Martin Builds the Bismarck!

[Martin - admin.]

I've never built a warship before, so when offered this opportunity I decided to have a go.

It comes in 140 weekly parts. Price for the issues are:

1        £0.50,
2        £2.99,
3 - 140 £4.99

Total = £687.12  Hmmm but at least it's bit by bit!

Also judging by how long it took me to build Jan's Mountfleet Highlander Puffer, building this model in 35 is going to be a rush job! 

Anyway, here we go with part 1.....


Hachette part works    http://www.hachettepartworks.co.uk

[Martin - admin.]

[Martin - admin.]

[Martin - admin.]

[Martin - admin.]

[tigertiger]

Hi Martin

What is the editorial like in the Magazine section?

TT

[DickyD]

Going like the crappers Martin.
If you are not careful you will be finished by 2011.

Richard

[Martin - admin.]

Not much of an editorial, for example in issue 4:

4 Pages on pictorial build instructions ( which for a pictorial build could be much more clever! eg. it could have a symbol for "assemble but don't glue just yet!"  >:( )
2 Pages in glues ( excellent I thought )
6 Pages on political history and rise of Germany after the first world war.
2 Pages on Warships types - the Aircraft carrier.

[Martin - admin.]

Wood is first class quality.
(NB: I've never built a wooden model before! )

Laser cutting - spot on!
( But some measurement seemed to have gone slightly off at the design stage, ie. some parts fit better than others. )

So far, still impressed...!



Bit annoyed here, this frame shouldn't have been glued in place.
ONLY just spotted my mistake in time and the glue fully set!!!





The model will have a final length of 49" inches so far 27"..... 125cm  (69cm)
( see blue line on desk )

[Martin - admin.]

Well parts 5, 6 & .... 8  have turned up - no part 7 ?!?!?!
I'm rapidly loosing faith in Hachett, pity, seems like a good product.  :-\

Anyway....

[Martin - admin.]

[Martin - admin.]

No Part 7 ....yet!  >:(

[Martin - admin.]

Taking a bit of a chance here.... ( apart from not reading the instructions) ! I'm going to use the parts from part 8 ( to build the stern ) as I believe the missing issue 7 contains bow pieces.

Lets see.....  :-\

[Martin - admin.]

[Martin - admin.]

Well parts 7, 9, 10, 11 & 12 have arrived, so let get cracking!









Had my first bit of bad wood this issue! Nothing to worry about though, just splodged glue in it and clamped it down. Sorted.





Bow section starting to take shape...






Another longeron (?!) fitted for the deck structure...





Had my first distortion at this stage, here you can see the bow section lifting slightly...




A few heavy batteries and 24 hours soon sorted it out!




 

[Martin - admin.]

No problems with Part 9








The first timer might have problems and a few hints and tips wouldn't go amiss like using elastic bands as clamps!









Part No. 47 looks like a rudder servo mount ?!?

[Martin - admin.]

Part 10

[Martin - admin.]

Part 11 ........ PLANKING!!!! Groooooooooan!  :-\



Wood of very good quality....



At this point the instruction say all the hull ribs have to be sanded so the planking sit on flat surfaces NOT edges.
This was fun... for about 5 minutes ... the next 2  hours were really tedious!





Then the planking. Annoyingly the instructions give no guidance or techniques how this should be done.
As you can see I used a variety of methods, pins, clamps, bulldog clips and elastic bands.....

[Martin - admin.]

Part 12 - More Planking.......  :'(






First a couple of doubles for the deck structure followed by another round of sanding, rounding off the corners.




Then a couple of stern plates ( which will support the center prop plastic thing )




Planking....







By this stage, I had worked out my method of planking and gluing.
Tight elastic bands,
Planks slid in place.
Bent and held in position with pins.
Use thin SUPER' PHATIC ("High penetrating yellow aliphatic glue for close fitting pre-assembled joints. Drys fast and bonds wood, foam and plastic. Waterproof when set and produces tougher joints than superglue")
All the joints then "poked" and lifted a little from the inside to let the glue seep into the joint.


First planking results....






Annoyingly, the planking looks better on in the inside than out!  >:(



Never mind, I hear there are another 100 issues with more planking to be done!.... When do we get to the big guns?! 

[Martin - admin.]

Parts 13, 14, 15 & 16 ..... Bow Planking.

As all these magazines arrived in one batch so I'll do these in three sections,  Bow, Stern & Midships.
First the bow section.









