Borodino by Captain Slog - Dom Bumagi - 1:200 - CARD

[Captain Slog]

Hi Chris,

 

Thanks for the info, I had a quick look around and although I couldn't find the Krylon brand close by I did find a few different brands of a similar product so will look further in to it.

 

It does raise a question though.  For attaching say, the deck furniture to the deck as per the numbered areas in the photo below would my usual use of  PVA still work with the coat of Krylon?

 

 

 

Cheers

Slog

 

 

[ccoyle]

Yes, no problem. The sealer is not fool-proof, either -- it just makes little boo-boos easier to clean up. 

[RGL]

Black majic to me Slog, a whole new world that's probably beyond me but I'm still enjoying it.

[Canute]

Slog, I'm going to hang here, too. Your techniques are very handy for this novice.

[WackoWolf]

I am also hanging in, this is a whole new world.

[dgbot]

i have been reading about these sealers.  How are they used and what is there main purpose?

David B

[Mumin]

David,

 

The main purposes are two: to protect the ink (print) and to make the paper easier to form. As for the applying - one can use regular flat (about 3cm/1inch  wide) paintbrush or by airbrush. Apply to both sides and hang to dry.

There is no difference in gluing when using surface cements (like polymer glue or butapren/shoe glue) and little to none with water based glue (like PVA or BCG).

Edited July 25, 2016 by Mumin

[Captain Slog]

Hi all, thanks for the comments and likes.

 

A bit of progress this weekend.  Firstly I managed to finish off all the hull fairing; in particular the top deck section.  The sides of the hull on this section are curved with the curve continuing down to the deck below.  Because the laser cut forms are square edged these needed to shaped to suit.

 

The object is to leave the bottom edge intact and bevel the former ends to the curve.  I knocked the top edge off free hand with a craft knife and used a sanding block I made up years ago for something else.

 

 It consists of 2 pieces of 20mm wood quadrant glued together and has 400 and 240 grit sandpaper stuck on with contact adhesive.  I chopped the quadrant to suitable sized lengths.  As can be seen in the photo their a near perfect fit for sanding the decks to match the hull curve.

 

 

 

The top section won’t be glued to the rest of the hull until the lower skins are fixed; there are a couple of sticking up parts which would get damaged when skinning the underside.  Also the anchor shelves need to be skinned before fitting the top section.  I spent a fair bit of time studying the plans and the parts and have finally worked out how the shelves are made up.

 

After Chris’s comment about spraying the parts with matt spray I obtained Boyle Matt Spray Acid Free Clear Finishing Sealer from the local hardware store.  I sprayed all the red lower hull skins with 3 coats. I haven’t done much to confirm it’s suitability doesn’t seem to had any adverse effects and will be interesting to see how they handle.

 

One thing though was a part I sprayed already had cuts made in it and the pens I use for edge colouring had some trouble on a few edges.  I just need to make sure I spray parts before cutting out in future.

 

Okay here are all the major skins cut out.  The seven parts are all that’s needed to cover the lower hull.  I think I would have preferred more smaller parts rather than fewer large parts.  The 2 rear ones have lots of cuts to allow them to form over the tight stern and I wonder how successful I will be in that area.  Also I mentioned previously that the skins butt together rather than overlap so less wiggle room with that method.

 

 

 

Here are the rest of the lower hull parts and include the propeller shaft bulges and supports as well as the props themselves.  The lower part, K1 is the rudder and being a master procrastinator decided to build this next instead of continuing with skinning the hull.

 

 

 

I enjoyed doing the rudder, having something manageable to form and glue up.  The one part is cut out and folded to shape. Along the top edge a strip of 1mm by 1.7mm(!?) card stock (scrap from the laser cut forms) is glued on and the tabs folded over to form the front edge of the rudder.

 

I am not sure but I think this card is slightly thicker than I am used to previously and suffers from the paper delaminating on small and bent parts.  The tabs delaminated on folding over and I had to brush in PVA to fix.  Also the small sticking up tabs form the hinge and these delaminated as well despite very little handling.

