V108 by catopower - Digital Navy - 1/200 Scale - CARD - Torpedo Boat - MSW Tutorial Build

[catopower]

I love and hate maintaining build logs...

 

It's great to be able to share, but I work on projects off and on, and I often disappear from the build log for YEARS. Like this V108 Torpedo Boat, I started this build nearly 5 years ago. People follow along, and then I have other things to deal with and end up setting the project aside. I kind of lost interest for a while, as I'm still primarily a wooden-ship modeler, and also not much into steel-hulled ships.

 

But, recently, a couple fellow ship modelers have been working on steel-hulled ship projects, and I've been discussing issues with them. So, it got me back to thinking about things like the V108 project and even seeing what kind of a job I could do with a detailed plastic kit with lots of PE and possibly resin after-market items.

 

 Yesterday, I pulled out my V108 model from storage(!), and decided I needed to do a little paper modeling in between other projects. Part of the reason for this, is that the other work I'm doing right now, requires me to be out in the garage workshop, and it was just too hot in there this week. A paper model, I can just work on in the living room.

 

First, here are some photos that I took after my last post, which was...uh... close to 5 years ago...

 

 

Then, yesterday, I pulled the model out of storage, dusted it off, but couldn't find what I did with the part sheets and instructions. Fortunately, this is a downloaded kit, so I found the files on my computer, and just reprinted them all. I was a little concerned about variation in color, after all, I don't even recall if I had the same printer at that time. But, I think I did, as the colors look spot on.

 

So, I spent a little time re-familiarizing myself with the model, and what needs to be done next. The obvious step was to do a little work on the superstructure, so I went ahead, just to make some progress...

 

The basic superstructure was a nice re-intro to this model, as it's a major part, with no fiddly small parts to worry about, though I think I'll go ahead and mount the hatch that's outlined in the forward part of the superstructure below.

Then, I forgot what you call these little connecting tabs that help to hold assemblies together. I glued them down to the deck first, as this should keep the part from causing the superstructure to creep up from paper "bendi-ness". Test fitting showed that some of the white of the deck piece shows a little, so I ended up painting areas where the white seemed to show. Managed to paint part of those tabs as well, but that shouldn't be too much of a problem.

 

 

 

Finally, the superstructure is shown in test-fit. That's why it's not entirely flush with the deck yet. But, it will be, once I glue it into place.

 

On the other side, you can see some of the white still visible. I'll touch this up before the superstructure gets glued into place.

 

Now, I'm probably going to build in a slightly different order than Chris does in his tutorial. I want to get some of the little, flat pieces, like those #58 parts, which I think must be hatches for coal bunkers here(?), done, as I think I'll have more room to get them on properly without other stuff on the model.

 

Also, as this is not a waterline model, I figured I'd better work on the underwater details, as I'll need to hold the model inverted as I do. That won't work too well with lots of stuff on the deck. Since the model is on a stand already, this should keep the screws, and all those related parts, mostly safe from harm.

 

[catopower]

I've been trying to get some work done on another project, and then I recalled the problem with paper models... Building paper models is like eating potato chips: Once you get started, it's hard to stop! As I recall, that's the main reason I set this project aside.

 

I'll still have to do that from time to time, but this is not that difficult a project, and it really shouldn't take very long to complete, so I'm motivated to see it through to completion.

 

I decided it was time to deal with the ship's propulsion. Looks like I'll just use brass rod for the shafts. That's actually indicated in the instructions. But, first, I needed to make the extensions that come out of the hull and partly house the shafts. I don't know what the correct term is for these.

 

I tried to roll the printed paper, but had a very difficult time getting not only a tight roll, but also a difficult time getting the pair to match. That is, they were slightly different diameters. It has to do with the difficultly of rolling the paper. 

 

 

I decided to reprint the parts on thinner stock paper. To save on ink, I copied the parts sheet pdf, and managed to crop the parts sheet down to just the area on the sheet that I needed. This printed out fine on the thinner paper, in my case, 28lb, instead of the 65lb card stock I used for the main parts.

 

I rolled the tubes with the help of a piece of thin brass rod, and the pair seemed to come out just fine. Here they are with some of the parts I started pre-assembling...

 

 

But, looking back, I noticed that printing on the thinner paper was actually what the instructions said to do. In the future, I might just make several of them, then pick out the best looking pair.

 

Finally, I decided to tackle what I considered to be the most intimidating assembly of ship of this type, the screws. This entails rolling a piece with petals, then  gluing together the petals to form the hub of the propeller, then gluing on each of the propeller blades at an angle. But, the process ended up being far easier than I had anticipated.

