Oryol 1902 by GrandpaPhil - Orel - 1/200 - CARD - Russian Battleship

[GrandpaPhil]

The Admiral and I have a curio cabinet that we display my smaller ships in.

The Admiral asked me to build something that complements my Encore USS Olympia which sits by itself on the second shelf.

 

That means another pre-dreadnought, of which I have several sitting in my stash.

 

The Oryol will fit quite nicely on that shelf with the Olympia, even with a stand, and complement the Olympia perfectly.

 

 

The Oryol was a Borodino-Class Imperial Russian first-rate battleship launched in 1902.

 

She stood 397 feet long and is of French design.

 

The Japanese captured the Oryol in 1905.

This will be a neat build.

Edited November 9 by ccoyle
corrected log title

[Coyote_6]

Any chance of a pic of the display (or just the Olympia)?  Looks like an interesting topic!

Edited November 9 by Coyote_6

[GrandpaPhil]

This is an old picture taken back when I had recently built Olympia (back in 2012):

I’ll get a picture of the curio cabinet later on.

[Coyote_6]

Thanks Phil.  The Olympia is beautiful!  

 

I am always interested in how folks are displaying their models.  

 

Those pre-dreadnaughts are so intrigueing - harkening back to simpler (but still perilous) times.

[king derelict]

Looks like a beautiful ship. Looking forward to seeing it come together.

alan

[GrandpaPhil]

Thank you all!

The beginning of all POB card ships:

 

This one has a lot of bulkheads which is a really good thing.

 

That will help structural integrity and prevent hull twist.

[yvesvidal]

An interesting build. I will be following with a lot of interest.

 

Yves

[GrandpaPhil]

Thank you very much!

 

And so begins construction:

 

The centerplate is corrugated cardboard and is glued together!

 

Working on laminating all the remaining hull structural pieces together and getting them cut out for test fitting.

Edited November 10 by GrandpaPhil

[GrandpaPhil]

Working on cutting out and fitting bulkheads and structural members.

 

It’s slow going, but that is to be expected.

And I accidentally ripped the center plate in three pieces, so it’s drying now, after being repaired.

All of the remaining hull structural pieces are laminated and drying now.

Edited November 11 by GrandpaPhil

[Old Collingwood]

Such a delicate build  -  would  have my  nerves shot to pieces.

 

OC.

[Canute]

Phil, those open corrugated cardboard pieces keep the build strong? And they're thin enough? That's a good cost saver.

[GrandpaPhil]

Ken,

  This is my fourth build using corrugated cardboard for structural members.

 

Once the frame is glued it is quite rigid and structurally sound.

 

Once the hull covering is on and dried, the hull is as solid as a wood model.

 

Only the center keel is corrugated on this one.

 

It was supposed to be 2mm thick.

 

The others are supposed to be 1mm thick.

 

I only damaged the center plate because I tried to manhandle it to make something fit, so it was my own fault.

 

This model has 3-4 layers of longitudinal shaping pieces too.

 

 

The hull will be quite structurally sound.

 

OC,

  I appreciate the sentiment.  The fiddly part is all the detail parts, then, if this is anything like my last predreadnought, I’ll have to careful to only handle the model by its base.

[Michael Mash]

Regarding the “Admiral”:  You are lucky to have someone in charge who is ordering more of your ships.  I salute the “Admiral”.  

Mike

Edited November 11 by Michael Mash

[Jsk]

Pred-Dread card models seem to be all the rage. Well, frankly, there aren't a lot of non-card pre-Dread kits available! Looking forward to watching this.

[GrandpaPhil]

Mike,

  The Admiral decorates with them, for which I am extremely grateful.  She doesn’t often request something specific, but when she does, I get to building quickly.

 

Jeff,

  I went on a buying spree of predreadnought and ironclad card kits and plans after building the ironclad Solferino, also by Orel.  
 

I discovered a whole era of Naval history that I didn’t know even existed.  I had seen the predreadnoughts by Deans Marine and that kit of the Olympia that I built, but I knew next to nothing about Naval history from the European side for most of the 19th century and into the early twentieth century.  
 

I found these kits because @ccoyle kindly sent me an Amazon link for HMV’s kits and Orel’s predreadnought kits showed up under suggestions of things I might like.

 

I have bought five of them now.  

