Harriet Lane by jct - FINISHED - Model Shipways - scale 1:144

[jct]

THX Denis and everyone for all the likes...still more to go, but she is getting there, will post more pics tomorrow, still working on the pilot house paneling and some other odds and ends

Edited January 11, 2017 by jct

[jct]

Update mentioned in yesterday's post

 

The kit plans call for the deck to be painted a light gray, that doesn't seem appropriate to me as they were still holy stoning in that era.

 

I initially was going to leave the deck natural, but the strip of scribed basswood supplied for decking had a couple of areas that were darker then others, had I only done the main deck it would not have been a problem but since I did the sponsons as well those areas really stood out.  

 

I tried to position them where they would be covered by deck furniture but there's still a chance of them showing, so the decks were stained a dark brown and then sanded them back to a more moderate tone.

 

 

the one on the left shows one of the dark areas and the one on the right is half sanded 

 

the finished deck

 

The pilot house has four doors shown on the paper template provided... I have already scratched and scraped a couple pair of doors, mainly because they were not as square as I would like and am in the process of making the third set...using 1/16 x 1/32 strip turned on edge...a copy of the kit template is acting a a glue-up fixture, once the frames are complete I'll glue strip to the back and remove them from the card, then sand to the correct thickness...at least that's the plan...

 

 

That's all for now, thanks for your attention

J

[medic]

The decks come up nicely, keen to see more.

Cheers,

Medic

[jct]

Thx Medic...may have more pics tomorrow...thx for the likes Pop and Hof

[popeye the sailor]

there's quite a few folks who aren't happy with scribed or printed decks....I use to get complaints when I helped Tom @ Billings {fielding problems} about it.

 

you planked the deck though......right?    you can sand down those pieces and plank over them.

 

another thing you can try with the structure,  is paint the plug,  then paint up some narrow thin strip....and then map it out.   cut out those windows or use 1/8 screen mesh {cut out little squares}  to put in.

 

with what your doing........you can sand them after they are cemented to the template.......but stripping them from the template......is that going to ruin the windows?   you got a plan......and I shouldn't pry                                                                                                                                                                                                          

[jct]

Hey all,

Here is the promised update...your post is timely Popeye, I think the following will answer your questions...

What I've done is glue a very thin veneer to the dry hatch/door frames

 

Once the glue dried overnight I just pulled the paper away and the veneer held the frames together, then the sanding the frames down to their finished thickness began

 

 

 

here you can see the semi-finished product, ready to attach to the pilot house

 

and the paneling continues

 

All of the panels are finally applied, all of this will need sanding to thin everything done and smooth it all out

 

As to the deck Popeye asked about, I agree I'm not a fan of this scribed stuff, I did replace it on my Picket build, but that was a much larger scale...the planks on the HL would be about 1.5mm at the widest, thinking it would drive me bat s--- crazy laying out, and some would argue I'm already there   ...still undecided on what I'll do, leaning towards using what I got...

 

Well that's all from me for now thanks for your interest and attention

J

 

 

[jct]

OK...I'm officially over the edge   after putting another 10 or so hours into the new pilot house paneling, I'm scrapping it yet again... my mistake was leaving the original blank unprimed before applying the strip, it felt smooth but oh contrair' nasty...nasty, what tee's me of most is that I know better, primer will always show any defect, and there are plenty...so I'm following our good friend and mentors (Popeye) advice and scratching it from balsa, if will be filled and primed before adding strip...maybe even finished paint...prior to  Pics follow:

 

Here's what I thought would be the finished pilot house...

 

...and how it looked after priming 

 

So using the leftover deck house frame as a jig it's a fresh start

 

 

walls were build up and bracing and corner blocks added where I thought it would help

 

The front of the pilot house is curved...a real head scratcher...I decided to shape a couple bucks and soak some of the kit provided 1/32 basswood sheet to see if it would take the the bend

 

 

So that's where she sits at this point...waiting for stuff the set up and dry before attaching the front panel and working up the roof...I'll post more once it gets to that point

 

well that's it for now from Bat S--- Crazy Town     

 

 

 

 

Edited January 14, 2017 by jct

[jct]

Had more time today so I continued with the new pilot house, the process continued adding walls and bracing until the front could be attached.  

 

 

The bucks used to form the front panel were glued in place and then trimmed back to allow space for the front walls.

 

 I used this technique to make some curved trim as well.

 

Once the front end had set I used cardstock and white glue to make and attach the roof

 

As you can see I still need to make the front raised roof, probably tomorrow.

 

As always thanks for looking in

J

[popeye the sailor]

your definitely on a mission now     but do be careful......balsa is a great impressionist .....dings very easy.   I am glad that you didn't think I was being pushy or something........purely suggestive     other folks have done it this way as well.......Capt. Bob,  on some of his builds......Nenad, on his Cutty,  and Catopower {Clare Hess},  on some of his as well.   due to the scale of the model,  the plug might have been the best alternative,  but I know you can do this.

    Billings assembles their pilot houses.......the odd shape with windows and doors openings.  I get a kick out of doing those     they use a sort of plywood though......but it gives a flat surface.   what you've done so far looks real good.........gonna be interesting to see  

[jct]

THX Pop,

You got that right...I'm determined to get this pilot house to be a show piece, the doors are going to be a challenge, the technique I used last time kinda worked, still not as square as they need to be, gotta but more gray matter to use on that one.

 

 Na never crossed my mind, I'm of the opinion that most of us here consider this a place of camaraderie, and as such look to give and take advice...least that's how I see it

[Tigersteve]

It's getting there. Eventually it will just come together. Keep working on it until you're happy.

