HMCS Agassiz by GabeK - HMV - 1:250 - CARD

[Gabek]

Introduction

 

Ah, summer! When you live in a cold place (the centre of Canada) summer is the time to take advantage of the warm sun and, if you’re lucky like I am, to relax at your cottage.  You would think that going to a secluded forest, being away from the bustle of city life, yard work and the lure of the internet you would have quality time with your modelling hobby.  Not really.  I found transporting a model and as many tools and materials as I anticipated needing an exercise in frustration.   Inevitably I was missing something and there really wasn’t adequate space to set up a long-term work area.  

 

Until now.  Several months ago I joined the Model Shipwrights of Niagara (MSON) and, as a member, I was able to attend a couple of online workshops this spring that featured card models.  Veteran card modellers gave us invaluable advice and espoused the virtues of a hobby that was easy to transport, used very few small tools, and promised fun.  Christopher Cooke, owner and proprietor of Marcle Models in the UK, presented an incredible range of models from several vendors.  I had found my cottage hobby! 
 

Not long afterward I ordered the H.M.V. model of HMCS Agassiz - a flower-class corvette - plus the laser-cut accessory kit from Marcle Models.  Mr. Cooke did inform me that there would be a delay because he did not stock this kit but it arrived as anticipated in perfect shape.

 

So, on our next trip to the cottage I added a small satchel with the model, some Aleene’s glue and a few tools to our regular cargo.

 

 

And now the build…

 

 

[Gabek]

First trip to the cottage.

Opening the Kit

First off, the instructions are very well laid out and the English translation from the original German is superb.  Everything comes in an A4 (?) booklet.  The printed parts are on several pages of thicker stock stapled in the centre of the booklet. I chose to open the staples and remove these pages for ease of cutting, etc. 
 

In the card model workshops I attended the presenters had said that parts like bulkheads, decks, false keel, etc, might need to be glued to thicker stock which you need to provide yourself.  H.M.V. has provided space on the printed pages to fold over and glue these parts in a double thickness. I highly recommend that you read several steps ahead carefully before proceeding with your build.  Assembly is done in numerical order but while the instructions are very clearly printed the diagrams are rather small and quite full. So, finding the next part number can take a bit of a search.  

The fine lines, the profusion of small parts, and different dashed lines that denote upward folds, downward folds, and glue locations can be a bit overwhelming at first.  It took me several readings and actual assembly of a few parts before I started making sense of what was going on in the diagrams and on the part assemblies.  Even studying ahead I actually missed cutting out two, tiny red hatched slots in bulkhead 8 which made things a bit bothersome later. (You'll see this soon.). 
 

There are labels in the instructions for where laser cut parts are substituted, but I found a few omissions only because I read ahead and double-checked against the list of laser cut parts parts.  I am very impressed with the quality of these parts and the documentation. 
 

Building begins
I brought a very small kit of tools:  Xacto blade knife, straight edge, Aleene's tacky glue, plastic swabs/applicators, insect pins, three sizes of clothes pins, and a couple of clay modelling tools to act as burnishers/shapers for creating curves in parts.

The waterline, centre keel and bulkheads needed to be doubled up and glued.  The plastic swabs worked very well as glue spreaders when laid flat and used like a roller/spreader. I practiced scoring these folds using the back of the 11A xacto blade.

 

I placed the folded parts under a stack of old magazines to help keep them flat.  Parchment paper was used to keep the magazines from sticking to the model. I left this overnight.

The next day was my first test of my cutting skill.  I found that taking two passes worked best.  A first, medium pressure pass acted like a jig for the second, firmer pass to cut through. The lines are about a blade width thickness and are meant to be cut out.  A straight edge was used where appropriate.

The initial assembly of the centre keel and waterline required two bulkheads for squaring.  All edges in contact were glued together and left overnight.

The next day I installed all the remaining bulkheads and left them overnight.  I noticed a slight warp to the model.  I used insect pins to hold it flat on the cutting mat hoping that it would straighten out with more bulkheads added.

After I cut the deck out I discovered that there were two tabs that needed to be inserted into bulkhead 8…and this is where I forgot to cut out the slots. I eventually managed to cut the slots (the second much better than the first).  Now, I did see the cutouts on the deck!  

The deck required a slight camber and, following advice from the workshops, I managed to add the camber using a spoon-shaped, clay modelling spatula.

