Captain Slog

Hi guys,
 
Only made a small bit of progress lately what with long hours at work, jobs for the Admiral, the release of GTA V and the BF4 beta and a dozen more things vying for my time I managed to secure the rest of the chains and did the Lower Main Studding Sail Boom.
 
Okay all the chains are finally secured to the hull on both sides.  I mentioned previously of an issue which would raise its ugly head.  Not all the chains terminate in a preventer link so attached them as per the plans.  On the main channel, 3rd link in, there is a preventer link left off as the chain link is fixed above a hatch.  Well as can be seen despite not having a preventer link it joins the hull below the hatch essentially making the hatch useless.
 
As far as I am aware I did place the hatches as per the plan measurements so something is off, me, the plans or both. Oh well another lesson learned.  Not to bothered as it gets lost in the general busyness of the area.


 
 
Here are the components for making the lower main studding sail boom.  3mm dowel cut to 125mm, 4 photo etch brackets, cast white metal hoop brackets (which I replaced) and 1mm brass rod for the hinges.  I ended up using 0.8mm instead.

 
 
For the booms the plans say to cut the 3mm dowel to 125mm and the plans show an obvious taper to them, which I reckoned to be 2mm at the end.  I cut them over length and stuck them into the drill press and whilst running at the fastest speed used some 240 paper to sand them down to a taper.  Once done they were cut to the final length.

 
 
There was quite a discussion on the cast metal hoop brackets the kit supplies on Kenr’s Endeavour log in MSW 1.0 with the agreement that in real life the booms wouldn’t be able to be released from the hoops.  The solution was to cut the cast hoop in half and pin it to the channel so the boom could sit in it.
 
I thought this was an opportunity to do some more silver soldering so cut strips of brass sheet the width of the bracket and bent round the boom and trimmed.  The new brass hoops were then silver solder to the bracket.

 
 
The AOTS shows that both ends of the boom have metal banding round them so simulated this with the supplied black cartridge paper using PVA applied to the paper strips with a paint brush.  The 0.8mm wire was bent to the shape on the plans and a hole drilled into the end of the boom.

 
 
I tried yet another stain and this time it is Cabots Maple satin Stain/Varnish which is getting closer to what I am after colour wise.

 
 
The iron (brass)work was treated to 10 minutes in hydrochloric acid, then rinsed with water followed by 2 minutes in Birchwood Casey Brass Black bought from the local gun shop then rinsed again followed by a gentle rubbing with a soft cloth.

 
 
The finished lower main studding sail boom.  I can lift the boom off but will at a later stage lash it down to the hoop bracket for permanent fixing.

 
 
Cheers
Slog

Hi All,
 
Thanks for all the comments and likes.
 
You may be on to something there Chris!  I would imagine with your experience though lower hulls wouldn’t present too much of a problem.
 
Thanks for dropping by Slowhand.  There are plenty of warts to see coming up! LOL
 
Thanks for the comment Brian.  I am trying to avoid painting to gain experience trying to be as precise as possible.
 
 
Okay on with the progress.  My lack of painting experience really showed by doing the boot top first as per the previous post.  I am sure the more experienced painters spotted the trouble with doing that.  I had no idea how difficult it would be to cover black with red!  I used Tamiya’s Flat Red acrylic XF-7 mixed at a 2:1 ratio and after spraying coat after coat of paint the black overspray was still showing through.  Also patches of the grey filler putty I used were still evident.
 
A plus point was that the boot top was very sharp and parallel and the red cover was very consistent, which is tricky using a small/medium size airbrush as the spray pattern isn’t that big for a largish hull…but I couldn’t live with it.
 
A trip to the local hobby stored procured a can of Tamiya TS-27 Matt White spray paint and after masking off the upper sections of the hull, blasted on some decent coats of white.  Got to say I find Tamiya’s aerosols very good, giving great coverage and pretty forgiving also.  The white soon covered up the previous red and black airbrushing with a nice smooth even coat.
 
It was back to airbrushing the complete lower hull again with the Red XF-7 and then masking off the 2.5mm boot top although this time I made it 3mm to make sure it covered the previous painting. Then the boot top was airbrushed in with Black XF-1.  After peeling back the masking it turned out pretty good again.  The red though isn’t as even and consistent as the first attempt but it is satisfactory to me.  The lumps and bumps and filled areas are still evident in some sections but again thinking ahead and looking at the ship as a whole it shouldn’t look too out of place.
 
I came to like the bright red paper printing of the hull and the Flat Red isn’t too far off it as can be seen with the unpainted rudder.  I will paint and fit that permanently closer to the end of the build as it is too vulnerable at this stage.  Similarly the props are only temporarily placed for the photos and will leave off to the end also. 
 
