Hr. Ms. O 19 1938 by Piet - FINISHED - scale 1:50 - submarine of the Royal Navy Netherlands in service 1939 - 1945

[augie]

Making a few of us happy as well. 

 

If you do need to resort to gluing the slats on the painted deck, you could try pricking some very small holes through the paint so the glue can penetrate.  This should hold the slats well as there are really no stresses on them.  I know ---- more tedium.  But it does work reasonably well.

[mtaylor]

Looking great, Piet. 

[FreekS]

I remember this, took me two months to create the deck planking! Like you I cut and sanded individual planks to about 1 mm width and glued them on the dark grey painted deck. Then I varnished them. Boat has now had 19 patrols (and an equal number of dives and surfaces! ) and the deck looks a little weathered. Practice in the navy was for the sailors to have to sand these (with sand) regularly until they were truly white. I'm sure that went out with the first war patrols! freek

[texxn5]

Looking good my friend, The Con is shaping up very nicely.  2014 will be interesting for all of us....Happy New Year to you and Gwen.....

[popeye the sailor]

looking forward in seeing more of your fantastic work in 2014!   Nice!!!

[PacificCrossRoads]

  

Edited December 31, 2013 by PacificCrossRoads

[Piet]

Hello all y'all, thanks for visiting and liking my progress   

 

@ John (Lad): Well, I'm close up to the model and can see all the little blemishes but so far there aren't many, which makes me feel good.  Some do-overs to make it right in the process. 

 

@ Augie: Now that's an idea and yes, that'll increase the tedious work alright. I'll still be at it till the end of next year   I'll have to experiment some first.

 

@ Mark: Thanks for the applause     That brings a smile to my face.

 

@ Freek: Yes, I know you went through that routine with your RC KCVIII.  I understand that there is no stress on the slats and no one will be handling it, so in theory I shouldn't worry that these slats fall off.  Like I mentioned above to Augie, I'll do some experimenting.

 

@ John (Texxn5):  Thanks John for your comment.  Yes indeed, 2014 will be humdinger and we wish you and Diane also a very healthy and prosperous 2014.

 

@ Popeye:  Thank you and I'm also looking forward to getting her close to completion.

 

@ Boris:  Now that is funny!         I can see that captain drumming his fingers on the rail and telling Moses, "Ok Moses, now what?"   That cartoon is a keeper!

 

To all - - - a very happy, safe and healthy 2014.

 

 

[Piet]

Okay, it's New Year's eve and this'll be my last post in 2013, here's to all y'all   

 

Now that the bridge is planked I decided to go ahead with gluing the side panels on.  It'll be a little difficult painting and staining the deck but I'll use a small brush 

 

I was busy ripping the 1 X 1 mm strips of poplar and sanding them.  I only want enough to do the AA gun decks.

Bothe the forward and rear decks are now glued on and we can proceed with installing the slats.  But first I'll check to see how the glue will hold on paint with some small voids in the paint for the glue to hold to wood.

In the meantime I can make the other stuff that goes into the cockpit like the chart locker, the helm, power telegraph, antenna bridge, three doors, hinges for the crew hatch lids and the AA gun bun lids,  etc. etc.

I can also fiddle with the gun pedestals to add some "stuff" to them.  And make more slats for the main deck.

 

So I have plenty of little things to do before getting back to the deck slats.

 

Well, here are a few pics of the progress this day.

 

The front part of the bridge and the forward and rear gun decks are being glued on.  I used my riveting bucking bars as hold-down weights.  These are still left over from my aircraft sheet metal days in a previous life  .

 

After the glue had cured sufficiently I could remove the weights and clamps and just wanted to see how the next side plates would look.  Not too bad   

 

These are the 1 X 1 mm slats ready for use on the gun decks.  

 

Cheers, 

[Kevin]

Lovely work Piet, Happy new Year

[texxn5]

The deck will really start shaping up now.  Looking good as usual.....

[Piet]

Thans to everyone for visiting and your "like" votes, much appreciated.

 

@ Kevin:  Thank you and we wish you and yours also a very good and healthy new year.  I'm following your Bismarck build, looks awesome!

 

@ John:  Thanks John, it's a long arduous road though.