 

 

 

The instructions show a 1mm hinge pin so 1mm brass rod was laid between the tabs.  I applied glue to the tab ends and folded over the rod.  Whilst gripping the sides with my fingers I used the sides and edges of tweezers to work and form the tabs together.  Periodically I would twist the brass rod so that it didn’t stick to the glue and could be removed and inserted. 

 

The rudder bottom wraps round and up to close of the bottom hinge.

 

 

 

The completed rudder.  It is not shown if the top and bottom strips fit between or on top of the rudder sides.  I decided to fit them between for a cleaner side view but I actually think they should lie on the rudder edges as it was a bit tight getting them in there.  There is still a small rudder shaft top (K2) to do.

 

I’ll know better when the stern skins are on but hoping I can form their hinges the same way and then insert the rod to join but not sure if this is possible which may mean trying to form the stern hinges round the rod with the rudder attached which is going to be a pain.

 

 

 

 

Cheers

Slog

[demetri]

As a lover of the cardboard I will follow with much interest your thread. I  like the sailships, those of ShipYard and the kits of Shipworks which in my opinion are the best. But for fun I've assembled a kit Dom bumagi, the soviet torpedo boat class D-3 and I found it very good quality.

So far good job with your Borodino, I like.

Edited July 31, 2016 by demetri

[Panama Port]

Very nice Slog. Coming along beautifully. Question; I live in the tropics and the humidity gets very high here. Would this create problems with a card model? We have been hesitant to bring most of our photographs down for that reason.

[Captain Slog]

Hi demetri, thanks for dropping by.  I saw your torpedo boat in the other thread when you posted it, very nice.  Perhaps you can start a build log of your current build.

 

Hi Panama Port, in truth I have no idea how it would effect card models.  I have Halinski's IJN Fuso battleship waiting in the wings and they have a couple of  paragraphs in there instructions discussing temperature and humidity and basically say damp cardboard expands and dry shrinks which is not a concern for small elements but causes problems for larger parts.

 

There example is a large deck shrinks by 0.6mm in a warm room and combined with the other parts a cumulative shrinkage of 2mm! occurred. But once moved to a cold humid room it returned to normal size.  Sorry not much to go on with.

 

Personally with my skill set (lack of) I don't think I need to be planning my modelling sessions based on room conditions.  If you think the humidity would deteriorate the paper itself I don't know, perhaps someone more knowledgeable can chime in.

 

Cheers

Slog 

Edited July 31, 2016 by Captain Slog

[Captain Slog]

Hi all,

 

I am still holding off from skinning the hull until I have a solid block of time to work on it without interruption…well that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it.

 

So to keep moving forward I decided to do the propellers.  Borodino has twin, 4 bladed props and these consist of the hubs, end caps and the blades.  I thought these would be good to show as they have 3 typically encountered card modelling techniques; these being laminating, forming cones and forming curves using multiple petals.

 

The photo shows all the parts rough cut out to make 2 props.

 

 

 

First up are the end caps.  Even without diagrams you know a circle with a segment missing is going to form a cone.  The technique here is to use a rod of some sort to form the cone; the smaller the part the thinner the rod needs to be, in this case due to the tiny size I used a sewing needle.

 

I do this by placing the part upside down (obviously) on the pad of my finger (you could use the heel or palm of your hand; it depends on the size of the part and the amount of curve) and then pressing the needle down on the part and rotating the needle around the apex of what will become the cone.

 

You need to press against something soft with give so the part bends against the needle.  Start gently until you get a feel of the amount of pressure needed to slowly work the bend into the part.  Don’t go hard at it in case you put a fold or crease in it.

 

Two important things to remember; always keep the point of the needle at the apex and at 90 degrees to the edge of the part to form it uniformly.  If you have the needle at an angle the curve won’t be around the apex.  Secondly you need to rotate the needle (or rod or whatever) as you move it around the outside from one side to the other.  It doesn’t work so well if you ‘drag’ it around plus you’ll find the part may spin instead of bending round the needle.

