garym

I know I promised this to you fine folks last week..........but with the way this work week went......well..#%$^*@!  the shop is too small a place,  to have that much drama!   too long a story to get into the policies and politics of it all.
 
last week,  I got to do more on the Titanic.  I did manage to add the fourth funnel top {if I didn't mention it already}.  the grates were added in the openings of the tops.   the fourth funnel is the only different one........it has a damper molded to it.
 

 

 
the starboard railing is assembled.  as it dries,  I will make the port side railing.
 

 
I wasn't sure how the pipe work ran in this area.........I initially though the port side railing was wrong.   so,  I fitted it so it would go the entire length along the edging.
 

 

 
here's a view from the fore end.......
 

 
 
we had taken off at this point to run errands........I managed to do a little scavenger hunting.   I found some flat white,  since what I had dried up on me.   the inner part of the tops is painted in that hull black that I had mixed up.   the grates were painted with it after they had dried.
 

 

 
 
 

Constructing and installing the upper transom railing. The railing itself comprises of 2 halves. The plans call for placing the half # 11223 on the port side and #11222 on the starboard side. By virtue of the shapes of these pieces, part # 11223 needs to be on the starboard and #11222 on the port side. The plans have the parts numbered incorrectly on the drawings.
I still have to fill in the center seams of both the lower and upper railings with some filler to make the joints less visible.
 
Vince P.

hello everyone........life got in the way again.   a different scenario though....I took on a part time job.   it's been a bit hectic,  but I'm beginning to get use to it.   I tried to do a little here and there......some was alright......other time it might have been better to leave it alone.   turn the way-back machine to Sept 2nd.........I misjudged the guy lines for the #2 funnel,  coming up too short.  I added in the missing guy lines.......but one side did not cement.......or the cement did not take to the thread.
    when I went to cut the excess......one came undone.
 

 
I removed the offending vent and shaved down the platform it was on.   I attempted to scribe in some plank lines,  in a effort to hide the flat spot,  and the vent was moved in enough to run the new lines
 

 
so.......it came down to cementing in another length of thread and redo it.   this time I used CA and it worked.   this was done on the 12th.
 

 
I did some touch ups here and there.........but that was about it until yesterday and today.   I did some paint work to the funnel tops.   the outside is done in flat black.......the throat of the tops is done with the black I made for the hull.  there are grates that will fit over the opening.......but I wanted to make sure which end was the front.
 

 

 
the first two tops have been cemented in place.
 

 
I've also begun on the railings for the third funnel.   when this one is rigged,  the entire assembly will be cemented into the hull.   I have had this part of the ship on my desk for the past few weeks now........figured I'd work on it whenever I got the chance.  all that I've been able to do to it,  is hit it....like I did the other evening.  I knocked of the two aft cranes...broke the tube on the #4 funnel,  as well as the ladder on the #3 funnel.  so while I do what damage control that needs to be done,  I will continue with 'er til she is complete.  .........that's what I'm hoping for 
 

 
 

The lower deck extension has been trimmed and contoured and a decorative strip has been added all around the edge. The strip is made from a piece of 4mm x 1mm walnut and enhanced with a 2mm x 1mm painted black.
The lower railing has stantions added. I did not use the metal strips supplied by the kit, even though they are OK. I used wood 8mm stantions from my stash.
The 2 sattelite windows are added to the top of the ends of the railing.
 
It is finally getting to look like the fancy stern of the RW.
 
I still have a long way to go with the transom and galleries.
 
Vince P.

Still working on the transom and stern galleries. There are so many parts that make up this section of the ship. Since there are no instructions on the assembly, the order in which to place parts requires much study. Many of the parts require other parts to be installed first in order to get a proper location and fit. I would have thought that the large decorative statues would be somewhere near the end, but in order to place railings and windows, they need to be placed early.
Here, the four statues are placed and the balcony railing is placed.
 
Vince P.

Kit Instructions:
 
27 Installing Lanterns
 
• Use instant clear adhesive to attach the copper wire.
 
Drill a hole 0.8mm to 1mm diameter.
Insert wire, leaving 4mm length of wire sticking out.
 
Lantern ends paint black
Lantern body paint red 
 
Attach 5 lanterns on each side.
(Use clear instant wood glue)
 
 
28 Stem Color
 
Paint black above the upper etched line.
 
 
I skipped the installation of the lanterns in step 27 for now, but I did paint them and added the mounting wire. The lanterns are resin and I cleaned them up as well as I could and painted them using water-based acrylics.
 

 
 
Then, because I've altered the paint scheme on the model, step 28 didn't really apply any more. 
 
