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

[Mirabell61]

Thank you very much Patrick and Grant,

and all the "likes"

 

for you nice appreciative words

 

Nils

[Dimitris71]

Great and precision work as always Nils!!

 

Cheers

Dimitris

[Mirabell61]

Dankeschön Dimitris,

 

Nils

[Mirabell61]

little update..

 

- a look into the hull

- a trial for painting the hull

- the "riveting" of the bowpost

- "glassing" the porthhole inserts (procedure)

 

Nils

 

 

 

 

 

here a dive deep down into the ship`s belly

 

 

aft section with the two drive shafts coming to the inside

 

 

 

this is the tape I intend to use for taping the painting borderline (not pleased with it yet), will have to improve the technique. Also the black color should be more dull, will do next trial with dull black oven-paint. The critical part is to get a good tape contact over the rivet rows, so that the paint does`nt creep under the tape.

The red paint is RAL 3000, silk-surface glaze, when drying

 

 

 

 

 

bowpost "riveting" is done around the bend

 

 

 

Am quite pleased with the result....

 

 

 

here using trimming line for grass-cutter for the "glassing" of the portholes

 

 

 

Cutting off a length

 

 

 

ready for final trimming

 

 

 

cut off directly at the porthole insert. "Glass" surface will be sunk in appr. 0,6 mm afterwards into the tube

Edited October 23, 2015 by Mirabell61

[pete48]

Absolutely Amazing Nils, Incredible craftsmanship

 

Best Regards,

Pete

[dgbot]

Never thought of using trimmer line before nice way of thinking outside the box.

David B

[Mirabell61]

Many thanks Pete and David,

 

for your nice comments

 

Nils

[Mirabell61]

Hi Dirk,

 

thank you so much for that super advise, which is very much appreciated ...."with the masked Color" once over the masked border....  , , I`ve never tried it before, but will try it now straight away

I also found a nice deep black and dull oven paint at Obi-Market this morning, exactly what I was searching for

 

NIls

[flyer]

Hi Nils

 

Amazing work on a beautiful ship!

 

If I may, I would like to add a little thought about colours on a model:

 

Quite often you see craftsmen using the same colours on the model as on the real thing, thinking this will give the most authenticity.

 

However looking at a model, even from close distance, equals looking at the prototype from a distance of dozens up to 100 meters (looking distance multiplied by scale). And looking at something from a certain distance you will see that the colours wash out or change a bit towards light grey or white (because of atmosphere and reflections of light). If you use the fresh original colour you risk to get a toy look - adding a little bit of white or grey often improves authenticity. This is not weathering - it's just using something like a 'scale colour'.

 

Those are not my original thoughts. I picked this up in publications of master model makers in the ship or train department and it works well. I'm writing this because I got the impression that you used rather bright colours on your trial.

 

Sincerely

peter

[NMBROOK]

Absolutely fantastic work Nils Your hull plating looks amazing,almost a shame to paint,it looks fabulous in it's natural silver

 

Kind Regards

 

Nigel

[Mirabell61]

Hi Peter,

 

nice to hear from you, your last post was quite some time back, and thanks very much for dropping in, and for your nice comment I like....

I agree with your advice relating to the paint gloss, it somehow turned out quite bright on the appr. pic. (probably due to flashlight and fresh paint)

 

I am a little anxious to blend the color, as I probably would not be able to get / repeat the blending mixture, if I mix the color a bit lighter.

 

The black ought to be a dull black, no gloss at all, and the red is more a silk finish, when dry. For the black overwater hull section I have now found a suitable dull black oven paint. I am pleased with the black so far.

The little dummy here is the second trial, I have also added 3 dummy portholes, they turn out as I had intended, inserts flush wih the skin, and the "glassing" standing back a wee bit in the insert- tube. The inserts are from copper with galvanizesd tin surface and the ends that connect to the hull skin are tapered to the outside.

 

For taping and painting over the riveted skin areas, I shall be following Dirk`s reccomendation, when the Tamiya masking tape arrives

 

Nils

 

 

Dummy section for trial...

 

the black is nostalgic dull steel hull kook, the portholes (3 mm) are quite small in diameter, but doing them larger would be out of scale

Edited October 25, 2015 by Mirabell61

[Mirabell61]

Absolutely fantastic work Nils Your hull plating looks amazing,almost a shame to paint,it looks fabulous in it's natural silver

 

Kind Regards

 

Nigel

 

Thank you very much Nigel,

 

unfortunately the "silver" ca`nt be left as is....., I`m even thinking of leaving away the bonding primer spray coat, as the paint is adhesive enough without...

