Jsk

Thanks, GPP! Yeah, I'm going to have to try that. Do you use a brush on sealant or spray? I don't tend to use spray anything as the Admiral has some respiratory sensitivity to almost anything aerosol. I didn't treat the card in any way on this build. Since I'm using a laser printer I think it will also help protect from scratching the toner off the card, too. One of the reasons I didn't do anything on the Baltimore was because it was mostly white so I figured it wouldn't be too bad. However, a lot of the pre-dreads are black and I think that would just be a nightmare to deal with.

Well, she's launched! I have some mixed emotions for this build. Like always, by the end I was tired of working on it. But over the past several years I have worked hard to break the habit of having unfinished projects laying around. I used to be really bad about it. Then I started by telling myself that I would not buy any new books until I finished the one I was currently reading. Then it worked its way into my figure painting hobby and by now I always try to finish what I start. Still... I'm glad this one's finished. We're planning on moving in October so I won't be starting any new modeling projects until we get settle into the new place. I won't have as much hobby space in the new house so I'm sure there will have to be some adjustments. So the good and the bad of the Heinkel USS Baltimore kit. Keep in mind that I built the electronic version which I had to print myself. There is a physical print of this kit and laser cut formers are available from WAK. I did the roll-your-own version. 1) Like many modern card models the design is very precise. Perhaps too precise... at least for someone of my skill level. I found many of the small parts just too frustrating and difficult to make from card. Luckily, I could compensate by virtually modeling most of these parts and having them 3d printed. In fact, I found the 3d modelling one of the most enjoyable parts of the build. 2) Again, like most modern card models the instructions are only average. They mostly consist of images of the assembled model (or sub-models) with the part numbers picked out. So while the builder usually knows what goes where, the sequence of putting them there is left to the imagination. It does require some thought in order to avoid tripping over previously installed parts. Though the model carries a very simplified rigging scheme, the instructions are particularly vague about the rigging. It gives no indication as to how the various lines attach to the hull, etc. In fact, the lines are barely discernible in the instructions. I did refer to some of the numerous images of the Baltimore available on-line but I have no idea if my interpretation is anywhere close to accurate. In short, there's plenty of scope for independent research with this model. 3) Not a attribute of the electronic kit, per se, but I need to pay more attention to the card/paper I use. Certainly some of the smaller parts would have been more achievable if I had printed them on thinner stock. But for some reason it didn't even occur to me until very late in the process. I printed everything on, IIRC, 110# index card which I've had for several years. I found that the card itself de-laminated much too easily! Even now i'm afraid the ventilators will pop off the deck and take the top layer of the card with it. It's sort of like gluing together a plastic model after painting it. Its integrity is only as good as the paint adherence. 4) I'm not very happy with my build quality. There's just a lot of sloppiness when I look at the details. Overall, there are plenty of details on the model so the individual gaffs are somewhat overwhelmed by the 'busyness' of the whole thing. Still, I don't think I'll be building a case to protect this particular model. Not to mention, with the upcoming move I was feeling pressured to complete the model and rushed through some steps that would have benefited from doing more research on the actual ship. Overall, though, I have several more Heinkel models in my virtual stash and look forward to building them. Heinkel models are a rich source for ironclads and pre-dreadnoughts and they fill a niche not available anywhere else. I've seen several examples built by builders much more talented and experienced than me and they can be truly inspirational models. In the shipyard for the final fitting out: Beauty shots ("No close ups, Mr. Demille, no close ups!):

Very interesting vessel. I'll bet you've got a USS Vesuvius in the works, too.

Wings3d (www.wings3d.com). My 'Go To' modeling application. Many years ago I started out making models for the old Virtual Sailor simulator. So, they were necessarily low poly. The simulator is pretty much defunct at this point so a few years ago I had a go at converting my models into driveable/sailable ships for the open source flight simulator FlightGear (or 'FloatGear' in my case!). I was progressing fairly well when life interrupted and I drifted back towards other hobbies. Still, I had some success in getting the Olympia, skipjack Kathryn and my Statenjacht models into FGFS. I could never quite wrap my head around the physics needed to make them perform as they should but they weren't too bad for people unfamiliar with the real thing. I keep telling myself that someday I'll return to FloatGear because the world DOES need a decent open source sail simulator.

Congratulations on getting the Albatros launched and fitted out. Your last post makes it sound like a series of unfortunate events but this has been one of the most educational logs I've read. You've shown that what started out long ago as a rather mediocre model can be turned into a work of art and an educational tool. Now you need to list all the things you did right! A much longer list, I bet!

The drummer is looking really good. I'm not so sure about Athena, though. I like the owl (wasn't it named Buboe or something like that?). The rest of the sculpted details look a little soft and undefined.

I'm right there with you on the Brooklyn. Love the tumblehome and three stacks!

He is looking good! Unseemly seams seem to be the bane of figure painters.

