Canute

Shaky hands or not, Ab, your work gives the proper impression of a dockyard model!

Much progress over the last fortnight.
 
I removed the upper deck without damage and did the necessary details on the lower deck, like the (double) bitts, the gratings and the capstans. They will hardly be visible in the end, but it is always good to know they are there.

I also tried to squeeze the model back in shape with a few sticks tied with an end of wire. It looked good, but with hindsight the mounting of the upper deck brought back the too wide sides. A failure.

I treated the underwater part with shellac first so that it could be sanded easily to get rid of some fluff. I'm not sure about the color. In the back of my mind it should be a bit lighter than it turned out to be. Maybe I just have to get used to it.

The mounting of the upper deck was a nice experience. I decided to split the deck into two halves, which could be mounted one by one. Because of the deck beams I had to roughly take down part of the supports I had created around the masts. Nothing of them will be visible in the end. The seam was covered by the 'planking', a sheet of prepared and painted paper. It all fitted to a T, but the deck turned out to be 2 mm too wide. Not something to lie awake at night but still...

The capstan on the lower deck continued at the upper deck. The other decks were quite straightforward to model and mount.

What rests are all the decorations for the bulkheads, the beak head and the sides, the dead-eyes, the lanterns and the lids of the gun ports. Nothing to get nervous about.

What I do am nervous about is the gilding. As I told before I used gold paint so far, but I intend to add real gold leave. There was very little left from what I usually have in stock, so I went looking for a new booklet of 25 sheets. Expensive stuff (about 80 Euros), but at some Chinese site I spotted a package of 100 gold leaves for just 12 Euros! Too good to be true of course and indeed, when it arrived I did not like the tone of the color at all. I don't know what they mixed the gold with, but it is too flat and shiny for my purposes. I'm afraid it will make the model look cheap. Still I want to give it a (test)try, because I might tone it down a bit with some transparent paint, but the looks of the material make me shiver... Look for yourself, to the left the real gold, to the right the Chinese 'gold'.

In the end we can conclude that it is indeed possible to build a 1/200 scaler dockyard model from card.

Amazing work, Keith!

Enjoy the moment Keith.

Thank you to each of you for your support with the likes and your kind comments.
 
 We reached a milestone today, the engine room is attached! It seems like this has been a long time coming.
 
 I finally got the bow work light (lightbulb) made and attached to top center of the front windows. I want to attach the deckhand so bad but I know if I do while there's still work to do I'm gonna pull a Bob (Knocklouder) and snap him right off! 

 
 I haven't posted this view in awhile. It was neat to have the engine room attached as I could finally hold, twist, and turn to view through the windows and doors with out the engine room falling to the floor.  

 
 All the water, exhaust, and steam lines have been added and attached, it's quite the maze but NOTHING like Roel's masterpiece. 

 

 

 
 The end is in sight for the push boat part of this build. I figure I've got about two weeks left if I don't dawdle about enjoying the moment. All that's left is the railing, chintzy hog chain support system, final weathering, poly wet down, and deckhand. 
 
 
 Thank you for being part of the journey.
 
   Keith

Ken,
 
It would be appropriate to have a Chief for the coffee mug (I don't know if I ever saw a Chief without one). However, the highest ranking enlisted man on the Cape was a 1st Class Bosun's Mate.

Terry,
 
The wardroom tables on the USS Oklahoma City CLG-5 had smooth plastic tops covered with table cloths. The tables were supposed to be bolted down, but some had been repositioned without fastening. This wasn't a problem until we were chassed out of White Beach, Okinawa, buy a typhoon that made a sudden appearance (before weather satellites). While turning to put the wind on the starboard bow (northern hemisphere) we took some 30+ degree rolls. This was while the wardroom was seating for Sunday morning brunch.
 
I had been topside taking photos of the storm and had just stepped up to the wardroom door when the ship took its heaviest roll. There were crashes from one end of the ship to the other as equipment broke loose from bulkheads and furniture slid around. This is what I saw when I opened the door - breakfasts and broken dishes on the floor and people and furniture sliding around on spilled sugar and cereal.
 

 
The South China Sea and Gulf of Tonkin were hit by a series of storms that lasted a month and a half. We rode through five typhoons and a tropical storm in three weeks (and dodged two others)! After Okinawa we gave up and went to Yokosuka, Japan, for repairs.

Looking good, Phil!
 
John

More fiddly bits.
 

 
The binnacle was turned out of a piece of 1/4 inch (5 mm) aluminum rod - part of a small wind chime (I didn't have a brass rod the proper diameter). The dome was shaped using a hand drill and files. The binnacle on the ship had two sliding doors that closed in front of the compass rose. To simulate this I carved the aluminum with a #11 blade and a tiny chisel made from a dentist's tool. It was a slow process! The two thin brass rods sticking out were for the two knobs.
 
On the right the binnacle is in position in front of then helm. It was painted with the brushed bronze paint I used on the propeller. A few other small details can be seen. The voice tube from the bridge hangs over the helm station. The tachometers for the engines are on either side of the helm, and a sound powered phone call station is at the lower right. A phone hand set and a few more pieces will be added beside the binnacle and above the windows.
 

 
 
Here is the lee helm or Engine Order Telegraph (EOT). It is made from 11 different pieces. It is 1.14 inches (29 mm) high from the base to the top of the handle (a bronze belaying pin). That is 4 feet 6 inches (1.4 meters) at 1:1 scale.
 
