Bismarck by Dan Vadas - FINISHED - GPM - 1:200 - CARD and PE

[Dan Vadas]

1 hour ago, matelot said:

Hello Dan,

I keep looking at the radar assembly on the main range finder. Pretty nice work and quite realistic.

Did you solder parts of it or is it all glued together?

Henry

CA glued Henry. The wire is only 0.1mm thick, a bit too thin to try and silver solder with a pen torch.

 

  Danny

[matelot]

Thank you for the reply, sure looks good.

Henry

[matelot]

[matelot]

Since you're working on the hangar I thought I'd send you a couple of fotos. Hope you don't have them already.

Please note that the 10.5 AA and the rear rangefinder haven't been installed yet .

Henry

[Dan Vadas]

Thank you Henry .

 

There are boat racks similar to the ones I made earlier fitted to the large hangar. Below is a step-by-step sequence showing how I make these rather tricky items. I learnt a few things NOT to do on the first lot, these have turned out much better .

 

Here are the parts for all four racks :

 

A closeup of the parts for the two racks in this post :

 

First step is to cut out the middle of each part. I use a 2mm wide chisel ground from an Xacto blade. I sharpened the chisel several times during this procedure. I can't emphasise enough how vital it is to use SHARP blades, especially on thin and delicate parts :

 

Once the middles are cut out I use a BLUNT Xacto blade to score the fold lines. I've specially ground this blade with rounded edges. It works great, much better than the awl I was using previously. It's a good idea to score any fold lines prior to cutting the piece out, as it's easy to miss one or more after the fold marks (the little lines outside the edges of the piece) are in the bin :

 

When the middles are all cut out I edge "paint" the cutouts using a Pitt Pen, approaching them from the back side to avoid smudging the printed side. Doing it now means less handling of the delicate pieces, the less handling the better as it can damage them after a while :

 

After leaving the pieces to dry for 10 minutes they are cut out, once again using a SHARP new scalpel and a steel rule for the straight edges. I replaced the first blade about half-way through this job. To avoid crushing the pieces for the last few cuts I pressed them down with my steel rule and free-handed the curved edges :

 

Folding the pieces in half presented a new problem. I could have simply cut them in half and then glued them back-to-back, But that would have presented another problem in that one edge would have been square and the other at an angle.

 

This happens with every cut, due to the thickness of my steel rule (it's the thinnest one I could buy, only 0.55mm thick). The blade has to be held at a slight angle away from the rule to make a square cut, but due to the bevel on the blade the right-hand side of the cut finishes up at an angle. If the cut isn't square the piece won't stand straight when it's glued on.

 

Trying to make a fold in a piece that's only 1.8mm wide using 0.2mm paper is not easy - usually. It's nearly impossible to hold one side down with a steel rule and then use a single-edged razor blade to fold the other side up - the rule keeps slipping. To get around this problem I used my PE folder. It clamps the card down without any chance of it slipping and deforming the edge :

 

Once they are bent a little PVA glue was brushed thinly to one side and the piece squeezed together with my fingers. Any slight mis-alignment could be adjusted before the glue dried. Then I pressed it down again using the PE folder. The results were excellent :

 

The pieces were glued to the roof of the hangar, and a small brace was fitted to each end :

 

All the first lot of racks fitted :

 

  Danny

 

[Jim Lad]

Very authentic looking boat chocks, Danny!

 

John

[mtaylor]

Sweet work, Danny.  But it does make my eyes hurt to think about working on something that tiny.

[CDW]

2 hours ago, mtaylor said:

Sweet work, Danny.  But it does make my eyes hurt to think about working on something that tiny.

I agree with Mark, and really appreciate how "fiddly" these parts must be to cut out, bend, and assemble. 

I'm afraid it's beyond my skill and patience to do myself, so am content with observing and admiring your work.

[popeye the sailor]

awesome progress Danny!   

[Dan Vadas]

Thanks again for the replies John, Mark, CDW and Popeye.

