reklein

Hers a few pics of my latest work. Building and installing the tiny PE ladders from Toms Modelworks. Someone commented about getting to the fiddly bits and this model has em in spades. To Top it off I had to redo all the lettering because I stripped them all off when I absentmindedly put masking tape over them. The next big project will be making the life Raft racks. There are 25 rafts to fit.All of the superstructe is wood block with styrene laminated using R/C 56 or equivalent. Its a glue the RCers use to attach plastic canopies. Seems to work well. We'll see 10 yrs down the line. All the cargo masts are scratched from Styrene. I'm doing this project for a local museum so even though I'm volunteering my time there is still incentive to get finished. I've been putting in 4-6 hrs /day  with a day off here and there for 3 months  now. I haven.t totaled up the time. So much for now. Bill in Idaho

I've had that kit for a couple years now and I get it out and look at it every once in awhile. I like it for basically the same reasons you do. Currentl I'm still working on a WWII troop ship for a client I guess you could say and still have others in the queue. Nice photo BTW. Really is a towering superstructure. One of these years. Bill,in Idaho

No reason to not build a whole model from Popsicle sticks. If they can build battleships and castles from matchsticks. The local restaraunt supply store should be able to supply you by the case. Google matchsticks and one can find sites to buy them in bulk and probably likewise for popsicle sticks. OH! just remembered ou can get them at Michael's or similar stores by the bag.   Bill

Try microscale decals. only trouble is they have a $25 minimum. Check to see if a model railroad shop is near you. They often have small decals. Personally I have not had good luck with transfers.There are also laser cut resin paper letter sets out there but the name of the company escapes me. Bill

The Bluejacket kit is a post war civilian cargo ship converted from the military. I don't know who did the conversions,but all the weapons and extra cabin deck gun decks and their mounts were removed. They were then sold to many countries to rebuild their merchant fleets after the war. A little more than 500 of these ships were built. The Lewiston Victory is said to have been built in 60 days. The reason I'm buidling this particular ship besides being an interesting subject ,is that our city raised enough in bonds to build one of these ships. It will be displayed in the county museum when finished. I am donating the labor to build it.The military version had 1 3"50,12 40 mm bofors and another dozen or so 20 mm guns  BILL

First off the scale of the model is 1/192. The plans for the military version are from a down load from Model Shipwright. Just google Victory CARGO ship. I emphasize cargo because a lot of HMS Victory will show up. The HR products I ordered are the quad 40s the dual 40sthe 20s and the 3inch gun, and the life rafts.Generarlly the castings aren't too bad just require a lot of careful clean up. I'm attempting to cast my own LCVPs and LCM 3s but having trouble with bubbles in the castings. You can see my two masters for these in the pics.

    I removed the midships bulwarks altogether and rabbeted in basswood sheet stock instead. I thinned the bow bulwarks without much trouble.A more difficult task was getting the hull shaped properly specially in the stern area around the screw and rudder. You'll have to make templates for the whole hull and also a profile template to get the stern shaped properly.

   The portholes are scratch from brass wire wound on a finish nail and cut into tiny circles then glued to the bulkheads. After painting the gray they will be picked out with gloss black. The gun tubs are formed from styrene pulled over the table edge much like one would curl a ribbon. Then startng with one end glued to the deck and formed round while touching the fresh glue with kicker to hold everything in place while forming.

   The Blue Jacket hull is a good starting place and quite a bit of the Blue jacket fittings will be needed. The Blue jacket kit also comes with a lot styrene to cover the superstructure for a good steel ship look.

    I have an old Stering Models C-2 Cargo ship sitting on a shelf and like an Idiot I'm thinking what a cool rebuild to a 1/96 Victory ship it would make.

