Captain Slog

Hi,
 
Here is Part 6.
 
This covers 4 of the 20, 3” guns and replaces the kit part with Pontos PE and turned brass.  These 4 guns are mounted in the bow and the stern and are simpler than the other 16 guns spread throughout the decks but do have a shield.
 

 
 
There are only 6 parts, 3 PE and 3 turned brass.
 

 
 
I like to use small PE scissors to remove the attachment nibs from the PE part and in the majority of cases there is no need to use a diamond file to clean up.
 

 
 
I drilled a 2mm hole in the corners of a small MDF block to hold the turned brass pedestals so the guns could be built up around them.  Photo shows the gun frame bent up and CA glued to the pedestal.
 

 
 
The 2 parts of the shield were bent to shape and being trial fitted.
 

 
 
I wanted to solder the shield together and used the method shown in a Paul Budzik (MSW member) video.  The liquid flux is applied to the parts and small slivers of solder are placed in the joint.  The soldering iron is held to the outside and the heat is quickly transferred through the thin PE.  Due to the quickness I was able to do one side at a time without affecting the other previously soldered side.
 

 
 
The 4 shields soldered and cleaned up.  Didn't touch the insides as will never be seen and happy how first attempt turned out...some better than others.
 

 
 
The barrel was super glued in place.
 

 
 
The completed guns were CA glued to toothpick/cocktail sticks for painting.  The bond is easily broken when time to install.
 

 
 
The guns were primed with Mr Surfacer 1500 and then top coated with Tamiya lacquers.  These guns are mostly hidden in the hull with barely the barrels sticking out.
 

 

 
 
YouTube link
 
 
 
 
Cheers
Slog

Hi,
 
Here is Part 6.
 
This covers 4 of the 20, 3” guns and replaces the kit part with Pontos PE and turned brass.  These 4 guns are mounted in the bow and the stern and are simpler than the other 16 guns spread throughout the decks but do have a shield.
 

 
 
There are only 6 parts, 3 PE and 3 turned brass.
 

 
 
I like to use small PE scissors to remove the attachment nibs from the PE part and in the majority of cases there is no need to use a diamond file to clean up.
 

 
 
I drilled a 2mm hole in the corners of a small MDF block to hold the turned brass pedestals so the guns could be built up around them.  Photo shows the gun frame bent up and CA glued to the pedestal.
 

 
 
The 2 parts of the shield were bent to shape and being trial fitted.
 

 
 
I wanted to solder the shield together and used the method shown in a Paul Budzik (MSW member) video.  The liquid flux is applied to the parts and small slivers of solder are placed in the joint.  The soldering iron is held to the outside and the heat is quickly transferred through the thin PE.  Due to the quickness I was able to do one side at a time without affecting the other previously soldered side.
 

 
 
The 4 shields soldered and cleaned up.  Didn't touch the insides as will never be seen and happy how first attempt turned out...some better than others.
 

 
 
The barrel was super glued in place.
 

 
 
The completed guns were CA glued to toothpick/cocktail sticks for painting.  The bond is easily broken when time to install.
 

 
 
The guns were primed with Mr Surfacer 1500 and then top coated with Tamiya lacquers.  These guns are mostly hidden in the hull with barely the barrels sticking out.
 

 

 
 
YouTube link
 
 
 
 
Cheers
Slog

Hi,
 
Here is Part 6.
 
This covers 4 of the 20, 3” guns and replaces the kit part with Pontos PE and turned brass.  These 4 guns are mounted in the bow and the stern and are simpler than the other 16 guns spread throughout the decks but do have a shield.
 

 
 
There are only 6 parts, 3 PE and 3 turned brass.
 

 
 
I like to use small PE scissors to remove the attachment nibs from the PE part and in the majority of cases there is no need to use a diamond file to clean up.
 

 
 
I drilled a 2mm hole in the corners of a small MDF block to hold the turned brass pedestals so the guns could be built up around them.  Photo shows the gun frame bent up and CA glued to the pedestal.
 

 
 
The 2 parts of the shield were bent to shape and being trial fitted.
 

 
 
I wanted to solder the shield together and used the method shown in a Paul Budzik (MSW member) video.  The liquid flux is applied to the parts and small slivers of solder are placed in the joint.  The soldering iron is held to the outside and the heat is quickly transferred through the thin PE.  Due to the quickness I was able to do one side at a time without affecting the other previously soldered side.
 

 
 
The 4 shields soldered and cleaned up.  Didn't touch the insides as will never be seen and happy how first attempt turned out...some better than others.
 

 
 
The barrel was super glued in place.
 

