Royal William by ken3335 - FINISHED - Euromodel - Scale 1:72

[ken3335]

Hi Pete,  Thanks for that. As I said after seeing the facia in place my initial idea didn't look as if it would be ok, so as I thought back to the drawing board.

 

Ken

[ken3335]

Hi All,

 

After screwing down the transom and re jigging the castings I found that what Pete has mentioned was correct. Everything now falls into place, all the castings fit perfectly and there is no need for cutting anything away and wow they look good. This part has got me quite excited now, can't wait to see it completed.

 

Ken

[marktiedens]

Ken, my transom fascia was supplied with all the openings laser cut - was yours not pre-cut?

 

Mark

[ken3335]

Hi Mark,   No that's how I got mine, I think that it's an older version. I think that I prefer it this way as all the cuts are then from the plan and any errors are mine.

 

Ken

[ken3335]

Hello Everyone,   

 

Again thanks to you all for your likes and kind comments.

 

Yes Scott those castings are quite heavy, they feel as if there's a large lead content. I checked into your Freisland log and agree with you that it's a very attractive ship, it's coming along nicely and at what a speed.

 

My latest working was fitting the top level of windows into the transom, I had already painted and glazed them and wanted them fitted before I attached the transom. I had visions of me pushing them in too far and loosing them forever if I had put them in later. I glue and screwed the transom into place, it's very secure and isn't going to fall off ever. I finished painting the transom using a none shiny black. I am now making up the balustrades, again from the kit parts. It's really coming together nicely now, this is like the icing on the cake to me and the trials of the side galleries was worth the effort.

 

 

 

Ken

 

 

 

[ken3335]

Hello Everyone,            Everything is going well with the stern,  here's the latest.

 

 

I assembled the first level of balustrade from the cast parts supplied, they went together the same as the earlier ones that I'd made, easy but fiddly. I painted and fitted them into place, the two halves when in place fitted well. I had already glazed the side windows, these were now painted and fitted, they to were a good fit. I'd earlier decided to keep the colour scheme very simple, for the outer just black and gold, even though it probably isn't correct I prefer the aesthetics of simple colour contrasts and for me it works.

 

I assembled the next level of balustrade, I painted the small decorative inserts first before putting them in then painted the rest. There were two cross members in the ply for support but when I offered the piece up the top one made the handrail look too thick and was not really needed as with the lower support and the side area there was plenty of contact for strength.

 

The next piece was a decorative strip with two small side windows, this casting had a bar at both the top and bottom. When I offered it up the lower bar which rested on the handrail below looked unusual, checking it against the plan I saw that this bottom part of the casting was not wanted, I think that it was there for the casting process and left for support when handling I cut this bar away it then fitted in well and looked ok as per plan. Once I was sure I painted and fitted this piece.

 

Next will be the cherry on the cake, lots of decorative figurines, big heavy and quite impressive.

 

 

 

Ken.

 

 

 

 

[piratepete007]

Good appreciation of the drawings Ken - why didn't I think about that bar removal in the top piece!

Pete

[ken3335]

Hello,   You lucky guys out there are getting a second post today.  I'm having a short pause in the build but I'm so pleased with the the way that the castings are coming out I wanted to show you all.

 

As you know the castings on this kit are beautiful and I wanted to show them off at there best. I cleaned them up and painted them with Tamiya gold leaf acrylic, when done they looked good but somehow a little flat in their colour so I then tried a wash, a little well diluted sepia painted into the recesses to give it some shadow type look to show their depth. I did one figure first and was very pleased with the result so continued and did all the castings. The first picture shows a comparison, with and without, the second shows the remaining stern castings done.

 

 

Ken

 

 

 

[Hubac's Historian]

Hi Ken,

 

I've been meaning to ask you for some time about what particular gold paint you are using, so I am glad to know what that is now.  But I also like your sepia tone distressing.  Is that also a Tamaya acrylic based wash, or some other brand?  And how much must you dilute it to get these results, which really pick out the creases and crevasses, without muddying the gold?

[ken3335]

Hi,  This was the first time that I'd used this technique so I'm not an expert at it but I did find it very easy to get good results. I read about it somewhere a while ago and when I started the RW. I intended to try it out.

 

The wash that I used was Vallego Game Color Wash, Sepia shade.

 

I put a small drop in a bottle top, I used a very fine brush, I wet the brush so that when it picked up the wash it then just ran like water, it was probably a 50/50 mix. I ran this puddle like into the recesses then before it dried I used a second slightly larger brush which was damp to wipe away any excess that I had got on the raised portions.

 

It's so easy to get the effect that you want as you could darken certain areas with a second coat and areas that you didn't want stained could be lightly painted over.

 

Each figure only took about a minute to do and I only used about five small droplets of wash to do all the castings shown.

 

Ken

[ken3335]

Hello Everyone,   

 

You are reading a post from a modeller with a huge grin on his face, the RW is next to me as I type and I can't stop looking at it, with ornamentation like this it should be in the Sistine Chapel.

