Captain Slog

Hi Ken,
 
I have quietly been following your build and enjoying your progress.
 
I thought I might stick my oar in now since the topic of edge colouring has come up.
 
I have never quite been satisfied with my edge colouring having tried, acrylic and enamel paints, as well as water colour 'blocks' and water colour pencils but have found a range of Faber Castell Pitt (PITT?) artist pens which have came very close to meeting my needs.
 
The grays also come in cool and warm tones but the good thing is there is very little to no bleeding into the paper.  I found using the very tip (less ink) and moving across quite quickly applies just the right amount. 
 
A lighter colour can be applied a couple of times to darken the edges.  Also if a perfect colour can't been matched, the general consensus from what I can gather is the edge should be darker than the main part.  The eye accepts it easier rather than a lighter edge.
 
I covered the PITT pens somewhat in my Bismarck card build log.  I found good matches for the different grays, a green and a brown.
 
Cheers
Slog

Hi Grant, thanks for asking.
 
Haven't done any more since the photos above.  Spent a bit of time working on the card vehicle and then all modelling stuff was packed away March/April for selling our current place.
 
Got to do practical completion inspection next week of our new place and then move in first week of October.  Will have one of the  spare rooms to set up in permanently so should be full steam ahead again so to speak not long after.
 
Can't wait to get stuck in again with some modelling, its been so long now!
 
Cheers
Slog

I will be waiting also for when you got the move in finished and back to work. 

Hi Grant, thanks for asking.
 
Haven't done any more since the photos above.  Spent a bit of time working on the card vehicle and then all modelling stuff was packed away March/April for selling our current place.
 
Got to do practical completion inspection next week of our new place and then move in first week of October.  Will have one of the  spare rooms to set up in permanently so should be full steam ahead again so to speak not long after.
 
Can't wait to get stuck in again with some modelling, its been so long now!
 
Cheers
Slog

Hi All,
 
 After the underside of the fore deck had a couple of coats of white it was then fitted. The mast is only dry fitted to make sure all the holes line up while the glue dries.
 
The next job will be to plank the deck.

Awesome work there Greg.
 
Gotta love working at such a small scale!
 
Cheers
Slog

Hi Grant, thanks for asking.
 
Haven't done any more since the photos above.  Spent a bit of time working on the card vehicle and then all modelling stuff was packed away March/April for selling our current place.
 
Got to do practical completion inspection next week of our new place and then move in first week of October.  Will have one of the  spare rooms to set up in permanently so should be full steam ahead again so to speak not long after.
 
Can't wait to get stuck in again with some modelling, its been so long now!
 
Cheers
Slog

Hairy main yards nearly finished then onto the next big step of rigging.

Thanks for the update Slog. Good luck with the house move - I know just how traumatic they can be at times! I look forward to "resumption of play" once you're settled in.

Hi Grant, thanks for asking.
 
Haven't done any more since the photos above.  Spent a bit of time working on the card vehicle and then all modelling stuff was packed away March/April for selling our current place.
 
Got to do practical completion inspection next week of our new place and then move in first week of October.  Will have one of the  spare rooms to set up in permanently so should be full steam ahead again so to speak not long after.
 
Can't wait to get stuck in again with some modelling, its been so long now!
 
Cheers
Slog

Hi Grant, thanks for asking.
 
Haven't done any more since the photos above.  Spent a bit of time working on the card vehicle and then all modelling stuff was packed away March/April for selling our current place.
 
Got to do practical completion inspection next week of our new place and then move in first week of October.  Will have one of the  spare rooms to set up in permanently so should be full steam ahead again so to speak not long after.
 
Can't wait to get stuck in again with some modelling, its been so long now!
 
Cheers
Slog

Thanks to everyone for the likes, comments and support, it really helps to get over the tough bits.
 
 
 
Now if  it would only look good from this side of the room 
 
Joking, I am moving on with it now or I would never get anything done or finished.
 
Okay major milestone for me.  Deck is finally on.  As usual a few lessons learned for next time. 
 
One thing which stands out is the printed colours are all slightly different across the 3 different parts of the deck.  I can’t do anything about that so moving on without further ado.
 





 
Cheers
Slog

Thanks to everyone for the likes and Sam and Brian for the input and advice. Will try the ‘spot putty’ next time I need it.
Yeah should definitely seal the paper first, although my concern was the jointing compound wouldn’t stick to the varnished paper well but this was unfounded.
 
 
Working on the outer propeller shafts.  There are a couple of cones to form for each end of the prop housing.  When these are formed the smaller holes are 4mm for the prop shafts.  Rather than try and roll the paper shafts (long yellow strips in the photo, part S3) I used some 4mm dowel from the Endeavour kit.  The cones slipped over the dowel pretty good.