 
 
The completed guns were CA glued to toothpick/cocktail sticks for painting.  The bond is easily broken when time to install.
 

 
 
The guns were primed with Mr Surfacer 1500 and then top coated with Tamiya lacquers.  These guns are mostly hidden in the hull with barely the barrels sticking out.
 

 

 
 
YouTube link
 
 
 
 
Cheers
Slog

Hi,
 
Here is Part 6.
 
This covers 4 of the 20, 3” guns and replaces the kit part with Pontos PE and turned brass.  These 4 guns are mounted in the bow and the stern and are simpler than the other 16 guns spread throughout the decks but do have a shield.
 

 
 
There are only 6 parts, 3 PE and 3 turned brass.
 

 
 
I like to use small PE scissors to remove the attachment nibs from the PE part and in the majority of cases there is no need to use a diamond file to clean up.
 

 
 
I drilled a 2mm hole in the corners of a small MDF block to hold the turned brass pedestals so the guns could be built up around them.  Photo shows the gun frame bent up and CA glued to the pedestal.
 

 
 
The 2 parts of the shield were bent to shape and being trial fitted.
 

 
 
I wanted to solder the shield together and used the method shown in a Paul Budzik (MSW member) video.  The liquid flux is applied to the parts and small slivers of solder are placed in the joint.  The soldering iron is held to the outside and the heat is quickly transferred through the thin PE.  Due to the quickness I was able to do one side at a time without affecting the other previously soldered side.
 

 
 
The 4 shields soldered and cleaned up.  Didn't touch the insides as will never be seen and happy how first attempt turned out...some better than others.
 

 
 
The barrel was super glued in place.
 

 
 
The completed guns were CA glued to toothpick/cocktail sticks for painting.  The bond is easily broken when time to install.
 

 
 
The guns were primed with Mr Surfacer 1500 and then top coated with Tamiya lacquers.  These guns are mostly hidden in the hull with barely the barrels sticking out.
 

 

 
 
YouTube link
 
 
 
 
Cheers
Slog

Hi,
 
Here is Part 6.
 
This covers 4 of the 20, 3” guns and replaces the kit part with Pontos PE and turned brass.  These 4 guns are mounted in the bow and the stern and are simpler than the other 16 guns spread throughout the decks but do have a shield.
 

 
 
There are only 6 parts, 3 PE and 3 turned brass.
 

 
 
I like to use small PE scissors to remove the attachment nibs from the PE part and in the majority of cases there is no need to use a diamond file to clean up.
 

 
 
I drilled a 2mm hole in the corners of a small MDF block to hold the turned brass pedestals so the guns could be built up around them.  Photo shows the gun frame bent up and CA glued to the pedestal.
 

 
 
The 2 parts of the shield were bent to shape and being trial fitted.
 

 
 
I wanted to solder the shield together and used the method shown in a Paul Budzik (MSW member) video.  The liquid flux is applied to the parts and small slivers of solder are placed in the joint.  The soldering iron is held to the outside and the heat is quickly transferred through the thin PE.  Due to the quickness I was able to do one side at a time without affecting the other previously soldered side.
 

 
 
The 4 shields soldered and cleaned up.  Didn't touch the insides as will never be seen and happy how first attempt turned out...some better than others.
 

 
 
The barrel was super glued in place.
 

 
 
The completed guns were CA glued to toothpick/cocktail sticks for painting.  The bond is easily broken when time to install.
 

 
 
The guns were primed with Mr Surfacer 1500 and then top coated with Tamiya lacquers.  These guns are mostly hidden in the hull with barely the barrels sticking out.
 

 

 
 
YouTube link
 
 
 
 
Cheers
Slog

And, 15 months and 400 hours later, done!

It’s not perfect, but it’ll do.
 
I never intended to finish the 1/200 version.
 
I intended this as a learning tool to learn about ironclad construction and design, in which I succeeded marvelously.
 
The Admiral wanted this model, so I finished it for her.

This is the third card ship that I have built, but only the first card ship kit that I have built.
 
Building from a card kit had its own unique difficulties, like matching paint colors, and worrying about losing detail if you had to repaint something.
 
On the whole I enjoyed this build quite a lot.
 
Thank you very much to everyone who followed along, commented and hit the “like” button!
 
Thank you very much @ccoyle for starting me down this road with your HMV builds!

Thank you very much!
 
The foremast is fully rigged now!

For the scale, this model has a lot of rigging.
 
The last time I rigged a barque (Mamoli 1:100 Endeavour), it took me several months, without sails.
 
This one has about half of the rigging that a fully rigged model would have, but at this scale, the deck gets crowded QUICK.
 
