reklein

Bill, it seems the finest chain size they carry is 20 LPI part number 4385, they don't have part numbers 4383 or 4384.
 
 

Try a company called Clover House. They specialize in wire and sheet metal products for the modeler along with dry transfer sets for Model Railroaders. Oh and chain,they also have fine chain. Check online.

That's odd.  I'm always looking for a clerk to tell me where what I'm looking for is located. Try dressing like you were going to church and see if that helps. Definitely do not wear a hoodie! You may be the victim of "retail security profiling." Is it possible you're setting off the "shoplifter alarms" every time you walk into the store?     

And finally the engine and display are finished :
 

 

 
The tracks and sleepers of course are cardboard as well :
 

British Pacific Fleet. Battleship HMS Howe, Carrier HMS Illustrious with escorts w/c 16.5” X 11.75

There are scant details on MSW of builds of this iconic Billing Boat kit, and periodically questions arise, often concerning inherited or partially built models requiring completion or restoration in the absence of plans or instructions, which in the case of Billing Boats were somewhat thin.
 
So, in the spirit of giving some images that may help, I post here my Norske Løve story.
 
I must have posted it somewhere before but can’t for the life of me remember where or when, but I do have my original log and photos.
A cautionary note, this is a model I made over forty years ago, so the standard of fittings, and the ravages of dust have taken its toll on the condition.
 
If I knew then what I know now I could certainly have made a better job of her but she remains a model for which I still have great affection, and I have resisted the temptation to upgrade her.
 
Those not familiar with the finer points of our art tend to be seriously impressed by the sight of her.
 
( Norske)  Løve Story
 
More years ago, than I care to remember, before my office was a den of computer stuff, and before the digital age, I had a yen to build a large scale wooden 18th century warship.
 
In those days it was either Billing Boats or Billing Boats, and as I browsed through their catalogue my eyes alighted on Norske Løve.
It was the image of the modeller putting the final touches to the model that grabbed my attention, I wanted to be that guy.

BB Cat cover
Yes, I still have that original catalogue, in those days I actually went to a model shop, can you believe it!
 
Pity I didn’t have the internet resource back then, but I did have the Longridge book and perhaps more importantly the Masting and rigging book by James Lees.
 
Given that the Norske Løve was launched in 1765 it immediately struck me that the round tops provided in the kit, were oddly out of period, more 17th century than 18th

The masts and tops were therefore scratch built to proportions given in the Lees book for ships of the correct period.
The other main area that gave me concern was the head. In common with many wooden kit models this is a weak area with a less than realistic rails set up.

Catalogue shot of the bows
 
These were therefore also scratch built.
 
I made other ‘modifications’ not necessarily in accordance with the plans, such as a skylight on the Poop and removeable skids to house boats which were not provided with the kit.
 
Billing at the time (and probably still are) were in the habit of providing some plastic fittings for their kits such as blocks and Deadeyes, decorations etc.
 
I seem to recall that the fittings kit was a separate purchase to the main build kit.

This is Billings catalogue shot of the completed model.
 
The build took me a couple of years, and my office resembled more of a joiners shop than an office. Drill stand and vice screwed to the desk top, wood turning model lathe and dremel permanently plugged in where now the printer and computer stuff reside.
 
Everything was covered in a fine film of dust, but boy how I enjoyed that build.
 
When completed the model sat in a lighted cabinet that filled one wall of the office and that’s how it stayed for some years.
With the arrival of computers and the need to use my office for its proper purpose, everything was changed. Away went the cabinet and all the modelling stuff.

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 Norske Løve then proudly sat uncovered on a long chest of drawers, where it resides to this day.
 
Strangely things have come full circle and in retirement my office once again resembles more of a workshop, but I don’t think the resident equipment would appreciate a return to the heavy sawdust days.
 
So here is the photo collection of my interpretation of Norske Løve,

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The head rails were scratch built using yellow pine, but there were several breakages before I got a satisfactory set. The Lower and Middle rails are mortised thro’ the head timbers, and the Main rail rebated into the head timbers.

04 02
I recall the exercise being long, slow, and frustrating.