 
Here at last is the finished lower hull!  I will give the whole thing a coat of Humbrol Matt Cote for protection and to flatten a couple of shiny areas where I accidentally splashed some thinners on it.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
With that saga out of the way I am looking forward to getting back to some real paper modelling again.  Next up will be to line the anchor shelf so I can permanently fit the upper hull section, which will allow the decking, upper hull structures and side hull skins to be fitted.
 
Cheers
Slog

Card Modelling Cutting Tools I Use
 
I thought I would expand on the basic craft knife used for card modelling and discuss the different cutting tools/alternatives I regularly use and the reasoning why I use them (or not). 
 

 
 
1.  Swann Morton Scalpel with No.11 Blade:  I have only been using these for a short time but have been impressed with them so far.  The biggest benefit and this may just be me, but I find I can more easily and consistently cut the edges of the paper square which was an issue for me previously; and for that reason alone means they are now my primary cutting tool.  I think it’s because they aren’t so pointed so that I can see the ground surface of the blade easier for aligning perpendicular to the straight edge.
 
The less pointy tip does have disadvantages for me though, which will be made clear in 2a below.  A couple of advantages I have heard are that they are sharper than the No.11 craft knife equivalent.  There is no doubt a new blade is extremely sharp but I can’t say for sure that they are sharper.  I have also heard that they remain sharper for longer; for me personally I haven’t found this to be the case and if anything may dull quicker than the equivalent.  This may be a perception thing and will reassess after I have used them extensively.
 
I have heard of people disliking this handle due to the narrow hard edged nature of it.  I only find it uncomfortable if I am applying lots of pressure but then if that’s the case then it probably isn’t the right tool for the job so usually have no discomfort with the handle.
 
 
2a. Typical Exacto Type Handle with No.11 Blade:  Firstly all my blades including No.11’s has been the Excel brand.  This was what I used exclusively until recently but still use regularly for a number of reasons.  The blades are deeper and pointier compared to the Swann Morton’s.
 
I use the pointier tip for making small ‘sewing machine’ type pin pricks to cut out small tight curves and the deeper blade is useful for making pivoting, rotating cuts I use for convex curves.  I also find the pointier tip easier for doing freehand curved cuts as I can follow the cutting line better.  The biggest disadvantage of this blade for me personally is I find it difficult to consistently cut square edges for the opposite reason the Swann Morton allows me to.
 
I now have both the Swann Morton and the Excel knives side by side on the cutting mat when modelling and alternate between the two depending on the cutting task.
 
 
2b. Shaped/Ground Down No.11 Blade: I keep all worn blades which I then use a Dremel on to grind them first to a specific width and then to put a chisel type cutting edge on them.  They are used to cut vertically down through the paper.  These are made to specific square or rectangular holes requiring cutting out in the paper part and I may grind 2 or more different widths to suit each hole.
 
I personally find cutting small holes this way better than using the normal straight edge and slicing cut giving cleaner sharper corners.  Of course this works better for smaller holes and larger holes with longer straight edges can be cut using the normal method.  Incidentally No.17 blades are already chisel shaped so these only need grinding to width and resharpening if worn.
 
 
2c. Curved Blade:  I don’t use these for cutting paper/card but use them for cutting photo-etch parts free from the frets.  I place the fret on an old/blank CD or DVD and use the blade by pressing down to make the cut.  The curve allows the blade to be rocked for particularly tough cuts.  The curve also allows more blade edge to be in contact with the fret rather than the tiny point of a No.11 blade.  I have only recently started using a curved blade for photo-etch and much prefer it now over the No.11 previously used.
 
There are smaller curved blades available which I need to source for ease of use on tightly packed photo-etch frets but the concept is the same.
 
I have heard of others who use curved blades for doing free hand paper cuts as apparently it allows them to smoothly follow the cut line and change direction if I remember correctly.  I haven’t used a curved blade for free-hand work so can’t comment on the accuracy of this.
 
 
3. 9mm Retractable Snap-off Knife: I use these almost exclusively for rough cutting out of parts from the parts sheets instead of using more expensive No.11 blades which are saved for final cuts.  These snap-off blades are very cost effective as the handle is loaded up with several strips each containing a number of blade segments.  As the blade wears it is snapped off to reveal a new sharp segment.  Once a strip of segments has been exhausted, pulling the thumb catch fully rearwards engages a new strip.  I prefer the Stanley brand as the blades are very sharp. I also use them for cutting off-cuts from thicker card for packers, cutting balsa, paring wood and just general cutting, again to save wasting No.11 blades.
 
