reklein

There are some types of MDF and resin impregnated materials designed for laser cutting. I see there use in kits from time to time. It might involve different building techniques but the pieces seem sturdy and accurate. You'll have to google the sources,I'd probably start with materials suitible for laser cutting.

Fragment of decor of yacht Royal Caroline from wood. CNC made

BUILDING CHAPERON FROM THE MODEL SHIPWAYS KIT


 
$13.99 on CD – Free Delivery – US Only

$15.99 on Flash Drive – Free Delivery – US Only



I built this model starting in 2009 and completed it in 2010 from the newly released kit from Model Shipways – part of Model Expo.   The construction of the model was documented in a series of six articles in Ships in Scale Magazine (SiS) starting with the Sept./Oct. 2009 issue, culminating with the July/August 2010 issue.


Over the years, modelers have contacted me about supplying copies of various parts of the series they were missing and unable to obtain.  Some of the back issues were out of print for some time and when Ships in Scale went out of business in 2018 all the back issues containing the articles were no longer available.


Scanning magazine copies isn’t legal as SiS owned the copyright to the articles as published in the magazine though I own the copyright to the original text and photographs.  Each time I got a request I had to copy the text files and photographs and email them to the modeler.  I like to help other modelers, but this was taking a lot of time and energy, so I decided to take the time and put the series together into a digital book.


The digital book contains the complete series as it was written. The magazine’s editor moved some parts of the assembly sequence around to fit space considerations without worrying about them being out of sequence. The correct sequence has been restored. I decided to double space the text for ease of use in the shop as the PDF format isn’t like a magazine where the number of pages is limited.


In addition to being back in the original sequence, the photographs are all color rather than B/W – a big help when looking for details of construction.  I have added a bit of information at the end showing two great models of Chaperon built by John Fryant.  One is scratch built and the other is from this kit. 


The CD is only $13.99 with free delivery.  A flash drive for those w/o disc drives is $15.99 with free delivery.  Sorry but the free delivery is for US only and payable only by PayPal – at least for the immediate future.  The CDs or flash drives ship in a mailer box for protection.  Due to high shipping costs to other countries, a reduced file size PDF – but still very good image quality - will be emailed to non-US purchasers.  Sorry but no sales to Russia or China except to full NRG members.


Contact me by PM if you have questions or to order.  Provide your email and I will provide mine.  I can send a PayPal invoice with my PayPal address.

A destroyer patrols Scappa Flow in moonlight during WW1
Approx 18" X 9" on Mount board
Jim

Early in the morning on Sunday 10 May 1719 HMS Worcester, HMS Flamborough and HMS Enterprise anchored off Eilean Donan and sent a boat ashore under a flag of truce to negotiate. When the Spanish soldiers in the castle fired at the boat, it was recalled and all three ships opened fire on the castle for an hour or more.The next day the bombardment continued while a landing party was prepared. In the evening under the cover of an intense cannonade, a detachment went ashore in the ships' boats and captured the castle against little resistance. According to Worcester's log, in the castle were "an Irishman, a captain, a Spanish lieutenant, a serjeant, one Scotch rebel and 39 Spanish soldiers, 343 barrels of powder and 52 barrels of musquet shot."The naval force spent the next two days and 27 barrels of gunpowder demolishing the castle.
13” X 10”
Jim

Sorry I don’t have any. However you have planted a seed!. So far it is a period I haven’t really looked at, so you never know.
jim
Fishing on the Grand Banks
jim

Household latex paint is very thick as a result of the heavy pigment and will bury any detail. On the other hand if your woodwork is rough....... Hmm. If you were to model a water feature it might work pretty good over carved foam and then about 8 coats of Modge Podge over that. Might make passable water.

This is an excellent video on building a real life stern assembly.
 
 

Hospital Ship UGANDA with a Chinook Helicopter unloading casualties off the Falkland Islands In 1982 while a Royal Navy WESSEX awaits its turn 
W/C 16” X 11”
Jim

Goodness me - If I read the above post I would give up and go home.  Its a model boat not a critical piece of a nuclear plant that has to be so precise that lives are at risk.  Take the good advice above and just trace it out buddy.  Making boats is not that hard really, oh and good luck with your build

If you think you'll be doing a lot of soldering in your modeling career, you might want to consider a third-hand device like jewelers use. I bought one several years back and I use it a lot. They are quite expensive (about $150), but hugely superior to those cheap ones you see with alligator clips. It also makes a great general-purpose third hand for use when stropping blocks and many other purposes. I've never regretted buying mine. No question I'd be using it for something like this.
https://www.riogrande.com/product/grs-benchmate-double-third-hand-soldering-station/502042
 

Dredging 
Shipping in an Estuary early 20th century.
jim

Lower Thames
Dredger and a Hay Barge.
16.5” X 11.5” watercolour 
jim

I am getting cracks on the decks and this is disturbing on a really nice model. Here are some photos.

