Intro to Card Models Part VI: Building V108 - The Superstructure

[ccoyle]

Before starting the superstructure, take a few moments to study the diagram for that assembly.  The cover sheet artwork also has a nice view of that part of the ship.

 

Assembly of the superstructure starts with wrapping the walls (23b) around the deck piece (23a).  Score the fold tabs on 23b, along with the two fold lines where the wall wraps around the aft corners of 23a; after cutting it out, add the hatch door on the port side (part 55),  Now here's another tip - if you apply contact cement to only one surface to be joined, it doesn't grab as tightly as when both surfaces are coated, but it does allow a small amount of working time.  I glued 23a and 23b together with contact cement in the following order, applying the contact cement incrementally only to 23b:  starboard rear corner, starboard wall, front of the bridge, port wall, port rear corner.  When I got to the rear port corner, I discovered that the wall, 23b, was about 0.5 mm too long; if this happens to you, just trim the overage away from the end of the wall, crimp a new corner where the wall and corner meet, and then finish attaching the wall.  After the wall is completely attached, the superstructure roof (23c) can be added using PVA.  The finished assembly looks like this:

 

If you study the last image carefully, you can spot a minor error.  While I was dry-fitting 23b around 23a, the assembly slipped from my fingers.  It is a very rare person who can suppress the reflex to grasp at a dropped object, and I'm not that person!   As a result, there occurred a crease in the forward bridge wall (it runs down through the front porthole).  When card is creased like that, the crease is pretty much there forever.

 

Next, the superstructure assembly needs to be mounted to the main deck.  The kit supplies a couple of joiner strips for this task (parts 23d).

 

I happen to dislike such joiner strips for this job.  When paper is folded, the fibers in the paper have 'memory' - they want to return to their previous shape.  As a result, folded paper acts like a weak spring.  In this case, the folded joiner strips will have a tendency to push the superstructure assembly upward.  To avoid this, and to do a better job of positioning the superstructure walls, I prefer to add locator strips to the model.  These can be made from leftover chipboard or strip wood, if you have any lying around (what ship modeler doesn't?).  Here, I've sliced some ~1 mm wide strips from the edge of a chipboard sheet.

 

These are then cut to the appropriate length and glued down to the main deck just inside the superstructure outline.  The idea here is that the strips will position the walls exactly where they need to be, right on top of the outline.  Notice I've cut and shaped a piece for the curved forward bridge wall as well.  By the way, those colored patches on the deck are where I tested some markers for color matches to the kit.

 

I used ordinary white glue to mount the superstructure, because the fit with the locator strips is tight, and I wanted as much time as possible to get all the walls down over the locator strips.  The mounted superstructure should look like this, with nary a bit of white peeking from beneath the walls:

 

Back to Part V: Building V108 - The Hull

[ccoyle]

Next up is the conning tower.  The first thing to take note of is the parts are misnumbered.  This is not an uncommon error in card models, where the model, the diagrams, the parts sheets, and the instructions are often all produced by one person -- without the benefit of a proofreader and perhaps also without the hindsight of a beta build.  So, no big deal.  The misnumbered part is 27d, which should be 24a.  You'll also need 24b.  24c are the bridge wing support girders, which we won't need right away.

 

Normally, I would tell you to cut out 24b after scoring the fold lines and form it, but here's where you get the benefit of my building the model first.    There's a big error with part 24b -- once it is cut and folded properly, it doesn't fit!

 

So here's how I fixed the problem.  Cut part 24b apart along one of the rear fold lines.  Measure and remove the excess part of the rear panel.  We're going to put this excess colored panel to work.  Notice that at the back of the conning tower portion of the parts 23 sub-assembly, there are two glue tabs; those should actually be part of the conning tower wall.  Use the scrap piece from part 24b to make two rectangular panels to cover those glue tabs.  The finished task will look like this:

 

Part 24b is now in two pieces.  Glue the part with the rear wall to part 24a (the misnumbered '27d').  Now, use some scrap card to create a joiner tab for the two parts of 24b.  Attach it thus:

 

Add the rest of 24b (don't forget to color edges as you work!).

 

So -- problem fixed.  Next, add some joiner strips to the outline on top of the superstructure.

 

Glue the conning tower down with some white glue.