I have heard of card modellers who use these for final cutting of parts as they are very sharp and as mentioned very cost effective.  I personally don’t use them for final cutting of parts as I have found that if the blade isn’t held exactly perpendicular to the part it can wrinkle the cut edge slightly and for me it is too hit or miss.  Although I guess if I gained more experience using them for final cutting, consistency would be achieved.
I also find the handles too big and clumsy for critical cuts and being left handed the blade exits from the handle on the wrong side to see the edge comfortably and fingers holding down the straight edge can get in the way of the bulky handle.  If you are right handed, then this may be an alternative to the No.11.
 
Alternatively, smaller, thinner handles which only hold one strip of blades are available and this would eliminate the bulky handle issue but I haven’t tried these as my current handle is sufficient for what I use it for.
 
 
4. Single Edge Razor Blade: Another useful blade which gets regular use.  It is perfect for slipping into the kerf on laser cut forms for slicing the little nibs to free the part.  The part then only requires a couple of swipes with a sanding block to remove the remains of the nib for a clean fuss free part.
 
I also use these regularly for folding paper parts similar to the method used for photo-etch; sliding the blade under the part to the fold line and rotating the blade up to form the fold.
 
My favourite brand for these were Stanley which came in little plastic boxes of 10.  Since my local hardware store stopped stocking these by Stanley I have tried many different brands (all identical in size and shaped) but none have the sharpness the Stanley ones had.
 
 
5. Stanley Knife (utility knife): I used to use this mainly for cutting out forms from thick 2mm card when I had to glue the part templates to the card.  Since I now use laser cut forms whenever possible this knife has been relegated to more abusive forms of use such as cutting brass tube and bending and prying off kit book staples etc.
 
I also use it for hacking and chopping clothes pegs for clamping and cutting thick bits of balsa and wood for packers etc.  Very useful for sharpening pencils and slicing through blister packs.
 
 
6. Scissors: I have never used scissors for cutting out paper parts. I do use them for cutting other thin materials such as floppy disks for windows etc (knives cause a ridge to form on the floppy disc material). Other than this they see very little use. For making straight cuts nothing beats a knife and straight edge.  They may be useful for making curved cuts but depending on the radius or the part shape access may be an issue without bending the part.  Again I have heard of modellers using scissors but I have never tried it so can’t comment further.
 
 
7. Circle Cutters:  These are invaluable for cutting circles (as the name suggests!) such as wheels from paper.  If you build vehicles, then they are worth getting a set and I suggest paying a bit more for a decent brand.  A branded set also allows for spare blades to be readily available at a reasonable cost although they usually come supplied with 5 or so spare blades.
 
The generic circle cutter in the photo (blue & yellow) was a disgrace; all the supplied blades had burrs on them from the manufacturing stamping process and tore the paper.  I was able to file and clean them up and put a honed edge on them which was time consuming and frustrating but they did cut nicely afterwards. The adjustment tightening screw did need to be really tight to prevent the set diameter changing in use.
 
The Olfa cutter (black & yellow) was twice the price but being Japanese the blades were sharp out of the box and much more enjoyable to use as well as readily available spare blades.  It was necessary to make sure the adjustment knob was tightened but not to the gorilla grip necessary for the generic cutter.
 
I also suggest spending a considerable amount of time cutting out circles from scrap until you get a feel for it and determine the best method for using it to prevent destroying your model parts.  I got the best most accurate cuts by going round and round gently until the part was cut through. (all parts were laminated on to 0.5mm to 1mm card).  If you try and force it to cut too deeply at once the blade will wander particularly if cutting thicker materials.
 
 
Summary: Well that’s all the card modelling cutting tools I use at one stage or another on a build and how I use them.  Certainly a knife handle and some No.11 blades are all you need to get you started with card modelling but as shown I use alternatives for pretty specific tasks, which is mostly to reserve the No.11’s to final cutting only. Remember this is what works (or not) for me and your mileage may vary.
 
 
Cheers
Slog

Hi all,
 
Part 9
Well, the 6” guns are finally finished…kind of!
 
The first 2 photos show all the details assembled on and in the carriages from previously posted Part 8.  5x 0.3mm wire parts, 3 with ‘worm’ gears. A couple of spur gears with 0.5mm shaft for gun training and a small paper gear.  The main recoil cylinders and a drum for gun elevation.
 

 

 
 
Next photos are of a finished gun.  The breech was installed as well as the elevation gear on to the barrel.  I ended up cutting out and using the paper handwheel as decided soldering ones from brass wire just wasn’t worth the effort.  I used 0.5mm wire for the handwheel shaft.  Additionally I wrapped the handwheel shaft with some thin paper to better represent the diagram and to give a better paper to paper bond.
 

