yvesvidal

Lots of dust on the model...maybe today I will clean it all up.
 
Anyway...the bowsprit step/Belfry was up next. At this point none of the fittings are glued on deck.   I am not yet sure if I will paint it red or leave it natural.  The contemporary model has it painted red but the paint is so worn and light on that model it all pretty much blends in to everything else.  So I will wait until all of the fittings are made to determine whether I paint this.  I know the heel of of bowsprit inboard will be painted red so I will wait to see if painting the bsprit step red would be too much.
 

 
Here are most of the elements laser cut for the bstep/belfry.  There is a bunch of faking it on this fitting but in the end you wont be able to tall.  First I cleaned these Cedar pieces of laser char.  Dont be shy here.  It will all come off and look clean but takes time and care.  I used some 220 grit and 320 grit sanding sticks and even a sharp #11 blade.   You can see one side of the bstep all cleaned of char.  The other has yet to be cleaned and shaped.   You must finish the top and match the shaped timberhead.  For this a sharp blade was used to make a series of "stop cuts" and then basically carve the two sides that needed shaping.  This was after char clean up.
 
The center where the bowsprit will be stepped was cleaned and assembled.  Note the aft side of the step.  I have inserted a small laser cut square to simulate the tenon of the bowsprit.  Its just easier and cleaner this way.  Leave it standing proud a bit.  The forward side sill has a nice deep mortice for the actual tenon of the bowsprit.
 
Then there were the belfry elements.  This includes a length of twisted square wire.  This will be proved.  Yes this is commercially available.   You must use the plan to shape it which is shown.   Then blacken it.  The other elements are also shown.
 

Moving along...the step is now completed and drilled with simulated bolts.  Once again these were black fishing line (30 lb).  Note the laser etched seam which should go on the outside if each side piece...dont mix up the side pieces when assembling.  I also drilled the holes for the wire belfry.   That wire was blackened.  The stock for the bell was completed at this time.  Some laserboard elements simulate the ironwork.  I glued the top on first and then the two faces.   Some 24 gauge wire was inserted into the ends of the stock.  But you can attach this to the wire frame anyway you wish.  I knew it would be a challenge to drill through the frame for most so once again this is simplified.  I just filed some slots on the inside of each frame of the twisted wire at the height needed. I used the plans to establish where.  These tiny grooves were enough of a slot to slide and glue the belfry stock in position.  Its pretty secure.   Its not under any pressure so it should be safe and secure.
 
Before doing so however, I added the handle to the top of the bell stock.  I just bent it according to the plans.   I used 22 gauge blk wire.  You can add a tiny length of rope if want to.  I have decided not to as they always seem to hang left or right or curl up and that annoys me.  The bell was simply glued to the underside of the stock.   Then it was glued within the frame as described.
 

 
There is a little bit of cleaned up needed as my fingers must have been dirty.  But this is the result.
 

 

And finally shown on deck but not glued in position yet.  The companionway hood is also not glued in position yet.  No hurry with that.  This completes the fcastle deck fittings.  Now we start the gun deck fittings.  Ignore the dust!!!
 

 
Comments and questions are always welcome!!!
 
Chuck

All of the bulkhead supports are now in place.

 
Next up was prepping the bulkheads. I want to tack the bulkheads in place once they are correctly aligned. So I needed to remove some of the paper plans that I glued to them to get wood to wood contact. My thought is to place a small drop of CA to tack them in place and when the time comes I can use acetone to break down the glue or just cut them off, which will have to be done eventually anyway. I had used Elmer’s spray adhesive to stick the plans to the bulkheads and found acetone easily removed the paper and glue.
Then I locked a piece of the keel material in a vice and checked to make sure the notch in each bulkhead would accept it. They all needed a slight sanding to widen the slot.


 
After some thought I came up with an idea that would make it easy to properly align the bulkhead notch over the centerline as well to make sure the bulkheads were perfectly vertical fore to aft. I took a piece of scrap wood and cut a 1/8th grove down the center. This will allow the piece of wood to ride on the 1/8th strip of wood that I glued on the centerline to align the bulkhead supports. Kind of like a sled. On the top side I glued 2 pieces of wood to hold the square centered.




 
 
Lastly I took a small piece of the wood that I will be using for the keel and cut a grove that would ride on the upright portion of the square. The thickness of the upright was just under 1/16th (the size of the groove I cut) so I wrapped one layer of painters tape around the upright to make the fit just snug enough. Now the wood piece can be slid down into the bulkhead notch. Now I can easily get the bulkheads aligned correctly.
 



 
 
I’m now contemplating if I should fair the bulkheads before mounting them on the build board.  Matthews, the creator of the plans, has dotted lines on the plans showing the amount of fairing needed. I'm not sure of the angle of the fairing so it might mean some trial and error. Of course I could mount the bulkheads first and then fair them as is usually done. Ill have to think about it.
Probably won’t get any more done till next weekend as the coming week is going to be busy for me.