 

This assembly is a good example of the relative ease with which fit problems like this can fixed in the card medium.  I don't think plastic or resin would have been as easy!

 

One other thing to take note of in this section is what happens when you create a 90 degree fold in card:

The ink layer is only on the very surface of the paper; very sharp bends will tend to crack this layer.  Make sure to color the resulting exposed card fibers, either by painting or running a marker along the fold.

[ccoyle]

Okay -- decision time!  The kit includes optional parts for detailing the interior of the bridge.  Adding them will require removing the printed windows and glazing them, coloring the interior walls, and adding some particularly fiddly parts.  Do you want the tutorial to include these optional parts, or no?  I won't be able to do much work on the model for the next 24 hours, so I'll leave the poll (see top of page) open until then.  Now, vote!

[qwerty2008]

part 24b fit perfectly on my model they must have fixed that problem after you downloaded yours.

[qwerty2008]

I would love to see the interior done but I am not that skilled a modeler. I will cut out the ships wheel to see how hard it will be then post my vote.

[Captain Slog]

Hi Chris,

 

Great series you are providing.  The only problem is, it makes me want to get back to my Bismarck when I am on a role with my Endeavour. 

 

I voted to go the whole hog

 

Cheers

Slog

[qwerty2008]

I cut out my ships wheel it turned out really good so I'm in for doing the interior.

[ccoyle]

part 24b fit perfectly on my model they must have fixed that problem after you downloaded yours.

That's certainly possible -- I downloaded mine years ago.  Makes me wonder what else may have been updated. 

[ianmajor]

Chris,

 

It looks like the vote is going towards the detail - no surprise there.

 

I am interested to see how (and with what) you tackle the window glazing.

[ccoyle]

Thanks to those of you who voted in the poll (all six of you!).  Adding the extra detail won in a landslide (can there really be a 'landslide' with only six votes??).  All this is moot, however, as upon further study of the diagrams it appears that the bridge is not actually fully enclosed, so the detail is necessary in any case.  The only real 'option' is whether to replace the printed windows or not.  Since the windows are only printed on one side, they either have to a) be colored on the inside of the part, or b) cut out and replaced with glazing.  More on this later...

 

In the meantime, I only had a little time to work on the model, so I tackled some of the deck details.  It is perfectly acceptable to work on the parts out of sequence, but it is a good idea to keep two things in mind, namely 1) remembering or noting down somewhere which sub-assemblies you have already completed, and 2) avoiding adding details that are likely to be in the way of something later in the construction sequence.  With these two provisos in view, I started by adding some of the flat deck parts.

 

First is parts 36.

 

These are hatches that go just aft of the forward stack.  The only thing important about them to be aware of is which side do the hinges go on; in this case, the hinges go aft.

 

Next I added parts 58 (fuel bunker hatches).

 

 

These give us an opportunity to learn another technique.  Cutting each of these small, circular parts out individually would be tedious and also very hard on #11 blade tips, because the short radius of the cut stresses the blade tip and increases the likelihood of breakage.  Instead, start by cutting all five hatches out as a single strip.

 

Next, use the heel of the blade like a miniature paper-cutting machine to chop the strip into five individual squares, each with a hatch.

 

In the same fashion, take off the four corners of each square.  Now each hatch is on an octagon.

 

Finally, trim off the last remaining bits of white and edge-color the hatches.

 

The finished part isn't truly circular, but hexadecagonal.  But at this scale, who can tell the difference?  Mount the five hatches at the places indicated on the model (one at the stern, three amidships, and one at the forecastle), noting that again the hinges go aft.

 

And, yes, I know there is a skylight in those pictures!  That will be the subject of the next post.

 

[ccoyle]

Building the skylights will introduce a couple of new techniques.  There are three skylights on the model, built using parts sets 39 and 40.

 

Parts 39 are two larger skylights located abaft the superstructure...

 

...and parts 40 are the skylight abaft the forward stack.

 

The only thing difficult about building the basic skylights is that the parts are now getting somewhat tiny and awkward to work with (tweezers, people, tweezers).  Parts 39a and 40a each have three fold lines to score, and the folds at the edges are almost 90 degrees, so the finished edge there will need some touch-up coloring (visible in the photos of the completed skylights).  Score the lines, cut out the parts, and make the folds.  When making the edge folds, it helps to grip the edge of the part with fine-tipped tweezers rather than pudgy fingers.  Parts 39b and 40b are designed to fit inside folded parts 39a and 40a; medium-cure CA is useful in this situation to get the tiny parts to grip quickly and hold securely.

