Dan Vadas

STILL WAITING for my Locomotive kit  , I decided to enhance the wagon with a load of logs. I downloaded some pictures of real logs and modified the sizes in Paint.net to suit the wagon. These took me quite a while to make, but it's filled in the time  :


 
I made them in four size diameters :


 
To save on paper and ink I only made the middle logs 20mm long :



 
I also made up some lashing chains and tensioners :




 
Danny

The suspension in stages of construction :




 
The paper parts in this pic are the springs. I made my own from softened 0.5mm brass wire :


 
One of the finished suspensions :

 
Danny

The wagon is finished. I've given it a couple of coats of semi-gloss clear.
 
I'll have to do a modification to the bogie mountings later, when I know how high to make the the buffers sit. I have to wait on the rest of the kits to establish that. The difference is that this wagon was a narrow-gauge one and the loco and other wagons are standard (European) gauge so they are different heights. This occurs in "real life" as well - when shifting a wagon from a narrow gauge track onto the main line standard gauge the bogies are replaced with specially modified ones, which usually takes less time than unloading and re-loading the cargo. This is common practice in Europe and several other places in the world. HERE is some information about the process.
 
Here are the final pics :







 
Danny

STILL WAITING for my Locomotive kit  , I decided to enhance the wagon with a load of logs. I downloaded some pictures of real logs and modified the sizes in Paint.net to suit the wagon. These took me quite a while to make, but it's filled in the time  :


 
I made them in four size diameters :


 
To save on paper and ink I only made the middle logs 20mm long :



 
I also made up some lashing chains and tensioners :




 
Danny

STILL WAITING for my Locomotive kit  , I decided to enhance the wagon with a load of logs. I downloaded some pictures of real logs and modified the sizes in Paint.net to suit the wagon. These took me quite a while to make, but it's filled in the time  :


 
I made them in four size diameters :


 
To save on paper and ink I only made the middle logs 20mm long :



 
I also made up some lashing chains and tensioners :




 
Danny

STILL WAITING for my Locomotive kit  , I decided to enhance the wagon with a load of logs. I downloaded some pictures of real logs and modified the sizes in Paint.net to suit the wagon. These took me quite a while to make, but it's filled in the time  :


 
I made them in four size diameters :


 
To save on paper and ink I only made the middle logs 20mm long :



 
I also made up some lashing chains and tensioners :




 
Danny

STILL WAITING for my Locomotive kit  , I decided to enhance the wagon with a load of logs. I downloaded some pictures of real logs and modified the sizes in Paint.net to suit the wagon. These took me quite a while to make, but it's filled in the time  :


 
I made them in four size diameters :


 
To save on paper and ink I only made the middle logs 20mm long :



 
I also made up some lashing chains and tensioners :




 
Danny

STILL WAITING for my Locomotive kit  , I decided to enhance the wagon with a load of logs. I downloaded some pictures of real logs and modified the sizes in Paint.net to suit the wagon. These took me quite a while to make, but it's filled in the time  :


 
I made them in four size diameters :


 
To save on paper and ink I only made the middle logs 20mm long :



 
I also made up some lashing chains and tensioners :




 
Danny

STILL WAITING for my Locomotive kit  , I decided to enhance the wagon with a load of logs. I downloaded some pictures of real logs and modified the sizes in Paint.net to suit the wagon. These took me quite a while to make, but it's filled in the time  :


 
I made them in four size diameters :


 
To save on paper and ink I only made the middle logs 20mm long :



 
I also made up some lashing chains and tensioners :




 
Danny

Thanks once again for all the encouragement and advice! The info on sawdust is fascinating!! I had no idea it could be so toxic!
 
I managed to get the bulkheads off with large wire cutters followed by a chisel and finally sandpaper. I could then plank the inside of the bow and scour the stationary shops and artistic friends in my immediate vicinity for a more of a brown red to paint it, as a bright red felt too flashy.
 
My wood filler query was not so easily resolved. I was reluctant to use the sawdust method at it had dried a lot darker than the surrounding walnut when used between my ill-fitting false keel pieces (ref. my second post). As it turns out, there is no walnut coloured wood filler in South Africa so I went with the closest match, Imbuia. My experience was a rather long and patience-cultivating endeavour. It took multiple layers to fill in my tiny defected (sanding really shows up all one's shortfalls in planking). To my frustration I learnt that being water-based meant that all it took to undo a few layers of work was one layer that was a bit too watery. I also learnt that wood filler can be undone by over-sanding or sanding with too coarse sand paper, or leaving the hull in a hot car... I became a master wood-filler-applicator by the end of the number of times that my mistakes made me redo the whole process!
 
