shipmodel

Hi Chuck - Breeching rope looks good, and the rest of the carronade is up to your usual excellent standards. I don't know if you have seen this, but E.W. Cooke did a drawing of a 12-pounder carronade on an English brig of war in the mid 1800s. Although I usually trust an artist to reproduce what he sees, the breaching rope here sure looks like there wouldn't be much recoil allowed, unless the excess line is coiled at the bulwark. Following along with interest. Dan

Congratulations, Grant. She is a beautiful build. The photos of the ends really demonstrate your fidelity to engineering and construction methods. The deck shots show your fine artistic use of wood colors and contrasts. Bravo. Dan

Hi Druxey - Always a pleasure to watch you work. I have long wanted to do a similar ceremonial barge, but my questionable skills at the final decorative fiddly bits always held me back. I have a handy supply of popcorn and Makers Mark and have settled in to enjoy. I am wondering how you will make the butt joints between planks in each strake. In full size practice they are beveled scarfs pinned with the same rivets as the lap between the planks. Are your joints going to lie on the ribs that you will install later? Dan

Hi Grant - I join with everyone else in admiring your deadeyes. Very nice work. Sorry about the chainplates. At least they gave out now rather than when you tried to rig the shrouds. There is a lot of stress here, and soldering, even silver soldering has never held up for me. Here is how I worked out the issue on the Queen Anne's Revenge, whose chainplates look a lot like yours: The upper hook is narrowed to fit the loop of the deadeye strop. Once the deadeye is installed the loop is closed and soldered. It is also strengthened by being sandwiched between the channel and the cap molding so it cannot open. I did not have any failures during rigging. I really enjoy your log and how you are solving the problems that come up. Thanks for sharing. Dan

Hi Ken - Looking really good. Nice work on the wolf-hounds. From experience I suggest that you locate and dry-fit the catheads before working out the top rail. They fit together and the location of the cathead has a major influence on the size and shape of that top rail. Dan

Tom - Looks like it could go either way. Looking forward to seeing how it comes out. Be well Dan

Tom - Thanks for showing the artwork. To my mind this does not look like a cannon muzzle, but perhaps a wooden framework that the canvas was mounted to. The circle with outward rays was a common pattern for glass windows at the time. It is very different from the artist's drawing of the cannon in the port on the right. A wooden framework could also solve the problem of how to secure the canvas in the port since it did not have to roll down. The photo is of the reconstructed L'Hermione. Dan

Hi Nils and Happy New Year to you too. I will be following along this coming year and looking forward to many excellent developments. Be well Dan

Hi Tom - Just looked over this log and was quite impressed. You are getting excellent results technically and artistically, and with full attention to historic accuracy. Bravo. I am no Constitution expert, and I have not looked at any of the artwork that was mentioned, but I am wondering about those canvas gunport covers. The reason for canvas rather than wood, I would think, was so the captain could roll them down a bit to get some air without having to open them fully, or at least halfway by removing the upper split cover. In that case, would there have been a hole, or would the cannon be stowed inboard somewhere with a solid canvas curtain to cover the port? Just my brain spinning along. If I am way off base, just ignore this. Be well Dan

Hi all. Yes, i think my customer will be pleased. With some small exceptions I am happy with it too, which is not the same thing at all. Tom - I go over my flag method in the Queen Anne's Revenge log. It is spelled out in some length on page 11, but here is a shorter version: I find a digital image of the flag on the net and import it into my PhotoShop program. I use an older, middle priced version called Elements 10, but there are lots of similar programs which can do similar things. In PhotoShop I resize the image and then skew down the outer end of the flag so it becomes a parallelogram. Doing this allows the flag to hang more naturally, without a buildup of material at the lower inside corner. Here is a screen capture of the PhotoShop program with the Image/Transform/Skew menus opened and the original and skewed images of the flag shown. Then it is just a question of selecting the material that fits my scale; silkspan here and batik for the QAR. I do print it out onto a test piece of paper first, using just a home inkjet printer. I tape a smaller piece of silkspan over the image, then print again over the top. It gets sealed, then cut out with a little extra to secure it to the halyard, hung and curled till I like the look. Hope that explains it. Thanks again for the compliments and for following along. Be well. Dan

