Model Boat Mayhem

The Shipyard ( Dry Dock ): Builds & Questions => Navy - Military - Battleships: => Topic started by: GrafVonJon on September 26, 2010, 01:41:40 pm

Title: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: GrafVonJon on September 26, 2010, 01:41:40 pm
Hi all.

Been struggling with what to do for my first model boat for a while now. I needed something simple to start off with, but also something I actually had an interest in so I wouldn't lose interest in the build.

Finally I found the perfect first build plan for me in the new MMI Plans and Construction Guide: Clive Halliwell's Lord Clive Plan (MAR3472). The plan interests me as I am fascinated by the engineering evolutions that abounded in the late Victorian period and not just in ship design and naval tactics.tar
The decision was also sealed by the Victorian colour scheme of red, white and buff/ochre lending to an attractive ship.

The build is similar in style to Dreadstar's Vosper Corvette and Type 24 builds elsewhere on this forum.

Anyway, on with the actual build.

So far I'm making slow progress, having put together the hull bottom, bulkheads, stempiece and inwhales. Now waiting for the glue to dry. According to Forum rules, there is a pic below.

Tomorrow (possibly this evening, depending how the glue dries  ok2) I will need to start attaching the hull sides. I must say I am a bit daunted by this prospect: after the straight-sided sections, I'm thinking the sections of wood that need to be shaped around the bow and stern will be difficult. I hope I don't get too big a gap between the hull sides and hull bottom.

With a bewildering number of fillers on the market, is there anything that people can particularly recommend. I have plenty of Ronseal 2 part wood filler left over from DIY jobs.

Also, when it comes to waterproofing the hull, what exactly is this "sanding sealer" I hear everyone talking about. Is it a brand, or just a collective term for many hobby or DIY products that could fit the bill. And does the whole boat need treating with it, IE to make it waterproof and get a good surface for painting?

Anyway, the pic...

Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: tigertiger on September 26, 2010, 03:23:44 pm
It looks like a nice project from the easybuid range of plans.

I look forward to seeing more.
Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: Circlip on September 26, 2010, 03:47:04 pm
Try this as a finishing op GVJ.

 Scan down to the posting by FLJ

Quote
http://www.modelboatmayhem.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=7710.msg75321#msg75321

 To bend sheet Balsa easily you can soak it in a liquid ammonia bath (Outside the house) and bend and clamp it to suit the curves. As you're using Balsa as the construction, you would be better letting pieces in rather than trying to fill big gaps with a "Filler".

  Sanding sealer is a generic term and is only a talc in suspension in "Dope" (Clear Cellulose).

  Regards  Ian.
Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: GrafVonJon on September 26, 2010, 04:37:32 pm
Thanks for the info,

I'm waiting for the straight sections to dry at the moment, so no bending for a couple of days.

Have read FLJs tips. Hopefully be able to find a commercial sanding sealer easily enough. Don't want to make my own until I know what it's meant to be like... Very new to this, not built anything other than Airfix kits and scenery for model railways. They don't have to quite as robust seeing as they never go outdoors. Therefore I usually end up with very fragile cardl hut/houses/bridges and the like. So I am not to used to working with wood, nor with anything that actually has to function, operate or indeed float!

Thanks again.
Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: Dreadstar on September 27, 2010, 12:24:55 am
If you are using 1/8" balsa for the sides,I would sheet the sides from the bend of the stern to the bow as a one piece unit. The stern section will need to be plated in the vertical plane,but not the bow. This in my opinion should be a lot easier to do than sheeting the bow in the vertical plane,plus,the resulting bow should be a lot stronger.

  Like you,I'd never worked in wood before either,but I found that this way of plating the sides seems to work better. :-))
Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: GrafVonJon on September 27, 2010, 10:03:54 am
Thanks Dreadstar,

I put the second hull side on this morning before work, so will be glueing the bow and stern sections tonight. You got there just in time!
The build is very similar to your corvette and type 24, so I shall do as you say.

Will update the pics tonight. 