 

Parts 39a and 40a have the skylight hatches printed on them, but you may choose to add optional doubled hatches (parts 39c and 40c).  These have tiny hinges, and the challenge here is how to cut the parts out without losing the hinges (if the challenge proves too difficult, just cut the hinges off - it won't make much difference).  When cutting out tiny parts like these, there are two techniques that will help greatly.  First, always cut away from inside corners, not towards them.  When cutting, the edge of your blade makes about a 45 degree angle to the cutting surface, and thus the heel of the blade finishes the cut at the top of the paper before the tip finishes at the bottom.  So, if you cut towards an inside corner of a part, the heel of the blade necessarily cuts into the printed area before the cut is completed all the way through the paper.

 

Second thing to be aware of is that as you draw your blade across a sheet of paper, you are actually pulling at the paper's layers of fiber.  As a result, the last layer of fiber at the bottom of the sheet of paper may actually tear rather than cut cleanly.  This isn't so bad on a large part, which can be trimmed, but it can be disastrous on ultra-tiny parts like the hatch hinges.

 

So how does one avoid this tendency to tear?  Simple - one doesn't pull the blade!  One pushes it instead, and here's what I mean:  In the following picture, I'm cutting out one of the 40c skylight hatches.  To cut the top edge of the hatch between the hinges, I start with the tip of my #11 blade right on the inside corner and push the blade down into my cutting mat.  This downward push actually cuts more than half the distance from the first hinge to the second.  To complete the cut, I reverse the part, and do the same thing starting at the opposite inside corner.  I use this same push-cut technique to do all the cuts along the hinge edges as well.

 

I cut all the hatches out rectangular to start with, but the corners are actually very slightly round, so the corners need to be removed.  The hatches are too small to effectively hold down with a fingertip while cutting, so I use the points of my tweezers instead.

 

Edge-coloring the tiny hinges can be troublesome, because the delicate hinges are easily damaged.  For these, I hold my marking pen lightly against the inside corners and allow the paper to wick the color into the edges.  Once all the hatches are cut out and colored, they are glued down to the skylights with PVA, and the finished skylights are mounted to the model.

[ccoyle]

OK, now it's on to the bridge!  This will be an interesting part of the build, because it has numerous tiny parts and also presents a number of options for improving the model.

 

We start with parts 25a (top of bridge deck) and 25b (bottom of bridge deck).  Glue these together with some contact cement.

 

Notice that on the bottom of the bridge deck, there are three very small white spots; these are locator marks for the bridge deck supports to be added later.  To make these marks more functional, we need to drill them out a bit.  I use a small finger drill I made by gluing a #73 wire-sized drill bit into a short section of bamboo skewer.  Drill carefully so as not to drill all the way through the card - we want just a shallow socket (drilling 25b before gluing the two parts together would avoid this difficulty).

 

Next we'll add the bridge wall, part 25c.  The back of this part needs to be colored, so before removing it from the sheet, I gave the reverse side a coat of gray primer (you can see the scored fold lines through the paint).

 

At this point, you need to decide if you want to use the basic part as-is, or make some modifications.  These are completely optional, so don't feel any pressure to add them - it's supposed to be fun after all.  The first option I will show you is glazing the bridge windows.  First you'll need to very carefully remove the printed windows.  Remember to cut away from the corners!  Also, note that there is some subtle, printed shading on the windows - there's the obvious, light-gray portion of the frame, but there's also a far less obvious, dark gray portion of the frame that is almost identical in color to the 'glass' portion of the window.  Take care to remove only the glass areas, or the frames will be unnecessarily thin and delicate (they'll be delicate enough already!).  The insides of the frames need to be colored.  The space is too cramped for a marker, so I colored these with acrylic paint - the bottle says "Japanese Navy Gray", but I've modified the color at least once in the past, so I don't know what shade it is now.

 

The next option to decide on is whether to use the printed bridge railings or not.  If you study the part carefully, you'll see that the railings are actually meant to portray railings covered by storm canvas.  You can either go with the printed railing, or you can choose to replace them with either bare railings or more realistic storm canvas railings.  I'll be adding scratch-built storm canvas railings; that being the case, the next step is to remove the railings portion of 25c (but don't discard them - we'll need part of them later).  Skip this step if you use the printed railings.  I'm also removing the side entrance fascias at this point, since it will be easier to add them later as separate pieces.