Thank you very much, Keith!  These kits are quite the challenge, but they build up beautifully!
 
Thank you very much, Steve!  That’s why I really like the late 19th, early 20th Century ships!
 
Thank you very much, Mark!
 
Thank you very much, OC!  I really like building from card!  It has so many different possibilities and can be merged with other materials quite easily, which overcomes the limitations that one would imagine!  The level of detail that I have seen in the different card kits is quite impressive!

Thank you to everyone for all the likes and just for stopping by!
 
Currently working on all the detail parts for the main mast:

Including the railing:

The railings are always time consuming, but look really good when installed.
 
Next up, after the railing, I need to make a bunch of ladders, similar to the ones I made for the sides of the smaller turrets for the hull and the masts.
 
Then, it will be time for touch up painting and finally, sealing.
 
Next up, I need to make a set of yards, booms and a gaff to install and rig.
 
Due to the nature of the model, I am going to rig the model before proceeding to the rest of it, since many of the anchor points will be underneath the ship’s boats and the hull will be getting much more fragile once I install the boarding ladders.
 
 
 

Excellent choice. That should make a fantastic model, at the scale of 1/12.
 
Yves

I have this kit in my stash and will watch your progress with interest.
 
Yves

Excellent choice. That should make a fantastic model, at the scale of 1/12.
 
Yves

I have this kit in my stash and will watch your progress with interest.
 
Yves

Excellent choice. That should make a fantastic model, at the scale of 1/12.
 
Yves

Excellent choice. That should make a fantastic model, at the scale of 1/12.
 
Yves

I have started on this build, my first car in over 50 years.  It will be a slow build as I am still waiting for my airbrush set up.  There will be a learning curve and lots of practice before putting paint to the model.  Step 1 and 2 complete

Today's progress was mostly in the removal of the chrome on one of the sprues. I cut the sprue into two parts and bathed them in an industrial purple degreaser - the one called Zep is available where I live and worked well. It took just under 30 minutes to remove the chrome plating and revealing a nice clean white set of parts.

I also started to assemble some parts on the tender (but it is hard to see anything has been added) and attached the smoke stack / boiler fairing. Then I set the tender next to the boiler / cab to get a feel for the size of the final model. The box indicates the overall length to be 395mm; that does seem plausible.
 

Today I started assembling the kit. The plastic feels less rigid than I have felt in other model kits. There is a bit more flash on the parts than the Hobby Boss BR86 kits had, but nothing that is overwhelming so far.
 
I started with the chassis as directed by the instruction booklet. Clean up took the most time as it is mostly in one-piece with a few details / parts to be added - two bulkheads and part of the brake system. Here is the assembly from above and below:

The cylinder assembly was put together and attached to the chassis next. It would have been nice if the structures D 6 & 9 and D 7 & 8 had alignment pins between one another, but they didn't and you need to pair them by sight / feel although they are indexed to the cylinder body.

 Since that didn't take much time, I jumped ahead to start on the boiler. The two halves looked fine to me after I cleaned up the flash. The challenge for me was getting these together with just 2 alignment pins!

Fortunately the two halves mate well in terms of details such as the bands encircling the boiler. I ended up using the smoke box door as an aid to putting these parts together along with several clamps and some tape. [Aside, the kit came with two different steam box doors - I wonder if some parts of this kit are used in another.] Below is what the boiler looks like sitting on the chassis and having the cover sitting on top of the boiler. The cover still has some flash, but I can see that it will mate nicely with the boiler (which I think is impressive).
 
Already thinking about a possible color scheme. In service, most were black; however, a few were painted more brightly. Today, I like this scheme (less the blue tires):

This particular locomotive has been repainted and is currently black.

Around the new year I had gotten the bug to build a couple of plastic BR 86 German locomotives. While making them, I searched for other static locomotive kits and came across several 1/50 scale kits of Japanese steam locomotives made by the company Arii (which was apparently taken over by Micro Ace). I now have three of the kits. I chose to start with the D-51 kit first. D51's were produced starting in the 30's and were made in several variants. This kit represents the early model of the D51 and is identifiable by the long covering that extends from the sand box to the chimney - 95 of this type were made. Later models had shorter covers to facilitate maintenance of the locomotives. 
 
Due to the appearance of the long covering, the early D51's were given the nickname 'Namekuji' or Slug. Based on what I have read online, I believe the kit labeling / translation of  D-51 Slag Type may be a typo.  
 
Here is what the kit looks like / includes:

The second wing was completed without much trouble. The two wings were mated to the fuselage, though this was not quite so simple. As I mentioned before, I'd squeezed the fuselage somewhat so the place where the wings had to go was not as even as it should have been. A little surgery at the wing roots proved to be sufficient. The wing fillets then covered the slight gaps that remained. A dowel joiner assisted this.
 
