RMS Titanic by popeye the sailor - Academy - PLASTIC - 1/400 scale

[src]

Looking real good from hear Popeye.

I think we all have innapropriatly snapped at our better halfs at some point or another. The trick seems to be keeping it to a minumum and emediate damage control. Trinkety gifts or flowers never seem to hurt either, at leat in my world. Based on the patience youre displaying in your build I imagine those outbursts are rare.

 

You mentioned earlier when you posted the prototype picture about not wanting something on your build, slap me upside the head and call me unobservant but, what were you refering to?

 

Sam

[popeye the sailor]

the stern ratlines Sam........the starboard side looks like it's too long and bulging out from the model.   actually,  the kit supplied ratlines don't look too bad..I've only done the bow section at this time.   I haven't really looked at it yet,  but cementing the stern section to the mid section,  may be a tool I can use to cure the slight warpage in the hull.......jury's still out on that one.   sorry for the lack of pictures........I've had to babysit a very scared dog these last couple of days.

 

I'll get right on it!

Edited July 5, 2015 by popeye the sailor

[popeye the sailor]

the place is hopping here........although I'm not spending it where I would like to.   compound that with a dog that is deathly afraid of loud booms,  and you get a very short attention span.   I've kept him close these last couple of days.....last night I was up well after 2 AM.   anyway.......to recap what I've been up to 

 

I put a few lights in the hull to see how it would look.   too bad it was daytime......it might have looked better.

 

 

I only have two lights in the hull..........as many as five may be needed.  touch ups were done to the mid ship section.

 

 

the fore stays and the three main back stays will be the larger size thread.   I opted to use the kit supplied ratlines.  they cleaned up well and I refined the contours,  getting rid of any mold marks that might be on them.

 

 

this part is the front fascia for the bridge deck.......it is sooooooo incorrect.   the slant of the outer edges are wrong,  it appears to be too tall,  and there is no slot cut out for the stairs.   I may have to cement the bow section to the mid section,  in order to straighten it out.

 

 

more stays were added to the bow section......all the lower ones will be the smaller thread.   there are quite a few of these lines,  but it will need them all for support,  when the communication lines are installed.  they will span from the fore mast,  all the way back to the mizzen mast.

 

 

using clothes pins for weights,  they will be hung off the sides and cemented on the underside of the deck.

 

 

almost all of the lines are done on the bow section..........one more pair and the back stay terminating on the boat deck, from the forward structure roof,  are all that's left to do.   there are still a few more parts that need to be added to the bow section.   more to come.......

 

 

[src]

Wow, she is coming together! I think I would be afraid to build her in sections like that. My fumbling fingers would remove half of those parts inadverdently!

 

I know what yo mean about scared doggies, ours hid in the bathtub last night! Couldn't figure out where a 55lb German Pointer could be hiding with all the doors and windows closed until I heard his nails on the tub! Hope yours are doing better.

 

Sam

[GLakie]

I'm with Sam Dennis.  Kind of a scary prospect doing it in sections, but you know better than I what's best.  It was really noisy around here 'til about 3:00 AM, and I know the stress levels of animals all over the area were high. Glad it's over for the most part! 

[S.Coleman]

I do like the way you are going about the assembly. It will look great when all is together on the ship. Is that the Testors rang of paint you are using?

[Jack12477]

Yes, our neighborhood sounded like a re-creation of the bombardment of Fort Sumter all last night - our dog hid in her bunker  till 6AM today.  Boat's looking good, Dennis.

[clearway]

Good thing about living in the U.K.- we let the 4th go by quietly

[Greg the peg leg sailor]

G'day Denis and all of my yanky friends.

HAPPY 4TH JULY.

Well back to the model: she is looking great!

I've got an idea that might help you with the lights. Have you thought about fibre optic? You can arrange the fibres in all or as many port holes that you want. It will be hard, harder than you or I can imagine.

Havagooday

Greg ☺

[popeye the sailor]

that would be funny Greg......the interior of the hull would look like a telephone switchboard       I did the Star trek Enterprise when I was younger,  with the lighting.......wasn't impressed either.

*just heard a few booms.........Gibbs is under my desk now*

wood is so much better with lighting.......light doesn't filter through the walls,  as well as the windows.  it's sad that a lot of the upper parts is done in white plastic........and painted flat white to boot......   I'm beginning to hear that discouraging word,  I've heard tell about.   I'll try and do a night time picture - dry fit.

 

thanks for the good words my friends.......I'm still enjoying the holiday {and my vacation},  in spite of the small inconveniences.  I'm convinced that they really goofed legalizing fireworks........there are so many folks out there that don't know how to properly use explosives

 

case in point........the Darwin award goes to the young man in Maine.........whose drunk'in stupidity,  made him believe it was a good idea to light a mortar shell on the top of his head.   as Daffy duck said............"I can only do it once!"

