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

[catopower]

Not much news on the V108 build, as I've been trying to make some progress on other model fronts. But, the V108, being a paper model, is so easy to sit down and work on. So, I did get a couple of the ventilators made and started working on the masts.

 

Biggest news is that Orlik just refunded my order of the USS Bagley kit. So, that's no Orlik, no GPM, and no Fenton's. I think that's the last hope I have of getting it, unless something changes regarding the tariff situation. ☹️

 

 

 

[GrandpaPhil]

Orel, HMV and Schreiber kits are still available on Amazon.  Hopefully the other card kit sellers figure out the tariff situation and adjust their shipping policies/prices accordingly.

[catopower]

Hi GrandpaPhil,

 

I believe those kits are being sold by importers, which can deal with customs on large scale shipments from Europe. But, even these, if you look at customer ratings, seem to be showing signs of shipping problems/delays.

 

If that Amazon store Plastic Models Store, which appears Ukraine based, would only carry he Ukrainian brand Avangard, I'd be set!

Edited Saturday at 02:53 AM by catopower

[catopower]

I swear I worked on the V108 for hours this week, but it just doesn't look any different, really. 

 

... and, I still have a lot of parts still to go!

Added brass rods to the ventilator bases, to secure them to the deck. 

 

Made the masts from very thin wood dowels and sized them down about as much as I could. The cross yards need to be even finer, so I used very fine brass rod. I added the yard on the forward mast, but waiting on the aft mast, until I get the booms installed. Or, do you still call them foremast and mainmast? Seems weird.

Masts aren't permanently installed yet. Need to finish adding details to the aft mast. The provided parts for the mast bands at the doubling wouldn't fit, my yards are too thick. So, I scavenged some other parts off of one of my spare printed parts sheets.

 

For the antenna wiring, guy wires, etc., I thought I'd try out EZ Line, so I bought both available sizes in black. EZ Line is elastic, but it's flat, not round. The Fine stuff is so thin, you don't really notice it's flat. The Heavy line's flatness is really noticeable. Anyway, it looks too thick for the model, so I'll just use the Fine line for everything. Well, assuming I have the skills to make the stuff work for me.

 

I'm planning on starting with the funnel guy wires, but not until I get the remaining paper parts on the model. Still have all the bridge and gun details to go, plus a few other items.

 

 

 

 

[ccoyle]

11 hours ago, catopower said:

I thought I'd try out EZ Line

 

I purchased a different brand a while back, but it turned out to be the same stuff. One of these days I will have to get hold of some of the very fine fly-fishing tippet line that is out there.

[amateur]

Coming along nicely. Those things on the reardeck are not vents: 

 

just staircases to the lower deck (at least, ghey are in the dutch Z1, that was designed and build after the first Z1 became v108)

 

Jan

Edited Saturday at 07:18 PM by amateur

[ccoyle]

2 hours ago, amateur said:

Those things on the reardeck are not vents:

 

Ah -- companionways then. Got it!

[catopower]

Jan, funny you posted that today!

 

After recently watching the film The Cruel Sea, I came to the conclusion that those were most likely companionways. I was planning to mention that on my next post, but you beat me to it.

 

Thanks for the post!

 

 

[catopower]

No update on the V108 just yet. But, I do have some news on Avangard kit. I messaged the company on Facebook, and they agreed to sell me one and ship it to me direct. They don't normally do direct sales, but they said they'd make an exception.

 

I also talked to Roger at Ages of Sail about the possibility of carrying the line, since US customers can't purchase these kits otherwise. He was open to the idea, and I got dealer info from Avangard. 

 

Now, the question is, will people in the US buy them? 

 

Nothing will happen until I get the kit in my hot little hands and evaluate it to the best of my mediocre paper modeling abilities.

 

If people are interested, I'd suggest speaking up, because if I don't think there will be enough sales, it won't happen.

[ccoyle]

10 hours ago, catopower said:

If people are interested, I'd suggest speaking up, because if I don't think there will be enough sales, it won't happen.

 

Of course I would be interested, but interested enough to open the padlock on my wallet? That's another question. Of course, there's always Christmas and birthdays. 🙂

 

If I were interested, I'd want to get the kit and all of its available after-market accessories.

[GrandpaPhil]

I would also likely be interested if they have something in my area of interest.

 

I like predreadnought era battle wagons personally, although I would also love to get ahold of a card kit of the Akagi.

Edited Tuesday at 11:13 PM by GrandpaPhil

[catopower]

We'll see what happens after my kit arrives, IF it arrives. If nothing else, perhaps getting AOS to carry a selection of kits, with their accessories, which is just their laser cut frames set, and their laser-cut detail set. 

 

Meanwhile, the V108 build continues. Here's a minor update – Do any paper model updates seem to be anything but minor?

 

Managed to add the supports posts under the center part of the bridge. Unfortunately, I got things a bit out of order here, and added the bridge deck before I added these supports, which are fine brass rod. 

 

Also, forgot that there are ladder rungs going up the side of the radio shack, so I added those as well. These rungs seem to be the easiest detail for me to add to the model.

I probably should have waited to add the bridge deck after completing the whole assembly, but I got kind of anxious, as I hadn't done much on the model at the time and wanted to get something on it.

 

Next thing I want to do is to get those big support girders into place that hold up the wings of the bridge deck. The details on this are so fine, though, that I'm having trouble cutting them out. I'd better go back and look at other builds to see how they managed. I almost had one all cut out. I'd soaked it with thin CA, then cut using a scalpel. But, after about 10 minutes of work, ended up mucking it up, right at the end (! 😫) .