 


There were ideas to reinforce the model with screws, but this is nearly not possible to set everywhere and especially not in this stage of work.

 
Does anybody have an idea about how to solve the problem and how to get these cracks away? I have a feeling, this is not a process which is finished, but is going on and on. The problem is getting bigger from time to time.

How to stop the cracking?

How to remove these cracks?


 
Making several planks on decks would be possible, but will not solve the problem on other areas (hull below water, or the like.


 
Looking forward to your hints!


 
Drazen

TRAGEDY !!!

work continues today with airbrushing sky grey for the last time... im a little sad. 

Replacing the broken radar. Which is driving me NUTS!  its crooked and I cant straighten it! Ugh! 

and finally installing the life rings onto the launches

 

Well after pouring over the diagrams and various other photos/drawings I found on the Internet. I decided to keep the rigging simple. After obtaining a roll of EZ-Line ( I thought I was ordering BLACK Fine Rope according to the picture but got Brownish/Red Fine Rope instead) - I chose FINE over HEAVy because the documentation stated that FINE was appropriate for N scale (1:160) or Z scale (1:220) and the model is 1:350, so the FINE would be slightly large for the scale.
 
I cut some pulley blocks from the PE strip for the kit and attached a few to the rigging, didn't paint them because I wanted them to stand out somewhat rather than disappear. The EZ-Line instructions called for using a pin-drop of Thin CA to attach the EZ-Line; well the CA reacted with the rubber in the EZ-Line thread and the fumes gave me a wicked sinus issue.  Switched over to Gator Grip for the rest of the installation.
 
Did some "weathering" with chalk dust and some dry brushing with paint over the hull, deck, funnel.
 
Here's the photos of the finished model
 

I don’t know if I’ve posted this before.
A bit of American Heritage 
Ships of John Paul Jones's squadron pass the river Forth estuary. Later, they were involved in the battle of Flamburgh Head.
L to R Le Cerf , Pallas, Bonhomme Richard and Vengeance, September 1779
Jim
PS the ships are my own interpretation.
 

This model is now finished, here are the final pics :




 
Danny

South of Boardman, Oregon the Navy has a Bombing Range that started out as a WW 2 US Army Air Force bombing Range, still is in active use. In 64 I was running a John Deere 95 Combine like the one in the photo and in similar country on top and on the East side of Rock Creek. Navy often used to fly over as in your above painting and the pilots loved to buzz you. Usually could detect them and enjoy the flyover except for the one that caught me with my rear to the West on the crown of a hill he was skimming, set a record shutting down a 95 H when his shadow and engine noise struck at the same time, high heart rate for about 30 minutes. Think it was that shadow along with the sound that triggered that reaction, the shadow had not went over me during previous flyovers.                                                                                                                                                                                                 
 

Tornado GR4 of 617 Sqd at Craig a Barns near Dunkeld
Watercolour 16” X 12”

Thanks mark. Here’s one I did yesterday
Swordfish dropping a practice torpedo, aimed at the Paddle Minesweeper HMS Glen Avon. Off the coast of Fife near Crail. Glen Avon and Usk, both ex excursion steamers were taken up by the RN. Based for a while at Granton, they were often used as 'target ship' for aircraft from the torpedo school at HMS Jackdaw, RNAS Crail.
W/C 16” X 11” 
 

That sound encouraging, as I have some really challenging parts in the pipe-line.
 
What thickness of brass have you been using ?
 
I have quite a bit of experience in experimenting with home etching and found that getting a sufficiently uniform blackening is the challenge. However, I have been working with brass sheets covered in photoresist and transparent masks. I can imagine that the heat-transfer of the toner lets the lines from the printer melt together better.
 
Not sure what the European equivalent to your paper would be (doesn't the printing ink interfer ?), but could imagine that other papers that have a coating that prevents the toner from penetrating too deeply should work.
 
I should experiment with double-sided toner transfer: if one includes register marks and carefully makes a sandwich with spacers, it should be possible to transfer the toner onto both sides of a brass-sheet for double-sided and surface etching. Would be worth a try - I almost gave up the home etching due to the blackening problem.

One needs to be aware that this method only gives very simple parts and works really only with thin brass. Due to overetching, the parts will not have a square cross-section, but become smaller towards the back. The method also does not fully exploit the possibilities of the technique, namely to produce surface-etched parts. If you just want to cut out simple, not too small parts, the method should be fine.
 
One thing that puzzled me on the above images was that they are negative. Like this you would be etching holes. Shouldn’t the desired parts be printed in black, so that the toner protects the brass ?