It's been a busy couple of months. The Admiral and I are intending to retire in October. We purchased a house in a neighboring state and we've been spending weekends there getting ready to renovate the kitchen and baths and paint the rest of the interior. Never thought I'd have a 'weekend house'! Co-workers are calling it my beach house but the ocean is still an hour away. They have an exaggerated view of beaches! Still getting small things done on the Baltimore, though. I had more detailed boats printed up. They've been assembled and painted. I've attached the anchors and associated gear and the flags. Made the ratlines but not yet attached them. In fact, today I added eye-bolts to the funnel stacks and deck and will probably get the guy-wires put in this week. After that I think the only bits left are permanently stepping the masts and rigging them, making the guard rails over the hatches, and finally gluing on the boats and finishing the davits.

What, are you psychically aligned with Kathryn? Did she cry out to you in anguish as i binned the model just this morning as I attempt to clear my man-cave for an upcoming move. 😉 No, not finished. I decided I needed more hands-on experience before scratch building. I pull up the computer files every now and then and make a tweak here and there but I think I have several more kits enticing me more. For now....

Yeah, I've never had a good experience with the little tubes of CA. It wasn't until I acquired a bottle of Gorilla Glue that I found CA to be a reliable option. I also found that the Gorilla smelled less than other brands. I acquired the two bottles of 'GH1200' glue over a year ago because they were much cheaper than Gorilla and they're still going strong. I also discovered that the thin glue had a much stronger odor than the thick. When using the gel I typically put a glob on a piece of aluminum foil and use a toothpick to apply it. For the thin, I do use one of the thin micro nozzles that can be slipped over the bottle's tip. That also cuts down on the odor. Nevertheless, the older the glue, the longer the drying time.

Phewwwh! The railings were quite the ordeal! The glued & painted thread railings worked OK for straight or gently curved sections. But I simply could not get it to form tighter curves such as those around the search light platforms. So I tried @GrandpaPhil's method of cutting the railings out of card. Nope! Not for me--my hand-eye coordination won't let me go there. So what I ended up doing for the bridge was cutting 28 gauge wire into approx 5/16th inch lengths to use as the posts. I then drilled holes along the perimeter of the bridge and glued them in. I then stiffened some thread by coating it with PVA and letting it hang straight with a weight on the end until the glue was dry. Then I could wrap the stiffened thread around the posts to form the railings and glue it in place. There were a couple sections where I had to glue in individual lengths of railing but they were few. Not horrible. I do like the look of the shorter rails than the kit calls for, though. Looking at photos makes me think the railings changed fairly frequently on the Baltimore. Sometimes they seemed taller in order to rig awnings, other times they look shorter. Maybe there was some sort of 'modular' system that allowed the rigging of awnings? Anyway... glad that's done. I'm really getting down to the small details now.

Really looking good, Phil. Your paper railings came out much better than mine. I had to revert back to the thread technique.

Sounds like between you and me we've got one good pair of usable eyes. Just need to take turns, I suppose! I find the lack of depth perception the most annoying for small scale work.

That is a sweet little brig, Linus. I've not seen anyone else putting crew figures aboard these models. Certainly helps bring them alive. I could never quite accept the Warlord Games sails, though. I ended up making my own painted paper sails. The WG ones just seemed too green to me. Didn't look right. But... for a gaming model and from a distance... who would know the difference!

Well, sometimes. I'm always sensitive to posts regarding failing eyesight. I lost use of my right eye more than 30 years ago and suffer from a whole swarm of permanent floaters in the left. Many age-related vision issues (though not all) can be treated: near- and far-sightedness and astigmatism with glasses or surgery; cataracts with what is today fairly simple surgery. Macular degeneration is more serious but if caught early it can be arrested. If you've not visited a vision specialist, you should. Don't simply accept that your vision will decrease with age. Many people do and won't seek medical advice. Foolish pride says this half-blind man. You do adapt to low vision. I'd pretty much given up hobby work until about 10 years ago when I discovered that good lighting, magnifying visors and patience can overcome many vision issues. Granted, I'm not as good at small details as I used to be but planning and patience are the most important. You will lose small parts. Have a good number of spares handy. Take frequent breaks. Whenever your eyes are tired or you feel frustrated, find something else to do. Even during long stints of working, focus on things at different ranges every couple of minutes. Well... I'll step down off my soap box now.

She's really looking nice. My own experiments with making railings out of thread were not entirely successful. Seems to work OK for straight sections and gentle curves but they're really hard to form around tighter curves. I've giving your method a try now. Fingers crossed!