 

 

 

 
 
Last photo shows the finished gun and the remaining 9 completed gun carriages (minus handwheel and shaft) I still need to attach the 4 carriage wheels per carriage but will wait until in a position to permanently install them to prevent damage.
 
The gun barrels for eight guns  still need to be done but struggling with this.  I had done 2 so far (the one in the photos and another not quite as good) but destroyed the next 2 so will need to cut out new ones using the kit ones as a template.  I just can’t get a reliable method to roll these but will persevere.
 

 
 
And of course the video which shows the construction of the guns.
 
 
 
The next part will be the start of the hull skinning and gun installation.
 
Cheers
Slog

Hi,
 
Welcome to the start of my build log of Admiral Nakhimov.  This is an armoured cruiser which took part in and was sunk at the Battle of Tsushima. For those of you interested in her here is a link to the Wikipedia page. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_armoured_cruiser_Admiral_Nakhimov
 
Admiral Nakhimov was another of those kits which I hadn’t noticed before but I came across a review of it many years ago and found her to be such an interesting shape and construction and after discovering her participation at the Battle of Tsushima was added to the stash.
 
I believe this is one of Dom Bumagi’s newer kits as the front cover has changed design to show a smaller picture (in this case a real photo) surrounded by a large border. This is more conventionally presented as an A3 book, bound along the top long edge. 
 

 
 
There are 7 pages of parts and again some sheets have full reverse colour and others have selective reverse colouring.  The lower hull has a shiny metallic finish.  There are a lot of nice parts and colours on this ship like the raised decks and different coloured cabins.
 

 

 
 

 
 
 
There are 5 thin pages of templates for the underlying skeleton and also includes the gun deck which appears to depict linoleum.
 
There is a single thin sheet for all the ‘ironwork’ details as well as the rollable gun barrels etc.
 
There are 7 double sided sheets of assembly diagrams and these are line drawings as opposed to renders and I must admit I think these will be clearer to read than renders which I was excited about for Borodino.
 

 

 
 
The last page shows a plan and profile view of the ship.
 

 
 
I obtained the laser cut forms but these supply only 5 sheets of the thicker underlying forms with no thin sheets for detail parts.
  

 
 
I have also done a YouTube video of the kit review
 
 
 
Cheers
Slog

Thanks for bringing his work to our attention.
 
Here is the YouTube video for the hummingbird above. Very impressive.
 

 
Cheers
Slog

I use 'easy' grade silver solder paste from a syringe but applied with a needle for tiny components and succesfully use it on 0.2mm brass wire.
The paste is sticky and once in place doesn't blow off with the torch.
Obtained from a jewellers supply shop.
 
Slog

Rudder and elevators dry-fitted. I will permanently attach these at a later date so they don't get knocked off during construction.
 

Horizontal stabilizers skinned.
 

 
Working on the elevators now. Same as for the rudder, there is no internal framing -- but there is a lot of fiddly folding, rolling, and gluing. Pics later.
 
Cheers!

Update: Fillets are done. These are always a tricky part of any airplane build, and these were even trickier than usual because there is a cutout for the wheel wells that leaves a strip only about 1 mm wide at that point for attachment.
 

 

 
And now we go back to the empennage. So far, I have only finished off the internal frames for the horizontal stabilizers.
 

 
That's all for now!

Hi all,
 
I have been a bit slack in updating this log as progress is now up to Part 13 on YouTube but thought I would show what I have been working on for a future episode.
 
I recently purchased a decent soldering station specifically for photo etch and have been using it successfully for items such as PE hatches but really wanted to push my abilities by using it on smaller multi-part assemblies.
 
These are the Pontos 3” guns, which there are a total of 16 with 15 parts per gun and I completed 2 guns as a proof of concept to see if I can fully solder them which I managed to do.  A few lessons learned in the order of assembly should make the subsequent ones quicker, easier and neater.
 
The beauty for me over gluing, is that with small multi-part PE assemblies I usually end up knocking off previously glued parts when attaching new parts or sometimes just in handling.  The soldering makes them very sturdy knowing they aren’t going to fall/break apart if dropped etc. 
 

 

 

 
 
Cheers
Slog
 
 
 

First step in making the wings was adding the remaining internal frames.
 

 
Each skin is a single piece, shaped, folded, and glued with the help of a joiner strip.
 

 
Each wing structure is then slipped into its finished sheath. No fillets have been added yet.
 

 
That's it for now.

A bit more progress. I needed to take a slight detour and make the rudder so that I could confirm the positioning of the vertical stabilizer skin. Unlike many kits, the rudder has no internal framing.
 

