Oystein

Hi Michael, Bob - 
 
Thanks for your input.  Yes, it should be possible to lay out the framework mathematically, but it is beyond my capabilities.  It is not as simple as doing a flat expansion.  
 
I can determine the circumferences of the base and top ovals.  The base is 37mm on the long axis and 22mm on the short one.  Using the :  Pi x (square root of 2) x ((1/2 long axis)squared + (1/2 short axis)squared) - this results in a circumference of 96mm, or 6mm between each of the 16 joinder points around the base.   Similarly, the top oval is 31 x 19, giving a circumference of 80mm, or 5mm between points.  I can lay out the grid as a trapezoid with those lengths and a height of 34mm as taken from the plans.  
 
But when I pull the sides around to form a tapered cylinder, much less a tapered ovoid, the top and bottom edges deform and do not remain flat and horizontal.  As you can see, there is a point developed at the lower bow, matched by a dip at the top.  It also makes the funnel lean back aft.
 
If I straighten up the aft edge, as on the ship, the problem is more pronounced.
 
To correct these issues, the top and bottom of the layout have to be curved.  If this were a tapered cylinder, the curve would be smooth and continuous.  But this is an oval, and the curve will be tighter at the ends than in the middle.  Deriving these lines, top and bottom, is what is out of my reach.
 
So, at the moment I am still working on some sort of lattice built up over a form.  I will test Michael’s idea of using flat strips that are rounded by loading them with paint.  I am sure that numerous failures will be required before two acceptable ones are produced.
 
Bob, I would love to work with you on doing it with 3-D printing.  I have no experience with it, but it looks cool.  Let’s talk when I get closer to needing them.
 
Be well
 
Dan

I have decided to take a break from model ship building and build an aircraft. As it is not a ship I won´t put the log in the ship section. I hope it is ok to put it here as this is the "general topic" section as I understand it. I also understand that people visit this website to view modelships and not aircraft but maybe someone might find this of interest. It makes more sense, to me, to post here than to become a new member of some other site. 
 
I hope it it ok but if it is not admin can just move the log to a more correct place or remove it altogether.
 
Anyway. The model I´m building is Model Airways 1:16 Fokker Dr 1 triplane. the aircraft flown by the red baron Von Richthofen.
 
I have started to construct the main spar of the upper wing. Instructions are so far good but sometimes a bit unclear. For example the spar is made up by four parts glued together to form a beam. As I understand it the two parts making up the "thickness" of the beam is to be glued on top of the lower part. But it could be glued to the front and back also thus making the spar slightly longer and thinner instead of slightly shorter and thicker. Looking at the pictures  gives some indication but I would have preferred one extra sentence explaining this.
 

 

My little building corner. I wish it was much bigger, it kind of limits ( I think) the size of ships that can practically be built)
 
Some pictures of the drawings

 

 

 
 
 

Added some paint to the hulls, including striping and the registrationnumbers
 
Untitled by Model Fishingships, on Flickr
 
Untitled by Model Fishingships, on Flickr
 
Untitled by Model Fishingships, on Flickr

Hi Carl,
 
in answer to your earlier question, I would like to provide this illustration :
 
this is what the funnel guy wires will be like, here I started with funnel 3 + 4
The steel wires are 0,3 mm diam. normaly used for wire controlled model aircraft. The fact that they are tin-galvanized coated provides excellent soldering possibilities. The buckle screws are smallest I could find (M1,4 left /right thread), I blackened these chemically.
The small center drilled nickel beads are from a fashion jewelery store
 
Nils
 

 

Thanks to all of the above for your comments.  It's good to know that "I'm not the only one" though, looking at your logs and galleries,it's hard to believe that I'm in such impressive company.
But, "Moving on" (as my youngest says when the conversation bores or embarrasses him) I have started again with the bridge structure.  It's demanding work to cut all those rectangular windows and difficult to achieve uniformity. I've wasted a lot of time scrapping my efforts and starting again.  My third attempt is the best so far and is accepted.  But that's just the Master's and Mate's windows on deck 2.  I'm now working on the wheelhouse windows and doors and the radio shack.
I have also started preparing the wood sheathing on these decks.  I used very thin and flat slices from the damaged planking on "Vasa" the unfinished model my friend's widow gave me. I'm using some remnants of tar adhesive paint that I had left over after re-roofing the wood shed some years ago, to represent the pitch seal between planks.  Painting it along one edge of the deck plank and sliding the adjacent one up against it forces the excess out, to be scraped away. Some spreading occurs but when the deck is ready it will be sanded down as far as I dare go. I have experimented and found this works well.  Even a little grey shadow where tar paint has been is not a bad thing as, on a ship as old as Fulani was when I sailed in her, the 28 year old wood sheathed decks were far from pristine, having been re-sealed over the years by various ship's carpenters, skilled and unskilled.  It looks authentic, I think.
I am also busy around the focstle, fitting the aft facing bulkhead with entrances port and starboard  These entrances had no high coaming to keep water out as the interior access doors to the Carpenter's shop and the focstle store and lampy's den had.
On the outer surface of the focstle I am trying (and trying and trying again) to print  F U L A N I  to scale. I am doing it with a toothpick dipped in paint, the toothpick being a used one in accordance with my stipulation that the ship should be made of scrap materials.  Am still trying, as my wife tells me.  Repeatedly. 
Photos of the above work to follow shortly. (Same old problems with photos, I'm afraid)

small update :
 
all the fastening points for the funnel guy wires are placed. In order to check if they go clear with the structures and they do`nt foul the vents and the boats, I put on preliminary thin polyester threads that resemble the tin coated steel wires that will be attached in their place and each one spanned with its own buckle screw. It looks like all is clear to go....
 