 

 

 

You could keep going until the edges are near enough together but I find the part starts to get overworked and edges start to soften and delaminate etc by the time this stage is reached so get it close enough.

 

Once I think it is ready to glue I try holding it in different ways using fingers, tweezers etc and try and work out the best way to glue it without needing three hands and double jointed fingers; only once I think I am am comfortable will I apply the glue.  In this case I held them between finger and thumb on one hand and used tweezers in the other to manoeuvre and hold the edges together.

 

The finished end caps.  I am actually pretty happy with these and although the macro shows a thick black seam (I cut outside the line  ) the size of the caps are only a few mm and the seam is a thin line at normal viewing distance.

 

 

 

Also a trick to remember is where to place your joins and seams when assembling the model.  If multiple parts with many seams make up a larger assembly if possible align these together away from view as much as possible.

 

I this case I will align the seam of the end cap with the seam of the hub and in turn align the hub seam with the propeller shaft seam made previously.  Then when installing in the hull I will fit the whole lot with the seams turned down and in towards the hull so it would be virtually impossible to get an eye in to see any joints once the model was complete and on a baseboard.

 

Next up will be the hubs.

 

Cheers

Slog

[Panama Port]

Thanks for the detailed description Slog. What type of glue do you use?

 

Marv

[src]

Wow, this is a whole new world to me. Like micro-origami!

Well done.

Sam

[Captain Slog]

Thanks for comments guys.

 

With regards to glue I almost exclusively use woodworkers white PVA glue for paper to paper, paper to card etc.  PVA glue is water based so care is needed not to make the paper soggy or warped.  I use a small paint brushes, usually 000, or a needle held in a pin vice for applying small amounts to edges so rarely come across any issues.  For large skins to be glued to card I use a larger flat brush but again spread a thin film rather than swamp the parts.

 

Sometimes a part may prove troublesome in joining and in this case try to avoid applying more and more glue as the part will soften and deteriorate.  If a part gives trouble usually best to leave it alone for a bit to dry out and stiffen up before trying to reglue it.

 

Some excess glue may get on the printed surface and in cases like this a small paint brush, dampened ever so slightly with water is used to brush the excess off.  Again care is needed so as not to damage the printed surface.  Best though to use only as much glue as needed and not have excess squeezing out everwhere.

 

I would like to try Aleens Tacky glue which a lot of our American counterparts use but have been unable to find it locally.

 

I occasionally use CA glue to stiffen/harden a small part but don’t like this as the CA ‘wicks’ through the paper darkening the print.  I have used this so I could harden the paper for drilling small holes in it to receive a brass pin.  I have also used epoxy but this is to secure brass rods to the card structure and is always covered.

 

European builders, particularly Eastern Europeans use solvent based glues which don’t affect the paper with moisture.  I haven’t really looked into these as they appear to be rubber cements or contact adhesives where both sides are coated and brought together and grabs immediately so only get one chance.  I may be way off track here and happy for someone to correct me and indeed always looking to try new (to me) glues.

 

I have tried UHU glue which is another popular choice for Europeans.  It is clear out the tube and very thick and drove me nuts with the stringiness of it and it also appeared to just sit on the surface and skin over.  I may try it again but unlikely. Again I may have been using it wrong (?) and happy for someone to correct me.

 

Cheers

Slog

[Canute]

Slog, good thoughts on the various glues out there. I've also tried the yellow glues; they seem to tack up faster than the white glues.

 

With all glues, the trick is to only apply where you need it. I need more practice there. You don't want to see the interiors of some of my railroad builds.

[ccoyle]

Slog, I have used contact cement with some success (I mentioned it in the V108 tutorial), but like you said, it is pretty much a one-chance deal. I like it for mating large surfaces together, but I haven't tried it on anything quite so large as your model.

[RGL]

Considering all the barrels you have to make, you're in for a world of pain! This is just a whole new world of art, I get frustrated waiting for CA to dry. Does it require paint at all?

[Captain Slog]

Slog, good thoughts on the various glues out there. I've also tried the yellow glues; they seem to tack up faster than the white glues.

