Preussen by Ian_Grant - Heller - 1/150 - PLASTIC

[Ian_Grant]

I don't like the thermoplastic sails that came in the kit, and never having made cloth or silkspan sails I think trying to make 43 is too much. Plus with sails I'd feel obligated to rig all the buntlines etc and at this scale with these tiny blips of belaying pins that's too much for me to face! I have other stuff to do once this ship is finished 🙂 . I'm planning to just tie any lines that come down the masts to the pinrails around the rail as opposed to trying to belay on the pins and hide the cheating with rope coils.

 

By my count there are 126 buntlines on this ship. I'd rather just omit them and the blocks which would be tiny and are not in the kit.

 

I've been looking for thread now that the lockdown is opening up a bit. According to Underhill even the largest steel wire on the standing rigging is 4-1/2" or about 1" diameter which at 1:150 scale is less than 0.25mm. That is almost the smallest thread used on the Heller Victory. I bought some Coats and Clark XP Heavy Duty thread in grey, measuring about 0.25mm. It looks very small but held up against the masts it's ok. This again emphasizes how thin the ratlines would need to be for scale appearance smaller than the shrouds.

 

This thread is a bit fuzzy so I will have to try applying beeswax. I did not have much luck with beeswax on the smaller threads on Victory, though.

[gak1965]

On 2/26/2021 at 2:24 PM, Ian_Grant said:

I don't like the thermoplastic sails that came in the kit, and never having made cloth or silkspan sails I think trying to make 43 is too much.

 

According to Underhill even the largest steel wire on the standing rigging is 4-1/2" or about 1" diameter which at 1:150 scale is less than 0.25mm. That is almost the smallest thread used on the Heller Victory. I bought some Coats and Clark XP Heavy Duty thread in grey, measuring about 0.25mm. It looks very small but held up against the masts it's ok. 

 

I've seen people do good things with thermoplastic sails, but not me. I left them out of my Connie and there weren't any in the Passat. 

[Veszett Roka]

On 2/28/2021 at 4:40 AM, gak1965 said:

I've seen people do good things with thermoplastic sails, but not me. I left them out of my Connie and there weren't any in the Passat. 

 

Same here. Thermoplastic sails are good to form cloth or paper sails (depends on the scale i think). Personally i prefer the furled sails, not to cover too much rigging. I usually made the furled sails from paper tissues, but i have cloth too - which need to cut half size due the scale, full size sails are too thick when "rolled" up.

[gak1965]

This is an example of someone who did an amazing job on the Revell USS Constitution with the thermoplastic sails. WAY out of my league: https://modelingmadness.com/review/misc/ships/carcon.htm.

 

[Ian_Grant]

 

On 3/1/2021 at 10:46 AM, gak1965 said:

This is an example of someone who did an amazing job on the Revell USS Constitution with the thermoplastic sails. WAY out of my league: https://modelingmadness.com/review/misc/ships/carcon.htm.

 

Yes, that's a beautiful Connie! I love his sea and crew. I would have made the sails slightly less stained. I made this kit as a teenager and I just scrapped it recently after finishing the Heller Victory which supplanted the Connie in my affections. I'd love to make it again knowing what I now know as opposed to what I knew in the 80's, but there are too may other things I'd like to do.

 

I did paint and fit my replacement stern railing from glow2be. I've also been busy painting and attaching the stanchions strips along the storm gangways. Why Heller didn't mold full railings like those along the bulwarks is a mystery to me.

 

The situation now is I need thread to be able to go any further, other than that finally I am going to be forced to attempt, reluctantly, to fabricate some brass yard trusses.

 

 

 

Edited March 7, 2021 by Ian_Grant

[Roger Pellett]

Nice work Ian.  These steel hulled sailing ships make handsome models.  If I can make a suggestion, I don’t believe that any seaman would leave the bars in the capstan when not being used.  

[gak1965]

1 hour ago, Roger Pellett said:

Nice work Ian.  These steel hulled sailing ships make handsome models.  If I can make a suggestion, I don’t believe that any seaman would leave the bars in the capstan when not being used.  

Concur on the great work! For some reason the capstan bars seem to be an occasional plastic ship thing, they are on the Revell Constitution and United States too (although not on the Heller Passat, go figure).

