drobinson02199

Finished painting the hull. The thin horizontal white patches you see are lighting. Also installed rudder and screws. The screws look the same color in this pic, but they are actually copper-colored. Now my dilemma: I have attached a picture from the manual showing the simplest of the three camouflage patterns. My issue is that I really don't like the way this looks. So after some deliberation, I'm going to skip the white coloring. I really respect those of you that pay close attention to historical accuracy, but I'm going to skip the white designs. This will be my last post until late February. Going on a long winter trip. Regards, David

So I flipped the model over and did the last ladder -- the one in the center. Tried a new approach, which is to spread out some glue and dip the ladder rung points in it and then insert, and then you can see the difference. I wish I had tried this earlier. So with this I'm now ready to paint the lower hull red-brown. Regards, David

Over to the other side and up the learning curve. On this side I did two things: (i) Drilled out the holes in advance, and (ii) Used my super bright LED headlamp so I could see the holes clearly as I was installing the rungs. Worked better. The first picture reflects all of the skipping of the drill bit on the metal surface. The second one, now painted, shows the "glue globs" between the rungs. So I took a needle file to it and cleaned it up (third picture) as best I could. As they say, "It is what it is." I only have enough rungs left to do three ladders on each side. My loss rate decreased but was still greater than zero. So now I'll go back to the other side and add the third ladder, and paint it. There are also some very small eyebolts and keybolts that have been added. Not sure if you can see them or not. Regards, David

I'm applying the ladders to the external hull at the stern. The way Amati has designed this is that you do it rung by rung, into pre-drilled holes in the brass plate at the stern. The issue is that the rungs are fiendishly small. So they are very difficult to grip with tweezers, and of course, they pop out of the tweezers. If that happens, they are almost impossible to find on the floor or even on the workbench. As part of my learning curve I've now put a white paper towel under the stern area, and if they pop out onto that you can see them. But I've lost 6 already, and so I'm down to 2 spares to cover the remaining ladders. What you see is the two ladders I've done on one side. As you can also see, there are holes for two more on this side for a total of four on a side. Counting what I have left, if I don't lose anything else, I could make it with two spares left. But not confident in that. So I'm going to flip the model and do these two ladders on the other side. That will leave four to go. I'll do two (one on each side), and then assess my technique and spares supply to see if I can do the last one. One thing that helps is to drill out the holes. Then put in the rung without glue, then drop on some glue. Slow going as you have to wait for the glue to dry, or use accelerator. So now I'll attack the same two ladders on the other side and see if I've learned anything, and I'll report about that. Regards, David

These brass pieces go into cutouts previously installed in the hull. They are meant to represent vents, I think. They will be painted over with the red-brown that's used on the lower part of the hull. Regards, David

Hof: That's an interesting idea, which I will save for my next model. I have moved on from trying to further smooth this out since, as I noted, it looks fairly smooth from normal viewing distance. Thanks for the tip! Best regards, David

What you see here represents about 5 coats of paint, and a bunch of follow-up puttying and sanding. I have a few comments about this hull structure: From a distance (full hull picture) it doesn't look too bad, especially in the lighting I'll have it shelved on (I tested that). You'll note that I didn't finish the bottom as that's going to be red-brown below the waterline. But up close, the brass plates at bow and stern are troublesome. Try as I might (and we have to acknowledge the limits of my woodworking skills) I couldn't get them to "disappear". Again, from a distance they don't look too bad. But if I had it to do all over again, I'd be tempted to skip the brass plates and second plank right over where they are, to give a uniform look, and then use the brass plates as templates to drill the portholes. I think I'll give bow and stern one more coat of paint, as that seems to help them "disappear". Regards, David

Second planking done; sealed with a coat of varnish, then putty applied. I took this against a gray background so you can see the putty. Now a first coat of paint, and we'll see where the imperfections really are. I'm going to brush coat this -- it's too big for my spray booth, and it's too cold outside spray it in the garage. Regards, David

Now in the middle of second planking. As the hull curves from side to bottom, there is a piece that needs to be installed. It comes off the laser sheet flat, and has to adapt to the curve of the hull. I used my steamer, and a bunch of CA glue and accelerator. The wider side pieces are fairly easy to shape -- but the narrower center is a bear. Regards, David

The model uses brass bulwarks at the bow and stern -- I think probably to define the portholes cleanly. There's also a resin piece added in these pics on the lower stern. Next step is second planking. Regards, David

The hull is closed completely, and some of the resin pieces are now mounted on the bow and stern. Takes a lot of sanding and fitting to get the resin pieces right. Regards, David

The removable decks are now permanently glued down, and I'm beginning to close the hull in the unplanked spaces. Here's the bow section closed. Next is a similar section at the stern. Then the center of the ship. Regards, David

Decks now have cladding. Pictures show the removable decks installed and also removed. Later on, pre-formed deck sections with fine deck planking already "printed" on will be applied. Regards, David

First planking now sanded and varnished. Regards, David

First planking done. These are pictures of the rough, unsanded hull. There is a plastic piece that fits into the hull as shown. Regards, David

Planking progressing. I'm now at the point where I need to start shaping planks and using stealers. The planking wraps around the hull at the bow and stern, and I've used my steamer to help smooth that. This hull shape so far has not had much if any twisting of planks. The last picture has sort of an optical illusion, so I added an arrowhead. The face it's pointing to is vertical and faces aft toward the stern. But if you look for a bit it will "flip." Regards, David

First planking started -- four planks laid. Regards, David

A smaller bow deck is also removable. Regards, David

The deck is built to be removable, in anticipation of R/C requirements. Since this will be a static model, at some point it will be glued down. Regards, David

Here's the hull with a bunch of horizontal reinforcing structures added. This eases my mind, because those frame ribs are really "twangy" and not very strong on their own, and a stray elbow would have broken one. Regards, David

Here's the first part of the keel and frame structure. This will be the longest model in my collection -- what you see here weighs in at 48" long. Hats off to Amati for the plywood laser cutting. Very few connection points to cut, and they are tiny and easily cut. The frames fit into slots with no sanding required -- in fact, there is enough play in them that I used a square while gluing to keep them aligned. Manual called for wood glue, which would have taken forever given drying time. I used BSI medium gel, which is my go-to glue for everything. Regards, David

Thomas -- I got it from Ages of Sail, which is where I buy many of my European kits. I think they are the Amati distributor for the US. Regards, David

Time to tackle the Bismarck. I'll start with a version of the traditional "what's in the box?" You can see the finished model on the box as well as two very detailed instruction books with color pictures. Example of detail page shown. The hull and deck are wood, but much of the superstructure is built from plastic parts -- I've shown a sample of how they are packaged (in individual clear plastic envelopes). There probably isn't another material that would be feasible. The box says that there are "2,266 photoetched parts" -- so this will take a while. I don't know if that count includes the plastic parts and it's just sloppy box legend drafting, but there are a lot of plastic parts. The usual things are in the kit: wood strip, photo-etched brass, and laser-cut sheets. Those, interestingly, appear to be made of plywood (I haven't pulled any out of the box yet). That's a shift from other Amati models in the Victory series that I have built that used MDF for the hull and frames. This will also be the longest model I have built at 132 cm. Regards, David

Thanks, Bob. I've really enjoyed your "USCG Insider" comments. Next one up, when I get motivated, will be the Amati Bismarck. Regards, David

Completed! Last step was to build the little Naiad boat that goes into the rear launch well. Some pics here of that. A full set of completion photos is in the Completed Kit Built Gallery. Regards, David