 

The bridge wall needs to be formed before glazing the windows, else we'll damage the glazing.  Here I'm rolling the bridge wall over the handle of my hobby knife.

 

Now, what to use for glazing?  There are numerous materials that can be used for glazing.  In the past, I have used microscope slide slip covers (great material, but stiff and therefore ill-suited for curved surfaces), clear report covers (flexible, but don't glue well), window envelope panels (crinkle easily), and clear acetate overhead projector sheets (flexible, but don't like to hold a curve).  Microscale makes a glue called Crystal Clear that dries clear and can be used for glazing small windows like these, but I don't have any.  I'm a big advocate of the card modeling philosophy of "use whatever you can find around the house", and in this case what I found was my teenage daughter's top coat nail polish.

 

This I worked into each window until a film filled the entire window space.  The top coat dries fairly quickly.  It doesn't dry perfectly clear, but it does dry clear enough to suggest real windows are there, and that's the effect we want.  Here's the finished windows:

 

Notice there's top coat residue around the windows - this is why the clear coat is applied only from the inside of the bridge wall.  Once it dries, the area around the windows can be touched-up with paint.  The finished bridge wall is glued to the bridge deck with contact cement, although I had to tack the outermost corners with a spot of CA to get them to stick tightly.

 

Next: adding interior bridge details.

[ccoyle]

At this point, if you set the bridge assembly atop the conning tower, you'll notice that the radio room floor partially covers the locator for the foremast (the red spot).

 

We'll need to fix this before going further.  Either carefully cut or drill out the foremast step on the conning tower roof, along with the corresponding bit of the radio room floor (the aft end of the bridge deck).

 

We'll also take a few moments to apply the edging to the bridge deck wings.  This edging is the bottom part of the portions of part 25c we removed earlier (if you're not modifying 25c, you'll just be attaching the entire part 25c to the bridge deck; however, take note that the red portions of 25c - where the navigation lights will be placed - should be removed before gluing 25c to the bridge deck).  Remove this bottom edge of the part 25c wings and glue these, one section at a time, to the bridge wings.

 

We're going to do some things out of sequence again.  Following the parts numbers sequence would require us to add the radio room and bridge roof at this point, followed by the stacks, but that would make it difficult to get at the bridge interior, so we're going to add the interior details first.  These will be some very tiny assemblies, but fear not!  Tiny card assemblies require some care, some special techniques, and some tools, but they're not especially harder than larger assemblies.  The interior parts are parts 31-33.

 

We'll start at the bridge wall and work aft (makes sense, doesn't it?), so the first assembly will be the compass, parts 33a (stand) and 33b (compass rose - albeit sans printed rose!).  Part 33a needs to be rolled into a very small diameter tube.  This presents a number of difficulties.  First, very narrow tubes are almost impossible to roll from regular card stock, so in this case it will be easier to roll the part printed on 20# bond (remember waaaay back when I suggested you print the parts on both card and regular paper?).  The second difficulty is the joiner tab; it will create an overlapping seam and isn't really necessary.  You can remove the tab and close the tube by running a narrow bead of CA along the seam and squeezing the tube closed.

 

OK, so here's another stupid warts story.    In this next picture, I'm rolling the 20# bond version of 33a around some styrene rod.  What you can't see is that I moistened part 33a with my tongue - but the part stuck to my tongue and got too wet.    It subsequently got all smooshed during the rolling process. 

 

I destroyed the part!  What do I do!?  Fortunately, this little disaster presents the perfect opportunity to introduce a second way of dealing with part 33a!  You see, card stock is made of multiple layers of paper fibers, and it is possible to separate the layers.  I used the tip of my #11 blade and gently teased apart the paper layers at one corner of the card stock version of part 33a.

 

Once I have enough of the exposed layers to grab onto, I can then gently peel the two layers apart, and voila!  I now have the equivalent of a 20# bond part.  Now, it so happens that this particular tube I'm rolling has the same inside diameter as the styrene rod I'm rolling it with.  So, for this tube, I'm going to actually wrap and glue the printed part to the styrene rod, then trim the rod to match the length of the tube.  This makes a much sturdier base for the compass.  Finishing the compass is a simple matter of cutting out and edge coloring the compass rose, gluing it to the stand, and gluing the finished compass to its spot on the bridge floor.