Steve

[jct]

Hi Steve, thanks for stopping by...that is the plan

[jct]

Hello all,

I've haven't posted in awhile and contrary to what some may believe I have not fallen in a hole!!  I figured I'd make my next post the near completed deck house... well the little deck house has turned out to be more of a challenge then I would have ever imagined... I think i've re-done it a total of 5 times at last count...and I was not happy with any of those iterations!   Finally got something I'm pleased with...Pics follow:

 

Here is the front end complete and the roof ready to attach

 

This is  mock up of what I plan for the windows and mullions

 

I made some extra copies of the kit supplied deckhouse paneling, I glued it to the balsa sides to serve as templates for the wood paneling

 

The front bracing was stripped away to allow for the future installation of the windows

 

Photo Bombed!!

 

Paneling going on

 

Had to make some new doors...one was salvaged from one of the last strip downs

 

Added the finished roof and got a coat of primer on

 

...still have a little touch up sanding to do, a couple more primer coats before the finish...I'm thinking of shooting the deck house an ivory shade as opposed to white, just to make it a bit different...all the other deck furniture would follow suit

 

That's it for now, as always thanks for your time and attention

 

 

[Tigersteve]

Nice!

Steve

[jct]

Thx Steve

[jct]

The Pilot House project has come to a satisfactory finish...least its good enough for me...

 

 

The aforementioned screen was glued in from the bottom

 

Microscale Kristal Klear was applied to the windows to simulate glass

 

 

The finished Pilot House...

 

...still needs to have a coat of sealer applied and the roof detailed and painted, as you can see I went with the traditional white...the ivory I planned to use was bit to yellow for my taste.  I'm currently debating whether to weather lightly or not...

 

Well that's all for now... thanks for looking in

J

[popeye the sailor]

WOW!   now that a big difference     very well done!

[jct]

Thank you sir...not perfect nor museum quality, but I can live with it, she looks really great from 2-3 ft.  

[Tigersteve]

Looks good. You will like it even better when it's on the model.

Steve

[jct]

Thanks Steve...that won't happen for a while yet, I'm breaking the build down into subassemblies with the plan of adding them all together, there is not a lot of room on the deck and things get cluttered real quick, on my bench/table

[jct]

after finishing the pilot house I set about to complete the other hatchways and skylights...before that I decided to blacken the supplied hardware that would require it, some of the brittena metal parts took it very well but not others...not sure why that would be,

 

 

also added the sponsons to the main deck

 

 

the paddle wheels were also completed, the metal was blackened and the woods paddles stained a dark brown, these were really fiddly...

 

 

using calipers the dimensions were transferred from the plans to basswood sheet to make the little odds and ends that made up the skylights/hatchways, I find this an easier method than measuring

 

 

 

next steps will be to make the skylights and glaze and bar them but that's all for now, thanks for looking in

J

 

 

[Tigersteve]

It's getting better and better. What are you using to blaken the metal? I'll be looking in. I am using black paint for my current project but will use some sort of blackening agent for the next.

Steve

[jct]

Hi Steve,

Thanks for the comments, I'm using a product called Blacken-it, works on everything but stainless and aluminum...though I've had varying degrees of success with it.  You can see it the pick above the stanchions blackened very well but the bits not so much.  Be prepared to experiment

THX

J 

[popeye the sailor]

very nice progress J.........I see you do well with smaller scale.

[jct]

Thanks Popeye...the small scale is a challenge, but you can display more ships in a limited space      I think it's kinda neat to see how much detail you can pack in...used to have a lot of fun with ho scale armor in plastic...teenie tiny dioramas.

 

A few more pics:

 

I painted the gun carriages a dark sea gray, influenced by some colorized pics I'd seen on line from the era, but they look a little dead and flat

 

so I decided I try a little dry brush on them to see if they'd pop a bit

 

here they are with the barrels set up

 

Spent a little time painting out the hatchways and skylights...still have to make the "windows"

 

Well that's it for now....thanks for your time and attention

J

Edited February 9, 2017 by jct

[popeye the sailor]

very true.........I'm so spoiled with the larger kits........it's nice not to have need to use the smaller lines on the ruler        {I have one now that's frying my eggs}.

 

carriages look good......I like that effect you've done to them.   structures look sweet too  

[jct]

Thank you again sir...that's another reason I transfer measurements whenever i can, used to have better than  20/20 and now at times I feel like Mr. Magoo    They turned out ok, I'm hoping to add a bit more detail to the carriages further on, may make some little accessories to accompany them too, ramers and the like.  Thanks again 

[popeye the sailor]

a little brass here and there will make a big difference...should accent them quite well      you'll  do all that when you rig them to the deck.  do a search on this vessel {and others like it}.......it will give you so many ideas  

 

it's those little extras,  that will make it your own  

[jct]

No progress to report...unfortunately, work has kept me away from the table for weeks now with no end in sight.  

THX

J

 

[jct]

Hi everyone,

Work has finally gotten back to some semblance of normal, which means it's still hectic but manageable, lol...so I got some time at the table, I wanted to scratch build frames for the skylights on the deck houses.  After a couple attempts that I was not satisfied with I parked things for a bit...

 

I was perusing the old interwebs and came across a site...Rusty Stumps, maker of model railroad stuff...I found some laser cut HO scale double hung windows on their site that looked interesting, and thought they just might fit the bill, so I decided to order them to take a look.

 

 I'm really happy with the product, very sharp and precise, relatively inexpensive with cheap fast shipping, very pleased.  Those on the hunt for some semi-scratch material may well find this supplier worth a look. 

   My first attempt seemed a little to thick...

No room for mullions

#2 difficult to square

Rusty Stumps to the rescue

Close up of the window frames

A shot with the deck houses with the frames, should work out well...I'll keep you posted on the progress

THX for your time and attention

J