yvesvidal
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Everything posted by yvesvidal
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Going through the wiring (relatively complex) of the lights and features of the submarine. The stands are made of usual plumbing parts and provide a stable base for that heavy model. I have finished wiring the torpedo compartments and the officer's quarters. All the connections have small connectors to allow me to take the whole enchilada apart. I suspect that the building of the remaining compartments and the conning tower may require an easier access to the hull and therefore, it is swell to be able to disassociate it from the base. The result is quite impressive and massive: Close up on the radio equipment and batteries compartment: The hull as it stands today: Close-up on the various compartments: All buttoned up: Hope you enjoy that night tour of the insides of a German U-boot. Yves
- 760 replies
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Usually, masking tape has to be removed when the paint is still fresh and not cured. By waiting, the paint may go in pieces and crumbs, when you remove the tape. Yves
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The base is close to completion. After three or four coats of primer, putty and sanding, I gave it an industrial look with a glossy dark gray. This will provide enough contrast with the matte aspect of the hull: I am also working on the electric wiring board to control independently all the lights. Adjustable resistors are used to fine tune the amount of light through each compartment. Finally, the Officers quarter has been glued into the hull, and the wires inserted through the stand receptacle: I am going to use small connectors to allow the capability to remove the hull from the stand, in case of maintenance and during the building of the three remaining modules. Yves
- 760 replies
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After a few weeks off, it is time to resume our build. First, I had to fix the lower part of the keel. Trumpeter designed a few slots to allow the passing of electrical wires. That does not apply to me, since all electrical connections will go through the brass tube supporting the model. So putty and paint: I will have to repaint the other side of the hull, and finalize with a soft weathering. Next, I have been working on the stand for this large and very heavy model. I need to have room for a few switches and for the various resistors that will allow me to fine tune the intensity of the various LED circuits. I wish to have an harmonious amount of light throughout the vessel. Building a thick base was the best way to go. That base can later on be installed in a larger display case, although it is unlikely it will ever happen. I will show how the tubes are secured in a future picture. It is a heavy duty assembly. No jokes. The panel for all the switches: - Push button for the propulsion motors. - One switch for the outside lights (rear, top of the sail, positions lights). - One switch for the internal light, through the six compartments. - One switch for the special lights (battery enclosure, equipment dials.....etc). This will give you some ideas of the massive assembly: I thought about gluing some precious woods on that base. The base is 32 inches by 6 ..... After going to my local Woodwork shop and being horrified by the price of a piece of wood large enough to cover the top, I have decided to instead paint the base and give it a little bit of an industrial look. I will use a sander and multiple coats of primer to obtain as smooth as possible of a finish and probably paint the base. Not sure which color yet.... Yves
- 760 replies
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Fantastic videos. A nice display of multiple technologies, from the camera all the way to the submarine and torpedoes. Yeap, your neighbor has a very nice pond.... among other things. Yves
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- auguste piccard
- submarine
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Gorgeous carbon sails. I love the modern look that it offers, as compared to the traditional white Dacron. Yves
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You need to add a French vessel to your collection: I believe this one is now available in 1/350 scale. Yves
- 345 replies
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- graf zeppelin
- trumpeter
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Very Nice decals. How did you do it? Printed on decals paper? Yves
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Beautiful model. Yes, very much Museum like, but also very realistic. Yves
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- pontos
- king george v class
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Great endeavor! Thank you so much. Yves
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Et voila.... There won't be any updates as I am travelling for the next three weeks. Have fun building models.... Yves
- 760 replies
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Beautiful work Jack. You have been busy. I bet it was tedious, but the result is splendid. Yves
- 190 replies
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- ragusian
- marisstella
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Working on a few details for improving the stern. 1) I installed the "Clutch" to hide partially the neoprene tube. After painting, it looks a lot more palatable: 2) I redid in brass wires (0.8 mm size) the two stern railings. These will be a lot stronger and I should be able to attach the two lines going back to the conning tower: Before filing..... and after, installed: Now, to paint them. Yves
- 760 replies
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The shrinkage that you see, could be due to the strips being wet during the installation and drying/shrinking later on....? Since you will paint the hull, you can always use Bondo, lots of sanding, primer and a few coats of paint and varnish. Yves
