Stevinne

Installed the ensign and railings. Calling it done.
 
Thanks to all commenters for participating, and for advice. Thanks to David Antscherl for the kit design, and for the excellent instruction I have received throughout the series. I have learned much through building these models. I'm a little sad now it's over. . .
 

 

 

 

 

The smallest ship i am taking on......nothing for months then along come two...this and Endeavour.

Slow and steady, gradually getting deeper has worked wonders. This second attempt looks much better. I have already sanded it and have applied some Danish wood Oil. I will say it looks really nice. The holes are drilled ready for the brass pedestals but I need some new washers.
 
I figured since I was buying washers I would by some extra thread as well.

 
I have been trying to make the lines and belaying pins look more natural. This is the solution I have devised...
 

 
I made a coil of 'rope' and what I hope looks like a hitch (I have been watching some you tube videos which show this being tied on a real ship) and then just hook the hoop onto the pin.
 

 
There is a lot on deck I need to straighten out and make tidy - I which I had done it before creating a spiders web of rope - it is not easy to access the deck anymore. I hope these are lessons learned for when I make another ship. there are a great many things I would do differently were I to star over - but I suppose that is the same for most people starting off. Anyway, I hope this will look more realistic. 
 
 
 
 

This is the book I am currently reading about the race between the Robt. E. Lee and the Natchez.
 
"The Great American Steamboat Race" by Benton Rain Patterson. 
 
It is a book loaded with steamboat information, it's not only about the race.  It's  also about all levels of people living, working and operating steamboats on the Mississippi and other rivers during the time of Lee and Natchez.
 
It is available for Kindle at a good price.
 
I just got "Fastest On the River" by Manly Wade Wellman today.
 

I've got Hasegawa's full-hull 1/700 Akagi waiting in the wings with the basic IJN photoetch to add to her. I've seen some amazing builds of the 1/350 kit. The PE really does help make it a beauty, though I imagine the build time for such a kit is probably at least equal to a wooden ship. I've been meaning to try "Shattered Sword" since I've been fascinated with Midway since reading "Incredible Victory" by Walter Lord as a kid. I recently picked up this memoir of a Kate pilot for my Kindle. My biggest problem is that books I'm interested in, like models I want to build, pile up faster than my free time expands. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00THSCSS8/ref=kinw_myk_ro_title 

I've got Hasegawa's full-hull 1/700 Akagi waiting in the wings with the basic IJN photoetch to add to her. I've seen some amazing builds of the 1/350 kit. The PE really does help make it a beauty, though I imagine the build time for such a kit is probably at least equal to a wooden ship. I've been meaning to try "Shattered Sword" since I've been fascinated with Midway since reading "Incredible Victory" by Walter Lord as a kid. I recently picked up this memoir of a Kate pilot for my Kindle. My biggest problem is that books I'm interested in, like models I want to build, pile up faster than my free time expands. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00THSCSS8/ref=kinw_myk_ro_title 

I'll second that book recommendation. Excellent read.

Hi Stevinne,
Hasegawa definitely makes great kits.  I am currently building the IJN Akagi in 1/350 scale and have purchased all of the PE add on kits that go along with the kit.  It is somewhat of a PE hell once you get into it but the final results are quite stunning.  Hasegawa supplies 6 Kates in the original kit along with 3 type 99 dive bombers and 3 Zeros.  I added 2 extra plane kits a while back bringing my total of Kates to 18 and 9 zeros for the first strike at Pearl.
 
Incidentally, if you want an excellent read on the Battle of Midway and the story of Lt. Tomonaga I highly recommend the book "Shattered Sword" by Tully & Parshall.  It is written from the Japanese perspective and really gets into the difference in philosophies of the Japanese with respect to both carrier design and plane design and the factors which led to the Japanese defeat at Midway.
 
Dennis

I'm currently building Hasegawa's 1:48 B5N2 "Kate" torpedo bomber. The plane has the markings of that flown by Lt. Jouichi Tomonaga, strike leader from the Hiryu at the battle of Midway. Her tail number is BI-310 in standard western letters and numbers. I'd say you can't go wrong trusting Hasegawa on a detail like that. Tomonaga was the guy whose plane had its fuel tanks damaged on the initial morning strike on Midway. He was able to return and land on Hiryu. When the Americans put the Akagi, Soryu and Kaga out of action and took out a large part of the Japanese strike aircraft, Tomonaga led the Hiryu's strike against the Yorktown, though the damage to the plane meant he didn't have enough fuel for the round trip flight. He managed to launch a topedo at Yorktown, though it missed, and was shot down by Jimmy Thach.  I've always thought the B5N2 was one the best-looking WWII planes, and the Hasegawa kit has been a great build. 

