Allege d'Arles by kentyler - WAK - CARD

[kentyler]

I always have problems with the "frame" distorting the out paper shell, so I have resorted to various methods to "fill in" the gaps. This time I'm trying something new, paper mache.  I tried the kind you mix from power, but that made the whole model soaking wet. Luckily it survived. 

So now I'm using a "plastic" paper mache, which seems to be working. It usually takes several passes of putting on a layer and letting it dry and then sanding it down, then putting on another layer to fill in the low spaces.

You can see that my first take on the frames ended up with a noticeable "bulge" on one side.. so i made a copy of the deck and tack glued that one to guide in reshaping it to be a little more symetrical.

[yvesvidal]

Excellent choice of boat. Your method is impressive and I suspect there will be a lot of sanding. The good side is that the model will have a certain mass.

 

Yves

[tkay11]

This is a very interesting boat to build. Could you say what your plastic-based filler is? Others have been using a variety of fillers for their card models. Ab Hoving, for example, is using what looks like a standard non-shrinking wood filler.

 

Tony

[ccoyle]

BTW, for our members who are not up to speed on all things card modeling, WAK is a Polish publisher with an e-commerce site that sells their own line of kits along with many others. Click here to see WAK's current stable of 1/200 scale ship models.

[kentyler]

I made the mask by running the plan thru the copier twice and cutting out 2 mask outlines

 I started with a square piece of wood about the right size and glued one profile on it, then trimmed the edges to shape. Then I glued on the other profile on the side, and used it to trim again.

That gave me a "square" mask. Working by eye I made it 8 sided...and then rounded with a piece of emery paper.

I started with the "under planking" provided in the model to go under the deck. It is intended to smooth out the bumps you get from the egg carton frame. I glued its "planks" down and then sanded it flat... not much to sand, just the edges of some of the "planks".. but every little bit counts.

The deck planks ended up sticking out a little on both sides. I cut another spare deck and "tacked" it into place with a few drops of glue and then trimmed the "planks" to match the outline of the deck.

This left me with a couple of spots that were a little spare, so i got out the paperclay and  did a little more filling. One more sanding job and it will be time to glue down the "real" deck. 

[tkay11]

Thanks. This should turn out nicely -- good idea about the modelling clay!

 

Tony

[kentyler]

and now for one of those on noooooo moments

I did some fiddly adjust and took the big step of gluing on the "real" deck. fortunately i carefully only put the glue around the edges.

Then i started putting on the first layer of the pieces around the hull sides. These are an underlayer, inteded to help you smooth out the hull, and to provide location lines for gluing on the outer layer of planks.

but when I got the first side on i discovered that the center of the deck was built up quite a bit beyond where it should be...

so i pondered my options... i could try to "cheat" the outer layer of hull planks to make up the gap, but, as we will see the outer layer of planking is complex.

so i got out the old exacto knife and carefully cut the deck off the top of the hull.  which was a little hair raising, but worked in the end

paper is a wonderfully forgiving medium

[kondzik]

Nice to see another build of Allege on this forum. There are a couple of minor errors in the design but nothing that could not be fixed with spare colour. You might find photos in my build log as a helpful reference in addition to drawings.

[kentyler]

do you have a link to your build log ?

[kentyler]

not a perfect fix, but the deck has more camber now, and lines up more or less where it should... will still have to fiddle a little when i put the planks on the sides

[kentyler]

I always get a little "creep" when i'm gluing this many parts end to end.... so i put the last section in first... then glue on the last piece between that section and the other sections.... then i mark the edge with a sharp knife and peel the section off... then i can trim the excess....and glue the section back on... where it magically "fits"

got to sand the underlayer.... got to sand EVERYTHING...and even the slightest irregularity seems to be magnifed in the next layer of planking

i have the same problems with wooden models...which is why i prefer the "dutch" method, where you erect the plank shell of the ship first...and then cut and fill the frames into it

[kondzik]

5 hours ago, kentyler said:

do you have a link to your build log ?