 

With all glues, the trick is to only apply where you need it. I need more practice there. You don't want to see the interiors of some of my railroad builds.

Hi Ken, you are correct in using only enough for the job.  It is amazing how quickly PVA dries based on the small quantities used.  I know what you mean about the hidden stuff LOL.

 

For small parts such as vehicle wheel hubs or the propeller end caps covered above, once fully dried I will go back and dump a blob of PVA in behind them.  Always surprised how it looks filled when wet but almost disappears when dried back.  I don’t know if it really does anything but makes me feel better LOL

 

Slog, I have used contact cement with some success (I mentioned it in the V108 tutorial), but like you said, it is pretty much a one-chance deal. I like it for mating large surfaces together, but I haven't tried it on anything quite so large as your model.

Hi Chris, I will need to go back through your V108 tutorial again and check it out.  A problem I have found looking for glues is you come across interesting or what looks like a good glue someone else has used only to find they are region specific and can’t be found locally.

 

I guess sometimes legislation prevents them being imported based on the chemicals/ volatiles used in the composition.  I know some black chrome guitar hardware can’t be imported to Australia because of the process/chemicals used to chrome them.  I have come across non-stringy UHU glue but can’t find it in Australia.  The search for the perfect glue continues!

 

Considering all the barrels you have to make, you're in for a world of pain! This is just a whole new world of art, I get frustrated waiting for CA to dry. Does it require paint at all?

Hi Greg, with the guns it’s usually only the largest main guns (and maybe secondaries depending on calibre) which are made of paper.  These are usually on thinner coloured paper which is rolled into a tube.

 

The plans/diagram sheets will tell you the size and length to make the smaller barrels from brass rod.  I do have the metal gun set but will attempt to roll the larger guns if for nothing more than giving it a try.

 

Technically card models don’t need painting at all as the printed parts are all coloured (correction some of the Shipyard models are on plain paper and are supplied with paints I believe).  For colour printed kits only the cut edges and/or backsides of parts which are visible but not laminated to other coloured parts need painting with one method or another.

 

There is nothing stopping you painting a model if you chose.  I weigh up what I want based on my desires, the quality of the printing or what others have done before deciding.  My first card vehicle, which I am still working on!, I am building it straight from the book as the quality of the paper and printing is excellent but more importantly to gain experience. 

 

I need to be careful and precise since it is straight from the book.  If I knew I was going to paint it then I would become sloppy and less careful knowing I can fill defects and hide it all with paint.  I need the experience!!!  Saying that I have another vehicle waiting in the wings which I WILL paint and weather as the examples I have seen by others are outstanding.

 

Borodino I want to do also without painting, again for the experience and because I like the look the publishers have gone for.  This takes us back to the guns; the brass guns will need painting and although the ship looks black the printing isn’t really a solid black colour so when sprayed up will definitely stand out from the ‘black’ paper hull.  I have a few ideas to try and tone down the painted guns when I get there.

 

The red lower hull may end up getting painted as this area is notoriously difficult to get right for a newb like me.  I can live with that as long as that is the only part I end of painting.

 

 

 

Okay since I have bored you all senseless a bit more progress to cover with the propeller blades and a couple more techniques for laminating and cutting curves.  The prop blades are designed to be double thickness and the individual blades are laminated on to the big yellow square (swatch) shown in post #44.

 

This is the first disappointment with the kit.  I have several kits in my stash and all laminated parts are folded and glued in one operation.  This kit needs individual parts cut out and placed on to the other coloured section.  This isn’t a big deal with the prop blades as they are solid colours but the real pain is for small matched and mirrored parts. ( I will cover those in more detail when I come to them but simply, they have made what should be a simple process very difficult).

 

The photo shows the individual blades cut out and arranged on the backside of the colour ‘swatch’ to check alignment before gluing.  I have showed (on the right of the picture) a more normal process from another kit which you cut out parts and ‘swatch’ as one piece, score down the middle, fold and glue. A much more elegant way to do this!

