Lake steamer S/S Maaninka by Moxis - 1/25 scale - Finished

[Moxis]

Finally the Christmas season is over and I could continue shipbuilding. The next item was deck building. From previous projects nice scale 0,5 mm aluminum chequerplate was left over, so I decided to use that for the deck. But unfortunately the left overs were soon consumed, and more plate had to be bought from a company in Germany.

The deck consists of many plates, of which I made carefully garboard templates first, and only after satisfied with them, cut the final plates with jeweler`s saw and very fine blade.

Deck plates will be sprayed first with etch primer, and after that painted with green paint. Nobody knows the original color of the deck, but during the sixties it has been painted green, so I will use that.

 

After the deck plates were made, I started to make the main deck upper structures. They have to be very light to keep the center of gravity as low as possible, so I decided to make them of 1 mm aircraft quality birch plywood and 0,6 mm veneer. First I thought to build internal structures too like chairs, benches, tables, etc, but they would add too much weight to the upper parts of the ship, so I decided to omit them and build only the walls.

 

 

Deck building was started from stern. This plate will be removable, in order to get into upper end of rudder axle, if necessary. Other plates will be glued permanently into the hull.

 

 

 

Half of the deck made. At this point I was run out of the chequerplate and more had to be bought. The supply from Germany was not so fast as anticipated, so there must have been long Christmas holidays also in Germany.

 

 

 

 

Finally new plates arrived and work could continue.

 

 

 

 

Upper structure walls for main deck were built using 1 mm birch plywood and 0,6 mm birch veneer.

 

 

 

The sternmost structures on the main deck ready waiting for details and staining. Mahogany colored stain was used.

 

 

Door handles and hinges were made of styrene, painted with brass colour and glued into doors.

 

 

[Mirabell61]

Moxis,

 

Wow ! the deck looks great. also I love the cabin sides with those beautiful door lock plates, hinges, handles and even the keyholes, wonderful work....

 

Nils

[Moxis]

Thank you Nils for your kind words! I am glad you like my work and follow my blog. I try to show something interesting also in future.

[kees de mol]

Very nice build and an interesting method for plating.

[Moxis]

Thanks for comment Kees. Yes, the plating work was interesting to make for me too. Only time will tell if it lasts without breakages or not. Anyway easier than make the whole hull out of metal by riveting. But I have seen that too, in some model exhibition in Germany years ago. The guy was riveting brass plates into his hull during the exhibition, and the result was fabulous.

[Moxis]

Deck plates have been painted but not yet glued into the hull. First with etch primer and when dry, with the same water diluble half matte green as the bottom. Main deck cabin structures are also ready. They were built of 1 mm birch plywood and 0,6 mm birch veneer. Hinges, locks and hand pieces are styrene, painted with brass coloured model paint. And windows are transparent plastic sheet.

I have thought not to build any interiors like chairs, benches and tables in order not to add too much weight to the upper structures, but that is not yet sure. What do you think? Should them be built? and if yes, of which material?

 

Next I have to concentrate into a very challenging work: To build the middle and upper deck. It must be light, thin, and bending in two directions. Plain plywood is not good, it doesn`t bend in two directions, and does not keep it`s form nicely. Any suggestions?

 

 

 

 

 

[Mirabell61]

Hi Moxis,

 

very nice progress to be seen ....

For spheric curvature I use thin 0,8 mm ply, which to a certain degree is able to take the bend in both directions and also a light weight construction (did this on the decks of my chebec as well)

If you plank it afterwards, you`ll get the final thickness and the required strength.

 

I`m sure that the late member, "Captainbob" would have also loved your beautiful model, he was just scratch building the Swedish lake steamer "Mariefred" when he passed away last year

 

Nils

[Moxis]

Thanks Nils, I have to try this composite construction. The problem is that the decks must be very stiff, because there is nothing on the edges that support them. Only some thin bars of metal or plastics, but they do not support the decks, I think it is the other way around. Maybe I have to cover the decks additionally underneath with thin glassfibre & epoxy to keep them stiff.

[michael101]

As always ! Nothing to say beside beautiful perfect amazing act. 