Here you are: https://modelshipworld.com/topic/21760-allege-darles-by-kondzik-wak-42016-1100-card

[kentyler]

thanks, beautiful model

 

[kentyler]

I was uncertain of how well the planks would fit... so i started with the plank that absolutely had to be in position... the one that has the holes for the scuppers. I then worked my way down the hull. I ended up leaving some extra on the bottom plank, as, as is usual, the spacing did not work out perfectly.

I really made a lot of work for myself by not being more careful with the initial framing.... but hey, i like working on models.

[kentyler]

One of the flaws in the model... one plank was missing its bottom outline.

I left the bottom planks wide, and trimm the edges after gluing.

the planks for the deck rail and assembled with thin paper backing plates to hole them together. I was dubious, but it seemed to work.

Because my hull was a little "fat" i ended up with some gaps to fill at the stern

[kentyler]

one last pass. i think the caulking lines on ships hulls are often over emphasized... so it did a little caulking with the paper putty

a light sanding and we'll be ready to paint the hull... the markings on the model do not agree with the illustration at all.. i prefer the illustration so that's how i'll paint it

[kentyler]

a coat of primer helps to see what's going on... i'm getting the effect i want, still a few cracks to fill in

[kondzik]

My kit had separate sheet with erratum which contained correctly printed plank (50L). For you it is too late, but for anybody that is willing to build this kit in the future and has erratum missing I suggest to contact WAK at modele@wak.pl.

[kentyler]

good to know, thanks

 

[kentyler]

so now we plug in the stern post and the stem at the bow.... i sure prefer making these from a solid piece rather than the two sides and a piece to cover the edges approach taken here.

you can see that some pretty drastic surgery was needed at the stern, as it did not tuck in enough

[kentyler]

I have planked the inside of the wales and painted the basic hull color. I decided to use the color scheme on the cover instead of the one that comes printed on the parts.
You can see in the first image that i used a small piece of bamboo to line up the holes for the scuppers in inner pieces with the holes in the hull sides. The inner "planks" did not fit exactly fore or aft, so I aligned them on the scupper holes

My idea of "caulking" the planks to subdue the effect of the edges seems to have worked out. 

It was a little tricky getting the "dip" in the water line to counter act the optical illusion of the water line bending upward in the middle

Next are the wales... again i will probably change the kit to look more like the cover

Edited April 18, 2020 by kentyler

[kentyler]

put on the wales... always love that..gives me a special feeling

have to adjust the "waterline" on one side to make the space between it and the wale match the other

 

[kentyler]

Haven't used my modeling tape for a long time, but I thought it might help in this case. The edges did not come out completely clean.. but they're easy enough to touch up.

cutting little tiny square bars from bamboo turns out to be a real trick. I discovered if you hold the bamboo down against your jeans and draw it under the knife it does a fair imitation of a plane.

the square bars will became the frame inside the deck bulwarks when cut into small pieces.

[kentyler]

got all the frame ends cut and glued in place. bamboo is a wonderful materia

and then the side rails, glued on heavy card and painted

to some degree they cover up the fact that the sides bend in a little to much in the middle of the deck

now there is a sort of after structure to build, and the rails out along the bow

trying to avoid putting the deck houses and stuff in til last so i can use the deck to handle the boat

 

[kentyler]

an intricate juggling act to glue the back framework together'

i had to put in a fake piece to give myself some "notches" to match the bars up to the cross piece

i removed to dummy piece of card i had glued things to as i went

instead of attempting to fold the bars out of paper i glued the pieces on to some coffee stirers (about the right thickness) and carefully carved them out, then glued them together

 

[kentyler]

these parts all do NOT have any built in self aligning features.... so it was like trying to juggle all of them in the air and glue them as they came down

[kondzik]

This one was quite tricky in my build as well, I've had a bit of trouble fitting rudder under this piece.

[kentyler]

same, same  i had to cut away a half circle on the bottom of the piece that goes between the 2 sides

Edited May 9, 2020 by kentyler

[kentyler]

From looking at the Ancre model pages I decided the hatches over the below deck access had ring bolts on the 2nd hatch from each end. Once you lift that one up you can easily lift the others

The ring bolts are from black-clad wire. they cheat, because they only have the  ring, there should be another ring on the bolt itself.,, but I cannot do it at this scale..I could add the 2nd ring , but it would look to big.

[kentyler]

got those out of order