ccoyle

I’ve figured out a means to align the vertical panels on the carriages for gluing using reverse grip tweezers.   There will be putty filling and sanding to do before we prime.
 
 

 

 

Bob, check out these builds by Doris. I think Clare and I would agree that next to her work, our models are "not worthy"!

I continue to build a model of the cruiser.
    Assembling the aft bridge.
 

The easiest way is to use knurling as shown in this video.
 
 

I was thinking to cover the hull with thin aluminum 0.20 mm stripes then use automotive filler. This would reduce the sanding and shaping hull time.

 
As i started the process i decide either to enlarge the metal pieces to reduce work load or skip it at all and go straight to smooth the hull using car body filler, sanding and repeat the process unit I get the desired effect. Which I did. It would be proved a disastrous decision.

Even hull didn't have any great imperfections, it took around half kilo of filler to cover it all. Then after a few minutes the hull area between frames collapsed. I have seen this happen on another project while using rubber adhesive glue. Probably catalyst heated polystyrene and forced it to shrink. I added locally some acrylic putty to fill the gaps. Even it was easy to work with, body filler on the other hand is not. So working with hard and soft ingredient at the same time is not an option. Another layer of car body filler will do the job although this would require lots of extra sanding effort plus will increase even more the weight of the hull.

 
 

Just a quick update. More work on the superstructure and then start to work on the trim. Some weights are fixed in the hull, as its tricky to grt to some parts. But anx „ses trials“ will have to wait until 2022. 
regards sascha
 

I measured the height of the tops from the plans, then taped a cord at that height. Then I dropped each mast into its hole, pulled the cord into each strop recess on the chain-plates and marked the hull just above the main-wale. 
 
My rearrangement of the aft chain-plate’s locations worked out well: Both fore and main mast’s foremost shroud’s ended up being just off the vertical. The aft sweep of the masts themselves is, of course, governed by their slots in the false keel.

More planking pics

Decks, bulwarks and an experiment with wipe on poly
 
Not much time in the dockyard lately but I've made some progress. I decided in the end to use the etched decks supplied in the kit. Although I enjoy planking my own decks and did so on Speedy, the ones supplied with this kit seem such good quality I thought I'd give them a go. They fitted without issue along with the interior bulwark patterns, following the steps clearly set out in the manual:
Whilst continuing to dither over whether or not to paint the hull below the waterline, I decided I ought to at least apply a finish to protect the wood before I got on with other tasks such as painting the blue and red areas along the upper part of the hull.
 
I have used shellac for a long time and love the finish I get with the pale version. However I've seen the results other people achieve with wipe on poly and thought I'd give it a go. The ready mixed products aren't commonly available in the UK so after some research on the web and the forum I made up my own from a 50:50 mix of matt polyurethane varnish and white spirit (aka mineral spirits on the other side of the pond). Early results were not promising, taking ages to dry and leaving a less-than-impressive finish. I knew I must be doing something wrong, but rather than starting a load of hit and miss experimentation I asked @glbarlow, someone who clearly knows what he's doing as evidenced by his current (Flirt) and previous builds.
 
Glenn kindly sent me two detailed messages setting out his methods and advice. Straightaway I saw what I was doing wrong - I was wiping on but I wasn't wiping off! I tried again and soon, as they say in these parts, I was cooking on gas.
I'm sure Glenn won't mind if I paraphrase his method:
Apply generously with a soft cloth (eg old cotton t-shirts cut up) AND (the real key to a nice finish) wipe it off before it dries, leaving only what’s absorbed into the wood. If you let it dry on thick the finish will look too artificial.  Leave to dry thoroughly before buffing with a clean soft cloth. It can take 12-24 hours to dry depending on conditions. You know it’s dry if you can buff it without it seeming gummy. If it is stop and wait longer.  For a deeper finish like on a hull, lightly sand with 400 grit making sure to wipe with a cloth to remove dust and then repeat the wipe on/wipe off process Use a brush on small nooks and crannies, but only if you can get in immediately with a cloth to wipe it off.  Two coats are better than one, with at least three on the hull. Different woods will vary in absorbing the wop so the key is simply to repeat the process until it looks right. I experimented with matt and satin polyurethane. I found the matt a little too dull whereas the satin gave a beautiful silky finish. In both cases the varnish tins had been unused for a while and needed a lot of stirring to thoroughly mix the particles that give the matt/satin finish to what would otherwise be gloss. As I was just experimenting I used tiny amounts - I found 6ml of poly mixed with 6ml white spirit was more than enough for three coats on the Duchess. For measuring I used one of those plastic pipettes sold for model paints eg these at £2.99 for 50 from Amazon.
 