Cheers,
Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: GrafVonJon on September 27, 2010, 11:25:39 am
For those of you wondering... And to see by just how much I miss the mark!, here's what she should look like at the end:

https://www.traplet.com/product.aspx?c=3243
Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: Dreadstar on September 27, 2010, 11:31:33 am
I'll be building one of these myself next month,though I'll be modifying the plan,because these ships were actually double ended i.e. they didn't have rounded sterns.The only downside to this is that the ship will steer like a pig when going astern.It's going to be interesting to see whether or not I can manage to incorporate a reasonable steering set-up in this model,and I'll be using CH's stepped stern as in my other builds too.

 I'm glad that you've decided to start on a simple,yet interesting ship as your first build.Your ships boats and davits can be purchased from Reade models at a very reasonable price too,as can the air intake vents.

Keep up the good work Graf

David.
Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: GrafVonJon on September 27, 2010, 01:23:33 pm
Eeek! Don't go showing up my build! ;)

She is a beautiful ship, and even as a simple model it looks very nice.
I'll be very interested to see your modifications to the plan. I realised it wasn't exactly an accurate representation of the class, but I'm not going to start chopping and changing plans just yet... Well, maybe a longer upper deck overlapping the gun turrets and a second funnel to make it look more like HMS Dreadnought (1875).

Feel free to post any details or pics of your build on this thread if you like David, it's all a learning curve and experiment for me is this build.

Is there an advantage to the CH stepped stern design then? I must admit, I didn't like cutting the hull bottom and 'snapping' it upwards. Although it was very easy i suppose, which was what I wanted after all.

GVJ
Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: GrafVonJon on September 27, 2010, 06:25:37 pm
OK, I give up...

How is it possible to join the two, grain-up sections of balsa to the straight hull sides?
Have tried PVA with reinforced scrap balsa (held with clothes pags) but it doesn't look like it'll work. Can't get the pressure on the joints.

Also, I imagined i'd need to get this joint bonded and dry before actually trying to bend the wood around the bow tomorrow. Is that correct?
Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: GrafVonJon on September 27, 2010, 06:38:04 pm
If this works, I'll be amazed...
Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: GrafVonJon on September 28, 2010, 10:59:02 am
Well, the glue has set and seems to be pretty tough and doesn't give way along the thin join when I bend to wood around the bow and stern: consider me amazed. I was sure the bond would break under the stress of bending.

Next problem is I'm going to have some fairly significant gaps between the hull sides and hull bottom around the bow area.
I half expected this would happen. I'll try and let in some thin pieces of balsa to seal it up a bit.

Will get photos up tonight when I finish work.
Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: dreadnought72 on September 28, 2010, 12:21:17 pm
I've said it before - I love PVA on balsa. Open-pored wood slurps the stuff in, and once set it's tougher than wood. Looking forward to more of this build!

Andy
Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: GrafVonJon on September 28, 2010, 11:15:17 pm
Sorry for the lack of pics, Forgot we had people over for tea tonight so have been kept busy.

Got the hull sides bent around the bow. There are a couple of gaps, as expected.

As a learning point, I made the reinforced tabs holding the hull joins too long and they are actually interfering with the lines of the bow. IE, where the hull sides are two layers of wood thick, they don't bend.

All will become clear with pics tomorrow...
Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: Edward Pinniger on September 29, 2010, 02:50:34 pm
I'll definitely be watching this one with interest, as this is one of my favourite eras of warship design! My first attempt at ship scratchbuilding was a 1/96 waterline of HMVS Cerberus, built about 4 years ago - I'm thinking of building the same ship as a 1/48 R/C model some time in the future. Ideally I'd like to build HMS Devastation or one of its sisters, but I don't think there's any source of plans for these ships other than the National Maritime Museum (very pricey).
Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: GrafVonJon on September 29, 2010, 03:11:36 pm
Edward,

You're right, there isn't much to go on with regard to warships of this era... And what an era! I love the evolution of the classic wooden-hulled broadside ship, into the experimentation with ironclad warships and breastwork monitors, finally evolving into the post-dreadnoughts we all know today. Gotta love this late Victorian period for innovation and technological advancements.

If you want the plan Edward, it came free with the MMI plans/construction special, which was £5.99 as oppose to £7.50 to order a reprint. You also get a detailed build guide in the text of the magazine (though, unless you're a complete newbie like me, you probably won't need it).
The plan most closely resembles the cyclops class.

