robdurant

A small update... I've finished planking the starboard side (all except for a tiny stealer, anyway).  The walnut below the waterline will be covered up with copper tiles.
 

 
 

Looking really nice Rob, the colour of the boxwood looks really nice even without a finish!

Very nice planking, well done

A small update... I've finished planking the starboard side (all except for a tiny stealer, anyway).  The walnut below the waterline will be covered up with copper tiles.
 

 
 

A small update... I've finished planking the starboard side (all except for a tiny stealer, anyway).  The walnut below the waterline will be covered up with copper tiles.
 

 
 

A small update... I've finished planking the starboard side (all except for a tiny stealer, anyway).  The walnut below the waterline will be covered up with copper tiles.
 

 
 

A small update... I've finished planking the starboard side (all except for a tiny stealer, anyway).  The walnut below the waterline will be covered up with copper tiles.
 

 
 

Slow going on the hatches and I have been working back and forth on the tower while waiting for glue to set on hatches. The tower is built up in deck layers that press fit together for now. Keeping them separate really helps as I add details as I discover them. Evan is taking the ship for a month in dry dock for refitting, upgrading, maintenance and paint for about a month. That is when he will be sending pictures of more details that are needed. Anyway here are some "In Progress" tower decks. So far the one big challenge was the NAV. deck and getting the windows angled forward using .0208" square framework. I also cut an access panel on the bottom of this deck to add the window glazing later on. The big challenge I see coming are the ladder ways and railing. I have checked Tom's Modelworks railing but they do not provide dimensions on height and stanchion distances. Has anyone out there used their 1:350 three rail railing?
 
Here are various "In Progress" views showing the tower stacked up and the individual decks. You can also see where I am at with the hatches, about 1/3 of the way complete.

 

 

 

 

 

 
Now back to hatches.

Glad to hear you were able to resolve it Danny; the model is looking very good.
 
cheers
 
Pat

Thanks for that Pat. As it happens I have a very good source of information (HERE) kindly supplied to me by Wiley in the other forum I posted to. It has everything I need, and the best thing is that it's almost exactly the same as the screws I'd glued together just before I saw the post . The pics clearly show the screws the way I'd figured they would be, two clockwise and one counter-clockwise. The only difference I could see was that I didn't give them quite enough pitch, but I can live with that :

 
Here are the parts for the outer housings. The "hourglass" shaped ends didn't have laser-cut bracing, so I cut a couple from scrap card. There's a fair bit of stress on the ends when the sides get glued on. As usual the kit design is inadequate :

 
I decided to see if I could roll the shafts from card instead of using styrene tubing or brass wire. I'm pretty happy with the result, even though they aren't quite perfect. I used some styrene clamps around the appropriate size drill bit to help with gluing them :


 
Some of the parts for the housing, shaft and screw assemblies :

 
The housings ready to fit to the hull. I think I'll leave the screws off until later in the build. I still need to do some other work on the hull first. Nothing has been painted yet :


 
  Danny

Hi Danny, you will get many conflicting results from google or similar searches as the direction was a design criteria and differed from ship Class to ship Class.  Even to this day,  ships have different propellor configurations to meet the design requirements, which are determined by the winning bidder/tender (and accepted by the Navy/Company) unless specifically detailed in the tender request/Contract.  There are arguments offered about fuel economy versus maneuverability etc etc. for the different configurations.  Also, as you have summised you need sufficient flow over the rudders to make them effective.  Even with twin rudders, if they were not big enough, or incorrectly placed, they may not have been effective with a particular screw configuration.
 
Unless you can find  a contract or authoritative document that states what the configuration was, I would recommend the best way to determine this would be to look at any photos of the screws if any exist.  The pitch of the blades (I think they were all fixed pitch in these days) will indicate which way they turned? For the central screw, I would not be surprised if it turned in the same direction as the motor output to minimise gearing and complication.   It may also be that this screw was only used if extra/the highest speed was needed.  That does not help you determine the direction, but apart from the pitch, if you know the motor/engine type, it may be possible to trace that back as well to find it's mechanical properties .....
 
I would be very surprised that a ship of this fame did not have propulsion information, including about the screws, published about it somewhere. 
 
cheers
 
Pat

I'm currently working on the Propellor Housings, Shafts and Screws. I'm a little undecided as to which way the screws should turn. I've Googled "Propellor Rotation" and come up with either conflicting opinions, or "it doesn't matter". Any thoughts? as (of course ) there is nothing in the kit instructions regarding this.
 
