Pride of Baltimore II by halituzun - FINISHED - Model Shipways - 1:64

[yvesvidal]

Superb work on the bulwarks. It is never easy to do them right.

 

Yves

[halituzun]

The small step before sanding sealer job ,I mentioned in the previous post , was the preparation of Pintle and Gudgeon brackets on the rudder and sternpost plus the brass bracket at the top of the rudder.

The brass sheets used for this purpose were 0.008 inch (0.2 mm) thick and 1/32 inch (1.6 mm) wide and were already in kit stock.

After careful location and size measurements , those brass strips were prepared and glued to their final positions. I decided  to drill out the holes for nail heads after the brass brackets were  glued and fixed. I used #70 drill bit with Dremel Micro handpiece. 

I started with the port side of the rudder and opened the holes without any complication.

However on the starboard side when drilling the holes for the lower two brackets, the underlaying wood was burned. This was probably due to the increased friction and thus heat by forcing the worn-out drill bit. I should have used a new one as soon as I felt the first signs of need to increase the force of the handpiece. So I used a new drill bit for the job on sternpost which was uneventful. The initial nail heads I used on the rudder seemed a bit large and popped out, so I changed them with smaller ones ( 0.2 mm less head diameter) later. The nail heads you see in the photos below are the final ones. The brass rod connecting the rudder and sternpost is temporary and for photographing purposes only.

Port side

Starboard side

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 17, 2023 by halituzun

[halituzun]

Then came the sanding sealer job stage.

Sanding sealer was airbrushed  first on the deck planking , followed by the hull and transom and finally to the already prepared bulwark sections and rudder .

A total of 5 coats were applied . Sanding sealer/lacquer thinner ratio was 1:1.25 in the first two coats and was 1:1.5 in the final 3 coats. I used Paache Single action bottom feed airbrush , using a pressure of around 1 Bar for the job.

Before the application of the 5th coat and especially on the hull, the points which are not yet fully covered by sanding sealer were filled with undiluted sanding sealer using a brush.

Between the coats and after the final coat , the surfaces were  sanded by 400 grit sanding paper cover blocks.

 

The masking of the deck after its sanding sealer job is done.

Bulwarks and rudder. Please note that the bulwark sections are location number and side coded.

The photos of the deck , hull and transom after sanding sealer application followed by 400 grit sanding. Please note the red color of the first two middle deck planks at bow were also sanded, however  the red silhouette between them and neighboring deck planks is visible.

 

 

In the final photo of this post below, you see some different color at the border of mahogany and basswood planks indicated by red arrows. It is the color of mahogany stain which I brushed to upper mahogany transom. However I decided not to use it and sanded it off. As the border will be covered with a thin wood and the lower basswood transom be painted yellow, the residual coloration was ignored.

[halituzun]

18 hours ago, yvesvidal said:

Superb work on the bulwarks. It is never easy to do them right.

 

Yves

Thank you Yves

I really do appreciate your comments.

Have a nice day.

[halituzun]

In the next step I painted the sheer planks , coamings, stern knees and upper transom inboard again. This was the final ! painting of those parts.

Then I did the painting job on bulwarks. After the grey primer coat ( I used a 1 lt can of commercial grey primer diluted by commercial lacquer thinner) , the inboards were painted first with  light cream color and  the outboards followed with  black. Although I waited for 48 hours, a moment of carelessness , during removing the masks  , caused paint liftoff in a small inboard area which was repaired by airbrushing that section again.

 

Photo after grey primer.

After painting the in and outboard sides  with light cream and black (Both colors are 100 ml cans of acrylic auto paint diluted with commercial acrylic thinner). Red arrow and ellipse indicate the paint liftoff area.

 

At this stage previously prepared inboard and outboard stringers were painted also. Inboard strips were painted light cream and outboard ones with black.

By the way all colors used so far were matt.

 

Inboard stringers

Outboard stringers

Those stringers above were prepared more than necessary in order to have backup ones ready if need arises.

 

Edited January 14, 2023 by halituzun

[halituzun]

There are several holes on the deck and inboard sides of the bulwarks.

These holes were for eyebolts, cleats and brass airport rings for light passage to below deck areas.

I started with the holes for brass airport rings. The brass airport ring measurements are seen in the photo below.

After marking the places on the deck ,with reference to the plans , with the tip of a needle, I decided to start drilling the holes by using a Dremel 4 mm wood drill bit and Dremel Micro hand piece deep enough to place the flange of the brass airport flush with deck level. Then enlarge the center hole to 2.4 mm  size for full insertion of the airport.

Drill Bits

 

 

Before starting the job on the deck , I used already prepared and planked wood pieces for practice.

Practice wood photos. 

 

Then I drilled the holes on the deck carefully.