 
And then the vertical stabilizer was skinned.
 

 
And that's it for the moment. Next up will be the wings' internal framing, but first I need to take a break and watch the Champions League final (I'm strictly a neutral for this match).

Here's the patched-up seam. I first filled it without about three passes of canopy glue, then applied a thin wash of appropriate edge color, followed by a shot of matte clear spray to take the shine off the filler. It doesn't look too bad -- certainly not the Polish Touch, but better than the untreated gap looked. Naturally, bright lighting and closeup photography makes it look worse than it does at normal viewing distances and lighting.
 

 
And here's the rest of the spine.
 

Yep, they are all card. They are part of the laser-cut frames set, cut from what the Poles call "beer mat" stock -- it is the same stuff used commercially to make disposable coasters.
 
On to skinning the spine. The kit includes joiner strips, which is nice -- I would have made them myself but the kit spared me the effort.
 

 
I glued the first four pieces together using their joiner strips, then glued the entire piece first along one side . . .
 

 
. . . and then along the other. The color registration is good.
 

 
I got a bit of a seam gap on the other side, which I'm going to try to remediate. We'll see how that goes.

Well here we are the end of this build.  Thank you all for following along on the two part adventure! 😁
 
Some final pictures of the S2C in its place on the shelf, next to the dusty old S2B (Airfix 1990's mould.)  

Framing for dorsal hump and vertical stabilizer has been added -- calling it a night. Not all of the transverse bulkheads come up to the height of the dorsal profile piece; I'm not sure what the deal is there, but I'll find out once I start adding the skins.
 

Not uncommon for card planes, the fuselage consists of a number of conic sections.
 

 

With the cockpit closed up, it's time to start skinning the forward fuselage, beginning with the wheel wells. I'm now committed to eventually building the Wildcat's nightmarish landing gear. 😬  To this point, I've been following the sequence of diagrams pretty closely, but for anyone who decides to build this kit later, it's a good idea to add the flat skins of the wheel wells before gluing the frames together. You can still do it afterwards, but it's a little trickier, because that central girder is part of one of the frames, and it clearly gets in the way.
 

 
Then we have the first two fuselage skins added. Fit and registration has been good, although there seems to have been a deliberate omission of certain joiner strips. I added homemade ones -- no biggie.
 

 
There's a very slight color mismatch between the second and third skins, but strangely enough it's only on one side. The parts came from the same sheet, too, so it's kind of weird. But the difference is not as noticeable as it was for the GPM Hellcat kit, so I won't complain. Once again, the fit for this part was very good.
 

 
I then decided to skip ahead a bit and add some of the wing skeleton parts, just to stiffen up the spindly spars a bit. They were beginning to get uncomfortably wobbly from being jostled around. Interestingly, there are multiple errors in the numbering of these parts between the diagrams and the laser-cut frets. This hasn't been an issue so far because it's pretty obvious which parts are which and where they're supposed to go.
 

 
That's all for now!

Slog, I have a similar Hakko and really like it. I may need to acquire that particular tip, tho. I really like this solder station; the temp settings are spot on.

Hi Ken, it’s a Hakko FX-888D soldering station. I did swap out the standard conical tip to a 2C tip (2mm angled) which is good for heat transfer and access. A 1C would be helpful in some spots and will get one at some stage but 2C is a good all-rounder.
 
It gets up to my soldering temp (380 C for my chosen solder)  from cold in about 40 seconds and can maintain heat transfer during soldering and takes only a few seconds to get from my set standby 250C to 380C when ready to go again. 

All the cockpit components ready to add to frame.
 

 
All closed up now.
 

Hi Ken, it’s a Hakko FX-888D soldering station. I did swap out the standard conical tip to a 2C tip (2mm angled) which is good for heat transfer and access. A 1C would be helpful in some spots and will get one at some stage but 2C is a good all-rounder.
 
It gets up to my soldering temp (380 C for my chosen solder)  from cold in about 40 seconds and can maintain heat transfer during soldering and takes only a few seconds to get from my set standby 250C to 380C when ready to go again. 

Hi Ken, it’s a Hakko FX-888D soldering station. I did swap out the standard conical tip to a 2C tip (2mm angled) which is good for heat transfer and access. A 1C would be helpful in some spots and will get one at some stage but 2C is a good all-rounder.
 
It gets up to my soldering temp (380 C for my chosen solder)  from cold in about 40 seconds and can maintain heat transfer during soldering and takes only a few seconds to get from my set standby 250C to 380C when ready to go again. 

What's your rig for doing this fine soldering? Those guns turned very nice.