As it is, the model now looks like this:

 
Sorry, it's a little bit blurry. Note too that I started adding the etched copper pieces from Step 29, which I'll get into next time. I sprayed the etched copper sheet with Rustoleum satin black and bent the copper caps to shape. After bending, the paint layer broke at some of the seams, to I resprayed the caps afterwards. These cover the ends of the beams as you can see in the photo.
 
The next step is probably the one step that requires the most patience in this whole build. It involves laying down rows of copper pieces, evenly spaced and in straight lines.
 
I'll get into some of the details later, but for now, here's a shot of how that looks:
 

 
The original kit design calls for shiny copper parts, looking more like this, if you recall:
 

 
 
Clare
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
 

The next section is very simple and straight forward and involves finishing the roof panels and gluing them onto the roof framework structure.
 
This involves the most cutting of strip woods since planking the deck. All the pieces are 1.5mm x 2mm and 15 pieces are glued across the roof planking. Nothing special to know here except that one of the plans sheets shows this in full scale, so I simply used this to mark the locations of each strip. 
 

 
With the shorts strips in place, 3 long strips follow the seams of the roof planks. The final result looks something like this...
 

 
 
The Japanese text here is really simple and simply says:
 
 
26 Assembly of Roof Panels 2
 
• Please glue evenly using the plans.
 
• Roof installation
 
and a label showing... Installation of a building strip #44
 
There are some pieces shown in the instructions to install at this stage, but I'm still considering ways to be able to only temporarily mount the roof panels so I can access inside for lighting.
 
Now, because I have more need to add this model to a display than I do to light it up, I'm going to put off lighting until after the rest of the construction is done. I can then display the models and after I take the display back down, that will give me time for the lighting details. 
 
I have, in the meantime, drilled out holes in the corner posts of the deck house to allow for wiring. I've also added holes and brass pins to allow me to fit the whole roof structure on and be able to remove it as needed. Finally, I dug out channels under the ends of the roof framework to allow me to continue the hidden run of wires to the underside of the roof.
 

 

 
 
The next step in the instructions is to add the hanging lanterns to the edge of the roof. I painted the lanterns already, they are just resin moldings, so no LEDs there, but will not add them until I have a method worked out for making the roof panels removable. 
 
This means that the next step for my model is to add the photo etched copper pieces which will line the hull of the boat.
 
 
Clare

Thanks for your comments Druxey. I couldn't play it though because it was out of tune. And to answer your question... No... No, there is no end! 
 
So playing catch-up just a little, here the rough text for step 22:
 
22 Assembling the sides of the boat cabin
• Install the vertical columns
• Cut and install part 36 to fit.
• The left and right cabin sides should be symmetrical.
• Add sliding shoji-A panels into the door frames. Do not glue!
• Install the lintels.
 
My Notes:
This is pretty straight forward. Part 36 is a pre-milled strip that the shoji panels fit into and it allows them to slide open and closed. The screens are supposed to fit so that the paper is on the outside. That means that you just have to pay attention to the fact that one cabin side has the panels facing one way and the other cabin side is the reverse. The illustrations in the instructions are pretty clear there.
 
Note the two sides of the cabin are mirror images.

 
Note that when cutting the parts 36 and 37, you'll have to measure to make sure they fit properly. 
 
Here's what part 36 looks like. Before the era of laser cutting, Woody Joe kits used to use a lot of milled wood parts, so it's not uncommon to still see a few pieces like these in their kits.

 
 
23 Attach Shoji
• Assemble the sills and attach the sides.
• Insert sliding Shoji Panel B
• Add the lintels  
 
After completing steps 22 and 23, the cabin looks something like this...

 
 
Oh, and if you want to minimize light leakage from the kit or other internal lighting you may add, make sure that the lintels, that's the upper piece above the panels, is flush with the tops of the vertical posts. I wasn't too careful with that, so I may have to add some kind of very thin shim or something.
 
 
Clare
 
 

thanks all for the kind words......yea,  we could all do without these little problems.......but,  if there weren't any,  it would be a boring hobby     {and I hear you on that Mark!} 
 
now that the smoke cleared....I finally cemented all of the other pre made parts in place.  placement of the ship's boat is next,  along with the chain boards and dead eyes.
 