A very complicated gluing and clamping job followed.  Clamping paper has certainly become an exercise in problem-solving!

 

And this is where the model sits…until our next trip up!  (The blinds were closed before we left!)
Clear skies and sharp tools,

Gabe

 

Edited June 10, 2023 by Gabek

[Knocklouder]

Looks good my friend  

[ccoyle]

Good luck on this project! I built the 1/100 scale Agassiz from Modelik many years ago. I also have the HMV kit of USS England on pause; it's another product of Agassiz's designer, Darius Lipinski. He has a few 3D-printed parts available for Agassiz at his Shapeways store.      

 

    https://www.shapeways.com/product/AWDN9DUAN/agassiz-js-0005-upgrade-for-paper-model?optionId=62825248&li=marketplace                            

[Gabek]

2 hours ago, ccoyle said:

Good luck on this project! I built the 1/100 scale Agassiz from Modelik many years ago. I also have the HMV kit of USS England on pause; it's another product of Agassiz's designer, Darius Lipinski. He has a few 3D-printed parts available for Agassiz at his Shapeways store.      

 

    https://www.shapeways.com/product/AWDN9DUAN/agassiz-js-0005-upgrade-for-paper-model?optionId=62825248&li=marketplace                            

Thanks, Chris!
This is awesome information! I was already thinking of designing and printing some of my own parts, (resin printing is a hobby) but I may just give Darius some business as thanks for the fine work on this model design.  I still may print up some bollards and a few other details that look easy to produce.  
Clear skies and sharp tools, 

Gabe

[Gabek]

Second trip to the cottage

Dreadful heat and an out-of-province trip to visit my parents kept me away from the Agassiz (oh, and the cottage🤣). Before we left last time I noticed a slight warp in the hull and placed a steel ruler across the model in the hope that time, gravity and incidental steaming in a hot cottage would straighten it out.  Sure enough, it worked! The model now sits perfectly flat.   

 

That was the good news.  The bad news was that this trip was primarily to inspect our cottage after crazy storms passed through the park.  We couldn’t believe our luck that almost no trees or branches fell in our property…we couldn’t say the same for many of our neighbours who had many fallen trees and damage to their cottages.  Power was out for several days and even though the Agassiz’ shipyard is by a large window I discovered that I couldn’t work on the model without some kind of lamp.  Thanks to days of tireless work by Manitoba Hydro 👏🏼 in clearing all the fallen trees and reconnecting power lines, electricity was eventually retored and I got a bit of model building done.

 

GET ON WITH IT!

Before the fore deck gets put on the model a few forward structures needed to be installed. Parts 26, 27, and 28 represent cabins and bulkheads of some kind (I think it would be nice if the directions named the parts).  These were easily cut out, scored, folded and eventually glued in place.  Because the gluing tabs would be hidden I didn’t feel that I needed to be exactly precise when cutting around them which reduced some anxiety.  

 

As usual I used a straight edge to make my cuts as much as possible but I discovered that some of these parts didn’t follow straight lines!  I tipped my hat to the designer as it dawned on me that, even at this scale, small parts followed the camber and curve of the deck.

29, eh? 

(AKA: A sign of things to come…)

Just as I began feeling good about my progress I just stopped and stared at parts 29a and b. For the first time I was faced with SMALL parts…and these aren’t even the smallest!  Cutting, scoring and folding these left me drained of energy and I was glad to walk away to let the glue dry…for at least a day!  

 

I think the lack of gluing tabs made it tough for me.  I cut 29b so it would have at least some small tabs and I glued a pre-folded scrap piece inside of the main part 29 to help affix it to the deck.  

 

Another difficulty was in handling and holding down tiny parts as I was folding and gluing.  I was very thankful for the insect pins I brought along - leftovers from my early university days.  I’ll need to add another indispensable tool from my entomology degree:  very fine tweezers 

 

I looked at upcoming pieces and began adding tabs when cutting out the rest of this set of forecastle parts.  It dawned on me that all these little parts would be underneath the forecastle deck…and I was very glad that the dubious workmanship would be mostly hidden. Hopefully my skill would improve as pieces became more visible!

 

 

A little bit shaping with a burnishing tool allowed me to fit the fore deck to the ship…and several tools were enlisted as weights to keep it in place as the glue sets.

 

And here the model will stay until our next visit…

 

Clear skies and sharp tools!