Nils
 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello all - 
 
Welcome to those of you who followed my build log of my previous ocean liner, the SS Andrea Doria.  If you have not seen it, you can reach it by clicking the link below my profile, below.
 
The Michelangelo was a slightly newer ship and sleeker in appearance.
 
 
To give myself a bit more of a challenge, the model is being built to the scale of 1/350 rather than 1/200 as were my previous liner models.  This means that the model's overall length is just over 31", which is a reasonable size for home display.  I hope to still incorporate the same level of detail as at the larger scale, with some windows laser cut and others done with custom decals.  Railings, ladders, etc. will be done in photoetched brass, and let me tell you, those pieces are tiny!   
 
The primary challenge of the build will be to replicate the cages around the funnels at this scale.  The cages are one of the most visually appealing aspects of the ship, and were magnets for publicity photographs and even made it to the cover of the New York Times Magazine section.  Nice shape, don't you think?

 
As usual, my research began with trolling the internet, various books and other publications for images of the ship that would confirm and supplement the engineering drawings that would be ordered from the Italian naval archives.  Out of about a thousand images some 200 were selected that were of such sufficient clarity and resolution to be useful.  The covered almost every aspect of the ship, from her construction in the Anseldo Shipyards in Genoa
 
to her ultimate end in the Pakistani breakers yard in 1991
 
Next time I will go into the process that I used to go from the plans to a laid-up basswood hull.
 
Until then, be well
 
Dan

I've looked for those but they were not the corect size. So I had to take apart an old revell kit of A german half track and some other pieces to build (just) the spools.

Added some red accents. The ship's name on the side and the letters vD (van Duijn) stands for the owners name. Also painted the puls winches. For the (orange) pulse wire. This wire leads to the net on which are electrodes attached. These electrodes send pulses to the seabottome so the fish jumps up in the net. Much less damage to the bottom and less fuel consumption.
 
 
Untitled by Model Fishingships, on Flickr
 
Untitled by Model Fishingships, on Flickr

Thank you very much Denis,
 
made 2 additional smaller watertanks for the aft boatsdeck today and added the fill- and discharge tubes on all three
 
Nils
 

 

 
 

Hello Patrick. Every part is marked with a letter. The parts with the letter K (ees) get 'some' more attention and where the others get resing casted parts, I only use original parts. My model will be weathered like heavely used fishingship while the others get minimal weathering.
 
So yes.... I Have a favourite

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

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

Improved plug
Let's go again
 

 

 

 

 

Playing with my patience ...
 

 

 

 
Just to get idea what I try to do
all is made from regullary 80 gr copy paper

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

Update
Build log part 54
 
railing has been added to the mid ship platform, and funnel 3 + 4 understructures have the lights fitted. Also all vents and gratings fitted.
The upper platform is supported from the lower deck at both outer sides. These supports fit between two davits in order to enable their swing function...
 
Nils
 

foreground (bottom, left) are the boats winches
 

The command bridge area now requires some attention
 

I`m pleased with the progress, its not so very far more to go...
 

the model is comprising 86 vents in different sizes
 

must be thousands of "rivets" holding the plates together...
 

one of the deck-crew taking a rest on the aft anchorchain gear
 

deck curvature can be noticed here...
 

Busy in the paintshop and the assambly line is also running
 
 
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

De eerste spuitwerken zijn een feit
Untitled by Model Fishingships, on Flickr
by Model Fishingships, on Flickr
Untitled by Model Fishingships, on Flickr
Untitled by Model Fishingships, on Flickr
Untitled by Model Fishingships, on Flickr

little update :
 
bringing all 4 funnels on to same rake and hight. All removeable funnels sit so fine and tightly in their sockets that the stays to go on later will be plain "cosmetic"
 
Nils
 

 
the eyelets in the deck are the anchoring points for the funnel stays
 
 

 
 

 
leveling out the funnel hights
 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

thanks for your compliment Patrick,
much appreciated...
 
here is a little impression of the "raw" structures and vents under and around funnels 3 + 4
 
Nils
 

 
the vent shafts will be cut to length afterwards
 
 

 

UPDATE:
 
detailing the funnels, not completed yet....
 
Nils
 

 
 

small update :
made a ladder on front side of funnel, and a 3-tone steam horn on the first funnel, and one example painted
 
Nils
 
 

 
 
 

 

 

 

Update....
 
little cabin structure beneath the bridge, and preliminary set up to try position of the first stb. boat (dummy boats cradle only),
There is still so much to do...
as mentioned earlier in this log, some of the upper structures will be of wood, as for the actual ship way back in 1897.
I still did`nt get the ordered "stack- brass tubes", so I chose an alternative material, now its aluminium tube with slightly thicker wall thickness, found at Ebay- Austria, but that should do as well. Expecting this by end this week.
 
Nils
 

 
the structure is only 16,5 mm high. Could be that this is the captain`s quarters...
 
 

 
the crew figurine is "railroad N gauge"  scale 1:160
 
 

 
it must have been about nearly 1000 or more "caulked"  planks to lay over all decks, and still not finished.....
 
 

 
trust that the boats will go on last, when all the upper structures and the four stacks are done

Looks nice. Looking forward to future updates. I understand you've had problems with adding photos. Maybe there's some help to find in the Q&A section?