 

I think having the parts spread out instead of together is to make maximum use of the available paper areas to cut down on the number of parts sheets needed.  I have another issue with this which I will cover further down the track

Also shown is a 30mm diameter wallpaper seam roller I picked up cheaply from the hardware store.  I brushed glue on to the back side of the ‘swatch’ and then placed the blades into position and then used the roller to press them down. Simple.  I used to use a smooth knife blade handle to roll across the parts but having a roller with a handle is so much easier on the old fingers.

 

 

 

Okay with the parts laminated together and fully dried it is now time to cut the individual blades out to shape.  Firstly I rough cut them apart so I can handle them one at a time.  You could cut the curves out free hand, which I did for the blade roots.  In my opinion this works better for larger parts where you have space to hold and move the blade etc.  I don’t like doing this on small and/or laminated parts.

 

For cutting out small and/or tight curves, circles etc such as these I prefer to make many multiple slices, cutting off small slivers at a time.  The technique I use is to hold the heel of the blade down on the mat and with the line under the edge, rotate the blade forward (keeping the heel down all the time) slicing on the line nearest the heel and cutting a wedge.

 

Rotate the blade back on the heel and either turn the blade slightly in or turn the part slightly in and once aligned rotate forward with the next slice.  Continue on round the part.  The tighter the curve the more, smaller cuts are needed (such as at the tip of the prop blade).

 

It sounds long winded and time consuming but once you get into and get a rhythm going it doesn’t take long at all.  Another good thing is using a part of the blade rarely touched in card modelling so usually very sharp.  It is important to keep the heel of the blade on the mat at all times to pivot on.

 

 

 

Important note: Don’t use the technique used for turning square wood stock in to round dowels where you knock the corners off a square to make an octagon then knock these corners off to make 2 smaller corners and so on until round.  If you do it this way you will find you have lots of small points which get to the stage where you can’t slice them off and end up with lots of tiny flats.  Start the first slice and continue it round…

 

 

The finished blades.  I coloured the edges with a Faber Castell artist PITT pen #109, Dark Chrome Yellow which isn’t too bad a match.  Once I have completed the hubs and got an idea of the final root shape I will put a bend into the blades to make them more propeller shaped.

 

 

 

Cheers

Slog

[Canute]

Nice cutting technique there, Slog. Will help with Choctaw.

[gjdale]

I'm finding this a really interesting read Slog. Thanks for taking the time to share so much detail and your techniques learned through experience. Your "traps for new players" comments are particularly useful. One day I will have a crack at one of these..........one day........... So many models, so little time!

[Captain Slog]

Nice cutting technique there, Slog. Will help with Choctaw.

Hi Ken, hope it helps.  I look forward to following your progress when you start again.

 

I'm finding this a really interesting read Slog. Thanks for taking the time to share so much detail and your techniques learned through experience. Your "traps for new players" comments are particularly useful. One day I will have a crack at one of these..........one day........... So many models, so little time!

Hi Grant, thanks for the comment.  Sometimes I do prattle on but if it helps new comers like myself then all good.  I must say when I started I had to go through lots of web sites and forums trying to find info as most build logs just cover progress and not how they did it.  Anyone starting up or thinking about starting up card modelling can’t go wrong by checking out Chris’s (ccoyle) excellent 8 part tutorial found on this site as per the link below;

 

http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/2701-intro-and-table-of-contents/

 

 

Okay here are the propeller hubs.  These were my first attempt at this type of petal and were certainly the trickiest.

 

With the hubs cut out I used the rolling with a smooth rod, a drill shank in this case, to progressively curve the ends round to meet each other.  This was pretty straight forward.

 

 

 

The difficult part was forming the petals inwards to glue to each other.  If the petals were only on one end I would find a rod with the same internal diameter and round it off so the petals could be formed against this.  Unfortunately the petals are on both ends to form an inflatable beach ball type of shape so this wasn’t possible.

 

Necessity being the mother of invention I found glass bead pins held in a pin vice could be used to form the petals against. Not ideal but workable with time and care.