Build Log 15 – Final Details Hi and Happy New Year to all, and thanks as ever for the likes and comments. This will be the last installment of this build log, covering the final details that add another level of interest to the model. Many of these are elements that can be changed at the discretion of the captain, so I used as my guide the photographs taken at the time of the sinking. The first detail was the wires for the short wave radio antenna. These do not show up very well in photographs since they are so thin. On the plans they are shown, but not separated from the mast support wires. Close examination of various photographs show that not all of these wires were installed on the actual ship. Presumably the antenna wires changed as the radio was upgraded during the life of the ship. There is a cylindrical structure on the starboard side of the Sun Deck just aft of the Command Deck area. Several wires lead to it so, although it is never identified, it is clearly part of the radio system. Without any clear guide, I decided to include three wires for the antenna. Two lead from near the top of the mast to thin poles at the aft ends, port and starboard, on the Lido Deck. The antenna wires are separated from the poles by short lines with three insulators. These were made by mixing white paint with white glue, then attaching small drops to the line with a toothpick. Several coats were needed since the glue shrinks as it dries and had to be filled out again. The third line runs from a bit lower on the mast to the top of the funnel. All three lines are then connected to the radio fitting with vertical lines. All of the radio wires were made from fine embroidery linen in an off-white tone. I tried several other materials and colors, but this gave the best look, in my opinion. It is light enough to show up in most light, but thin enough not to be overpowering. In photographs of the ship taken on different days, there appear or disappear various sets of canvas railing cloths to protect the passengers from sea spray. These were hung on the outside of the railings and laced to them. On the day of the sinking there were railing cloths up to the level of the boat deck and around the command deck. I modeled the cloths with stiffened batik fabric cut to fit and glued against the appropriate railings. Unfortunately, once everything was dry the fabric proved too transparent, and had to be given a coat of opaque white acrylic. But the glue proved too strong and I risked damage to the rails, so the first ones had to be hand painted on the model, while I could paint later ones before installation. Live and learn, eh? I was surprised at how much of a visual difference the cloths made to the overall appearance of the model, especially when viewed from amidships. Here are before and after photos. The passengers were also protected from the weather and sun by canvas awnings supported by metal frames, although no photo shows the awnings spread. Perhaps that was only done in port. The simple frames on the Lido deck are mostly hidden behind the lifeboats, so I did not model them, but the aft taffrail deck was set up with a large awning over a complicated and interesting metal frame. It would be a nice element to include. The frame was made up of four flat arches of differing widths set across the deck and tilting down from forward to aft. They were connected to each other with a straight bar running along the centerline. For the model the frames were bent up from 0.030” brass rod. Getting them to fit predrilled holes in the deck and still have the correct arch took a lot of trials and even more errors. Once they were shaped the problems first started. I planned to solder them together in a jig, then electroplate them in chrome. I was spectacularly unsuccessful. Once soldered in the jig, the assembly bent and/or came apart as it was removed. Several times. Metalworking skills are not my strong suit. I never even attempted electroplating. The final solution was to mount the arches on the model with the connecting bar attached with small dots of epoxy. Once everything was set in place the deck was protected with a piece of paper toweling and the brass was hand painted with primer then silver acrylic paint. Happily, it turned out to be quite strong and convincingly metallic. Some small details were added around the ship. A dozen green storage bins were scattered around, a searchlight was installed on the aft end of the Promenade Deck near the third class pool, and photoetched life preserver rings were mounted outside of the railing cloths on the boat deck. Ensign staffs were mounted at the extreme bow and stern. All of these give the model a bit more 'texture' and realism. It was finally time, a year after laying the keel, to hang the flag on the ship and get her ready for launch. It was made in my usual way by printing out a skewed image of the flag. At this scale the material was silkspan, which is transparent enough that I did not have to print the reverse side. It was hung on a halyard running from the tip of a gaff to a cleat on the base of the mast, then misted with water and gently curled. There was one final detail to attend to. You may have noticed in earlier photographs of the first and second class pools that a clock was mounted on the overhang at the forward end of each area. I made them up from 1/10” o.d. brass tubing filled with a wooden dowel. After flush sanding the wood the brass bezel was chamfered on a sanding belt. The wooden face was painted white. Tiny black dots for the numbers were touched on with the tip of a sharpened toothpick. With my finest 10/0 brush the hands were put on. The extreme close-up photos show that I was less than perfect, but with the entire clock being less than 1/8" in diameter, I have reached the limits of my talents. The clocks are set to 11:05 p.m. In five minutes the lives of Linda Morgan’s parents, sister, and dozens of others will end and she will be thrust into unwanted publicity. In just five minutes. But for now, in miniature, she sails off the workbench to the customer. I hope you liked the journey despite my sometimes clunky sense of humor. I will post a photo tour of the finished model when I can. Until then . . . Be well Dan