The airport rings dry fitted .

Glass prisms were given by the kit. However those prisms were large and protrude upwards a lot which was not nice.

Fortunately a friend of my who has jewelry hobby provided  various smaller sizes of those prisms enabling much more acceptable results. Sorry for the low quality outoff focus below photo in which the prism given by the kit marked with red arrow.

Later I decided to file the curved upper part of the airport flange to get a more realistic result. Probably down to the red dotted level.

Dry fitting of the  filed airport and comparison with the original ones. Again sorry for the quality of the photos.

Here with the smaller size glass prisms.

Then I continued with the holes on the deck. Those holes were for eyebolts and cleats.

Drill bits 0.45 mm size for eyebolts and 1.2 mm size for cleats were used. Like the holes for airport rings, first the points for holes  were marked with pin tips and holes were drilled first by the smallest  size drill bit and gradually increasing the drill bit size up the the final size. Here there are holes which were not to be missed like the ones on the inboard  sides of the outboard stern knees and the one right behind the slot for foremast. 

Please note the holes for airport rings were pine stain colored at this stage.

The holes on the inboard sides of the bulwarks are also for cleats and eyebolts with rings.

The holes were drilled out in the same manner . Although I tried to be careful , paint lifted off around some of the holes, especially the ones for cleats. Those  areas were later revisited and repaired.

Holes for cleats

Holes for eyebolts

Some of the holes for eyebolts have different locations

I believe it is now the correct time to emphasise some of   the out of scale metal parts given by the kit. The first example is the cleats. The kit stock cleats are way out of scale and have to be reduced. As seen on the photos below , and again sorry for the quality of them, I hope you get the idea.

So before moving on  I reduced the size of the cleats by filing.

As there were a lot of them, the job took a long time....

The structures on the outboard and inboard sides of the bulwarks were prepared at this stage. Those structures are mooring chocks, cavels, solid blocks between the cavels and bulwark,  and wood cleats for hanging life rings.

They were dry fitted. Starboard side

 

Port side

 

Edited January 5, 2023 by halituzun

[halituzun]

On the fore deck there was a small area of second planking. This was for to prevent the demage that maybe caused by anchor chains and ropes ! to the proper deck. This was last step to be done before the final the application of the clear coat to the deck.

The planks here have a narrow space between them contrary to the already placed deck ones. There is also a round circular space at fore port area reserved for the steel hatch which will be built and placed later. The planks are cut to size and glued.

After masking

 

Sanding was done after the masking in order to prevent damage to deck. Photos after sanding.

After Antique Pine stain application

 

After the stain painted masks were removed,  new masking was done for sanding sealer job.

Masks were removed and the deck was ready for the final clear coat.

Commercial clear matt varnish was used as the final coat on the deck. The varnish was diluted by commercial lacquer thinner with 1:1 ratio and  airbrushed by Paasche Single Action Bottom Feed airbrush with a pressure around 1 Bar. Here are the photos after clear matt coat application.

Following the deck, final coat job was done on the bulwarks after the bulwark structures (excluding the cleats and eyebolts with rings which were done much more later) were glued in places  and the holes connecting the cavil holes to mooring chock holes, through the wood blocks between them, were  opened. Also the lettering of the ship's name at  the bow on both sides were glued too. Those letterings were prepared before. Here is how I done them. The lettering on the real ship is made of plate attached to the bulwarks. The lettering for the model  was prepared in Word program and later printed on to 300 grams photo paper which was thick enough to simulate the thickness of the plate on the real ship. The white edges of the lettering was darkened by a fine tip black marker pen.

The photos of the bulwarks after matt clear coat.

 

[yvesvidal]

7 hours ago, halituzun said:

 

 

 

You could have used small 3 mm or 2 mm White LED. It is probably too late to wire the inside of the hull and I am not exactly sure what these prisms are for:

• Light tunnels to bring sunlight in the lower decks or
• Display light when the vessel is in a port.

A French modeler used that technique on his superb 1/32 Amati Endeavor Class-J: 

 

 

Yves

[halituzun]

1 hour ago, yvesvidal said:

 

You could have used small 3 mm or 2 mm White LED. It is probably too late to wire the inside of the hull and I am not exactly sure what these prisms are for:

• Light tunnels to bring sunlight in the lower decks or
• Display light when the vessel is in a port.

A French modeler used that technique on his superb 1/32 Amati Endeavor Class-J: 

 

 

Yves

Hello Yves,

Thanks for your comment.

Those prisms are light tunnels to bring sunlight in the lower decks just like you said.

Here is a photo from the real ship.

I was not happy with them also but I could not find any other alternative at that time besides using smaller scale ones. They were also used in some other pars of the model. However  I used plexiglass  ( also used for window glass) from previous projects to simulate window glass in some other parts of the model but was unable to cut so small and circular pieces from them to replace the prisms.

