Old Collingwood

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.

Hey - no knocking your self lou - have pride in your accomplishments every little bit of work we all do to our builds, is special and unique to us all. I will never knock or laugh at anyones work - I went through hell with the first planking on my wood build, but its just about keeping at it. OC.

Is it the wiring where the rudder post should be? OC.

Thank you denis, very nice of you to say. OC.

Evening all, a bit more progress today this time on the hull, first off I ftted the last two booms - simple operation just cut from the fret trim up and glue in place then painted hull color, next was the two main anchors and the spare one - these are the kit plastic ones as they are quite a good shape, I trimmed the pips of the edges and gave the edges more shape, then I attached the shank uisng ca for strength, then I painted all three the same color as the hull and added a slight dry brush on the edges, then I glued them into place. Next I decided to have a go at some paravane cables, first off I needed some very fine wire - so I found a way to create some, inner brass wire from low voltage wiring (like phone chargers) I found an old one with about a meter length so it was just a case of stripping the outer casing then each positive and negative till I found the brass inner thin wire, I cut a length about a 8 inches long, then I centered the mid point around the inner first bollard and added a touch of ca to the wire, this held it in place, then I pulled the wires forward and over the extreme front hull and down to the bottom of the hull and fixed them from both ends into the anchor hole points. Then a coat of flat black. Just the two pics today.

Very sharp - nice pin point precision. OC.

Planing ahead for my work tomorrow - I will take off the boat/hanger.crane block and put it aside, then with the hull without too many obstructions or delicate parts, I will work on the anchors then paint and fit them, the same with a few of the hull booms that need wok on them and a bit of paint then fitting. Then back on the deck I will be able to start working on the main mast and the Type 281 RDF radar from my pontos frets, I will also use some of the other pe details but will substitute the plastic masts and beams for wood dowel versions, as I have a few from my wood kits that will give a little bit more strength over the plastic ones. OC.

Thanks mate, yep I worked on the cables to get some sag in them by gently pushing down and runing a tooth pic type device along the cable, also applying heat helps. OC.

Hi all, so after a slow start earlier - I managed the complete and fix in place the second crane, so this complates the hanger/boat/crane block. OC.

Thanks for that lou, I will see if I can try that - it might not work out too well though, as I only have a small amount of paint left in my Lifecolor tubs so I dont think I would have enough paint to dip the other boom into, the build has used up almost all my paint so far also allowing for shrinkage as the set of paints is over 3 years old, I will have to put another paint set on my (needs to finnish the build list) so far that includes those Shapeways 20mm Oerlikons, some very thin wire for the comms wires then my display case. OC.

Stunning work as usual, she is going to be such a museum quality exhibit when finished. OC.

Thank you so much. OC.

Wonder if these pics might help - they are from the Pontos intorduction of the pe set. OC.

Good day friends, crane number one complete and fixed inplace, from where I left off i had to fit the two control cables, this was tricky as they are preformed pe parts with wheels on both ends, but they are too long - so I glued the one end then when set I secured the other end and applied some glue and trimmed off the the excess. Next I applied a few coats of paint starting with the lattice boom (trying to hand paint inside this is awkward) then I painted the cables and the drum flat black - whils't using the black I painted the end of the boom aswel. then it was the turn of the cranes body - this too was painted the same as the boom. When dry I fitted it to the deck. Here are a few pics with it fitted. OC.

Have you got the full pe intructions (Pontos)? OC.

She is moving on mate lots of detail going on now. OC.

Ken is currently in Big Brother over here in a house studio somwhere. OC.

Upsss - should have said outside cooking device and hot dogs arn't they called chilli dogs or something. OC.

I will bring our sofa and leg support - where can I park that? I will of course bring our barbi complete with a few thousand hot dogs and burgers, so plenty to go round. OC.

Evening all, I started work on the cranes today I decided to make the kit one and compare it to the pe version, after cleaning and thinning some of the support struts, I decided to go with the kit one, I decided to make up some platform gantrys also some railings, not foregeting the ladder, also I added some pe bits and pieces just to give it some detail. Next off was the actual crane lattice boom, this is a alum pe part that comes with the kit, the main part is folded in three and then has the bottom glued to make up the box work, then there is a upper sheave with control wheel that I fitted on both sides, I even fitted the hook up inside the sheave. Here are a few pictures showing the state of build minus the guy lines. OC.

Thank you kindly lou, its supprising just how small the pieces are, and the level of dexterity just to hold them takes some doing. OC.

Doesnt stuff look excellent at this scale - so much detail. OC.