Please don't crucify me, but I decided not to copper-plate the hull (historically accurate or not) as the wood finish is just too beautiful to cover over! I therefore first painted the blue just below the deck (I figured getting varnish on the blue was less critical than blue on the varnish) and varnished everything else. Picking the right varnish was also challenging with the hardware store having way too many options, all unrelated to my needs. I eventually settled on WSP 27 Imbuia colour (whatever that means) with an outdoor seude finish (as the indoor only came in gloss). I was very uncertain in my choice but am super chuffed with the final result!




Much to my sorrow, I didn't get a chance to seal in my wood filler effort with varnish for a few days after completing it for the hundredth time. The delay, together with holding the hull to paint the blue line, seemed to once again undo some of wood filler. I only noticed once I was into the thick of varnishing however, and therefore opted to leave it. Now if the light catches it a that right (or should I say wrong) angle you can see the imperfections outlining some of the planks, as in the photo below. These are not critical, however, and will probably only ever serve to annoy my own inner perfectionist;P

I came to greatly regret my decision to not use tapering and stealers above the bow whale line so as to allow the planks to lie flatter across their width. Wood filler masks minute defects but really seemed to struggle with the clinkering that resulted in this area. The end product is passable but I would definitely do it differently next time!

My original concern was that the stealers would be too noticeable, but after sanding, wood filler and varnish, it's no longer easy to even pick them out. I will definitely take the planks more seriously next time they try to express their indignation at my chosen angle! Despite the shade difference between planks you can see below how well the bow drop planks blended in:

From this point on I have found the instructions to be rather unhelpful in terms of order. I have therefore been doing bits and pieces everywhere to try reach my short term goal of putting the main whale planking in place (the next section in the instructions). In looking at stern fascia pictures I see I was supposed to add a 1.5mm square strip where the planks meet the stern counter. This is nowhere in the written instructions, only a later picture. By the time I saw it, that ship had unfortunately already sailed, but I don't think it looks too bad without it. I also opted to varnish the stern counter instead of painting it black. Below you can see that the stern post thankfully fitted well enough (in terms of being flush with the second planking) despite my earlier ignorance in not cutting enough of a rabbet into the false keel.

One last view for good measure;)

Thanks again everyone for the kind words.
 
Druxey, I'm like a stealth ship modeler. Nothing... nothing... nothing... then whammo! 
 
 
But, seriously, HMS Alert is officially complete! I just adding a bunch of rope coils and have the case nearly finished. The case is an acrylic box which will be brass trimmed, and it will set on a cherry base. I'm ship modeler, not a woodworker, so don't anybody expect too much. I hate building cases. But, it's necessary to keep the model save. Plus, if properly done, it "frames" the model nicely, and makes it look more valuable.
 
The model will have a home with a fellow ship modeler who's been admiring it and inspired me to take it to completion – it started as just an experiment on paper model making. However, we've made arrangements for me to take it to the NRG Conference in San Diego this October. 
 
Having felt a kind of strange separation anxiety from paper model making now, I've decided to move forward on another one to work on in the background, the 1/8" scale HMS Mercury – not the expensive, larger boxed kit, but the smaller CHEAPER paper model. I purchased the kit from Ages of Sail and picked up a "Super Detail Kit" for it from GPM. The detail kit includes gun carriages, capstan, gratings, ships boats, and some other parts in laser-cut cardboard. Most importantly, it provides laser-scribed scrollwork/figurehead so that's not so 2D, plus some nice laser-cut parts for the stern gallery lights, which are just printed paper in the basic kit.
 
I'll start a build log on it in the near future, but I'm focussing my attention to other projects I need to get done. I will probably get far enough along by October to show it off at the Ages of Sail table at the Conference.
 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 
 
I'll post the remainder of the HMS Alert photos in the Gallery.
 
Thanks everyone for following my build!
 
Clare

We're VERY close now! 
 
I finally finished building up the fashion pieces and boom crutches at the stern. This was the probably the part that took the most creative thinking of the whole model. The paper fashion trim didn't fit due to construction variation in my model – that is, I didn't line up the parts as intended! 
 
