Dan Vadas

Another Card model for me to follow - YAY . Good start. Danny

No, that was all me. I must have uploaded the wrong file by mistake. I'll fix it. Danny

Thanks all for the kind words . No Grant, not until I can build myself a new workshop. The main reason I started with Card in the first place is that I'm currently working in my bedroom - too much sawdust for wood and the power tools disturb the neighbours in the next room . Pav, it's in whatever scale my printer spat out. I'll be able to work out what the actual scale is after I glue together the fuselage - I know what the original wingspan is. Danny

Thanks Popeye . I've finally finished the Opera House. I must say it wasn't the most enjoyable model I've ever built, and I'm not particularly happy with the way it turned out. Here are the final pics : My next model will be a (Card) Halinski MkIX Spitfire in about 1:50 scale. I'll do a build log for it in this forum. Danny

One thing about HMV's printing I don't like much is the "starkness" of some of the black lines, especially on a light background. Halinski tend to either make them thinner or "feather" the edges of the lines, which makes it look a bit less like a card model. In saying that the Baden looks better than Emden in that regard, maybe they're improving their "artwork" . It looks like you've been rolling your gun barrels from paper (nicely done BTW). Were there no lathe-turned brass barrels available for this model, or did you intentionally not buy them to keep the model as much of a Card one as you could? The turned ones are quite detailed, with tapering etc. and I've used them on all three of my larger ships (Amatsukaze, Bismarck and Hood). A bit of extra cost, but I'm very happy with the results. Danny

Yep, I am now that I've found your Log . Looking good so far Joe. You added a LOT of stiffeners to the hull, a lot more than I've ever used. On my "HMS Hood" I managed to cut them down to just an extra piece between each bulkhead, mostly so I avoided crushing the hull skin when handling it and to keep them the correct distance apart and square. A couple of tips for doing the underwater sections. Shape each section as close to the finished curvature as possible before gluing, and dry-fit it frequently. Only glue the very edge of each piece, DON'T glue to any interior braces that you may have added - gluing to them tends to pull the piece out of shape. The extra braces on my hulls only touch the inside of the skins to prevent crushing. I didn't use ANY putty on my "Hood" at all, mainly due to the above tips, and it turned out near perfect. Mind you, the previous two models were nowhere near as good - LOTS of putty and touch-up paint. There's nothing like a bit more experience . BTW - what is your opinion of the HMV kit? It's one publisher I haven't tried yet, my favourite is definitely Halinski - their "artwork" (as in colouring and weathering) and kit design has been the best I've come across so far. Keep up the good work, and I'll be following the rest of the build. Danny

Hi Kirk, and welcome to the wonderful world of Card Modelling . You're off to a pretty good start and I hope you won't find too many difficulties along the way. Yeah, I don't like Tabs but some models just won't go together without them - my Sydney Opera House for example. If you want to dispense with them (and even on a Tabbed model you can do that for some parts) you need to virtually re-design the support structure of the kit. Laminating using heavier card is a good option, as is adding extra card where you think it may be needed for keeping things square (or not). As far as "instructions" go in Card Kits - no publisher has the perfect examples. Some are just worse than others . You'll tend to pick up the gist of it with experience. Planning a step or three ahead is a pretty good idea. So is "dry-fitting" parts before applying any glue. BTW - a proper Swann-Morton Scalpel with replaceable blades works far better than an Xacto blade. They are cheap enough, and you can buy blades in boxes of 100 which is a lot cheaper than buying 5 or 10 at a time (see HERE) - believe me, you'll need LOTS of blades . Have fun, and I'll be following your Log. Danny

I see I've been real slack on updating this log . Here we go again then . I've completed the largest of the three buildings and fitted it to the base. It wasn't without numerous problems, mostly due to a lack of laminating extra card where needed. This resulted in quite a lot of wrinkles, most of which I managed to fix to a certain degree. Nowhere near perfect however . Here are some pics of the building fitted : Laminating 1mm card to the support pieces helped a LOT in keeping the last building's structures straight. Here's one piece ready to glue to the central support : The building under way. It's turning out quite well so far, and I think it will be acceptable without any drastic modifications when it comes to fitting it to the base : Danny

Sure, all those parts that I could actually laminate. It's not really possible on some of them due to the tabs getting in the way and of course they are the parts that are virtually impossible to reach the back of to put pressure on once other pieces are glued up. It's only 0.25mm, the same as photo paper. This is too thin for large pieces, it should have been at least 0.35mm or heavier, at least for about half the kit. Way too late for that I'm afraid, I'm getting close to completion. Danny

I sure have Pav and it's more than just that bit. It comes down to the card used (a bit too thin) and the way the kit is designed, which are both rather poor. I'm nearly at the stage of abandoning this model if I have any more problems with it. Danny

It's been a while since I last posted to this log. Life got in the way a bit, but I've still managed to do some more work on the "House". These pics are of the staircases and windows on the seaboard side : Next step was to make the smallest of the three buildings. Here are some of the parts needed : Some assembly pics. The instructions are a bit sparse in some areas, a fair bit of guesswork was involved but it all came together in the end : The building fitted to the base. I'll straighten out the wrinkles at a later stage : Danny

The main base is almost finished. I had to add a LOT of extra bracing : I'm fairly happy with the way all the steps turned out : Danny

When editing your Signature - type the Text you want (e.g. Ship's Name), highlight it with the mouse and use the Link button in the Edit Box (it looks like 3 chain links). You need to copy/paste the URL from the Address Bar (top of screen) of the page you want to use as the Link. You can Format the text in your Signature (text size, colour etc). BTW - I did it for you . Danny

John, read the post at the top of the Build Logs for Kits page titled "Starting and Naming your Build Log" for more information. Danny

Problem fixed. Danny