 
 
The support struts were a bit of a head scratch as the diagrams only show an isometric drawing with no other advice about orientation.  The parts themselves have slightly different ends and are 2 sizes, an outer and inner which I used google translator to determine which is which.
 
A look at the AOTS shows the struts lean forward and the outer strut is vertical looking from the rear so that is what I went with.  There are lines on the hull for placement of the struts but nothing on the cone housing so tried to line them up for a best fit as per the AOTS.  I wouldn’t say they were a mirror image but hopefully won’t be noticeable right way up and close to the base board.


 
 
Okay all masked up and ready to spray

 
 
The Tamiya spray cans are pretty small at 100ml and quickly went through 1 and half cans giving lots of light coats.  The white patches of filler took a lot to disappear compared to the red paper as expected.  The photos below were taken right after spraying as the light was going and doesn’t look to bad as still wet.




 
 
Thoughts?  Well to be honest as it dies out it is still pretty rough in areas and once its fully dried and matted out it will only be rougher.  I am going to just live with it and move on.  I could keep going on and on with it but truth be told getting sick to death of working on the hull.  I really need to get on to some other parts of it to keep my interest going and do some modelling again instead of body shop work.
 
I think a paper hull looks a millions time better if done well and left alone instead of painting and a bit of care away back would have been more acceptable even if a bit bent and buckled.  But at the end of the day its my first paper ship hull and ready for more.
 
Cheers
Slog

Hi Grant, I knew someone would say that but it really did have issues. LOL
 
Hi Sam, I think you may be correct.  I will have to see what I can do in the future.
 
Hi Brian, I will have by the time I finish it.
 
 
Okay it’s been awhile since my last post as time has been tight and when I did have time just didn’t want to touch it.
 
Firstly a couple of realisations; I really liked the lower hull colour and feel of the paper skins.  They had a richness about them (as can be seen in the post above) so disappointed that I will have to paint them.  I mentioned previously how I didn’t like the double thickness of the overlapping skins.  Actually once they were edge coloured and on I didn’t mind them at all.
 
In an ideal world I would have been very happy to skin up the hull as the kit required, oh well hopefully next one turns out better.
 
I decided to use some plasterboard tape joint compound instead of auto-body filler.  Reasoning being it is made for gripping to the paper surface of plasterboard and can be sanded to a nice feathered edge.  I was worried auto-body filler would dry to a hard tough finish which would be difficult to sand down without going through the surrounding paper.
 
One problem with the tape jointing compound is it must have a high moisture content which doesn’t matter on rigid plaster board but did make some of the skins not supported underneath buckle up a bit but seemed to dry out okay.  I believe there is a very fine body filler for scratches called stopping or butter so will try that in future.
 
Once it was all dried and sanded, I went over and brushed on a coat of Caldercrafts Admiralty Flat Matt Varnish to seal the paper surface for spraying.
 
Photos below show the extent of filling. Even after a second skim coat there was still a few little bits could be improved on but will get some paint on it first to see how it looks and will fill again if really needed.


 
 
The centre prop housing gave me heaps of problems as it wasn’t clear (to me anyway) how it was supposed to be folded and glued so needed a fair bit of filler to build up the shape.

 
 
I have already bought a couple of spray cans of Tamiya’s TS33 Dull Red that I have seen used on another web site so once I finish the prop supports will give that a go.
 
Cheers
Slog

Thank you for all the likes, really encouraging.
 
 
Thanks Sam, card models are certainly interesting.
 
The local hobby store was quite limited in what they had metal stock wise. Will stick with the brass as I have it now and know if it works, the sharpening doesn’t take long and can do it easily enough just using my fingers.
 
Great idea about slipping in a strenghener,   I had a look and 0.8mm slips into the hole perfectly so will try that and leave it a few millimeters short of the tip so I can still resharpen it. The tube is self-centering for sharpening which I think I would lose with the solid rod in the centre.  Will report how it works out.
 
 
 
Okay, finished sanding and have cut out the lower hull skins ready for fitting.  I think this must be the most difficult part of a card ship and not looking forward to it really.  Worst comes to worst I could fill, sand and re-spray but would prefer not to do this.
 
Couple of points, I hate free hand cutting and cutting petals for forming  round curves.  Each panel overlaps the preceding panel which I don’t like as there will be strips of double thickness paper ridges.  I was going to try and fit and trim the panels flush but after playing around with the first few panels I decided this is beyond me and will fit them as is.
 
Going to try some different edge colouring now before forming and gluing the skins.  The PITT pen is to red and the Tamiya hull red is to brown (in fact it is brown).  I have a set of water colour pencils which I will try and a cheap set of watercolours (the solid block type) also.  I haven’t had much success with these in the past but will give them another go.
 


