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Author Topic: Richelieu 1/200  (Read 25065 times)

poulw

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Re: Richelieu 1/200
« Reply #25 on: January 15, 2009, 07:19:43 am »

Thanks Dan :-)

I have now made Richelieu's bell from brass. Since I have no lathe, I used my drill press and a file to make it.
It will not be painted but left as it is.

The bell will be the last part for a while. From next week on, I will experiment with vacu forming - an all new ball game to me - in order to try and make the seven boats (the hulls) and the six double 100mm AA turrets.

This may (or may not   {:-{) be an interesting experiment.

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poulw

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Re: Richelieu 1/200
« Reply #26 on: January 19, 2009, 04:40:28 am »

I still have a bit of thinking to do about my vucu-forming project, so while thinking I gave myself another little challenge.

On some pictures of Richelieu, I have found up to four benches - for the officers no doubt - at the rear of the main deck.
So, here is a pic of a prototype I have made.

Not sure yet if I'll make them or not - weaving that basket pattern is a killer   ;D  Just joking; I used very fine steel mesh.



The big white 'blob' on the right is the tip of a matchstick.

Taking my ten thumbs and shaky old hands into account, I wonder if it would be possible to paint a navy blue uniform on the guy  {:-{
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poulw

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Re: Richelieu 1/200
« Reply #27 on: January 24, 2009, 05:18:38 am »

First stage of my vacu forming project completed. The 15x19cm box for connecting the vacuum cleaner.

I put a 2mm styrene sheet on top, switched on the vacuum cleaner, checked that there was no leaks, and noticed that the rigid 2mm thick styrene sheet sagged noticeably in the middle due to the vacuum (it took a lot of force to remove while the vacuum was on).

Very positive so far. I think it'll do the job.

Forgot to take a pic before the mesh went on, but there is only one 25mm hole in the middle, and it all seems to follow the theory nicely.



The reason to use a 15x19cm box, is that I have cut all my full styrene sheets (76x137cm) into smaller sheets of 19x30cm. This means that by halving these smaller sheets, I should be able to do two vacu forms from each in order to minimize the waste of styrene.

Next stage is to build the frame to hold the styrene sheet, and after that to test the behaviour of the styrene sheet in the oven.
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Bowwave

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Re: Richelieu 1/200
« Reply #28 on: January 24, 2009, 09:30:37 am »

Hi Paul Superb build , There is a series of full page and sharp  on board shots of Richelieu after her US re-fit in  the book Warships and Warship Modelling .  :-))
Bowwave
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poulw

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Re: Richelieu 1/200
« Reply #29 on: January 25, 2009, 10:45:25 am »

Thanks Bowwave. Yes, I've got them.

Got the vacu forming going today - with mixed results at first.

After carefully watching a couple of styrene sheets sagging in the oven and then dropping all the way to the bottom, I was ready for my first go.

As you can see, I got web all over the place



I reasoned that the webbing was caused by too much stretch, so I made a new test and removed the styrene from the oven a little earlier, ie. less sag, but no matter what I did, I couldn't completely avoid webbing



After an hour of soul searching, I thought of the possibility of avoiding the webbing by elevating the moulds. So I made a 10mm elevation and flaired this elevation at the same time - and tried again



And the result was surprisingly good - no webbing and good details



So, tomorrow is dedicated a "series production" of fittings normally difficult to construct in a traditional way.

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poulw

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Re: Richelieu 1/200
« Reply #30 on: January 27, 2009, 05:23:26 am »

Have to take a break in my vacu-forming project  >:-o

It is 37*C outside at the moment with a forecast of min. 40*C every day until Sunday, where we finally can expect a "cool" 31*C.

So, a hot oven inside the house is out of the question for the rest of the week   >>:-(

In the meantime I'll continue with the mesh baskets for the ship.
There are 10 such baskets fitted on the outside of the upper decks along the railings.

Here is a pic of the first one I have just made. Not bad considering the size    :}


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poulw

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Re: Richelieu 1/200
« Reply #31 on: February 18, 2009, 02:30:18 am »

Finally a cool morning yesterday, so I decided to get the oven going and vacu form the hulls for the two whaleboats and the three motorboats, and it worked very well.

It only took me 15 minutes from the oven was preheated and until I had four perfect hulls of each type (I made two hulls in each run). So, today I have started fitting the whaaleboats.

I took a series of pics during the first run, so if anybody is interested, let me know and I'll post them.





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poulw

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Re: Richelieu 1/200
« Reply #32 on: March 24, 2009, 09:07:07 pm »

I had a question yesterday how my vacu-formed boats came out, so here is a couple of pics

The boats are only dry fitted since the parts have to be painted separately - they are too small to mask for my clumsy hands







At the moment, I'm taking a break from Richelieu while building the Oseberg kit from Billing Boats as my son's Birthday present, so no new updates until maybe mid/end of April
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poulw

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Re: Richelieu 1/200
« Reply #33 on: April 22, 2009, 09:07:14 am »

I am now ready to start making the fourteen 40mm quad Bofors AA guns.