 

Nils

[Dimitris71]

Hi Nils, the color on the dummy section above looks very nice. As far as the tamiya masking tape is concered, i agree with dirk that it is by far the best one...

 

Kind Regards

Dimitris

[Mirabell61]

Hi Dimitris,

 

Thanks for your appreciation,

 

I noted that you had ordered portholes from RB for your AV, I used to Mount RB portholes with flanges as well before...., how is your experience with those, I remember that it was not so easy to fit the "glassings" in, in  order that they stay there and do`nt fall out, resp. into the hull afterwards

 

Nils

[Dimitris71]

Hi Dimitris,

 

Thanks for your appreciation,

 

I noted that you had ordered portholes from RB for your AV, I used to Mount RB portholes with flanges as well before...., how is your experience with those, I remember that it was not so easy to fit the "glassings" in, in  order that they stay there and do`nt fall out, resp. into the hull afterwards

 

Nils

I decided to use rb's portholes because i didn't really like the ones included in the AV. Actually i did not find it that hard to install them. Note that I usually paint the portholes first. As soon as the color dries I place the glassing using  tweezers and  then press it gently with my finger so as to fit in.  Lastly i install them on the hull. I hope you'll find it helpful. Feel free to ask anything you might need.

 

Cheers

Dimitris

Edited October 25, 2015 by Dimitris71

[flyer]

Hi Nils

 

Oh, I always follow your build closely but most of the time I'm just too dumbstruck with awe barely able to hit the 'like' button.

 

This time I wanted to write about something which could ruin almost any model: wrong colour. Of course not yours - this is a piece of art.

 

The second trial looks much better to me.

 

About repeated blending of the colours: this is difficult but easier if you use a simple proportion. On Pickle I  take one part of white on tree parts of yellow. Of course there are slight variations in the colour but so were on the prototype. You couldn't paint such a behemoth as yours and expect the colour to be exactly the same over the entire space. At least not before RAL colour schemes came in use. And then the painting continued over the whole life of the ship. There was always something to mend or to beautify.

 

Cheers

Peter

[Mirabell61]

Hi Peter,

 

thanks again for your Input here...

 

yes you are so right...., I believe there are at least three aspects of the paint Job, one is the paint-type itself with choise of color, then the way of applying it, and just as important, the way of following tips and tricks (provided These are known) to achieve a good looking result.

I have for myself not gained enough experience with the painting in order to avoid unnecessary risks with the paint Job.

 

Nils

Edited October 26, 2015 by Mirabell61

[michael mott]

 

I have for myself not gained enough experience with the painting in order to avoid unnecessary risks with the paint Job.

Hi Nils you could have fooled me. Nice touch on the glass in the portholes, both a sence of glass and some depth without looking flat.

 

Michael

[Piet]

Hi Nils,

 

Yes, painting can be a real challenge. Not only the choice of colors to "match" the original but the application as well.  A good paint job is all preparation and not the least is masking.  The most troublesome are around rivets and seems.  I must have painted over 50 airplanes in my career and spend many painstaking hours in making sure that all the rivets and lap seems would not allow paint to seep under the tape.  I used of course production masking tape and paint guns that supplied 17 cubit feet of paint at about 45 to 60 PSI.  

No matter what kind of paint, could be lacquer, acrylic, enamel, epoxy, I put first a thin coat of paint over the area of the masking tape at 90 degrees to the tape at low pressure and volume.  Checking again for areas where the tape came undone and pressing that doen again.

For the enamels, acrylics and epoxy paints I let this get sticky then follow-up with another thin "dust" coat of paint over the entire area to be painted.  Let this get sticky as well then a full coat.  Let this setup and follow with a final coat if needed.

For lacquer, well that's another story and method.  Hey, I painted a car once with that stuff, 18 coats!!!  Hand-subbed between the last 8.  Too labor intensive and expensive - - - for the customer.

 

I also hope that painting the finish coats on unprimed metal will be successful for you. No matter how good the "stickiness" of the paint seems to be a metal primer is chemically made to adhere to metal best AND also give the finishing paint a better medium to stick to.  But, then again, your model will not be subject to any wear and tear.

 

Cheers,

 

[shipmodel]

Hi Nils - 

 

Just coming back to this.  AOL is having some issues with my automatic email from MSW, so I'm a bit behind the curve.  Very pretty work, as usual, since I last stopped by.  I completely agree that you have hit on a clever solution to the 'glassing' problem.  The portholes look totally realistic on the test piece.