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I particularly like the stern and Quarter galleries with their glazed lights, one of my pet dislikes with wooden kits are false windows or even worse stuck on windows, such as with the Mantua Le Superbe that lies forlornly in the loft.
 
This is one area where Billing have done a good job, there was very little tweaking to this area of the build.

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The modified tops, scratch built to proportions given by James Lees. The plastic rigging blocks supplied by Billings were replaced by boxwood versions.

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The main difficulty with single planked hulls such as this is that there is little scope for cocking it up if you don’t want to hide it with paint.
I also have an aversion to stub guns so the lower ports are closed.

008(2)

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The Poop was modified by the addition of a skylight, and the Ensign hand painted on cotton. The simplicity of the Danish flag lends itself to this method.
 

007(2)
I think the anchors were aftermarket purchases.
 
The Boats

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Boats were not supplied so I had to create my own.

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The deck fittings are mostly removeable to assist cleaning which is evidently overdue when this photo was taken.

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Dust build up is clearly apparent here.

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I really prefer models out of cases, they have so much more impact, and 1:75 scale allows for reasonable cleaning access which in this case takes about three hours every few months or so.
 
I hope those who cross paths with this kit get some benefit from this vintage build.
 
Regards,
 
B.E.
22/03/21
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

That is seriously small stuff. Unbeleivable detail, and very nicely painted!
 
Jan

And how they look in 1/350

New release from Micromaster which hopefully I should get a set of in a few weeks. Insane level of detail 

Focus stacking is a lot of work, both in taking the series of images and in combining them into one image. But it yields images you can't get any other way. I use it often when photographing wildflowers and in photographing ship models.
 
Here is an example:
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Note that you can see the grain in the end of the bowsprit dowel, and in the masts, and in the planks in the transom. The distance from the tip of the bowsprit dowel to the end of the boat davits on the stern is 22 1/2 inches! The camera lens was about 6 inches in front of the end of the bowsprit dowel.
 
I took a series of 12 photos, each focused upon parts of the model at successively greater distances. I was careful to ensure that each photo's depth of field overlapped the previous photo so there were no blurred ranges in between. I used an excellent macro lens for the pictures - a Nikon 105 mm  f/2.8 macro lens designed especially for close up images with a great depth of field.
 
The 12 photos were taken into Photoshop and placed as layers in a single file. Then I used the "Auto-Blend Layers" function to combine them into a single image. The program selected the sharpest parts of each layer and cut out the blurry parts too close or too distant to be in the focus range.  Then they were all combined into a single layer.
 
It is a pretty good picture, but the process isn't perfect. Notice on the lower left that near the edge the planks are blurred. I have see similar blurring near the edges of many stacked photos where the program can't decide what parts are the sharpest. But still the image is far better than what you can get with a single exposure, no matter what camera and lens you are using.
 
It took about an hour to take the pictures and edit them in Photoshop.

Paul, I use 3M masking tape to make bands. I cut to width and length, place on a porous scrap piece of wood and paint with the required color. When the paint is dry I wrap the tape around the spar, mast, or bowsprit and cut ( I cut on the underside when possible) where the pieces meet. I then seal with poly or one could use varnish. The sealer keeps the tape edges from lifting. If one is worried about lifting, a little CA applied at the edges with any excess removed with a Q-Tip will ensure that lifting doesn't't occur.  If I need to make the banding appear thicker I add another layer of tape. 

Hey, there. This post is for those who may be new to card modeling and might be thinking about buying one. Here's some advice: unless you know what to look for, avoid eBay as a source for card models. Why? To answer that, let's look at the following eBay screen capture, showing page one of the results obtained by searching for "paper models," with the search narrowed to aircraft and sorted by newly listed:
 

 
Anything jump out at you? That's right -- nearly all of those models are originating in China. And you know what else they have in common? Every kit coming from China has been illegally scanned and copied from a legitimate kit. In many cases, I know who published the original design. Sadly, it is extremely easy to scan a card model and make copies of it, and a quick survey of eBay shows that nearly 80% of the card models listed there are illegal copies. This is an example of IP infringement. It's theft, and it's wrong.
 
