SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse 1897 by Mirabell61 - FINISHED - scale 1:144 - POF - first German four stacker of the Norddeutscher Lloyd line

[Omega1234]

Hi Niks

 

Your work is amazing, as always! I especially love the 4th photo of the focsle, with the riveted walls and doors. Very realistic and a true credit to you.

 

Cheers

 

Patrick

[Piet]

Ah yes. the Nils touch, real deck planking not photo printed on paper!  Looks very good my friend.  

 

Cheers,

[Mirabell61]

thanks to Patrick and Piet,

for the nice appreciations....

and all the "likes"

 

Patrick,

all portions where there is no Access to later on have to be fitted out for final Appeal...

 

Piet,

the decks work out quite well with the pencil caulking to the edges, and because the supplier of the "Planks" to my pleasure can cut them very precise

 

Nils 

[thomaslambo]

Nils,

 

Amazing work....your creativity is a wonderment to watch 

 

I'm looking forward to seeing how you incorporate the railings 

[Mirabell61]

Thanks Boyd,

 

it still will take some time before I can mount the railings........., but here, upfront, is a little hand scetch how I intend to do so. This is what my thoughts are circling about.....

Probably I`ll have to solder the railing stripes to the brass L-profiles and the cap rails and final-paint them prior to mounting on the ship

 

Nils

 

 

scetch showing an outcut of the forecastle deck, the railing will be three or four wire only...

[Beef Wellington]

Nils, love the shot of the forecastle, nice camber to the deck and you planking looks very pleasing.  Great and fascinating work as always.

[Mirabell61]

Nice comments Jason,

 

thank you very much, I`m glad you like it...

 

Nils

[captainbob]

Beautiful as always.  The forecastle deck by itself is a work of art.

 

Bob

[Mirabell61]

Thank you very much Bob,

 

Nils

[Mirabell61]

Build log part 20

 

 

putting the hull to the stand first time and marking / checking the waterline

 

 

Nils

 

 

due to the length a 3-pedestal stand is adequate

 

 

 

the brass pedestals are from candle holders, drilled with 4 mm centerholes  for the three M4 spindles that are anchored securely in the ship`s "backbone"

 

 

 

the waterline has been marked with a soft pencil, all around

 

 

 

 

 

[Omega1234]

Hi Nils

 

Seeing the photos of your beautiful hull above, I'm struck by two things. Firstly, just how big she is and secondly, just how fine and sharp the bow is (like a knife's edge!).

 

But above all else, I reckon she looks great in the display stand.

 

Job well done.

 

Cheers

 

Patrick

Edited September 24, 2015 by Omega1234

[UpstateNY]

HI Nils,

 

Wonderful to see those shots of the full hull...like Patrick says, they really emphasize just how sleek the hull lines are.

 

Very much enjoying your build...lovely work.

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel.

[popeye the sailor]

the size of the hull........the stuff dreams are made of      wonder progress Nils........love where your going with this build!

[Mirabell61]

many thanks to Patick, Nigel, and Denis,

and the "likes"...

 

Patrick,

you`re right, the 1380 mm long hull is very sleek for an ocean-liner.

I`m very happy with the display stand geometry and the easy and secure way of fastening to the hull

 

Nigel,

no wonder she was so fast, for her slim and sharp lines to knife her way through the ocean...., but she was also known for her tendency to roll quite a bit in spite of the bilge keels, her nickname was  "Rolling Billy", must have been many sea-sick per voyage

 

Denis,

Thanks, I know you are fond of the size of the hull, being scale 1:144.

To my knowledge most museum models of the KWdG are 1:100, but that would be a hull as long as my bed.

I`m planing the pattern for the plating now

 

 

Nils

[archjofo]

Stunning work, Nils!

[Mirabell61]

Thank you very much Johann,

 

your comment is much appreciated..

 

Nils

[mtaylor]

Beautiful hull, Nils.  Her lines are really shown by the stand you have for her.  

[mikegerber]

Wow! - Beautiful, just beautiful, Nils!

