Piet

I must admit to being in a bit of a dilemma now. I know what you mean Boyd but I was only going to cover half the plane like I did with the Sopwith. All the insides would show from one side and likewise for the wings.
What do others think because I can't make up my mind ?
 

holy cow Mike.....your moving right along!   the rigging looks super...stabilizer and rudder looks sweet!   your making me want to bring my Fokker out again.it's in the closet at the moment.......lot of sanding and shaping the leading and trailing surfaces of the wings,  as well as the fuselage.      it's nothing like what your doing though.......really nice work there!   

Nicely done, Mike. The skeletons of those old string bags were ingenious construction.

my opinion -- it would be a shame to cover all that work !!!!!!
 

And now we have a fully rigged rudder and tailplane !!

Most of the early WWI planes did use piano wire and turnbuckles for adjusting tension, if I remember correctly.  Lightweight, readily available, and relatively  simple to use.  The caveat is that later in the war, the faster, heavier fighters and the bombers needed something stronger and went to braided cable.

Nice!!! Looks pretty sturdy too

We have a tailplane !
 

Very nice progress Denis.
 
Cheers,

Tough break Denis, keep o plugging, something good will show up.
 
Cheers,

I started going through your log day before yesterday, yesterday and caught up now. This sure brings back memories from a previous life when I owned and operated an aircraft repair business.  Yeah, repaired quite a few damaged steel tube fuselages and wooden as well as metal rib, fabric covered airplanes.
We never made much money but I had a lot of fun, especially test flying them after they were put together.
As a matter of interest the more modern steel tube fuselages do not have the bracing anymore. Some more high performance aircraft had diagonal tubing welded instead though.
You are doing a bang-up job Mike. Hope you don't mind tagging along.
 
Cheers,

Thanks very much gentlemen for your kind comments and suggestions, I'll try to remember them for the future. Thanks also to all who clicked the like button.
Yeah, Dennis but I'll wait making a new one when the ship is securely in the sea, that way I won't accidentally brush against again.
 
Well, I have completed the model and am about to start with the diorama base. This will take a little while because it's all new to me.
For now I like to post a few pics as "Java" looks like as of today.
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers,

Hello everyone and thanks to all who clicked the like button.
 
I had a busy morning, trimming two hedges and a bunch of azaleas in the back yard. Then lunch and read my e-mail. Finally I managed to do something on the "Java" model.
 
Well, I finally caught up with the backlog and we are current - hurray for that.
The last two days I worked on the antennas. Rather then trying to make four round thingies to fasten the six wires to, as the instructions show,, I used slivers of bamboo.
Next came the wires. Any thread I have is much to thick, including very thin silk. I split 6 pieces into three strands but the problem with this is that it maintains the twist, no matter what I tried. Well, not everything, I should have used Gwen's iron to heat it up a little. However, with a slight pull it disappears. So, I made a jig and tapped two pairs of sewing pins into the wood, spaced so it gives me the right distance between the attaching points. Added the bridals and attaching cable. Looked good in the jig.
Now came attaching it to the PE beams, one on top of the rear mast and the other on top of the main mast. I actually needed three hands but somehow I managed to wrestle these flimsy assemblies to the beams. I tine spot of CA, holding the antenna between two hands and gently holding the attaching cable to the beam, at the right spot. Couldn't breath while holding it so as not to let it slip from the dedicated spot. An old mark's man trick.
 
This afternoon I started on adding the wires going down to that little house in front of the forward funnel. I have no idea where they are supposed to enter this little house but I used the bamboo sliver trick again. First I tied all six pieces of thread to it with a simple overhand knot, a dab of CA, let it cure and then cementing it to the forward side of that little house. That's about all I could to for this day.
 
Hopefully tomorrow, after I finish trimming the two hedges, I can cement the wires to the bridals. Another tedious job. 
 
With all the handling I accidentally brushed against the little flagpole with the decal flag and it popped off with the flag in two pieces. Now I have to make another flag for the "Java."  I think of getting some cigarette paper and either paint a flag or try my last decal on the paper, which could be tricky. In hind site I should have waited with cementing the flagpole with flag to the ship after it was in the diorama. Oh well, no one is perfect.
 

Part of the installation instructions.
 

The first antenna assembly in the jig being worked on. Here you can see what mentioned about the twist in the thread.
 

The last one completed.
 

Here we see both antenna assemblies cemented to their attaching beams.
 

Six wires are now attached to the little house. They'll be cemented to the same beam as the assemblies. Right now they are just draped for the picture taking. I did not separate the thread for this because I cannot put any tension on them  And yes, the flagpole will be straightened and the ship will be checked for any other damage and paint touch-up, including a new flag for the aft flagpole.
 
