Old Collingwood

I use a small round (pointy) stick to admisnister ca - I make a puddle of it in an lid, then just dab the end of the stick in it then dab it on where I want it, this way I can control how much glue goes were I want it. OC.

Gorgeous work - very very nice. OC.

Amazing work, even if you was not skilled at wood carving - you are now, some people either have the skill or do not, you certainly Do my friend, very very nice. OC.

I use my hairdryer for it (it needs a purpose since I have no hair myself) OC.

Thanks greg, your so right there, what bugs me is the dust, no matter how many times I blow it off - its always there in my pics, sometimes its dust thats settled in the paint during application though. OC.

Oh! I just noticed - I need to squeeze those barrels in slightly, they are slightly out of true. OC.

Thank you for that. OC.

Good evening all, quite a good day today on the ole girl, first I did a bit of tidy up with the placement of the hanger block, there was some placement lugs on the deck getting in the way of letting it sit properly on the deck, but I have decided to leave it off till one of the last jobs. I decided instead to create turrets x and y these are made up of the kit main parts, and the master barrels. First thing to do was to drill out a few of the sights that are missing on the kit turrets, this was done with a 0.5mm drill bit (after going crossed eyed doing it) then I fitted the rangefinder units to the turret, next item for my attention was the blast bags, these are well known in the kit to have the wrong alignement for the barrels (being below 0deg elevation when fitted oob) so I decided to cut away the the parts of the bags that lock into the turrets, this allowed me to sand a better angle on them allowing me to set the barrels at a higher elevation. Next I glued in the master barrels and set the correct alignemnt - the barrel/blast bags were then glued onto the turrets. On both turrets there are (two each) oerlikon round and part round shield tubs, these are two different hights due to the elevation of the x turret, these were glued inplace and adjusted for the correct alignment. So as we stand at the moment the turrets are just awaiting pe platforms under the rangefinder units on turret x, a couple of ladders and escape hatch covers, then painting (jobs for tomorrow). OC.

So, decisions - decisions tomorrow - do I glue down the completed hanger/boat block or leave it off till I have built the main tower block? OC.

Hi everyone, more work today on the 4in mounts - I painted the two that were constructed consisting of light grey inside and fittings, black breech and barrels, and mid grey outer, then when dry I fitted them down onto the deck, next was to construct the other two. Here are a few pics showing them and the two unpainted ones just dry fitted. OC.

If it was me I would paint them just for my own satisfaction that they were painted, otherwise it would bother me that they were not painted. OC.

Sods law - In a few days time or even weeks when the ship is built, while playing with ones dog or cat on the floor - said parts that went missing will turn up. OC.

The cursing comes with the exhale of breath if somethings gone wrong - or a sigh of relief if the other. OC.

Very nice work lou, you have made a lovely job of her shape - it shows really well in the pictures, I can see with a little bit of filler on the hull she will paint up well, you are doing a very nice job. OC.

Looking good denis, pe is our personal battle zone, it does help our breathing tech though - well does mine when I hold my breath while working with pe. OC.

More work today - first I attacked those saggng lines, I just adjusted them slightly and applied more ca - did the job I think, then I had a change of plan with the paint scheme on the mast, I decided to paint the mid upper part black and keep the lower and extreme top light grey, next I attached the ladder to the mast and considered it a done job. Next was to carry on with the main deck under the hanger/boat deck, this is the general area where the 4in gun mounts live, first I built four pe boxes and attached them to the armour shields, then I painted and placed two ammo casses in the mid area(Still needs a final coat on the boxes, then I turned my attaention to the 4in mounts. These mounts include the Master barrels - first I had to cut away the kit barrels just leaving the breeches, then I had to drill nto them with a 0.5mm drill bit - then I just glued the barrels using ca checking the alignment, then while these were setting I had to work on the base for the mounts just a quick tidy up, then when the the glue had set I was able to attach the two shoulder mounts and glue it down to the base, then just a simple job of gluing on the cover. Another batch of pics today showing the process so far. OC.

Yep guess so, I was trying to make do with what I have for now, as I have a small lit of things I will ned to finish her. OC.

Thanks pat, apart from the sagging cables - I am tempted to try to get them taught again tomorrow. OC.

Thank you jason. OC.

Thanks mate, bit of a backward step though - due to me trying to rush more work to the mast area, I knocked it a couple of times on my magnifier as it was quite low to my build, and the wires have streached and are now sagging, cant realy correct it as doing so will spoil things. So they will have to remain as un-tensioned cables. OC.

Great progress denis - so much pe at your disposal. OC.

Hello all, Thanks again for all the interest, likes and comments. I made a start today on wiring up the mast and yards, for this I used my stash of very thin copper wire, I started with the top level and attached them to the two yards, then I came a quarter of the way down the mast and added the two support wires. After the wires were secured with ca glue, I gave the cables a coat of black and the mast/yards light grey, next was to drill the placement hole on the deck of the rear block and secure the lower mast. I then attached the two support cables to the edge of the rear block and secured with ca, and to finish off I glued in place the radar ontop of the mast. Here are a few pics.

Thnaks denis, so much better than the kit plastic ones. OC.

Hi David, so good to see you back on the build. OC.

Evening everyone, well I started work on the main mast so I hope your all sitting comfortably - I started with the pontos pe 281 RDF Radar device, this had to be cut from the fret then bent inwards in four places to form a kind of box, straight forward just a bit delicate, I decided to to apply a bit of ca all over to strengthen it, next off I had to consider what I was going to use for the pole thats runs through the center, this is so tiny but needs to be strong and long enough to include a few items to it. I decided to try my tiny drill set to see if one fits "success" it fitted it perfectly, this was just lined up and secured with ca, below this on the pole is a swiggly electrical device glued in place then a platform with a railing around it, this was dryed using the dryer then a few extra dabs of ca for strength. This was put a side while I worked on the main mast, first I cut from the kit fret the plastic main mast part, this part has a platform containing a light lower down, and a device at the top, I decided to make a version from my narrow wood dowel, first I cut to the same length as the kit part - then I had to work on thinning the whole dowel, I did this by using some medium wet and dry and a sanding stick, I kept rolling the dowel on the wet and dry till I reached the correct thiness, I also cut away two pe brackets with holes through them - I was able to use the holes to compare mast thickness. So after getting the correct size wood dowel mast - next job was to position two brackets a third of the way down, these are placed at 90/180 degrees ontop of each other, a few dabs of ca and they were placed, next I had to position the light platform - this was another pe part, and was bent into shape then glued onto the mast, ontop of this I glued the kit light fitting part, to finnish off I had to drill through the center of a tiny kit part, this goes at the top of the main mast for the Radar device to fit to, after drilling the part was cut away from the plastic mast then glued to the new wood version. Next off I had to work on the two differnt size yards, to be placed at cross angles on the brackets fitted to the mast, these yard needed some considerable thinning from the dowel used for the mast, after a hour or so I arrived at correct thickness (thiness) so these were also glued in place. To finnish off I smeared some ca over the mast/yards to give them a bit of extra protection. So after a day mast building here are a few pics. OC.