Also, the drawings weren't very clear as to how the parts fit and just what parts were needed at the rail. This is the reason I'm doing this work after most of the rigging is done. It took me a long time to decide on how to best approach the problem.
 
As it is, it seemed to work out. Luckily at 1/8" scale, the details are too small to really discern any problems. Or rather, if there is a problem, my eyes are worn out enough that I can't see them.
 
Rigging is nearly complete now too. I just added the braces to that topsail spreader yard and just need to secure them once the positioning seems good. Next, I'll need to add braces to the small upper yard. The hardest part of the rigging now is really just how to secure the sheets for the jib. Not that difficult, just requires a little more thought because of how low I have mounted it.
 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 
 
Last thing will be to add the flags and their halliards. Should have things wrapped in another week or two!
 
 
Clare

Thanks Cog.
 
I made a bit more progress this past week, though it doesn't really look like it.
 
I finished rigging the lines dealing with the main sail, and added the staysail, halliard and downhaul, added brace pendants to the topsail yard, and then some. 
 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 
 
Plenty more to do still. I have a lot of bowsprit rigging to deal with, plus the jib and squaresail to add. Also have a little bit of hull details to add and a few small deck details. But, it's getting there.
 
Clare

Thanks for the comment and advice Carl, all.
 
Well, I think I'm able to declare success!
 
Had the quarterly meeting of shipmodelers at our gathering place at the Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum yesterday morning. After nearly 3 hours ship model shop talk about lunch with a fellow shipmodeler afterterwards, I managed to have a marathon session of rattling down the shrouds. All worked out pretty well and I didn't notice the stretching issue as much.
 
So, this morning, I tried spraying the completed work with the fixative. The matte varnish had a bit of sheen, so I used the matte fixative, which dried much faster, so I could use a heavier coat. It didn't really do much to lock the clove hitches in place, so I just brushed on some acrylic matte varnish. I know it works and it's quick to apply.
 
I trimmed off the excess line from the ratlines and the shouds looked okay.
 
 

 
 
But, then... I went ahead and took a thick piece of black rigging line, threaded it under the shrouds and then pulled the line tight. As I did, I could feel it slip tight against the mast head and I could actually see the shrouds tightening up.
 
I know it's cheating, but you will never be able to see this extra piece of line at this scale. And, after all, much of model making is about the art of illusion. Below, you can see the excess line sticking out.
 
 

 
 
So, now, after I secure that piece of line and cut the excess, I can comfortably start rigging the standing rigging on the bowsprit.
 
 
Clare

Thanks for the kind words Ron!
 
Well, small update here...
 
I've been trying to wrap up one project and put some time into a big project – can't get very far on large 3-masted ships if you don't put in the hours!
 
But, a friend of mine is interested in the Alert model, and I'm really not that far from the end since the rig is so simple. So, I thought I'd make a little progress by installing the carriage guns. I've had the guns done for some time now, but fitting them into place along with their breech ropes means drilling small holes in paper, gluing eyebolts into place in very small places, etc.
 
I epoxied pins on the underside of the guns to help position and secure them to the deck. Holes were drilled at each of the gunport openings as well as at either side of the gunports.
 
I'd already secured eyebolts to the ends of the breech ropes, so now they just had to be trimmed and glued into place. I used gap-filling CA for this. 
 
I found that I didn't have enough room to glue the eyebolts to the bulwarks with the cannon in place, so I let the cannons flop around while I installed the breech rope eyebolts. When these were dry, I mixed up some epoxy and glued the cannons down to the deck. The pins, even epoxied, didn't hold the guns securely in all cases. So, on some guns, I put a little glue underneath, close to the rear axles. 
 

 
 

 
 
Definitely tricky trying not to spoil the appearance of the printed paper deck. I manage to get a small shiny spot on the deck from glue. I ended up having to give a shot of Testor's Flat Lacquer Clear Coat, which worked extremely well hiding the shiny spot.
 
Clare

The taffrail is now complete. Was a bit of a challenge getting it all together, but it seemed to turn out okay. I still have some small details to add, mostly the beds for the mounting of the swivel guns. Besides that, nearly all the hull detail on this model is done. 
 

 

 
Next step will be to add the cannons into place. 1/96 is probably too small for me to rig tackle blocks, but I'll think about it. This ship has 12 guns to rig. It's not like it's a 38 gun frigate, and there is a lot of open space on the deck, so I'll have to give it some thought.
 