[ccoyle]

Next up is the engine room telegraph, consisting of the base (31a), mounting bracket (31b), telegraph (31c), and telegraph handle (31d).

 

The base, 31a, presents a new challenge, since it is a tiny cone, not a tiny cylinder.  Rolling a cone is much easier if you have something conical to form it with.  The tip of my scribing tool is perfect for this job.

 

In all other respects, rolling a cone is the same as rolling a cylinder.  The mounting bracket has fold lines; on such a small part, the usual scoring and folding process doesn't work very well.  I recommend using your knife tip to cut through the top layer of paper fibers only, then complete the bends.  The two parts 31c go back-to-back to make the telegraph; when this is done, glue the telegraph into its bracket.  The handle, 31d, also has fold lines, but don't bother with them.  Glue one side of the handle to one side of the telegraph, then bend the handle over to the other side of the telegraph and attach it.  Dab a little glue to the inside of the handle and then crimp it closed with tweezers.  Personally, I think the handle should be wood, so I painted it brown.  Glue the finished telegraph to its base and glue the base to the proper spot on the bridge.

 

Last up is the ship's wheel.  Cut, roll, and glue the stand (32a) in the same manner as for the compass stand.  The wheel housing (32b) is a tiny box; give its fold lines the knife-tip treatment, then fold up and glue the sides.  Attach the housing to the stand.  The wheel spokes (32c) and ring (32d) require some careful cutting.  Remember to cut away from the wheel hub.  Cut the inside of 32d first, then cut the ring from the parts sheet; glue the ring to the spokes, then glue the completed wheel to the housing.  Don't worry about edge coloring parts 32 b-d before gluing - the finished wheel and housing can be painted brown once everything is glued together.  Glue the finished wheel assembly to the bridge deck.

 

Now we can add the bridge roof (26a and 26b) and radio room (26c).

 

The radio room has printed windows, but there are no parts for detailing the radio room interior, so we're going to let the windows be.  There's a spot on the radio room wall to add a hatch (part 55 - hinges to the left).  Use contact cement to glue the roof (26a) and roof interior (26b) together.  Score, cut, and fold the radio room (26c) and attach it to the roof one wall at a time. There will be a gap in the aft wall where it meets the foremast.

 

The roof/radio room assembly can then be mated to the bridge assembly.  Afterwards, you can add the two pices of entryway fascia port and starboard (these were originally part of 25c if you did the modified construction; they'll still be attached if you've used the unmodified 25c).  Not-quite-finished bridge should so far look like this:

 

Now, sit back and admire your work for a bit.     Next we'll add the bridge wing details.

[ianmajor]

Chris,

 

Great stuff. I am impressed by the way you handle the small parts. Whenever I have made card models I always seemed to get the detail parts stuck to my fingers or tools rather than the model.

 

I have used Crystal Clear successfully. With practice I found you can apply it from the outside of the widow frame without affecting the surrounding area. Useful for repairing damaged windows on nearly or completed models.

 

This came from the model aircraft guys who I believe originally used nothing more exciting than diluted PVA glue for glazing small windows.  

[ccoyle]

I thought about using PVA glue, but I wasn't sure if it would dry hard enough.  I applied the top coat from the inside mainly because a) the applicator brush was too large to keep everything entirely within the frames, and b )  I didn't want to see what would happen if I tried to wipe off any excess on the printed side of the part.  As with any medium, there's usually more than one way to do these various tasks with card, so thanks for sharing alternative methods.

 

With regards to very small parts, especially these detail parts that are many times smaller than a fingertip, it pays to handle them as much as possible with tools, such as tweezers, instead of fingers.  I even use my knife tip for picking up small parts from my cutting mat - a light stab to pick up the part doesn't leave a visible mark on the printed surface.

 

Cheers!

[ianmajor]

Chris,

 

Thanks for the excellent tips. 

 

For the Crystal Clear I always resort to good old cocktail sticks or toothpicks. I use them by the hundred - some even for their original purpose. 

Edited July 18, 2013 by ianmajor

[ccoyle]

Time to add the bridge wing details.  These include the navigation light, parts 25d and 25e, and several gratings, parts 29 and 30.