French modelers led lights are  a clever and superb idea...

By the way I kindly remind you that this model is already finished and this is a retrospective blog. The link for the finished photos of the model 

Wish you a happy and merry  Christmas Eve and Day later tomorrow.

Edited December 24, 2022 by halituzun

[halituzun]

In the next step transom details like Fancy Piece and half round moldings were installed. Fancy Piece is prepared from 1/32 inch (0.8 mm) scrap wood. After fine sanding the edges of it to flush with the edges of transom, it was glued in place. Half round moldings were prepared from 1/32x1/32 inch (0.8x0.8 mm) stock and glued in place. Although the moulding at the border of counter and transom is one piece, the one at the border between upper and lower transom areas is interrupted leaving a small space in the middle for Maryland amblem which will be placed later.

There was another structure called Fashion Piece and it was also prepared from scratch .

As the Fashion Piece sits at the very aft end of the bulwarks on the bulwark planks , the installation of aft bulwarks is necessary to begin with. That was what I did and I installed the two aft bulwark sections (section 6) on both sides first.

After the installation of the aft bulwarks I noticed that the bulwark section on port side showed more inclination towards outboard when compared to starboard side. The angle formed by the bulwark and deck was wider. There was another problem. On both sides and when you look from almost an horizontal view angle you notice a space between the bulwark and deck level.

In the photos below the space can not be seen.

However from a certain angle one can easily spot them.

 

The installed bulwark sections were the longest ones and there was 8 stachions in each of them. Also they are a bit curved towards the stern in order to fit the sheer line. Those factors probably caused the faulty result. I tried to install the bulwark sections again but nothing changed. So I made peace with the model and moved on.

The Fashion Piece was fine sanded and glued in place.

Port side

Starboard side

 

 

[halituzun]

After making peace with the model and hoping to keep the faulty bulwark issue as a secret between us, I moved on with the installation of the bulwarks starting from bow end.

The very fore end of the first section of bulwarks is the hawse timber blocks. In order to have sturdy result when gluing this section, I made two corresponding holes on the plank sheer  and the bottom of the  hawse timber block and placed a nail in the holes as seen in the , unfortunately out off focus, photo.

Then the first bulwark sections on both sides were installed.

Before continuing with the rest of the bulwarks, I decided to deal with another daunting step which was drilling out the Hawse Pipe holes in the bottom piece of Hawse timbers.

The procedure here is a bit tricky and you have to think  in three different angles and make a drilling direction plan. From inside to out , from back to front and from above to below. In short words it was HARD. 

The holes diameter must be 1/16 inch (1.6 mm). I first used  1/32 inch (0.8 mm) diameter drill bit , followed by a 3/64 inch (1.2 mm) one and finally 1/16 inch (1.6 mm).

The result was not perfect as expected and the outboard holes were 1-2 mm higher than the designated ones but they were at least symetrical .

Checking the anchor chain (on the wrong side !)

At that time I continued with the installation of  the other bulwarks section which was uneventful. However in some later stage of the build and before the hull painting job, I decided to re-drill the holes. Here I will fast forward the timeline and show you how I did it.

This time I started to drill from outboard to inboard direction and started the drilling from the oytboard hole’s exact location. During the procedure the new channel connected with the old one and drill bit tip came out from the original inboard hole. The procedure was  perfect on port side but on starboard side the new hole and the old hole were connected which needed a repair. Two 1/32 inch (1.6 mm) brass rods were placed in the new opened channels and the remaining spaces were filled with basswood sanding dust. Gap filling CA was applied with glue applicator on them. Sanding sealer 1:1 concentration with lacquer thinner applied to smoothen the surface. This time the result was more acceptable.

  Starboard side

Port side

Brass rod in holes

After sanding dust and CA glue application.

 

As the length of the channels were increased new  brass tubes were cut with angled ends.

OK ! Now back to present build time. As I said before the installation of the remaining bulwarks was uneventful.

 

 

The next step was the installation of the outboard and inboard bulwark stringers. You have to start with the outboard stringers because they will mark the height of the bulwarks. Here placing their 1/32 inch (0.8 mm ) edges on stachions must not be forgotten.

Now as the height of the bulwarks are set by outboard stringers, it is time to sand off the remaining bare tips of the stachions. This was done carefully by holding the bulwark section to be sanded with left hand , wearing a powderless glove of course, and doing the sanding job with the right hand (or vice versa) . 

Now the inboard stringers, painted light cream, can be placed . This time leaving spaces for pin rails as well as placing 3/64 inch (1.2 mm) edges on stachions must not be forgotten.