I'm currently building Hasegawa's 1:48 B5N2 "Kate" torpedo bomber. The plane has the markings of that flown by Lt. Jouichi Tomonaga, strike leader from the Hiryu at the battle of Midway. Her tail number is BI-310 in standard western letters and numbers. I'd say you can't go wrong trusting Hasegawa on a detail like that. Tomonaga was the guy whose plane had its fuel tanks damaged on the initial morning strike on Midway. He was able to return and land on Hiryu. When the Americans put the Akagi, Soryu and Kaga out of action and took out a large part of the Japanese strike aircraft, Tomonaga led the Hiryu's strike against the Yorktown, though the damage to the plane meant he didn't have enough fuel for the round trip flight. He managed to launch a topedo at Yorktown, though it missed, and was shot down by Jimmy Thach.  I've always thought the B5N2 was one the best-looking WWII planes, and the Hasegawa kit has been a great build. 

I'm currently building Hasegawa's 1:48 B5N2 "Kate" torpedo bomber. The plane has the markings of that flown by Lt. Jouichi Tomonaga, strike leader from the Hiryu at the battle of Midway. Her tail number is BI-310 in standard western letters and numbers. I'd say you can't go wrong trusting Hasegawa on a detail like that. Tomonaga was the guy whose plane had its fuel tanks damaged on the initial morning strike on Midway. He was able to return and land on Hiryu. When the Americans put the Akagi, Soryu and Kaga out of action and took out a large part of the Japanese strike aircraft, Tomonaga led the Hiryu's strike against the Yorktown, though the damage to the plane meant he didn't have enough fuel for the round trip flight. He managed to launch a topedo at Yorktown, though it missed, and was shot down by Jimmy Thach.  I've always thought the B5N2 was one the best-looking WWII planes, and the Hasegawa kit has been a great build. 

I'm currently building Hasegawa's 1:48 B5N2 "Kate" torpedo bomber. The plane has the markings of that flown by Lt. Jouichi Tomonaga, strike leader from the Hiryu at the battle of Midway. Her tail number is BI-310 in standard western letters and numbers. I'd say you can't go wrong trusting Hasegawa on a detail like that. Tomonaga was the guy whose plane had its fuel tanks damaged on the initial morning strike on Midway. He was able to return and land on Hiryu. When the Americans put the Akagi, Soryu and Kaga out of action and took out a large part of the Japanese strike aircraft, Tomonaga led the Hiryu's strike against the Yorktown, though the damage to the plane meant he didn't have enough fuel for the round trip flight. He managed to launch a topedo at Yorktown, though it missed, and was shot down by Jimmy Thach.  I've always thought the B5N2 was one the best-looking WWII planes, and the Hasegawa kit has been a great build. 

I'm currently building Hasegawa's 1:48 B5N2 "Kate" torpedo bomber. The plane has the markings of that flown by Lt. Jouichi Tomonaga, strike leader from the Hiryu at the battle of Midway. Her tail number is BI-310 in standard western letters and numbers. I'd say you can't go wrong trusting Hasegawa on a detail like that. Tomonaga was the guy whose plane had its fuel tanks damaged on the initial morning strike on Midway. He was able to return and land on Hiryu. When the Americans put the Akagi, Soryu and Kaga out of action and took out a large part of the Japanese strike aircraft, Tomonaga led the Hiryu's strike against the Yorktown, though the damage to the plane meant he didn't have enough fuel for the round trip flight. He managed to launch a topedo at Yorktown, though it missed, and was shot down by Jimmy Thach.  I've always thought the B5N2 was one the best-looking WWII planes, and the Hasegawa kit has been a great build. 

I remember reading somewhere that when she got to England, she had to be taken out of the water to repair damage to her copper.

Saw this today on Amazon for 99cts on my Kindle. Picked it up along with "Catastrophe at Spithead." I don't know anything about the sinking of the Royal George, so that alone was well worth the amount spent. 

Saw this today on Amazon for 99cts on my Kindle. Picked it up along with "Catastrophe at Spithead." I don't know anything about the sinking of the Royal George, so that alone was well worth the amount spent. 

Saw this today on Amazon for 99cts on my Kindle. Picked it up along with "Catastrophe at Spithead." I don't know anything about the sinking of the Royal George, so that alone was well worth the amount spent. 

Artesania Latina is the newest sponsor of MSW.  Please welcome them on joining the NRG/MSW family. 
Check out their banner ad to see all they carry - many more products than I thought.

HMS Gannet (white) with 'Battleships' Sans Pareil and Donegal. Both Battleships had Steam and Sail power, with retractable Funnels.
watercolour 16" X 11"

It has been while since my last post. Port side with channels is now finished. Maybe not perfect but good enough for me. Next will be quarter deck.

 

 
 
Best regards
 
Henrik

I've been a member of the site for a few years but this will be my first nautical build and the first build in about 35 years. I modelled a lot in my youth but then it was mainly aircraft and AFVs from kits. I always remember seeing a beautifully detailed 1/700 waterline ship at a competition way back in the early 1980's and thinking that one day i'd like to tackle something along the same lines. As i said in my post in the "introduction" section for various reasons i never really had the space or time to remain active in the hobby but closer to retirement I've been able to return. For reasons that I'm still not sure about I decided to ignore the myriad unmade kits sitting in my attic and instead try my hand at a scratch built ship. My eyesight precluded me working in 1/700 and i looked for something larger which was when I stumbled across the Underhill plans for Servia, i knew almost immediately that this was the subject i wanted to try.
 