 

 

 

The hubs all glued up.  Not overly pleased with how they turned out as they are supposed to spherical

 

 

 

Time to attach the blades done previously.  I bent the blades against the handle of the craft knife to get a bit of a shape into them.  They were simple enough to glue on but because the hubs weren’t fully rounded some blades have a gap in the centre of the root.

 

There are coloured lines on the hubs to show where the blades glue to but I also used the square lines printed on the cutting mat to align the blades at right angles to the hub.  Looking down through the hub I used the cutting mat lines like crosshairs to centre the hub and then used the lines extending from the cross hair to align the tips of the blades.

 

 

 

After the blades it was just the end caps to attach and these were barely wide enough to sit on the end of the hub opening.  Of course the holes in the ends of the hubs weren’t perfectly round so after applying glue around the hole perimeter and dropping the end cap on top It took a bit of tweeking, pushing in here and there to match the cap as best as possible.

 

 

 

At least the paper prop shafts fitted!. For the photo the tube is slid along a piece of wire to hold it up and couldn’t resist blowing on the end…and it actually spun LOL…but would that be full astern?!

 

 

 

The full macro shots look pretty awful to be honest and I resisted showing them, but saying that for a first attempt and at normal, to fairly close viewing distance I think they are acceptable.  Again their final home does prevent close scrutiny.  I really need to skin the lower hull LOL

 

Cheers

Slog

[Canute]

Slog, they'll do just fine. Forming the parts requires tons of patience, which you show to a high level. I'm learning lots of small things viewing your photos. Thanks.

[gjdale]

Looks good from this distance Slog!

[Panama Port]

Very nice Slog. They came out great. I don't know if I could muster that much patience. Thanks for the detail.

Marv

[src]

Slog,

Those look great. Especially when you consider how small they are. What are they, 8-10 mm dia to the tips of the blades? That would make the hubs what, 3mm?? My little toenail is bigger than that! Well done.

I for one LOVE that you take the time to explain how you go there, I keep picking up tidbits of knowledge that can be applied not only to my work bench at home but at my day job also.

Sam

[Captain Slog]

Hi guys, thanks for all the nice comments, encouragement and likes it goes a long way in keeping me focused.  I would like to point out about the propeller blades in that overall, with them sitting in my hand in front of me I am actually pretty pleased with them.  I like the shape and the colour and they turned out not to bad.  But as we all know macro photos can be brutally honest and humbling of our work but again what looks like a gaping chasm is actually a thin line so I just need to remember that.

 

Slog, they'll do just fine. Forming the parts requires tons of patience, which you show to a high level. I'm learning lots of small things viewing your photos. Thanks.

Hi Ken, with patience it helps if you have more than one of the same part or a few different bits of the same structure to work on concurrently (although I am trying not to jump about with unrelated items).  I would glue 2 petals to together on one hub, then 2 on the other hub and then cut out a blade and then cycle and repeat.  Also gives the paper time to recover if it is subjected to multiple gluing operations

 

Looks good from this distance Slog!

Hi Grant I am having a sense of déjà vu 

 

Very nice Slog. They came out great. I don't know if I could muster that much patience. Thanks for the detail.
Marv

Hi Marv, you are welcome.  Give it a go you might be surprised.

 

 

Slog,

Those look great. Especially when you consider how small they are. What are they, 8-10 mm dia to the tips of the blades? That would make the hubs what, 3mm?? My little toenail is bigger than that! Well done.

I for one LOVE that you take the time to explain how you go there, I keep picking up tidbits of knowledge that can be applied not only to my work bench at home but at my day job also.

Sam

 

Hi Sam, I checked the size after you post and the hubs are about 7mm in diameter and from tip to tip around 27mm.  The caps were the smallest at about 3.5mm in diameter and similar height.  They were tricky to handle because of the shape; trying to pick up a tiny cone with fingers without damaging them is a frustrating exercise.

 

The build is probably going to slow right down now as my time has become limited again and I want to take my time with the lower hull skins.  I want to keep structured and not jump around on to other smaller parts of the build.