          Bill in Idaho

Thanks folks for your likes and comments.  Bill

Great find. sometimes a little poking around can yield great results. My best find lately was a 50 inch TV Walmart had as a floor model. The remote was missing and the bolts for the stand had been lost. I bought a remote at Walmart and stopped at the hardware store on the way home for bolts and Voila a $1300 MSRP TV for $500. Not quite sixty bucks but a great savings. That was 2 yrs ago BTW   Bill

Since I couldn't find a kit of a military Victoryship I decided to build one based on the Bluejacket kit. So far the hull is done and I'm now beavering away on the super stucture. The armament is by HR products, and the PE is by Toms Model works and Bluejacket. Have a look.   Bill in Idaho

Toms model works

I've got Blue Jackets Constitution,been working on it for years off and on, and its a wonderful kit and instructions. The Victory cargo ship though is not as wll laid out and same with instructions. I have to confess though I am converting  it to a military version. Plans are good though as well as the Connie. I've had a couple of Billings kits over the years and I would not recommend them for beginners. My next build will be the Billings Oseborg Viking ship anad so far the materials look good and the wordless instructions are complete but require study.   BILL

Thanks hex nut. I could only find explanations and stills on Bing. Bill

FKarl, I've looked for "bout 45 min fro this video and can't find it in MSW. The video showed the o server climbing out to catch the hook while the plane was up on the mat. You might try a general Google or Bing search. Sorry. Bill

sand or saw the bulkheads to match the edge of the deck.  Do not alter the deck in any way.   Bill

To retreive the planes,,they drug a mat in the water onto which the plane would taxi. Once the speed matched the ship a hook was lowered and the observer would climb up, catch a hook,attach it to the plane and then they were lifted aboard. Theres a little video of this just recently but I forgot where it is.  Bill

I have built several paper models for my model railroad. Mostly from a company called Clever models. Very nice kits. BILL

I think the ultimate paper kit is the one offered by Marcle models of the SD-14 cargo ship. At around 7 feet long it would be a beast. Still ,it'd be a fun build if a person has time. Hmm,maybe if they made a laser cut kit.   BILL

card models are a lot of fun but they are time consuming. I got a pile of them to build among them are the Fuso, Saint Basils Cathedral in Russia,a six foot DC-3, and I think an Iowa class battleship. I want more its almost as fun to go thru the parts books page by page as it is to build. BILL

Get the Caldercraft model and pay your credit card the installments. Thats the American way anyways. Hee Hee.  Bill in increasingly more CC debt in Idaho

should be no problem with the metric. Just stay in metric for all your measurements. Also remember that the European method is to use a comma for the decimal point.Geoff  has given you a translation page. Think of it a a way to learn something new.   Bill

Trouble might just be the blade itself. If the set of the teeth is different from one side to the other it'll cut curves. Also plexi might have ruined the set. Try another blade, maybe one labeled for metal as the plexi is hard on blades. Bandsaws are notorius for this problem.Also heat generated is often too much and after an inch or two you are just melting your way through plastic. If you are just making straight cts try using a scriber and snapping your cuts. Hardware stores sell scribers for plexi and laminates.

BILL

Yes, I use wire for the actual footrope as well.However, Shipaholics results are hard to argue with.BILL

I like to use wire for the whole footrope assembly. Seems like its the only way to get the look of actual hanging rope at small scales Thread does not obey the laws of gravity at those sizes. I suppose one could use thread but it would have to be stiffened with thinned white glue to get it to shape correctly. BILL

I forgot about the light 3/4 oz.glass fiber mesh one can get for R/C aircraft. That stuffs not too bad for this kind of work. Also while you in the R/C shop look for the light wood filler they use on model planes. I once tried using artists gesso as a filler. I found out later that the filler is marble dust which is of course rock hard. I couldn't even sand out the brush marks. . Also there are epoxy coatings which would make a nice sandable surface which would be very durable.  BILL

Filling the grain on the fiber glass and sanding that back will be far more difficult than working the wood. Get some good light wood filler and work that down and use the good auto primer. Bill