 

As you may have guessed I've now completed the stern decorations, those that have made this model will know how I feel.  2D photographs don't do it justice, it needs to be seen in the flesh to appreciate it fully.  Here's some pictures anyway.

 

And it's now getting very heavy.

 

Thanks to everyone who has given me help and encouragement in getting this far.

 

Next I will tackle the wales.

 

 

Ken  

 

 

[piratepete007]

Well done Ken - you deserve that grin on your face. There is no doubt that that stern is a very impressive merging of so many pieces. Once you understand what is needed, the stern construction is not difficult and the outcome is just magnificent.

Pete

[Gahm]

That stern looks very impressive! Well done!

 

Thomas

[Hubac's Historian]

A well deserved victory lap, Ken!  I have really enjoyed all of the care and attention you have taken to clean up the castings, as well as your re-working of the stern gallaries, in order to make everything line-up properly.  This really is turning out to he a magnificent model.

[ChrisLBren]

Really nice work Ken !

[mrcc]

Beautiful work!

[Sjors]

I'm away for 2 1/2 week and you are doing a job that takes normally 7 months .....

Are you still sleeping and eating in the mean while?

But man, that looks great!

My hat off for you.

 

Sjors

 

[ken3335]

Hello Everyone.       Thanks very much for your comments on my RW.

 

Yes Sjors I do eat and sleep sometimes. Remember I'm one of the lucky ones to have retired and I sort of treat building like doing a job, it motivates me.  You get through quite a bit of building yourself though.

 

Now after my high of finishing the stern came quite a low that I'm just recovering from, a mini disaster. I'll explain.

 

I had just fitted the lower wales, I noticed that at the stern one of the planks had not stuck down fully. I positioned the hull almost upside down at an angle so that I could trickle some cyno under it. Using my needle nozzle under the plank I inserted a little glue but on taking it away the needle got trapped and as I pulled the whole top came off the container and the entire contents, about half a bottle of cyno poured over the hull, rudder and lower underside of the transom support. I quickly wiped away as much as I could before it started to set, the fumes were hard to stand and this amount when drying became too hot to touch. My mind was screaming, NO!

 

As you may imagine it left quite a mess. It took me a while to get the stuff off my hands and even longer to repair the damage. Fortunately the side and upper transom hadn't been effected except some of the glazing in the windows had melted and will need re doing. I got out my electric sander and used it to sand away the hardened cyno, I then had to re sand the entire hull to try and get a uniform finish. I'll try using a light stain to get an even colour in the hull, not sure now how the effected area will take stain or varnish but we'll see. I'll need to re paint the lower transom support and re glaze some windows, I initially thought that it was going to be much worse so I'm sort of ok with it. Do you ever want to say,  WHY ME. 

 

The picture shows the effected area and the recovery in progress.

 

 

Ken

 

 

[Rossi46]

Beautiful...

[Dilbert55]

Yikes, going to be a challenge to work right next to your finished stern and around the rudder fittings. Will you be protecting the stern from dust, etc.? 

[marktiedens]

Oh my,what a mess. Murphy`s law strikes again. Hope you can get it cleaned up without too much trouble.

 

Mark

[ken3335]

Hello Everyone,   

 

Thanks for both your likes and commiserations. Here in the dockyard life goes on so here is a bit of catch up.

 

Before the incident I fitted the main wales which were made up from three strips of 2x7mm walnut. I put these into a flask of boiling water to soak for about three hours whilst I went and had a game of bowls. I marked out their position relative to the lower gunports then turned my attention to bending these strips. My preferred method is after soaking I use my heavy duty soldering iron clamped in a vice, I grip the strip between both hands leaving about an inch between. I hold the strip on the shaft of the iron with a little downward pressure, nothing happens initially but there comes a moment when the wood suddenly becomes soft and pliable, it will readily bend or twist to any shape, I think that it's as the internal moisture turns to steam and the resins soften. This state only lasts about a second before the wood dries, leaving it in place any longer doesn't help and there is a chance of charring the wood, lift it off whilst it is still moist. I then move it along about 1/2" and continue the bend. I have the hull to hand and keep checking that I'm getting the bend correct. I have tried using a curved block the Amati way but I found that this dried and charred the wood, as you can see in my picture my method gives a good clean curve with no charring and it is quick and easy. Using this method the wales on both sides took less than an hour to fit using my Cyno planking method,  but do make sure the top is secure!

 

Now to the recovery of the hull.  I sanded off what I believe is all the hardened Cyno from the hull and went as deep as I dared, to get a uniform finish I then sanded the rest of the hull, as I had previously stained it I needed to take enough off to get to just plain wood. The area effected had different colour streaks in the grain so to try and get some colour consistency I tested some stains and found that light oak gave the best result, so used this giving the hull a couple of well rubbed in coats. It came out much better than expected. I rounded the upper and lower edge of the wales then gave the hull a coat of sanding sealer. HA, HA!  I now prefer the colour and finished look over my previous one, there are very, very slight variations in shade as you would have expected and the grain is showing up more, it looks like very subtle well done ageing.

 

The grin is coming back.

 

I've decided that the galleries will need major work done to bring them back to their former glory and I'm not going to shy away from doing what's needed, but that's another story.

