Mirabell61

thank you very much Nigel, for your appreciation and I`m glad you like the plating Nils

Good morning Denis, Thank you very much for your appreciation,... it takes some time to get all those plates in the right positions and in alignment, whereby the rivet joints must be stagered in vertical direction. Am now downwards at hight of the bilge keels... the shaft housings and the tailcone are a bit tricky.. Nils

Hi Dave, many thanks for you nice words, you are very wellcome and I`m glad you are aboard.. Nils

Thank you Michael, yes, the riveting / joining of those steel plates was probably the only technique 118 years ago for seagoing steelship building before the welding technique took over. I thought that somehow it should be possible ta catch a bit of that "atmosphere". Here are two samples of "Titanic`s" rivets...borrowed from the web Nils

Many thanks to Bob (Rafine), Dan, Bill, and Bob (cap`n), and all the "likes" for your appreciations and your nice and encouraging comments... Bob (Rafine), Thanks, the hull painting session wo`nt be so far away. I`m trying to evaluate if the underwater part should rather be in a brownish copper Color or in brick red, and the overwater hull in black or rather in anthrazit (dark Grey, like charcoal), All Colors in dull surface appeal Dan, Thanks for your Input relating to the foil in copper material. I have now, in order to avoid this uncertain Situation (enough or not) , unrolled the remaining stock on the roll and 99% find it will be enough left, if I avoid to produce much scrap Bill, you`re very wellcome aboard the KWdG`s shipyard, I`ll be happy having you supervising the build from Idaho Bob (cap`n) thanks for the Information, the foil has to be a certain thickness (withstand poncing without penetrating) , and the gluefilm is a very Special one that holds on "like hell", once applied to the Underground. I just had bought a small roll of self adhesive Aluminium tape from my regional Aldi-Market, to try it out, but that stuff is unfortunately too thin, and the glue dos`nt suit my requirements Nils

Hi Patrick, I`ve been thinking, just for that reason, of spray painting several times already, but spraying from a pressurized can now and then sprays little drops of paint, that do`nt vaporize sufficiently. I also made some trials with resin based dull surface and soft brush application, that drys down to a smooth homogen surface. Will probably do it that way..., also you may have experienced yourself already, that a little too long duration on a surface area brings "running leak noses", and removing these is very frustrating. For this build I intend to spray on a special clear color primer bonder, that is supposed to bring a super bonding of paint on (even shiny) aluminium surfaces without special pre-surface-treatment. If that works out like it should I`ll be be totally happy. A little care is necessary with the masking (hull waterline) in places where the masking covers the plating overlapping edges. In that case I use special thin paper based, self adhesive, soft lining tape, so far with good results Nils

Thanks S.Coleman, welcome to the build, glad you like it... Nils

A little update on the plating job.... the plates are are rubbed down on the wooden planking by meams of a soft erazor untill all the overlapping joints are thoroughly pressed down, so there will be no trapped air-boils underneath, The rubber debris from the erazor is then wiped away with a soft brush, before the next stripe goes on Nils The table guillotine is very handy for straight, clean cuts

Thank you very much Matija, your nice comment is much appreciated..., yet the model is not completed, but not far to go any more Nils

Thank you very much Bob, I`m a bit anxious because the adhesive foil is slowly coming to an end and I have`nt managed to get appr. new foil yet. Will Need to do some telephoning in the coming week Nils

Thanks Mike, very nicely said......, it gives me a little encouraging uplift under the wings again, Dankeschön Nils