 

I formed the rolled hub on the end of a small dowel. When dry, I put glue on the petals and then carefully rolled the end against the cutting mat. The end results were actually pretty good, and I ended up with the ends nicely rounded. 

 

Gluing the blades turned out to be pretty much a non-issue. I made sure to angle them differently for each of the screws, as they would be counter-rotating on the real ship. Then, I touch each blade with a tiny amount of thin CA. This made the screws very sturdy. 

 

As the printing on the blades are only on one side, the screws are going to have to get painted. Now, do I go with matching the color of printed paper? I do I break out some bronze paint and do the whole thing?

 

 

[ccoyle]

Break out the bronze.

[catopower]

7 hours ago, ccoyle said:

Break out the bronze.

I'm on it!

[Tim Murphy]

Clair, this looks very good, but it’s not Japanese?

Hope you have fun with it. Best of luck!

Tim Murphy

[amateur]

Hi Tim,

 

This is definitively a German Torpedoboat. Quite a lot of these ships were build just before worldwar I. A similar design was build for the Dutch Navy (by the same firm: Vulcan in Stettin)

 

On a few German card fora the design of digital navy is critisized, as it looks as if it is based on only one side view  ( the ship is not completely symmetrical, although DN designed it that way). Also not both funnels are round: one (i believe it is the rear funnel) is elliptical.

But for all people that do not know those details, it is a very nice card model (still have to finish mine  )

 

Jan

Edited May 23, 2022 by amateur

[catopower]

Hi Jan, Tim is just teasing me about building something other than a Japanese subject. But, thanks for the comments on the kit. I'll be lucky if people notice the kit design issues instead of my construction issues!

 

Tim, yeah, I guess I'm taking a vacation break. 😁 But, last night I did spend some time planning out details for a little Edo canal diorama that I want to do for one of my Japanese boat models. Guess I can't really stay away from them!

 

 

[Tim Murphy]

I totally understand that. You really do understand the theory of Japanese boat design and you give us a way of respecting a ship design that is total foreign to europian design.

Best of luck with the diorama!

Tim 

 

 

[catopower]

Thanks Tim. Very kind of you!

 

I'm thinking it's actually going to be very simple, as it's slated for a pretty small case. So, just a boat on the canal, maneuvering up to a landing along a stone wall. Something like that. Gives me a chance to add some basic diorama elements.

 

Now, as for the V108, I started painting the screws bronze. But, before I mount these, I need to add the struts and stuff for the propeller shafts.

 

Also, aren't propeller shafts unfinished steel?

 

I have brass rod in the right diameter, but I decided to hunt for some stainless steel rod in the right size. I found some pretty easily on Ebay. I think they're used for axels on RC vehicles. They weren't expensive, as long as I was buying short ones – less than $14, with tax, for a set of 10, and free shipping from within the US. Should have them by the end of next week. 

 

While I'm waiting for those, I'll use the brass rod I have for place-holders to get the alignment of all the other parts straight.

 

[catopower]

Inspired by Jan's (Amateur's) completed V108, and our recent ship modelers' gathering, where I brought my incomplete V108 to a new guy who is interested in both WWI era ships AND is "paper curious", I brought my V108 out of mothball. It's crazy that I started this 8 years ago... 😧

 

I'm waiting for a day off to work other projects in the works, but this one, I'm just taking a little spare time here and there to work on. 

 

The propeller shafts and struts kind of stopped me in the tracks, and I was reluctant to look at them again. But, I just put my head down and pushed forward. Managed to build the support struts, even though I found their construction particularly confusing. Did I build them correctly? I don't know, but I'm pretty sure what I have will work.

 

For the propeller shafts, I wanted some steel rod, but couldn't find any in my stash. I ended up improvising, as I don't want to order parts and wait for them to show up. I found a large. paper clip, straightened it out as best I could, and cut it to size. I think it works pretty well. These aren't glued into place yet. I need to make the various fairings for the shafts first.

I'll try to take less than another 8 years to post progress on this... 

[catopower]

You know, sometimes modeling in paper makes a ship seem to progress so quickly.

 

Then, there are those items which make you feel like you're doing eyeball surgery on bugs.

 

Adding fairings that fit around the propeller shafts. I've had to remake parts about four times. Fortunately, I had printed extra parts sheets.

 

I discovered that my propeller shafts were too big, so I went the next size down on the paper clips. The first shafts were about 1mm diameter and the new ones are 0.7mm. These tiny fairings wouldn't fit around the larger shafts, but the should fine with the new ones. Hopefully, I don't lose any more of these little parts, after it took so much effort to cut them out, roll them, and glue them up properly. The shape looks a little rough, but I'll bend them more nicely after the glue dries.