I'd guess that the Starboard screw should turn clockwise (viewed from the stern) and the Port screw anti-clockwise as per the usual twin-screw method. This could be open to conjecture, as I've found that Titanic's screws were the opposite to create more prop wash to attempt to assist the (undersize) rudder to work more efficiently - whether that contributed to the collision with the iceberg may have been a possibility but that's another story. In any case Bismarck has twin rudders, so that wouldn't have been a problem.
 
So the question is - which way did the central screw turn? I'm guessing it wouldn't have mattered either way, but if anyone has definitive information it would be appreciated before I glue on the blades.
 
BTW - I'm going to duplicate this post in "Ship's Plans and Project Research" in case someone who doesn't follow this thread has the info.
 
  Danny

FINISHED
 
I'll make better photo's for a gallery asap, but this is what it is....





Thanks for watching, thanks for the support, thanks Daniel Dusek, thanks to the Admiral for pretending she likes what I shown her during the build ..."look a 7 part rower seat!", "look! an oar!".
It was a joyful ride...I love this kit and I liked to do all the modifications. Daniel Dusek did a fantastic job...I gladly build another (but different)!
 
Thanks again guys...really, without this forum there wouldn't be a finished model!
 
More soon...but something else!
 
Robin 

First planking complete
 
After the first 3 planks I gave up on shaping and spilling.  There is another layer of planking so none of this going to be seen on the finished model.  I'm going to put lots of effort into the second planking at least until the water line as the coppering will cover bellow that point.  One thing to point out is that if I didn't put shims on bulkhead No9 and 12 it would have turned out really lumpy
 


 
the last picture is with a bit of sanding done. There is quite a lot more sanding to be done and I don't think I'll need very much filler.  I have to say working with 1.5 mm lime wood was a bit difficult but it makes for a strong hull.

Hi Toni, very beautiful work.

Ed, never apologize for your books.  They are bibles for many of us.
 
The covering boards and bill boards are an attempt to prevent injury to the hull and chain plates while hoisting the anchor.  Both of these structures are designed to be easily replaced.  On the Swan class the lining overlaps the main wale.  There are three of them and they are attached with nails whose heads stand proud for easier removal (I think).  There is a decorative groove near the lateral edges.  In order to get a smooth run for the groove, I made the lining off the model, gluing the the boards together on a piece of paper for extra support.  Then I cut the groove.  I removed them from the paper and glued and nailed them to the model.  The lower two boards required bending in two planes to fit the wale tightly.  After listening to everyone's advice I decided to paint them.  I found the appearance of the bright wood garish against the black wale and decided any commanding officer would feel the same way.  There is a molded platform on top of the lining is wide enough to allow a man to stand on it.  Access would be through the gun port.
 
  
 

 

 
The bill board has two vertical stanchions to which the boards are attached.  
 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 

Thanks Bob, I'm planning on giving this ship more attention, so hopefully more updates will be coming soon

Michiel, not only lights but I even thought of RC controls. But since I know nothing about RC boats I moved on.
 
Vaddoc, the primer is Krylon Gray Primer out of a spray can, nothing exotic and sands nice and seals the wood. Also works well with the Glazing Putty in filling any gaps.
 
Thank you all for stopping by and words of encouragement.
 

Hi Guys,
 
Its great to have you gents following along, thanks.
 
As I stated in my previous post I'm interested in the patination of the copper plates for this little boat and so I conducted a few tests to see which gave the best results, here are my findings, I hope you find them interesting.
 
First up was to fix 10 plates onto small boards x 4, a gentle rub down with some wire wool to remove any protection.
 
I mixed two solutions of Tomato feed and both Red Wine Vinegar and White Wine Vinegar, once these had dissolved completely I then brushed the mixes onto two of the boards and set aside.
 
Next to mix up Miracle Grow Soluble plant food with Red Wine Vinegar and the same plant food with White Wine Vinegar, again when dissolved the plates were brushed with the mixtures.
 
Here are some pics after approx 2.5 hour's.
 
First up is the Tomato feed mixtures Red Wine Vin on the left, White Wine on the right. Not a lot of change and so it's not worth bothering with.
       
 
Next up is the Plant food mixtures.
 
First is the White Wine mix. After a couple of weeks I'm still getting changes, the samples have turned to a Bronze colour.
 
    
 
Next is the Red Wine mix, this turned out the best to my mind. The times on the right of the boards is the time on the same day.
 
   
The Red wine mix again is still changing and has a vivid green hue to it, one problem is that its very fragile in that it rubs off easily. Another problem could be the method of applying the mix, as you can see the mix stains the back board so if using this stuff BE CAREFULL.
 
OK, back to the build,
 
The Gunport pattern is now fixed in place, 
 
 
The first plank of the first planking has been fixed.
 
The first planking is now completed with no major problems, that's a first for me I can tell you.
 
