Mirabell61

With the ships boats finished it has been back to the last of the rigging all be it slowly as other things have taken up most of my time in the last few weeks,the fore sheets tack and clue lines and the main sheets tack and clue lines have been added and rigging done !!!
I am now making lots of rope coils to add to the belaying pins and all the other rigging termination points.

The ropes have been added to all the termination points, and the rudder chains fitted.

The anchors were made up I used some split washers for the rings and added the puddening and used black tape for the iron bands,the overall look of the anchors are fairly good,they were then fitted in place.
I then went right through the rigging and made a few tweaks and a bit of re-tensioning (as photos below)and tidying up,only one job left adding the boats.



Anchors added



 
A stay pulled out of shape
 
Re rigged stay

The Last Job
The ships boats were put into the cradles and tied down. JOB DONE.
Just the final photo shoot to do.
Which will not be until the end of November as we are on holiday for three weeks 3rd to the 22nd.
 
chocks for the small cutter

ready to tie down

Two boats tied down


 
Three tied down




All done




 
 

very nice Fitting out on deck Peter,
 
that opening companionway is just lovely....
 
Nils

Before final sanding the hull, I decided that it would be a good time to paint the counter. My experience with brush painting the color "red" has not been great. I decided to try my Paasche air brush. The paint used is W&N Crimson with some Burnt Umber mixed in. I have read somewhere here on MSW that acrylic paints can clog an airbrush. With that in mind, I thinned the paint to a slow drip and gave it a try. As a result, the airbrush never clogged and the paint flowed very smoothly. Since the fashion pieces are going to be black it wasn't necessary to tape off that area exactly. I'm thinking that it would be a good idea to wait until the cap rail and other pieces are in place around the fashion pieces before I paint with black.
 
While the paint was left to dry thoroughly, I started work on the stern post. It turned out that the area that the stern post is glued to was slightly off 90°, maybe by a 1/2°. This made getting a close fit on both sides a little tricky and I had to work for a few hours before I was satisfied with the fit. Once glued, I finished sanding the hull planking. The only other thing I wanted to do was to paint the red on the stern post. That was sprayed as well.
 

 

Hi all - 
 
Thanks for the likes and compliments, as always.  
 
Nils - they are 1/200 or 1/192 (1/16"), and they are not that great for their price.  I don't think I have a line on 1/144 scale figures.  I'll check some of my sources and get back to you if I find any.
 
Dan

Nigel - thanks for your observation. I guess I should have looked at the plans a little closer - my first mistake. I don`t think anyone would ever notice 1mm taper over the length of the stem anyway .
 
Nils - thank you very much.
 
Keith - thanks for the info.
 
Mark

A good start Mark,
 
wish you furtheron much fun and success with this lovely model
 
Nils

Hi Peter,
 
nice to hear from you, your last post was quite some time back, and thanks very much for dropping in, and for your nice comment I like....
I agree with your advice relating to the paint gloss, it somehow turned out quite bright on the appr. pic. (probably due to flashlight and fresh paint)
 
I am a little anxious to blend the color, as I probably would not be able to get / repeat the blending mixture, if I mix the color a bit lighter.
 
The black ought to be a dull black, no gloss at all, and the red is more a silk finish, when dry. For the black overwater hull section I have now found a suitable dull black oven paint. I am pleased with the black so far.
The little dummy here is the second trial, I have also added 3 dummy portholes, they turn out as I had intended, inserts flush wih the skin, and the "glassing" standing back a wee bit in the insert- tube. The inserts are from copper with galvanizesd tin surface and the ends that connect to the hull skin are tapered to the outside.
 
For taping and painting over the riveted skin areas, I shall be following Dirk`s reccomendation, when the Tamiya masking tape arrives
 
Nils
 

 
Dummy section for trial...
 
the black is nostalgic dull steel hull kook, the portholes (3 mm) are quite small in diameter, but doing them larger would be out of scale

little update..
 
