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

[Richmond]

Yes some of those plastic kits have attached instructions which you can download - it gives you another perspective at least.

[Captain Slog]

Hi Danny,

 

Thanks for the info, I may use that method for the funnels.  Unfortunately the bent ladder is supposed to be curved.  For some reason the Port and Starboard ladders are different but I messed up the ‘curve’…in hindsight I should have matched the straight ladder but right now going to leave as is.

 

The 6” turrets are more or less done.

 

The parts for a rear sliding armoured hatch ready for attaching.

 

Rear observation cupola.

 

Front observation cupolas.  These could have been neater.

 

The turret rings…bizarrely I could only find 5 strips so had to make the 6^th from scrap and will paint to match.

 

Turrets all skinned up.

 

Finished(ish) turrets.

 

A few shots shown in place.

 

 

I still have the ladders and top hand rails to do but will set them aside for the time being and work on some other bits and pieces.

 

Cheers

Slog

[ccoyle]

It truly warms the cockles of my heart to see two of my favorite things -- paper and pre-Dreadnoughts -- coming together so beautifully!

[Captain Slog]

Hi all,

 

Thanks for all the likes and to Chris for the nice words.

 

I thought I would chip away at some of the remaining smaller deck components including a few skylights and companionways.  I had already started prepping for the PE portholes before I remembered to take a photo.

 

 

The 0.2mm and soldered handrails, g1, g2 & g3 for skylights No. 80 and 82. These took an inordinate amount of time to complete.

 

 

Photo showing the above assembled.

 

 

As usual nothing glued in place yet but shown in their locations for effect.

Bow skylight No.80

 

 

Stern skylights No.82

 

 

Skylights and companionways.

 

 

Well that’s all for this break. Probably a couple of months before back again.

 

Cheers

Slog

[Captain Slog]

Finally back in Perth for the Christmas break with the family and modelling after being stuck in Melbourne the past 9 months and made a start on some of the smaller deck items to get back into the swing of things.

 

First up the 2 large deck ventilators, which shows the rare occasion where the rear of the part is coloured also.

 

 

 

Completed vents…hmmmm a bit out of practice and not particularly happy how these turned out but will be virtually unseen.  I used red water colour on the inside which is brighter than the original printing but close enough.

 

 

 

As can be seen the vents are under the fore decks and hidden behind the 6” gun turrets so despite looking a bit ropey will be good enough in this case.

 

 

 

Next up some bollards.  The larger bollards have laser cut card bases but decided to stick with the paper part to keep the original printed colour.

 

 

 

The smaller bollards had you rolling strips of thin paper into the pillars, which is too much hassle so made them from 1mm brass rod just over a 1mm high and blacked.

 

 

 

The finished bollards.  The caps on some of them seem rough but don’t look it without magnification so happy enough.

 

 

 

Some type of deck gear next x2 (88), which I have no idea what they are but live on each side of the rear deck next to the railings.

 

 

 

 

There are still fair number of smaller deck components to do as well as the last of the larger items such as 12” turrets, 14 ships boats and the 2 funnels to tackle, which I’ll probably jump between during the 3 weeks I have home.

 

Cheers

Slog

 

 

Edited December 18, 2020 by Captain Slog

[amateur]

Good to have you back!

your tictacs are huge 

 

jan

[gjdale]

Nice to see you back Slog and making progress on this interesting build.

[Canute]

Good to see you back.

[ccoyle]

Awesome to see more progress on this! Those petal-type vents always drive me bananas, especially since I do not apparently have the Polish gene for excellence in card modeling. Yours look pretty good from here!

[Mirabell61]

excellent work !

 

Nils

[RGL]

He’s back! 

[mtaylor]

It's great to see you back, Slog. And the detail work is impressive.

[Captain Slog]

Hi,

 

Thanks for all the likes and kind words…it’s good to be back!

 

On to the funnels now to add a bit of colour.  There is laser cut forms for the underlying structure and a few bits of photo etch (shown) to sharpen it up, although the handrails need to be fabricated.

 

 

 

The forms glued up and the paper components laid out.  Although not clear in this photo the funnels are a nice yellow colour being a bit darker and not the primary yellow provided with Aurora.  The funnel skins themselves don’t have a great deal of location points to show where platforms and ladders attach and the render above isn’t very clear.

 

 

 

Rolling the skins in to cylinders using a brass tube on relatively dense foam.  Started with a fairly large tube initially and then again with a slightly smaller tube to tighten the curve.

 

 

 

The cylinders where glued up and then the forms were slid down through them until bottomed.

 

 

 

The funnels add a nice splash of colour to the ship.  Came across a small issue where both the fore and aft funnels extensions, although physically the same size, don’t sit down inside the two funnels the same amount.  Since the tops of both funnels should be in-line I’ll cut the fore one down so both sticking up the same amount.