Same as for wooden kits, pirated card model kits are not welcome at MSW. Help support card model designers and publishers by only purchasing models from trusted sources -- think of it as an investment in the future of card modeling. If you have a question about a particular model, feel free to shoot me a PM.
 
Cheers!

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
 

Yesterday I built props struts from laminated styrene. A little wonky but it'll do. Truly scratch built. Next the props and shafts. All from styrene. Stay tuned.

Well here we are Four coats of rustoleum prime and still lumpy,but it doesn't look too bad in the photo so I guess it wil have to do.

Ted, for some good views just do a search on Bing for Bismarck drydock and you'll find all sorts of pics. I'm doing a 1/192 Missouri and found thast Bing is a great source of pics.    Bill

Ted, for some good views just do a search on Bing for Bismarck drydock and you'll find all sorts of pics. I'm doing a 1/192 Missouri and found thast Bing is a great source of pics.    Bill

Ted, for some good views just do a search on Bing for Bismarck drydock and you'll find all sorts of pics. I'm doing a 1/192 Missouri and found thast Bing is a great source of pics.    Bill

A fair amount of work done with not a lot to show!
FH has provided brass replacement barrels for the 5,5 inch secondary armament but they are so tiny and drilling 14, 0,3mm holes in a part that is so tiny is something I decided to pass on for three good reasons.
1. FL's standard plastic parts are actually very good with no flash between barrels and are difficult enough to cement together (3 parts) as it is without worrying about breaking off glued-on brass parts.
2. If I had fitted the more intricate brass barrels (all 14 of them) they would probably have looked to be a smaller calibre than the pom-pom AA guns moulded in plastic.
3. I wanted to avoid drilling one or more 0.3 mm holes in my finger tips.
Also, in places it's getting to the point where PE is approaching the of point of diminishing returns.
The pic shows secondary armament without up-grade barrels and a piece (I know not what) which doesn't really need the PE embellishment but - what the heck.
 

The image is of 'U.S. Brig PERRY Captures the Slaver MARTHA, June 1850'  (public domain image thanks to https://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/photography/numerical-list-of-images/nhhc-series/nh-series/USN-902000/USN-902981.html)  "On 7 June 1850, the U.S. brig USS PERRY overhauled the American ship MARTHA of New York, suspected to be a slaver, between Ambriz and Loanda. She was a big ship and, as the cruiser came near, hoisted the American flag and hove to. Captain Andrew Hull Foote sent his first lieutenant to examine her. As soon as the MARTHA recognized the uniform of the U.S. Navy, they hauled down the American flag and hoisted that of Brazil. Meantime, the captain threw overboard his writing desk containing his papers which, failing to sink, showed he was an American citizen and that 3/5 of the ship belonged to an American merchant in Rio. In searching her, they found 176 water casks and 50 barrels of farina. A slave deck was laid with irons for securing the slaves. The captain then admitted that, but for the arrival of the PERRY, he would have, that night, got away with 1,800 slaves. MARTHA, with her crew in irons, was sent to New York and condemned."

Another view of the Perry capturing the Martha. This image from the Digital Collections of the NY Public Library (https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e1-40ad-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99 ) 

Yesterday I built props struts from laminated styrene. A little wonky but it'll do. Truly scratch built. Next the props and shafts. All from styrene. Stay tuned.

Yes my mistake was to use the heavier cloth available. I used to know that 40 years ago when I was building RC. Its just gonna have to do. I bought the Trumpeter HMS Hood for my next big project so No worries. Thanks for the shots. Bill

I decided to build for static display. The hull was really tough to get finished properly and still isn't really up to snuff. Its just one step above scratch building. I almost trashed it out and build a new hull bread and butter style. All the superstructure is built up ply and balsa along with the main gun houses. the 5" mounts are balsa blocks. We'll see how this goes. I have the 40s and oerlikons built so now I have to press on. Next is prop shafts and mounts. then decks and real paint.
 
 

Yesterday I built props struts from laminated styrene. A little wonky but it'll do. Truly scratch built. Next the props and shafts. All from styrene. Stay tuned.