@Linus Spjutsberg, Your Chesapeake is a lovely jewel of a model. I'm assuming the hull is a Turner Miniatures design. 3d printing has really opened up a lot of options for small scale age-of-sail modelers and gamers! I also watched a couple of your videos on your YouTube channel. (I don't have an account there so I can't leave these comments on that site.) Well done! I especially like your review of 'Beat to Quarters'. I had that set of rules in the 1990s and loaned them to a friend who then moved across the state and took them with him. I lost contact shortly after so never did get them back along with a copy of 'Ship-of-the-Line'--the prototype rules for what would become the board game 'Wooden Ships and Iron Men'. Boo! Hiss! Bad Friend! Baaad Friend! Oh, well, ancient history. You might want to take a look at the rules 'War by Sail' and 'Captaincy'. I haven't played either one but they both have some really intriguing mechanisms. 'Captaincy' has a very detailed sailing system--but also a steep learning curve. The author says once you've learned it it flows easily. I don't know about that! But it does take into account many sailing attributes that most rules simply ignore. I certainly wouldn't try 'Captaincy' for a game with very many ships but for small one-on-one actions it would change the focus from gun fire to sailing and maneuvering. You may have reawakened my interest in trying them out for a solo game! Sail on!

Thanks for the likes, guys. Yep. The raised jig worked much better, SHJ. I tried a number of coatings to try and stiffen things up. The glue, of course, then white gesso, finally tried acrylic floor wax (Future). It all works about the same but I think next time I try railings I'll try the floor wax instead of glue to bind the thread together. It's a lot less viscous than the glue so I think I'll have fewer 'fillets' where the threads cross. Just a couple pictures today. Once I added railings to the pilot house I decided that they looked too tall. It's hard to judge from the photographs of the ship but once I figured a 6 foot all man would be about 9mm in scale I decided to cut the top section of the railing off. Now I think it's slightly too short but I think that's better than being a neck high railing. I plan on using thinner sewing thread to bisect the railing once it's attached to the ship. Then I'll do paint touch ups. Next time I do this I'll use white string! Currently working on adding the railings to the bridge. Curving the railings around the search light platforms will be an interesting challenge.

Any highly detailed model is 'Taunting Fate'. Especially if there are pets or children around.

It's been slow going this month as I work through a lot of non-hobby issues. The Admiral is a federal employee; I'm a federal contractor. For several years our plans were to buy a house out-of-state this year and retire in October. So, we've been house hunting and downsizing in hopes that this is still an achievable plan. Of course, given the current administration all our plans may go up in a puff of smoke. Luckily, working on the Baltimore has provided me with something I can control and focus on rather than the uncontrollable future. But what can you do but carry on? Planning for the best but preparing for the worst. Since my last post I've added most of the ladders, the boat racks and both masts to the Baltimore. The ladders are constructed of card. I used strips of styrene sheet for the long span pieces of the boat racks as the card was simply not sturdy enough to remain straight. The lower portions of the masts are plastic tubing while the topmasts are shaved down bamboo skewers. The spars are shaped from the sticks used for cotton swabs which just happened to be the exact right length. The fighting tops are card, the mast trees are a combination of plastic and card. The foot ropes are glue stiffened thread. I started working on the ships boats but decided that I wanted to redesign the 3d printed parts for those and add the interior details. Though, I've not sent them out for printing yet. I did source some jewelry chain for $12 which I think will work well for anchor chain. I'm not sure how to paint it, though. In photographs it appears that the Baltimore's anchor chains--as well as the anchors themselves--were painted white. Lastly, I've been attempting to make railings from glue-stiffened thread. My first attempt was a failure. I graphed out the railings and used a template under waxed paper to lay out the string and coated it with several layers of watered down Aleenes PVC. That approach was almost successful. The string was stiff enough but once I peeled the railings from the wax paper I found glue residue in the gaps between the stanchions and the rails. That's because the thread was laying directly on top of the waxed paper. So, for my second attempt I've raised the thread above the template using bamboo skewers. I haven't applied the glue yet so we'll have to wait to see if this attempt will succeed.

Spray is looking suitably weather beaten. Any more progress?

Albatros is looking really good! The finish line is in sight! Go, Phil! Go, Phil, Go, go, go!

I seem to recall reading that individual captains could alter the rake of the masts in order to get the best performance from the vessel--basically by altering where the center of force of the sail was located. Is that something that could be done at sea or would it need to be done in port? If so... doesn't that mean that the rake could vary during the life of the vessel?

Thank you all for the likes! @Snug Harbor Johnny, it's true that @JerryTodd did some of the 3d printing for me. Turns out he and I flew together in Red Baron 3d many, many years ago, where I knew him by his nom de guerre 'Uhlan'. However, most of the parts were printed by Chris Parker of 'Day of Battle Games'. I've used him for several years for printing 3d ACW ships designed by David Manley. This was my first stab at designing my own *.stl files and Jerry certainly helped me overcome some design issues. I've thought about offering the files as a download but if I do that I want to talk to the model's designer first. I know that WAK offers the pre-printed kit with some optional third party parts and I want to make sure I'm not infringing on anyone's licensing agreements. I'm not sure it's something I have to do from a legal standpoint, but it's certainly the right thing to do. I'm sure that having a model printed and distributed by WAK is much better for the designer than me providing 3rd party *.stl files!