 

 

 

Edited December 25, 2022 by halituzun

[halituzun]

It is now the 9th month of real-build-time of the model.May 2021.

Before beginning the paint job on the hull, there were a couple of steps to be finished.

One of them was the preparation and installation of the propeller and its related structures like shaft, shaft log and support struts.

Of all the models  in the forum and in the others found on internet, only one modeler (Jdbondy in MSW Forum) added the propeller system to his model. The reason and argument of the modelers who have not added the prop system  to their model,  was that they were planning to build the model of the original ships build in early 1800 s which inspired the Baltimore City Council to build a replica. That is understandable if you exclude the engine room hatch from the deck and the POBII lettering from the bow and upper transom. However in many of the models build without propeller system , both engine room hatch and POBII lettering was included making those models somewhat with missing a major part. Imagine a model with an engine room below the deck and missing propeller system !

I decided to follow the plans of with the present ship and began to build the propeller system. The system consists of 4 parts. Propeller, propeller shaft, shaft log and shaft supporting struts.

The color of the propeller (Brass) and the propeller shaft (Steel) are the same in the real ship .  In the plans shaft log and the struts are shown in Bronze color. However in the below photos of the ship provided by the crew those are the same color as the hull, dark green. I decided to use dark green.

 

The kit instructions dictate to solder the metal pieces when preparing the struts and shaft logs. I had no previous experience with soldering and as the pieces to be soldered were tiny, I decided to use epoxy glue . I was successful with the shaft logs. However although the struts were erected , they felt somewhat weak and probably will dismantle easily when I attempted to attach them to the hull.

So I decided to cheat a little here and made the struts from one piece of brass sheet and add a piece of brass tubing later.

I drilled 0.5 mm (3/64 inch approx) holes on the strut leg pads for nails.

Dry fitting of the system. 

 

By taking measurements from certain points on the hull like already installed pintle  and gudgeon brackets on sternpost, gunport #5 and corner of keel and sternpost , I marked the places where shaft logs and strut pads to be glued. The corresponding holes on the deck were drilled. Here are some photos of the dry fitted propeller system on the hull.

 

Here there was another example of the out of scale  metal parts of the kit. The propellers were larger than the plan.

 

So they have to be reduced in size.

 

The reduced size now fits to scale

Here is the dry fitting photo after propeller size reduction.

Also the diameter of the holes on the propellers in which the propeller shafts will go, were larger then the shaft's. Small pieces of brass tubing were placed in those holes in order to provide a more stable system when the shaft are inserted.

Shaft logs were glued in place. I planned to install the struts after applying the primer paint coat. 

 

Edited December 26, 2022 by halituzun

[halituzun]

One last step before the primer coat of the hull was the handle the transom lettering. For 'Pride of Baltimore II' and ' Baltimore  Maryland ' lettering I planned to prepare and apply decals.

I prepared  the lettering in a word file. Printout sizes  and slightly curved lines were arranged according to measurements taken from the plans.  The word file was then laser   printed on transparent decal paper in the print shop. On the decal sheet you also see the bow lettering and small transom amblem. Both of their level  was higher than their backgrounds and  I used 300 gram photo paper for them later as you have already seen in the bow bulwark lettering.

 

'Pride of Baltimore II' lettering was gold in color to be placed on mahogany background.      ' Baltimore  Maryland ' lettering was red in color to be placed on yellow background. 

When I tried to test a 'Pride of Baltimore II' decal I quickly observed the light gold color is lost on the dark mahogany background. There was no problem with the ' Baltimore Maryland' decal as it was dark color (red )  on light background (yellow).

I planned to visit the print shop and get printout on an opaque (white) decal paper. However there must also be solution for the hallow areas in letters like p, d, o or b. I found a solution as follows. I took a photo of the mahogany transom area. Than I combined this photo with 'Pride of Baltimore II' lettering in Word program. The word file was used again the print shop but this time to an opaque (white) decal paper.

 

Here is a test application. Rows 2 and 4 are transparent decals.

Here the problem was to deal with the white edges of the decal. The white edges have to be dark colored preferably before the final decal placement. After carefully cutting the lettering the edges were  colored and the decal was put aside to dry. Then it was applied to the prepared surface. This time I decided to apply  mahogany stain to upper transom. followed by sanding sealer coats. After 2-3 clear gloss varnish the surface was ready for decal application. To minimize the pattern difference between decal and backround, I cut the words  and placed each of them separately . 

Here are some photos of the upper transom lettering.

After the gloss and final satin varnish coats which were to be  applied in the later steps, the lettering will look much more acceptable.

 

[halituzun]

Although the propeller shaft logs were  glued to their final location on the hull, propeller shaft struts and hawse pipes were kept aside and prime painted separately.