 

 

 
the mizzen is dry fitted at the moment.
 

 
thanks for the like and for looking in.  I really got to get back on the Titanic.......would be nice to clear that table    it will make fore a great diversion,  while I work on the chain boards.

last week wasn't a very productive week for me......I started it off with one simple step,  and it turned into a bout of reconstructive surgery.  this week isn't shaping up to be any better........fixing an electrical problem with my car windows on Tuesday,  and acquiring a part time job yesterday {interview}......I'm hoping the rest of this week is a bit less eventful.
 
now that the ship doesn't have to be turned over anymore {I hope}....I figured that I would put in all the belaying pins in the rails.   they were installed on the mizzen pin rails.
 

 
they were installed in the fore deck pin rails
 

 
they were installed in the bow stem pin rail.  I had also fashioned and installed a horse shoe shaped collar for the bow spirit boom
 

 
but,  when I got to the main mast pin rails,  here's where the project began
 

 
apparently,  they were not as sturdy as I thought they were.   refitting them,  I could see where I had left a gap along the rail and the bulwark.   rather than open or deepen the slots in the rails themselves,  it was decided that evening off all the posts,  would be the better remedy.   to adjust the slots would bring the pins closer to the bulwarks and could make it  harder at rigging time.
 

 
it was a long process......but I did get to the point where it could be cemented back into place.
 

 
the port side wasn't as bad........but I did do a little adjusting to the slots in the rail.  everything is back to normal now.  I can move forward again 
 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 

On a roll with the Yakatabune, I need to figure out if I'm going to want to paint it or leave it completely natural with shiny copper plates. 
 
To help me decide, I took some blue painter's tape and painted it black. When dry, I stuck some on the model to see what kind of effect it would give.
 

 
One thing I've noticed is that as they say with clothes, black has a slimming effect. It makes the boat seem sharper and trim, which I like. I think it's getting a paint job...
 
Meanwhile, just in case I come up with a different lighting plan, I thought I'd copy the lanterns by making a mold of them. One possibility is to cast them in clear resin or using opaque white stuff and just hollowing them out a bit and then paint the outer surface.
 

 
I'm in no big rush to light the model. I don't expect it to help in a the window display, where it's well lit. Given that there is no rigging to get in the way, the model design is such that the deck house is easily removable and I can make the roof removable too, so I can actually add that feature in later on.
 
Anyway, I have some concerns about light leakage and a glow showing through the thin wood roof. If I am planning on making a roof removable so that you can more easily view the interior, I won't want to coat the inside of the roof with something that blocks the light. Anyway, we'll see how things go.
 
Clare
 
 

I appreciate everyone's comments and faith in my mini (micro?) shamisen making skills. Well, I had to push forward and see if I could a halfway decent job on it. I found some drawings on the Internet and resized them down to proper scale. For the wood, I have a nice piece of Peruvian walnut that seemed perfect for the job.
 
I can't really explain what I did beyond that. It was just a matter of making it. 
 

Final shamisen is about 2-3/4" long. The tuning pegs are called Itomaki (ee-toe-mah-key) and I just made them from blackened sewing pins. The fan shaped object is a plectrum called a bachi (bah-chee) that's used to strike or pluck the strings. Oh, and those are 3 strings you see in the photo. I had some tan monofilament thread I used for that.
 

The entertainer's shamisen set aside in the Yakatabune's Tatami Room.
 

The entertainer's shamisen set down between songs.
 
 
Since we're looking at probably 19th century life, I thought a couple black and white photos seemed appropriate.
 

    I think the only other detail items I may make are sake cups and bottle. One could go crazy making small plates of food, hashi (chopsticks), and so on, so I'll have to stop myself before I go overboard. I still have to think about lighting, wiring, and maybe some painting.   The kit calls for only a tiny amount of black paint on the tip of the stem and that's about it. I'm thinking about painting the lower hull black and also the metal plating that covers nails, beam ends and such. This would make the boat look a little more like those boats pictured in Ukiyo-e paintings. The only thing holding me back on the painting is that those boats are mostly different from the boat represented in the Woody Joe kit.   Clare

Since I was already on a roll looking at detail of the tatami mats, I started thinking about the table and some decor. The table is included in the kit.
 
I'm not positive about this, but I believe the table is called a zataku (zah-tah-koo). I was steered wrong when I was describing the table to a relative and they came up with a name that I don't recall at the moment, but it referred to a kind of individual tray/table, which this is not. I'm planning on finishing it in a dark brown color.
 
For people sitting around the table, there were individual cushions called zabuton (zah-boo-tone). These are kind of flat cushions about 2' square. I guess they're several cm thick when new and probably flatten out over time. I started playing around with making these out of sculpey to see how they'd turn out. Before I knew it, I made 6 of them. I figured these would be a mix of colors, and I chose colors that were mostly subdued. I think these kinds of colors are more traditional natural Japanese dye colors. The cloth used for making these might have had some kind of small repetitive pattern on it, but that would be too small to discern, so I just used solid colors.
 