I buffed it up good and then applied a layer of clear acrylic varnish to keep the shine. However, it appears the varnish may have reacted with the brass, and it is a lot duller a day later!
 
I don't know if the EOT was ever used. The ship had a throttle beside the binnacle that the helmsman could use to control the engines. However, I do recall using standard engine orders - Ahead/Back 1/3, 2/3 and Full - when pulling away from the pier, so maybe it was normally used. The throttle might have been used to change propeller speed a few RPM in station keeping while sweeping mines.
 
 
 
The 6 inch (150 mm) 15# CO2 bottle was turned from a 0.185 inch (4.7 mm) brass rod. The cone is styrene rod.
 
I still have 14 more pieces to go on the forward bulkhead and side bulkheads of the pilot house.

I like that blue. Gorgeous model.
 
Yves

Thank you. HMS Ajax should build into a beautiful ship. As a deluxe kit I assume it has metal barrels as well as plenty of PE. 
The Flyhawk instructions are definitely idiosyncratic. The long strip of several illustrations is a bit unwieldy and the small size is a challenge. As far as I can tell there is really no logic to the colour coding although on the bigger ships where there are a significant number of small details in a given area they show each part number in a series of boxed illustrations, ventilators, hoists, depth charges, lockers for example and then assign each a color. The main illustration then shows each part in the corresponding color. Otherwise they sometimes use a color just to make it easier to see the placement. 
One thing to watch out for with the deluxe kits is the separate instructions for the PE. The main instructions don’t reference any of the PE parts so it worth studying both sets of instructions and working out how the PE integrates into the build. If is complex I often mark up the main instructions with highlighter. 
I hope this helps a bit. Good luck 
alan

Thanks Jack it's something I might try again it was fun/different.

That is looking   so good Alan,   and that printing  work came out a treat.
 
OC.

Please excuse my absence. I’ve been learning the art of using inkjet decal paper which wasn’t as easy as I expected along with a sizable detour into printer troubleshooting.
 I had found a suitable Roman legion standard and embedded several copies of the image in a PowerPoint file and the test print on regular paper looked good so I loaded the decal paper which turned out to be A4 size. No problem, I changed the paper size setting and printed. The print came out black, not even grayscale. I worked through all the primer control settings and couldn’t get color printing back. I spent most of Saturday and Sunday working on printer drivers, alternative software and reading inappropriate solutions. I was about to hit checkout on Amazon for a new printer but thought I would try one more time to delete and restore the printer - and it worked.

So now I have the required images sized and printed on decal paper but the inkjet ink is water soluble so needs protection. I have a few clear coats but they are too thick to airbrush. I ended up using AK matte acrylic varnish diluted with water which worked although the ink took on a crackle finish after drying. I need to find something better next time.

I painted a base coat of yellow onto the blank standard because the decal paper is clear and the yellow part of the image was lost against the primer on the standard.

So here we have the standard of Legio IX Hispana. A little sun faded but somehow the crackle finish has disappeared. I think a legion that was stationed in Hispania might have had Nubian legionaries. Legion IX is the “Lost Legion” disappearing from the Roman records in AD 120, possibly being annihilated in combat in northern Britain.
I think I will repaint the side pieces of the standard as leather and add the brass studs rather then show them as gold ropes.
As an antidote to the decal / printer craziness I worked on the wolf skin. I added neutral grey to the pelt and while it was still wet I blended light brown down the back and up to the ears. I picked out the nose and eye holes in black. I just need to whiten the teeth.


Thanks for looking in, the likes and comments.
Alan

Thank you OC, this is turning out to be a bit of a favorite. I hadn’t been terribly drawn to Roman figures but this one is definitely fun.
alan

Glad you're back, Brian. All the details you've been popping out really bring this boat to life.  👍

Glad you're back, Brian. All the details you've been popping out really bring this boat to life.  👍

Continuing with the wing, here we have the wheel wells added and the top cladding cut out.
 

 
The finished wing framing is quite sturdy.
 

 
Now the center wing skin is added, starting with the bottom to get the openings for the wheel wells aligned.
 

 
Followed by gluing the top side down.
 

 
The kit has optional parts for displaying the flaps down, but I will not be adding them, as it adds some complexity to the build, and I always think it looks just a little odd to show parked aircraft with their flaps deployed. Next up will be the outer wing sheathing.

Good idea, bracing the walls of this kit. I brace walls in wood, plastic, plaster and resin. The bracing increases the available gluing area, along with the obvious strengthening. 
Yes, Blair Line makes some nice kits. Is that house the start of the "wrong side of the tracks"? 😄

Hey, get off my grass! 

That's pretty much where that phrase comes from, right? The fact that railroad lines so often divided communities and helped create distinctly different districts based on income, class, race, etc.? Certainly I'm using that as a subtle visual cue here.

Glad you're back, Brian. All the details you've been popping out really bring this boat to life.  👍

Good idea, bracing the walls of this kit. I brace walls in wood, plastic, plaster and resin. The bracing increases the available gluing area, along with the obvious strengthening. 
Yes, Blair Line makes some nice kits. Is that house the start of the "wrong side of the tracks"? 😄

Good idea, bracing the walls of this kit. I brace walls in wood, plastic, plaster and resin. The bracing increases the available gluing area, along with the obvious strengthening. 
Yes, Blair Line makes some nice kits. Is that house the start of the "wrong side of the tracks"? 😄

Now you need a Chief to carry that mug. 😁