 

Lastly, I mentioned Chris’s (ccoyle) tutorial (http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/2701-intro-and-table-of-contents/ ) in an earlier post.  Well I went back through it all again yesterday (1^st time in probably 3 years) and I didn’t realise just how much most of the techniques and processes I have detailed here were obtained from that tutorials.  A lot of credit goes to Chris for what I am passing on here and also for his promotion of card building on MSW.  Thanks mate.

 

 

Cheers

Slog

Edited August 7, 2016 by Captain Slog

[Captain Slog]

Hi All,

 

I have managed to squeeze in a bit more modelling.  I am slowly working on the lower hull which I have skinned and suffice it to say my hull skinning still isn’t up there yet so I am currently filling and sanding when time allows.  I won’t go into detail here as I will make a post when it’s done but will say I half expected  that I would end up painting it and am comfortable with that and it hasn’t dented my enthusiasm.

 

So continuing with the lower hull attachments the prop shaft shrouds and supports were up next as these are close to being fitted.  Here are the 2 shrouds and 2 supports ready for cutting out.  These are left and right handed.  I also write L and R on the backsides of parts so I don’t get them mixed up.  Sometimes its not as obvious as these.  Use a pencil for this and not a pen for obvious reasons.

 

 

 

 

One shroud cut out and partially formed.  These are truncated cones with the small end to go over the prop shaft and the larger end to align up with the hull shaft bulges.  The same principle for forming applies as detailed previously for the prop end caps. Only this time the forming rod moves round the smaller holes also.  I started forming it against the mat first and then continued on the palm of my hand and then between my fingers.

 

 

 

To bring the ends together for gluing the same techniques was used for the prop tubes.  A brass rod was placed in the part and the sides brought together, glued and taped incrementally.  Each strip of tape corresponds to one gluing operation so as can be seen it takes a bit of time to work down the cone.

 

 

 

The dried shroud ready to remove the tape.  I only included the photo as pretty happy with the round hole LOL

 

 

 

On to the shaft supports and at first glance of the diagram and the part it is a bit of a head scratch on how it works but once cut out and started it became obvious.  The points of note is the fold line on the keel side leg and the legend showing that one part bends 1/3 round the shaft and the other 2/3 to form the loop.  One support cut out and a score down the fold starts to show the relationship of the other leg.

 

 

 

After the photo above I tried a brass rod close to the prop tube diameter to see how it wraps and forms around and started to gently put some bends in.  It became obvious I could glue the support leg fully together up to the shaft.

 

 

 

Once the one leg was glued and the relationships became clear I glued the other leg together from the outside back to the centre hoop.  Once the legs were dry I inserted the brass rod and then formed the loop round this finally gluing the inboard ends of the legs.  There is a small split ring of paper which was formed last.  During gluing and forming the hoop the tube was turned so it didn’t stick.

 

I didn’t edge colour since it will be fully painted along with the hull when fitted.

 

 

 

The starboard shroud and shaft support on a brass rod similar in size to the paper tubes fitted in the hull.

 

 

 

 

It was good to do some paper modelling again instead of filling and sanding but the hull is almost ready for paint so back on to that.

 

Cheers

Slog

[Captain Slog]

Hi All,

 

A bit more progress, some wins, some losses and some draws.  My modelling time lately has been very limited only managing to sneak in an hour here and there and most of that has been spent on the hull; which is taking its toll on both my enthusiasm and enjoyment.  I’ll cover that below.

 

The first photo covers the last of the lower hull attachments; these being the bilge keels and the rudder mount (part K2).

 

 

 

The keels are in 2 halves with one side being full size with a dotted fold line along the top third of the keel.  The corresponding part has a thin section and a lower section. The thin section is glued to the area above the dotted line and the larger section is joined only on the top edge.  This forms a ‘Y’ shape with the top of the Y being glued to the hull.

 

The first of the losses, my lack of experience totally messed up the first one I did.  I didn’t do the second one although having one under my belt I reckon the second one would be more acceptable but decisions need to be made. 