Cheers, 
 

Hello everyone and thanks to those who came visiting and clicked the like button, it's much appreciated.
 
This is my second attempt placing a post. Last evening, in the middle of pounding away at the keyboard it just disappeared into cyberspace. No idea what and why.
 
This post is for days 59 and 60, which brings us to march 19.
 
On day 59 I cemented the previously assembled propeller guards to the aft hull.  I then cleaned the hull area from some excess cement and painted the propguards and the aft hull section. That was all I could do.
 
I changed my mind on the depth charge launching ramps so on day 60 I cemented them to the fantail. I omitted the guide railings the kit provided because i did not see them on several photos or on the drawings. However, I made two posts to cement next to the anchor cable guide and cemented a piece of PE wire to the posts and the end of the railing as shown on the drawings. I think that this arrangement works for me.
 
With your indulgence I would like to add the missing details of "Java's" sinking and the death of my father with the crew he served with. As I have mentioned before the aft section of the ship has special meaning to me because that's where my father's battle station was. For a long time I did not know this and how he may have died. All this came to light for me in stages, separated by many years in between bits of information.
I have attached a few pictures to help you in following me.
 
The first bit of information I received was at a lecture by a surviving naval officer fron "Java." That was sometime in 1954 when I served in the Royal Air Force when based at the airbase in Deelen, near Arnhem, Netherlands. This officer talked about the Battle in the Java Sea and the sinking of "Java" and Admiral Doorman's flagship "de Ruyrter." After his talk was done he opened it for questions. Obviously my hand went up too and when it was my turn I introduced myself by rank and name. He instantly became quite excited and asked me if I was related to Adjudant van Warmerdam. I responded in the affirmative and told him the I am his son.  He immediately adjourned the meeting and told me to come see him. He invited me to the Officer's mess at the base and we had a long chat. The main point in our conversation was how my father was killed. He informed me that the aft gun fall on him due to the explosion. and that part of the ship almost immediately broke off and sank.
Now at last I had confirmation of his death and no longer had to worry about the possibility of him having been a POW of the Japanese and died in a POW camp.
 
The next bit of information came to me from Kevin Denlay, an Australian diver who was part of the crew of the research vessel looking for the wrecks of the ships sunk in the battles against the Japanese Imperial Navy. I stumbled on his writings and posted photos doing some research on my computer. I contacted him and in the conversations we had via e-mail I learned that the stern section lays about 100 yards behind the main body of the wreck. The most aft 15 cm gun was at the edge of the forward section, laying askew and half way below deck level. After I told him what the surviving officer mentioned to me back in 1954 he had to agree that this gun, the #10 most aft gun, did indeed appear to have fallen down. The support pillar had collapsed down taking the gun with it due to the hull's structural failure caused by the explosion. 
These two bits of information confirms it for me with Kevin's agreement, that this was indeed my father's battle station and must have died instantly. Kevin also told me that the stern section deck was missing as if peeled off like the lid of a sardine can.  He also told me that a part of the hull between the aft side of the AA gun deck and the forward end of the stern section seem to be missing.  This too corroborates what the Dutch Naval officer told me and the eye witnesses of the US cruiser Houston. They heard two explosions, the second following the first by several seconds. Both these witnesses saw parts of the hull and bodies fly over 100 feet into the air. Kevin never found the #9 gun on subsequent dives.
Now that the wreck has been lifted from the sea floor I think that Kevin would not hesitate allowing me to show the photo of the #10 gun. I think it is too important a piece of evidence to miss.
 
As a trained accident investigator for the Federal Aviation Administration I had no problem piecing these things together to form a clear picture of the events. This information is not known to anyone, beside my immediate family, till now.
The Japanese long lance torpedo struck "Java" on the port side aft of the armor belt. This is the weakest area of the ship and the power of the explosion exceeded the structural integrity many fold over.  It was also where the aft ammunition area is. It was stocked with depth charges, 15 cm shells, cordite packs and the 40 mm ammo for the Bofors guns. It does not take a genius to figure out what devastating results an exploding torpedo has in that confined area. 
 
To be sure - I am at piece with this - knowing that my father and the crew of "Java" died an honorable death and should be remembered for their heroism in fighting a non winnable battle. When my father came home the day before this battle he and I had a man to man talk where he told me that he would most likely not come back. He also gave me certain orders that I had to affirm with a handshake. I am happy to say that I have been able to achieve all I promised him, in spite of many roadblocks thrown in my way. I am sure that he would be very pleased with my accomplishments in life.
 