[Ian_Grant]

Thanks Roger and "gak". I wondered about those bars. Wouldn't want to be washed into one ribs-first by a wave! I wish I'd done more of a paint job on the capstan bodies; at the time I was following Heller's "everything is drab gunmetal grey" instructions. I guess they were the first things I painted. On the other hand, without them the uninitiated viewer will wonder what all the big grey lumps are. I'll have to decide what to do.

 

In the meantime I received revision 2.0 of the 3D-printed ladders from my brother. He sent forty (!) of them, perhaps in case I want to make Passat and Pamir too! They needed a little tidying up; they're very small with lots of acute angles to print. They are far nicer looking than Heller's ladders, plus their miters are in the right direction :-).

 

I also painted the ship's boats. They had a few internal ribs to support the seats so I just added a few evergreen strips for floorboards. Quick and dirty, I didn't want to spend an inordinate amount of time like on Victory's boats.

 

Speaking of not leaving capstan bars in place, I've seen lots of models with oars tied onto the thwarts of the boats. I didn't think they would leave them out there all the time, but perhaps in case a fast exit is necessary? Wondering whether to add the oars or put them in my parts shoebox....

 

Here are some photos. I will be adding handrails for the ladders when I get some more micro brass rod.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 12, 2021 by Ian_Grant

[popeye the sailor]

amazing model Ian..........I love the Revell kits,  but Heller does so much more as far as detail goes.   very nice  

[Ian_Grant]

Roger, gak, and Popeye, thank you for your positive comments on the build; it's always nice to receive some. No more pictures yet, but I managed to pry the capstans off the decks and am repainting them somewhat like those on Passat but in a simpler form. I cut the bars off most of them and painted red dots where they would insert (tiny squares too hard to paint). I didn't remove the anchor capstan because of the thread already rigged on it but maybe I will change it too, we'll see.  The ladder handrails are made but not painted white yet.

[gak1965]

Wow. Looking forward to the new photos!

 

George

[Ian_Grant]

A few new photos.

 

Here are some painted ladder handrails, made of micro brass rod.

 

Here is one of the capstans in its new paint scheme. I wanted to paint a circle on top of the head; tried using a hole punch to put a hole in Tamiya tape to mask a circle but punch was too dull and the tape always tore. It belonged to my mom and maybe her mom too. So then I thought maybe I could use a letter "o" from my adhesive vinyl lettering I used for the gold stern lettering but the letter "o" 's  were elliptical not round. But I noticed two different circle sizes were provided on the sheet so I stuck one on this capstan. What do you the viewers think? Better with a plain white head? Oh, I also changed the porthole glasses on the hatches to light blue, instead of the black advised by Heller. I didn't know what they were at the time. Why so many hatches all crammed in one area of the deck?

 

And here are the storm gangways with provided railings attached. Heller advises to string thread along the stanchion tops but I bought some small evergreen half-round moldings to use instead (half round gives me a flat bottom to glue to stanchions). Don't know why they didn't mold the full railing as on the other railings. I forget if I mentioned before that I cut off the weird "bucket-like" projections on the flying bridge and moved the stanchions out a bit. I always wondered what the little hut was at the aft end of the aft gangway, since it overhangs empty space above the well deck. I have just learned while re-reading "The Last Grain Race" that "Moshulu" had a chicken coop just here so I'll go with that.

Edited April 18, 2021 by Ian_Grant

[gak1965]

Very nice. I love the new storm gangways and the ladders look great as well. I'm embarrassed to ask, but what are the little huts around the capstans?

 

 

Passat had them as well, but I never gave them much thought. Skylights for a cabin below?

 

Edited March 29, 2021 by gak1965

[yancovitch]

wonder if they're some kind of air conditioning.... oh....ian i pm'd you....vic

Edited March 29, 2021 by yancovitch

[Ian_Grant]

On 3/28/2021 at 8:23 PM, gak1965 said:

Very nice. I love the new storm gangways and the ladders look great as well. I'm embarrassed to ask, but what are the little huts around the capstans?

 

 

Passat had them as well, but I never gave them much thought. Skylights for a cabin below?