I knew this was going to be trouble as each strip (plank) has to curve, twist & bend to form the correct hull shape.
Despite the instructions, the placement of first plank was not shown as clearly as it should have been i.e. it bends up to meet the deck.








Having checked on here ( with other people that know what they are doing! )
I then continued at 2 planks per side at a time.






It soon started to look bad......






By this stage I was now fitting and gluing a plank at a time as I was having problems getting the pins to hold the planks in place.






I then ordered some planking clamps from http://www.miskinmodels.com/ (via ebay) - EXCELLENT!







The tip of the bow is very curved so I decided that I would split the ends of the planks to help them follow the curvature.

[Martin - admin.]

Part 13, 14, 15 & 16 ..... Stern Planking.


The lower setion was a nice easy section as the planks followed the bulkheads quite readily.








The planking above the stern plate was not so easy and I could only manage 1 plank per side per day and using lots of clamps.







Once the planks were stuck down the ends were cut off ans sanded back.












Something was not quite right because as you can see something is not quite square....
I going to need filler or very thick glue to fill this!  ::)

[Martin - admin.]

Parts 13, 14, 15 & 16 ..... Midships Planking.

Finlay an easy planking section.....
First fit a "keel plank"








With the "Keel plank" in place the job of "jig sawing" all the other planks began in earnest.










The finished product....
















.... I feel a 'Sanding Orgy' coming on! Bradders! Turn your linisher on and clean out the concrete mixer!

[Martin - admin.]

Well after a short admin delay, we're gonna get back on track!

First a bit of sanding down..... can you sand this fast? ::)



BTW; This is how big the thing is......

[Martin - admin.]

Part 17 - Deck planking.

(NB. I've now switched to Evo-Sik Weatherproof wood adhesive on recommendation from forum members.
It's also a white PVA type glue but dries 'clear'.)







I must say the deck planking is (seems) very substantial 3 x 10 x 248mm lime wood strips. 

Cut planks in half and glue to bow section of the deck, only covering 19/c deck beam (half of 19c /19b joint deck beam).

[Martin - admin.]

Then a slight problem...... 

The centre plank lays between deck bean 19/b and 4/b......




My planks seem a little short 



Deck beam 4 should be a double beam consisting of 4/b & 4/c ..... where the hell is 4/b ? ???



Turns out I got confused in part 12 between my bow and stern, counted the wrong amount of beams and fitted 4/b adjacent to 7/c - Doh!
Never mind, make a new one. I was going to use the original sheet to trace and make a new one but I have 2 copies of part 1 and 4/b is on there! 



Job done 


Phew! that was embarrassing.... but I'm used to that!   :-\

[Martin - admin.]

OK, panic over.  :)

Centre deck planks trimmed to length and glued down.



More planks are added to the section towards the bow....





The two side cheek and then added...







Looks pretty strong  to me. 



And it fits.

[Martin - admin.]

Part 18 

THE INTERNAL SEALING.
The instructions say:
To seal the hullwith caulk, you will need a roll of gauze dressing material, which can be obtained from a pharmacy, a medium-sized flat brush and white wood glue.

I haven't got any gauze to hand and Boots are closed.
So I'm going to leave this for now and continue with the deck planking.



The Bow section deck planking consist of two birch wood ply plates.
Nothing fiddly here, just mark up, glue and clamp.









Getting cocky now! 

[Martin - admin.]

Part 19 - Stern deck planking


( Again I will leaving the INTERNAL SEALING until the deck is complete. )


This is an intersting section, it reminded me of a model plane I built a few years ago.....
Again not much to do to the bits, mark off the deck beams and cut a couple of tabs.



Clamp.....

[Martin - admin.]

The story so far....































Time to go home.....   :)

[Martin - admin.]

Part 18   Caulking... or not!





I gave it a go, and after 1/2 hour I got the first two pieces in....





I gave it another try..... and another and another.... nope to much work for very poor results.
The white glue and gauze/bandage stuck to everything except the planking!




I tried pre gluing the bandage but that made matters worse :'( 






And as for trying to get it into the bow section....FORGET IT!  >:(






Well...... back to the drawing board! 

[Martin - admin.]

Part 18   Caulking - Round 2


Well it took a couple of weeks of psychological preparation, I decided to have another go at
sealing the hull internals using waterproof PVA and builders / plasters sticky SCRIM gauze.




