Vivian Galad

Well, here we are. After too much work and almost no time for ship modeling, I´m back for masting and rigging, at least to begin rigging. Still haven´t fixed the hole over the cabin as my soldering iron is missing and every single time I think to buy a new one, I forget to do it as my head is always in my work - hope I can forget the work justs a little bit on the next 2 or 3 days .
 
I´ve made some daylight model shooting with her today, here are the pictures:
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The arrow is to show a little breaking on my windlass as I was rigging the first blocks. As the bars are wood, not the metal cast which the kit supplied, they are a lot more fragile. I´ll fix it after rigging the foremast completely.
 

 

 

 
That´s it for now. I´ll be working on her next 2 days and begin a new project, soon to be brought to you. :D

this build just gets better  and better, "Happy Birthday" Michael, and it was nice to see your smiling face ( much better than a neutral avatar)
Frank

Well, here we are. After too much work and almost no time for ship modeling, I´m back for masting and rigging, at least to begin rigging. Still haven´t fixed the hole over the cabin as my soldering iron is missing and every single time I think to buy a new one, I forget to do it as my head is always in my work - hope I can forget the work justs a little bit on the next 2 or 3 days .
 
I´ve made some daylight model shooting with her today, here are the pictures:
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The arrow is to show a little breaking on my windlass as I was rigging the first blocks. As the bars are wood, not the metal cast which the kit supplied, they are a lot more fragile. I´ll fix it after rigging the foremast completely.
 

 

 

 
That´s it for now. I´ll be working on her next 2 days and begin a new project, soon to be brought to you. :D

Well, here we are. After too much work and almost no time for ship modeling, I´m back for masting and rigging, at least to begin rigging. Still haven´t fixed the hole over the cabin as my soldering iron is missing and every single time I think to buy a new one, I forget to do it as my head is always in my work - hope I can forget the work justs a little bit on the next 2 or 3 days .
 
I´ve made some daylight model shooting with her today, here are the pictures:
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The arrow is to show a little breaking on my windlass as I was rigging the first blocks. As the bars are wood, not the metal cast which the kit supplied, they are a lot more fragile. I´ll fix it after rigging the foremast completely.
 

 

 

 
That´s it for now. I´ll be working on her next 2 days and begin a new project, soon to be brought to you. :D

Well, here we are. After too much work and almost no time for ship modeling, I´m back for masting and rigging, at least to begin rigging. Still haven´t fixed the hole over the cabin as my soldering iron is missing and every single time I think to buy a new one, I forget to do it as my head is always in my work - hope I can forget the work justs a little bit on the next 2 or 3 days .
 
I´ve made some daylight model shooting with her today, here are the pictures:
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The arrow is to show a little breaking on my windlass as I was rigging the first blocks. As the bars are wood, not the metal cast which the kit supplied, they are a lot more fragile. I´ll fix it after rigging the foremast completely.
 

 

 

 
That´s it for now. I´ll be working on her next 2 days and begin a new project, soon to be brought to you. :D

Well, here we are. After too much work and almost no time for ship modeling, I´m back for masting and rigging, at least to begin rigging. Still haven´t fixed the hole over the cabin as my soldering iron is missing and every single time I think to buy a new one, I forget to do it as my head is always in my work - hope I can forget the work justs a little bit on the next 2 or 3 days .
 
I´ve made some daylight model shooting with her today, here are the pictures:
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The arrow is to show a little breaking on my windlass as I was rigging the first blocks. As the bars are wood, not the metal cast which the kit supplied, they are a lot more fragile. I´ll fix it after rigging the foremast completely.
 

 

 

 
That´s it for now. I´ll be working on her next 2 days and begin a new project, soon to be brought to you. :D

Well, here we are. After too much work and almost no time for ship modeling, I´m back for masting and rigging, at least to begin rigging. Still haven´t fixed the hole over the cabin as my soldering iron is missing and every single time I think to buy a new one, I forget to do it as my head is always in my work - hope I can forget the work justs a little bit on the next 2 or 3 days .
 