Shaft log starboard side

Shaft log port side

Propeller shaft struts

Hawse pipes

The deck, upper mahogany transom , bulwarks and plank sheers (excluding outboard edges) were properly masked.

After masking the mid deck with Tamiya masks, a wooden block was placed using double side stickers in order to hold the model safely in various positions.

Commercial type grey primer was diluted with lacquer thinner with a ratio of 1:1. Paasche Single action bottom feed was used. 2-3 drops of retarder was added to each application bottle. Airbrushing was carried out with pressure around 1 bar. After the first coat several areas were filled with undiluted primer using a brush. After the curing period wet sanding was done with #800 grit paper. Here are some photos after first coat and sanding.

Later 2 more coats were applied. Photos right after second coat.

Starboard side

 

Port side

 

Stern

Photos after final sanding of primer coats and removal of the masks.

Starboard side

 

Port side

 

Black paint was lifted on one location  of the bulwarks. This was probably due to inadequate adhesion of the paint and careless mask removal. However the   surface cleanness-less and over smoothness of the surface were the factors to begin with.  

The paint lifted area was handled later with the black paint of the hull.

 

 

 

 

[halituzun]

After the primer coat job of the hull, it was time to draw the Load Water Line (LWL).

The ship bow is higher than the sternpost-keel corner and makes an angle with the horizontal level as seen in the photo from the plans.

The angle measurements were carefully transferred to a square wooden block and a line was drawn.

 

After the wooden was cut with the table saw, another piece of wood with the same length but 1 cm less in wide was cut also. This thinner piece was glued under the first wood piece leaving 0.5 cm space the sides. 1.5 mm diameter holes on the jig and corresponding ones on the model's keel were drilled. Two 1.5 mm brass rods were placed in the holes on the jig. The the jig fixed on the Wolfcraft work table as seen in the photos below.

The model was placed on the jig .

Modelexpo brand waterline drawer was used. However the drawers original pencil was removed and a 0.35 mm tip pencil was mounted.

After careful location measurements taken from, the plans  the fore and aft end points  of the LWL were marked on the model.

Then the LWL was drawn on both side.

LWL was also transfered to the rudder at this stage.

 

 

[halituzun]

After the cure of the grey primer I decided to start the hull painting with the green below the LWL. A 3 mm wide Tamiya masking,  with one edge freshly cut with a new #11 blade using steel ruler on glass surface, was placed right at the upper side of the drawn LWL. The rest of the hull and the deck was masked in the same manner like before the primer coat application.

Commercial auto paint was used for  matt green color and the code of it was RAL Design 160 30 25. Paint was diluted by commercial acrylic thinner with 1 : 1 ratio. The rudder was painted first.

Then the under surface (The side facing the hull) of the propeller shaft struts were painted and they were installed on the hull.

 

Iwata bottom feed double-action airbrush with 0.5 needle was used. 7-8 drops of retarder was added to the paint bottle you see below. Pressure around 1 Bar was used throughout the procedure. The reason for the choice of the type of the airbrush was to provide an easy flow of paint while controlling the flow amount.

After the two coats of paint disaster struck. I felt like hitting the wall. There were dry paint particles and droplets almost everywhere. After 30 minutes those particles were cleared off by pressurized air as they were not attached to the paint. I tried to clean the remaining ones by a dry brush. Then I did something which was unnecessary and completely wrong. I tried to sand the surface with #2000 paper wetted by water in which a few drops of dishwashing detergent added. Initially the result seemed OK. After the surface was dry I airbrushed two more coats by using Paasche single action bottom feed airbrush. Unfortunately I was  demoralized and did not even took photos after the first two coats. 

Here are the photos taken at the end of the disaster day.

Particles , fisheyes and spider webs can be seen clearly. Although in the photos of the whole  hull taken from a distance the result seems to be acceptable, in the ones taken close  problems can clearly be seen.

 

The next day , after consulting modeler friends in our local forum, I started the repair process. The propeller shaft struts were removed as they clearly impeded the flow of paint and changed the flow direction. The paint on them was completely removed. They were primed and color painted again and put aside to be installed later.

 

The area where struts were removed on port side, was filled with primer using a brush.

 

After 48 hours I started the sanding the primer filled area and the  rest of the hull. Sanding was done in the order of #600, #800 and #1500.

 

The next day after the sanding another coat of paint was applied. This time I used Iwata gravity feed double action airbrush with 0.5 mm needle. 0.5 Bar pressure was used and the the tip  of the airbrush was kept around 5 cm from the surface. Although there were minimal paint deposited points, the result on the starboard side was acceptable.

 

However on the port side there were cracks in the paint as well as particle deposits. The cracks started to be seen once the paint started to dry. As the starboard side was better, I thought the insisting problem on port side is not to application technique but underlaying surface problem. However the sanded paint before the process was OK ?

