Oystein

Hi all –
 
I hope everyone has had a nice Easter, Passover, or other spring holiday of your choosing.  Thanks, as always, for the comments and the likes.  It is so nice to get feedback from our modeling family – both the in-laws and the outlaws.  You can decide which you are.
 
The last segment concluded with me working on the bow to get the shapes right and the surface smooth, as well as cutting and installing the flared bulwark pieces.
 
 While I continued to refine, smooth, and fair the bow, I turned to the challenges of the stern.  As seen in the photo, it has a smooth, rounded, but flared shape with two decks that are each pierced with large openings for viewing.  The lower ones are not as tall compared with the upper ones, or rather, the bulwarks are higher, as can be seen from the postures of the people looking out.  In the upper openings the bulwarks are lower, but a single open railing is mounted on top for safety.  This same solid bulwark and upper railing system is an almost universal design feature of the ship, and can be seen as well above the topmost bulwark at the stern.  The lower deck also has a number of round and elongated hawse holes for mooring lines, so the bulwarks have to be pierced for them as well.   

All of this meant that the model’s stern would have to be some sort of pierced shell, like a lacework Easter egg.  To get that shell I first tried to drape-mold styrene in one sheet.  I had already built up a solid stern block which I hoped to use as the form.  I screwed it down onto the hull block and made sure all the edges met.
 
I then put a sheet of 0.020” styrene in a bath of simmering water.  While it softened I heated the stern of the hull with a hair dryer.  When I thought everything had reached a workable temperature I pulled the plastic out of its bath and pulled it down on the hull form.  It did not behave.  Pleats and wrinkles formed which could not be flattened.  I tried several more times, making the plastic sheet hotter in an oven, moving around the points where I pulled on the plastic, etc.  Ultimately I only ended up with half a dozen sheets of unusable plastic which had to be discarded.  I will not embarrass myself by posting photos of the trash.
 
I decided that I would have to build up and pierce each deck separately, and then work on the seam between them.  This would be slower, but used techniques that I was already familiar with.  I first had to establish the shape of the stern with just the deckhouses and decks stacked together to get a feel for the internal structures.  They were cut according to the deck plans, but a little oversize, and were temporarily screwed to each other and the hull.
 
These pieces were faired to each other with a sanding block, checking frequently to see that they created the flared shape desired.  When I was satisfied, the upper wooden pieces were taken off, leaving only the lowest deck house and deck.  A piece of cardstock was used to make a pattern for a curved piece of plastic sheet, much like the one that was created for the bow bulwark.   
         
The plastic was cut oversize and then refined by trial and trimming until it fit well.  As at the bow, a rabbet was cut into the solid hull to bed the edge of the plastic into.  The piece was secured with gap filling cyano.  When the glue was solid the gaps at the edges were filled with Squadron white putty in several layers to build up the filler to compensate for shrinkage as it dried.  Then the surface was sanded flush with the hull, with special care being taken at the edges.  You can see where my smoothing process went through the layers of white primer and into the grey primer below.  The color change proved to be a good warning that I should not go deeper in that spot.  Then the locations of the window openings were drawn on the plastic in pencil, and the centers were ground out with a small burr, staying well away from the lines.  A sharp #11 knife was used to carefully whittle away the remaining plastic until the openings were the proper sizes and shapes. The hawse holes were done in a similar fashion.
 
 
 From there I repeated the process for the upper deck.  But first, the lower deckhouse and the underside of the lower deck were painted and permanently installed.  At this point I was committed.  It was no longer easy to remove the stern pieces and redo them.  As before, a cardstock pattern was created, plastic sheet was cut and fit, glued into the rabbet and faired to the hull and the lower deck bulwark.  The viewing openings were drawn on, pierced and whittled away as before. 

In the previous photo you can still see some spots where additional refinement and whittling of the lower openings is needed.  This was a continuing process and done very carefully.  A slip here might mean that the entire piece would have to be stripped out and replaced.  Fortunately, it ultimately came out as I wanted.  After a coat of primer it is, I believe, quite difficult to tell that it was pieced together.
 
 So here is the current state of work, with the rough superstructure laid on.  It sure will be great when I can replace the plumbing pipe funnels for the lacework cages that Bob made up.  Can’t wait.
 
But there are many more miles to go before I can reach that point, and many more postings.  Until the next one –
 
Be well
 
Dan
 

Martin,
thank you for your your nice compliment.
Have now completed the bridge front and the cabs. The roof platform remains removeable until the ship control devices underneath are permanently installed
 
Nils
 

 
 

 
 

The crow`s nest is maned with two sailors, safety reasons
 

 
 
 

Small update....
 
I`m still looking for a suitable set of steering wheels in scale 1:144......
Have made the two bearing compasses for the outer end bridge wings, the two machine telegraphs, and the main bridge compass-column with it`s trimming magnets for nautical alignment setting
 
Nils
 

 
 

Hi All,
I have to move away from research for a while to build a little more.  Or I will know everything there is to know about the Mariefred and never build her.  The Mariefred is a very early (1903) steel boat.  So like Nils (Mirabell61), I had to plate her, rivets and all.  Maybe I shouldn’t say so but it was a lot easier that I thought it would be.  The main problem is finding the right foil for the job.  Most of what I found at the hardware store was too thin and doesn’t look right.  There were four or five brands where us non-professionals find what we want.  But walking down to the end of the store where the contractors go, I found the heaver foil that is needed.  I found an old clock gear that I made into a ponce wheel and with just a little practice . . . here’s the results.   I’ll accept it as a first try.  Now paint and on to the rest of the boat.
 
