Dan Vadas

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

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

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

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

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 320 – Running Rigging Continued
 
The last 1% always seems to be the most difficult to complete – or perhaps its just the most exhausting.  It seems like not a lot has gotten done since the last post almost three weeks ago.  A fair amount of time was spent adjusting tension on the 60-odd main mast belaying points – a time consuming task – and one that is dangerous for completed work that gets in the way.  Not a lot to show for that effort. That is now complete and the pins should be ready for rope coils.
 
Work has also been continuing on the mizzen yards, as shown in the first picture.
 

 
The upper topsail and the topgallant were installed in the past couple weeks.  Below is the view from aft.
 

 
Below is a picture of the poop deck pin rail about half full and the last main deck rail forward of it – almost full.
 

 
Installing mast trucks and signal halyards is in progress.  In the next picture one of the trucks being bored to fit the its mast pole.
 

 
The top is left a bit flat so the sheave holes can be drilled without slipping off the side.  The next picture shows that work – with a very short bit extension.
 

 
Below is a picture of the house flag, pre-assembled with its truck and halyard.
 

 
The flag is painted with thinned acrylic gouache on some very old drafting linen that has had its wax sizing removed by boiling then washing.  It is the house flag of the William Daniels Company of New York that owned the ship from its launch in 1853 until 1859, when it was sold to another shipper.  The truck will be fitted to the mast pole without glue, held down by the fit and the halyard that runs down to the deck.  This will allow it to be removed and replaced – a possibility.  The last picture shows it flying from the top of the main mast.  
 
 

 
Similar trucks with halyards are being fitted to the other masts but without flags at this time. 
 
Ed
 

I have added the belfry, quarter deck rails, ladders.


 
Installed the binnacle and ship's wheel and the rudder.


I am now making the stern lantern as that needs to be fixed in place before I can attach the rudder head housing. The lantern will be functional, that is why there are two wires protruding from the stern.

I have got to the stage where I am having to work out how to connect the lantern's LED to the wires and resistor (all of which will be hidden by the rudder head housing) and the lantern to the ship.

 
Unfortunately, the LED's 'legs' are too short to be used as the lantern supports and would have been too flimsy anyway. I need to find some way of disguising the 'legs' and provide support for the lantern, I think I will have to take the wires through the stern fascia to meet the LED's 'legs. I think I'm going to have to sleep on it and see if I can come up with a way of getting the lantern in place and functioning. If any one has any Idea's I'd also be interested!

Dear friends,
thank you very much for your praise and kind words, I do appreciate your support a lot. I am pleased, you enjoy the pics and like my work.
 
Oh you mean this...  Well I usually leave my signature on the frame/main rib. But on my older scratch-build model Sovereign of the Seas stayed my tears, cause I had some accidents and was sad also because of the problems and disappointment that life brought to me then....
 
***********************************
 
I have decided to improve decoration on the bow section and make larger/wider sculptures to achieve more realistic appearance. Lower pieces of decoration are completely new and they overlap the upper cheeks as you can see on many museum models from that period. I believe, this decision was good.
Enjoy the pics and have a good time.
 
 
Previous bow design:

 
And here's the current design:
 

 

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

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

I believe that the idea behind the design was to imitate the sails of yachts on Sydney Harbour.
 
Yeah I get that, but I was hoping they might have drawn in some texture. Like on the edges of the tiles for example.
 
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

As usual, Schreiber is a bit basic. I don't think they ever redesign an existing model, so they are a bit lagging in quality.
 
Their newest however, are much better in terms of print quality (eg the Limburger Dom) compared to the old ones (Dom in Worms or Marialaach).
A new design principle in architecture seesm to be 'fotorealistic': the building is no longer handcoloured, but foto's are used to represent the surface. That is 'optimal weathering' (although I'm not sure whether or not I always like the result)
 
Jan
 

I see you have been fighting with the paper a bit. one side of your build is creased, isn't it?

Great work Dan

Scuppers
 
The Scuppers drain the upper deck. They are cut into the Waterway and angle down outwards to exit through the Black Strake :
 
 

 

 

 
 
To simulate the Lead scupper Linings I used "Evergreen" polystyrene tubing - 2mm for most, and 2.5mm for the Hawse and Pump Dale scuppers. I heated the end of the tubing gently over a gas flame and then pushed it onto a cold piece of brass sheet to make the flange. These were done in two pieces meeting in the middle :
 
 

 

 
 
After fitting all the scupper linings I painted them Lead Grey :
 
 

 

 

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

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

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

Three hours work..... none of them completely as I would like to see it, but OK, no one will ever look at the macro's.....



Pics still out of focus
Next are some capstans, but the "instructions" just say: put parts 148-155 together and place them on the deck.
 
ah well, we will see. Next weekend, as tomorrow is a day without buildingtime.
 
Jan

Yesterday, I did the last of the 'big' guns.

(note to self: mind the quality of the backgrond  )
 
and one up-front (taken agains the light, so again not a wonder of fotography  )

 
The politicians who had to decide on the armament decided that this configuration was almost as good as two triple towers, because from a distance this did actually look like a tripple tower.(at least, sothe story goes). 
I very much like the lines and design of the ship, but as a ship of war, she wasn't very impressive. You can see that thinking on warfare in the Netherlands around the second worldwar more or less dated back to the thinking shortlybefore the first world war. This ship is just a minor update from the cruiser Java, while the rest of the world had made large advances. (Same holds for the Dutch army: you don't beleive your eyses when you see what equipment our biys had in 1940 when the German army crossed the border)
 
Jan
 
 

Thanks very much guys .
 
No, I've had enough of this model .
 
Well, this is it - Bismarck is FINISHED . Here are all the final pics - enjoy :






















 
Thanks to all those who followed this build, and especially those who commented. Now onto HMS Hood .
 
  Danny