Problems persisting on the port side

After 48 hours sanding was done again, using #600 and # 1500 papers. After waiting another 48 hours the final green paint coat was airbrushed.

The starboard side was OK as seen in the photos below.

 

 

On the port side , when looking with naked eye from 50 cm, the result is OK.

 

However, although way more in less numbers  than the previous coats, when getting closer and looking with a magnifier glass, there were still  areas where paint is cracked.

At this step I decided to take off the masks and accept the present condition of the port side paint. Hoping the planned gloss coats followed by the final satin coats will improve the still existing problem, I removed the masks , fortunately , without any problem. Had there been any problem at the paint border, I planned to remove all the paint and prime the hull once more ( probably many of you would have done regardless of the mask removal situation and was the correct way to do !)

Photos after mask removal.

Now looking back to those disaster days and thinking what went wrong or what I did wrong , I come to some conclusions :

 

1. On day one after the two paint coats were airbrushed, I should have kept cool and waited until the paint was completely dry. 

2. I should have used the airbrush type which I was used to. It was first time I used Iwata bottom feed airbrush. Probably I was a bit awkward and used pressure higher than needed thus airbrushing from a bit far distance causing the paint particles to dry before hitting the surface. 

3. Wet sanding was a terrible idea at that step. I should have never done it.

3. Trying to remove the particles with pressurized  air was another bad idea and probably caused the obvious cracks under the strut on port side.

4. Of course the lack of surface cleanness was an important factor and probably it was enough for the paint adhesion.

 

I am sure you will have many  advices different from the above conclusions and I will be more than happy to hear them . 

There was one silver lining of the paint disaster. When I checked the exhaust air filter of the self-made paint booth , the green color of it proved the system was working !

I will continue the hull painting with black followed by yellow areas. However on the stern lower transom was painted yellow separately beforehand in order to mask the yellow area more easily when painting the half round molds on the stern later than painting the mold's black first and masking them.

 

 

[yvesvidal]

What a nerve wracking story !!! Maybe the primer did not react correctly with the paint you used....

Overall, you saved the day and a few blemishes make the model more realistic.

 

Yves

[halituzun]

Indeed it was .

I don’t think it was the mismatch of the primer and paint because there was no problem in the black and yellow painted areas as you will see in the post I am will be uploading later today,

 

Edited December 30, 2022 by halituzun

[halituzun]

After painting the green of below LWL, I planned to paint  first the black areas of the hull and the rudder. The reason of this choice was simple : as the yellow areas to be painted ( the wales and the outboard edge of plank sheers) are higher in level when compared to the neighboring black areas, it  would be easier to mask the black painted areas once they are painted.

The holes at the stem for bowsprit bobstays were opened at this stage. I think it would have surely been better to drill them before the green paint step.

After careful masking, which took almost a day, black paint was airbrushed keeping all the factors causing the disaster in green painting. Masks were removed after 2.5 hours and this time things went as planned.

Photos after black painting and mask removal.

Rudder

After 48 hours and masking again, the yellow paint was airbrushed. Yellow paint was also acyrlic commercial auto paint.

Here are the photos after yellow paint which completes the hull painting.

 

After the hull painting was finished , the next step was installing lower transom lettering, Maryland amblem on the transom and depth gauge numbers on the sternpost and stem.

' Baltimore   Maryland' lettering was  as a decal. After 2 coats of gloss coat to the yellow area of the lower transom, that lettering was placed. 

Maryland amblem was also ready both as a decal and a print on 300 grams photo paper. I forgot to mention that I found the photo of the amblem on internet.

The amblem cut from the photo paper was used and it was placed after the edges were painted black with a marker pen.

 

The depth gauge numbers were also decals. They were prepared as white numbers on either black or dark green backgrounds. Here a photo of the decals on white decal paper.

On the paper you can also see the decals of the ships boat 'chasseur' and the figure on the bowsprit cap.

Here are the photos after all the lettering above is placed.

 

Now it was time to apply the gloss coats of the hull.

There were 3 reasons and need for this step

1. To cover the decals in order to level them with the surface.

2. To improve the borders between color trabssitions

3. To protect the paint until the final satin coats.

 

I used Tamiya X-22 gloss coat thinning it with Tamiya acrylic thinner with a 1:1 ratio.

Iwata gravity feed double action airbrush was used under a 0.5-0.8 Bar pressure. 2 coats were applied. Additional one coat was airbrushed on the decal placed areas. The model was kept in a closed environment for 72 hours .

Here are the photos of gloss coat step.

[halituzun]

Next comes the installation of the main rail of the bulwarks. The main rail was already prepared before the painting of the hull.