The tailplane was quite easy and was glued in place without any trouble. The two halves were joined with a laser-cut spar.
Next, the undercarriage - should be fun 😁.
 
Cheers
 

And now, just for fun . . .
 
Several days ago I noticed that the photo editing software on my Google Pixel phone had changed, and today I received the email from Google notifying me of the update. Gee, Google, thanks for the heads-up, I guess? 🙄  Anyways, the updated software includes a new AI assistant. Well, of course this latest update demanded that we test the limits of what the fancy-shmancy AI can do, so I loaded the photo seen in my previous post and asked the AI to redo the photo in a cubist style.
 
And this is the result:
 

I dunno, but I'm thinking the new AI assistant is confusing cubism with a Rubik's cube. 😂  Color me unimpressed!

Getting close to the end now! Just the landing gear, propeller, and a little bit of rigging left to do.
 

Making the hood for the fcastle companionway it is pretty straight forward but you have to be careful to align the sides properly before adding the top planks.
 

 
It is all laser cut.  Here are the pieces.
 

The two thick squares are crucial to its fit when completed. They are laser cut slightly wider than the coaming.  You need to sand the sides until the square is a nice press fit inside the coaming as shown below.
 

Then you can glue the two squares together to form an "L".  This "L" is the proper width if your squares were a nice fit in that coaming.   Then clamp the two side panels to them so you can start gluing the thin cover boards to it that form the roof.  The one thing you must be sure of when clamping the sides onto this fixture....dont glue it to the fixture!!!  Its just used to properly align the two sides the correct distance apart.  In addition, the two sides are no the same height. One side is longer than the other....the starboard side is longer.  This is because of the deck round-up.  So when clamping them to the fixture you must make sure the top edges are lined up and even.  See it below in relation to the squares on the mat.  The bottom edge shows each side being a different length.  But the top must be squared up and even.
 

Then start gluing the cover boards onto the sides.   One at a time.  But as you proceed, you must bevel the side as you are placing them on a rounded shape.  But dont over-do the bevel.  You dont need too much.
 

When you are almost done with the boards, the last final board is laser cut wider and at an angle to compensate for the bottom of the hood being at an angle.
 
When its all done you can sand the sides flush which were slightly longer than needed to clean it all up.   Then its time to test its alignment on the model.  It sits on top of the coaming...not within the coaming.   Look at it from dead on and from the side.  Make sure its straight and vertical and leaning to one side when viewed from the bow.   Make sure it is not leaning when viewed from the side.  You can sand the angle of the bottom of the hood to adjust any leaning.  Once satisfied, move onto the next step.
 

Now its time to cut small lengths from a 1/8 x 1/64" strip.  This is glued half onto the inside of the hood with the other half forming a nice lip.  This will be inserted into the coaming when done.  It should fit perfectly if your two squares and fixture was the correct width.
 

I am guessing that this hood was portable and removable.  So you dont even have to glue it in position if you have a good fit.  You can leave it natural or paint it bulwark red.  Its your choice.   I have painted it red to continue following the look and color scheme of the contemporary model.  The seams and joints and nails do show through after painting it but its very subtle which I prefer.  Mine is not glued in and it will prove useful as I may be removing it from time to time as it may get in the way of doing other work up there.  Now onto the bowsprit step....and belfry.
 

Thanks guys…yes things are finally getting into a routine again.  My sons wedding in a few weeks will be the last bit of excitement.  
 
That old pinball machine was left by the previous owners.  It works but needs a bit of love repair.  The lights arent working on the back part but other than that its all good.  A nice distraction.  And yes another pet project should I need one.  I am Hoping the kids will take it off my hands so it becomes their project.
 
Chuck
 
 

Progress continues and today I got the lower counter glued on and faired in so I could finish the planking belt on the stbd side. The lower counter is laser cut with some extra material on it. I centered it over the gunports and positioned it so that it was sitting level on each side then clamped it down

once it’s in place it can be glued from
The Backside with CA, just don’t glue to the jig pieces! I also wetted the inside face of it so that it wanted to curl in the right direction.
Once it’s in place you can see where things need to be sanded. I also trimmed the lower part of the counter about halfway up The wing transom, I’m going to take an additional 1/32-3/64th off so the mounding can rest there.

Once completed the counter should have a nice curve into the outboard stern framing and the aft cant frames


once this is done the last planking strip can be added and work can resume on the last few belts.

I finished up the last remaining lower planking belt before the main wale. I will start on the black strake tomorrow and finish with the main wale and 1-2 planks  below that. 
Also testing one of the QG’s and the printed drop, which is actually going to be boxwood.

