Royal William by pirozzi - FINISHED - Euromodels - 1/70

[Greg the peg leg sailor]

G'day Vince

Two words: bloody marvellous. What else can I say!

Haveagreatone

Greg

[DenPink]

Hi Vince

 

Looking very classy if you dont mind me saying.

 

Looking ahead a bit, are you thinking of fitting some Mast Heel's.

 

I have ordered some but I will see what they look like first.

 

Denis.

[pirozzi]

Just learned another lesson the hard way.   As you know, I cut out the tiny window panes in the metal gallery castings and filled them in with a liquid window glaze. They came out very nice and look like real glass. I then glued the castings in place using very little CA glue. It seems the fumes from the glue turned most all of the nice panes white. It took about a day for the white to show up.    . I had to remove the castings and scrape out the windows and do it again. Now I have to figure out what glue to use that won't fog up the windows and still be strong enough. I don't think PVA glue will hold metal very well.

 

Vince P.

[Ponto]

I've used quick setting epoxy with success in these instances,....and your stern is looking fabulous, by the way.....

 

JP

[pirozzi]

I am bending many of the metal castings and some require severe curving. To prevent breakage, I use a butane torch. I heat the metal to just hot enough that you can't touch it, so it doesn't melt. Then use an anvil and tiny hammer to gently tap the metal. It bends easily and does not break.

 

Vince P.

Edited July 7, 2015 by Vince P.

[pirozzi]

I've used quick setting epoxy with success in these instances,....and your stern is looking fabulous, by the way.....

 

JP

Good idea JP. I will try to glue them back on with epoxy. Will let you know how it turns out.

 

Thanks,

Vince P.

[DenPink]

Hi Vince

 

Like the others said, I used 2 pot epoxy on the main deck window all is Ok

I used Z-poxy 30 minutes drying.

 

Denis

[Greg the peg leg sailor]

G'day Denis

Thinking outside of the square: could you use a fan on the windows while it's drying, that way the fume might not build up and cause the metal to discolour!

Havagooday

Greg

[pirozzi]

Continuing on with the stern galleries and transom.

1. The upper metal trim piece is placed on the transom base.

 

2. The lower gallery windows which consist of 6 pieces are put in place. They had to be bent and contoured considerably using a butane torch. A number of backing plates made up of scrap wood were glued to the base and painted black. These are needed to support the metal window pieces. There were some gaps in the window pieces which had to be filled in with a filler.

 

3. The extended deck which mounts on top of the lower gallery windows was made from a sheet of 3/32" x 4" x 24" basswood (not included). The width from the frame 8 to the deck end needs to be 48mm to allow enough overhang from the windows to support the transom back and also the stanchion railing. Once placed permantely, it will be cut to match the contour of the stern galleries. It will also then be planked on top with deck planking strips.

Edited July 18, 2015 by Vince P.

[GLakie]

The galleries are looking splendid Vince. Looking forward to the next update! 

[cristikc]

Excleent. And very nice pictures.

Cristi

[rtropp]

great job,

It's a pleasure to watch your progress.

Richard

[pirozzi]

The middle gallery windows are ready for the window glass. These windows are the first set which are recessed on the transom. Locating where to place these is critical to the placement of the actual transom, which butts up against to 2 outer doorway panels on the ends of these windows. The plans are not much help here at all.

 

Vince P.

[Greg the peg leg sailor]

G'day Vince

Looking good can't wait for the transform to be completed. Keep up the great work.

Goodonyamate

Greg

[pirozzi]

The middle gallery deck has been planked and the window section has been mounted. Two slots are cut in to the deck to take the bottom of the transom backing, which will be placed after the upper deck and windows are installed.

Next up will be to continue the middle gallery windows around to the hull sides and install the ballestrade railing around the edge of the decking. Once that is done, the deck will be trimmed back to the curve of the stern and a trim added to this edge.

 

Vince P.

[pirozzi]

The side railings for the middle gallery deck must be contoured significantly as well as filed in order to follow the gallery curves. Once again, a small torch and very careful hammering was needed to do this without breaking them. The last 2 photos show them before and after reshaping.

 

Vince P.

[bear]

Ahoy Vince

 

I will spend this weekend going over all of your posts on the Royal William's build here. I was fortunate to have been given this kit last week by a great friend of mine.

And I have seen in past postings on this kit that there are problems with the deck sheer and how thw stern decorative decks are not in line with the extended curve of the decks.

 

Thanks for posting all that you have done to correct these problems in the kit. I have been doing the same type of work on my Mary Rose 1/80 Jotika kit on the main gun deck. Which in the kit is nowhere near where it should be,and has no sheer-but is flat. A lot easier to correct than the number of deck's and stern work you have done here.And then working with the white metal castings on top of it all.

