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.