Here's some pictures:



It's difficult to convey just how silky smooth the result is, both to the eye and the finger. Glenn told me I'd know I'd done enough when after buffing I looked at it and smiled. I'm smiling now 😁
 
Derek

Starboard planking
 
Thanks as always for the supportive comments and likes.
 
Here's the starboard planking finished:
 





I've applied no finish yet, just wiped her over with white spirit to remove the dust.
 
I covered the methods I used when I described planking the port side. However there are a few points of detail I ought to mention.
 
In each strake I fitted the planks at the stem and stern first then finished with one or two planks in the middle. Getting the planks shaped properly at either end of the ship is much trickier so it makes sense to get these right first. I believe the last plank fitted in a strake was known as the "shutter" plank. Here's the gap waiting for the very last shutter plank on the starboard side:

The Duchess's hull calls for some very tight curves, and I previously mentioned using my electric plank bender to achieve some of these. On a whim, I thought I'd also try a tool I bought when I first started ship modelling - the Amati plank nipper. I very quickly stopped using it when I found it left obvious marks on the good side of planks, and produced a series of straight line segments rather than a smooth curve in the wood. It's been languishing in the bottom of a drawer ever since. To my surprise I found it worked well with the thicker, better quality 1mm boxwood in this kit. Using the nipper first to start a bend, it was subsequently much easier to impart a tight bend with the electric tool:

On one particularly awkward plank I found I'd left a narrow gap against part of the preceding strake, a gap that couldn't be closed by further edge bending. Rather than PVA and sawdust, I tried using a thin shaving produced with a little Veritas block plane. I glued it to the edge of the plank, trimmed it and fitted the plank as normal.
 
A prize to the first person that spots it!

I should point out that I staged this photo with a spare piece of plank after the event as I didn't shoot it at the time. In reality I had to use a double thickness of shavings to fill the gap.
 
The last point I wanted to mention was the rabbet. This is one of many clever design elements in this kit, producing a neat finish at the stem by hiding the ends of the planks. However it's important to be aware that the planks are likely to be slightly thinner than the rabbet, which means that if you glue the ends down tight against the first planking, you're liable to see a gap between the planks and the stem. It's better to leave a slight 'spring' in the ends of the planks at the bows and, assuming you're using CA like me, to avoid pressing your fingers against the first few millimetres. This will allow the plank to press up against the top edge of the rabbet, eliminating any potential gap.
 
And I still don't know whether or not I'm going to paint the darn thing! 
 
Derek
 

Getting crowded in there. Still 3 more servo’s and battery for lightning and the pump, buck converters and pwm for the flow of cooling water to install. All lightning in lanterns will be fed with 1 mm optic cables and central lightning will be yellow leds. Rudder and motor is installed and working😃

IMG_4994.MOV

Tonight I finished the railings. Not overly happy with the result but they are done🙈

I already mentioned the next steps, now the next step was the rest of the entry port. Here, too, it is wonderful to see what else is still possible 🙂
But first define the size correctly and I realised that most entry ports on models are a bit too small, because they mostly align on the top edge with the gun ports besides. So I added a little more air at the top ...
 

 
... and provide them with a frame for the passage.
 

 
The scrollwork is presenting itself beautifully, note them in comparison with my epidermal ridges!
 

 

 
And what is even more important, even in this size well paintable, for this I tried different heights in some printer's rounds, but I think now it fits 🙂
 

 

 
Enjoy!
 
XXXDAn
 
 

Hello All, I'm a little burned out on posting build logs these days, but this kits is a brand new release and kind of important to me. I know there are others here that want to read more about the kit and some of the modification that could be done to make it stand out better, so I figured I'll get my build log started. However, to save time, since I maintain my own blog site, I'm pretty much just copying the contents from there to here, though there's room for questions and discussion here, so please chime in.
 
Let me begin by saying that while I've been doing a lot of work studying and building Japanese wooden boats, I don't have a great deal of historical knowledge about the warships of Japan's Warring States period, except that the at this time, the Japanese basically had three classes of warships. The smallest were called Kobaya, which were literally small fast boats. The mainstay were the Sekibune, sometimes called Hayabune. They were like the cruisers of day and were large and relatively maneuverable and provided good protection for their occupants, then there were the heavies, which were called Atakebune. They were somewhat large and lumbering and formed the core of a naval formation.
 
The Atakebune is the subject of a new kit from the Japanese wooden kit manufacturer Woody Joe. It's something that I, Kazunori Morikawa of Zootoyz, and a few others were actively petitioning Woody Joe to produce. There was hesitancy on their part as there is actually very little solid information on the construction of these largest of Sengoku Period Japanese warships.
 