 

The navigation light housings present a minor decision - there are two ways to fold them, and either way you have to color the reverse side.  So, I will use these to introduce yet another new technique.  So far, all the fold scoring we have done is for parts that fold down, but what do you do if you have a part that needs to fold up?  After all, there are no fold lines printed on the reverse of the part.  It seems like the direction of the fold shouldn't matter, but it does - scored lines definitely want to fold one way more so than the other.  When you fold up from a scored line, a tiny pucker is created along the folded seam; 99% of the time this pucker might not make a difference, but for really tiny parts, that pucker might result in not being able to place another part correctly.

 

So, here's how to score the reverse of a part, using a navigation light housing (25dL) as an example.  Make a small cut right at the end of and exactly in line with each of the printed fold lines, like so:

 

Flip the part over - now the cuts act as two points to define a line.  Connect the points with your scoring tool (I used the cutting technique on these because of their size) and you're ready to proceed.

 

Now, if you use this technique, 25dL actually becomes 25dR and vice versa -- doesn't really matter which one is which as long as you get the orientation of the housing correct on the bridge wing, along with the proper color of light.  Finishing the navigation lights requires folding up and gluing the two sides of the housing, coloring the reverse side, and adding the light lens (25e).  Use the 20# bond version of the lenses, if you have them, or delaminate the card versions for easier forming.  Here's a finished light:

 

Next we need a few gratings, parts 29 and 30.  These are pretty straightforward - score, cut, color, fold, done.  Part 30 goes abaft the wheel, while parts 29 and the navigation lights go on the bridge wings - there are locator marks for all of these.  Make sure the port light is red and the starboard is green.  If you're doing the modified railings, make sure you don't glue these parts right on the edges of the bridge wings - you need a little room to install the railings.

[ccoyle]

Now for some fun!  It is time to add bridge wing railings.  If you didn't go for the optional canvas railings, then your railings are already done and you can skip this step.  If you chose the optional railings, then read on!

 

For starters, I happened to have some leftover thread railings from a previous project.  Kinda like cheating, I know, but this is why we modelers save leftover bits, isn't it?

 

These thread railings were made on a jig consisting of a template glued to a piece of stiff corrugated cardboard.  The template was from a Paper Shipwright kit, and David at Paper Shipwright has a free railings template available at his web site.  I will need to make many more railings for this model later on, and I will give a detailed description of their construction at that point, but if you can't stand the wait, just download David's template and follow the instructions that come with it.  Another option is to purchase laser-cut or photo-etched after-market railings.

 

Before moving on, I will point out that my scratch-built railings don't match the printed railings exactly.  For one thing, the kit railings decrease in height between the front railing and the side railing; this I did not attempt to replicate.  I also did not try match the correct number and locations of the stanchions.  The emphasis here is on improving the overall look of the model, even if it is not 100% true to the original.  Making the railings completely accurate would have added considerably to the complexity of the task.  The chance your model will be observed and critiqued by an expert on the design and construction of torpedo boats of the Imperial German Navy is extremely remote!

 

Step one in making the canvas railings, once you have the basic thread railings in hand, is to fill the spaces between the rails with diluted white PVA glue.  As I said in a previous post, I wasn't sure diluted PVA would dry hard enough for window glazing, but it's fine for making canvas railings.

 

Once the glue dries thoroughly, the "canvas" can be painted a suitable color.  The paint need only be applied to the front side of the railings; the tint will show through to the back side.

 

I didn't attempt to bend the railings where needed.  It is far easier to cut the railings into properly sized panels and install them one at a time.  Openings need to be cut out for the navigation lights, and the port railing needs to end short of the radio room, leaving a space in the back for a ladder. (NOTE:  The ladder is actually supposed to go on the starboard side; I missed this in the diagrams.  Looks my captain made an executive decision to move the ladder to port!)

 

Once cut, installed, and touched up, the railings look something like this:

 

To me, the scratch canvas railings are a significant improvement in the looks of the model and well worth the extra effort needed to make them.  But again, it is no sin to omit them if this is your first (or even second) card model and you feel they might be too far out of your comfort zone.  The printed railings will suffice nicely.

[ccoyle]

Now we'll finish up the bridge.