 
Cheers
Slog

Hi Grant, thanks for asking.
 
Haven't done any more since the photos above.  Spent a bit of time working on the card vehicle and then all modelling stuff was packed away March/April for selling our current place.
 
Got to do practical completion inspection next week of our new place and then move in first week of October.  Will have one of the  spare rooms to set up in permanently so should be full steam ahead again so to speak not long after.
 
Can't wait to get stuck in again with some modelling, its been so long now!
 
Cheers
Slog

Hi Grant, I knew someone would say that but it really did have issues. LOL
 
Hi Sam, I think you may be correct.  I will have to see what I can do in the future.
 
Hi Brian, I will have by the time I finish it.
 
 
Okay it’s been awhile since my last post as time has been tight and when I did have time just didn’t want to touch it.
 
Firstly a couple of realisations; I really liked the lower hull colour and feel of the paper skins.  They had a richness about them (as can be seen in the post above) so disappointed that I will have to paint them.  I mentioned previously how I didn’t like the double thickness of the overlapping skins.  Actually once they were edge coloured and on I didn’t mind them at all.
 
In an ideal world I would have been very happy to skin up the hull as the kit required, oh well hopefully next one turns out better.
 
I decided to use some plasterboard tape joint compound instead of auto-body filler.  Reasoning being it is made for gripping to the paper surface of plasterboard and can be sanded to a nice feathered edge.  I was worried auto-body filler would dry to a hard tough finish which would be difficult to sand down without going through the surrounding paper.
 
One problem with the tape jointing compound is it must have a high moisture content which doesn’t matter on rigid plaster board but did make some of the skins not supported underneath buckle up a bit but seemed to dry out okay.  I believe there is a very fine body filler for scratches called stopping or butter so will try that in future.
 
Once it was all dried and sanded, I went over and brushed on a coat of Caldercrafts Admiralty Flat Matt Varnish to seal the paper surface for spraying.
 
Photos below show the extent of filling. Even after a second skim coat there was still a few little bits could be improved on but will get some paint on it first to see how it looks and will fill again if really needed.


 
 
The centre prop housing gave me heaps of problems as it wasn’t clear (to me anyway) how it was supposed to be folded and glued so needed a fair bit of filler to build up the shape.

 
 
I have already bought a couple of spray cans of Tamiya’s TS33 Dull Red that I have seen used on another web site so once I finish the prop supports will give that a go.
 
Cheers
Slog

Hi Brian, just using what I have previously purchased as shown on page 1 of the log.  I may buy bits and pieces as I get to them but will see how I go with that for now.
 
 
Hi Brian (Gunther) these 1:200 battleships are certainly big, but whilst building the models of them you forget what monsters they were in real life until you have a reference to see them against.  The scale figure shows how big they are and for me at least it was a real wow! moment.

 
 
The figures in the photos above and below are 1:200 scale Kreigsmarines and got 50 odd in a pack (there are 4 different packs available).  They are pretty detailed but very limited poses and unfortunately the regular crew are in groups of 3 being joined at the shoulders and feet although some careful slicing should be able to separate them and get at least one of the 3 free.
 
I measured them and the figures are 9mm high giving a full size of 1.8m or just under 5’11” in the old money which is pretty good and they have depth also.  Going to have to primer them though as Tamiya acrylics did not want to stick to them even after scrubbing them with soapy water and an old toothbrush.


 
 
Haven’t progressed much but was experimenting with bits and pieces.  I mentioned previously I wanted to make the portholes instead of leaving the printed detail and obtained 1.6mm, 1.8mm and 2mm brass photo etch ones from GPM in Poland.
 
The problem was how to punch out the paper portholes to replace with brass.  I had a 2mm punch but the cutting edge is on the ‘inside’ which means the paper round the outside of the cut gets compressed down.  I need a punch with the cutting edge on the ‘outside' to leave a clean cut if that makes sense.
 
I went to the local Hobby shop and managed to get 1.6mm and 2mm brass tube and then used a 2mm drill bit to bevel the inside edges.  This was done by hand and it shaved the thin wall brass very quickly.  I then cut the tube to small lengths and tapped them down on scrap model paper and they left a very clean cut hole.
 
The photo etch brass portholes where a perfect flush fit into the punched holes.  The 1.6mm and 2mm trials are on the left and right respectively.  The 2mm is a perfect match for the printed hull portholes.

 
I would imagine I will have to keep ‘sharpening’ the tubes quite regularly as well as making new ones (the tube bent quite easily when tapping the ends) but worth the effort for clean cut holes.
 