So, I’ve been belaying to anything I can find.

Rigging done. 

Last part of the rigging, the radio antenna 

Todays effort; the railings. The Hasegawa set of quite good, thick (easy to use) good instructions and little flaps on the bottom you bend at 90 degrees so it’s easy to stick down. I’ll now need to repaint it all as no matter how hard you try you can never cover the things on paint or they chip off. 
 
ships never look right without railings and as this was originally a passenger ship it’s much better

A lot of rigging for one day. 

Thank you very much for the comments and for all the likes!
 
Both jib sails are on:
I am trying out the paper sails that came in the kit.
 
I was going to make silk span sails, but I took the inspiration to use these, which are very nicely made anyway, from the paper sails on the Great Republic by @rwiederrich.  
 
They looked phenomenal on his model!  
 
The Great Republic is one of the best models that I have ever seen!
 

Front mast done. I have it rigged to it will be slinging a torpedo outboard starbord 

The first jib sail is on and rigged:

Tying off to the deck and the rails is really difficult at this scale.
 
I am using the sails that came with the kit.

Have fitted the last parts on this side, you can see how I’m thinking this works, anyway that’s me for the night.

M

All yards and gaffs are made:
They still need paintwork, sealed and blocks installed, but at this point, all the wood parts are made.
 
I used an old dowel rod I found laying around, a kitchen skewer and a couple of toothpicks.
 
They are all carved with a scalpel.
 
I laid them out in order as I was making them.
 
Right to left it’s foremast, main mast and mizzen mast.
 
I already sealed all sails and flags.
 
Those will be cut out, have blocks installed, glued in place (at 1/200 scale, I am not sewing the sails to the yards, due to scale) and rigged, sequentially.
 
As with any other vessel I make, yards and gaffs will be installed with sails already attached, and rigged in place, one at a time.
 
I like to work fore to aft, bottom to top.

Thanks for all the likes and comments.
 
Part 5 is now done.
 
For mounting the hull I used M5 nuts and bolts, which will allow me to use Pontos pedestals as shown in Richmond’s log if I choose to when it comes time to mount the ship permanently.
 

 
 
I made a temporary baseboard with 12mm MDF, a couple of wood strip glued to the 2 long sides and some 18mm wood dowel. This allows me to work on the ship without worrying about knocking bits off when manhandling it.
 

 
 
To allow me to mount the ship in a semi-permanent state I wanted to paint the lower hull.  After final wet sanding I wiped the hull down with IPA and then followed this with an automotive painters tack cloth.  The grey 1500 primer showed up some rough areas at the stern and bow.  This was cleaned up with a wet sand using 2000 grit wet & Dry.
 
 

 
 
I started airbrushing on Tamiya Lacquer paint dull red but it was becoming tedious so blasted the hull with Tamiya aerosol TS-33 dull red and achieved satisfactory results to me.
 

 
 
Then it was on to the 6” guns.  I used Richmond’s tip of dispensing the CA glue onto a candle which greatly extends it’s working time.
 

 
 
The pink Mr Surfacer 1500 was used to prime the guns, this was done before the decision to swap to the grey 1500 used for the hull.  The grey sprays the same as the black 1500 so was happy for the switch.
 

 
 
The guns were top coated with Tamiya’s lacquer LP-14, one of the 4 IJN arsenal paints.  This is the colour I will use throughout. Tamiya’s LP lacquer range is a joy to use.
 

 
 
Like Richmond I sprayed up the lower gun deck in case you can see past the 6” gun ports but more so for airbrush practice and to test the 2 linoleum colours for preference down the track, XF-79 & LP-17.
 
Rather than force the hull tops apart to get the lower deck in, I scored and snapped it down the middle and installed in 2 halves.  I gave a quick varnish to the temporary baseboard using an aerosol can just to make wiping down easier. It's a temp base so wasn't fussy on finish.
 

 
 
The YouTube Video
 
 
 
Well, my Christmas holidays are over after today so progress will become more sporadic again.
 
Cheers
Slog

Hi Richmond,
 
Enjoy your extra week! I agree, I was hoping to be further along also, at least have the main decks glued in placed!
 
My baseboard is 200mm wide and with the hull being 124mm (according to the box) I should be able to 'lay' it on it's side (with suitable rolled up protection) if need be.
 

Thanks for all the likes and comments.
 
Part 5 is now done.
 
For mounting the hull I used M5 nuts and bolts, which will allow me to use Pontos pedestals as shown in Richmond’s log if I choose to when it comes time to mount the ship permanently.
 