 

Hello gak

 

They're actually hatches with portholes for skylights. There must be a mass of ladders under the bridge deck!

 

Here's a shot of some on the "Passat":

 

[Ian_Grant]

I take back what I said last post about the "many ladders". There would not be that many under the bridge deck; I now think many of these "boxes" are skylights elevated above the deck in case water is sloshing around, that can be propped open for ventilation. Would be nice to tour one of the museum ships and find out!

 

Latest update is that I finally made some brass yard trusses. Given my poor soldering results in the past, I tried two new steps in the process: washed the brass parts in vinegar then rinsed in water, and applied flux where they join before soldering. Also touched only with tweezers after rinsing to avoid skin oils. Results were good. I just used the same flux I've used for years when sweating copper water pipe and fittings.

 

Here is a shot of a lower yard with its truss, and a lower topsail yard with its truss unconnected. The lower yard truss is made of two brass rods, one bent into a "C" shape, joined with a short section of tubing. The tubing was notched across one end so as to partially contain the "C" rod thus lending strength to the joint. The lower topsail truss is an "L" brass rod, with again a short length of tubing, and a copper eyelet shaped suitably. This truss goes into two holes in the mast placed just below and just above the lower mast cap (notional in these one-piece steel masts). It enters the yard's centre band at the top of the yard.

 

Just for fun here is a shot of a yard as supplied by Heller, which I showed very early in this log.

 

Here is a figure from Underhill showing what I'm trying to emulate, or at least sort-of represent.

 

The two trusses in place on a mast.

 

And lastly the ship with all lower yards crossed. Finally looks like a ship! The upper topsail yard joins the mast with a simple straight piece of rod drilled in yard and mast to represent a sliding parral. Luckily Heller molded a band I could use for the "parral". Excuse the odd angles - rigging will straighten out the yard alignment.

 

The upper topgallant and royal will be joined this way too but the lower topgallant has a truss like a scaled-down lower topsail yard. Not sure what I will do as the topgallant yards and masts are significantly more slender.

Edited April 13, 2021 by Ian_Grant
sp

[yancovitch]

it's gonna be amaaaaaaaaaaaaazing😀..............

[Cirdan]

Very nice work on the trusses (of course not only on them) 👍👍

[Ian_Grant]

Thank you Vic and Cirdan!  I wanted to move on to the topgallant mast fittings but I am now out of etched brass eyes. Waiting for an order to arrive. Not sure what to do on the ship in the meantime....

 

Oh, and I finally got a COVID shot - Pfizer - yesterday. My arm's a bit sore today but I'm happy!

[Ian_Grant]

While waiting for my brass eyes and tubing to arrive, I decided to create a rigging spreadsheet to find out how many blocks I need. I just came up with 384 (Yikes!!!!).  That is  more than I used on the Heller Victory (310) and what's more they're all at the small end of the size range used on Victory. Thank God I already decided to omit the 126 buntlines.

 

There is no "Longridge Equivalent" information for the Preussen as Underhill does not detail block sizes. I eyeballed blocks against the spars to try to keep them reasonable looking while not using too many tiny tiny ones. I ended up with about a hundred 2mm blocks mostly around the upper yards and jib halyards, about two hundred 3/32" blocks mostly around the topsail yards, and about a hundred 1/8" blocks mostly to do with the lower yards. The 1/8" equates to 18.75" which is over scale but hey, it saves me a hundred even tinier blocks.

 

It seems a bit ambitious at this scale. I recall reading about just tying threads together, putting a blob of glue on, and painting the blob to look like a block. Anyone know a glue with high surface tension which would be good for that?

 

I'd be interested to hear what the Heller Passat kit blocks are like, if anyone reading has built one.

 

Model on!

Edited May 6, 2021 by Ian_Grant

[yancovitch]

have to say you've got balls, doing the detail you plan......me, i'm just doing a close enough for jazz version..... the finest rigging in the kit is the largest i  used for the standing rigging, blackened, just to differentiate, although it is likely not correct on this ship.....and i used some brown quilting thread for all the rest.....i thought the kit rigging was oversized, but could be wrong.....haha...i'm cheating a lot, but it should look good enough in the end.....the few blocks i ''may'' do will be blobs of glue....i have some beads, but they're too large .......made cloth sails but of course no buntlines etc....hmmm...been preoccupied with other things so it's being shelved for the time being but i'm sure enjoying watching you do such a great job.....