 

Cheers,

[Piet]

Spend some time today prepping some scrap wood for gluing the deck slats to a painted surface.  I had a rattle can of RustOleum primer that was dark grey and a rattle can of RustOleum enamel in light grey.  The poplar strip to the dark grey primer seems to hold pretty good but not so good to the enamel.  Found out that I used a different wood that was very hard so I tried again with poplar, the same wood as I intend to use on the model.

So far both seem to hold pretty well but I favor the lighter grey though.   Only problem is that it is glossy.  Fortunately the decks are all flat and can use sand paper on it to dull it but most is hidden anyway by the slats.  So, it looks like i'll be gluing the slats to the paint.  

 

While the glue for test strips were curing I started to make the brass lids for the crew hatches and the AA gun hatches.  That's 5 total.  They turned out great but I had to do some final hammering to the two larger ones for the gun buns.  The die I made from an oak dowel was just a tad too small so the edges for about 2 mm didn't follow the dome curve.  No problem though, with a little gentle persuasion with a small hammer on the male part of the die they took a nice shape.  So they are now ready for the hinges.

 

I also made the three doors on the port side of the con. They too are ready to be finished.  They need some stiffening on the backside though and then the hinges and latches.

 

I am in the process of making the chart locker and the antenna bracing bridge that's mounted to the bridge/cockpit sides, also looking good.

 

So, all in all a productive day.  Now I need to carefully put some of the lighter grey between the slats I already glued to the bridge deck but I doubt that'll work without touching the dyed slats.  I may just rip them out and start over again.  The poplar seems not to take up the dye too well, wonder why.  Could be some glue residue on top but I sanded them after the glue had set.  Hmmm, may need to find some teak water based dye, right Remco?  

I really would like to finish the gun decks and bridge area so I can put the hinges on the hatch and bun lids, that'll get me closer to finishing the con.

 

Here are a few pics of todays work.

 

This shows the con with the lids and three doors.  They are all just loosely laid on the tubes and the doors are propped against the opening.  It's difficult to see the inner liner of the bridge on this picture but it'll show better in some of the following ones.

The white styrene will be hidden by the brass hinge arrangement I have to make.

 

This shows the inner liner of the bridge better.  I had to cut an opening in the sides for the antenna brace.  Another thing I forgot but it worked out okay.

 

Another view of the bridge where you can see the inner liner and the stained deck slats.  I'll need a 000005 brush to get between the slats to put the grey paint on the deck 

 

This is a close-up of the cockpit.  You'll have to cock your head 90 degrees though, sorry about that.  In order to make the dome shapes with my die you have to cut a very narrow pie shape out of the circular plug otherwise it'll curl up at the edges.  In making a dome like this the outside circumference becomes smaller.

 

This is the last pic I took before knocking off this evening.  The chart locker sits on the gun bun, I just glued the bottom braces to it.  The antenna brace is made and just stuck in place.  I made the top tube oval by pressing it in the vice.  The ship's bell also hangs from it.  Hmmm, I have to make a tiny bell now   I mean it's tiny, perhaps I'll buy one meant for a charm bracelet 

 

Well, that's it for today 

 

Cheers,

[Jim Lad]

Coming along beautifully, Piet.

 

John

[Remcohe]

Really nice Piet!! 

 

 

 

 Hmmm, may need to find some teak water based dye

 

Just a matter of picking the right color from this site

 

Remco

Edited January 2, 2014 by Remco

[Piet]

Thank you John - -  yup, she's coming along slowly but surely 

 

Thanks Remco for the URL for the dye, I have immediately ordered a bottle.  They don't have teak but Gwen and I think that Russet comes close, at least close enough for government work and you'll never notice the difference from 10.000 feet   

 

Now I can stain all the deck slats before gluing them up, that'll really speed things up quite a lot.  Much appreciated for your help 

 

Cheers,

[Piet]

Thank you everyone for dropping in and your like votes.

 

First thing this morning was checking again how my test piece is working out.  I had enough time for the glue to cure and it seems to be holding just fine.  I didn't really pry to hard, there was no need for that but did use some firm pressure with my fingers and it didn't budge.

 

I found a 00005 sable brush in my collection of good artist brushes and decided to try to paint between the slats on the bridge.  That worked like a charm, still have a steady hand 

I also decided to keep the slats on and mixed some Minwax oak with maple dye that came pretty close to the color I ordered from Fiebing, thanks to Remco for the URL.  