 
 
I made a temporary baseboard with 12mm MDF, a couple of wood strip glued to the 2 long sides and some 18mm wood dowel. This allows me to work on the ship without worrying about knocking bits off when manhandling it.
 

 
 
To allow me to mount the ship in a semi-permanent state I wanted to paint the lower hull.  After final wet sanding I wiped the hull down with IPA and then followed this with an automotive painters tack cloth.  The grey 1500 primer showed up some rough areas at the stern and bow.  This was cleaned up with a wet sand using 2000 grit wet & Dry.
 
 

 
 
I started airbrushing on Tamiya Lacquer paint dull red but it was becoming tedious so blasted the hull with Tamiya aerosol TS-33 dull red and achieved satisfactory results to me.
 

 
 
Then it was on to the 6” guns.  I used Richmond’s tip of dispensing the CA glue onto a candle which greatly extends it’s working time.
 

 
 
The pink Mr Surfacer 1500 was used to prime the guns, this was done before the decision to swap to the grey 1500 used for the hull.  The grey sprays the same as the black 1500 so was happy for the switch.
 

 
 
The guns were top coated with Tamiya’s lacquer LP-14, one of the 4 IJN arsenal paints.  This is the colour I will use throughout. Tamiya’s LP lacquer range is a joy to use.
 

 
 
Like Richmond I sprayed up the lower gun deck in case you can see past the 6” gun ports but more so for airbrush practice and to test the 2 linoleum colours for preference down the track, XF-79 & LP-17.
 
Rather than force the hull tops apart to get the lower deck in, I scored and snapped it down the middle and installed in 2 halves.  I gave a quick varnish to the temporary baseboard using an aerosol can just to make wiping down easier. It's a temp base so wasn't fussy on finish.
 

 
 
The YouTube Video
 
 
 
Well, my Christmas holidays are over after today so progress will become more sporadic again.
 
Cheers
Slog

Hi Jeff, your Mikasa is looking fantastic.  That's a really great idea for the rigging turnbuckles!
 
Cheers
Slog

Hi Richmond,
 
Enjoy your extra week! I agree, I was hoping to be further along also, at least have the main decks glued in placed!
 
My baseboard is 200mm wide and with the hull being 124mm (according to the box) I should be able to 'lay' it on it's side (with suitable rolled up protection) if need be.
 

Thanks for all the likes and comments.
 
Part 5 is now done.
 
For mounting the hull I used M5 nuts and bolts, which will allow me to use Pontos pedestals as shown in Richmond’s log if I choose to when it comes time to mount the ship permanently.
 

 
 
I made a temporary baseboard with 12mm MDF, a couple of wood strip glued to the 2 long sides and some 18mm wood dowel. This allows me to work on the ship without worrying about knocking bits off when manhandling it.
 

 
 
To allow me to mount the ship in a semi-permanent state I wanted to paint the lower hull.  After final wet sanding I wiped the hull down with IPA and then followed this with an automotive painters tack cloth.  The grey 1500 primer showed up some rough areas at the stern and bow.  This was cleaned up with a wet sand using 2000 grit wet & Dry.
 
 

 
 
I started airbrushing on Tamiya Lacquer paint dull red but it was becoming tedious so blasted the hull with Tamiya aerosol TS-33 dull red and achieved satisfactory results to me.
 

 
 
Then it was on to the 6” guns.  I used Richmond’s tip of dispensing the CA glue onto a candle which greatly extends it’s working time.
 

 
 
The pink Mr Surfacer 1500 was used to prime the guns, this was done before the decision to swap to the grey 1500 used for the hull.  The grey sprays the same as the black 1500 so was happy for the switch.
 

 
 
The guns were top coated with Tamiya’s lacquer LP-14, one of the 4 IJN arsenal paints.  This is the colour I will use throughout. Tamiya’s LP lacquer range is a joy to use.
 

 
 
Like Richmond I sprayed up the lower gun deck in case you can see past the 6” gun ports but more so for airbrush practice and to test the 2 linoleum colours for preference down the track, XF-79 & LP-17.
 
Rather than force the hull tops apart to get the lower deck in, I scored and snapped it down the middle and installed in 2 halves.  I gave a quick varnish to the temporary baseboard using an aerosol can just to make wiping down easier. It's a temp base so wasn't fussy on finish.
 

 
 
The YouTube Video
 
 
 
Well, my Christmas holidays are over after today so progress will become more sporadic again.
 
Cheers
Slog

All standing rigging is done!

Now for yards and gaffs!

Thanks for the compliment, hope this works for anyone else trying it. 👍 was just a rush of blood to the head. 😂 So made a start to main mast today, show how I did alterations. 🤛