- Gabe

[Gabek]

Third trip to the cottage

Tiny steps…

The next pieces, according to the plans, were the ladders to the forecastle.  These would be the first pieces from the laser cut set to be used.  I am very impressed with this set as it is well labelled and has an index and diagrams of all the sheets to help you search. 
 

After carefully fussing for over an hour with the first tiny ladder, attempting to bend those blasted minuscule treads into place I was not in the mood to bend the second one right away.  Nonetheless, I carefully glued the first into place and as I saw those delicate rails sticking up above the forecastle I knew they would  certainly be crushed as I continued with the rest of the model.  I carefully took it off before the glue dried and stored it in a pill bottle for now.

Big steps…

At this point I had a choice of which of the four ships I wanted to build so I read over one of my reference books on flower-class corvettes that I had brought up to the cottage. I have purchased several books on these ships because I will be building the Revell 1:144 HMCS Snowberry kit in the near future - my first plastic model in 50 years.

 

 

HMCS Wetaskawin was mentioned as having sunk a u-boat early in the Battle of the Atlantic, so I went with that ship for this model and cut out the lower hull and gunwale pieces.  Clay modelling tools were used again to create curves to match the deck shape.  

Over two days I alternately glued hull sections.  First the lower hull, one side at a time.  To thicken the gunwales and provide printed details on the inboard view, the model requires an inner gunwale be glued to align with the outer section.  And then I made the stupid mistake of trimming off some lower hull that was sticking slightly above deck on the port side before gluing down the gunwales. This has left a little gap that I may have to address.🤬Fortunately, there are three more gunwales that I have to try and patch/fix the issue.

 

I should mention that I debated at length about cutting out the scuppers.  I regret my decision not to.  I think the model would have looked better and now that I completed these steps it will be too difficult to do a good job of cutting them out.  

 

And this is how the model sits until next visit:

 

Clear skies and sharp tools!

- Gabe

 

Edited July 23, 2023 by Gabek

[Gabek]

Fourth trip to the cottage

 

Wanting to be close to home for the birth of our grandson and the subsequent visit from my sister and mother have happily kept us away from the cottage.   By the way, here's our little admiral, Duncan:  

(and because of the modeller in me I have already researched and located plans of the Royal Navy Admiral Adam Duncan's flagship at Camperdown, HMS Venerable, and purchased the Trumpeter model of the modern day HMS Duncan…)

On to the HMCS Agassiz/Wetaskawin…

 

We only stayed at the cottage long enough to mow the grass (and much taller month-old poplar trees) and a few chores so in the lulls I managed to attach the bulwark stays(?).  This is when I the laser cut kit that I purchased paid for itself…again! I almost think it is a necessity to get the kit if you want to build this model.  These tiny parts were painful enough to install without having to worry about cutting them out accurately, etc.  The thicker card stock of the laser kit made these pieces nicely stiff and resistant to the somewhat ham-fisted manoeuvrings I put them through. Their thickness also helped in squaring them to the bulwarks. 

Outboard of the transom were two flanges similar to the bulwark stays that likely support the depth charge chutes.  In real life these are likely thinner than the bulwark supports so they weren't included in the laser cut kit…but I thought it would be advantageous to make them thicker.  So, I sliced off a couple of these from the edges of the laser cut card.

(OMG! Getting in close sure shows off my crummy workmanship!)

 

I had time to glue in the stem…

And that's how she sits until our next visit…

 

Clear skies and sharp tools!

- Gabe
 

 

 

Edited August 29, 2023 by Gabek
Forgot something

[AJohnson]

Congratulations on your Grandson Gabe!  I hope you buy him plenty of model kits to build and keep him busy / away from smartphones/gaming consoles as long as possible when the he is older! 

You did well to get anything done on the Agassiz with all that going on!  Looking good. 👍

[Gabek]

1 hour ago, AJohnson said:

Congratulations on your Grandson Gabe!  I hope you buy him plenty of model kits to build and keep him busy / away from smartphones/gaming consoles as long as possible when the he is older! 

You did well to get anything done on the Agassiz with all that going on!  Looking good. 👍

Thanks, Andrew!  I'm pretty sure that my grandson be immersed in models…whether he likes them or not!  🤣. That and fishing! 🎣🤣

[Knocklouder]

GRANDPA,  The  First Mate  and I want to say He's  adorable.  He will be able to help you build later on, big help picking things up lol.  

  Model seems to be coming along nicely,  how ever did you find the time lol.  Thanks for everything  Matey .