 

There is a small winch on top of the hangar. The kit supplied one was a woefully simple thing made from a "U" shaped piece of card and two plain wheels. I had a lot of PE ones left over from the supply I bought for Amatsukaze so of course I used one of them . The PE set for Bismarck did have the wheels for them, but I used all the IJN ones as they fitted together properly. They are slightly larger than the kit ones, but overall look far better :

 

I had to redrill the tiny holes in the wheels and frames. The smallest useable wire I have is 0.2mm, I think the holes were about 0.15mm. To drill the holes I used one of my tungsten PC Board drills. The centre pipe is a piece of 0.5mm tubing, the 0.2mm wire goes through all of it to hold the whole thing together before CA glue finished the jib :

 

After painting. Speaking of paint, I've found this Lifecolor stuff to be excellent. I was previously using Tamiya Acrylic but it's rubbish - dries out on the brush and doesn't cover brass very well at all :

 

The winch fitted to the hangar. I'll give it a 2nd coat of paint now that I've seen the thing in closeup :

 

  Danny

[gjdale]

Fantastic work Danny. You really do seem to have mastered this new medium.

[amateur]

What type of CA do you use?

I only know the thin, rather slow setting glue in nasty little tubes. 

 

Jan

[capnharv2]

Sorry Danny, but I had to look up the drill size. . .

 

.15mm is .0059", which (according to Wikipedia) is a #97 drill size. I can't use a #80 without breaking it, so how do you drill holes that small?

 

I assume PCBs use this size and smaller all the time, but they have accurate locating/drilling jigs and are set up for mass production.

 

I don't think I have the patience anymore for card models, but it's fascinating to see your work. My compliments.

 

Harvey

[Dan Vadas]

Thanks Grant .

 

On 30/12/2017 at 8:40 AM, amateur said:

What type of CA do you use?

I only know the thin, rather slow setting glue in nasty little tubes. 

 

Jan

It's called Zap-a-Gap, and is available in thin, medium and thick types. It comes in plastic bottles in three sizes. I don't buy the thick type, as the medium thickens up a bit after time. My local hobby store sells them, and they are also available on-line.

 

On 30/12/2017 at 4:11 PM, capnharv2 said:

Sorry Danny, but I had to look up the drill size. . .

 

.15mm is .0059", which (according to Wikipedia) is a #97 drill size. I can't use a #80 without breaking it, so how do you drill holes that small?

Harvey, the answer is - CAREFULLY . Actually I have 0.1mm drills as well, but they are a bit on the fragile side and I haven't really found a use for them yet. These are tungsten drills and work really well on paper. I've also used them for drilling PE, and to date I've only broken three. Most times I just use them by hand as they are, but they also fit into a pin-vise when needed. They are available on-line, and I get mine from THIS SITE.

 

  Danny

[Dan Vadas]

Now that we're back on line at last I can put in an update. There are two boat racks either side of the main hangar, similar to the ones I built for the other hangars. These have turned out a lot better than the first ones - something to do with gaining more experience perhaps :

 

The main hangar with all the racks fitted :

 

Next up is a platform at the bottom of the main mast. The design of this was a bit ordinary (no - a LOT ordinary) to say the least. Why they thought it was a good idea to make the join in the middle of one of the support legs is beyond me, but I'm starting to think that there may have been a lot of Slivovitz consumed at the time . I decided it might be a good idea to make extra support angles for the inside of the legs - the single-thickness paper wanted to crumple at the slightest touch :

 

I also made gussets to strengthen the tops of the legs, and wicked some CA down the full legth of them. They can now support a VW beetle (almost ) :

 

The finished platform :

 

  Danny

[Dan Vadas]

There are a total of 13 Ship's Boats of various types to be built. I needed to make and fit four Motor Launches to continue with the Aft Superstructure. I figured it would be rather difficult to fit them later on, and I was proved right - it was hard enough to fit them without anything else in the way. It would have been nearly impossible to do a good job of it once the mast and platform were in the way.

 

The kit supplies a rudimentary laser-cut framing for the hull, consisting of two pieces. I added more card to them to prevent any crushing as the hull was skinned :

 

Here are the pieces for these four launches :

 

I cut out the middle of the decks :

 

And most of the pieces for one launch cut out :

 

Assembly starts by gluing the flooring underneath the deck. This was then glued to the framing, and the transom was also added :

 

I shaped the hull skins with a rounded stick on my piece of high-density foam :

 

Next one skin was glued to the edge of the deck :

 

The aft end of the lower hull was then glued on, then the bow section, finishing off with the two middle areas. The fit of the sides was very good :

 