 

I also painted both the front and read gun decks and the aft part of the bridge inner liner.  I still need to add a lot of stuff in the front part before I can finish painting the bridge.  I'll have to wait for the dye to arrive before I can put the deck slats on the gun decks.  But that's okay, I have plenty other things to do to keep me occupied. 

 

I primed and painted the periscope housing and when the paint had dried I glued it to the con as well as the chart locker to the front of the cockpit.

 

Next I cut a few small pieces of copper tube for the center hinges on the crew hatches and soldered them on.  

 

The last thing I did was to trim the aft outer plates to the correct shape for the bridge, painted them on the inside and glued them on. 

 

Well, that was all for today and again a few pics of today's efforts.

 

This shows a close-up of the cockpit with the deck painted grey, the slats dyed with my mixture to simulate teak and the periscope housing glued to the con structure.

 

This is another view a little further aft for an overall shot of the bridge.  The flash of the camera kinda washed out the grey paint but it really looks nice, much better then the dark grey I had.

 

The aft outboard side panels glued on.  I had to use gel CA glue for the aft joint, no way to clamp it there.  

 

Cheers,

Edited January 3, 2014 by Piet

[Adrieke]

wow Piet you have been busy , looking really great

[texxn5]

wow....shaping up nicely

[harvey1847]

Hello Piet and Happy New Year!

 

That little superstructure is getting richer and complexity. Is the cockpit going to be covered? I cannot remember anymore the pics about the structure... one thing is to see the pictures and another to actually see the details, the doors, the periscope, the deck planks...

 

Always a pleasure to see your updates.

 

Best wishes!

 

 

daniel.

[popeye the sailor]

I had to go back a couple of pages.......man!   your moving right along!   your progress is looking very nice!   I am in awe

[Piet]

Thank you all for visiting and liking my work, appreciate it very much.

 

@ Adriaan:  Welcome back to Oz and happy New Year!  Yeah, I have been working while you were gallivanting around the globe        Hope to see some progress with your GF.

 

@ John: Hi John and thanks for dropping in.

 

@ Daniel:  Happy New Year to you too.  Thanks for your kind words and no, the "cockpit" as I call it, it's actually the bridge, doesn't get covered.  There is a small shield over the very front of it with a windscreen like structure on top of it, just like the old cars used to have.  That has me a little bit in a quandary but I think I found a way to do it.  They did use canvas canopies over the bridge area as well as over the decks to give the crew some shade while in the tropics.

You'll just have come back so once in a while to see how it all looks like.

 

@ Popeye: Thanks Popeye for taken the time and interest in my build.  Talking about moving right along, you are no slouch either with your projects 

 

Cheers to everyone, 

[Piet]

The temps dropped dramatically here in Palm Coast, Florida, down to 50 F or 10 C.  Brrrr, but I put on a heavy jacket over a heavy woolen shirt and braved it anyway to spend time in the garage.

 

Hmmm, what did I do - - - oh yeah, I turned the steering wheel or tiller pedestal on the lathe and started to make the binnacle on its pedestal.  

I also made the provisions for the forward deck light in the front plate of the cockpit and the reenforcing for the front shield of the bridge.  For that I made two 1 ½ mm strips of poplar, soaked them in hot water for a while and then clamped them to the front of the bridge to shape them into a half circle.  When they were dry I glued them on.  The outside one needs to be shaped into a quarter round for "good looks."    

 

I also started with making the steering wheel, as they call it, but used a too heavy diameter brass rod, 1 mm.   When I started to solder the spokes to it I didn't like the results, much to heavy and out of scale.  Besides, the ring is not round, booo on me.  So I started to remake it with thinner brass rod, ½ mm, much nicer!  I'm using a 1 ½ mm copper tube for the hub and need to make a new jig to solder everything together.  That 1 ½ mm piece of tubing may also be to large but the ½ mm tube Santa brought is too small.  I do have an idea though to solve this dilemma    I'll have to give my idea a try first, tomorrow.

 

This may not look like a lot of work accomplished but I had to make two bamboo pins to anchor the compass pedestal and the steering wheel pedestal into the cockpit deck.  Chisel small sections of deck slats away where the compass and steering wheel pedestals are to be glued.   Then carve the binnacle into shape to make it look like a compass binnacle and the remake of the steering wheel.  All these little things seem to take a lot of time.