That is what happens when an artist putting his soul in his project !

Michael.

[Moxis]

Thanks Michael for your kind words. I am glad that you follow my build and like it.

[John Allen]

13 hours ago, michael101 said:

That is what happens when an artist putting his soul in his project !

Moxis,

 

As I follow your build you remind me of a DaVinci, Edison, Henry Ford, Tesla, and the Wright brothers all rolled into a present day renaissance man. Your skills are amazing!

I feel very awkward posing this suggestion since I am probably 20 notches down the food chain from where you are at but balsa wood sheets can withstand double bending and with a stiffener become very strong and still be very light.

 

John

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Moxis]

Thank you John for your extraordinary comment. This is the first time in my life that I am compared to those great individuals of the past days, and I really consider it to be a "tiny" exaggeration. Just a humble retired chap from a strange far north country would describe me much better.

And many thanks for your suggestion to solve my problem with deck construction. Your idea is very interesting, in fact I have also thought something similar, like strips of balsa wood glued together and strengthened with thin glassfibre & epoxy resin might really work.

[Moxis]

Next I had to think hard, what would be the best method to build both the upper and boat decks above cabin constructions. The challenge is not very tight curvature of the structures, but completely opposite. Crosswise the radius of the deck curvature is only about one metre and lengthwise it is bending about 4 cm on it`s whole length. So almost all materials could be used for this work. But how to keep the form unchanged and still have a light, stiff and thin deck without any form giving frames is a problem. Well, finally I decided to trust into the good old plank-on-bulkhead method and thought to use a jelly mixed of epoxy and milled glassfibres to strengthen it and make it stiffer.

 

 

"Bulkheads" made of thin wood. I decided to build the deck upside down, to be able to add epoxy/glass mixture on the underside of the deck.

 

 

 

Bulkheads were attached on the building platform and first 2x6 mm abachi planks were glued on them. Glue was applied only to the planks but not on bulkheads because the deck had to be removed from them when ready.

 

 

40 pcs planks were necessary to complete the structure.

 

 

Deck template cut of stiff paper was tried on the plank structure.

 

 

Epoxy/glassfibre jelly applied on the underside of the deck.

 

 

And finally when it was cured the deck was removed from the bulkheads, sanded on both sides and cut into the correct form. It was noted that lengthwise the deck keeps it`s form nicely, but crosswise a few curved frames underneath the deck are necessary to keep the curvature also in this direction.

 

 

 

 

[Mirabell61]

Smart way of making the upper deck Moxis,

 

the additional reinforced epoxy resin gives a very good hold   ....

 

Nils

[steamschooner]

Moxis. Are two decks and cabins going to be removable as one piece to get at the gear in the hull? The deck looks very nice!

[xken]

Nils, just for future reference the proper primer for aluminum is Zinc Chromate. 

[Moxis]

Thank you all for watching and giving the "likes" for my project. This raises motivation greatly to work onwards.

 

Nils: Thanks for watching and commenting my build. Reinforging of the deck could be even better, if glassfibre laminate would be applied on upper surface too, which I am considering to make.

 

Steamschooner: Yes, this is my intention. But not sure yet, whether the upper structures will be removable as one part only, or as several parts. The supporting bars at the edges of the decks & hull are a difficult task. Should they be part of the decks or be removable one by one is still under consideration.

 

Ken: This is good information. I wonder how this zinc chromate is sold, is it the stuff which is available in spray bottles intended for repairing car body weldings to prevent rusting?

[Mirabell61]

3 hours ago, xken said:

Nils, just for future reference the proper primer for aluminum is Zinc Chromate. 

Many thanks for your input Ken,

I`ll keep this in mind for tzhe next model with "aluminium foil riveting...."

 

Nils

[Moxis]

I was interested about zinc chromate which was suggested by Ken as better primer for aluminum as the commonly used etch primer. According to some paint manufacturers and chemical companies it is not used any more because it could cause lugn cancer:  https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/zinc_chromate#section=Top

[Moxis]

Finally also the cabin structures on upper deck are done. Although I love making models, but somehow I am completely exhausted to build these wall panels one after the other. 