I´ve made some daylight model shooting with her today, here are the pictures:
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The arrow is to show a little breaking on my windlass as I was rigging the first blocks. As the bars are wood, not the metal cast which the kit supplied, they are a lot more fragile. I´ll fix it after rigging the foremast completely.
 

 

 

 
That´s it for now. I´ll be working on her next 2 days and begin a new project, soon to be brought to you. :D

She's looking real good Vivian, nice work!!... the outside shots are great!!
Frank

Well, here we are. After too much work and almost no time for ship modeling, I´m back for masting and rigging, at least to begin rigging. Still haven´t fixed the hole over the cabin as my soldering iron is missing and every single time I think to buy a new one, I forget to do it as my head is always in my work - hope I can forget the work justs a little bit on the next 2 or 3 days .
 
I´ve made some daylight model shooting with her today, here are the pictures:
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The arrow is to show a little breaking on my windlass as I was rigging the first blocks. As the bars are wood, not the metal cast which the kit supplied, they are a lot more fragile. I´ll fix it after rigging the foremast completely.
 

 

 

 
That´s it for now. I´ll be working on her next 2 days and begin a new project, soon to be brought to you. :D

Hey Mates,
 
Nigel thanks for your sage advice. I will read your notes several times as I set up the Proxxon. 
 
JayPett, Joe and Buck you guys always help me along -- big cheers to you as well
 
Thanks for the likes and visits always appreciated.
 
Some of you sent me a PM birthday wish SO kind!!.
 
I know that the super majority of us prefer to post a neutral avatar. Many of us have become very nice helpful and caring internet friends. So given that its my Name Day today I thought that I would go out on a limb and post a face of your mate Michael.
This one was taken a few months ago (:-) That table is a child's size sorta fits my personality or so I've been told. Our son's room is now my hobby room
 
There's a a rumor of some kind of French drink with bubbles in it for tonight. (:-)
 
Cheers everyone..
 
Michael

Hey again!
 
I've mounted the bowsprit and finished the ropes holding it.
 

 

 

 
It was lots of work as I had to reshape thin down the L shaped timbers holding the bow. Looking back I think it was good to wait with drilling the rope holes until knowing where to put them. That gave me liberty to arrange the beek head "floor planks" the way I wanted and then arrange the rope holes acccording to them, not the other way around. That said, I would have thinned down the L shaped parts slightly pre assembly to make it easier to get room for the holes, and this is a tip for builders of the kit. This way made me nervous about destroying anything...
 
I never was happy with the paint job on the lower beakhead parts, and this gave me an opportunity to make it better.
 
 
/Matti
 
 
 
Edit: I just realized that I didn't explain that the kit construction is with the ropes running "outside" the lower beakhead construction (wrong). Remember that I broke the beakhead earlier and strengthened it when repairing it. This made my beakhead stronger and that's good when doing this mod to the build.

Hi Piet
 
That's a marvellous story of heroism and bravery, which exemplifies how brave your father was.  Your model is a fitting tribute!
 
Just a thought...have you considered writing a book on how you've built your sub and interspersing it with stories and memories of your dad and his fellow submariners?
 
What do you think?
 
All the very best!

Piet, I love the story behind your build and the care you´ve been taking with all details. It´s not only a beautiful model to show, but a love demonstration. It´s an inspiration to us all, for sure.
 
:wub:

Piet, I love the story behind your build and the care you´ve been taking with all details. It´s not only a beautiful model to show, but a love demonstration. It´s an inspiration to us all, for sure.
 