 

Inspired by those, I bought two more sets of plans from AAMM of a late 19th century battleship and a steam powered three decker.

 

I have learned so much about model ship building, and the possibilities out there, including that card models are a viable and legitimate form of ship modeling, from this forum.

 

I strongly recommend @Ab Hoving’s card modeling from scratch tutorial on this forum.

 

It got me started on card ships.

I have completed four card ships now and I hope that I am just getting started.

Edited November 11 by GrandpaPhil

[GrandpaPhil]

All bulkheads are laminated up, cut out and test fitted:

Next up: the faux decks, which are now laminated up, need cut out and test fitted!

[GrandpaPhil]

The primary framework is cut out and test

fitted.

 

Everything went relatively smoothly with the framework assembly, especially once I started putting the faux decks in place.

 

Before then, the thinner sections became weak points.

 

Now, even not glued, the frame is relatively strong.

 

Once it gets glued, this thing will be solid as a rock.

[yvesvidal]

Phil,

 

When you "laminated up", what do you mean exactly? I am completely ignorant when it comes to paper models and was wondering what is the exact process.

 

Thank you.

Yves

[GrandpaPhil]

Yves,

  It is the process of layering up card to build up the right thickness.

 

I use a thin film of pva glue and put the pieces under glass with books on top to make everything dry flat.

 

Most pieces are three layers thick so far.  I also let each layer dry individually before building up another layer to minimize warping.

[Old Collingwood]

Coming along well  Phil  -  looking great.

 

OC.

[GrandpaPhil]

Thank you very much!

 

The frame is glued together, painted the black sections black and am starting to add the rest of the framing pieces:

 

Here in the near future I am going to preemptively seal everything and I might get everything that needs laminated, laminated in advance.

Edited November 15 by GrandpaPhil

[madtatt]

Hello Phil.
A very interesting pre-dreadnought ship. 
The frame is very neatly built. I'll stay on board.

[GrandpaPhil]

Thank you very much, Jolle!

 

Thank you very much for all the likes and for stopping by!

 

I’m working on getting everything laminated up and sealed on both sides.

 

That was something that I could have improved on when building the Solferino, doing all that in advance.

 

I also have to decide on a base for this one and take contour measurements for the cradle.

[GrandpaPhil]

Base board:

[GrandpaPhil]

The framework is pretty much done now:

I believe that everything that needs laminated is now laminated.

 

It is about time to seal all the parts in advance.

Edited November 16 by GrandpaPhil

[GrandpaPhil]

All parts are sealed now.

 

Found a few parts that I missed on the first round of laminating, so they’ll need to be laminated up and sealed on the back.

 

Getting the first round of decks prepared:

 

And fairing the hull for covering (as with all POB models).

 

I am also going to add thin card strips to the bulkheads and faux decks to have more to glue the hull covering to.

[GrandpaPhil]

I made a temporary cradle:

Using Legos for jigs and cradles is one of the things I learned about, on this forum.

 

The Oryol sits relatively flat and level on the cradle.

 

After skinning, I will probably modify the cradle and use it until I make an actual base for the Oryol.

The forward most decks are on now:

Edited November 18 by GrandpaPhil

[GrandpaPhil]

The decks are on:

The lower hull covering is progressing:

Those strips that Orel recommends putting on the two upper faux decks are working wonders for ensuring that there is plenty to glue to.

 

They will also help with the appearance of armor bands later on.

 

I adjusted my temporary stand to allow for the skin of the hull.

 

I’ll make an actual cradle and permanently mount it to the base after I finish the lower hull fittings, which will be after I finish completely covering the hull, including the upper hull.

Edited November 18 by GrandpaPhil

[Old Collingwood]

Really coming  on Phil.

 

OC.

[GrandpaPhil]

Thank you very much, OC!

The lower hull is on:

I filled the gaps so I can sand with some 220 grit sandpaper, seal and paint.

 

The instructions are pretty vague and assume that you’ve done this before.

 

They recommend not adding the bilges at this point, but don’t say when to, so I’m going to fully assemble the hull below the waterline and paint everything.

 

I am also going to make a permanent cradle prior to adding the props and disassemble the temporary cradle.

 

The cradle will be glued to the hull like I have done before to assist in handling the model.

 

At that point I’ll also start prepping the actual base and move back above the waterline.

Edited November 20 by GrandpaPhil