 

I have to admit, I started wondering if I could just leave these things off. Would anybody notice?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

And... Finally done with the underwater portion of this build!

 

That part of the ship doesn't look too bad now. Adds a lot of detail. But then, at this stage, anything will add a lot of detail. Still, this is the part that made my head hurt the most, and it's over. 

 

I do feel I spent way too much time stressing over this part. But, I also spent a lot of time on it today. I'll consider next steps. 

 

I'm considering adding the propeller guards next, but they kind of stick out from the hull and are pretty flimsy, so I'm wondering if I should wait on them and add some deck or superstructure details next...

 

[Richard44]

Nicely done Clare.

[GrandpaPhil]

Propellors and fairings are always difficult on these!

 

The V-108 is looking good!

[catopower]

Thanks for the nice comments Richard, GrandpaPhil!

 

Propellers and fairings... It's enough to make you want to stick to waterline models! 😀

 

But, now that these are done, I like the look, just not from TOO close!

 

[catopower]

Since I had the time, I didn't want to pause the build right after a difficult session. So, I figured I'd make the funnels and the tracks for the torpedo launchers. 

 

For the torpedo tracks, I built them before I looked again at Chris's build log and his idea for making construction easier. Mine turned out okay, but I just had to glue the outer edge of the ring on, little by little, to keep it straight.

 

The funnels are nice, large parts, changing the look of the slowly evolving model. I painted the interiors black, but you can still see he white areas of the superstructure. I'll finish that painting after the funnels are glued into place.

 

For now, the torpedo launcher tracks and the funnels are only dry fit

I still need to clean-up and paint the insides of the torpedo launcher tracks, but then I think I'll glue them into position. I think I'll leave the funnels unmounted until I decide if I'm going to try to detail them any. For now, they're pretty safe like that, and they make the model look more like a ship.

 

[catopower]

I had a little more time to work on my V108 yesterday. It doesn't really look much different, but I managed to add those cowlings on the af deck, and added the next assembly to the bridge superstructure. And, while I'd added the rudder last time, I managed to knock it off, so I'm leaving it off until a later stage.

 

Chris, in his tutorial build log, mentions not knowing what these things are for. I don't know either, but I'm wondering if they could be smoke generators? Or, maybe they're just exhaust vents for blowing the hot air out of the engine spaces?

Added to the bridge superstructure and added one of the skylight hatches. For mounting the superstructure assembly, I followed Chris's example of adding some guide strips to the deck. This helps align the parts and gives the glue a good surface and makes the added assembly pretty solid. 

And, finally, I added the little bollard or capstan assembly on the forecastle. There were too many little rings for me after making other parts, so I just cut some thin slices from a styrene rod instead, and painted it all black.

These close-up photos make the model look so much worse than it does in real life. Or maybe my eyes are so bad, I can't see the missing paint, etc., except in close-up photos.

 

Question: Not that I'm going to add any, but should there be some kind of screen inside the stacks? Right now, you can look down inside and see the big support piece there. I painted it black, so it's harder to see, but if there were a screen, you probably couldn't see any junk inside, so I'm just wondering.

 

 

 

[GrandpaPhil]

The V-108 is looking good!

 

The vents look like ventilation to me.  

[catopower]

Thanks Phil!

 

I ended up taking a few days off of work, so I've been able to spend some time with my projects. I'm shifting my attention between projects and it was time to work a little on the V108 .

 

I started working a little on the bridge assembly, and you can see some of it in the first pic below. I decided not to mess with opening up the windows. I think it actually looks better to just leave them printed black, like all the portholes. Anyway, I don't think I could make them look right if I tried to make them clear windows.

 

I also decided to build the pedestals for the ship's 3.5" guns. I also went ahead and mounted them on the deck, since the alternative was to keep them in my parts box and risk damaging or losing them.

 

I also finished making all the skylights and mounting them. After that, I decided to tackle the big ventilator cowling that will fit between the stacks. That assembly went okay. It wasn't as hard as I thought it might be. Kind of wondering what to do about the inside of the cowling though. Leave it white? Or paint it and then what color?

 

 

I don't know if I mentioned this before, but I'm generally not a Steel Navy modelers anymore. But, building this ship in paper has been a lo of fun and been very rewarding so far.

 

I'd definitely consider doing another build in the future. Unfortunately, the subject and "kit" I find most intriguing, is the Fletcher-class destroyer that used to be published by Digital Navy, like the V108. Unfortunately, that website and its products have vanished from the Internet. 🫤 Well, I'll think about that after I get this one finished. Still a ways to go...

[ccoyle]

2 hours ago, catopower said:

Unfortunately, the subject and "kit" I find most intriguing, is the Fletcher-class destroyer that used to be published by Digital Navy, like the V108.