The four hulls skinned. You can see the improvement in my technique - the first one I did is on the left, the last on the right. All are acceptable however, as the boat racks hide the worst joins :

 

Now I folded and fitted the cabin. That sounds easy when you say it fast, in reality they took me half a day to do :

 

The finishing touches included two railings on the fore deck, a rudder, a propellor shaft and the tiny (2.5mm) propellor from the PE set :

 

The four launches fitted to the main hangar. I had a lot of trouble with the racks for the two middle boats, having to cut the central ones down about 1mm and removing, trimming and refitting the fore ones further aft. That's what happens when you trust the kit to have things in the right positions, only to be let down once again . The middle boats aren't fitted crooked, that is the way they have to fit to clear the mast platform :

 

  Danny

[Dan Vadas]

Here's what I was talking about earlier - the mast platform temporarily fitted over the launches. Not much room to get the middle ones in and out  :

 

  Danny

[Jim Lad]

Very professional looking launches, Danny.  It must have been a lot of fun manoeuvring those to centre ones in and out of their stowage positions.

 

By the way, can we see a photo of that mast platform with the VW in situ, please. 

 

John

[Dan Vadas]

1 hour ago, Jim Lad said:

By the way, can we see a photo of that mast platform with the VW in situ, please.

Sorry John, I don't have a VW handy .

 

  Danny

[cog]

1 minute ago, Dan Vadas said:

Sorry John, I don't have a VW handy .

 

  Danny

You do not, and you are building the Bismarck!!! What about a Beamer or a Merc?

[Dan Vadas]

1 hour ago, cog said:

You do not, and you are building the Bismarck!!! What about a Beamer or a Merc?

Nope, I've only got a Toyota Hilux pickup truck. That's too heavy .

 

  Danny

[Dan Vadas]

The main mast is all done. It's still loose at the moment, I'll fit it properly later on to avoid damage :

 

 

  Danny

[Mirabell61]

Fantastic work Danny,

 

you must already be familiar with every detail of the former actual ship, when doing such detailed and awesome modeling.....

 

Nils

[popeye the sailor]

the structure looks awesome.......boats and all!    I'm just amazed how all this is coming together.

[Dan Vadas]

Thanks very much Nils and Popeye .

 

After looking at the pics of the main mast I got the feeling that I'd used the wrong spar for the longer lower one. Sure enough, wrong part number . I carefully removed the one fitted using a new scalpel blade to cut through the CA glue. It came off with no more damage than a bit of lost paint :

 

I fitted the footrail to the right spar and reattached it :

 

That looks a lot more like it :

 

  Danny

[CDW]

8 hours ago, Mirabell61 said:

Fantastic work Danny,

 

you must already be familiar with every detail of the former actual ship, when doing such detailed and awesome modeling.....

 

Nils

 

2 hours ago, popeye the sailor said:

the structure looks awesome.......boats and all!    I'm just amazed how all this is coming together.

Me too....and three, and four, and so on.

I love this model! It is so refreshing to see how neat and professional-looking a paper ship model can be.

I am likewise impressed with how deliberate, methodical, and precise Dan is with every little detail. Such patience is a true virtue and it shows up in his work in spades. 

[Reg]

Hi Danny,

 

All is beautifully done!

 

Greg

[Dan Vadas]

5 hours ago, CDW said:

I am likewise impressed with how deliberate, methodical, and precise Dan is with every little detail

Thanks CDW and Reg (welcome to the build Reg ). That still doesn't mean I don't make mistakes though CDW. Something to do with being "directionally dyslexic" . I also discovered that I'd fitted the spars on the other mast onto the wrong side, so both of them were cut off and re-fitted. Once again it's very difficult to see my mistake.

 

There is a longitudinal spar on the main mast, which also has a horizontal one attached as well as a couple of braces. I made this unit from 0.8mm and 0.4mm wire, CA glued together. I've now permanently attached the mast into position :

 

  Danny

[cog]

Why not soft soldered instead of CA on the brass "antenna"?

[Dan Vadas]

37 minutes ago, cog said:

Why not soft soldered instead of CA on the brass "antenna"?

Because I find using CA a lot quicker, easier and almost as strong - certainly strong enough for this job. BTW - I would use silver solder, not soft, using a pen torch if I thought the job needed it (e.g. if I wanted to keep the parts brass instead of painting).

 

  Danny