Having spent the last two days drawing up the parts, tomorrow I am ready to try if everything fits together. Here is a pic of the parts for the prototype



The four amber parts in the middle are resin castings.

Not made up yet for the prototype is the rear rail and the foot switch arrangements for the fire control. The  fire control arrangements are linked to the small seats shown in the top right hand corner.

And this is my drawing of the assembled prototype (the individual parts are on a separate drawing)



Whichever way it goes, I should hopefully be able to show a pic of the result tomorrow.
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dreadnought72

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Re: Richelieu 1/200
« Reply #34 on: April 22, 2009, 09:12:50 am »

Superb!  :-))

But what's this 30-40C thing you talk about? I don't think Scotland's seen that since it was covered in volcanoes!  :-)

Andy
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Enjoying every minute sailing W9465 Mertensia

andrewh

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Re: Richelieu 1/200
« Reply #35 on: April 22, 2009, 09:52:26 am »

Poul,

wonderful - thanks for sharing

You giant match will become as famous as Shipbuilders pen

Vac -forming info: 
Webbing is always a problem there sections change radically - it can often be eliminated, and always reduced by mounting the "model" on a transition part so that it sits higher, and there is a less transition from the model to the base.  At any rate it usually places the webbing away from the part :}
Another solution (even if it might be difficult to use at your HUGE size) is to press a shaped "ring" down from the top as the vacuum is applied.  There is a video of this happening at
http://f1.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/gM7uSU89sNYjzyFDDYk5ilH9mE-WfbuXy-6_l_0rfTMpdwNv61zaEPy4pFs9B2pOZvIGKObtz-LVbIPNdhtDbiMpwvtIxjj4Fw/vac%20forming%20the%20507%20footy%20by%20go%20spectre%20dot%20com.mpg
This is sort of combining vac- and plunge-forming

andrew
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andrewh

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Re: Richelieu 1/200
« Reply #36 on: April 22, 2009, 09:56:18 am »

Poul,

I have just gone back and seen that you have done exactly the transition I was suggesting.

Sorry for repeating what you have already done :}
andrew
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poulw

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Re: Richelieu 1/200
« Reply #37 on: April 22, 2009, 10:37:28 am »

To Andy:

I live in the outskirts of Melbourne, Australia, and we actually had just over 44C for a couple of days - that was during the big firestorms raging down here beginning of February.

Vac -forming info: 
Webbing is always a problem there sections change radically - it can often be eliminated, and always reduced by mounting the "model" on a transition part so that it sits higher, and there is a less transition from the model to the base.  At any rate it usually places the webbing away from the part :}
Another solution (even if it might be difficult to use at your HUGE size) is to press a shaped "ring" down from the top as the vacuum is applied.  There is a video of this happening at
http://f1.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/gM7uSU89sNYjzyFDDYk5ilH9mE-WfbuXy-6_l_0rfTMpdwNv61zaEPy4pFs9B2pOZvIGKObtz-LVbIPNdhtDbiMpwvtIxjj4Fw/vac%20forming%20the%20507%20footy%20by%20go%20spectre%20dot%20com.mpg
This is sort of combining vac- and plunge-forming

andrew

Hi Andrew,

I have practically eliminated webbing completely by using a "two-stage" transition part. The upper transition part is exactly the same shape as the model part (just makes the model part 3-4mm higher), while the lower part (about 10mm high) is tapered, and a lot of small holes are drilled along the circumference of the upper transition part.

The pic of the two boat model parts in my post of 25 Jan, 2009, is actually taken before I decided to use an upper transition part as well. This made a huge difference in respect to webbing - if there was any tendency to webbing around the part, it only showed at the bottom couple of mm on the upper transition part (mainly at sharp edges).

The reason for using an upper transition part (instead of just making the model part higher) is, that after the vacu forming is completed, the model part can then be separated from the upper transition part, put back into the finished "imprint" in the styrene sheet, and I can then cut along the edge of the model part - a very quick and easy way to get a perfect finish of the otherwise "flimsy" styrene.
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poulw

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Re: Richelieu 1/200
« Reply #38 on: April 22, 2009, 10:40:11 am »

Hi Andrew,

We are playing tag here  :D :D :D
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poulw

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Re: Richelieu 1/200
« Reply #39 on: April 23, 2009, 05:04:07 am »

Everything on the 40mm quad Bofors prototype seems to fit perfectly - except for the gun shield.
I kinks out too wide and goes too far back which creates far too much tension. This in turn tends to push the front corners forward.

So, back to the drawing board   >>:-(





I actually may leave the prototype for a little while to clear my mind.