 

All the best,

Mike

[Mirabell61]

Thank you for your  nice appreciation Mike,

 

I`m waiting for some ordered 12mm wide one-side adhesive plastic tape to arrive, with which I`ll do some resembling trials for the plating pattern in metal at the more critical hull Areas. The plastic tape will be removed again and scrapped afterwards

 

Nils

Edited September 25, 2015 by Mirabell61

[yamsterman]

Hi Nils

Beautiful and very graceful hull.....looking forward to the "skin" going on!

Cheers....mick

[Mirabell61]

Many thanks for your appreciation Mick,

 

it wo`nt take long any more with the "skin" ......

 

 

 

Here is a little update, the front of the lower deck housing, and the top small bulwark at the bow

 

Nils

 

 

 

 

this complete rounded section fits in and closes the front of the lower deck housing

The handrails are from 0,5mm brass wire

 

 

 

the little red chocks (removed later on) are only for precise positioning and aligning the sides of the promenade deck

 

 

 

for smooth transitions I preferably use 2K polyester filler

 

 

 

this deck housing is held down and in place by 4 screws

Unfortunately the surface of the stands upper plate carried away a bad stain failure, I`ll have to grind the whole surface over, or glue / iron a sheet of veneer on it, but that will wait untill all other is done

 

 

 

the last aft part of the poop is covered by ply, with a coaming rail to surround the deck planking later on. The step at the edge is to take up the L-profile where the railing will be soldered against. I intend to do the entire promenade deck edge to the sides in this way

Edited September 28, 2015 by Mirabell61

[rafine]

An extraordinary piece of work Nils. I look forward to every new update.

 

Bob

[gjdale]

Fascinating to watch your progress Nils. Simply excellent work.

[Omega1234]

Hi Nils

 

Lovely, lovely, lovely work! Once again, for me, it's the rivets on the bulkheads that adds so much realism. Nice!

 

I'm just curious as to whether you'll paint or chemically blacken the brass handrails later on?

 

Cheers

 

Patrick

[pete48]

Beautiful work Nils, its been a while since I have been able to look in on your build, ( Ive Been Sailing ) extraodinary work as always, She looks fantastic

 

Best Regards,

Pete

[Mirabell61]

there have been so many nice and appreciated comments the last days,

thanks to    Bob, Grant, Patrick, Pete,

and all the "likes"

 

Bob and Grant,

thanks very much, I`m glad that you like the Progress so far...

 

Patrick,

I have`nt made up my mind yet about painting the handrails, chemical  blackening is not considered, but maybe painted brown

 

Pete,

trust and hope you had a nice time sailing. I always enjoyed sailing as well, but I sold my boat several year ago,

Thanks for dropping in, you`re always welcome

 

 

Nils

Edited September 29, 2015 by Mirabell61

[Oystein]

Just want to tell you that I have been following your builds for the last year or so, and that I find them amazing. I'm memory storing lots of methods and techniques from your logs - hopefully employing them on a not so distant future build of mine. Always looking forward to your updates.

 

Gruss aus Norwegen

[Mirabell61]

Many thanks Oystein,

 

it`s nice to know a fellow mate watching from Norway, I`m glad you like the build logs so far...., and you are very wellcome to drop in whenever you like.

 

For the KWdG I am working at the plating pattern in the moment, by by doing trials for the "belts" geometry with dummy tape. Here a good compromise must be found for getting the horizontal portholes alignment levels in scale ....., if possible in the middle of the "belts". Also it must be avoided to half-hit a frame or bulkhead when drilling the holes

here one of the first trials with 2.colored plastic electricer`s isolation tape (easy to remove before plating)

 

These trials must be done upfront, in order to get a good optic look with the plating afterwards, as the metal plating with resembled riveting ca`nt be ripped off several times. Also my roll of aluminium foil is slowly coming to an end and does not allow much scrap for the bin...

 

Nils

 

 

 

 

these stripes are 15 mm wide, shall probably reduce to 13 mm width, the trial shall show...

 

 

 

the overlapping of the  white "coverbelt" is appr. 1 - 1,5 mm

 

 

[Omega1234]

Hi Nils

 

The taping to simulate the plating looks like hard work, but the value that such preparation will bring to the final product is more than worthwhile.

 

I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

 

Cheers

 

Patrick

Edited September 30, 2015 by Omega1234

[michael mott]

I like your innovative method for solving these model making tasks Nils The hul is looking much more refined than the last time i checked in .

Great progress.

 

Michael