Hi Ken, and Happy New Year - The detail work is coming along very nicely. Congratulations. As for the carved canines (hounds has another nautical meaning), you might try stiffening them with Minwax wood hardener before doing more detailed carving. It dries clear and does not seem to interfere with gluing strength. It makes carving a bit harder, but significantly reduces breaking along the grain. Of course, test on some scrap before letting the dogs out. Be well Dan

Hi Ken - Belaying was always somewhat flexible and could be changed at the discretion of the captain. So if you want to add kevils, that would not be an inconsistent thing to do. That said, I have rarely seen a lot of kevils on a ship this small. For what it is worth, Lees has a belaying chart for a Frigate of about 1810 which gives the belaying point for the fore yard lift as being "Fore jeer bitts". The main yard lift goes to the "Second pin of the main pin rail". The crossjack yard only has a truss pendant and braces, since it did not move up and down. The model of the Rattlesnake by William Hitchcock, which I have seen a few photos of, has pinrails and shroud cleats, although there could be some kevils which are not in view. Your ship, captain. Your choice. Dan

Hi Mark - That planking is coming along very nicely, and that is not easy with the odd shape of French hulls from that period. Well done Dan

Teriffic progress. The black really sets off the lettering and the portholes. Sweeeet. Dan

May she be healthy and strong and back in your loving arms soon. Dan

Hi Michael - Really nice hinges. I used a similar method to make working hinges for the companionway door of a yacht America model some time ago. I do not have your skill with a jeweler's saw, so I used a length of soft iron wire inside to form the hinge barrels, and then cut straight through the whole thing with a metal cutting blade in the Preac. I think they came out pretty well. Either great minds think alike, or fools rarely differ, whichever one applies. :-)) Dan

Beautiful work, Nils, especially the bow decorations. Is your sailor cursing the gods or just shielding his eyes from the sun? Dan

G'day all - And I say that because three of the comments are from Oz, and the other from Canada. Hard to remember how hard it was to make a long distance call to the next state, and now it is routine to be mates with friends halfway around the world. Amazing . . . Greg - yes, I will post a link and set it up on my profile. John - I did put in a binnacle, but I have no idea if the telegraph is right. It just seemed that the spot needed something, although it could have been a telephone station. etc. . . I never found any clear evidence, and I am not enough of an ocean liner expert to know. Never even heard the term "monkey island" before, but it's a perfect description. Dan