Bob

It's been a while since my last log entry but work has gone on and this how Fulani looks today.

None of the deck structures is fixed in place yet as I have still to make hawse pipes and giver the ship her anchors; also, although I have managed to print Fulani under her counter stern, I still have to find a way to paint Liverpool under her name in half millimetre high print.
The windlass is a gift from a friend who was given a kit when he was a boy about forty years ago.  Unfortunately the kit contained only the fixtures for a model trawler, but not the hull, so he couldn't even start the project.  However he kept the bits and pieces and offered them to me.  Luckily the windlass was just about right for Fulani.
 

The Samson post on the port side forward of the bridge house (also not fixed yet) has a cowl made from modelling clay and glued onto a wooden post.  I tried several ways to form the cowl and finally did it by shaping a ball of the stuff and impressing the rounded end of a stick of the same dimensions as the post, into it and then shaping the "bonnet" around it.  After it had dried hard it just took a little sanding to get it to fit onto the post. Superglue and a coat of paint makes it look like one single piece.
 
The deck sheathing is not  ready for showing yet but I found a good way to make it is to prepare sheets of it and cut out the shape and size required for each area.
 

The planks are taken from the unfinished model of the Swedish warship Wasa and laid in a thin smear of tar sealant. Sanded the result is convincing, I think.
 
I'm looking forward to getting finally finished with the hull so that I can start attaching everything to it.  I'm specially keen to start fitting the derricks and all the tackle that that will involve, though not the fourteen cargo winches that have to go with them. The deck rails will be a challenge as well.    
 
 
 

Hi all –
 
Thanks for the conversations and the likes, as always.   And thanks for looking in on my little diversion.  It was an exercise in water sculpture, and reasonably successful, although I have a ways to go to make it that spray truly realistic.  
 
When the last installment ended, the hull had been glued up and shaped.  The wood had been hardened, ready for final finishing.
 
The next step was to bring the hull to a smooth surface, ready for the color coats.  I first filled the pores of the wood with a slurry of plaster of paris.  Here it is shortly after being painted on
.
 
Before it dried and became opaque I laid in a 1/16” wide strip of tape along the waterline as I did here on the Doria model.
 
With the plaster dry it was gently sanded with a medium grit sanding sponge to smooth and fair the planes and surfaces.  Here is how it looked at the bow.  The waterline tape was removed at this point, but it left a very shallow but indelible depression along the length of the hull that will guide my painting later on.
 
What followed were many refinements to those hull planes and surfaces, done with multiple layers of spray primer.  The first several were of grey, sandable primer which filled in the deepest of the sanding scratches.  For preference I use Krylon in the rattle can.  It is fast-drying and builds up a sufficiently thick layer with only a few coats.  But it is getting harder to find.  Even Amazon runs out from time to time.  I have found that the comparable product from Ace Hardware is almost identical.
 
Medium and fine grit sanding sponges smoothed out the grey primer, then coats of white primer were sprayed on.  This is a much different formulation, not just the color.  It goes on thinner and dries to a much harder surface.  Finer and finer grits of sandpaper were used, ending with a rubdown with a plastic scouring pad to burnish the surface.  Much will be done to the hull, and it will get carved, drilled and sections ground out, but it was nice to have a smooth canvas to work on.
 
The first addition to the hull was the bulwark at the bow.  This has to be flared considerably to match the steep angle of the hull at the nose.  To get this shape, I wrapped a wide strip of card stock around the bow and taped it in place, making sure that it lay tight and flat all around the bow.  Where it rose above the deck, I penciled in a line.  Using a flat piece of scrap as a spacer, a second line was drawn at the height of the finished bulwark.  The card was removed and a third line was drawn, freehand, about ¼” below the deck line to account for where it will be attached to the hull.  Several were made and discarded before one was acceptable.  The finished template shape looked like this.
 
This shape was cut out of a piece of 0.020” styrene sheet.  I made sure to make the first cuts overlarge, then it was slowly refined by repeatedly offering it up to the desired location and trimming as needed.  A shallow step was cut, carved, and ground into the hull and the piece laid in and secured with gel superglue.  The edges were filled and faired with Squadron white putty.   Here is the bow bulwark piece before final fairing into the hull.   The difference in sheen tells me where the putty still needs more refining.   The bulwark is still a bit oversize at the top edge, which will not be refined until the detailing process begins.
 
This was my first time using Squadron putty.  It is a solvent based gel which comes in a tube like toothpaste and is squeezed out in much the same way.  Because it is solvent based it dries quickly, but the fumes are a bit harsh, so have some good ventilation where you work with it.  The other problem is that it shrinks substantially as it dries.  Some deep depressions had to have several layers applied before it built up enough to sand back to a smooth surface.
 
