Papa

Your detailed pictures will help me a lot in building the SMS Helgoland.  The instructions are rather terse and I have been wondering about exactly how things are supposed to go together and if I should add some wooden reinforcements. I see that you have done so.  Thanks for taking so many great pictures.

Full hull model.
haven't made much progress--spending time with the Admiral at Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia.
I have the keel pieces cut out and am cutting out and dry fitting the bulkhead pieces.

incredibly neat work.  This is a beautiful model.

Thanks for all the kind words and the "likes" folks.
 
Now that we’ve proved that she floats, it was time to (semi) permanently install the electrics and test functionality. I had previously built some racks to hold some of the gear, but it is still a very tight fit in that engine bay! Anyway, first up – testing the lights. I temporarily attached the bow and stern lights and gave all controls a test – all good!
 

 
Here’s a couple of close-up shots inside the engine bay. First the port side:
 

 
 
 
 
And the starboard side:
 

 
Although the motor/drive shaft and steering all worked, there was a considerable amount of radio interference from the motor, so I soldered in the three “optional” capacitors. That made a big difference. Here you can see them wired across the engine terminals:
 

 
 
 
The next job was to make the frames for the foot step-pads. Way back at the beginning of the build, I had some rubber stamps made up to use as inserts for a metal frame, rather than using the kit-provided cast parts. I made these by milling out the centre of some 2mm thick brass strip and then polishing and chrome plating it. It might be only a small job, but it took me most of the weekend to do this. Here is an overview of the step plates with the kit part provided for reference. In my custom built ones you can see the Chris Craft logo in the rubber.
 

 
And here is a shot with one temporarily placed on the boat:
 

 
As you can see, I’ve also drilled these to take 000-120 mounting screws. Some time ago, I orderd a gross (144) of these, along with the the 00-90 screws used on the cutwater and stern fenders. I will use the 000-120 on both the step plates and the engine hatch trim, so I spent quite some time individually plating 144 very small brass screws. Then I had another look at the number of screws on my engine hatch trim pieces….. it seems that my design calls for a total of 130 screws around the hatch trim, and I need a further 16 for the four step plates……total 146…..leaving me two screws short, even assuming the carpet monster doesn’t steal it’s fair share of them. The worst part is, that the postage for these cost more than the screws did and I didn’t fancy paying the better part of AUD $100 for a few extra screws. A little digging on the internet turned up some stainless steel screws of the same size. Although the individual cost was higher, the package size offered was smaller,  and the postage was only US $8.00 instead of US $40.00. I will hold off installing the step pads until the new screws arrive, just in case they look slightly different. I’ll use the existing bundle to install the hatch trims – coming up next.

Well I've been working on the Cruizer from Caldercraft for a while now as you can see from the photos attached. I've had some personal computer issues that have prevented me from starting the log until now. 
 
I plan to make some modifications and changes to the kit to try to make it more accurate. Some of the planned changes:
 
Copper plate bottom Replace supplied long guns with carronades Change some wood including maple for deck, and various other boxwood pieces, more for work-ability than show as most things will be painted. Revise deck fitting/structure plan and head structure Come to some type of conclusion on raised fore and aft platforms as were seen on many of the class Change the name-there are lots to choose from in this class! Replace line and blocks with Syren products There is a fair amount of information, and a great thread here on MSW about the class:
 
http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/1036-cruizer-class-brig-sloops-of-the-royal-navy/
 
It has been a bit of a challenge determining some of the things I want to do with regard to the above changes, mostly due to lack of documentation, so that will make the journey interesting. I'll have to make a name decision shortly, as it may have bearing on some of the modifications I wish to make. 
 
So...without further ado this is where things stand currently. She is planked all around and bulwarks have been primed. You may be able to notice that there is a wide variety of wood on the hull. As usual, the Caldercarft walnut outer planking was very splintery. I thought it would be fine, as it would all be painted, but that was not the case. I actually used the kit Tanganyika deck planks below the wale, which worked quite well surprisingly. Way down towards the keel I had to use some 3mm wide walnut as i didn't have enough of the Tanganyika. Again no biggie, it will all be under paint and copper. I used the same 3mm wide walnut above the wales. I can't remember where it came from, but it's actually good quality. The transom and wales were done in boxwood, as was the stern trim. 

Full hull model.
haven't made much progress--spending time with the Admiral at Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia.
I have the keel pieces cut out and am cutting out and dry fitting the bulkhead pieces.

Thanks for the likes and comments 
Hi Antony the kit is very well made and the carvings are brilliant and well cast .
As promised a few pictures of what I have been up to. The first planking is going on and to break it up I have built the ships boats. The largest launch I have included some carvings on the stern , not quite sure if they had them but I like them .
More to come so thanks for looking 
 
Rgd Martyn 
 

Full hull model.
haven't made much progress--spending time with the Admiral at Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia.
I have the keel pieces cut out and am cutting out and dry fitting the bulkhead pieces.

I am speechless. Amazing work

Full hull model.
haven't made much progress--spending time with the Admiral at Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia.
I have the keel pieces cut out and am cutting out and dry fitting the bulkhead pieces.

YES YES. Please explain the building board.
 
Ron Gove

Photos from the planking time...

The ratlines are done and the booms and yards are about to be attached.  She is coming along slowly but its almost done. The table is something I found in the trash, its going to be my second work station for the summer months.
 

After a bit of sanding and some wood filler I was able to get a pretty good finish in preparation for the second layer of planking. Firstly though was getting the false deck in place which was a pretty good fit...so far so good. As with the Mermaid I will be putting on the deck planking first before the bulwarks as I find it much easier to cut the planking to fit the shape of the deck. I will be dry fitting the bulwarks to ensure that they fit properly before putting on the planking just in case I need to do more fine tuning on the hull itself. 