The next thing is the boat deck. I am going to build that using only 2 sheets of 1 mm plywood which are then glued together on form giving "bulkheads", I hope that will be successful.

And then starting to make details, which is the work I love most.

 

 

Here once more the making of wall panels. First all windows and doors are marked on 1 mm plywood. After that the grooves within 3 mm division are made with a sharp hobby knife to emulate wooden wall.

 

 

 

And finally all windows are opened and panels & window frames are glued on....

 

 

...To build cabin constructions.

 

 

 

Mahogany stain is used to give some colour,

 

 

 

And the captain has also arrived on board to present his ship for honoured quests.....

 

 

 

Who expect already eagerly to get into the virgin voyage.

 

 

 

 

[amateur]

Looks good, but Aren't those people a bit on the large side?

Jan

[Moxis]

Hello Amateur, the scale of those people is 1/24, so almost the same as the ship (1/25). It might be the angle from where the picture has been taken.

[amateur]

And another thing I discovered when I started looking for pics of the real ship: there is hardly any space left between heads and deck.

So: I had the wrong impressions of the size of the real ship.

 

Jan

 

[Moxis]

Some time has elapsed since the last update. However it has been busy time at the shipyard. Boat deck has been made by gluing 3 pcs 0,6 mm plywood together on a form. It was much easier and faster to make that the main deck of thin strips.

 

After that I was consentrating into railings. My first idea was to buy all the stanchions ready, because of the "balls", which are difficult to produce. However no suitable ones were found with correct dimensions, so nothing else remained than make them by myself. And after all about 80 pcs are needed, so they wouldn`t have been cheap as well.

 

But first I had to make the wooden handrails. They were produced after many trials and errors of 3 pcs 2x6 mm wooden strips which were glued together on a form. This was a bit difficult, because handrails are bending in two directions, and after removed from the form they start to straighten a bit, so the curvature of the form must be tighter that that of the ship`s deck. But as said, after three or four errors I finally was satisfied with the result. Not perfect yet, but I can live with that.

 

The stanchions were made of common 1,5 mm brass rod, and the wires attached to them out of 0,6 mm copper wire. Wires were soft soldered into stanchions, and "balls" were made of putty mixed of microballons and epoxy. And finally painted white.

 

 

 

Handrails glued together on a form. Difficult shape because bending in two directions.

 

 

 

Handrails in different stages of fabrication.

 

 

 

 

Stanchions of 1,5 mm brass and 0,6 mm wires soldered together and "balls" made of epoxy/microballons putty.

 

 

Railings test fitted before painting.

 

 And glued into ship. Not perfect but I can live with that.

 

 

 

 

Main deck railings ready.

 

Seen from front. Next the same thing for upper deck.

 

 

 

 

[Mirabell61]

Good work on the railings Moxis,

 

Nils

[mtaylor]

The railings look pretty perfect from here, Moxis.  But then, things never look perfect to us when we're building.  

Edited February 25, 2018 by mtaylor

[Moxis]

Thanks for your kind words Nils and Mark. When watching those railings I even have thought to dismantle them and try again. But you have convinced me to leave them as they are and concentrate to new items.

[amateur]

Have you set yourself a zero-tollerance margin? 

I would be quite happy when my railings get out this way.

Those close-ups pretty much capture the looks and feel of the pics of the original ship

 

Jan

[Moxis]

Thanks Amateur for your kind words! Now that I have finished the railings also on the upper deck, I found the ones on the main deck terrible. This is why I dismantled them and am rebuilding them using styrene. Stanchions are 1,6 mm and "wires" 0,5 mm rod. Now it looks much better.

It is always so that when you start to build something, first results are not so good as they should be, but improve when you learn how to work better. And for this reason you just have to dismantle the first ones and try again. It has happened to me several times. And I think I am not the only one who has found the same thing.

Edited March 7, 2018 by Moxis

[amateur]

I know the feeling: I restarted my ratlines a couple of times

 

Jan

Edited March 7, 2018 by amateur