 

As for the color separation line, here is a technique that has not been mentioned, but worked for me in a similar situation on an irregular surface:  Instead of using just tape, paint a layer of rubber cement over the line.  Cover the rivet heads and everything else with a perceptable thickness of rubber.  You may need a few coats to get that thick.  Once it has hardened, use a metal straightedge to guide a sharp blade along the line.  Do it a few times to make sure you have cut through to the hull.  Then just peel off the unwanted side of the line.    If there is some that sticks where you don't want it, rub it with a gum eraser and it will come right up.  Mask over the rubber with tape and paint as usual.   

 

Maybe that will work for you.

 

Best of success.  Getting that line crisp and clean is a major challenge, but you have repeatedly shown that your skills are up to the task.

 

Dan

[Mirabell61]

Hi Micheal, Piet and Dan,

 

many thanks for Kind comments and suggestions for the painting, that is very much appreciated.

Also many thanks to all the "likes"

 

Michael,

the trimming line bits are tapered a Little bit and then jamed and squeezed into the insert tubes. After that they will be cut off at the "porthole face" and then sinked in a bit. It`s the first time I do it this way (instead of portholes with flange) because the actual ship`s portholes were flush with the hull`s skin

 

Piet,

You seem have a lot of experience with the requirements for model painting. There is probably o lot of "learn by doing" involved in your techniques, and thanks so much for sharing this

 

Dan,

thanks for your sharing your method with the "rubber cement", that technique is also and absolute worth a  test Trial, will Keep in mind...., thanks for sharing

 

 

Nils

Edited October 27, 2015 by Mirabell61

[shipmodel]

Hi Nils - 

 

You asked about figures for your model.   I did a quick Google search for "1/144 scale figures" and got a bunch of hits.  Preiser makes figures that scale both painted and unpainted.  They are available from a number of hobby sites in Europe, mostly England, but I found one in Germany.  Prices seem to be around 10 Euros for 18 unpainted figures or 6 painted ones.  I know that I paid a good deal more for them here in the USA

 

Hope that helps

 

Dan

[Mirabell61]

Hi Dan,

 

your kind help with the 1:144 Preiser Figurines is very much appreciated. Thank you so much. I found these when I started my log (for dimension checks), unfortunatly these are all airline- ground crew- or passenger related, but it helps me to evaluate bulwark hights etc...

 

These are the ones I am currently using in scale 1:144   :

 

 

 

The following pics, borrowed from the web, show, from Preiser, unfortunately only available in scale 1:87 (HO scale) what I am after, if they were only in scale 1:144 ,... either painted or unpainted, to date my search was in vain though..., and Preiser has not answered my request yet

Figurines in turn of the century fashions.... Would love to scatter some of this type on my decks...

 

Nils

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mirabell61]

Build log part 24

 

Here is a little update....

 

Nils

 

 

 

dry fitting the supporting I-beams for the promenade deck in this area

 

 

 

The 10 stachions per side are small brass tubes where the copper pins go through, the pin-heads are interlocked within the deckstripes above, and are hidden by the (to be glued on) coamings of the deck planking later on

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

the white primered scupper / throughpass in the bulwark is for the mooring cables when the ship is at the kay. There are three of these on each ships side

 

 

 

 

 

[Omega1234]

Hi Nils

 

The more I look, the more I see.

 

Marvellous work!

 

Cheers

 

Patrick

[Mirabell61]

Hi Nils

 

The more I look, the more I see.

 

Marvellous work!

 

Cheers

 

Patrick

 

Many thanks for your word Patrick,

 

Nils

[mikegerber]

I agree with Patrick. The wealth of detail is already immense - very well done, Nils! - looking forward too each new log.

 

All the best,

Mike

Edited October 29, 2015 by mikegerber

[Mirabell61]

thank you so much for you Kind and appreciative words Mike and Crackers,

also many thanks to all the "likes"

 

Nils

[Mirabell61]

Hej Nils, try Tamiya Masking Tape! Also when masked do one coat with the masked color before painting with the final color. This will help avoiding creeping the "wrong" color.

 

Dirk

 

 

Hi Dirk,

 

I just wanted to give feedback on your borderline painting suggestion. I made two samples, both straddling / crossing  directly over the rivet-rows, and wow no "paint creepers" anymore   

It worked perfectly, I`m very thankful for your advice on this painting tip...

 

Nils

 

[druxey]

Had you thought of modifying Preiser 1:144 figures to resemble the 1:87 ones?

 

Your model is looking lovely and progressing fast, Nils!