 

There are a smattering of Fletchers available from other publishers (Halinski, for example, offers USS Heerman), plus some tin cans from other classes as well. Unfortunately, from my perspective, the detail sets available for those kits are mostly available in PE brass -- and I do not like working with PE. I really enjoyed building HMV's USS England kit, for which I purchased the then-available 3D-printed resin hull -- a real game changer. Sadly, the only other kit for which such a hull was available was HMV's HMCS Agassiz. I generally don't enjoy building multiple examples of the same subject, and I have already built the 1/100-scale Agassiz from Modelik, so the HMV kit holds little appeal for me. In any case, the resin hulls were offered through Shapeways, and I don't think that site is in the aftermarket parts business any longer, so AFAIK the resin hull for Agassiz can no longer be purchased. Darius Lipinski designed both HMV kits, and I've had no word of whether he has any other projects in the pipeline, which is too bad, because I'm sure I would jump at the chance to build another small WW2 warship, e.g., destroyer, destroyer escort, sloop, etc.

[Richard44]

7 hours ago, ccoyle said:

because I'm sure I would jump at the chance to build another small WW2 warship, e.g., destroyer, destroyer escort, sloop, etc.

Chris,

Have a look at this site, you may find something of interest. Cheers.

 

https://neptunia-hobbies.com/products--shop--erratas.html

[GrandpaPhil]

Card makes a great substitute for PE.  

 

It works beautifully for railings, ladders and gratings!  
 

You just have to coat both sides in sealant prior to cutting.

Edited Thursday at 12:28 PM by GrandpaPhil

[catopower]

Thanks all for the ideas. I went ahead and bought some PE parts in 1/200 scale off of Ebay. We'll see how well they work. It's basically just railings and handholds. Don't know if I'll use them or not. 

 

Chris, I'm not sure about the Halinski kits, but I've been kind of eyeing some of the kits from the Ukrainian publisher Avangard. Do you know anything about them?

 

The have the destroyers USS Farragut and USS Bagley (of classes of the same name), and the Gleaves-class destroyer USS Aaron Ward. Plus, I'm kind of intrigued by some of those Japanese Imperial Navy destroyers. There seem to be a few accessory sets available for these kits as well. I'm just not sure of the best place to buy their products.

 

 

[ccoyle]

6 minutes ago, catopower said:

Chris, I'm not sure about the Halinski kits, but I've been kind of eyeing some of the kits from the Ukrainian publisher Avangard. Do you know anything about them?

I have only seen them online, but the artwork and drawings look good. They are available from Orlik and Model-Hobby, assuming you can get them to ship to the US in the current duties & tariffs climate.

 

Card Army, a newer publisher, has just released a 1/200 heavy cruiser RM Trento. This is their first ship after a run of five aircraft. Their kits appear to be like Halinski kits on steroids -- even the float planes have internal framing, engines, and detailed cockpit interiors! Trento can be purchased by itself or as part of a set along with 7 sheets of laser-cut frames and 12 frets of laser-cut details -- a bit too rich for my blood.

[catopower]

I went ahead and ordered the USS Bagley and the two laser-cut sets that go with it from Orlik. At least the USA was still in the list of countries in the ship-to section of the online order form. We'll see if they ship it or if they cancel it.

 

In any case, it's back to my current projects!

[Tim Murphy]

This kit looks great and should be a superb paper model. I hope you get it. 

 

Tim Murphy 

Edited Saturday at 01:41 PM by ccoyle
no politics (see guidelines)

[catopower]

I'll certainly post an update if the order arrives.

 

I tried to see if I could order from GPM, but I don't think they're shipping to the US either – I just got stuck in a loop during the shipping address stage when I tried to process a small order.

[catopower]

Progress continues on the V108. 

 

Had a meeting of the South Bay Model Shipwrights in Santa Clara on Saturday afternoon. I brought this along with me and that seems to have spurred me on to continue the work today. Added a few new details. I added what I assume are hose reels just aft of the big ventilator cowl.

 

Also decided that the next assembly to complete were the torpedo launchers. So, while replaying the movie Greyhound for the umpteenth time, I built first the launchers barrels, then built the pedestals.

 

 

 

 

 

I'm not sure how the bow launcher is supposed to work. It's actually too long to swivel from one side to the other without hitting a support post under the forecastle overhang.

 

 

There's another reel at the aft end of the ship, four small ventilator cowls, and then the bridge detail to build next. A lot of this work should probably need to wait until next week. Still waiting for the PE parts for the funnel details. I'm also going to add support guy wires to the funnels, but will wait on that until I get the PE parts in place.

 

Having a great time with this still!