Initially I followed the kit's instructions and planned to prepare the  main rail as 3 separate pieces . As the finishing of the rails were mahogany in color, I decided to manufacture them directly from mahogany wood instead go basswood.

Here are the photos of the initially prepared main rail pieces

However in a later stage I changed my mind and decided to prepare them as one piece at each side also from mahogany wood. I cut out the rails from the plan in three pieces; port, starboard and stern pieces. They  were glued to 3 mm cardboard and then cut carefully.

They were placed on mahogany sheet and after fixing the cardboard with clamps,  the outline of the rails were transfered.

The stern piece

Port and starboard side pieces transferred to wood.

 

The  rough cutting of the pieces were done by using Proxxon KS230 Table Saw and Proxxon DS230 Scroll Saw . Then work was done by Dremel large and small drum sanders. Finally suitable sanding wood blocks were used.

 

 

Final shapes and dry fitting

 

Probably the main rails are the only structure in the ship with a gloss finish. In order to achieve the mahogany color better and the gloss finish, I decided to stain the rails with synthetic mahogany stain.

Here is a photo of the experiments  with scrap wood.

 

Here is a photo of the rails after stain application

 

After the stain several coats of sanding sealer was airbrushed to smoothen the surface. As the mahogany wood is porous in character more than several coats were needed.

The final gloss coat was planned after the installation of the rails.

The installation began with a piece  (red arrow) right under the stern rail.

 

First the deck and starboard rails were installed.

 

Then the stern piece was trimmed to fit between the aft ends of port and starboard pieces. This step was followed by the trimming of the aft ends of the port and starboard pieces. The neighboring areas between the stern piece and the side ones were filled with mahogany wood sanding dust (to match the color) and gap filling CA was  applied . This was followed by light sanding of those areas.

Photos of the deck and the other parts of  the main rail after installation.

 

Please note that the model is fixed on the jig prepared for LWL drawing and touching the hull is minimized during the handling of the model.

 

Edited January 5, 2023 by halituzun

[halituzun]

It is now the 13th month of the real build timeline. All the work on hull, stern, bulwarks and deck were  finished and the model was put and  stored in a closed space.

It was time to start building the deck structures. There were  various structures on the deck and bulwarks such as cabin tops, hatches, deck lockers , fife rails, vent boxes, binnacle, steering wheel and wheel box, windlass, channels and many more. These are described in Stage E section of the instruction booklet.

In the real model building timeline almost all the structures were manufactured first and painting them all together was done afterwards. However I will post each structure separately , including the manufacture and painting stages of that particular structure together, in order for the viewers to follow the building process more easily.

I will start with the cabin tops and hatches. However all the photos of the aft lazarette hatch are taken with the binnacle, wheel and wheel box together, so those structures will be including in the posts regarding the hatches.

Let's start with the main salon top. This structure is similar to the after cabin top and both have planked roofs and have  companionways.

I decided to keep  companionways  open in both structures. This means the deck below to be seen from the openings must be handled . I decided to plank those deck areas with 0.4 pear strips. This pear planked piece is manufactured  and kept aside until the final assembly of deck structures.

After the four sides of the cabin top were  done squarely , the top was covered with 3 sheets.The side walls of companionways placed .

The structure at the fore side of the structure is manufactured separately and put aside.

 

The arc structure at the companionway was cut out from a piece of wood.

Then the sliding top of the companionway was built.

The wood steps at this stage was fore demonstration only. 

The roof planking was planned. Edge  planks were  mahogany and inside planks were same as deck planks. The inside planks were build in 3 sections. After placing the edge planks the inside planks were installed.

 

Then the inside planks were stained. Sanding sealer was applied.The sidewalls of the structure was painted light cream. Companionways and sliding top were mahogany in color. The number at the entrance was a decal. That number detail was taken from a photo the ship. After the painting job,  the finished structure was put and kept in a closed organizer box until its final installment. This was what I have done with all the other finished structures.

Here are some photos of the main salon top. Sliding top of the companionway and the structure at the fore edge of the main salon top were not permanently glued at this time.

 

 

Edited January 12, 2023 by halituzun

[halituzun]

After cabin is the largest structure on the deck and it's roof harbors various structures. Just like the main salon top, first it's 4 side walls were  put together. Then 4 piece top was  placed leaving a space for the companionway. Sliding  top of the companionway was manufactured just like the main salon's. Planked floor from 0.4 mm pear strips was made and put aside. As the windows of the   structure at the fore end of the top were rectangular, they were easily cut out from a previous project's plexiglass parts. The window frames were inserted and sanded leaving a small elevation. I did not attempt to manufacture those windows with movable hinges . The small window on the starboard side of the top was also made from plexiglass. However it's frame was manufactured from a suitable brass sheet. The small vent  was made from brass rod by turning it with Dremel 8200 mounted at Dremel work station. Ship's bell and it's holding frame from brass strip was also put a side after manufacturing and dry fitting. Roof planking was also made as three pieces, just like the main salon, along with the mahogany side planks. The side planks were placed first followed by the three inside pieces. After staining, painting and matt final coats the cabin top was put aside with all the other top structures to be glued in a later stage.