- a look into the hull
- a trial for painting the hull
- the "riveting" of the bowpost
- "glassing" the porthhole inserts (procedure)
 
Nils
 
 
 
 

 
here a dive deep down into the ship`s belly
 

 
aft section with the two drive shafts coming to the inside
 
 

 
this is the tape I intend to use for taping the painting borderline (not pleased with it yet), will have to improve the technique. Also the black color should be more dull, will do next trial with dull black oven-paint. The critical part is to get a good tape contact over the rivet rows, so that the paint does`nt creep under the tape.
The red paint is RAL 3000, silk-surface glaze, when drying
 
 

 
 

 
bowpost "riveting" is done around the bend
 
 

 
Am quite pleased with the result....
 
 

 
here using trimming line for grass-cutter for the "glassing" of the portholes
 
 

 
Cutting off a length
 
 

 
ready for final trimming
 
 

 
cut off directly at the porthole insert. "Glass" surface will be sunk in appr. 0,6 mm afterwards into the tube

Build log part 23
 
 
little update
 
not much this time, but it keeps the wheel turning...
 
Nils
 
 

 
in this lower deck area there are the bulwark doors for the kay gangways
 
 

mended two misalignment portholes with wooden dowels and drilled new...
 
 

 
upper forecasle side-rail, and aft forecastle-deck bulwark
 
 

 
 
 
 

Hi Dan,
 
fantastic looking and built Details, you really have an eye for These Special touches.   In what scale are your Preiser figurines ?
 
For my KWdG I`m looking out for 1:144 figurines in 1900 turn of the century fashions. Preiser has beautiful Solutions though ,but they are only in scale 1:100, what a pitty 
 
Nils

Build log part 23
 
 
little update
 
not much this time, but it keeps the wheel turning...
 
Nils
 
 

 
in this lower deck area there are the bulwark doors for the kay gangways
 
 

mended two misalignment portholes with wooden dowels and drilled new...
 
 

 
upper forecasle side-rail, and aft forecastle-deck bulwark
 
 

 
 
 
 

Before retirement, Ivan was a real shipbuilder, working at the yard that maintains the Lake Constance fleet. He occassionally still works on restoration projects.

I am sure someone else will probably chime in Mark.As you know I have the plans and did scratchbuild the stem,keel and a few frames before putting the build on hold until my domestic situation resolves itself.From memory(the parts are in my storage unit)the prow tapers in both directions,downwards and towards the figurehead.I believe the section at the top touching the hull should be 8mm thick,but this tapers working downwards and forwards.This explains why your kit parts didn't match up.From memory (again) this is shown on the bow view on the sheer plan.
 
Kind Regards
 
Nigel

Thanks Brian. Having already built one Euromodel kit I kind of know what to expect.
 
Mark

I thought I would dry fit the false keel & stem before gluing the bulkheads & ran into a little problem. First the stem was broke in 2 places which was not a big issue - just glued it back together. The breaks were not in a spot that would be easily visible. Second - the false keel & stern post are 7mm thick but the stem piece is almost 8mm thick . After some work with the disc sander & a sanding block I got it down to the correct thickness.
 

 

 
Mark
 
 

Thanks guys. I have been following the other logs & am aware of some of the issues. I dry fitted the bulkheads to the keel former & found I had to make a few adjustments to the slots in the forward bulkheads like the rest of you. Also frame F is a little short at the top - will need to add a shim across the top. After making those adjustments everything lined up nicely.
 

 

 
Mark
 
 

Hi Dan,
 
thanks for dropping in and coming aboard the "Pamir"
I`m glad glad that you enjoyed the build log, together with the "Gorck Fock II" model These were my first two tallships.
I also very much enjoyed your super looking dioramas
 
Nils

Hi Dan,
 
fantastic looking and built Details, you really have an eye for These Special touches.   In what scale are your Preiser figurines ?
 