 

 

Ken

 

 

[piratepete007]

Ken - those wales are never easy to do. Seeing your great effort there stirs up some thoughts of mine that I keep repressing .... historically, wales were a combination of lengths of timber all scarphed/ scarfed together and one day I still intend to try my hand at creating that jointed wale instead of the one continuous strip. With those wale timbers curving in both a vertical and longitudinal fashion, especially near and around the bow, maybe that would make the process more simple. I just keep putting it off... maybe it's just a dream.

 

Great to see you still forging ahead after that nasty incident.

 

Pete

[ken3335]

Hi,        I was thinking, so that I don't feel like the only clumsy modeller here would anyone else like to share with me their OH NO! modelling moments. It would be like going to confession and getting it off your conscious. I will absolve you.

 

 

Ken

[BillLib]

Hi Ken,

I honestly don't remember any OH NO moments.  I do believe I've forgotten then all, but what remains is the learning experience of looking ahead for what can go wrong.

 

But I do have quite a few I'M AN IDIOT moments.  Those at least can be fixed easily or covered up to not be so obvious.

 

My last moment was on the decorations between the cheeks at the stem.  I was using a hot air gun to heat up the metal to make is a little more pliable for bending.  One went ok, the second I melted part of the decoration.  Well what does on do?  Order new ones from Euromodel?  Do a little carving for fill in the missing pieces? Maybe a little clay molding?  Or, what I did, work with what was left.  Gives me something to point out to people where I had an IDIOT moment.  I actually like to tell people it was and ID-10-T episode.

 

Bill

[ken3335]

Hello Everyone,   

 

 

Bill it's good knowing that I'm not the only one, honestly you've recovered very well on that one.

 

Greg that's a lot of likes, thanks and welcome aboard.

 

Now on to the renovation of the stern.

 

I went through a variety of thoughts about this often changing my mind on what needed doing for me to be satisfied. On first assessing the damage I saw other than the hull,  the black area underside of the transom support was stained and would need re- painting, the glazing in the side gallery windows both sides had gone white with the heat and fumes, some of the starboard ones had even melted and all the lower windows at the rear had whitened, a sort of opaque appearance. I initially decided that I would re paint the black area and just re-glaze the melted panes, hoping that I could accept opaque windows. I did this, but on working close up with magnifiers on I could see that a lot of the gold had been rubbed away from many of its detailed edges due to rough handling at the time and that the nice newly painted sheen had gone. I decided that all the gold should also be re-painted. I remembered all the effort that I had put into cutting out and glazing those windows and still had the vision of how good it had looked just a couple of days before and couldn't get it out of my mind that I wouldn't be able to settle for less. So biting the bullet I have decided on a compete renovation, a complete re-paint and re-glaze.

 

Have you ever worked in an office, having almost, through hard work nearly finish when someone walks in through the door carrying an armful of files and says, " these must be done by tomorrow "   Well that's how I feel!

 

You may remember that I had glazed using glue on the inside of the frames, well because of that it was no simple matter now getting it all out from the front through the small pane area, this glue having set was very tenacious and clung on. I first cut it away with a scalpel, I then made up from wire some small hooks and picks, with the help of fine curved tweezers I managed to eventually remove all the glazing/glue. Some of the windows were damaged in the process but have since been repaired. I cleaned up the area using a fine wire brush and have now started painting.

 

I had found painting neatly around the windows quite difficult even when it had been in flat sections on the bench so I'm not sure how it will go now that they're all assembled and at awkward angles. I found that because of it's size, shape and weight it was difficult to hold stern up and steady, the picture shows me not binning the RW but my holding solution.

 

I think that in some previous life I must have offended a modelling God and that in this incarnation I am being punished. What offering can I make?

 

 

Ken

 

 

 

[Greg the peg leg sailor]

G'day Ken

Thanks for an enjoyable 4 to 5 hours, as I spent reading your log. I'm very impressed with not only your attitude and attention to details, but with the bloody incredible job that you are doing. 

If I had that 'oh no' episode when the glue spilt all over the stern, the air around me would turn blue with all the colourful words that would have  came from my mouth. I would even guessed that you, in England, would hear some of it.

I guess that's the difference from an Englishman and a bloody Ozzie. 

I will be keeping a constant eye on this fantastic build.

Havagooday and havagooday a cuppa on me!

At the best.

Greg 

[Dilbert55]

Ken shall repair his stern, whatever the cost may be, he shall paint in the bin, he shall hold the brush steady, he shall repair in the fields and in the streets, we shall repair in the hills; he shall never surrender.
 

[ken3335]

Hi Greg,    Thanks foe your comments.  No I'm not a restrained Pommie,  the laws on blasphemy precluded me from putting in print what I actually said at the time and I don't think it would have got past the moderator. I'm surprised that you didn't hear me in Oz.   I'd prefer a beer.

 

Looked in on your Royal Caroline project, you've certainly given yourself a task there, good luck with it.

 

Ken

[ken3335]

Hi Dilbert,  Nice one.   Here's a starter for you, Never in the field of modelling.......................

 

Ken