:wub:

that is the support for the deck extension.    there is a lot more where that came from       thanks for the likes and comments
 
I got into another aspect yesterday........something I could have done when I made up the fore deck additions,  but in thinking of all the added measuring I would have had to do.....I just did it in this manner.  the fore deck calls for fenders {I think this is what you call them} around the bow.   I didn't get pictures of this as I went along.......just picture the stern being between my knees,  and me trying to cement these buggers on there........at the same angle as the bow,  and as flush as I could to the edge.
 

 
this is a rough cut of one of the sides.   after shaping it,  I made up the other side and commenced to gluing them on.  let the battle begin!
 

 
of course,  I won....but the tip of the bow kept wanting to split.   to defeat it,  a piece of square stock was cemented in the corner of the tip,  and used the little jig I made to help out.
 

 
the angle isn't quite right,  but that's OK.  filler was applied to help hide the seam of the deck and such.
 

 
it was sanded at this point,  to bring it down and lessen the angle.   to fill in the minor defects,  it got a second application.
 

 
then it was sanded again,  doing a bit more to lessen the angle at the bow tip.  this was a good thing,  because it gave me more time to fix that slight bulge on the port side.  it's hardly noticeable now....I can live with it    any other small adjustments can be done when I finish out the rest of the hull.  one thing I want to do,  is take the bow tip down some more.   I made this over sized a little,  so it could be sanded and trimmed....it didn't need as much as I thought it would.  I got it to where it is now,  and gave it a shot of primer to seal it up.  I still need to fill the gaps along the deck line.
 

 

 
chop that tip down a little........and I'll be in business!

Hello all, again - very little done on the O19 today.  Just a little more paint touch-ups.  I'll also need to redo the load nummers, they are too high.  Fortunately I have enough of them so there is no problem.
I didn't take any pics of the decals being placed on the model for that very reason.  After that's done I'll put the edge sealer on the decals and then maybe take a few pics of her.
 
There is still plenty little piddl'n stuff to do before we can truly call the model completed.  I need to make one torpedo from aluminum rod so the loading sling looks like it has some weight on it.  Thanks for pointing that out.  Then I need to make the boarding ladder, hinges for the mine bun lid, new flags and the dingy.  My real challenge will be to make a few members of the crew.  I'll start with my father of course and at a scale of 1:50 he would be about 35 mm.  That seems about right when looking at the photo where he is standing next to the con.  I like to place him in the "bathtub" or the bridge with another figure.  This can always be done after the model is completed.
 
I also cleaned up my build dock and put new paper on the board, it looks neater that way 
 
Okay, we had a little discussion about the railing and I went to my photo archive and dug up a bunch of photos with the O19 having railings.  I mainly used the official Wilton-Feijenoord drawings for my railing.  It shows the railing and from where to where it was placed.   I may have to remove a few stanchions on the aft deck when taking a closer look at the photos.  This is okay, no problem.  Looks like the builder deviated from the plans.
 
The railings were still on the boat on her voyage to the Netherlands East Indies from Holland in 1939.  I have two pics with the O19 in Alexandria, Egypt, one of her stops for fuel.  Before arriving in Alexandria though they performed magnetometer tests in the Mediterranean Sea, submerged.  This shows that the O19 did go submerged for quite some time with the railings installed.  Unless, as Freek pointed out, they removed them and stowed them before diving.  Seems like a lot of work each time she comes up and goes down again.
 
In any case, the reason for my model is to show how the boat actually looked like with everything on it, including the things that may be temporarily stowed for underwater cruising.  Obviously they wouldn't load torpedoes, have the AA guns out or the dingy out and neither the boarding ladder.  It's for static display and show and tell 
 
I hope all yuns don't mind me having the railings on a submarine 
 
Let me add a few pics for you to see a submarine with railings 
 

This is the official drawing from WF.  Here you can see from where to where the railing runs.  On the last photo below of the commissioning in 1939, you can see that they didn't run the railing as far back as the drawing shows.  Well, one more small alteration to make.  Yes, the drawing still shows the original identification number, K XIX, which was changed to O 19.
 

This picture shows the O19 docked and presumably in the Navy base Den Helder sometime in 1939.  Here you can see the railing stanchions.
 

This shows the O19 in Alexandria, Egypt on her way to the Netherlands East Indies in July, 1939.  The railing is clearly visible here.
 