 
I don't know what changed their minds and got them to produce this kit, but my feeling was that if they could produce a kit based on a museum model, then it would essentially be a model of a model, which is not without precedent, and is a perfectly valid subject, in my opinion.
 
The first news I heard that Woody Joe was actively developing this kit was in early Summer, and that they were basing it on the large model in the Saga Prefectural Nagoya Castle Museum. I was initially hoping that they would produce the kit at a scale of 1:72, as that is then scale comparable to their Higaki Kaisen and Kitamaebune kits. It would also then be compatible with available 1/72-scale samurai figures. But, the demands of the manufacturing process, costs, shipping boxes, and all meant it would be 1/100 scale.
 

 
 
In any case, we finally got word that the kit was to be released at the beginning of November. As I had four months to prepare to place my order, I had saved up and asked Mr. Morikawa at Zootoyz to set aside two kits for me. And, as soon as shipments went out from Woody Joe, I placed my order. Amazingly, less than a week after they were shipped from Japan, they were at my door.
 

 
The costs of wooden kits from Japan are pretty pricey, and at ¥38,000, this kit is no exception. However, I had actually expected this kit to be a little more expensive. As it is, with the current exchange rate in our favor here in the U.S., the price comes out to about $336. Now, shipping is a particularly difficult issue, as it was expensive before Covid. Then, for about a year, Japan Post would ship at all to the U.S. That changed in the Summer, but prices for shipping were higher than before.
About the Kit
I'm not going to get into a lot of detailed description of the kit contents. Woody Joe kits are pretty consistent in terms of what you get, what the instructions are like, how parts are identified, and all. So, I'll just post some photos of the kit contents as I removed them from the box.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 
 
 
According to the Woody Joe product information, this kit will take approximately 80 hours to complete. Of course, that figure goes out the window if you are going to add any extra details to it to improve on the basic kit. But, this gives a good comparison, whereas their Hacchoro kit is listed at 50 hours, their Kitamaebune kit at 70 hours, and their Higaki Kaisen kit at 100 hours.
 
In terms of difficulty, the Atakebune is rated by Woody Joe as a skill level 3 kit on their scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the most difficult. In comparison, both the Hacchoro and Kitamaebune are listed as skill level 2, with the Higaki Kaisen listed as a skill level 4.
My Atakebune Build
Build logs can get very repetitive after you've read or written a few. So, I think I'll keep this pretty simple and just post some photos as I go. I'll discuss issues and modifications along  the way.
 
But, I'll begin by saying that this seems like a very straightforward kit. It's a little bit light on some small details, but all the major details appear to be here. I think the challenge of this kit is that it's like a ship kit PLUS a small castle kit, so you get the challenges of both.
As for accuracy, it appears very close to the museum model it's based on, though there are a few minor difference that can be spotted right away. One is the doors in the side of the hull structure. On the museum model, these are basically double doors that swing outward. The Woody Joe kit makes these drop down doors that act like a boarding ramp. I don't know which is correct, but I have seen drop down doors on other Atakebune museum models. Perhaps this is Woody Joe's work to make the model more accurate, or maybe it just to make it more interesting, as these seem to be designed with hinges, so you can open them up as you like.
 
My first planned modification of the model is to dye all the exposed wood, so I made up my mixture of wood dye, going a little darker than I have in other models, and prepped a pair of jars, which should last through this model. But, I've recorded my formula, so I can always mix some more if needed.
 

 

 
With laser cut parts, you always end up with char on the edges. As ship modelers, we've trained ourselves that char must be removed to make for better glue joints. But, with laser-cut kits, you have to be very careful about this, as the kits are engineered to fit together as designed. It's a good idea to file off some of the char, but you don't want to remove much wood, as that will change the way parts will fit. So, below, you can see how much char is on the edge of a part that hasn't been cleaned up, and then the edge of one after I've rubbed it down with a few light strokes of a sanding block.
 

 

 
Below, you can see the first parts I've cut out for the hull skeleton. But, at this stage, I'm just test fitting. Next time, I'll have some parts glued up.
 

 
In the meantime, Mr. Morikawa of Zootoyz is building the Atakebune as his first wooden model kit, and you can follow his work as he posts his progress on the Zootoyz Facebook page here.
As I begin the first steps of this kit, I am thinking about how to make this kit more like the museum model. But, at the same time, I am wondering how accurate the museum model is. Many Japanese museum models that I've seen in person and on the Internet are built to represent a particular ship or type of ship or boat, but are not necessarily built with detail and scale accuracy.
 