Better get back to hull sanding
 
Cheers
Slog

Thank you for all the likes, really encouraging.
 
 
Thanks Sam, card models are certainly interesting.
 
The local hobby store was quite limited in what they had metal stock wise. Will stick with the brass as I have it now and know if it works, the sharpening doesn’t take long and can do it easily enough just using my fingers.
 
Great idea about slipping in a strenghener,   I had a look and 0.8mm slips into the hole perfectly so will try that and leave it a few millimeters short of the tip so I can still resharpen it. The tube is self-centering for sharpening which I think I would lose with the solid rod in the centre.  Will report how it works out.
 
 
 
Okay, finished sanding and have cut out the lower hull skins ready for fitting.  I think this must be the most difficult part of a card ship and not looking forward to it really.  Worst comes to worst I could fill, sand and re-spray but would prefer not to do this.
 
Couple of points, I hate free hand cutting and cutting petals for forming  round curves.  Each panel overlaps the preceding panel which I don’t like as there will be strips of double thickness paper ridges.  I was going to try and fit and trim the panels flush but after playing around with the first few panels I decided this is beyond me and will fit them as is.
 
Going to try some different edge colouring now before forming and gluing the skins.  The PITT pen is to red and the Tamiya hull red is to brown (in fact it is brown).  I have a set of water colour pencils which I will try and a cheap set of watercolours (the solid block type) also.  I haven’t had much success with these in the past but will give them another go.
 


 
Cheers
Slog

Hi Grant, thanks for asking.
 
Haven't done any more since the photos above.  Spent a bit of time working on the card vehicle and then all modelling stuff was packed away March/April for selling our current place.
 
Got to do practical completion inspection next week of our new place and then move in first week of October.  Will have one of the  spare rooms to set up in permanently so should be full steam ahead again so to speak not long after.
 
Can't wait to get stuck in again with some modelling, its been so long now!
 
Cheers
Slog

Hey Slog,
 
Any action on the Bismarck lately? It's been a while since the last update.

A Little at a time will get you there, but DAM she is big. Keep the updates and pictures coming, and Thank you for sharing with us.

Hi All,
 
Before the Forecastle deck could be fitted extensions had to be made for the Main Top Bowline Bits and the Fore Topsail Sheet Bits, as the kit supplied parts fit on the forecastle deck only where as they terminate on the upper gun deck on the actual ship.
 
The Main Top  Bowline Bits happened to be positioned over one of the deck crossbeam supports which I was not prepared to cut out so I cut two 5 x 5mm pieces to fit between the beam and the deck and then glued a 0.5 x 5mm strip that covered the block and the beam to give the impression that the bit was one piece.
 
The Fore Topsail Sheet Bits were simpler to extend by just adding some 5 x 5mm legs to them. The deck was then marked out and two holes cut in it so that the Bits could pass through. 
 
 
 
  

Hi Ken,
 
I have quietly been following your build and enjoying your progress.
 
I thought I might stick my oar in now since the topic of edge colouring has come up.
 
I have never quite been satisfied with my edge colouring having tried, acrylic and enamel paints, as well as water colour 'blocks' and water colour pencils but have found a range of Faber Castell Pitt (PITT?) artist pens which have came very close to meeting my needs.
 
The grays also come in cool and warm tones but the good thing is there is very little to no bleeding into the paper.  I found using the very tip (less ink) and moving across quite quickly applies just the right amount. 
 
A lighter colour can be applied a couple of times to darken the edges.  Also if a perfect colour can't been matched, the general consensus from what I can gather is the edge should be darker than the main part.  The eye accepts it easier rather than a lighter edge.
 
I covered the PITT pens somewhat in my Bismarck card build log.  I found good matches for the different grays, a green and a brown.
 
Cheers
Slog

Hi Ken,
 
I have quietly been following your build and enjoying your progress.
 
I thought I might stick my oar in now since the topic of edge colouring has come up.
 
I have never quite been satisfied with my edge colouring having tried, acrylic and enamel paints, as well as water colour 'blocks' and water colour pencils but have found a range of Faber Castell Pitt (PITT?) artist pens which have came very close to meeting my needs.
 
The grays also come in cool and warm tones but the good thing is there is very little to no bleeding into the paper.  I found using the very tip (less ink) and moving across quite quickly applies just the right amount. 
 
A lighter colour can be applied a couple of times to darken the edges.  Also if a perfect colour can't been matched, the general consensus from what I can gather is the edge should be darker than the main part.  The eye accepts it easier rather than a lighter edge.
 
I covered the PITT pens somewhat in my Bismarck card build log.  I found good matches for the different grays, a green and a brown.
 
Cheers
Slog