For my KWdG I`m looking out for 1:144 figurines in 1900 turn of the century fashions. Preiser has beautiful Solutions though ,but they are only in scale 1:100, what a pitty 
 
Nils

Hi Micheal, Piet and Dan,
 
many thanks for Kind comments and suggestions for the painting, that is very much appreciated.
Also many thanks to all the "likes"
 
Michael,
the trimming line bits are tapered a Little bit and then jamed and squeezed into the insert tubes. After that they will be cut off at the "porthole face" and then sinked in a bit. It`s the first time I do it this way (instead of portholes with flange) because the actual ship`s portholes were flush with the hull`s skin
 
Piet,
You seem have a lot of experience with the requirements for model painting. There is probably o lot of "learn by doing" involved in your techniques, and thanks so much for sharing this
 
Dan,
thanks for your sharing your method with the "rubber cement", that technique is also and absolute worth a  test Trial, will Keep in mind...., thanks for sharing
 
 
Nils

I'm following along and all I can think is "just unbelievable".   Wonderful work, Dan.

Dan I am enjoying all the details and research that you are chronicling in this build, beautiful work all round.
 
Michael

Build Log 12  –  2nd and 1st Class Pools
 
Good to see so many of you at the NRG conference last weekend.  There were lots of excellent models and interesting talks.  The tabletop demonstrations were done by master modelers, and I learned some new tricks to try on my own work.
 
Here is the next segment of the build log.  It is heavy on photos and light on text, so to get the full effect you can click on any of the photos and it should open in a larger and more detailed format.  You can scroll from there through them without the text if you want.
 
After finishing the 3d Class pool I moved onward and upward to the 2nd and 1st Class pools.  Here you can see them all together and the relationships between them and the rest of the ship.
 

 
The 2nd Class pool is tucked between two arms of the Boat Deck house and below the overhang of the Lido Deck.  On the plans it looks like this.  The pool is rectangular with an hourglass shaped with something unidentified across it.  The surround fills the space between the arms, with a wedge shaped aft end and two amoeba-like somethings on either side.  
 

 
Thanks to this and other photos I learned that the hourglass was a planked balance beam sort of thing which must have been fun to use in rough seas.  The amoebas turned out to be seating units that looked to be made of some cast material.  The surround was decorated with swirling lines in three shades.  I did not find a color photo, so I ultimately went with a simple selection of light grey, medium grey and black.
 

 
The pool tub was constructed as before, as was the surround.  A paper template was made up to determine the fit between the deck houses and the plastic piece cut and fit to match.  The hole for the pool was located and cut and the tub dropped in.
 

 
The bottom of the pool tub was painted a light blue.  I purposely left brush marks and areas of incomplete coverage which give the bottom some definition under the epoxy layers.  The surround was given an overall coat of very light grey, with random squiggly lines of medium grey and black painted on.  I did not have a complete look at the designs on the surround, so this is just an impression of what might have been.
 
I carved the seats from 1/8” hardwood for seats 24 inches high, and added backs of 3/32” tall plastic in the style seen in the photo.  I cannot swear that these seats are 100% accurate, but they are pretty close.
 

 
The balance beam was cut from styrene and topped with decking.  The handrails for the balance beam are taller than those for the ladders and face the other way.  All were installed before a second layer of epoxy was poured.  The assembly was installed and a margin plank fit around it. 
 
About a week later the top layer of epoxy started to get an ‘orange peel’ effect.  I have no idea why this happened.  I used the same product, Devcon 2-ton epoxy, in the same mixture as the other pools where this did not happen. 
 
It was too late to remove and replace the pool without causing major damage, so I tried to tone down the effect with a top layer of white glue, with only middling success.  I could not try anything else because the pool was already full so I left it.  The effect is not unpleasant, just different than the smooth surfaces of the other two pools.
 

 
The 1st Class pool is the largest and most complicated of the three, of course.  The plans show that it fits between two arms that extend aft from the Lido Deck house and under the overhang of the Sun Deck.  The construction of those arms are not clear, but they are not drawn as if they are solid.  The surround flares at its aft end, while the pool has an intricate structure around it, with two unidentified items toward the aft end of the surround.
 

 
The photos clear up most of this.  There are more of them for this pool than the others.  I guess the first class passengers had access to more cameras.  This one turned out to be the most useful.  You can see that the pool is even more complicated than I first thought.  The structure around the pool is not only intricate, but has multiple levels to it.  Perhaps as contrast, the ladders have simple rectangular handrails.
 