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Moving along with the "extremely delicate" insertion of the rear torpedoes module. Delicate because we have the commands of the rudder to insert, the rear torpedo tube and the two propeller shafts. Before it, I had to install the rear deck light and wire it. Again, no coming back is possible, without damaging the bulkhead. I verified that both propellers are turning as they are supposed to (contra-rotations in the proper direction): So, we basically have the two ends of the submarine pretty much completed. I broke the plastic railing surrounding the rear deck light on one side. I am going to replace these plastic parts by brass wires shaped and soldered. This stuff is supposed to withstand the tension of the lines coming from the sail and the plastic part will not resist the rest of the construction. I also need to find a solution to hide the ugly couplers between the shaft and motors. In retrospect, I wish I had not cut so low...but I wanted to show the torpedo resting underneath. We'll see. Propellers, rudders and diving planes. I wish brass props could be provided either by Trumpeter or by RCsubs. The Revell folks at 1/72 have all these goodies available on the grey market. It feels almost real... Lots of wires starting to pile up: Blue and white for the rear deck light and four wires coming out of the rear module for the motors and the lights. Yves
- 760 replies
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Fabulous work and great pictures to explain your approach. That is a difficult deck, because of the convex shapes in both directions. Yves
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Trumpeter's solution to the mechanism of the front diving planes. Actually not too bad and quite close to the prototype. Again, the kit implementation of the anchor windlass. 95% of it will be invisible. Can you pinpoint the original Vallejo primer peeling away from the PE parts? That primer is excellent on plastic parts but to be absolutely avoided on brass parts. Fortunately, all this decaying is not visible. Yves
- 760 replies
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Thank you for the suggestions and comments. Yes, I agree with Katuna that most kits (especially Revell 1/72 which is an excellent base) are over weathered. I can understand the impulse and creative juice (no pun intended) that can flow when you are starting such endeavor. I have not seen pictures of real Type VII-c showing such a distress on their hull, even towards the end of the war, when maintenance was limited to the essential and panic was starting to be present in the axle forces. So we will for now, discard solution #3. Solution 1 is what you will normally see in Museums: models are presented in perfect conditions and all details are immaculate. Solution 2, offering a "matt" finish with saline streaks and a tiny amount of rust and flaking was for me the best approach. The following picture shows the approach I took on the left, whereas the right part of the stern, shows the Museum approach with glossy paint (simply wet). The difference is striking. So, the entire hull has been finished, besides some details (rust and algae). I will be showing more pictures of it, in the future. In the meantime, I wanted to start inserting a module into the hull. And the front torpedo compartment is an excellent candidate for that decisive phase of the assembly. It is still missing the anchor winch and a couple of air tanks that I will be adding later on, once the module is in place in the hull. The torpedo hatch has been completed: a kingdom of rust sealed by a heavy door (missing in the kit). "Alea Jacta Est" as the Romans used to say: The compartment is glued and there is no coming back..... A few more pictures.... Now, to work on the anchor winch, air tank and the diving plane mechanism. Yves
- 760 replies
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So you are leaving sunny Florida? Tired of the Hurricanes? Too bad you sold that large kit. I (and many others) would have loved to see the masterpiece that you would have built. Yves
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Folks, I am at a cross-roads and a little bit overwhelmed by the extent of what needs to take place. I would like to realize a hull that has seen some actions, but I doubt I can be up to the task. I could go with three different approaches: 1) Perfectly immaculate hull, freshly painted and somewhat un-realistic. Pretty model, quickly done and politically correct. 2) Slightly weathered, mostly saline corrosion and tiny spots of rust here and there. Some algae and salt deposits along the water line. 3) Really beat-up, full of corrosion and salt deposits. There are quite a few models on the web like these and they are outstanding and absolutely mesmerizing of realism and perfection. But these are made by artists and take an enormous amount of work and skills that I do not have. I have been toying and trying some practices on the removable hull (starboard). I am basically trying to stay with the second approach and these are some of my results. If it is not good enough, I am going back to Option #1 and repainting that section of hull. Saline traces coming out of the flood vents. The algae is rather missed..... :-( More saline deposits on the bottom of the hull. Some attempts at playing with rust and paint scaling. What do you guys think? I have not touched the other side of the hull yet. Just practicing... Yves
- 760 replies
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For me, the front Torpedoes room was the easiest. Then the Officers Quarters was a lot more tricky because I have been trying to replicate the fuel tank and batteries, underneath. Plus the additional bunks. Finally, the rear torpedoes compartment has been the most delicate because I have two electric motors and the capability to spin the propellers. I have not done anything else. I am focusing right now on the main hull and learning how to weather a model. Like you, I have been away of plastic models for the past 40 years, pretty much. Yves
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