Build log 14 – lookout mast and command deck Thanks, as always, for the likes and comments. Greg, I’m sorry too that it is coming to an end, but I will be back with another project sometime soon. Happy that you have been enjoying the voyage. The final major visual component of the ship is the tall mast that supports the lookout post, radar position, and a searchlight platform. It was also used to hang the radio wires as well as signal and display flags. As you can see, it reaches way up, to almost three times the height of the funnel. From the plans the basic dimensions were taken, as well as the sizes and locations of the radar, lookout, and searchlight stations. The mast itself is tapered, but seems to have a number of steps, rather than a continuous surface. The gaff for the flag halyard is shown, but not the large and small yards that cross the mast. There are a few small fittings whose shape and purpose have yet to be determined. This is the best detailed photo of the mast. Although the searchlight is hidden behind the cargo crane, the rest of the details are pretty clear, including a horn on the starboard side of the mast below the lookout station, and a small fitting, still unclear, to port. The two spars can be clearly seen, so their sizes and locations were taken from the photo and not the plans. The mast was built up from 6 lengths of thin brass tubing that telescoped into each other, topped by a final section of brass rod. Where they come together the larger, lower, tubing was tapered so there would not be a distinct step between sections. These were soldered together to match the plans. The base was filled with a wooden dowel so a brass rod could be inserted to support the mast on the model. 1/8” and 1/16” brass rods made up the spars. They were given a double taper in the drill press by grinding with a stone wheel in a Dremel. The high grinding speed achieved by positioning the rotations against each other made quick work of the job. The surfaces were smoothed with a fine file to prepare them for soldering. First, a 1/8” half-round channel was ground across the mast and the lower spar was soldered into it. A second channel, 1/16” wide, was ground into an upper segment for the topmast spar. Using just a scrap of wood and a few clamps the upper spar was held down on the same plane as the lower spar and soldered into place. Unfortunately, only after everything was solid and true did I review the photo to discover that although the upper spar is mounted to the front of the mast, as if it were a sailing ship, the lower spar mounts to the back of the mast. This must have been to allow room for the crew to climb an internal ladder to the lookout platform. I thought that I might have to scrap the mast already made, but I was able to unsolder one of the joints between the two spars and rotate the top 180 degrees, which fixed the problem. The lookout station was built up from a flat base with a section of tubing above it. The back ends of both were cut and ground to fit tightly against the mast. This was detailed with a rim of half-round strip at the top edge, and two small support triangles below. The radar platform has a base made in a similar way, with 4-bar railing wrapped around it and a Bluejacket casting of a radar dish cleaned up and detailed. The radar post was too short, according to the photos, so it was removed and a taller shaft was fashioned from plastic tube. The horn and the other fitting were made up and inserted into holes drilled in the mast below the lookout station. A tapered brass rod made up the flag gaff. In the photos I could see a flat tongue that extended out from under the radar platform. I have seen similar fittings above lookout posts on other ships that do not have radars, so this must have something to do with the lookouts. Perhaps it provides a way to block the glare of direct sunlight, but I just don’t know. Perhaps one of you with more experience with liners can fill me in. The searchlight platform was constructed in a very similar manner. I used a casting for the searchlight, adding a bar on top. The reflector was ground smooth with a round carving bitt, the unpainted white metal making a convincing silver appearance. The central light source is a tiny nail inserted into a hole in the reflector and touched with black paint for contrast. The bronze color for the body of the searchlight may not be strictly correct, but it makes the fitting stand out in a way that I like. So here is the finished mast, painted and installed. At the base of the mast, the forward end of the Sun Deck is separated by a railing and has a number of fittings and structures. I call it the Command Deck, but this is just my personal notation. Here is the best photo that I found, which is not too good. Further enlargement pixillates it and the detail is lost; reduction makes it impossible to see those details. It is clear that the Command Deck has a different surface than the rest of the decking, but what it is made of is unclear. On the deck there are six elements in addition to the mast. First, an oval structure which looks to be surrounded by railing in a position usually reserved for a captain’s post. In the forward starboard corner is a radar with a flat receiver, seen better in the earlier photo of the mast. The rest are open for interpretation and speculation. The plans are not much help. In the deck plan there are just three elements shown with the mast along the centerline. The captain’s oval shaped station is forward. Next is a cross in a circle, which from other evidence seems to be a radio direction finder, I think. Behind the mast is a rectangular fixture whose purpose never became clear, and which never appeared in detail in any photograph. The deck is shown planked like the rest of the Sun Deck, which is clearly not how it was. In profile, the plans show the radar and the