Okay, here are a pictures with further explanations
 

Propeller guards and depth charge ramps installed.
 

Closeup of propeller guard with the #10 gun. Compare this with Kevin Denlay's photo a few pics below.
 

Stern section
 

A low res picture of "Java" being resupplied and fueled in Tantjong Priok, Batavia (now Jakarta). My father was on her when this photo was taken.
 

Part of the propeller guard. As can be seen that the deck is missing.
 

A graphic illustration of my explanation.
 

A copy of my 1:50 scale drawings. The #10 gun support gave way due to the collapse of the support structure below it, caused by the explosion. The area below the stern deck holds the officer's quarters.
 

This is Kevin Denlay's photo of the #10 gun. This now is my father's grave marker, even though it is no longer on the sea floor.
 

This is a copy from Jeffrey Cox's book "Rising Sun, Fallen Skies." Perth had make an immediate turn port to avoid De Ruyter. Houston witnessed both sinkings.
 
Cheers,

Hello all and thanks to those who visited and clicked the like button.
 
This post is for Day 58, which brings us to March 16, 2018.
This day I cemented all ten 15 cm guns to the model as I perceived them to be positioned.
I also cemented the 4 paravanes to the locations as shown on several photos.
Today's work didn't take much time so I also started to assemble the two propeller guards.
 
I have attached a bunch of pictures of this day's progress.
 

The number 10 gun that holds special interest to me. More about that in a future post. Yep, also some paint tough-ups.
 

A close-up of the number 10 gun. The light overhead puts a lot of shimmering on the uneven glue spots.
 
 

 
The Dutch National flag made from a decal. I may remake it from thin paper. The Bofors gun in the left back will be repaired. Accidentally hit it when handling the model.
 

All four paravanes cemented to the deck.
 

An actual photograph of a paravane. I painted mine in light grey.
 

Another actual photograph of the crew handling a paravane.
 

This is a photo Kevin Denlay took, showing the tail fins of a paravane, on one of his dives on the wreck. He stated that tihs one was on the sea floor amidships.
 

Overhead shot of the model howing all 10 guns cemented to "Java."
 

Another overhead shot.

The two parts for the propeller guards being cemented together.

The completed propeller guards ready for dressing. This job was like shoving two wet noodles together.
 
Cheers,
 

My thanks of course to those who clicked the like button.
 
This post is for Day 53, which takes us to March 5, 2018.
 
No actual work was done on the ship this day. I needed to think about how to place the 15 cm guns. In order to know how both the Japanese flotillas and the ABDA fleet were situated in the afternoon of February 27 I reread the documentation by Jeffrey Cox in his excellent book "Rising Sun, Falling Skies . . ." and found on pages 288 through 291 with the course map of all flotillas on page 289. There seem to have been only a few opportunities for the ABDA strike force to have come into range for Admiral Doorman's 6 inch guns, as Jeffrey Cox states.  Okay then, that will be the moment of my diorama display, a westerly course. This means that "Java" was firing from her starboard side.
There were actually three Japanese flotillas, each consisting of heavy cruisers with their destroyer escorts. The two Japanese cruisers of interest are the heavy cruisers Haguro and her sister ship Nachi. It was the Nachi who fired the fatal torpedo that struck Hr. Ms. Java that night.
 
So then, I hope to be able to create realistic enough gun smoke effects from "Java's" starboard side and two splashes Japanese shells nearby. Well, at least that's the plan I have in mind.
 
The photos I'll attach below are the temporary placement of the completed 15 cm guns on the port side. The model just happen to sit that way on the table. I decided to hold off on cementing the guns to the deck until I ave installed all the railings and propeller guards. There is still some handling of the model till I can place her in the diorama sea. 
 

All ten of the completed 15 cm guns in a row, ready to be dressed, cleaned and painted.
 

Another view of the guns.
 

Closeup of a 15 cm gun on my left index finger, still in need of dressing, cleaning and paint.
 

seven of the 10 15 cm guns temporarily placed on the ship's port side.
 

Another view.
 

A closeup of port side.
 

One of Kevin Denlay's photos showing live shells with cordite
 

A frontal view of one of the 15 cm guns.
 
Cheers,
 

Thank you John and Carl and those who clicked the like button. It's all much appreciated.
 