Here is another photo of the O19 in Alexandria, Egypt on July 1939.  The railing is clearly visible.  Yes, it was common practice to span tarps over the deck for shade.
 

This is a picture of the O19 going out to sea for proving runs.  My father was on board for each one of course.  Oh, I remember one hair-raising story he told us about what happened on one of these proving runs    Shudder, shudder.
 

I may have shown this one before but this is a photo of the commissioning of the O19 on July 3, 1939.  My mother, sister and I were there to witness the event.  I have annotated the picture where it shows my mother holding my hand  but my sister and I are hidden by the Geus, the flag at the bow.  Hey, I was only 5 years old then but I still remember quite a bit, it must have made a big impression on me, I guess     Remco directed me to a website where I copied newspaper articles about the commissioning where my father's name is mentioned.  This was his third trip to the colonies.  Oh, sweet memories
 
Cheers, 
 
 

Hi Peeps,
Really got bogged down with the hammock stowage, the little dividers kept snapping off as I attached the outer and inner lining.
However that's out of the way, as you can see I've now started with the deck fittings.

Thanks very much Vivian, John and Pat - no Blacksmiths in my family as far as I know .
 
Mast Heads
 
Back to the Masts, I'd made the Crosstrees earlier. They are notched halfway through to match the notches in the Trestle Trees :
 

 

 
Before fitting them I fitted the Bands around the heads. I made these from thin card which I'd stained black - the finish has a slight metallic "sheen" at this stage, probably caused by diffraction of light, which may disappear when I apply Minwax - I hope not, as they really look like iron at the moment :
 

 

 
I also cut and fitted the Battens - they are 1.2mm wide by 0.6mm thick. These run 3/5 of the way up the mast head, and needed to be notched to fit over the bands :
 

 

 

 
Next I fitted the Crosstrees - a rather straightforward operation :
 

 

 

 
Finally, I made the Caps. These took a bit of careful marking out and cutting. Their eyebolts have also been fitted :
 

 

 
  Danny

Thank you mhegazi, and a warm welcome to MSW to you Mark .
 
Forecastle Railings
 
I'm nearly at the stage of "Stepping" the Foremast, but I realised that it would be nearly impossible to fit the Forecastle Railings if the Shrouds were already fitted, so this was my next step.

The Stanchions have a wide flair at the bottom, so to simulate that I silver soldered some 1.6mm tubing (ID of 0.85mm) to the bottom of some 0.8mm brass wire. I calculated the length of each stanchion first - none are the same length.

Then I soldered a piece of 0.6mm ID tubing to the top of each stanchion for the Eye through which the rope will pass :
 

 
I made the eyes a little on the large size to make soldering easier, then filed them down to the correct size :
 

 
The top rope has an eye seized into one end, and a lashing at the fore end secures it :
 

 

 
The aft end terminates with a seizing on an eyebolt :
 

 

 

 
  Danny

There still is a little work to be done on it.
 
Alexandru

Allow me to tell everyone here who is interested that I just purchased the La Real kit.
 
 
The plans (5 sheets) are quite good with excellent sectional views. It's obvious an engineer (Daniel Dusek) has perfected this unique design on a very interesting 16th-C warship. The instructions are laughable and there are several matching errors on an included parts plan for the lasered wood pieces. All the wood is lasercut. The fittings are resin and brass photoetch. Skeletal wood (hull pieces) is 3mm ply. Nearly all the balance of laser wood (about 6 sheets) is pear veneer. Beautifully done on nice .6mm stock. Strip wood is primarily basswood, and round sections appear to be birch. I'll use very little of the latter pieces.
 