 

The brass rod was shaped on this 10 mm dowel, the rod is 1 mm.  Not impressed.  As you can see that brass tube for the hub is also much too big.  Hmmmm, the old machinist's wheels are turning  

 

This is the binnacle on its pedestal in the raw state.

 

Here is the binnacle all shaped with its anchoring pin and in the primer with the new steering wheel.  Much better this time, I think I'll keep it 

 

Cheers,

Edited January 4, 2014 by Piet

[texxn5]

I just love your metalwork...it is superior to anything I've ever seen....

[Piet]

Hello all and thanks for dropping by, much appreciated - - - especially your like votes.

 

Ah shucks John, you make me blush   - - - but thanks anyway, I'll take the compliment 

 

I could have hammered the errand ring into shape on a round steel bar but it was too fat.  The thinner wire worked easier too.

Hope to be able to finish the steering wheel tomorrow so I can paint the cockpit and put everything together.

 

Y'all have a great rest of the evening and see y'all tomorrow.

 

Cheers,

[harvey1847]

 

...and put everything together.

 

And Do not forget to set the Flying Dutchman flag and a big bottle of champagne! or a 1:48 little botle that I am sure you could model...

 

Daniel.

[Piet]

Hey Daniel,   champagne on a Dutch sub???  It'll be more like Heineken my friend 

It used to be that when they launched a ship or boat they would hoist up a broom to the tallest mast.  That was a sign to sweep the seas clean of the enemy.  Well, she'll have a few flags and pendants on her alright but I don't know about the Flying Dutchman flag, I'll have to invent one      

 

Cheers, 

[Piet]

Thanks to all who stopped by and clicked on like, it's very encouraging to me.

 

Today was mainly spend to get the cockpit / bridge put together.  I completed the steering wheel, added a few strips of wood to simulated the vertical structural beams for the curved front panel of the bridge.  I also filed a concave groove in the upper outside reinforcing beam of the forward cockpit panel, the last pic below it's the thingy right above the deck spotlight.  I painted the bridge so I can finally install the compass binnacle and the steering wheel.

 

Then I made the frame for the forward cockpit shield and the cockpit side railings.  

 

Doesn't seem like a lot but making the steering wheel took most of my time but I installed a virtual operating system in my iMac and installed Windows 7.  This also took some time away from the shipyard.  I need a Microsoft OS in the Mac because I have a few programs I need that are not available for the Macs and like to have it all on one computer.

 

All in all I'm a happy camper, things are looking rather good, some more tweaking here and there but over all I'm satisfied. 

 

Here are a few pics of today's efforts.

 

I made a new jig to solder the steering wheel together.  All the parts are laid out next to it.  I left the piece for the hub on the copper tube, that way it's much easier to solder and handle.  I did turn the wall thickness down some on the lathe.  First I thought to also cut a slit in it and crimp the ID a little but this seems to work okay. 

 

Here I am in the process of soldering the spokes to the hub that'll be cut off the tube.  I forgot to take a pic of soldering the rim to the spokes but I used a steel office clamp clamped to the hub tube as a heat sink.    Then I had to dress all the solder from the wheel and cut the tube to leave a nice small hub. I also put a piece of brass rod through the hub and secured that to the hub with a dab of solder.  A piece of the same tubing is put into the pedestal and the wheel shaft is secured behind it with a dab of solder.  it can rotate, whoopee.    

 

Here is the completed steering wheel mounted on the pedestal.  It's ready for primer and and paint. 

 

here is a shot looking forward and into the cockpit after I cemented the compass and steering wheel to the deck.  Everything is painted light grey except for the steering wheel.  Yeah, the steering wheel still needs some final dressing and paint.

 

This is a shot looking aft at the forward curved part of the con to show the forward deck light housing.  I still have to install the spotlight    Just above the light housing is a light colored wooden strip that I hand filed concave.  You can see it on right side of the picture.

 

Cheers,

[mtaylor]

The wheel and binnacle really looks good in the cockpit.  The chart locker, was that removable or waterproof? 

[texxn5]

Details are popping......outstanding...

[Piet]

Thanks to every one who visited and your "like" votes, I do appreciate it your support very much.

 

Hello mark, thank you for your approval.  The chart locker is fixed and not water proof.  It's too cumbersome to drag that thing down through that round hatch tube in case of an emergency dive.  Grab the charts and rush on down, quick.

 

Hi John, thanks you as well for your comments.  I'm missing your updates, taking a break?

 

Cheers,