I think Dreadstar had some issues with the stern shape too, for the purists amongst you. Believe it or wikipedia have some elevation and deck plans for a few ships of this era. Nothing you could build from, mind you, but it would give you an idea if you wanted to alter the plan.

I think, with a little imagination, it could be adapted to construct various ships from the era such as Devastation, Dreadnought (1875) and inflexible. Personally I'm going to make mine look like Dreadnought, mainly by extending the upper deck and adding a second funnel... It won't exactly be a scale representation of her, but hey... At 1:128 scale and with it bring my fist time it'll be enough to convince myself when she's 50 yards out on the boating pond!

Cheers chaps.
Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: GrafVonJon on September 29, 2010, 05:42:35 pm
OK,

The progress so far...

The hull panels are bent around the bow. You can see what I was talking about with regard to the gaps in the second pic.

Also, there are a couple of splits in the wood where the reinforcements are. I think the wood has not been able to flex appropriately across it's grain. The extra stresses have caused the wood to split. To be honest, I'm not really pleased with this.

I'm at the tricky point where I decide to carry on and complete the hull paneling, hoping that sealer and paint with cover it. Or whether it's best to rip them off and start again, hoping to get a slightly better finish.

Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: Dreadstar on October 01, 2010, 05:01:59 pm
If you look at my type 24 build,which was supposed to be built using the vertical grain method,you'll see what i meant by sheeting the side in a oner. It should be possible to do this model the same way,which will be the approach that I'll use on my model.
 I've just picked up the balsa,rudder and drive train for this build today,though my model shop only stocks 4" wide sheets,so I'll probably just make her 4" wide instead. I know that this'll make her slightly narrower that yours,but I'm lazy that way. I'm just going for a single prop drive,using a 385 motor with a Raboesh 25mm 3-blade prop,running on a 6V 4.5A gel cell. When you consider how slow these ships were,I think that this should supply almost scale speed.
  Keep up the good work Graf,I'm looking forward to the rest of this build. :-))
 
 David.
Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: joppyuk on October 01, 2010, 07:32:37 pm
I shall be following this build with interest, as I have a 1/144th Devastation on the drawing board at the moment, to start construction in a couple of months. I picked up this plan to give me a few hints.
Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: GrafVonJon on October 02, 2010, 04:22:29 pm
Been making slow progress due to having to fit other DIY jobs in.

Have the final stern hull section in place and drying now.

In the morning I'll trim the hull sides at the stern, as the sides still sit below the raised section of hull bottom.
Then I'll level the sides on the top so that they are ready to take the deck, and generally fill, sand, shape, fill, sand etc. until I get a nice clean shape.

Thanks for the tips, I'll definitely be sheeting the hull sides in a single sheet if I do another. Looks a lot less hassle, and it has given a much neater finish than mine.

Cheers,

Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: Edward Pinniger on October 03, 2010, 04:01:02 pm
Definitely looks like the hull is taking shape - looks a lot neater than my first attempt at building a hull like this!

I did think of buying the MMI issue with the "Clive" plans in, but as I want to build a fully detailed scale model, they probably wouldn't be of much use (I can get the basic shape of the hull, superstructure etc. from the drawings in warship reference books - it's the smaller details and fittings that are the problem. Unfortunately the NMM seem to be the only source of plans for Royal Navy ships of this era. The French plans are free but the weird hull shapes of their pre-dreadnoughts and ironclads make them rather more challenging to scratchbuild!
Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: GrafVonJon on October 03, 2010, 06:41:47 pm
The hull is beginning to come together now.

have applied some filler and sanded it all down, cut the stern sides to shape and rounded off the hull/keel edges.

Next job is to fit the combings that will take the lift-off section of the deck.
Though I have run out of balsa now so the build is hold pending supplies (hopefully tomorrow lunchtime if I'm lucky)

Anyway, progress:

Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: Dreadstar on October 03, 2010, 06:44:34 pm
That's coming along nicely Graf,keep up the good work. :-))
Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: GrafVonJon on October 03, 2010, 10:37:37 pm
Thanks Dreadstar,

I'm looking forward to seeing your build of this ship soon.