 

I can't take full credit for the section assembly.....I'm just doing it differently,  than the kit says to.   the main reason is the rigging.........if I did it the way the kit say to,  there would be huge thread balls on the masts,  where I've tied them all       the bow was easy,  once I figured that more than one group of lines could be added by tying a single knot.  the best way to describe this.......2 for the port,  2 for the starboard.......run them {of equal proportions} through a fore mast thread loop,  knot and cement in place,  capturing the two sets of lines with one thread.  if your using Ca though........get the tension on them before gluing them.   lines that don't run true from an attachment point,  just doesn't look good     these masts are so thin........I wish I could have drilled holes to run the thread through.....wood has made this so much easier.

    the stern isn't going to be as easy........the mizzen mast is located at the aft section of the A deck........the mast runs through an aft roof and cements in the A deck floor.   there are lines that initiate from the stern section,  terminating at the mast.  I fear that the stern section will need to be cemented to the mid section,  prior to rigging.  this could possibly set the stage for an alignment nightmare,  since in the turmoil of cementing the mid section together,  it ended up being about 1 mm off,  aftwards....{could be just a 64ths.......I might be melodramatic here}      I have another point of concern,  that I will show you....I have to import the pictures to my computer.........a few moments and I will return 

 

I use Testor's ,  Model Master,  and Billing's,  Mr. Coleman .........gloss....but primarily flat enamels

[popeye the sailor]

I also want to express my thanks and sympathies to all you folks who have furry friends that react to noise.   Gibbs doesn't have a problem with thunder...I'm surprised....I've felt the noise percussion from some of the louder ones.   let one firecracker go off though,  and he's diving for the nearest hiding place.  we hate it....there's nothing we can do.  tried to play the TV a bit louder that usual,  but someone just up the street,  decided to touch off one of those mortar displays....and off he went.........under our bed.   man.........was it loud too!    I took a nap today......Gibbs got me up at 3AM to go out.......he won't go out after dusk.   once the noise starts,  all bets are off that he will go out.   there was a little earlier this evening,  but it's been quiet since......he is still unsure.  it will get better when things quiet down 

 

Anyway........there were two other lines to add on {port and starboard},  and one to add to the lower fore stay {very slight tension on it}.   these were tied on,  weighted and cemented.

 

 

 

hee.......hee.........thought I'd put that one in there       there's nothing wrong with your computers.......do not adjust the horizontal...........do not adjust the vertical........I am in complete control of your screens.......I will do it.

 

 

that's better. 

 

 

there is one more back stay that originates from the foremost boat deck roof,  that will terminate at the upper mast.  the decks sit pretty good.........but there is a problem.   I had this all set up,  but with the may-lay in gluing the mid section together,  it fell short a tiny bit..you might see it here.   there is a better view here.

 

 

the locator pins do not sit in their holes correctly......too late to try and fix it now.  I will have to deal with it.....but I'm seeing some form of a silver lining here.   it lies in that part I showed earlier.......don't know what the thinking was with it.  as for the alignment problem here......my first thought was to cut off the locator pins.......not a good idea.   if there is a warpage issue, as with the aft section of the hull,  this would make it worse.  the correct thing here is to drill the holes a bit larger,  which I did.

 

 

this area of the bow section would be considered a well deck....this part would be the fascia for the bridge deck.  here it is in place.........you can see how 'out of sorts' it looks.

 

 

an over view shows how much aft,  the bridge deck is.

 

 

along the bulwarks there are gaps..........perhaps I can add a little material to fill them in.

 

 

what I plan to do here,  is trim down the part,  even with the deck line.   as I had mentioned,  there are the two 'D' sprues, meaning that I will have quite a few extra railing parts.  I will eliminate the over bite and replace it with railing.  there is a stairway that is to go here as well......it should mate quite well.  the instruction diagram shows the stairway cemented in a cut out in this fascia part........non existent on the part I see here.   you can see it......it looks like a sort of grating in the wall.  this needs to be cut out.......but since I'm trimming it,  I 'll do it a bit differently.   I still needed to cement the boat deck fascia to the upper deck sides {bulwarks}.  I did it at this time.

 

 

as mentioned,  I may not be so lucky with the stern section.......I may have to cement these two sections together.  I will have to see 

 

 

 

[Jim Lad]

A few wee problems, Popeye, but she's coming together very well!

 

John

[popeye the sailor]

thanks John........yea,  they're small.   the best thing is that they have a quick fix       thanks for the like Augie 

[mtaylor]

Hold fast, Popeye.  You'll get it solved and fixed before we know it.

[Jack12477]

When I was doing plastic models I used Squadron Green Putty to fill in the gaps where parts didn't mate properly. Sands and paints nicely.  Model is looking good Popeye.

