yvesvidal

I am glad you decided to glue the main cabin to the deck. Yves

Thank you for the compliments. No, I am not open to any printing for multiple reasons: - It takes too much time. - You need to get a printer and jump in with the rest of the crowd. You will not regret it. - The printing learning curve is not that bad at all. It is a great skill to have. - You may find a 3D printing club near where you live and they may help you at the beginning. - I am just too busy..... Yves

Fantastic model and incredible weathering. You truly improved the original kit ..... For having built the model straight from the kit, I can appreciate the extent of what you did. It is truly amazing. Only critics, I wish you had left some space (Line) between the pictures. Yves

Giampiero, You were definitely a ship builder in a past life. There is no doubt about it. Yves

Two light coats of yellow, before planking the upper side: Then more yellow and a lot of blue.... At least 5 coats since the Ultramarine Blue is very transparent. Yves

The deck will probably lighten up with time. Yves

A quick update: the planking above the channels and below the main rail has been completed: Now, I will brush a first coat of yellow and then continue with the upper planking and the rails. I usually place 5 coats of yellow and blue, with fine sanding in between. It takes time to make it look nice. Yves

I do NOT like the new look. Yves

You use optic fibers. A central source provided by an LED and a set of small fiber strips funneled to the source LED. Then each strand of fiber can be routed to whatever location you want. Yves

Terrible tragedy....and also a convenient way to start a short war with Spain! Lots of strange stories going around that ship. Could it be another false flag event our USA Corporation government is so fond of? Yves

I am now working on the upper planking of the Port side of the vessel: The channels have been installed and glued, following the curves of the wales. Next, I have to rework all the gun ports which do not have a lid. They have to be flush with the plywood of the upper hull. When that is done, I will plank the upper hull and install the wood strips (D) and (E). YVes

Still following Session #2, it is kind of difficult to figure out how the Stern and bow will be built. Therefore, I am leaving them unfinished for now: Yves

What a little marvel. That Version 2 is just stupendous. Yves

That is a lovely boat. I will be watching your progress. Yves

Very nice and promising work. This is going to be a masterpiece ! If I may suggest a few things: Make sure that you install at least 4 white/yellowish LEDs per compartment. This is required to bring enough light to see all the details of the assembly. The front module is very long and a ceiling light near the torpedo access hatch is a must. You placed a light on the bulkhead, which is a very good thing. Be careful with the wiring. Your modules may not fit into the hull if you have too many wires or too thick of a harness. Since you are using the Eduard PE set, you do not have to cut the deck, which make it easier for you to hide the wiring. Otherwise, it will be visible from the outside. Finally, make sure that the light does not leak outside of the module, especially from the top. Again, not so much of a problem since you are going with Eduard PE set. Yves

Thank you Theodosius, Rookie and all the others who left some encouragements. I am working on the other side and installing the channels at that moment. There is a lot to do as you know very well. Yves

Folks, this is the beginning of another crazy build, a second virtual kit, this one from Nautilus Drydocks. NAUTILUS DRYDOCKS is specialized in Radio Controlled navigating submersibles and they have a very large selection of kits. My choice focused on the Russian submarine ALFA for multiple reasons: It is relatively small for the scale I want to model it into (1/48th). It would be impossible to model a large boomer from the US Navy, for instance. It is an incredible machine and remains to this day the fastest submarine in existence with more than 40 knots of underwater speed. It is also one of the attack submarines that can dive to abysmal depth, leaving most traditional torpedoes unable to reach it. It has been a star of multiple Navy exercises in the 80's, where it excelled each year. It is a rare beast (only 7 made), using very advanced technology and materials. I love the shape of it. There is a lot to say about this submarine and the choice to model it was made long before the current geo-political skirmishes currently taking place. These have in no way reduced my appeal for this machine, quite the contrary in fact. I will not say more on this forum, but eventually the truth will be revealed and the people will realize how they have been manipulated. The kit is a virtual kit again, that is to say a license to print parts. The kit comes originally in the scale of 1/96th and provides a model of about 890 mm long. As the readers of this forum know, I like the 1/48th scale for my small fleet. Whereas all the kit parts (1/96th) will print easily on my Creality Ender 3 v2, sizing these parts to 1/48th presents some radical challenges. Besides the diving planes and the connectors for the hull sections, nothing does fit on my 3D printer. I have had to learn some new tools to cut and slice parts so that they can be printed on the little Ender 3 bed, sized at 220 x 220 x 250 mm. That magic tool is Meshmixer (AUTOCAD) and is a blessing once you start learning how to use some if its capabilities. While working on the HMS Bellona, I have been printing for the past month and a half and basically exhausted and broke my little 3D printer. We will get back to that story. The poor thing showed some signs of early decay and a few parts had to be replaced..... At 1/48th scale, the model will be enormous and is probably the largest thing I will ever build, if I can finish it. Below is the result of more than 610 hours of almost non-stop printing: About 4 to 5 spools of PLA filaments were used. When deciding about the scale of the model, I decided to print the nose of the submarine in various scales to get a feeling of the overall scope of the model: On the right, is the 1/350th scale model of the ALFA by DRAGON, an old kit that I bought some 30 years ago. Next to it is the same nose at 1/192nd scale, then 1/96th in the middle and finally 1/48th to the left. Yo can see that the size is growing very quickly..... The finished model should be 6 feet long. The picture above shows what the kit is supposed to be, when built at 1/96th scale, and the Altoids box gives a reference for the size. The kit is designed in seven sections, from Bow (#1) to stern (#7): It is very well detailed and renders all the openings and hatches of that incredible beast. Because the kit was created to be RC equipped, the top section of the hull can be detached from the bottom. My model will be static (with a little twist) and so I will be building things differently. The kit comes with a short PDF instruction sheet that does not help much. The kit costs $50 on the Nautilus Drydocks website. Progress will be very slow, as the Bellona is getting most of my attention..... So be patient. Yves

A few progress on that big hull, with the completion of the starboard side: I am still following the CAF instructions with the installation of the D and E wood parts. The "D" strip is made of 4 x 3 mm, and the "E" strip of 3 x 2 mm. These are put in shape thanks to these small devices (Micro Shapers) from AMATI: This looks like great progress, but I still have the entire PORT side to tackle.... This will take me some time and most likely there won't be any updates for a little while. In the meantime, here is a view of the overall beast. I am not moving too fast and decided to not install the decals for the freezes (Session #5) as I am trying to see if the kit can be put together by following the instructions, at least when it makes sense to follow them.... By the way, I changed the blue and went with an Ultramarine Blue from Liquitex. It is a lot darker and richer than the Cerulean blue I was planning to use at the beginning. Yves

For someone who has no idea how to use all these paints, you are doing rather well. You must be "gifted"..... 🙂 Yves

Very nice presentation of the kit. Yves

A very rare kit for sure and a beautiful model. Yves

Yes, you could 🙂 This is just amazing of precision and perfection. Yves

You are pushing the details....with 3D printing technology. Very sweet. Yves

Very nice start.... Yves

Mike, Here it is (sorry for all the dust on the model): As you can see above, the front of the cabin (wheel house) is fixed/glued to the main deck and cannot be taken apart. The main cabing rests on the main deck (glued). The upper deck is removable and held simply by two piece of wood in the front and rear: The upper deck slides on the main cabin and gets locked under the wheel house: When in place, it is secured and very sturdy: And finally, just for fun, a comparison of the Calypso (1/43.5) and the Corvette (1/48). The Calypso should even be smaller if it was built in 1/48th scale: Sorry for intruding on your Build Log. I can remove this material if you wish. Yves