I have yet to give the pillows a coat of some kind of matte finish, so they're a bit shiny right now.
 

 
In the meantime, I'm messing around with trying to model a shamisen to place inside. The shamisen is a 3-stringed fretless lute that sounds a lot like a banjo. It is played with a fan-shaped plectrum. I myself have been playing the shamisen for about 10 years now and I'm with a group that performs traditional Japanese folk music. So, it seems only right for me to try to include one here. We'll see how successful I am at that.
 
Here's a picture of a full-sized one that I'm using to help me model one in 1/24 scale.

 
Wish me luck!
 
 
Clare
 
 
 

thank you all for the birthday wishes!     yes....there will be ice cream....and....the Admiral has taken the cake out of the oven as we speak 
 
 
were those on yesterday George?   I'll check it out..........thanks for the head's up 
 
I will go and fit the rudder on the Half Moon...........     playtime here we come!
 
thanks Frank 

Got on a bit of a roll and finished steps 21 through 23. I'll come back and fill in some of the details later, but here are some progress pics for now.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
Clare

The transom piece needs to be bent to follow the deck contours. It is made of thin plywood and very brittle. It would most certainly break if pushed to meet the needed curve. I soaked it in an ammonia solution like I used for planking and then got the bright idea  to use one of the Admiral's big cooking pots. I slowly bent it around the outside of the pot when it got soft and clamped it in place. I then used a hair dryer on high heat to dry it off. It is still there. I will remove it and see what curve it maintains. It didn't break though.
 
Vince P.

I wanted to further along with this build,  than I thought I had.........if that makes any sense.   these past couple of days,  I have been moving from one table to the other.......surprised that I only got a few pictures of mu time with the Half Moon.
 
I did some measuring and spacing with the gun port lids
 

 
masked and painted the rudder.........went into my inventory and got the Gungeons and pintle hinges I had made for an earlier build.   I need to look at the actual ship to see if I can get away with just the two.......if not I can make another.
 

 
the gun ports are cemented in place.  the only chain board  that I'm going to need to make any adjustments on,  will be the main mast boards.
 

 

the forward section was done.......so I rigged the funnel.
 

 
the way that the first funnel is rigged,  is interesting.   there is one cable that comes from the roof of the structures.  earlier we had talked about there being a lower set of cables,  that attach half way up the funnels.  if I knew of this...or even thought of doing them,  I could have drilled the other holes needed {enough for four cables would have been good}....taken this one and changed it.....and ran another upper cable to replace it.   all speculation now.........but this one does give me the thought that it should have originated from the deck........the thought about the second set of cables was in the designer's mind when they did this.   this kit is large enough for the added detail 
 

 
all to the other funnels are done differently,  but identical to one another.  the third funnel has some piping to be added,  along with assembling the roof for the small structure in between the third and fourth funnel.  I still have to finish painting the window area,  and add the rest of the parts.
 

 
a couple more railing pieces were added ......as well as more touch ups
 

 
the second funnel was rigged.
 

 
I see some interference here......I will make adjustment
 

 

 
the fourth funnel was rigged again........this time permanently.
 

 
still some more railings to go,  along with the piping......and then the third funnel can be rigged.   at that point,  I may even be able to cement the assembly on the model 
 
 
 
 

The 2 outside windows for the middle stern gallery are in place. These took considerable trimming and shaping to fit correctly.
 
Vince P.

The last things i made, till the end of the week (when my nice come back to me)



I have to meke some adjustments, but hope to be ok at the end

it's time to work on getting all the structures on the deck now.   parts that have already been assembled...time to get 'em off the table and where they're supposed to be.   I had placed one pair of cranes already........I placed a couple more pairs on the stern section.  the last pair will go on the A deck,  once that railing is finished.
 

 
the first raised deck is still being held down with clamps.   the structure that sandwiches it in was cemented in place at this time.
 

 
the second raised deck and the structure behind it are somewhat joined together.   these two areas were done together and fitted with the railings,  vents,  and the piping that connects them.  the funnel was cemented in place soon afterwards.
 

 

 

 
all four funnels are in place........the dilemma is over       there is only one structure left to populate,  and that one is connected to the third funnel,  so they will need to be done together....
 

 

 
the first raised deck was next  to get fitted with it's railing.  any parts associated with it was also cemented in place.
 