This post will cover days 50 and 51, which brings us to February 25.
I'll be working on the 10 15 cm deck guns. As mentioned before they need modifying quite a bit for me to point the barrels up for effective shooting. The whole gun and pedestal are molded in one piece and not usable this way, of course. Problem is that by separating the gun assembly from the pedestal I will destroy the pedestal.
I'll have to make a new pedestal and am using a small piece of 3 mm dowel for it. This'll have to be reduced in diameter and then tapered. A groove in upper end has to be  filed into the small end for the gun to lay in. A small piece of 0.5 mm plywood will serve as base to cement the new gun assembly and the shield to it.
Sounds simple but it is labor intensive.
The first thing then is snip the gun from the pedestal and then snip the barrel off. Next was to remove some metal from the kit supplied brass barrels and drill a hole in the gun receiver end. A dab of CA and push the brass barrel into the gun.
When the cement had cured enough to handle I cemented the gun assembly to the new pedestal.  Next was trying for fit to make sure that the shield would fit and the gun pointing up at about 40 degrees. This fitting process turned out to be a can of worms, holding three loose parts down to the table with one hand and manipulating the gun assembly with the other didn't work to well. I decided to cement the gun shield to the base plate first then I could fit and file the base at my hearts content. I was happy with the end result, the breach stuck out of the end a little and the barrel had a nice angle to it.
 
All this took care of the two days to get the first gun done. It least now I had a method and can continue with the other nine some other day.

Eight of the 14.91 cm guns for "Java's" main armament at the "De Schelde" shipyard, probably around November 1923. These Krupp guns were originally meant for the fortress of Ehrenbreitstein near Coblenz., Germany. Photo copy from the book "Hr. Ms. Kruisers "java" en "Sumatra" by J.Anten 
 

A detailed drawing of the 15 cm gun.
 
 

This shows the amount of men needed for one gun. There usually is a non-com or officer in attendance. The gunner is ramming a grenade into the breach while a sailor is holding a casing with cordite at the ready.
 
 

A copy from the installation instructions.
 
 

The particular parts in the kit to make up one gun. Removing the pedestal from the gun did cause damage to one small piece of the mold. This was not a hindrance because it cannot be seen anyhow once assembled. I placed the Exacto #11 blade next to it for size reference. 
 
 

This is the 3 mm dowel pte-tapered with a groove filed into it. To the right is the 0.5 mm plywood that'll form the base. The bun shield above it.
 

The new pedestal loosely placed on the base. The gun ready to loose its barrel. Needles to say that the pedestal needs to be trimmed. I did that after the gun was cemented to it and in further fitting.
 

The brass barrel ready to be cemented to the gun receiver. Yeah, it looks kinda untidy but must is not visible once the shield sits over it.
 

Here is the completed gun sitting on one of the shroud channels of my VOC ship "Surabaya."  Yep, a little dudty but I'll be starting with her as soon as "Java" is completed.
 
 

The completed gun temporarily placed in the #9 position. All the guns will be painted in middle grey when completed before they are cemented to the deck.
 
 

Thanks Carl and Denis for dropping by and your comments. Also my thanks to all who clicked the like button.
Yeah Carl, a typical pick for a photo op. There always was either a non-com or an officers to "supervise" but actually to "motivate" the crew. That reminds me of what my father told us. A couple of Indonesian sailors were painting a part of the hull from a scaffold over the side. He caught them napping so he cut one rope and they fall into the water. Great commotion because most the Indonesians can't swim. So my father threw a life preserver to them.
 
Today's post is for days 46, 47, 48 and 49 which brings us to February 22, 2018.
After a late start I tried my modified drill bit in my mini drill motor and it worked just fine, almost no wobble. So I commenced drilling the two holes in the gun receiver. I diluted my thick CA to make it less globby and cemented both barrels into the holes.
Next I cemented the crew seats to the platform and it to the plastic base. When the cement had cured I cemented the curved guide to the base and then the receiver with the barrels pointing skyward, scaring the Jap pilots - not. They cleverly stayed out of range.
 
Day 47: Completed the first Bofors gun by cementing the gun sight to the receiver and the railing to the platform. This pretty much finishes the first gun and is ready for cleaning and paint. I figured to wait with straightening the railing out till after the assembly is painted. The material of the PE is rather soft and delicate, the slightest touch causes a distortion.
 
Day 48: I was able to complete all four Bofors in the same method as my first one. They are now ready to be cleaned and painted but not today.
 
Day 49: Cleaned the Bofors with enamel reducer, air dried them and painted with rattle can grey primer.  After the primer had dried I painted all the Bofors with medium grey paint.  Scraped some of the brown deck paint from the AA gun deck for the guns. Instead of using CA I mixed up some two part epoxy cement. I wanted some extra time to position the guns just so. Instead of pointing them all in the same direction I decided in different sections of the sky simulating the guns in individual firing mode. It looks rather sharp this way and I am happy with the results. 
Okay, we are now ready to start work on the 15 cm canons. Not today but tomorrow I hope.
 