Edited May 7, 2021 by yancovitch

[rookie]

nicely done Ian, as usual

 

[Bill Morrison]

Ian,

www.HistoricShipModels.com does sell a full set of cloth sails for the Heller Preussen model. Please check them out!

Bill

[Ian_Grant]

Bill,  nice to hear from you. How is your Potosi build going?

 

After poking around, I see it's actually  www.hismodel.com whereas the site you quoted is completely different.  Those sails do look nice, but at $300CDN I will rig bare poles as planned 🤪

 

My balls are seemingly not as big as Victor estimates as I have decided there is no way I am rigging 300 blocks on this model. I plan to use wood blocks for the tackle on lower yard lifts and topsail sheets, and for the braces on the lower yards leading to the winches, but for most of the rest I will just tie a knot and slide a seed bead over it to represent a block. I have some very small seed beads which are smaller than Syren's 2mm blocks, from a bead store in the neighbourhood.

 

I just received, finally, my brass and copper eyes order so I am once again equipped to continue with Preussen. However, while waiting I started building a chess table for a nice chess set I bought years ago in Germany. I want to finish it first. Also, I want to build a rudimentary galley cross section with oars so I can test out my oar-driving setup and write the required Arduino code, before deciding whether to build an actual RC galley. All this to say it may be a while before I get back to Preussen. Unless we get a week of 40C humidex; that'll drive me indoors!

 

For interest, if any, here are a couple of shots of the chess table in progress. There will be two drawers, one above the other, opening opposite ways to hold the chess men.

 

The top:  Cherry and maple with inlaid banding from Lee Valley. That's a 12" rule on it.

 

The carcass with drawer slides:

 

[yancovitch]

love it...you're an artist.....

[rookie]

so you are still considering the galley?

 

Balls just got bigger, I'd say....

 

[Kevin]

Lovely build going to look fantastic

 

[Ian_Grant]

I finished the chess table and even got a little work done on Preussen. I discovered the danger of being away from a model for a while. I was adding the futtock bars at the crosstrees and while working on the fourth mast I realized I was using the wrong two holes in the crosstrees.....what was I thinking?!  I had to cut them all off and do again, wasting some precious micro tubing and eyes.

 

Here is one of the masts, with primer on the topgallant shroud "screws":

 

 

I will now start working on the test jig and program for a galley rowing mechanism.

For those who may be interested, here is the completed chess table:

 

 

 

 

The drawers were sized to accommodate the red flocked chess men holders from the original packaging. The field squares are 2-1/4" to suit the rather large men (and woman). The small lower trim was a bit fiddly round the legs, but it gave me an excuse to add a 23ga pinner to my tools   ; my 18ga nailer would have made a mess of it.

The chess set is a replica of the "Isle of Lewis" set as seen in the British Museum.

 

 

 

Edited June 27, 2021 by Ian_Grant

[yancovitch]

wow  you built that?.....super!!!

[Ian_Grant]

I'm back at Preussen after a long hiatus. Partly it was because of summer, partly because I spent some time developing arduino software to control the oars in an as yet hypothetical RC galley build. If interested the log for the rowing jig development is here:

 

https://modelshipworld.com/topic/29294-arduino-code-and-rowing-mechanism-for-radio-controlled-galley/

 

I've been drilling holes in masts and upper yards to cross them, and adding yet more eyes on yards, mainly for sheets. The lower and lower topsail yards have larger eyes to accommodate chain sheets for the topsails. Bracing myself (no pun intended) to attach threads to the Jarvis and halyard winches so I can glue them on deck and get going on rigging. Wondering whether to try foot ropes at this scale. It occurred to me that I could use etch brass eyes for the stirrups, glued into yet more holes drilled along the aft edge of the yards. Kind of daunting for 30 yards.

 

Still having problems blackening brass, and the copper chains.

 

I made the trusses for the lower topgallant yards, which allowed the minor milestone of crossing all six yards on a mast for the first time. The topgallant mast is dry fitted.

 

That's all I have to report at the moment.