radio direction finder, but nothing else. I was just going to paint the Command Deck a light grey to match the lifeboat covers until I found this photo. At first glance, the fact that all of the handrails were at the same height led me to believe that the Command Deck was flush with the level of the Sun Deck. But then I noticed, in the red circle, that the corner of the deck is raised about a step above the Sun Deck level and built up inside the railings. This one small view, out of all of the plans and photographs of the ship, was the only indication of this construction detail. This is why I go back and back to the photographs, and I still get things wrong. After making a paper pattern I cut out a sheet of plastic 1mm (8 scale inches) thick and laid it in place inside the railings. On it are my interpretations of the several elements. The captain’s post has a telegraph and a binnacle. The radar sits on a tripod mast. The radio direction finder was made up from a brass rod and two split rings cut apart and soldered together. The rest are shaped to match my interpretations of what I can see in the photos. They match the shapes and sizes, although I am far from certain what their exact nature and functions are. With the Command Deck done I could add the shrouds to the mast without them getting in the way. There are three to each side, with the lowest being the thickest and mounted furthest forward. Each was secured to the deck under tension with a turnbuckle as seen in the photos. Since these turnbuckles are less than ¼” tall, I made them up simply, but I think they give a fairly convincing appearance. The turnbuckles are secured to the deck with very small eyebolts that still have to be quite strong and secure. Here is how I made them. I have explained this in other build logs, but the method works so well that I thought I would go over it again. I cannot claim that this is entirely my development, just a small improvement over what others have come up with. Soft iron wire is cut into lengths about 1 ½” long. When I have 20 or so they are held together and bent in the middle to form tight “U” shapes. The legs of one are slid into the blade slot of a hobby knife handle and tightened. As long as the legs do not cross each other inside the handle the wire cannot be pulled out easily. It is the use of the handle that is my new wrinkle. Not a great advance, but it works for me. A drill bitt of the desired inside diameter of the eyebolt is selected and secured upside down in a vise with the shank sticking up about half an inch. The wire is looped over the bitt. Pulling back gently to maintain tension, the handle is rotated to start the twist that forms the shank of the eyebolt. The twist is continued, under tension, until the wire tightens around the drill bitt and the twisted shank reaches the head of the handle. Using the handle allows me to spin up the shank very easily and quickly, much more so than other tools that I have seen used for the same purpose. The formed eyebolt can now be slid off the drill bitt and released from the handle. Once you have the technique down, it takes only a few seconds to make one up from the bent wire to the finished eyebolt. This one has an i.d. of 0.030” and was made with wire 0.015” thick. I have made them even smaller, and much larger, using this same method. To use the eyebolt, the shank is clipped to the desired length and secured in a hole with a drop of glue. The twists in the wire help the glue grip the shank, forming a very strong rigging point even when the shank is less than 1/8” long. I wanted the shrouds to look like steel cable, so that is what I used. Accu-Flex beading wire is made of multiple stainless steel fibers covered in plastic. It comes in diameters from 0.024” down to 0.012”, which is thin enough for anything I have ever needed. A 30 ft. spool is less than $5, and 100 feet is under $10. It is available in a range of colors and metals to suit any need. The disadvantage to beading wire is that it is so stiff that any sharp bend in it forms a kink that does not go away. However, if gently handled it makes very realistic metal cables. To make up a turnbuckle, one end of the wire was threaded through an eyebolt and folded back on itself. A small section of brass tube was cut and painted, then slid down to form the body. In larger scales I have further detailed the fitting, but this is so small that it was not necessary. The excess wire was trimmed off and the shaft of the eyebolt cut to length. This first turnbuckle was secured into a hole in the edge of the deck. On the other side the corresponding eyebolt was installed without the turnbuckle. I had previously drilled three holes through the mast at the attachment points for the shrouds. When the eyebolts were set and the glue dry the cable was fed through the appropriate hole in the mast. A turnbuckle body was slid on and up and the free end of the cable was led through the empty eyebolt. Pulling up strongly to tension the system the cable was crimped around the eyebolt. The free end was threaded back up through the turnbuckle body, which was slid down to trap the end without releasing the tension. Drops of glue secured the second turnbuckle and the excess cable was trimmed. A stay was made up in a similar way from the largest beading wire and run from near the top of the mast to an eyebolt and turnbuckle in the bow. The rigging to the mast was finished with lifts for the spars and the ensign gaff. The beading wire was too stiff to make tiny knots, so polished threads were used, then painted with steel colored enamel. Here is the finished and rigged mast. It is best seen if you click on the photo to enlarge it. In the photo you can see some of the lines for the shortwave radio antenna. In the next segment I will go into them and some of the other penultimate details of the model. Be well Dan