The gun barrels. At this magnification you can see the details clearly, quite well done.
 

The receiver being drilled.
 

The base. The center U shaped part is where the receiver will be cemented.
 

The gun-sight.
 

The crew platform and curved gun receiver guide cemented to the base with the rest of the parts to follow.
 

The proto type Bofors assembled and ready for dressing, cleaning and painting. I'll wait till all four are completed.
 

Four 40 mm Bofors guns. I staged them in different positions for an overall view. The railing is still in need of more adjustments.
 

The Bofors cemented to the AA gun deck
 

Overhead view.

40 mm shell boxes for the Bofors, photographed by Kevin Denlay. As previously explained Kevin is the first diver on Hr. Ms. Java's wreck. This location is on the AA gun deck.
 
Cheers,

This post takes us to Day 45, February 18, 2018.
 
This day I started with the assembly of the four 40 mm twin Bofors anti aircraft guns. Before I show and chat about the actual work I though giving you a little background history about how "Java" acquired these particular guns.
At the end of WW I the British Vickers Company developed a revolutionary new gun that could fire several rounds per second.  The sound of this rapid firing earned this gun the moniker "Pom-Pom." The idea was to lay a cloud of grenades in the air that made it a certainty of hitting an attacking airplane. This was good for that day because the airplanes were slow and flew low. It reminds of the flak idea used during WW II.
 
England made these gun available to any nation who wanted them. Even the Japanese acquired them for a while for their heavy cruisers Nachi and Haguro.
In 1937 the Royal Dutch Navy also acquired a set of six for the "Java" and "Sumatra," replacing the two 5.7 cm AA guns. The idea of "laying down a curtain of bullets" proved to be ineffective against the modern (for that day, 30s and 40s) aircraft and in 1938 both "Java" and "De Ruyter" replaced the Pom-poms with the 40 mm Bofors L.60 Hazemeyer-twin barrel AA guns. These are three-axis balanced to afford the gun freedom from the ship's movements and a steady aim on the target. They were centrally controlled via an analog "computer" of sorts but could also be independently fire at will. These guns were the state of the art at that time. I will depict my model in the independent controlled state. They could fire two rounds per second.
 
As good as these guns were there are a few disadvantages as well. !. the central control system. If damaged or failed it became a handicap and the guns must resort to manual control. "De Ruyter" experienced such an event during the battle in the Bali Sea earlier in February of 1942. A piece of shrapnel from a near miss of a Japanese bomb knocked it out.  2. Placing all four of these guns in one central location prevented forward firing due to the placement of the smoke stacks and masts. 3. The placement around the ammo supply tubes. This connected the AA deck with the aft ammunition magazine below it. This proved fatal when the Japanese torpedo hit the magazine. Fire and exploding shells came up the supply tube and caused heavy damage and death of the gun crews. 4. Enterprising attacking aircraft learned to rake the AA deck with great success. 5. With a central control system only one target could be aimed at, which hints at the old "cloud barrage" idea.
 
So then, having said all that we'll now commence with the build.
First order of business was to assemble all the parts for one gun that I'll use as a prototype. I will omit the shield in front of the gun because none of my photos show this installed on "Java." I will also try to cement the receiver with barrels pointing skyward.
In order to cement the barrels into the receiver I have to drill holes in the respective spots, next to each other.  Measuring the machined end of the gun barrels I selected a #85 drill bit. The problem is that it as way too small for the smallest collet for my pencil drill motor.  My Proxxon drill motor could be used but a little bulky and less control because I have to hold the receiver in my left hand and handle the drill motor with the right. So, I mixed some epoxy cement and dabbed it around the drill shank and let it harden up. I'll later smooth it out some to fit the collet. 
Next I pre-bend the aft railing and the receiver guide
 
This is all I could do today. Hopefully more tomorrow.

The AA gun deck with the four Bofors guns, looking forward. Here you can see the forward firing obstructions of the masts and funnels. This picture shows that the AA gun deck has a railing. The kit instructions show no railing and I'll go with that. It does have a raised side though.
 

The specific Bofors twin barrel gun on "Java."
 

A copy of the installation guide for the Bofors gun. #24 not used; #12 manual eye sight; #11 seat/foot rest; #15 crew platform; #16 receiver guide; #17 railing. I'll try to cement the lower railing rod to the edge of the platform.
 