All of the wood quality (even strip wood and dowels) is superb; straight and precision cut ( I measured with calipers). There are several sheets of 2mm with relief laser decorative patterns which are exquisite. The resin needs a lot of flash removal and a couple pieces appear unusable due to bending and basically, inappropriate materials for certain detail items - like anchors (but I will scratch their replacements). I'll replace the handful of cannons with brass ones (5 long guns on carriages), I may keep the falconet-like resin ones. This kit is definitely for an advanced builder - and as mentioned I intend to replace some of the wood despite it being high-quality. It would help to have a good mechanical engineering background when it comes to reading the plans. This ship does consist of hundreds of small pieces to fabricate the oar stations correctly. Sailcloth (included in the kit) is decent, but I will be doing furled sails on the huge lateen masts(2). I'll use a lighter paper material for my sails. The photoetch brass is excellent. There are two sheets of 4-color printed "flags" that I'll also modify or use the designs on something more resembling cloth (like paper I will use for furled sails).
 
So far, I've built the bulkheads and some deck pieces and I've started planking strip wood for decking and lower hull for which I'll use (bash with) precision walnut for the hull and boxwood on the decking as it will be visible through the complex oar stations.
 
I will NOT be doing a Build Log - but I'll be happy from time to time to take a pic and post it here.
 
So far, this kit is easily the equal (or even better) than either Victory Models (Amati's premium line) or Caldercraft's Nelson's Navy range. The resin and multi-leveled laser(ed) wood appears to be as good as Euromodel's decent castings.
 
Bottom line: I intend to strive towards making La Real an award-winning model. I believe I have the rough materials (with good plans) to accomplish this...we'll see... as they say.
 
Hope this info is helpful to those contemplating something "out of the box".
 
Ron
 
PS I paid a little over $300 for this kit. Shipping was about $25. It isn't a heavy box owing to the .6mm pear veneer sheets. Oh yeah, scale is 1/72. This is smaller than I prefer but it lends itself to nice fine detail.

Excellent work mate and some fabulous pictures I agree,the rigging will make an even bigger impact to an already stunning model.
 
Kind Regards
 
Nigel

Hey all! Here are some pictures of the shrouds:
 

 

 

 
Quite enjoyable stage of the build, and changes the look of the model alot, at least in my eyes.
 
The ratlines will be testing my nerves though Im sure...
 
 
/Matti
 
 

Hi Hans, The quality of the aeronaut kit is questionable to me, I have read mixed reviews onliine (in general of their kits), In addition, there are vitruallly no retail outlets in Norther America that sold their kits. La capitana seems to be nice from the limited number of picture available (there does not to be any build log or finished model picture other than the company's advertisement pictures). It is an older kit and does not seem to have the same level of details as the new LaReale kit (similar pricing for both kits).
 
Back to the build:
 
Completed ed the 6 course of 2x2mm planking. The plan drawing shows all the planks are nice line up in a perfect straight line. The first 2x3mm plannking proves otherwise. This is a single plank kit, so how the plank is layed in is how the model will look. The 2mm thickness of the single plank is much harder to bend than the double plank method, but it does save alot of time (no second planking needed).
 
 

I'm not sure if anyone remembers the saga about the kite string.  I believe it is nylon,  but not totally sure........but it does work well for rigging.  in my search for more,  I had bought a few kites to get it.  I finally threw away the kites.......but kept all the dowels that made up the frames.  I'm not sure of the size,  perhaps #4 or #6 {around there somewhere},  and made of bamboo.   I thought it was kinda funny,  that bamboo seems to be creeping into our medium........but it looks perfect for what I want to use it for 
 

 
the deck platform was cut out......after the aperture was measured and marked.  I tossed around the idea of making it a complete piece......the only seam would be down the middle. 
 

 
the gaps along the bulwarks were filled in,  as well as on both sides of the bulkhead.  looks good now,  but after it had dried,  there were some small cracks that developed.  I'll fill them in later with white glue.
 

 
there were also some cut-a-ways to be done on the fore deck aperture.   not so much on the port side,  but a longer one was to be on the starboard side.  the panel is shown upside down here.
 

 
in place on the bow,  you can get a sense of what it will look like.   I left some of the curve in the fore deck layout.