 

Keith

[Greg the peg leg sailor]

G'day Vince

Looooking great. I assume that you are going to put lights in the ship because you are making clear windows? Forgot your previous posts mate

Havagooday

Greg

[pirozzi]

G'day Vince

Looooking great. I assume that you are going to put lights in the ship because you are making clear windows? Forgot your previous posts mate

Havagooday

Greg

Hi Greg, I had not thought about putting lights in her. I just did not like the metal windows in the kit and decided to cut them out and use a window film to make the glass panes look realistic.

 

Vince P.

[pirozzi]

Still working on building up the transom. It is very slow tedious work. Every single piece has to be custom fit and there are no clear plans or dimensions to work with. And, as antcipated, nothing fits correctly. I am relying heavily on photos of completed models on the Euro and other websites for some inclination on how this is supposed to look. Pete's reference notes and Julier's build log are also helpful here. It seems that every piece relies on all of the other pieces to fit together. This requires placing other pieces temporarily to fit each piece as you go. If you miss considering just fitting one piece, you could wind up with a piece later on not fitting at all which requires removing other pieces and readjusting. This has happen to me and is a real nightmare.

 

These photos show the middle deck railing ends. The railing is actually 4 pieces and the 2 end ones must be mounted first. The 2 middle pieces can not be added until the transom back is installed later on.

 

Vince P.

[pirozzi]

The outside windows for the middle deck are added on top of the end railings. These also needed to be bent and formed considerably using a torch.

 

Vince P.

[GLakie]

Despite the lack of good info on the plans Vince, you're doing a bang-up job, and she looks better every time I check in. 

[pirozzi]

The bannisters for the railing had to be added. The kit provides metal decorative strips that must be cut to form stanchions, and they are ok, but I decided to use carved wood stanchions instead. I think they look better. These were 8mm made of boxwood from my stash. I painted them a medium brown.

 

Vince P.

[Ponto]

Vince,... I admire your determination and the results are evident. I'm also working thru "issues" with my Euromodel kit and I feel your pain. When all is said and done, I'm sure the model will scream Vince P. rather than Euromodel!!!!

 

JP

[Keith_W]

Vince, it looks as if you have left excess wood and you are planning to shave it off later, after you determine the shape of the transom after you add the banisters? I too, am working on the transom (no pictures, because I have attempted to fabricate the same part five times and failed) - I took the shape of the transom decks off the plans, which will include the final curve of the rear transom piece. You will note that it is curved in one dimension, whereas the transom decks are curved in three dimensions! (Hence the high failure rate, each attempt seems to be off by 1mm or 2).  

 

Difficult for me to explain without a diagram, but I am overseas at the moment and do not have ready access to my plans so that I can show you. 

[Greg the peg leg sailor]

The amount you paid for this kit and the problems you are experiencing is to unreasonable to believe. This looks like a great ship and will make a great model, but the manufacture is sure ripping people off. All these problems should have been fixed before the kit got released. Obviously, the end product was never built from this kit. When you pay as much as this kit cost, we have a right to expect better products, with better reseach  etc.

You are doing a great job solving these problems and are creating a great model. Kepp up the good work.

G'day Vince

I think most manufacturers of kits are the same, that is why all ships are not the same as another. With my experience with AL HMS Endeavour, I'm have made over 150 alterations so my ship will only be mine.

Keep up your great work on "your own Royal William,."

Haveagreatone

Greg

[pirozzi]

The 2 outside windows for the middle stern gallery are in place. These took considerable trimming and shaping to fit correctly.

 

Vince P.

[pirozzi]

The transom piece needs to be bent to follow the deck contours. It is made of thin plywood and very brittle. It would most certainly break if pushed to meet the needed curve. I soaked it in an ammonia solution like I used for planking and then got the bright idea  to use one of the Admiral's big cooking pots. I slowly bent it around the outside of the pot when it got soft and clamped it in place. I then used a hair dryer on high heat to dry it off. It is still there. I will remove it and see what curve it maintains. It didn't break though.

 

Vince P.

[Greg the peg leg sailor]

G'day Vince

Good idea, but is the curve on the pot the same as what you need, or is it close?

Greg

[pirozzi]

Before placing the transom piece, an aligment needs to be made with all of the gallery deck ends. It became apparent that the poop deck extends out too far. I needed to trim it off considerably and relocate it. I knew I would have to make some adjustment, just not that much.

In retrospect, if I had to do it over, I would not have placed the poop deck at all until the transom was in place. I seem to remember one of our experienced builders on this forum pointed that out to me.    You live and learn. The photos show it trimmed and positioned correctly to receive the transom.

 

Vince P.