For instance, the hull planks on this and the museum model are made from a single sheet of wood. Certainly, on a ship of this size, that's not possible. I've seen some Atakebune museum models and illustrations that show large areas where planks are overlapped. And, certainly, planks as wide as those used for this ship are made up of narrower planks that were edge fastened. But, at this scale, those individual planks would not be noticeable, though large overlapped joints would be quite visible. But, since they are not on the museum model, we'll assume that this is correct.
 
However, one feature that appears on the museum model that could easily be added here are the beams whose ends just pierce the hull. You can see these along the length of the museum model.
 

 
In addition, you can see the nail mortises along the edge of each plank. These are normally covered with copper plates, as are the ends of the beams, including those that support the sculling oars above. I've simulated these as an oxidized brown color on my Kitamaebune model, and I could do that here as well.
 
One more thing that I spotted is that if you look closely at the following photo of the museum model, you can see a kind of gallows structure at the head of the rudder. This would be a pair of heavy posts supporting a windlass. I don't know what the windlass is for exactly, but a similar structure exists on the Higaki Kaisen and Kitamaebune, and the whole thing generally supports a rope that wraps around the rudder head to keep it in position.
 

 
This structure should be easy enough to add. In addition, I noticed that the whole rudder platform that is slightly recessed down below the top deck has no planking. It's just a solid piece of plywood. So, I plan on fixing that too. 
 
I'm sure there are some other places where I think the model can be improved, but these few should go a long way toward a nicer looking model.
 
 
 
 
 

Thank you all very much for the comments, the likes and just for stopping by!
 
Progress has been slow because life is busy.
 
Solferino now has a base made from a repurposed (or I believe the new term is upcycled) plaque bought at a yard sale:
 

 
Working on the 90 some gunport and window sills:
 

 
Seriously, this going to be an issue with the Magenta too.  The Magentas’ hulls were incredibly thick due to the armor, the planking and the frames which had to be able to hold the weight of everything.
 

 
They had 4.7” of armor alone.  If you zoom in the above plan, that’s the thin outermost sliver on the planking cross-section.
 
That is creating an interesting design issue with the Magenta, because if I cut the bulkheads to the outside of the frames, then the planking will need to be around 1/8” thick, not including the armor.

Beautiful biplane. I'm in, too.

Just went through your build log Chris and what a great model this is. Congratulations on its completion.
 
Some of these card models (like yours) are so convincing and impressive in their overall look and feel, that one would never guess it is paper/card.  Of course, it is always the modelers skill and care that determine the quality of the final result.  You nailed it.
 
Gary

.95 meter, 37 inches wingspan at 1/50th

I'm guessing that's the old 1:50 scale kit from Wilhelmshavener. I've never built one of their kits, mostly because I like sticking to 1/33 scale, and of course something like one of the Dornier flying boats would be quite large in that scale.

And here's a bonus pic, just 'cause I like you guys. Actually, I thought this would be a fun pic to include because this is the first time I've had two finished card models representing real-life opponents, the Oscar and the Brewster B-339E Buffalo.
 

The Big Reveal
 
Chin air intake, propeller, spinner, aerial, pitot tube, aaaaand -- done! A few final thoughts are in order. First of all, I forgot to share that yesterday I knocked over a bottle of thin CA on my cutting mat, enough to ruin the mat and glue two of my fingers together. Like, really together! Fortunately, I had some debonder handy. Even more fortunately, I somehow managed not to spill glue on any parts. 😮  Overall,I am very pleased with how this project turned out. I think it's one of the nicest planes I've built so far, despite the usual kit shortcomings. My main gripe with the kit was once again the diagrams, which I would say are about 90% complete. It's the missing 10% that can be aggravating. Happily, there were no deal-breakers in the mix.
 
Okay, enough gabbing. Enjoy the pictures!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This next bit is the engine firewall, engine block, and annular oil cooler. I haven't entirely glued them all together yet, as I still need to build and attach the cylinders to the block first. Each cylinder consist of 15 parts ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
 
Pardon me -- for a second there I was losing my grip on my sanity, but I think I'm okay now. Yes, 14 cylinders at 15 parts each makes 210 parts in total.
 
Fun. 🥴
 

I like the subject choices!

I'm guessing that's the old 1:50 scale kit from Wilhelmshavener. I've never built one of their kits, mostly because I like sticking to 1/33 scale, and of course something like one of the Dornier flying boats would be quite large in that scale.

I'm guessing that's the old 1:50 scale kit from Wilhelmshavener. I've never built one of their kits, mostly because I like sticking to 1/33 scale, and of course something like one of the Dornier flying boats would be quite large in that scale.