 

I'm thinking I need to reprint the parts on thicker card stock and just carefully do it again, maybe using a razor blade as instead, since that's thinner and doesn't put so much sideway pressure on the delicate parts when cutting straight into the paper, like chopping. Here's the culprit...

I did start on chocks for the ship's launch, and did a little work on the last of the ventilators. Those should be going on the model shortly.

 

 

[sheepsail]

Doubt I I would be in the market for more card models.   Although I would not mind if I could find a card model of AE 33 Shasta which was a Kilauea class ammo ship.  We have a few souvenirs from that.  My dad used to take the kids out on it for shakedown cruises under the gate.  I never got to go on any as these were at risk kids under county care.   Have a number of photos he took.

[ccoyle]

4 minutes ago, sheepsail said:

Although I would not mind if I could find a card model of AE 33 Shasta

 

Tain't likely to happen. Auxillary ships are not the most popular subjects, though we do see one on the market every now and then. I can't recall ever seeing an ammo ship, though. BTW, I learned to ski on Mt. Shasta!

[GrandpaPhil]

For really thin pieces, pre sealing both sides, and scalpels are your best friends.

 

Then, if the pieces are super thin, I add CA to the cut edges to stiffen them up.

 

It works quite well.

[catopower]

Hi GrandpaPhil,

 

I appreciate the suggestions. What do you mean by pre-sealing both sides? Sealing with what? I already spray my card stock with matte lacquer to protect the print.

 

I've tried using CA to stiffen up the parts before doing the cutting. But, I'm wondering if perhaps it's better to wait until after the cutting. I'm just not sure. This is first assembly that is really so delicate that my work falls apart.

 

I tried laminating the printed card stock onto another piece, but where the girder parts are really thin, the laminated card moves around and starts to come apart.

 

 

[GrandpaPhil]

I use the Folk Art Clear Primer and brush both sides, even after laminating pieces.

 

It helps prevent (or at least reduce) delamination when cutting small pieces out.

 

If they still delaminate, I just clue them back together with PVA (Mont Marte to be exact).

 

I apply the CA after cutting small pieces out to reinforce them.  

 

It essentially plasticizes them.  
 

That’s how I got my davits to retain their shape, and be functional, on my model of the Solferino.

 

Edited 13 hours ago by GrandpaPhil

[ccoyle]

Clare, I did mine by cutting out first, then soaking in CA. Are you familiar with what the Poles (I believe) call the 'woodpecker' cutting technique (if I'm remembering the name correctly)? For anyone reading, this consists of cutting by means of a series of up-and-down strokes rather than the usual dragging of the blade across the paper. Each vertical stroke only makes a cut about 0.5 - 1.0 mm long. Normal cutting strokes tug at the paper's fibers, which is not a problem on large parts but can pull very small pieces apart while cutting them. The vertical cutting stroke greatly reduces such tugging-and-tearing.

[catopower]

GradpaPhil, thanks for the explanation on the primer coating. Haven't tried that yet. With CA, I've been using thin CA to plasticize my paper parts since my first paper model 10 years ago. I've just never cut anything this thin before. I tried using the CA before I cut the part, and that seemed to work for a while, until it didn't...

 

Next, I tried laminating the part, thinking the extra layer would make the part stronger. The problem there is that the parts are so thin, when there is delaminaion, there's some tearing and some slipping of the paper that happens, leaving not much to glue back together. I'm going to try going back to a single layer card stock for this.

 

Beautiful French sailing warship, by the way!

 

 

Hi Chris, I'd never heard the name for the technique, but it makes sense, thanks. That's what I'm basically doing with the chopped single-edge razor blades. Did the same thing really when I was using a scalpel blade, but the thickness of the blade pushes parts sideways as I push the blade down on the part. I'm hoping the razor blades, being so much thinner, will reduce the sideways pressure as I chop into the part.

 

I gave up on it last night, but printed out yet another parts sheet so I can try again. Maybe a combination of the up and down strokes, using single layer card stock, and luck will lead to success this time?

Edited 7 hours ago by catopower

[Jsk]

Have you tried Necroscoping?

 

A couple of years ago I was designing a Zeppelin model (there's an old build log on the Paper Modelers forum under the user name 'Kugelfang') and I used the technique to laminate some pieces. Basically, I took plastic from a zip lock bag, sandwiched it between the two pieces of card I wanted to laminate, encased the whole thing in a folded piece of 20# paper and ran a medium (or low?) temperature iron over it to melt the plastic and bond the two pieces of card stock together. It also added considerable rigidity to the piece--which is why it might be worth trying.  As a matter of fact, when I get back to my skipjack build I think I'll try this technique for the frame of the winder which will be similar to your support girders.

 

Just a thought....

[ccoyle]

2 minutes ago, Jsk said:

Have you tried Necroscoping?

 

Sounds vaguely ominous! 😬

In this instance, I think any kind of doubling technique would adversely impact the scale of the part -- but your description of the process is intriguing! I can easily envision this conversation going down at the Coyle household later:

 

Mrs. Coyle: "Honey, what are you burning?"

Me: "Me? Nothing. Why?"

Mrs. Coyle: "It smells like melting Ziploc bags in here."

Me: "Hmmm. Can't imagine why." 😝
 

[Jsk]

Just so! At the time I was working weekends and had a couple of weekday off when the Admiral was at work. 😉