I know you were planing to modify it slightly for more realism, and also Edward Pinniger was thinking about a breastwork ship also, so I hope the following link is of use:

I found these plans for a freely downloadable card model of HMVS Cerberus, which is very similar. Although the model is designed for a waterline model only, there are some hull sections further down the page. I know it's not what they were intended for but it might add a bit more grist to the mill, so to speak, for those of you struggling for detailing ideas or hull shape.

http://www.papershipwright.co.uk/ps02/details.shtml

Have a look and see what you think.
I doubt I'll be detailing my build much. Just need to make her seaworthy and and get my head round the RC installation, motors etc. in this first build.
Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: GrafVonJon on October 04, 2010, 08:00:35 pm
Tonight's progress:

coamings fitted to the hull.

Build is going OK, but the more I get glued together, the more I see gaps, twists and items that are not flush. I'm amazed by the craftsmanship of some of the other members on here. I wasn't expecting my first build would be a masterpiece, but I'll have to stop using that excuse eventually.

If I was smart, I should have built the boat first and then uploaded the photos at the end, only if it turned out OK  ;)
For now I'll just keep hoping I can get this build to the end in half decent shape.

Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: Tug-Kenny RIP on October 04, 2010, 08:15:33 pm

Your doing all right matey. What a learning curve.  All exiting good stuff.

Believe it or not, when your near the end you forget those tiny imperfections and even more so when she's on the water.  Keep your chin up, it's going well

Ken


Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: Dreadstar on October 04, 2010, 11:39:12 pm
There's nothing wrong with what you've achieved so far Graf,my Corvette has quite a few imperfections about her too,especially the hull form,but you don't see it unless you're really looking for it. Just take your time,and if there's a part that you're not happy with,then cut it off and re-do it.
 I never thought that when I started the corvette that it would end up looking as good as it did.
 The only real advice I can give you is,if when reading the article or looking at the plans,you can see an easier way of doing it,then just go right ahead and do it. At the end of the day,it's your model,and if you're happy with the end result,you can't ask for any more.

  Keep up the good work

  David.
Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: GrafVonJon on October 05, 2010, 08:42:17 am
Cheers guys,

I found the coamings quite difficult due to the angled joints: I have no mitre box to achieve a clean join, at least not at this scale anyway.
It wasn't too bad as the inwhales and bulkheads provided a platform to glue onto.

I'm not looking forward to the next task however, which is to construct the tightly-fitting lift-off section around it. There will be nothing to glue to on this section other than the surface of the butt joints so I'm wondering if I can manage this.

The deck will add strength eventually, but constructing the framework to begin with looks like the trickiest part so far.
Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: GrafVonJon on October 05, 2010, 09:59:39 pm
Tonight's Progress:

The framework for the lift-off section constructed around the coamings. Cligfilm is stopping the two sections bonding to one another.
Possibly overdid the pegs, but I like to take a "belt and braces" approach to these things  ;)
Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: Dreadstar on October 06, 2010, 06:27:12 pm
You can see how I'm progressing Graf in the beginners section. :-))
Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: rathikrishna on October 08, 2010, 09:15:08 am
Its a nice effort...waiting to see as it is finished...
Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: GrafVonJon on October 10, 2010, 10:55:24 am
Build is going pretty slowly...

Have the bow section of the deck in place now, and have finished the lift-off section too.

I have no radio gear, propshaft, motor or any other gear so I'm not doing anything further to the the hull until I get these bought and fitted (expect lots of stupid questions from the first timer on this one!).

Any modeling work will now be on the superstructure, upper deck and turrets.
Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: Dreadstar on October 18, 2010, 05:39:58 pm
How's the build coming along Graf?
Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: GrafVonJon on October 19, 2010, 06:10:16 pm
I've been away on holiday until today, so the build has been on hold.

I have tomorrow off work before going back, and this has been set aside for boat building!

I'll post an update and some pics tomorrow evening.

How's yours going Dread? You'll be finished by now judging by the rate you were going before I left  :-))
Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: Dreadstar on October 19, 2010, 06:59:02 pm
Nearly there now Graf,take a little look-see.
Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: GrafVonJon on October 22, 2010, 11:16:47 pm
Very nicely done Dread, amazed you got there so quickly. I'm way behind.
Looks very nice on the water.