Thank you Kester, in answer to your question and the damaged KWdG, I borrowed this information from the web`s available "Norway Heritage Site".... Description of the collision between the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse and the Orinoco off Cerburg in November 1906: On November 21st, 1906 the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse (Capt. O. Cuppers) which was bound from Bremen to New York, called at Southampton, and then crossed to Cherbourg, where 170 1st class passengers were embarked. When she left Cherbourg shortly after 8 o'clock, she carried 330 1st class, 350 2nd class, and 700 3rd class (steerage) passengers. The Orinoco, bound from Southampton to the West Indies and New York, had 60 1st class passengers, and four in the 2nd cabin. After leaving Cherbourg she was to call at Vigo to embark a number of emigrants for the West Indies and South America. According to one account there was a dense fog, and the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse steamed slowly through the channel leading out of the roadstead, in charge of the French pilot, who was to be dropped off the Casquets. According to another report the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse was rounding the head of the dyke when her Captain perceived the Orinoco and gave two blasts of his whistle as a signal for the Orinoco to keep to starboard. The Orinoco, the report ads, did not respond and the signal was repeated from the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, but still the Orinico did not change her course, and almost immediately afterward crashed into the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse's starboard bow. The Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse was according to the report going at a rate of 18 knots, while the Orinoco was only steaming 3 knots. Capt. Cuppers of the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse was also blamed for discharging the pilot before the vessel was clear of the harbor. The majority of the 3rd class passengers, who were berthed forward, had gone below to arrange their belongings, and many had already retired in anticipation of sea-sickness in the Channel. The 1st class passengers had finished dinner, and many were on deck. Suddenly the outlines of a steamer loomed through the fog on the star board bow of the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, not more than a hundred feet away. The Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse instantly altered her course, but the vessel, which proved to be the Orinoco entering the harbor, kept steadily on, and crashed into the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse with terrific force, driving her steel plates inward and killing four emigrants who were lying in there bunks. So powerful was the impact that the bow of the Orinoco remained locked in the side of the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse for several minutes. When the liners finally drew apart, it was found that a great hole had been driven in the side of the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, while her plates were twisted and bent for a considerable distance along the starboard side. The bow plates of the Orinoco were likewise broken for a distance of five feet, but the damage was much less Nils

Good work Dimitris, it must be fun to add and shape all those Details (and there are plenty of them...) Nils

Hi Mike, love your deck, very nice and accurate work, those cut and milled openings also are very precise.. Nils

Hi Nenad, I like your way of cladding / paneling the deckhousings, Looks very good... Nils

Thank you for your nice comment David, and yes of course the rivets are a bit oversized at scale 1:144, but as I wanted them to be this way, I`m not worried at all. The Skin appeal will be same as my other plated "riveted" models. With the KWdG I`m quite pleased with the look. The riveting is well visible, even after the paint is on and in appr. 1 m distance. The port side is now plated down to the waterline. Nils

Good work Patrick, the hull Looks very elegant... Nils

Many thanks for your Kind appreciations Pete and Nenad, knowing that the rivets may be a bit large in scale, I simply like my model to show them this way. Trust it does`nt look too much out of the way after all.... Nils

Thanks for your nice comment Patrick, Nils

Bob, planking and treenailing, what wonderful and beautiful work, I love it... Nils

Build log part 21 Update : begin of metal-plating..... after determining the positions and hights of the horizontal belts with the dummy tapes, the metal plating can begin. I chose the technique with leaving a gap between first and third belt, and then mounting the second overlapping the other two in the riveting areas. The downward next shall be done likewise..... The rivets are ponced with modul 0,5 watchmakers toothwheel (single-row and tripple-row) Nils Unfortunately I do`nt have a close up pic of the KWdG riveting, but this is showing a close up of the "Imperator`s" plating single- and tripple row ponce toothwheels, modul 0,5 larger plates around the stern... shows the gap between first and third belt for withstanding the high stresses in length direction, here the second belt`s edges bears riveting fields on top and bottom. The middle section of that belt will take the portholes afterwards the hull rails are not overplated

the start is made Patrick, and Progress is well under way.... Nils

Many thanks for your Input to Dan, Druxey and Bob, I`ll be haveing eyes open for better historic close up photos of the hull.... Perhaps Peter (Mr. Hollom) has a better Detail pic of the riveting, as he has built the wonderful 1:100 scale model for a museum Nils

Thanks Dan, having those pics from the web as well, I was asking myself the same question with ref. to the time of build...(year 1897), perhaps with sunk rivet heads.... ? unfortunately I have no close ups. The two enclosed pic (when zoomed up on the Monitor) look like there were rivetheads. Perhaps some fellow builder would have Close up historical pics he or she would like to share with me... I made up my decision for showing rivet heads, like there can be seen with RMS Titanic, many years later Nils