Here are all pertinent parts laid out. The receiver is still attached to it's mold base and the part below it is the actual base. You can make out where the receiver is to be cemented to. Fortunately I don't have to modify it to cement the gun pointing up. At the ends of each barrel you can see the machined pins that'll be cemented into the receiver. That A looking thingy is the receiver guide that'll be curved. Next to it is the hand crank for moving the receiver up or down, I think. Above the receiver is the seat and footrest. The barrels actually have the recoil springs machined into them, really good.
 

The "Java" crew in action during a gun drill. A 5 man crew for each gun. You can see that no shield is used. There usually was a senior non-com or an officer on deck.
 

My modified drill bit, waiting for the epoxy to harden. A little filing and it should work.
 

The pre-bend railing, all the unevenness and wrinkles I'll try to straighten out as much as possible after it's cemented to the platform. This PE is very soft and the slightest touch moves it out of shape. Not easy to work with.
 

The gun-sight.
 
Cheers,
 

Thank you Lawrence, Denis and John for for your very kind words, it's much appreciated.
 
Here is a picture for Carl. He was mentioning "holy stoning" the deck, well here are a bunch of Dutch swabbies doing just that.

A copy from my book "Hr. Ms. Hruisers "Java" en "Sumatra" by J. Anten, 2001.
 
Cheers,
 

Thank you Denis and Carl. Hey Carl, I have never used this holy stone but a lot of polishing compound on airplanes though, does that count?? 
 
Okay, we are now at day 44, which brings us to January 29, 2018.
I finally tackled that difficult job, the ship's boats loading and unloading boom. Before cementing the boom to the mast I started with cementing the top most static support cable and the lifting/lowering pulley tackle rig. Then cemented the hook cable from the front of the boom with a piece of silk tread. I'll attach it later to the motor driven winch.
I did not have the PE cable assembly that runs from the end of the boom to the deck. Instead I used two silk threads for this that will be fastened to scratch build eyelets on the deck next to the aft vent pipes. This will be done after the boom is cemented to the deck. 
The PE boom swing tackle and hook will also be cemented on after the boom is secured to the mast. They will be fastened to the same eyelets for the mast side stays.
It was now time to cement the boom to the mast, which proceeded rather well in spite of all these loose pieces of rigging. Next came the task to secure all the loose cables and ropes to their assigned places.
It was now also time to paint everything in medium grey except the cabling is dome in dark grey.
 
Here I thought this was going to be a real challenge but it went surprisingly rather quick. Next up will be assembling the 4 Bofors. I'll have to kit-bash these because I want to have the barrels pointing skyward attempting tho get the Japanese observation planes but these clever guys kept out of range. 
 

This is a copy from my 1:50 scale scratch build drawing. It shows how everything runs from here to there.
 

This shows the boom cemented to the mast with all the loose rigging.
 

Here the installation is completed and painted.
 

A bird's eye view of the boat deck.
 

A close-up view of the boom and ship's boats.
 

Overall view of the jobs completed in the last few days.
 
Cheers,

Thanks Carl, yeas, she's slowly progressing. I am very close to getting to the current date. A few more installments. Currently I am still occupied with most in-house chores like cooking, dish-washing, floor scrubbing etc. besides the never ending yard work.  Gwen's hand is healing very nicely and can now straighten all her fingers out without them locking up. Still some discomfort when making a fist though, which is a good thing - - for me 
 
Okay then, today's post is for days 41, 42 and 43, which brings us to January 29, 2018.
On day 41 I started with assembling the seaplane loading/unloading gantries. First was removing them from the PE sheet with their associated PE parts. The gantry boom is etched in one piece and had to be folded double to make the complete beam. Another sticky job in not damaging the support cables that are part of the whole. Once I had them perfectly aligned I used a drop of CA to keep them together,
Next was cementing the traveling hook and pulley assembly for at the end and cemented them to the beam. I added a few strands of silk thread to the ends of the beams to simulate the mooring ropes, preventing the beams from swinging. These ropes will be fastened to the top of the rear funnel vent housing.
 
On day 42 I cut two small pieces of brass rod to simulate the observation plane refueling supply pipes at the sides of the hull and cemented them into place. Yeah, I had to scrape away some paint but I'll touch it up later.  there is a lot of touch-up work to do anyhow.  Looking at the 1:50 scale scratch build drawings there is a ladder from the deck down to the pivot part of the pipe so I got a piece from my spare PE and cemented that to the hull. My guess is for access to that point for the crew to attach the fuel hose and unlatch the pipe. There is also a gantry from the deck to the end of the pipe but I'll wait with cementing that on when I install the railing.
After lunch I installed both the aircraft loading gantries and started with the forward support stays. To simulate them being fastened to the deck I made two cleats and cemented them to the deck. No time to install the stays.
 