Also, rigging is coming up pretty quick and I have to start working on the shrouds and adding blocks to the mainmast. More on that next time.
 
Clare

Didn't do much on the Alert while finishing up the Yakatabune model. But, now that that's out of the way, time to put some work in on the Alert again.
 
This year, I decided not to risk any damage to the model by bringing it to the NRG conference, but a number of people asked about it. So, I kind of regret not taking it. For one thing, it serves as a great advertisement for Shipyard paper model kits in general. However, this model is far enough along that I now need something in the earlier stages of construction again. I do have an HMS Mercury kit in 1/96 scale that will probably do the trick. I also have the GPM detail kit for it. Plus, I believe that there's a set of sails and a masting kit at Ages of Sail that's been part of a box of stuff that's just been hidden on a shelf for the last year and a half. So, that may be the next background paper model project.
 
In the meantime, I cut a thin strip of photo paper that I printed a black line on. I then painted the edge of the thin strip and cut it in short length to serve as trunnion caps on the Alert's cannon carriages.
 

 
I've also been working on the spars and added the yard to the topsail and the gaff to the mainsail. I also added swiss pear blocks to the spreader yard, but I've been feeling like I want to make as much of the model from paper as possible. So, I'm going back and adding paper blocks in place of the swiss pear ones. They don't look as good, but the more of the model that is paper, the better, since it IS a paper model.
 

 

 
I've also started adding the stanchions of the taffrail that surrounds the quarterdeck. This is one of those things where I "thought" myself to a standstill. Having thought less about it, I've now started to make a little progress again.
 

 

 
I'll swap the blocks and see if I can't finish the taffrail soon. With that and adding the cannons done, it will officially be time to rig.
 
Clare

Small update,
 
I worked a little bit on the sail set I bought for the Alert. It was a separate purchase I made from Shipyard shortly after I got the kit. The sails are nicely printed on one side, but the back sides are blank, so I just traced out the lines on the back using colored pencil. 
 
Afterwards, I took some .4mm model rope and used it for the bolt ropes. At this scale, it makes sense to simply glue the bolt ropes into place without sewing, which is all the kit instructions call for as well. Personally, I've had good results doing this at 1/4" scale as well.
 

 
 
I also received the swivel guns from Syren Ship Model Company, so I quickly went to work adding the trunnions and blackening them all using BlueJacket's Brass Black. Interestingly enough, the swivel guns' short trunnions were a perfect fit for the small cannon carriages. These are beautifully turned barrels. 
 

 
I haven't made a final decision on using paper or pear wood blocks yet, but I just ordered some more pear wood blocks from Chuck just in case.
 
Clare
 

Thanks Chris, Mark, Slog, for the advice. I'm moving ahead with the turned brass cannon barrels. Regarding blocks and such, I needed to work on something fairly mindless, so I started working on the paper blocks. I figured I'd see how they turn out. If they're not so good in the end, I'll switch to purchased wooden blocks. 
 
The paper blocks have one advantage over the Syren blocks in that this is a small model and with the paper blocks are available in 3.5mm size, which I can't get in pear wood.
 
So, in paper blocks, I now have 2.5mm, 3mm, and 3.5mm sizes. 2mm blocks are available from Shipyard too, and rigging calculations would normally call for them, but that's awfully small to assemble. Anyway, I don't have any of the 2mm paper blocks on hand, and the kit itself calls for these sizes I do have.
 
Here is a sample of the unassembled blocks. These are the same kits that come in the boxed kits. 

 
 
A nice, cool but sunny Sunday morning, cup of coffee and ship modeling project – A perfect day!

 
 
Here's a close-up of painted, CA reinforced and touched up blocks

 
 
Sorted by size and cleaned up a little more.

 
 
This certainly took a bit of effort to pre the blocks. I painted them while still in their sheets, I also glued them up in batches, which is easiest to do on the sheets. The process of assembling is exactly the same as the Syren built-up blocks, except that because they have to be painted, they need touch up. Also, cardboard isn't a very strong material, so I made sure to wick in some thin CA glue. 
 
I have yet to see how well these hold up when rigged, but at least their ready when I need them.
 