Regarding the upper fly deck: I'm thinking of fitting railings/stanchions around this, instead of solid sides.

What do people think? Is this in keeping with ships of this era? Or would it look out of place?
Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: GrafVonJon on October 22, 2010, 11:22:29 pm
This is the area I mean...

Stanchions instead of 'walls'... What do you think?
Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: Dreadstar on October 23, 2010, 07:04:21 am
Looking at photo's from this era,of this type of ship,they all seem to have the solid sides,possibly splinter protection Graf. At the end of the day though,it's your model,and you should go with what you prefer.I think that it would look quite nice done that way,but if later on you  think that it looks odd,you can always add 'canvas' sides to the rails,to make it look more in period. :-))
Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: GrafVonJon on October 23, 2010, 03:33:58 pm
OK, progress so far... Going very slowly, but then I have been very busy.

I have been modeling the boat above deck, as until today I had no running gear.

I have built the charthouse and walkway. I have applied card over the balsa which I have indented deeply with a biro. I'm hoping this will look like planks of wood once I've painted it. A bit of drybrushing should let the recesses be seen nice and clearly.

Next I made the canons. I used 3 different diameters of aluminium tube, set inside each other and filled with epoxy.

I have also made the turrets. I couldn't find anything suitable lying around so have turned them out of a log (sycamore I think) that was lying around. I turned the cylinder down to the right diameter and then cut 2 discs from it.

I now need to work out how to fit the running gear I bought this morning.

Can someone help? The propshaft looks easy enough, but the rudder leaves me a bit puzzled.
There is an O-ring on it, which I presume needs to be on the outside of the boat. But won't this mean some very accurate drilling on my part in order to make a watertight seal?
Also the underside of the hull is sloped, so will I need to add a couple of 'noggins' of wood to make the rudder shaft sit perpendicular to the water surface? I'm worried it will stick out at a funny angle when I tighten it up other wise. See the pics:


 
Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: dreadnought72 on October 23, 2010, 03:56:39 pm
Best get the rudder shaft vertical - and once it's in place, smear around the tube on the inside of the boat with araldite or similar, to ensure it's waterproof and held in place firmly.

Andy

Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: Arrow5 on October 23, 2010, 05:36:57 pm
I would fit the propshaft first to get angle and prop clearance before rudder.  Rudder post to be vertical , use block with angled base and top level.
Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: GrafVonJon on October 23, 2010, 05:48:06 pm
Cheers,

I've got the prop shaft gluing as we speak... Although most of the araldite seems to be glooping out of the hole and onto my floor!
I'll let it dry and then stick some more around it tomorrow.

I cut some angled blocks of balsa earlier. Will see if they're a good fit in the morning. Don't want to move anything else now until the epoxy has set.  :-))
Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: tigertiger on October 24, 2010, 03:33:38 am
I am not an expert, but this is how I would do it.

I would use a block inboard to support the rudder tube.
This would have a hole cut in it for the rudder tube/

You can forget about using the thread to tighten the rudder tube in place, just glue it. In other words, you can discard the nut, washer, and 'O' ring.
The rudder shaft will then just pop in nicely.

The top of the rudder tube should be above the waterline to stop water coming in. If it has to be below the w/l grease the rudder tube first.
Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: GrafVonJon on October 24, 2010, 01:00:23 pm
Cheers TigerTiger,

That's the way I'll do it. Good point about keeping the top of the rudder tube above the waterline, I realise why but would have overlooked this if I installed it without asking.
Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: joppyuk on November 02, 2010, 06:08:20 pm
How's the build going? Have you stalled, or just had no time to post. How can I ideas if you don't write about them? Seriously, was enjoying the regular news and finding parts quite useful/
Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: Dreadstar on November 03, 2010, 06:49:48 pm
I would be very wary of using turned wooden turrets on this model Graf,unless you've bored out the underside of the turrets,as you need to keep the top-weight down. Build as light as possible on the superstructure,so that you keep the c/g as low as possible,this helps prevent the ship from turning turtle due to tophamper weight.  <:(
 You asked me a while ago why I went for a stepped stern on my ship,now you've found out the reason when you've tried to install the rudder assy. On the stepped stern,you have a horizontal plate with which to work,rather than an angled one,and by reinforcing the balsa with a couple of very thin ply plates,you get a secure mounting for the rudder. :-))
Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: Jimmy James on November 05, 2010, 08:23:52 pm
Earlier on solid bulwarks (rails ) were mentioned ...this age of vessel often had solid bulwarks to raise the freeboard (Hight of deck above the water) as they were often very low in the water but the bulwarks were often hinged so they could fold down and not obscure the Guns...
 Nice job so far.
Freebooter  :-))
Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: scout on November 07, 2010, 08:49:54 pm
Hi We have a chap in our club doing this boat his first model he is using the plastic top off Sharwoods spice sauce mix for his gun turrets they are the right diamiter hope this helps Yours Scout
Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: GrafVonJon on November 08, 2010, 01:07:41 pm
Hi all,

