yvesvidal

Fantastic workmanship Wieslaw. Just amazing. I could not believe my eyes when I saw your "paper" hull !!! That is just incredible. The blending of "paper", cards and 3D printed parts (that you are designing yourself) is the way to go and your model will be ten times better and more precise than anything Trumpeter could come up with, if they ever decided to do a Fuso battleship. You truly are an artist and I hope you find the stamina and dedication to finish this incredible and so unique model Yves

Craig, could you specify what kind of paints you are using? That glossy black is fabulous. Yves

I believe that a couple of updates are overdue. After building one side of the deck and hull, it was time to offer some symmetry to that model: The wale are carefully positioned to match as much as possible the other side and the planking follows. However, you do not want to plank too much and must stay below the gun deck level, for ease of assembly: Next is the construction of the gun deck: Again, for sturdiness and longevity, the supports are pinned on the main deck. Below, the grates are installed and the delicate planking of the gun deck can start. Starting from the rear and slowly moving to the bow: Once the gun deck is fully planked and we are happy, we can complete the planking of the side of the hull, all the way to the railings: A couple of details: the rear deck, is not finished yet. The base of the rear mast is not installed yet, and will be fine tuned later on, when building the quarter deck. However, the frames that could not be installed before (you would need the Holy Spirit to hold them in place) are now added as shown in the picture below: There is still plenty of work to be done to file to the right dimensions all the gun ports, on the starboard side and place some more planks, but it is moving along, slowly but surely. The Port side is almost finished...almost. Hope you enjoy that quick update. Yves

Your neighbors must be envious to see that beautiful Carrera GT in your driveway. Fantastic model Craig. Yves

Craig, I can see a trophy at the next contest.... Yves

Such a clean work, as always. YVes

Truly impressive and remarkable. I admire your tenacity and sense of perfection, Rob. That model truly looks like the real thing and if it was sitting outside with the correct backdrop, you could fool a lot of people. Yves

Me neither.... Yves

Fantastic improvement Kevin !!! Yves

You are correct, strengthening the hull. It is necessary and I remember doing the same on my R/C model. Yves

I feel your pain, Rob. The results are glorious. Yves

Yes, this is a very serious surgery for such a large hull. Yves

Maybe, you could display the car with the bonnet open, showing all the marvelous work you did on the engine. I agree with you that such bump is frustrating, especially after spending so much money and efforts to make it work. Your model remains a marvel and a master piece, no matter what your mood may be at this moment. Honestly, it looks just fantastic. Yves

Great introduction of these legendary ships. I am currently working the wooden version of that model, designed and created by CAF Models. It will be interesting to compare the two implementations, although I suspect that you will go a lot quicker than I. The last picture is from a model from the National Marine museum in Paris. I have been drooling on it, while painstakingly gluing the various pieces of wood, included in my kit. Yves

I can't wait for some paint to blend all these modifications into what will be the most precise and prototypical 1/200 Titanic hull on the market. Yves

That is a cockpit!!! I have a hard time imagining it is made of paper and cards. The realism is breath taking. Yves

There is always a silver lining in every problem we face. Yves

It is just amazing. Rob, your model looks so much like the real thing. You are an artist. Yves

You did a great job with the color of the wood planking, on the deck. I sill remember that kit when I was a kid, it was tempting and my brother built it. Yves

That looks very promising. I like the inside framing and tubing.... Yves

Fantastic improvement. Yves

From my experience building a similar boat (Chebec Requin) from a different manufacturer (CAF Model), the only way to plank the deck is to do it one plank at a time. As you indicated, the deck is convex in one direction and concave in the other direction, and as such a flat piece of wood will never fit. It is one of the most difficult vessel to build, because nothing is flat or straight. In your instructions manual (Figure 06), it seems that you have to trace lines on the sub-deck and then cut along these lines and install the various panels, one at a time. Yves

Thank you Nil, for that beautiful picture and model. Excellent way of presenting this unusual ship, with oars and sails. Yves

Great model. I have almost finished the Coasta Passenger car from Occre and can see a few similar parts between the two kits. I will be following your build, for sure. Yves

After building the gun deck (on one side...), I wanted to see how the planking is going to match and fit the gun ports and the overall allure of the hull. As you can see and in my usual way of building a model, I am not exactly following the instructions and the way CAF Models suggests to do it. I am using 1.5 x 5 mm planks as suggested by the kit. First, I tried to paint the planks in Ochre Yellow wood color to hide certain of my mistakes. But after seeing the beauty of the wood and its incredible smoothness when sanded, I have decided to leave the wood natural and will be removing all the paint from the hull. Above, most of the gun ports have been defined and built. I now need to move to the two gun ports located in the stern section, and these are much more difficult to build since they require cutting some of the frames: Planking is done little by little, to get an exact position of the ports. After some delicate surgery, I have come to a point where it is not too bad: I have also added a small strip of wood (not provided in the kit) at the top of the gun ports and planking, to offer a more stable platform to glue the railing. It also makes the bulwarks much more solid and realistic. Some fine sanding remains to be done but the hull is starting to look like a Chebec ship. Honestly, the shape and smoothness of this hull is almost sensual and I do not tire of holding that hull in my hands. What will it be when both sides will be planked....? Now, I have to do it all over again, on the other side.... or should I leave it un-planked...? Probably not. Yves