On day 43 I cemented both front stays. Them being from extremely thin PE it was a rather delicate operation but turned out rather good. Next I painted all the installed PE and some touch-up work.
 

A copy of my 1:50 scale drawing showing the aircraft loading gantry installation. This would be a rather fun project to tackle if I ever have the time to do so.
 

These are the main parts for the gantries. I have placed my Exacto #11 blade in te picture to give you an idea of size. I did not attempt to add the chains to the traveling hook assembly. I guess I could have used one of my hears - - -
 

This shows bothe gantries installed. Both the securing ropes will be replaced.

Both stays are installed and the securing ropes replaced, now they are taut. I guess You can also see the cleats I made for the stay.
 

Another look at the finished gantry installation.
 

This is that aircraft refueling pipe arrangement. That little bump below the ladder is a hinge assembly to allow the boom to swing out. Ah yes, I goofed on the ladder, that'll be straightened out before long and painted of course. According the drawings I have there is a rope attached to the pivot support brace at the end of this pipe to the ladder serving as a handhold. Seems rather tricky to walk across that pipe with the ship pitching.
 

Painted with some touch-ups.
 
 

This post is for day 40, which brings us to January 23, 2018.
 
In looking the model over I determined that the life rafts on the stern deck still have too much of the casting material to the undersides. I decided to remove them and shave off some more of the material. They fortunately popped right off without much damage to the deck. After I removed enough material I cemented them back on, looks much better.
 
I also decided to cement the motor launches to the intended cradles. I may move these guns a few millimeters further aft, perhaps.
 
In the previous post I mentioned the davits, so I figured why not cement them on.  First I rigged the tackles and secured them to the davit posts to tie them out of the way of gun action. I used a few filaments of silk sewing thread for the rigging ropes.
 

This and the next three pictures are copies I made from my 1:50 scale drawing of the davit arrangement.

 

 

 

These are the kit davits I rigged with the supplied PE hardware. As mentioned, the ropes are just a few strands of silk from a very fine sewing thread.
 

The davits cemented to the kit assigned places, which are accurate per my drawings. next to aft (right) davit you can see my scratch build eye bolt for the aft mast side stays and to the left is the boarding ladder.
 

An overhead view. That round bare spot ir for the 15 cm gun.  The motor launch is also cemented to its cradle. You would think that the aft mast side stays should be rigged aft of the mast center line. I did check up on this and found that Boris has it correct.
 

Another overhead view looking aft.
 
Cheers,
 

This post will be days 38 and 39, which brings us to January 18, 2018.
 
A start was made with the standing rigging of the aft mast. I elected to use the thinnest polyester sowing thread for its non sagging properties. Scale wise it is still a little oversize but it does give the impression of some sturdiness. I needed to be extra cautious not to make it too taught or too loose. I didn't want to pull the mast out of plumb or with a sagging cable.  
The two forward stays were fastened to the top of the aft funnel vent housing first. I used the forward vent pipe cable fastening device - a tiny drop of CA - as the attaching point. As the CA was curing I carefully brought the thread to it with tweezers till they got a hold of it. This way I could slide the thread just enough to make it appear taught. When cured I simply cut thee excess off with the Exacto # 11 blade.
 
For the side stay, which is fastened to a deck fixture, like an eye bold, with turnbuckle. I made en eye bold from brass wire, drilled holes into the deck and used the same thread. A little tricky in that the eye in the eye bold was a just enough to let the thread pass trough. Doubling back to the stay made it look too lumpy so I just put a dab of CA on it and cut the excess of.
In the enlarged photos these "cables" do look like actual steel cables, which makes me a happy camper.
 
Next I cemented the two ship's boats to their cradles but held off with the motor launches.  I am not sure yet about it's involvement with the 15 cm gun next to it.  With the guns in active firing positions would the hot powder gasses damage them? So I need to think about this a little before making a decision whether to mount them or not. If not, then what do I do with them? Hanging them in the davits is not an option because none of the photos I have with "Java" in action shows them there.
I have the same thoughts about the gun between the two davits.
 
Next I cemented the two support beams for the machine gun deck. These also serve as the supports for the seaplane crane gantries. 
This concludes the aft mast rigging.
 