 

 

 

I’ll need to paint the funnel extension outer surface black and attach a cap then on to all the little details to finish the funnels.

 

Cheers

Slog

[Captain Slog]

Hi all,

 

On to the funnel details now and first up forming and soldering the hand/foot rails.

To date most of the iron work is 0.2mm but these rails call for 0.3mm and what a big difference…so much easier to work with.  One of 4 shown.

When I came to install them I realised I still need to reduce the amount of solder as once installed the joint is quite considerable for scale.

 

 

 

The rest of the iron work and photo etch all prepared for installation.  Missing here are the top funnel guards; I spent ages trying to shape and fit the photo-etch and was getting more and more frustrated and feared damaging the funnels themselves with excessive handling so will leave them off so I can finish the funnels and keep moving forward with the build.  I may revisit them but meh.

 

 

 

The finished funnels, minus the top guards…The fore funnel is very congested with the 2 hand rails and 3 steam vents/whistles (?) and their piping as well as the ladder.  The rear funnel was a lot simpler on having 2 rails and a ladder

 

 

 

A few shots with the funnels temporary in place.

 

 

 

 

Probably going start the ships launches and boats next although will mix it up with smaller components.

 

Cheers

Slog

Edited December 22, 2020 by Captain Slog

[Captain Slog]

Hi all,

 

I sorted and separated all the parts for the 8 different types of ships launches and boats; there are 2 for each type and after seeing all the work involved had a change of heart.

 

 

 

So I thought I would do the search lights instead.  There are 5 of these in 3 different styles and 2 colours; black and grey.  The photo-etch includes protective screens and hand wheels. 

 

 

 

The major assemblies almost ready for fit up and prior to water colour edge colouring and touch-up.  The diagram doesn’t show brass rod but put it in to have something to attach the hand wheels to, which I’ll just leave brass.

 

 

 

I was really pleased how the sub-assemblies turned out in the photo above but when it came to put them all together it was a fight at every step and I noticed them deteriorating through handling so calling it a day with them.  There are a few tiny bits I have left off but in the grand scheme of things won’t be missed.

 

 

 

Cheers

slog

[ccoyle]

11 minutes ago, Captain Slog said:

There are a few tiny bits I have left off but in the grand scheme of things won’t be missed.

 

This has been known to happen on my models. 🤫

[Captain Slog]

Hi,

 

On to the 12” gun turrets next.

 

 

 

There is laser cut forms for the main structure and I also have aluminium barrels to replace the rolled paper part.  The assembly appears straight forward except for the top skin as this is raised/curved.

 

 

 

When I did the 6” turrets I was caught out with the forms being the wrong height. A check of the 12” forms and skins show the same issue where either the forms are too tall or the side skin too short.  The paper template is the same size as the laser cut forms.

 

This was easily overcome by trimming 1mm off the vertical height of the forms reducing the overall height as can be seen with the vertical locating tabs now extending past the top forms; without modification the tabs would be flush with the top surface.

 

 

 

Since the barrels are aluminium and being a fair bit heavier than the kit supplied paper parts I beefed up behind the laser cut form with some balsa to support the full length of the barrel mounting tang.

 

A 2.5mm hole gives the barrels a tight fit and I will glue them in using epoxy

 

 

 

Although the turrets sat flat with the weight of the aluminium barrels hanging out front, they were close to the tipping point so a small nut epoxied in the rear of the turret balanced them out and are now stable.

 

 

 

The 0.2mm handrails for the turret front ladders were next. This is the 1^st of the required four.  After seeing how they fit to the ladders I remade them all again with a longer vertical stanchion for better gluing area.

 

 

 

The front and rear ladders ready for colouring.  The shorter rear ladders have a pair of 0.2 mm wire hangers but I’ll make then once the ladders are fitted.

 

 

 

Next up will be skinning the turret forms and making the turret rings.

 

Cheers

Slog

[Captain Slog]

Hi,

 

More progress, the deck and turret rings are done, and the turrets skinned.  The aluminium barrels must have a larger diameter than the paper counter parts as they have pushed the opening in the skin slightly as seen on the left turret in the photo.

 

There is a thick strengthening plate which covers the white ‘U’ area, but this plate is also pushed inwards so will need to paint a strip of the white exposed ‘U’.

 

 

 

The top skin was very frustrating as it is designed oversize and only glued around the perimeter to give the domed shaped.  The skin was fitted in six steps: the 2 sides, the 2 back curves and the 2 front curves.  Lots of man handling and trial fitting resulted in soft and degraded edges.

 

 

 

With the domed top skin fitted it was time to add all the other parts prepared earlier.

 

 

 

I am basically finished the 12” Gun turrets now except for the single rail that runs along the perimeter.

 

I will do all the iron work for all the guns when it comes time to fit them permanently.

 

Front view

 

 

 

Rear view, almost forget rear ladder handrails.

 

 

 

And finally, some shots of them temporary in place…they certainly fill up the fore and rear decks!