So, after a couple of very chilly days in Hobart I've started in earnest on the Norfolk. Below are a few photos of the start of the build. I must say that the laser cuts are very precise and needed very little in terms of sanding to fit in the bulkheads to the keel. I only had to do some very minor sanding for one or two to slot in nicely. The bow fillers were a little more work and , although not completely sanded I am happy with the way they are turning out. 

Back in 1968 or so Model Shipway's Essex was $35 at James Bliss in Boston.  That was way beyond my means as a graduate student.  I eventually managed to save enough to purchase the kit and I spent the next 40 years or so working on it--with lots of breaks.  My point is, to some of us model kits have always been expensive.  There is nothing new under the sun.
 
Ron

Back in 1968 or so Model Shipway's Essex was $35 at James Bliss in Boston.  That was way beyond my means as a graduate student.  I eventually managed to save enough to purchase the kit and I spent the next 40 years or so working on it--with lots of breaks.  My point is, to some of us model kits have always been expensive.  There is nothing new under the sun.
 
Ron

Back in 1968 or so Model Shipway's Essex was $35 at James Bliss in Boston.  That was way beyond my means as a graduate student.  I eventually managed to save enough to purchase the kit and I spent the next 40 years or so working on it--with lots of breaks.  My point is, to some of us model kits have always been expensive.  There is nothing new under the sun.
 
Ron

Thanks Pat. They're not really mods - I've built the guns the way the instructions show. Here are the finished guns before painting :
 




 
And after painting :
 


 
  Danny

Serious headway made on the fuselage these past couple of days. The port and starboard sides were done first, and triple checked for alignment. They were then joined at the nose with what will become the engine mount later on in the build. Horizontal formers were then placed on the top and bottom along the length of the fuselage. This will end tomorrow with the joining of the two fuselage sides at the tail. Note the little metal tensioner eyes in the corners. Wires and turnbuckles will go in there. Along the top will be run a series of stringers from the tail to the back side of the cockpit. Such fun keeping this all aligned!  I had better finish this soon so I can catch up with the other Syren builds!  ;-)  
~john
 

I am off and running to continue my education of model ship building and hopefully on this one I will add sails. Like my Niagara build I will start with the small boats which are mini model kits in themselves and that my two young granddaughters like looking at the "baby boats". They are 2 and 4 years old.
 
I will skip the presentation of the box and contents since others have done it so well. I am starting with the pinnace the larger of the four. I started by marking the top surfaces of the laser cut parts before removing them from their parent sheet. The reason is that the laser cutting process burns a slight angle in the wood and when layering and gluing together you can use this angle to your advantage and avoid super thin areas.

I glued all the layers of all the boats together minus the bottom layer. I used the scrap center as a clamp surface to provide even compression.

Here is the reason to leave the bottom layer off and allow clearance to work on the inner walls.

Here is the finished up inner walls rough cut and then sanded.

Next I added sparingly automotive glazing putty to the inner walls for additional smoothness. This glaze dries quickly and is very easy to sand. Think of it as a thick layer of primer filler.

Here is the finished exterior 

Here the bottom layer was added and shaping started by rough cutting with an Xacto blade, sanding block and sanding sticks.

Here is the finished exterior ready for the keel.

Here is the finished sanded interior ready for keel and other details.

First I had to address the bow to stern sidewall curve which I developed using 1/4" masking tape, then marked the upper edge with a pencil and removed the tape and trimmed to the pencil line.

Here is the interior with all the details added that will be painted while the rest will be bright stained finish. The exterior keel has also been added. The ribs are .0208" square Basswood Midwest Scale Lumber item number 8000. I have used their micro cut lumber for years on airplane builds.
 
Next the pinnace will be primed and sanded and readied for paint per the plan scheme. 
 

Rudder equipped with chains
 

 
I modified the first two figures 1:87 (HO trains) in commander's uniforms of the era
 

 

 
created stairs and railings
 

 

 

 

 
capstan made of walnut wood
 

 
I've created new channels, the ones from the kit could not be used
 

 
Preparation of the lower deadeyes
 

 
 

foredeck
 

 
rear deck wall
 

 
After completion of the hull I wondered how to create the stern, I refused the crooked metal castings the kit included.
 

 
I wanted the ship to have a wide mirror, as for example HMS FLY does.
 

 
I created a new mirror
 

 
including the side galleries
 

 
Here I made the deck equipment
 

This will be my first card model and will be slow as I am also working on finishing up my Granado. The SMS Helgoland is Austrian Austro-Hungarian light cruiser of the First World War and entered service in autumn 1914. The model is printed on heavy paper in magazine format. Some of the pieces are to be glued to 0.5 mm and 1.0 mm card stock. I found after a bit of experimenting that I could get a 1.0 mm thickness by laminating the front and back covers of an inexpensive spiral notebook. The instructions consist mainly of pictures. There is one page of general instructions in Polish that I am translating bit by bit with the help of Google Translate.  So far I have cut out one keel piece.

This will be my first card model and will be slow as I am also working on finishing up my Granado. The SMS Helgoland is Austrian Austro-Hungarian light cruiser of the First World War and entered service in autumn 1914. The model is printed on heavy paper in magazine format. Some of the pieces are to be glued to 0.5 mm and 1.0 mm card stock. I found after a bit of experimenting that I could get a 1.0 mm thickness by laminating the front and back covers of an inexpensive spiral notebook. The instructions consist mainly of pictures. There is one page of general instructions in Polish that I am translating bit by bit with the help of Google Translate.  So far I have cut out one keel piece.