 

If you look at the port side of the radio room closely, you'll see some locator marks running from deck to roof.  These are for grab rails, which are not included in the kit, although there is a microscopically tiny template printed between parts 25a and 28a.  The idea is, you have to make your own grab rails from wire, thread, or whatever.  The easiest way to make these (notice I said 'make', not 'install') is to use PE aftermarket rails.  I used some from a detail set for another model (I'm hoping the fret included plenty of spares!).  If this is your first model, you might want to skip little bits like this.  On my first card model, my objectives were simple - just to see if I could cut and glue stuff properly.  Gluing these tiny parts to the model is an exercise in applying tiny amounts of CA glue and the judicious usage of 'special words'.  Working in privacy might be in order.

 

With this irksome task completed, it is time to mount the bridge to the superstructure.  First, we must add three support columns.  The easiest way to do something like these is to drill out the locator marks located in the superstructure roof and insert lengths of wire that are longer than actually needed for the finished columns.

 

Once the bridge is glued on, use tweezers to pull the wires up and glue them into the sockets we previously drilled in the bottom of the bridge deck.  Paint the columns after all the glue has dried.

 

Next come the bridge wing support girders, parts 24c.

 

It takes a steady and practiced hand to cut these from the parts sheets.  Here's some things to remember: 1) color the reverse side first; 2) remove the inside cutouts first; 3) do as much edge coloring as you can while the girders are still attached to the sheet.

 

This next step isn't completely necessary, but I wanted to give the girders some additional structural integrity, so I chose to hide some wire behind the main columns, like so:

 

I also coated the entire reverse side with CA glue to give it some added stiffness.  Once everything was dry and touched up, I trimmed the wire, leaving ~ 1 mm stubs at the bottom of each column.  I then dry-fitted the columns to the main deck and bridge wings, taking note of where the wire stubs met the deck.  I then drilled those spots out, creating sockets for the wire stubs to fit into, like locator pins.  This eliminates some of the sliding around that might otherwise happen while trying to glue the supports onto the model.

 

The last bit to add is the ladder, part 34.  As I said in a previous post, this is supposed to go on the starboard side, but mine wound up on the port side.  Oh, well, lesson learned.  The ladder consists of two rails and a set of treads.  The rails are two sided, so score and cut out the rectangle containing the rails and their reverse sides, apply glue, and fold.  While that dries, you can cut out the treads, which are all together in a continuous strip.  Cut out the strip and slice off the individual treads; there are eight on the strip, but the rails only have locators for five.  The rails and treads are assembled much like the ladder sets that come in wooden ship kits.

 

When the ladder is completed, color all the exposed edges and mount it to the aft side of the bridge wing - starboard side, if you did it correctly.  The ladder should actually have a handrail on the outboard side, but none is shown on the drawings and no template is provided.  Go ahead and add one if you are feeling ambitious!

 

At this point, the completed bridge looks like this:

[ianmajor]

Chris,

 

Fabulous work. I have to keep reminding myself how small the scale is!

[ccoyle]

No we'll add some aft superstructure parts.  As a rule of thumb, we'll work from forward aft, and we'll avoid adding tall, spindly structures, such as the galley stack (61), until later.

 

First we'll add the two galley skylights aft of the radio room, parts 35. 

 

These consist of two frames and two skylights.  Score, cut, color, and fold the frames; CA is a good choice for tacking the frame edges where they close together.  Add the skylights and glue the finished assemblies down on the locator-numbered squares.  The skylights slope down towards their outboard edges.

 

Next we come to the two stacks, the forward stack (27) and the aft stack (28). 

 

The two stacks are almost identical, so I'll describe the construction of the forward stack, and the construction of the aft stack is basically a repeat.

 

Cut out the parts for the forward stack, parts 27a-27d.  There's a misnumbered part in the sequence -- the long, white strip should be 27e.  Color the edge of 27a, being careful not to color the portion alongside the white stripe.  Next, roll the stack.  Remember to lightly moisten the back of the part.  Part 27b is a joiner strip; use the 20# bond version of this part.  Apply glue to one-half of 27b and glue that half inside one or the other side of 27a.

 

Apply glue to the other half of 27b and close the stack cylinder.  Use tweezers to reach inside the cylinder and pinch the seam tightly shut.  The two edges of the seam really need to butt tightly together, or fit problems with 27d may result. 