Thanks for the suggestions and sustained interest in this thread.
I have been very busy lately so not had much time to build or post.

I'm getting back on with it now though.

The turned wooden turrets have indeed been routed out underneath in order to keep the weight down. They were very heavy, being made out of sycamore!

Not much progress to be worthy of posting pics. Have just glued the rudder in place and have been applying sanding sealer to the wood.
Have the day off today, so hopefully get some more modelling carried out before going back to work and inevitable "evening only" regime of building.

Just need to find a suitable tube for the funnel and I can start gluing it all together.

Once I get some paint on I'll post some pics.

Soooo... Next question: what do people recommend for paints? I was hoping to use aerosols for the major areas and will add the detail by hand.
Any good brands? I really hate the consistency of Humbrol enamel paints.
Can I stock up on aerosols at B&Q or Halfords? Or is it another trip to the model shop?
Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: Dreadstar on November 08, 2010, 01:43:40 pm
I used 3/4" overflow pipe for my funnel,it's about the right diameter and nice and light too. A lot of the lads on here seem to swear by Halfords spay paints,though I tend to use acrylic paints normally formulated for lexan bodyshells. Failing that,I just use whatever paint I have lying around the house. :embarrassed:
Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: Jimmy James on November 09, 2010, 08:05:28 pm
Things to use
Gun turrets = the plastic tops of aerosol

Funnels = large felt tipped marker pens (Tubes), Fax paper tubes ,thin walled plastic tube

The enclosed picture has a fax tube for a funnel and an aerosol top for a turret ...the 2 gun sponsons are 1/2 aerosol tops

(http://s3.postimage.org/fXQF0.jpg) (http://postimage.org/image/wdwwq078/)

Freebooter
Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: GrafVonJon on November 14, 2010, 11:34:56 am
I'm heading off to Halfords to get some car body filler for the rudder and some paint.

Does anyone know off the top of their head the name of the filler (something like psp 25??)
And a suitable colour paint for the red, bottom section of the hull?
Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: tonyH on November 14, 2010, 03:27:30 pm
Just a quick point. Are you sure that the underwater hull is red? Many were black at this time.

Tony

Sorry - I'd missed the early pic :embarrassed:
Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: Dreadstar on November 14, 2010, 04:25:41 pm
At that time yes,most lower hulls were a red colour,but fast forward a decade or two,and the colour of the lower hulls began to change.
Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: Tug-Kenny RIP on November 14, 2010, 05:33:03 pm


Does anyone know off the top of their head the name of the filler (something like psp 25??)


Hi GrafVonJon

I can answer this one as I use it a lot  (covers my mistakes !!)

                        It's P38


 Ken

Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: rathikrishna on November 15, 2010, 08:57:42 am
Thanks veterans..a great discussion...and advices..too great..
Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: Dreadstar on November 22, 2010, 12:40:11 am
How is the build coming along Graf??? :-)
Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: GrafVonJon on December 02, 2010, 02:43:04 pm
Hi all,

As you've probably guessed from the slow down in posting, progress on the build is slow. When I say slow, I mean non existent.
I have many excuses at the ready, but the truth is it has slipped down in my priorities for the moment.

I'm hoping to get some nice quiet days around christmas when I can start again.

Apologies to anyone who is following this thread, it will get built... Eventually!

:)
Title: Re: First Scratch Build - 1870s Costal Defence Ship
Post by: steve pickstock on February 10, 2011, 03:25:06 pm
How are you going on with this? Any pictures?