 
This project started a couple of years ago and was intended, initially at least, as an experiment and a way to get used to the tools and materials again after such a long break. Unfortunately because of this I didn't take a lot of photographs along the way but now that the project is nearing completion I thought i would start a "mini" build log with what i do have. With hind sight i wish i had just taken the plunge at the beginning as i think that advice from some of the more seasoned veterans on the site would have helped me avoid many of the pitfalls that i encountered along the way (i think that probably 20% of the time spent on the project has been undoing mistakes and rebuilding components using a different approach).
 
Since the hull is painted I decided to work in plastic as this was the medium i was most familiar with. I started with a baseboard carefully marked out from the plans and cut the various cross sections out from 2mm plastic sheet.
 

 
The hull was then skinned in 0.5mm plastic card strips apart from around the stern where balsa blocks where carved to shape. Internally the hull was then braced with more plastic and filler to provide rigidity that would allow me to smooth the hull.
 
There were now many cycles of filling/sanding and priming...
 

 
Basic superstructures were made from more plastic sheet and various detailing added to the hull
 

 

 
Deck planking was done using maple floor veneer cut into 1mm strips which were then glued into place.
 

 
Filler tinted with acrylic paint was then used caulk the planks and then sanded back.
 

 
I hunted unsuccessfully for tubing that could be used for the funnels and in the end had to fall back on plastic sheet again. I used a balsa rod and rolled paper around this until it was the correct diameter. Plastic sheet was then wrapped around this, glued and sanded back before cutting the lengths off required for the funnels. The joints between the funnel sections were again added with more plastic.
 

 
The wheelhouse, skylights etc were then fashioned from plastic sheet, primed and given an oil paint finish to simulate the wooden finish indicated by the plans.
 

 

 
Vents for the deck proved difficult. I eventually used a dapping set bought off eBay to shape heated plastic sheet into hemi-spheres, fitted these to plastic rod shafts and then filler to blend the 2 together.
 

 
For lifeboats i made a vac forming box to produce multiple copies of the various boats from masters carved from balsa
 

 
The end result was not good so the whole process was repeated and eventually i got something i could live with although i think with hind sight 3d printing might be the way to go here.
 

 
The jury is still out on these and i might look at a 4th attempt.
 

 
Masts were made from dowel and bamboo knitting needles sanded back. The long grain of bamboo makes them strong along the central axis and quite easy to sand back to the thin diameter required for the upper sections of the mast.
 

 
Ever since the whole thing started i've been dreading the point where rigging and in particular rat-lines would need to be tackled so at this point i chickened out and built a case to protect the whole thing from dust etc.
 

 
Unfortunately once this was done i had to start some rigging. I started with the upper ratlines using fishing line for the verticals. Dead eyes at this scale are too large to ignore but still very small so i devised an approach to mass produce these by pegging a loop of line between two tacks on a wooden board. Blu tac was then used to adjust the gap between the 2 lines before small plastic discs (cut using a leather punch) were glued in pairs to the 2 lines. Once dry the lines were then cut into sections, each containing 2 discs, that could be attached to the main ratline. Additional discs were then used to cap the dead eyes to produce a reasonable representation of 2 circular block with the 3 lines passing between them. Paint is then used to fill the gaps and finish them.
 

 
I used infini line for the horizontals on the ratlines and found PVA glue the best to secure them.
 

 
Shapeways produce a 1/200 set of blocks that then used on the anchors
 

 
So this is the story so far. I'll be adding more over the coming few weeks as i continue with the final fittings, railings etc.
 

Fooled ya, got another update on my ECB... Got to work on the diorama and got the LED's on and working. Created some boatyard items to add interest. Still need to secure everything a little better and maybe add some rocks to the sand and a little construction debris. Eventually I'll get around to closing her up in glass and create a decorative top moulding. That's all for now. 

Finished!  A few photos.
 

 

 
Lashing the anchor to the rail gave me fits, but I got it done eventually.
 

 

 

 
 

Chapman&Willans Newcastle. 'DEMETERTON'
Sunk By gunfire From Scharnhorst 16/03/41 300nm East of Newfoundland
watercolour 16" X11"

I'd never thought much about coppering before, so I'm enjoying this discussion. While nails in the weathered copper are definitely hard to see, the nails in the fresh copper in this photo are easily apparent and definitely have that "ponce-wheel effect" to my eyes. I wish there was a wider view to see what it looks like from a distance, but, when fresh, the dimples in the copper make the nails stand out.  I'm interested because, at some point, I'm going to need to do something with the hull of the Harriet Lane.