 

Front turret.

 

 

 

 

Rear turret.

 

 

 

 

The funnels and turrets took more time than anticipated so will spend the remainder of my home time chipping away at some of the smaller bits and pieces.

 

Cheers

Slog

[mtaylor]

Despite all the handling and frustration with the turrets, they came out really well.

[Captain Slog]

Thanks Mark.

 

My last post for this swing…hopefully I can get home more often.

 

Since the 12” turrets and funnels are complete the last of the major work left is all the ship’s boats and masts.  This just leaves the multitude of small bits and pieces, which I have been chipping away at as per the photo. The below is around 9 hours of work. All completed assemblies are stored away ready for a major fit out once everything is completed.

 

 

 

And a close up of part 86 for no other reason than I had it as I was going to do individual photos initially. The wire sticking out the sides are 0.3mm with a 0.5mm rod up the centre. 

 

 

 

Next time back will be more of the same.

 

Cheers

Slog

[ccoyle]

That is a ginormous Tic-Tac! 😉

[Richmond]

[mtaylor]

Well... that explains the monster Tic-Tacs that many seem to use.   

[Captain Slog]

On 1/9/2021 at 10:29 AM, ccoyle said:

That is a ginormous Tic-Tac! 😉

 

On 1/11/2021 at 10:02 AM, Richmond said:

<picture of giant tic tac>

 

On 1/13/2021 at 8:15 AM, mtaylor said:

Well... that explains the monster Tic-Tacs that many seem to use.   

 

You got me…the model is actually 1/20 scale and 6 metres long!

 

Well back in Perth for the Easter break and have done the 47mm Hotchkiss QF guns.

 

Picture shows component parts with brass barrels and photo etch for the stock.

 

 

 

1 finished gun

 

 

 

I didn’t do progress shots as got caught up trying my hand at making YouTube videos.  I created the account over 2 years ago but didn’t do anything with it.  Recently in discussions with another forum member I was enthused to try making videos of my latest work.  These guns probably not the best example to make videos of.

 

I did the 47mm guns over 3 videos as per the below. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anvGEbYohd0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F958vx48xpQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTuB3m48-zk

 

Cheers

Slog

[Captain Slog]

Hi All,

 

Well finally back in Perth permanently after 3 years in Melbourne due to starting a new job last week so hopefully should see more regular progress.

 

First week back and finished a couple of items that I had started previously.

 

Firstly, the navigation lights/boards. Only 1 set had lights to install and rather than use the rolled paper part I replaced them with clear sprue.  I spun the clear plastic sprue in the proxxon rotary tool and used the edge of a craft knife to scrap the diameter down to around 1mm or so. Then whilst still spinning used polishing compound to get them clear again.  I think I may make another set as looks funny with just the empty board.

 

A 0.4m or 0.5 mm drill was used to drill the centres out and them applied clear red and green to the inside of the drilled hole. Height is around 2mm or so.

 

 

 

Next up was a portable steam winch.

 

 

 

 

Finished winch.

 

 

 

Cheers

Slog

 

[mtaylor]

Great to see you back, Slog.   You're making progress again!!!!!!!

[Louie da fly]

Beautiful work, Slog! I don't know how anybody manages to produce such magnificent work from card. Kudos, mate!

 

Steven

[gjdale]

Hey Slog,

 

Nice to see you back at the bench. Hopefully, with the new job we’ll see some more regular updates of your fine build.

[Captain Slog]

Hi All,

Thanks for the kind words and likes. A small bit of progress working on the masts with the foremast being the simpler of the two.

 

The aft mast is a lot more detailed with additional platforms and pulleys for the boat booms. The upper masts are shown on a different render.

 

 

 

Disappointingly, the masts don’t show the locations of the step irons like the hull does, so these had to be guessed but were made up of 0.2mm brass wire bent to shape.  The 2 lower masts in this post were easy enough being simple tubes with straight runs of steps; but the upper masts are slightly conical and the step irons twist round and up for some of the way, which will take some working out.

 

 After inserting the steps into the masts, a length of 0.5mm brass rod was positioned to allow the steps to be pushed fully home with constant spacing before fixing.  I also shaped some thin balsa discs to insert into the ends of the tubes for rigidity.

 

 

 

A couple of shots of the finished lower fore mast showing bracing, lubber holes and the finished steps.  Rather than mx up water colours I used Tamiya XF-19 Sky Gray to paint them as the match was close enough. The laser cut supports were airbrushed with the same.

 

 

 

 

Both lower mast sections are finished.  The fore mast is lower but once placed on the super structure the tops will be same height due to the fore superstructure having an additional deck level.

The way the masts are made in sections may be problematic trying to align them all but I guess being made of straight and conical sections couldn’t be rolled as one piece.

 

 

 

Cheers

Slog

[ccoyle]

Superb trick for the steps!