 

1. Carry on and have crap bilge keels on a so so hull

2 Make a new pair either with paper or Evergreen styrene

3 Forget them and continue on.

 

I choose the 3^rd option as need to get off the lower hull and back to paper modelling before I throw a wobbly.  I may go back down the track and fabricate new ones but will see.  I have accepted not having them on at this point.

 

The small K2 rudder mount was formed with no problems.  Being a combination of a tube and a cone I won’t go into detail as these were covered earlier.  Posted the photo for no other reason than I had a win when it slipped over the rudder top perfectly.

 

 

 

 

Okay here is the hull which has eaten into my limited modelling time for weeks now.  First off the part alignment, size, fit etc of the skins were spot on and any issues were with me, so hats off to the publisher.  Also surprising was the stern skins which I thought would be the hardest part with all the curves, slits and cuts turned out the easiest parts to fit.

 

Secondly it was almost a given that I would end up filling and painting the lower hull and I accepted that and was happy enough to do.  I am 2 for 2 for lower hull filling and painting LOL  I have something else I will try for the 3 hull attempt before I turn to plastic models LOL

 

 

 

Okay the skins were fitted, badly, and then given a brushed on coat of Humbrols Matt Cote to seal the surface and toughen it up a bit.  What to use to fill in the hollows, dents and depressions?  Plastic model filler should work…another loss.  The model shop had run out of Tamiya putty but had the Humbrol equivalent.

 

I don’t know if I got a bad tube or not but it would squeeze out nice grey smooth filler followed by spurts of black oily liquid so couldn’t get a good flow going.  The stuff also went off so quick I didn’t have time to smooth and work it out and worse still it turned as hard as concrete.  Fine I guess for hard plastic not so good for flexible paper <sigh>

 

Okay not using plasterers seam putty again as per the Bismarck as it has far too much moisture in it so tried Polycell skim filler.  This worked okay but still has a fair bit of moisture so some buckling did occur but dried back again okay.  Spread it on in multiple thin layers, building up the surface before sanding.  Of course it sands really well.  After sanding and blowing and brushing off the dust I continued to skim on more filler before sanding again.

 

After doing this like 3 times and each time thinking it was spot on I would come back to it at a different time of day and a different light and see a whole new range of marks etc really put the dampeners on my mood.

 

I had to take stock and assess what I am really trying to achieve here.  Am I after a smooth flawless hull like a plastic model from a paper and plaster material or am I trying to get my initial muck-up into a presentable state to continue?  I jumped on line and checked out some completed paper models I really admire and whose hulls have been applied flawlessly without resorting to remedial work and guess what, although perfect they still had a particular look to them associated with paper models. 

 

That was the decider for me, I want to paper model not body work! So another coat of Humbrol Matt Cote was brushed on followed by fitting the prop shaft fairings and the supports from the previous post.  Because of my body work I had to trim the supports slightly but no issues.    After all my hard work with the prop tubes they are totally hidden once the props go on LOL. Typical, my best work is fully hidden and my worst is on full view to the world!

 

 

 

The lower hull end is insight.  I masked up the edges of the upper hull where upper hull skins fit but didn’t bother fully covering the upper area as nothing to be affected by over spray.  I know I should paint the lighter red hull before doing the black boot top but I have a plan to make masking the boot top easier so did that first.

 

Got the airbrush out for the first time in I don’t know how many years and mixed up Tamiya Flat Black acrylic at a 2:1 paint to thinners ratio and sprayed at around the 15 psi mark.  It sprayed beautifully with this set up.

 

 

 

I am hoping I can get the red done tomorrow but will see.

 

 

 

I know this post sounds like a long winded whinge and whine and that I am down but I just need to cut, fold, glue, bend, whatever, some paper not endless body work.  Again even that wouldn’t be so bad if I had stacks of free time but I am so close to getting back at it I can taste it Lol

 

Cheers

Slog

[ccoyle]

This is why I build waterline models.   Seriously, though, I'm crossing my fingers for you. Maybe I'll even have a crack at a full hull myself some day.