Next, I work on the stern.
 
Be well
 
Dan

What a glorious model !
I take my hat off. Well done!

little update :
 
made and attached two deck lights (one one the midships plattform, one under the bridge deck)
and made braces for supporting the bridge wing cabs from underneath.....
 
Nils
 

 
 

did`nt apply filler here yet
 
 

 
 

in the background, the plastic foil that covers the model when not working on it

14 by Model Fishingships, on Flickr
 
14a by Model Fishingships, on Flickr
 
14b by Model Fishingships, on Flickr
 
15 by Model Fishingships, on Flickr
 
17 by Model Fishingships, on Flickr
 
18 by Model Fishingships, on Flickr
 
19 by Model Fishingships, on Flickr
 
19a by Model Fishingships, on Flickr
 
20 by Model Fishingships, on Flickr
 
22 by Model Fishingships, on Flickr

Busy doing the rigging. A horrible task to find out how all the lines and blocks has to go and actually making them to do so. It looks like one big spagethis to me sometimes.
Untitled by Model Fishingships, on Flickr
 
After some hours all the rigging is ready
Untitled by Model Fishingships, on Flickr
 
And I tested the leds (again) and thankfully they all work
Untitled by Model Fishingships, on Flickr
 
Untitled by Model Fishingships, on Flickr
 
Untitled by Model Fishingships, on Flickr
 
Untitled by Model Fishingships, on Flickr
 
Untitled by Model Fishingships, on Flickr
 
Untitled by Model Fishingships, on Flickr
 
And a temporally fit on the baseplate. The baseplate has a contact for the powersupply and a switch for the lights
Untitled by Model Fishingships, on Flickr
 
Next time I hope to show you the final pictures of this triplet.
 
See you then (and after that for a new fishingship offcourse)
 

These models are so nice, I cannot find the proper phrase in English. 
Do I remember correct that you intended to weather your own model? Have you been salt chipping in secret?

What a really nice build so far! And thanks a lot for the tip to soak the wood in gin - will indeed prove valuable

Hi all, I finally got a little more done.  The deck is planked, the front and rear walls to the main cabin are up and I finished the little deck house, which was the smoking lounge, it was removed when that deck was enclosed. 
 Bob

These models are so nice, I cannot find the proper phrase in English. 
Do I remember correct that you intended to weather your own model? Have you been salt chipping in secret?

These models are so nice, I cannot find the proper phrase in English. 
Do I remember correct that you intended to weather your own model? Have you been salt chipping in secret?

These models are so nice, I cannot find the proper phrase in English. 
Do I remember correct that you intended to weather your own model? Have you been salt chipping in secret?

These models are so nice, I cannot find the proper phrase in English. 
Do I remember correct that you intended to weather your own model? Have you been salt chipping in secret?

Thanks, I guess,  Lawrence.  These two showed up.  They are the foremen?  Right?
 
Bob
 
 

small update :
 
made the lower bridge-deck railings, these guide the first class passengers alongside the structures of funnels 1 + 2  to the staircase that goes down to the promenade deck, so no one gets lost on the boats-level. There are no railing to the sea-side of the boats.
The etched copper railing is too "flimsy" on its own, so I spent a reinforcement rail at the bottom side and the obligatory brass handrail to strengthen the upper side.
 
Nils
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 
 

Lots of work done on the Pelikaan. Frontmast, deckhatches, blocks and pulleys painted. Wooden deck, and a lot of other smaller jobs done.
Untitled by Model Fishingships, on Flickr
Untitled by Model Fishingships, on Flickr
Untitled by Model Fishingships, on Flickr
Untitled by Model Fishingships, on Flickr
 
Bussy in the harbour
Untitled by Model Fishingships, on Flickr
 
And a beginning on the rigging. A very big job to do but also to find out how it has to be done
Untitled by Model Fishingships, on Flickr

Under deck......work work work

small update:
 
the upper brass profiles on the railing are carrying base for the mahagoni handrails (glue on with CA)
 
Nils
 

the U-type brass mini- profiles give stable strength to the fragile upper railing wire
 
 

like here on the aft ship railing
 
 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 
 

Update :
 
ladders to the midships platform, railings to the lower bridge, and supports for the upper bridge (railings still require some straight bending, wooden handrails and paint)
the structures in the light tower areas require some filler material before final painting....
 
Nils
 

several stairways attached
 

 
 

boats winch in foreground, the whole boatsdeck is crowded with "detail structures", I`m quite pleased that all could find its place in accordance with the actual ship
 

supports for upper bridge, railings for lower bridge, light tower areas require some filler and repainting. Left some fingertips in the pic for scaling
 

 
 

all fragile parts, I do`nt think its so wise to choose that small scale again 
 

those upper railing wires hardly withstand touching, structure here filler is needed
 
 
 

This funnel is indeed a good candidate for 3D printing. It's really not that difficult once you have gained some (not much) experience with the software. Google and Youtube are excellent sources. 

This funnel is indeed a good candidate for 3D printing. It's really not that difficult once you have gained some (not much) experience with the software. Google and Youtube are excellent sources.