months . . .
 
To finish, a final sanding and a coat of very diluted PVA glue to fix the dye.  
04 - 20161225_114716.jpg
05 - 20161225_114755.jpg
See you next time, Jack.
 

for a few of the other cutty builds i have seen some attempts at the dead-eye strap/clamps, it looks a bit much for me so im going to have to compromise but not by much
 
here are the front two chainwales in place ready for deadeyes

 
for the forming of the brass wire i used some jewlers pliers to bend to a workable circumfrence

 
then using the kits pre made deadeye blocks i just inserted them and completed the loop with pliers and cut to length

 
then for a coat of black paint on the lot followed by a white acrylic modeling marker ran over the brass itself, sort of representing the white straps used on the cutty.
a better representation of this would have to be Bob's build on page 48 he has a prototype of what it should realy look like


 

Next to go were the hatchways, thank god back to some timber work!
 
just following the instructions the hatch ways seemed to be protuding quite a bit so i sanded them down to just above the covers height
also this tool i picked up for measuring is a must have, i dont know what i did with out it for multiple common parts




 
This is my method of blackening the handels of the hatch covers.
it involves cleaning for about 10 mins with either a diluted acid or metho, then washing the parts with water, then dunking in the blackening liquid and siring.
i am pretty new to the whole thing and still haven't found the sweet spot but im sure ill pick it up