Today’s progress, moving at a glacial pace but I have some of the lower planking belt in place. I need to install the counter tomorrow and fair down the filler pieces on the side to define stern before I can progress any further with planking. 
Once the planking fully blocked down and is sealed with WOP I can then proceed with painting the gunports and the edges of the planking as I did on the POB version.
 

Thank you to everyone for your comments and likes. 
 
 
 The coal feeder body is done, sorry I just realized I didn't add a photo of the table throat. I still need to add lever, gears, rig the lines to conveyor tail, and put coal on the conveyer.  There is a sequential gluing order to that list and I'm still trying to figure out the best way to do that. 

 
 Once I have the boiler's port side fire and clean out doors added I can the glue the boiler to the steel plate. I can add coal to the conveyer at any time but the trick is adding coal to the coal crib without the crib being glued into place because I need to be able to lift the crib to rig the blocks to the conveyer tail. It's kinda like needing three hands to do something. 

 
 As you can see in this photo I got the boiler lit. 

 
 I'm going to add five feet of deck space (0.5 inches) aft of the coal crib and then make the wheel's cutouts. Once the cutouts are made she should start looking more like a towboat. 

 
 View as seen in the original from aft photo. 

 
 Thoughts
 
 The steam engine is directly underneath the pilothouse in the engine room. This allows the Skipper to control the engine without need of an engineer to do so. This means the shaft ran below the boiler, coal feeder and coal crib in the rudder chain tunnel.
 
 The deckhand's bluejeans, teeshirt, and baseball cap wasn't normal work clothes till the late forties early fifties. The photos show a vessel with antiquated machinery in a general rundown condition. Had this ole gal been pushing barges for twenty/twenty five years? Other than electricity, what other "modern" updates had been added through the years? 
 
 I am fairly certain there was a water tank connected to the boiler on the port side up next to the pilothouse.  Water would be pumped to the tank and from tank to boiler. With that setup there would always be water available for boiler startup without the need to start a pump as the boiler water on startup would have been gravity feed.
 
 
 Health update.
 
  Months ago in my Lula log I mentioned i might have an aorta aneurysm stent endoleak that would require surgery. I could never get an answer from my then healthcare provider's vascular department so I changed healthcare providers and, I'm good. I have an area of concern that we need to monitor closely but I'm not about to blow, surgery is not required at this time. This is an answer to prayer that allows me to get on with my life and continue my care for Maggie. 
 
 For those of you who have prayed for me and for those who have kept me in your thoughts, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.
 
 
 Thank you everybody for your support and for following along.
 
  Keith
 

Hi Everyone, thank you very much for your Comments and Likes. This update starts with completing the hardwood facing on the guards. When built they were made from Iron Bark. The face plank  that wraps around the stern was shaped on the same mold as the previous planking. They are made from 1/16" x 1/8" AYC and painted with Vallejo Anthracite Grey 71.052 before attaching. The first plank was pinned to the stern, the wood was slid away from the guard, glued and slid back on the pins and clamped. This sat over night.
 

 
The ends are sanded to 45 degrees and the next plank locks in behind the previous plank..
 

 
 

 
Then I worked towards the bow.
 

 
 

 
 

 
The holes for the portlights were enlarged using a step drill bit that goes from 1/8" to 1/2" in 1/32" increments. It was turned in by hand.
 

 
Previously the holes for the hawse pipes were made but I forgot to take a picture before the were covered. Regular 20 pound printer paper was used to suggest metal plates around the hawse pipes. A piece of 1/4" brass tube cut at 60 degrees was used to get the oval shape. A piece of 5/16" x .029 thick wall brass tube will be soldered to the end of the 1/4" tube.
 

 
The deck planking was started under the overhang of the forecastle deck so that the beams could be installed. The 5/64" AYC planks were painted with Vallejo Model Color Old Wood 70.761 that was diluted about 50/50 with Vallejo air brush thinner. They were wiped right away with a cloth and allowed to dry. The next day a coat of WOP tinted with dark grey pigment was applied and wiped off immediately. The camera really picks up the black but it actually looks less crazy in real life.
 

 
 
 

 
The patterns for the knees were made from 1/32" plywood and once shaped 1/16" wood strips were glued to their backs and shaped. They needed a bit more thickness so 1/32" strips were glued to them and sanded to the proper thickness.
 

 
The beam was glued into place after being painted
 

 
The knees were then attached
 

 
The forecastle subdeck could now be installed using 1/32" plywood
 

 
And then the mast was test fitted
 

 
I think the main deck should be completed next. Hope to see you then,

Hey guys
My weekend was all about building
deadwood and the aft cant frames.
There was lots of sanding, testing, sanding, testing...
I just hope everything will be okay after the final fairing.
And I hope the wing transoms finally fall into place properly, too.
But that will happen after I've framed the starboard side.

 

Transoms sat in place but no glue yet.

Aft cant framing completed and then I added the two inner stern posts ready for the transoms.