Clare

Have been too busy with projects that are "due" to do much here. But, working with swivel guns on one model, I came to discover that these 1/4" scale swivel guns from Syren Ship Model Company were the perfect size for the cannon barrels for this 1/8" scale model of the Alert. Anyway, the look visually correct and they look nice – a lot nicer than my rolled up paper barrels were looking. Also, saves me from having to turn or cast my own. So, why not?
 
The brass barrel actually looks really nice, but I'll probably blacken them. 
 

 

 
I know this is not much progress to report. But, it is a solution to one issue on this model. I'm considering just leaving off the swivel guns since they'd need to look like this, but about half the size, and my understanding regarding swivel guns is that they were often stowed until needed. 
 
We'll see. First thing's first.
 
Clare
 
Edit: Forgot to mention that I went ahead and ordered the gun barrels from Chuck a couple days ago. Should be here tomorrow or Monday.

I realized that I hadn't posted any updates on HMS Alert (HM Cutter Alert) in some time. Also, I notice that I haven't posted an overall shot of the project. Time to remedy the situation. The project is still one of those "in the background" projects, as I've got other projects that have a much higher priority. I only work on the model in between other work, so it's slow progress.
 
Most recent work on it includes working on the yards, boom and gaff. But, the big project was making the gun carriages. There are a dozen in all. Because of large amount of small detail pieces, I'd found that the laser cut add-on detail part set that I used for the gratings also had cannon carriages of about the same size. So, I used those to make mine. I've had to learn how to work with the laser-cut cardboard and still working on figuring out best practices. The laser-cut cardboard is a lot softer than the paper parts I build up using layers of printer paper, which is a lot denser in the end. So far, I've just found I have to be a lot more careful with the cardboard. But, it helps to hit with some CA so that it stiffens up. Makes it easier to cut.
 

 
Now, I just have to decide what I want to do about the cannon barrels. I rolled them up, but they're so small, I managed to get them a little gluey and spoiled some of the pre-printing on them. I'll probably have to just paint them black. But, each barrel also has a round muzzle pieces and 3 round cascabel pieces. More really tiny round parts! One option has been to, at minimum, turn a master in brass and just cast them. I'd have to do the same with the swivels. 
 
Oh wait, I'd better get back to one of those priority projects! :0)
 
 
In the meantime, here's a view of the model as it sits on my shelf awaiting the next steps...
 

 
Clare

It's kind of funny writing a paper model build log. It's all about cutting some paper, gluing paper and painting parts. And then in the next step, cut paper, glue paper, paint parts. But then it gets difficult: cut paper more carefully, glue paper very carefully, and with a very steady hand, paint parts.
 
Okay, there's more to it than that, but not much to report except basic progress.
 
 

 
I assembled and added what Anatomy of the Ship calls the jeer bits. I couldn't quite gather what the instruction sheet was trying to indicate regarding the windlass handles. The kit includes tiny paper pieces that I would never be able to make use of, so I just used some 26 gauge black annealed steel wire.
 
 

 
I also assembled the bowsprit bitts. Somehow the space between the bitts came out the right size to fit the heel of the bowsprit. That, I made from birch dowel. I wanted a square-stock piece, but all I had were dowels. Since the bowsprit was to be 3/16" diameter, I had to work backwards and do a bit of math in order to determine the width of dowel I'd need to start with since the diameter had to equal the widest cross-section of the square heel of the bowsprit.
 
 

 
Here's another view of the bowsprit bitts and main windlass. Both are actually only temporarily in place, not glued. For all the bitts, I've embedded straight pins into them for strength.
 
 

 
Here's a view of the mast with mast hoops. I used a small piece of blue painter's tape to keep from losing the hoops. 

An Optivisor or similar magnification device would be nice, too. Unless you're 20 years old with 20/05 vision. Those of us with a case of Too Many Birthdays (TMB) will require such a device.

Ron, you don't need a shop for this model, just a cutting mat, knife with blades, a little glue, good desk lamp and 5 bottles of Visine. 

Ha!  Love the story about the paper sticking to your elbow.  The tips on my fine-point tweezers, with which I do most of my fiddly bits work, have a bad tendency to suddenly slip past each other while grasping tiny parts, the result being tiny parts flung into the Great Void.  It happened again this week after I had already applied glue to the tiny part.  I searched all over for it, to no avail, so I had to scratch-build a replacement part.  I found the original hours later - stuck to the front of my t-shirt.