Day 39, 02/18/2018: Not much was done this day. I cemented all three anchors to their locations. Made and cemented the turnbuckles for the center vent pipes to their bracing cables and cemented the boarding ladders to the ship's side, where indicted.

The forward stays are cemented on. The side stay wires are waiting. You can see my scratch build eye bold cemented to the deck just aft of the aft davit attach point at the edge of the deck.
 

The side stay cemented to the eye bolt.
 

The machine gun deck support posts are cemented in place. Just to the left on the hull you'll see the place for the PE boarding ladder.
 

Bow anchor cemented in place.
 

Stern anchor cemented in place.  Looking at the 1:50 scale drawing it seems to be a little too large. I can either leave things alone or make a new anchor. The one shown in this photo is also a scratch build anchor.
 
 
 

 

Close up vies of the seaplane deck with cradles and the forward vent pipe bracing cables attached to the forward funnel vent housing. That's the point I used for the aft mast forward stays.
 

Bird's eye view of the aft mast deck. Here you can also see the dummy turnbuckles on the vent pipe bracing cables.
 
Cheers,

Thanks to all for the best wishes for Gwen and she says tanks. The surgery was a great success. The doctor had to spend an extra 20 minutes on her hand because of so much scar tissue from the previous surgery a few years back. They wrapped her hand much too tight, which made it quite uncomfortable. She only took two pain pills yesterday, slept okay and is beginning to use her swaddled hand again, against doctor's instructions. She claims it's good exercise for the fingers. Stubborn Dutchman she is 
So I made a genuine Indo Chinese fried noodle dish, called bami goreng, our made in Indonesia used to make for my father and me, totally awesome. Even these seemingly random things do remind me of him.  For tomorrow I'll make herb stuffed salt water fish and hope they have sea bass or orange roughy, with herbed quinoa, asparagus with special sauce, and carrots. Probably have leftovers for Saturday that'll give me a break from cooing. Yes, I'll get an extra fish, hey, my mom didn't raise a dummy   For Sunday I plan on  a dry-rub roast brisket or flank steak with roasted root veggies, real rustic food.
 
Okay, back to updates of the "Java" build.
This will be days 36 and 37, which brings us to January 10, 2018.
On day 36 I shaped the seaplane cradles. A most trying job. Folding them into a box from a straight piece of PE and make them come out true was not easy. I managed to mangle two of them. I'm fortunate in having a spare PE. In the end I produced 4 fairly decent cradles. Only when we look close we can see some unevenness but we'll chalk that up to age and handling rash 
I cemented them to to deck and after the CA had cured enough I could carefully straighten some of the unevenness out.
Next I installed the vent pipe cables with fake turnbuckles so they can be unhitched when loading or launching the seaplanes.
 
I then started on the aft mass stays but got only as far as getting the thread for them ready. More on the standing rigging on another day.
 
Day 37 started with a minor setback, no big problem but my own oversight. I send a progress photo to Boris Mulanko from Pacific Cross Roads and he almost immediately send me a message back that the life rafts I cemented to the #9 gun deck are in the wrong place. I placed them more in the center instead of at the edge. I failed to look at the overhead view of the instruction sheet.
He did mention though that I am not the only one who made this error. Well, at least that didn't make me feel too bad. Now, how am I going to get them off the deck without destroying it.  I used a box cutter to gently wriggle under them and they popped off without too much damage. Most of the residue cement I could remove with my #11 Exacto blade and a knife file.  How can we explain the damaged deck to the viewer? Maybe hauling cases of gun shells across the deck?? 
I cemented the life rafts back to the deck in the right places and painted the deck again.
 
This made me wonder though how these rafts fared during the firing of that 15 cm gun so close by. I guess we'll never know, unless someone has the experience in that.
 
Okay, here are a few pics of the progress so far.
 

Seaplane cradles cemented to the deck. Now you can also see the vent pipes. Some of the unevenness in the paint is from glare of the lamp. However, I suspect the I'll have to do some touch-up after painting the cradles.
 

A more overhead shot. You can also see my fake turnbuckle at the right vents. That bare round spot is where a 15 cm gun will be placed.
 

The erroneous placing of the life rafts. You can see how close they would be to that #9 gun. But even at thair assigned location it still would seem rather close that gun barrel. Here too, that bare spot is the gun location.

All life raft relocated to where they are supposed to be. Yep, there is some damage but really difficult to see from an arm's length. This picture is at 5X magnification. Oh well, it is what it is. No sense in crying over spilled milk, eh what?  This particular location on the ship has great significance for me. It happens to be near my Father's battle station and this particular section of the ship is missing from the wreckage on the sea floor.
 
Cheers,