 

 
the railings for the aft end of A deck was cemented in place.   these railings are assembled from small segments.....a bit too small to simply assemble and create the complete railing.   I'll cement them on,  one piece at a time.
 

 
there!  a lot got done today........hopefully ,  more tomorrow 

I was going to save Step 20 for next time, but I started to work on the translation to get it out of the way. Now, I might as well post it!
 
20 Assembly and Installation of the Rudder Support
 
• Assemble the rudder support and attach to the rudder support pedestal.
 
Center the crossbeam on the support posts.
 
• Attach thin rigging line to rudder and wrap line around the rudder support crossbeam. Tie off using a clove hitch.
 
• Install part 9C as per the cutaway view and full size plans.
 
 

 
Note that a length of small rigging line needs to be secured to part 9C in such away that it forms a loop a maximum of 38mm long.
 

 
 
This actually brings me up-to-date with where I'm at on the model today. Next steps involve the construction of the deck house and its details. 
 
 
Clare

Hello all,
   My thanks to Clare Hess for inspiring me to get back into my Higaki Kaisen build.  I have been slowly working on it and have completed the railing sections on the starboard side.  More to follow.
 
   Bob R. 

I've managed to put something together......wonders never cease!    I actually had the day for myself today......the only thing I needed to do,  was repair a Christmas ornament that had broken over the holidays....and of course,  I offered to fix it  {I found it stuffed in a drawer......I had no more room under the carpet  }
 
there were a couple of pictures from a week ago.......like this one,  where I had glued on the two little wall pieces and the forward roof......after adding the back stay for the fore mast.
 

 
during another opportunity to play at the table,  I painted one of the funnels.  this is the British Gulf LT Stone......I think it was more the color of the parts than anything else......the paint didn't cover very well.
 

 
I also managed to paint the railing sprues,  and the vent parts with flat white.  there are a lot of parts here.
 

 

 
still a bit befuddled concerning the funnel order,  I set'em up again.........now the one I thought was first,  is last
 

 
I had painted that one,  because the ladder was cemented in place.  there are other parts that need to go onto them,  but there are no locator tabs,  and a couple of the parts are associated with other parts,  that are cemented to the structures.
    three words best describe this hobby......goesinta,   goesonta,  and goesova..........just thought I'd share that with you,  just in case I ever use these words.  don't wantcha ta think I went hip-hop or something 
 
today.......I got to think'in........those funnels are such a small job.  it t'would be a chore to crank the Craftsman compressor up.........what can I do..Hmmmmmmmm.   I remembered that I had the Spray craft outfit......this is comprised of the airbrush,  which is a gravity feed,  a holder,  hose,  and a three speed compressor.   I didn't want to change over the Testors airbrush I had set up for the Craftsman,  so I got the old one that I had set aside a while ago.
 

 
to hook up the hose,  I cut a small piece of the hose from the gravity feed,  and used it as a connector,  seeing that the Testors hose is smaller in size.
 

 
after checking the airbrush out,  I found that it wasn't the airbrush itself that was bad.....it was the cap.  the cap and siphon tube screws onto the testors 1/4 oz bottles.......naturally,  these caps are prone to wearing out.   I used another cap.....and it worked just fine.   I sent testors an e-mail today,  asking where I can get new caps and siphon tubes.  I hope to get an answer soon........I have two caps left.   so far I've bought two of these kits   TES4030 & TES4034....here are the numbers in case you want to do a search on the testors website.
 
Testors » Airbrushes » Airbrushes
 
I have been spraying out on the porch.........here is my spray booth
 

 
here are the funnels with a coat of paint on them
 

 

 
some ghosting did occur,  but I think it has a little to do with the color of the plastic........orange is such a transparent color to work with....it's as bad as white.   I gave the first pair the second coat.......they look much better
 

 
I also have an Aztek A320 spray outfit too........that is a siphon feed.   I have never used it.......these testors airbrushes have worked so well,  I haven't had to resort to it
 
 

Continuing on with the stern galleries and transom.
1. The upper metal trim piece is placed on the transom base.
 
2. The lower gallery windows which consist of 6 pieces are put in place. They had to be bent and contoured considerably using a butane torch. A number of backing plates made up of scrap wood were glued to the base and painted black. These are needed to support the metal window pieces. There were some gaps in the window pieces which had to be filled in with a filler.
 
3. The extended deck which mounts on top of the lower gallery windows was made from a sheet of 3/32" x 4" x 24" basswood (not included). The width from the frame 8 to the deck end needs to be 48mm to allow enough overhang from the windows to support the transom back and also the stanchion railing. Once placed permantely, it will be cut to match the contour of the stern galleries. It will also then be planked on top with deck planking strips.