[GLakie]

With your engineering skills Dennis, I know you'll have those ill-fitting parts problems hashed out in no time. 

[popeye the sailor]

thanks Mark and George........I'm half way there now.  I have some really nice parts to work with 

 

 

I've heard of it Jack.......I use the Testor's in a tube  {white putty}.  used it for many years.  I tend to rely on adding styrene to parts  though......it can be fashioned off the model and fitted.

[kpnuts]

Just to mention since I got to the stage of rigging my masts you ought to glue the rear deck to the middle and glue them in the hull before you do the final tensioning of the rigging as when you put it in the hull unless both sections are at exactly the same angle in the hull either the mast will be bent or the rigging will be slack. Don't know if I've explained it properly.

[popeye the sailor]

a very good point KP..........I can see I'll need to press the hull and sections together to eliminate any gaps.   to do it now would give the results you describe.

     the bow was one thing..........the stern I can see,  will be quite another.  I will keep an eye on that....thanks for the head's up 

[popeye the sailor]

thanks Lawrence.  > goosebumps<  ohhhh.......if I had the billing's kit........now there's a pipe dream     the two big things would be the lighting and rigging.

 

     I've dumped the lighting idea........after seeing all the white walls lit up by the bulbs,  it turned me off.   density of material would be the cause here...that,  and if it were black plastic......twould be a fool's errand to go off now and paint all the inner walls black......pretty much what I would need to do to cure that.

 

    I don't feel bad gents........I'm good with it      given the diagrams and stuff that I've found,  I'd be tempted to do one in wood.  besides.......I have a bigger plan in mind 

[popeye the sailor]

the bridge structure fascia.......what a starting point      this actually turned out to be easier than I thought.   the first thing I did.......I did this right after posting the last update.......was to add to the ends of the part.

 

 

I will need three sets of stairs for this area.......the hand rails was done to look like wood.

 

 

the part then got about 1/8 cut off of the top.......I dunno....some weird number      the slot was trimmed out for the stairs.

 

 

 

...and then the stairs were cemented in place.

 

 

 

the long section of railing was easy......I didn't need to trim much.  but,  for the small section for the port side.  I had to add a piece to it.

 

 

  in place......not to bad    I think

 

 

 

now I need to do the same to the fore castle deck.    it requires two sets of stairs.....all that needs to be added now is the railings

 

 

I added some of the rigging to stern area.......I can't be as cleaver as I was with the bow.  I'll figure something out though.

[GLakie]

She looks marvelous Dennis. Lighting------One would think with all the different finishes out there, they would make one that would either absorb light, or block it all together, so it doesn't show through the panels. 

[popeye the sailor]

it's the sad truth George.......I think it probably wouldn't have mattered what lighting I went with,  light is light........plastic density would rule here.   so I put all that stuff back in the Holiday Harbor box,  and I'll continue my thoughts with that build.   as I move back towards the stern,  I remembered to drill out those holes as well,  on the stern section.   I'm sure those are off as well.   I'm not liking the idea of cementing in individual rigging lines aft........but I believe I have a game plan for tying them.....might lessen the ganglia effect.  the bow is almost complete 

[augie]

Lots going on there in the bow.  Looks great.  Sorry the lights didn't work out but hey, you gave it a shot.

[popeye the sailor]

there's a bit more left to go Augie     the stern is beginning to look like a spaghetti factory.......the boat deck will be following suit     thanks for the good word my friend.

[mtaylor]

Looking sweet Popeye.  I'm glad you figured out that fascia problem without going nuts. 

[src]

Holy Smokes that's looking great!

Too bad about the lighting, I guess even fiber optics are out to light selected portholes?

Sam

[popeye the sailor]

yea.......sorry Sam........I really don't want it to glow like a ghost ship......    but that would really send out an eerie message now,  wouldn't it 

 

the fascia problem is solved.......I just hope those parts I used were truly extra pieces.   I finally cemented the first pair of cranes in place.......glued in the fascia in place as well.

 

 

 

then all of the life boat cradles were painted white,  on the boat deck.   later I'll go back and touch them up.

 

 

the stern section got the mizzen mast rigging glued in ahead of time

 

 

I started to work on the boat deck structures at this point.  still need to cement in the rigging for the funnels,  and then the A deck and boat deck can be cemented together.  duct work was painted flat white..........the grating grids were then dry brushed with the paint I mixed for the hull........just to soot things up a bit.

 

 

these four ducts are located at the first and second funnel

 

 

finally I got back to the bow section,  and cemented in the fore castle railing

 

 

 

so now it's the boat deck....there's a lot to do here 

 

 

[GLakie]

Shaping up quite nicely Dennis.  

[riverboat]

Look'n good Denis.