 

Somewhere in your stash of leftover parts you should have parts 27c and 28c.  These are formers for inside the stack cylinders.  The diagrams say nothing about where inside the cylinder these should go, so I guessed at it.  You can't seat them too low, or the stacks won't fit over the hull profile formers, and you don't want them too high up, otherwise your stack will look like it has a flat cap.  I seated my formers about 1/4" down the stack cylinders.  Once you get 27c seated, you'll need to paint the inside of the stack black.

 

Part 27d is a flange that goes around the lower stack.  Cut, color, and roll the flange.  This is another conical part, and rolling it with a conical object against a soft surface works well.

 

On this particular tiny ring, using the glue tab is helpful, and the overlap at the tab won't be terribly conspicuous.  When the ring is glued closed, carefully work the ring over the lower stack until it is lined up on the dashed locator line, then apply a small amount of glue to the underside of the flange where it meets the stack.  Make sure to line the seam of the flange on the seam of the stack, because both the flange and stack have centerline marks to help line up the stacks on the superstructure.  When the flange is done, the forward stack gets a doubled stripe (27e).

 

The stacks have locator marks for optional rungs.  Again, I used some from a photo-etch fret.  There are also locator marks for optional guy wires, which I will not be adding (partly because there are no locator marks for the wires on the deck).

 

The finished stacks fit snugly over the hull profile former.  Apply a small amount of glue to the edges of the profile former, then slide the stacks into place, using the centerline marks to get the front and rear edges lined up properly.  The ladder rungs should be just off to the starboard side of center.

[ccoyle]

One of the most difficult parts of a card model ship to build convincingly, if you can believe it, is ventilators.  Designers use different techniques for constructing them, and they are all equally a pain.  I still consider myself a novice at building ventilators.

 

Parts 44a-44c make up the boiler room ventilator.  This particular ventilator is made by gluing up a series of rings and then putting them together to make the curved tube.

 

Part 44c should have been one of the parts laminated onto 1 mm card stock, but I somehow overlooked it.  No problem - I simply backed the part with two layers of plain card, and as I said much earlier, this type of built-up part is actually easier to cut out.

 

Parts 44a and 44b need to be cut out, colored, rolled into rings, and glued closed using the small glue tabs.  I cannot stress enough how important it is to cut these parts as precisely as possible - the fit between adjacent rings totally depends on how accurately the parts are cut, and even very small errors will result in unsightly gaps in the seams.  Same goes for gluing the rings shut - make sure the overlapping end of each ring hits the edge of the glue tab dead-on, or you'll wind up with rings of different diameters.

 

44a wraps around the base, 44c.  An easy way to do this, once you have the 44a ring closed, is to lightly coat the inside of the ring with glue, set it flat on your cutting mat, and then press the base former down into the ring while holding the ring down with your fingers.  The flat mat will ensure that the ring and base match up flush.

 

Step one of getting the ring segments mated is to make sure they are as truly round as possible; lopsided rings are much harder to mate properly.  To join the rings, apply a thin bead of PVA to the edge of one ring, then seat the second ring on the first.  The seams and centerline marks of both rings should line up.  The rings also have printed rivets on one edge.  I'm not sure whether these should go up or down, but whichever you choose, make it the same for each segment.  After the two segments are joined, you can use your fingers to gently mold the seam as tightly sealed as you can , being careful not to smoosh the tube in the process (easily done if you get carried away!).

 

The inside of the ventilator needs to be colored.  I chose to paint the inside gray.  Don't wait until the entire ventilator is finished, or you'll have trouble getting your brush down inside the curved tube.  I built the ventilator up into two halves and painted the insides of the halves before joining them together.

 

The finished ventilator is mounted to the numbered circle between the stacks.  Use the centerline marks and seams to line it up properly.

 

It should be pointed out here that flash photography is particularly unflattering for card models.  For example, in the first photo of the finished ventilator, you can plainly see some glue buildup along one of the seams.  In reality, that interior part of the ventilator is deeply shadowed in normal light.  Same is true for many of the little errors such as differences in color shades, slight gaps in seams, or small glue smudges - all of these are things that tend to get highlighted in close-up flash photos and most are inconspicuous when viewed under ambient light at normal viewing distances.  So don't sweat the small stuff!

 

On to Part VII: Building V108 - Armament