 

I also made a start on the Gundeck, I don't think the deck is going to give me any trouble to fit and so I thought it would be easier to plank the deck prior to fixing in the boat.
I decided to change the planking from 1 x 4mm Tanganyika to 1x4mm Swiss Pear, I cut the Waterways from a sheet of 0.5mm Lime.
 
 
I looks as if the outer planks are beginning to splay out but that is just the camera angle.
 
Christian, Binnacles were usually positioned just in front of the ships wheel so that the helmsman could steer his course, a lot were moveable and used to be cleared away below deck when the ship was called to action stations.
 
That's all I have for you at the moment gents, just as soon as I have more I'll stick it up.
 
OK gents that's me for now.
 
Be Good
 
 mobbsie
 

Fantastic! This was the first wooden model I built. Such a lovely model to work on... well designed, brilliant instructions (streets apart from Caldercraft's earlier models) and plans, and makes up into a really handsome model (although I'm sure yours will be streets ahead of my humble efforts). Hope you don't mind if I pull up a chair too.  I notice that your first bulkhead from the bow doesn't suffer from the uneven top that mine had.
 
 

Good Morning All, I was walking down the hall yesterday and seen this guy sitting there looking lonely so I thought it was time to bring him into the workshop and do a little work.

 
So here is how he looked

 
Then four hours later

 
And here is a shot of the instruction booklet and part of the list to follow, the check marks are showing what is completed so far. Quite impressive considering this was started over a year ago. NOT!! Hopefully the pace will pick up now that my Trabakul is nearing completion.

 
Have A Good One
 

Thanks for the comments guys .
 
It's been a long haul, but I'm finally down to the last Hull Skin. I've only been able to manage two skins per day until today where I fitted the last five, although they were a lot smaller and easier to cut, sand and glue. I had more than my share of problems fitting quite a few of them, mostly due to the poor design with the overlaps which I cut off. This meant that most of the skins didn't fall directly on a bulkhead and I had to add and sand extra card to nearly every one of them .
 
As you can see from the pics I also had some major problems with the fitting of the grey skins. They finished up with some really bad creases, due in part to the cut-out Portholes and acrylic "glass" making the skins bend where I didn't want them to, and I've had to use a lot of Filler to get them out. The filler hasn't been final sanded yet, and there's still a little more to add in a few places.
 
Here are two pics with the final one still to go on. I filled the whole last section with card and sanded it to shape to make sure I had something to glue the piece onto. It turned out to be a lot easier to fit than I was expecting :

 
Apologies for the blurry pic :

 
And the last skin fitted - yippeeee :

 
Now to fill some small gaps and start mixing up the touch-up watercolour paint.
 
  Danny

Fantastic! This was the first wooden model I built. Such a lovely model to work on... well designed, brilliant instructions (streets apart from Caldercraft's earlier models) and plans, and makes up into a really handsome model (although I'm sure yours will be streets ahead of my humble efforts). Hope you don't mind if I pull up a chair too.  I notice that your first bulkhead from the bow doesn't suffer from the uneven top that mine had.
 
 

Fantastic! This was the first wooden model I built. Such a lovely model to work on... well designed, brilliant instructions (streets apart from Caldercraft's earlier models) and plans, and makes up into a really handsome model (although I'm sure yours will be streets ahead of my humble efforts). Hope you don't mind if I pull up a chair too.  I notice that your first bulkhead from the bow doesn't suffer from the uneven top that mine had.
 
 

Thanks for all the likes and comments, I am satisfied with the new planking but not with the mismatch colors:

So I decided to try a technique I used on armor models in the past...acrylic toning...really just layer upon layer of thin washes of thinned acrylic paint. When I do this I don't use water to thin the acrylics, but different forms of acrylic medium, I've read that water will break the polymer bonds at the molecular level were the mediums do not...no clue if that is true or not, but I use um cause I have um.  The mix I use is 1 part paint (burnt umber in this case), 1 part Matte medium, 4-5 parts retarder to thin the mix and slow drying time, once thoroughly mixed the mix is poured into a resealable container.

 
From there it's a matter of layering on the wash/toner one layer at a time waiting for each successive coat to dry. I was not sure if this technique would work on paper or not so I tested it on a few of the kit parts I won't be using.   Here you can see the effect of one, two and three coats, from left to right...the effect can be very subtle or striking depending on the density of the color and the undercoats you use, you can use different shades or even different colors.
 
 
 
 
The Pinta received 4 coats on the upper hull and only two on the lower, as it was darker to begin with, finished pic below, the hull will pick up more contrast as the build continues as I plan to do the wales in a darker brown

Thx for following along