The surround has a surface composed of what look like small random tiles, while there is a large slide at the aft end.  The other structure behind the slide is still a mystery.  The arms of the deck house are, indeed, hollow, and are basically windbreaks made of large windows.
 

 
Looking in the other direction I decided that there were four levels to the pool seating.  Each seems to be about 6 inches thick.  The ladder that the woman is on sits on a raised lip which goes completely around the pool.  Behind its irregular shape in some places the level goes down to the level of the surface of the surround.  Behind and around everything is a level two steps up.  The final level is only the small raised platform between the woman on the ladder and the seated man.
 

 
Construction began as usual, but this time the pool tub was attached flush under the hole in the surround.  I could not make those small irregular tiles, but dark grey stippling seemed to give approximately the same look from a distance.
 

 
The shapes of the seating levels were taken from the plans.  Here a copy of the plan has been glued to a sheet of the proper thickness and the outside of the second level is being trimmed away with a sharp blade.
 

 
Then the inside of the level was chiseled out with a narrow blade, separating the piece.  The plan was removed with a few drops of mineral spirits which does not affect the plastic.
 

 
The same process was used for the first level before they were assembled on the surround.  The zero level was painted a dark grey, the first level left white, and the second level painted a light grey, as was the fourth level, the platform.
 

 
Now I turned to the slide.  I knew from my review of the photos and brochures that this was one of the high points of the ship’s details.  Here it is in a color advertisement.  Once I pulled my eyes away from the pretty woman I could see that it was not going to be a simple thing to build.   The main part was made of wood, with the look of a high-heeled shoe.  The upper platform and the steps were cantilevered out from it.  The handrails were bent in several directions with minimal attachment points.
 

 
This shot confirmed all of that, and added that the ‘shoe’ base was actually made up of wooden lifts with dark lines between them.  Note the life preservers, which will come up later on, and the woman on the right in her mink coat, who will not.
 

 
From above, in the photo of the funnel, the slide appears as well.  Here the shape of the upper platform is seen as being wider at the step edge than at the back.  The absence of any risers between the steps makes for a see-through effect.
 
Behind the slide is that other structure, whose purpose I still could not make out .
 

 
I cropped and printed out in actual size the small portion of the profile plan that included the side view of the slide.  A stack of 22 layers of veneer was glued up with black glue and the shoe shape of the base was drawn on the stack.
 

 
The stack was cut, carved, and sanded to shape.  A brass pin was fit into a hole in this base.
 

 
The upper platform was cut and added, then the slide, which was made from two side pieces of wood and a middle of thin plastic.  The steps were cut from a strip of boxwood and glued to the base.  I thought about supporting them with individual wires but the glue seemed to be quite strong enough for such tiny pieces.  I used medium cyano initially, to give the parts a quick, strong bond.  But cyano can be brittle, so the joints were reinforced with a painted coat of white glue, which remains flexible, to cushion the cyano from shocks.
 

 
The railing is photoetched 3-bar railing.  It was bent to fit around the upper platform then skewed down the line of the steps.  One vertical post on each side was clipped off while a long leg was left on the lowest rail.  This leg was bent under the second step and secured into the base.  The wood was given a finish of cherry stain to match the tone of the brochure image.
 
Here are the pool and slide temporarily installed with FDR looking on.
 

 
Another photo finally gave me the answer to the identity of the structure behind the slide.  It turns out to be some sort of spa or hot tub!  I can’t think of anything else that would have steps up into it with an overflow channel.  The lower level is about 1 foot high, the upper another 3 feet tall, each with a thin top of dark stone tiles.
 

 
The layers were made of hardwood cut to shape and painted.  The stone tiles were made from thin black plastic mottled with dark grey spots.  The hot tub itself was carved out with drill bitts and grinding burrs.
 

 
A drop of epoxy filled the hot tub and everything was permanently installed.  A margin plank at the aft end of the surround finished off the pool.  I have to say that it does look inviting, but I just couldn’t get down there to use them.
 

 
At least these Preiser figures can enjoy a quick dip or a long soak.
 

 
Next up will be the large cargo cranes on the fore deck and the rotating ones on the ends of the arms of the Boat and Lido decks.  I should have this out soon.
 
Till then, be well.
 
Dan