BTW, the two "loops" (in front of the gun barrels in the pics) are the two gun sights.
They are made from 0.25mm brass wire wrapped around a 0.5mm drill bit - very fiddly work.
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poulw

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Re: Richelieu 1/200
« Reply #40 on: May 15, 2009, 08:47:02 am »

After three exhausting weeks of battling the quad 40mm Bofors guns, I am nearly there. This is very fiddly stuff indeed  %%

However, seven of the fourteen guns are ready - without the front shield - for priming  :-)
But if I add the front shield now, it will be impossible to paint the complete assembly nicely. So the shields will have to wait until after the final paint  :((

Unfortunately, I had to give up on the two foot switch fire control arrangements. They were simply too small for me to make  <:(

Here is what the guns look like
(with my usual 4"x4" gigantic matchstick in front  ;D ;D ;D )



On the pic, it may look like the gun barrels are a bit out of alignment, but I can only explain that as optical distortion of the camera (very close distance). I have double checked the alignment, and it is spot on  ;)
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andrewh

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Re: Richelieu 1/200
« Reply #41 on: May 15, 2009, 09:27:26 am »

Poul,

One of my first actions on lighting up the confuser is to look at "unread posts";  and to see a contribution from you in there is always an pleasure :}

I know that it will be interesting, clear and instructive, and this is all of that.
I presume that you will paint then add the gunshields later?
Sorry to hear about the fire pedals - I was looking forward to hear how you wove the tread in the middle of the foot pedal!

Congratulations, and please keep us posted
Was your match cut from a single trunk?
andrew
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poulw

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Re: Richelieu 1/200
« Reply #42 on: May 15, 2009, 10:47:10 am »

I presume that you will paint then add the gunshields later?
Sorry to hear about the fire pedals - I was looking forward to hear how you wove the tread in the middle of the foot pedal!
Yes Andrew, the shields and gun assys will be painted separately and then put together afterward.
However, all painting - except for primer - is still a couple of months away.

Regarding woven thread, I have just figured out how to make the woven bottoms in the stacked life rafts - but that's also a month or so away.

Yeah, I know  :embarrassed:
Sometimes it is annoying not to make a part when you just feel like it. But my game plan has worked so far so I'll stick to it.
This means that deck fittings (which includes life rafts) come after the armament, and I still need to construct the six double 100mm AAs.
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andrewh

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Re: Richelieu 1/200
« Reply #43 on: May 15, 2009, 11:27:53 am »

Poul

Don't know if it helps, but I have been buying infinitely fine stainless mesh at work - I could slip a swatch in an envelope if you would pm me with a snail address.  The supplier goes to about 400 threads per inch, I seem to remember, and offers it in several wire diameters, too :}

In truth I was not being completely serious about the grip pattern on the firing pedals - its like the scale model aircraft where you peer in the cockpit and remark " I see you have the right number of eyelets in the flying boots"  And in some cases it is literally true!

andrew
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steve pickstock

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Re: Richelieu 1/200
« Reply #44 on: May 15, 2009, 11:56:16 am »

Awesome is a much used and abused word these days.

However I feel I must say that this build is precisely that - awesome.

Damned fine model sir, very nice work.
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poulw

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Re: Richelieu 1/200
« Reply #45 on: May 15, 2009, 12:46:30 pm »

Thanks Steve for your nice comment  :-)

Thanks for your offer Andrew. I already have some stainless steel mesh which I used for the baskets (see reply #30), but it's a bit coarse. I'll try to figure out how to send you a PM.

In the meantime, this pic probably gives a better feel for the size of the 40m quad Bofors guns



It also shows the alignment marks I needed to add (on my printer) to assemble these small parts  ok2
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warspite

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Re: Richelieu 1/200
« Reply #46 on: May 15, 2009, 04:27:17 pm »

  :} OOOOOHHHHHH!!! what big hands you have said little red riding hood to gra------, better not say the last bit.

I suppose your hands have to be that big to pick up the matchstick  {-) {-) :}
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poulw

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Re: Richelieu 1/200
« Reply #47 on: May 17, 2009, 03:58:35 am »

After finishing the fourteen 40mm quad Bosfors guns (minus shields), I am now moving on to the prototype of the double 100mm AA guns  :-)

This pic shows the housing (vacu formed), a strip of 0.5mm styrene with prints of the base (printed on my Canon inkjet), and a cut base with the two posts and double handwheels.
No resin castings will be used for this gun.



Success or failure, I'll post pics as I go  :D
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poulw

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Re: Richelieu 1/200
« Reply #48 on: May 17, 2009, 10:26:27 am »

Alright, alright ..... Enough hints !

Here it is  :D



 :embarrassed: :embarrassed: :embarrassed:
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andrewh

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Re: Richelieu 1/200
« Reply #49 on: May 18, 2009, 12:54:49 pm »

Poul,
I had somehow imagined you as a more "mature" gentleman :}
(And the matchstick is smaller than in my imagination)
a swatch of the mesh is (will be) winging its way to you

This is the mesh supplier  - I have found them radically helpful - 500 mesh count is 500 threads per inch - not tooooo coarse
http://www.fhbrundle.com/wove-10.htm

The sample is 100 mesh, 316 stainless but for most of our purposes phosphor bronze would be more convenient and solderable

regards,
andrew
The letters on the catalog are 3.71 light years high, for reference

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