Using the SCRIM tape was MUCH easier and I even managed to get some in between the  bow bullheads.






I couldn't get the brush in .... so I resorted to another method! 




Bit mess.... but it worked! Couldn't get any PVA in the foremost section though!!  :-\

[Martin - admin.]

Part 18   Caulking - Round 2

Once I got going, it was soon very clear that if you are going to coat the
inside of your kit with PVA and Gauze (  ) then this is the way to do it.

[Martin - admin.]

Part 18   Caulking - Round 2

We then got our sowesters out and a large bottle of Exterior (waterproof) PVA glue.












Well see what it looks like on Monday! 

[Martin - admin.]

Well all you "Doubting Thomases" out there, here are the results of the 'Gauze and PVA' interior decorating looks like!
Personally I knew it would turn out OK....  ::)

[Martin - admin.]

Part - 18 Hull internal sealing... last bit!

Just to finish off and on Peter's recommendations, I 'injected' some Deluxe glues "Super Phatic" thin PVA type glue.
I don't expect to help in any way but you never know....

[Martin - admin.]

Parts 19, 20, 21 - Deck

Right, back to the deck.



The parts were too long and needed trimming back - First actual manufacturing error!
( I quadruple checked it and I'm sure it's nor my mistake this time!  ::) )




These were trimmed back to sit correctly, halfway across the double deck beam and glued down.

[Martin - admin.]

Parts 19, 20, 21 - Deck continued.

Next more deck planking.
NB. The planks are slightly thicker than the curved edge plates but a bit of elbow grease and a power sander will soon sort that out!

[Martin - admin.]

Parts 19, 20, 21 - Deck continued.



Once dried, the next set of curved edge "cheeks"?? need to be fitted..... THEY DON'T FIT!  >:(
Again I thought I had screwed up but checking on more reputable websites, it is a manufacturing problem.





I decided the ends were correct and would therefore patch / fix the middle joint.

[Martin - admin.]

Parts 19, 20, 21 - Deck continued.

The repair was easier than I thought, just cut a few bit of spare deck planking to fit the holes...... after 3 or 4 attempts, I got bits that fitted! 





I reinforced the underside with scraps of hull planking.




Don't look too bad does it?... mind you you could be up to 12,00 miles away from it! 

[Martin - admin.]

Parts  21 Deck PVA Reinforcement?!?

Right back to the PVA and Gauze thing again...... sigh!
The instructions say PVA / gauze the underside of the deck, just 3 bays.
Naaaa! "In for a penny, in for a pound!"  I did the whole lot!  ???





My little friend also lent a hand....







Right! - We'll see how that looks in the morning.... I'm wasting away here... I'm off down the Chippy! 

[Martin - admin.]

Part 21  Deck

Well after a good nights drying off, it looks OK! .... It's so strong, you can play cricket with it! 

[Martin - admin.]

Part 21..ish - More work on the deck.

The stern end of the deck need trimming and sanding flush with the deck beam.

[Martin - admin.]

Part 21..ish - More work on the deck.

A problem immediately showed up!





Worrying at first but an hour of cautious sanding of deck beams and ribs, I got it the best part of level.

[Martin - admin.]

Part 21 - Deck sanding

I hate sanding.... even though it's very therapeutic.... especially with a Blank & Decker power sander! 

[Martin - admin.]

Part 21 - Hull sanding

What a mess! It looks like it's snowed in here.... I'll bet the air-con breaks down tomorrow, filters blocked!  ::)

[Martin - admin.]

More hull sanding....

Right! I need a few of you experienced plankers to see up and rub your hands down the long curvaceous contors of my voluptuous hull and tell me what you think!..... I think I need a small drink.....

Remember, there is a second layer of planking to go on top of this on.

[Martin - admin.]

Part 22,23 - Upper hull planking.

This is where I left off last time.....






Weill after a couple of weeks off.... here we go again.... I think this section is going to be quite hard....!  :-\



From previous gained wisdom, I sanded the ribs to as best profile I could guess and to remove the black laser ash.

[Martin - admin.]

Part 22,23 - Upper hull planking.

The planks are quite narrow so should readily take on the tight curves.
I'm using all sorts of clamps for this section......

[Martin - admin.]

Part 22,23 - Upper hull planking. Part II

[Martin - admin.]

Part 22,23 - Upper hull planking. Part III

The planks did start to take on the right form, highlighting the slight "step" in the upper hull.




( The white patch is superglue and accelerator)