The kit's bell was damaged when shaping it. The Modelexpo Co mailed another one but that one was also damaged during transport. I purchased brass ones from Constructo Models and manufactured a new system.

Vent at the middle of the roof was manufactured from brass rod by turning it with Dremel 4000.

Finished after cabin photos

The masks on the windows were kept in place until the structures final installment time.

Edited January 5, 2023 by halituzun

[halituzun]

Engine top was also prepared in the same manner. Side walls first followed by top pieces and finally the sliding covers and rails. Two holes for light passage were drilled. The curved flanges of the two airports, to be inserted to those holes, were filed .

Finished photo. On the fore wall of the structure the two handles for bilge pumps were placed.

 

Edited January 3, 2023 by halituzun

[halituzun]

The fourth cabin top was Crew berthing/galley access trunk. The structure of this cabin top was a bit complex when compared to engine room top. 

 

 

 The hose for the fire hydrant was made from cloth. The hose nozzle and the connection piece on the hydrant were made from brass rod and tubes turned in Dremel 4000 fixed in Dremel workstation.

 

A brass rod was placed.

After drying the brass rod was  removed. The tips of the prepared hose were trimmed to fit the hydrant and the hose tip. As there are two fire hydrants on the ship another piece set was prepared.

The finished photos 

 

 

Edited January 5, 2023 by halituzun

[halituzun]

The two hatches at fore deck and aft deck were prepared. I decided to skip the moving hinges at these structures too. The window glass on the fore hatch is plexiglass.

 

The wheel was filed to the final shape. Red arrows show the square filed areas. The wheel box was made from a wood block. The two tops were added later. The binnacle was made from several parts glued together.

 

 

Finished photos

 

 

Edited January 4, 2023 by halituzun

[yvesvidal]

These kits can be a little bit on the crude side at times, but you are doing a fantastic job with them.

 

Yves

[halituzun]

You are right  Yves. There will be many more examples of scratch building in the later stages. However I enjoyed the challenges throughout the building journey. 

[halituzun]

I'll move on with the ventilation boxes and deck lockers.

There were  two ventilation boxes. They were were prepared from basswood wood blocks. Contrary to the deck lockers , their top parts were glued before painting in order to drill out the holes for vent cowls properly . However bottom part were glued after painting. Although the instructions dictate that these two boxes have feet under them, it can easily be observed from the recent photos only the short one has feet. I decided to built them without feet.

There were 5 deck lockers. Their bottom and tops were glued after painting. The tops of the two of them  (red arrows) were different from the other three as they have a border of thin strips with openings at the corners. Those two lockers also have feet under them as a difference from the other three. The lettering of two of the boxes were prepared as decals. The font size of the lettering was 3.5 (MS Word font sizes). Hinges were made from black decal pieces. All the doors on the lockers and vent boxes were made from 0.3 mm thick wood sheets. Rope handles were later made before the lockers final instalment.

After painting

 

[halituzun]

The windlass is mainly two metal parts. Those parts are sanded and cleaned. Samson posts and connecting links are prepared. Holes for those links must be drilled in windlass quadrants and pump handle brackets. Holes for nails  under the samson posts and windlass riding bits were opened. The corresponding holes on the deck will be opened after the final location of the windlass system was decided.

Port and starboard riding bitts were glued together and the windlass system is temporarily mounted on a 1 cm thick photo block and was put in a closed organizer box.

At this stage the chains pipes for anchor chain (port) and anchor rope (starboard) were scratch build as the pieces given by the kit did not feel realistic. The new pieces were  prepared from brass tubing and the caps were made from brass rods by turning and shaping them in Dremel 4000 fixed on Dremel workstation. Holes on the sides of the pipes were drilled. The chain and rope will go in from those holes to the space below deck in the final installment stage.

 

 

 

[halituzun]

There are three fife rails . One at the bottom of main mast and two at the bottom of fore mast.

The wood pieces are prepared. Holes for nails were drilled at the bottom of the corner pieces.

Wood handles for the winches were prepared from mahogany dowels turned in my so-called Dremel lathe !. 

Winches

Winch handles

Fore mast fife rails

 

Main mast fife rail

Winch connecting rods and their placement

The pieces were glued and temporarily placed on photo blocks

 

After painting

At this stage pin rails at bulwarks were prepared and painted. There are four pin rails two at each side.