Really coming along well, Charlie - I love that fact that you are checking your hull shape so often, and checking, and checking, and checking. That's the only way to make sure you get it right, or at least how you catch mistakes before they pile up on each other. For the planking, have you considered an outer planking layer of veneer, then a middle layer of 1/16" wood for strength and to build up the thickness of the bulwark, and a final inner layer of veneer planking. That might eliminate the need for a carved notch along the length of the hull to fair the outer planks to the hull. Just another way to go. Dan

Hi Michael - There should be a term for that senior moment when I realize that the glasses that I am looking for are perched on my head !! Outstanding metal work, as usual. When you get all your photos together, it would be great if you could post your lessons here, or maybe even turn them into a book. Just get together with Bob Friedman at Seawatch Books and see what he says. I know I would be at the head of the line to buy it. Be well Dan

Cristiano - Thanks so much for pointing me to the site. The brochure confirmed that most of what I built is pretty accurate, so there is nothing that I have to rip out and replace. I have bookmarked the site and will certainly refer back to it when I do my next ocean liner. Dan

Build Log 13 - Cargo cranes Thanks to all who looked in, and for the compliments that I am not sure I deserve. During construction it felt like I was just muddling through, taking shortcuts that a truly dedicated modeler would avoid. This is the curse of the commissioned model – it has to get done without spending the rest of my life on it. Glad you liked the results, though. Next to be detailed was the cargo deck at the bow. This area contains two deck houses which are mostly companionways and for ventilation; two raised cargo hatches with multi-part covers; and two cargo cranes with four booms and four corresponding winches for the lifting cables. Here is how it looks on the deck plans: Photos of the area and the cranes are surprisingly scarce. With several upper decks looking over the working area I expected to find many photos, as I have seen with other ships. In fact, I found none of any detail or resolution from that angle. This is the best that I found, taken from above during the sinking, so I just went with what I could figure out. The deck houses are basswood sheathed with plastic, the portholes are my usual tiny grommets, and the watertight doors are photoetched aftermarket items. The raised cargo hatches are simple wooden platforms topped with plastic sheet. The hatch seams are scribed into the plastic after painting. The eight winches are Scott style and are cleaned up and detailed Bluejacket castings. All of the structures and fittings got margin plank strips in the usual way. These are the best photos that I could find of the cranes themselves and the cargo booms. Not a great deal of detail, but I puzzled out what I could and made educated guesses for the rest. Based on the number of cables running from the pulleys it looks like the cargo masts are fitted with a single block near the top that connects to a single block on the upper end of the boom. A similar single block is under the end of the boom, whose cable runs below the boom to a block on the mast near the deck. Here is the result. The booms were built up from brass rod slid through a sleeve of brass tube. Holes were drilled in the rods near the outer ends for the twisted wire strops of the cargo blocks, also Bluejacket castings. The booms attach to the mast with a pair of linked eyebolts that allow movement in all directions. The mast is a brass tube with a wooden dowel through it. This allowed me to insert a sturdy brass rod in the bottom to secure it to the deck, and to taper the upper end as seen in the photos. Three narrow brass bands were sliced off and attached to the mast tube. These support the photoetched ladder that you can just see mounted on the inner side of the mast. Plastic support lugs were shaped and attached as seen in the photos, although I do not know what their use was. Four single blocks were installed at the top and four double blocks at the bottom. The entire structure was topped with a complicated cap which may have some ventilation purpose, or maybe not. It was pieced together with three discs punched out from plastic sheet and twelve pieces of styrene strip, six in each layer. The masts and booms were primed and painted gloss white before being installed in the center of the crowd of deck winches. Cable of 0.008 polished threads were run through the pulley blocks and around the barrels of the winch heads. Cradles for the booms were made up from “L” angle strips of styrene with hollows for the tips, then installed on top of the curved deck house and the forward bulwark of the Upper Deck house. The cables were run loosely until the booms were secured in the cradles, then everything was tightened and trimmed. Given the lack of photos, I’m not completely sure that all the details are correct, but I believe that they are as close as reasonably possible. At the stern the cargo hatches are smaller and flush with the decks. Their locations and sizes are shown on the plans but do not show up on any of the photos that I found. So I made them simply by running strips of margin plank with mitered corners to define the perimeters of the hatch covers. No need to fill the centers since the eye cannot resolve such small changes in height. The cranes for these hatches are complicated assemblies, but very prominent features, so I could not skimp on them. They are made up from a wide base with a vertical cylindrical post that supports a second smaller platform. A winch and electric motor on the base raise the “A” frame arm, while a smaller winch and motor control the lifting cable and hook. At the front of the base is a platform for the winch controls and an electric panel box. Here are the two views from the plans which were used to determine the heights and sizes for the various elements of the crane. The base was made up from hardwood pieces with two discs of plastic to raise the base above the lip of the deck perimeter. The winches and electric motors were made up from various castings that were cut apart, trimmed and refined before small plastic and wood elements were added to match what I thought I saw in the photos. A length of aluminum tube was fitted into the base to make the vertical post, and a platform of thin hardwood was drilled and cut to slide down it. The winches and motors were added, as was the winch control, another Bluejacket casting. The electrical box was a tiny bit of wood, as was the fitting that housed to the pulleys at the top of the post. Sorry that this is not a better photo, but I must have been too busy building the crane to check the focus. The base and platforms were painted white, as were the railings, while the post, the motors and winches were silver with green and black details. The lifting arms are made of brass rods with two cross-members soldered between them to make a strong unit. Two other cross members were made up from plastic rod since they would not be under any stress. A tripod support, as seen in the photos, was made up from brass wires soldered to a bit of brass strip and painted white. Cables were run from the winches and a hook hung from the business end. The final piece was a curved cover for the pulley sheaves at the top of the post. Here is this one finished and installed as seen from the other angle. And here are the four as they look on the completed model. Not too many segments left. The end is in sight. Dan

Hi Nils - You asked about figures for your model. I did a quick Google search for "1/144 scale figures" and got a bunch of hits. Preiser makes figures that scale both painted and unpainted. They are available from a number of hobby sites in Europe, mostly England, but I found one in Germany. Prices seem to be around 10 Euros for 18 unpainted figures or 6 painted ones. I know that I paid a good deal more for them here in the USA Hope that helps Dan