The building the Caroline S.

[mick eastParticipant @mickeast46851]

The model of the Miner is complete and the new project is a totally scratch build of a Danish coastal trader the Caroline S. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to find any ships lines – plans so I’ve modified a set of ships lines I’ve already got on file by altering the length to beam ratio and also the stern shape. I think this will give a fairly good representation of true line of the full size ship. As you can see it’s going to be a big bugger,125 cm or 1/24th scale so lots of opportunities to incorporate lots of detail such as inside bridge furnishings and cargo details inside a partially open hold. Im really excited about this build

[Ray Wood 3Participant @raywood3]

G’Day Mick,

That’s brilliant 🙂 bigger is better ! until you try picking it up !! but plenty of scope for detailing 🙂

All the best from the UK Crew Happy Christmas

Kind Regards  Ray

[Tim RoweParticipant @timrowe83142]

Hello Mick

The ocean level is going to rise when you launch that thing.  Easty’s Beasty!

Serious question from Ray about how you are going to ballast it.

You have a fabulous collection there.

Tim R

[mick eastParticipant @mickeast46851]

Yes it’s going to be a heavy beast I’ve allready have a much modified hand trolly for launching so hopefully not too much strain on the ageing back.

A happy Christmas to you all back in UK hope your not too cold ( it’s a oven temp of 36deg C here

Mick

[Richard SimpsonModerator @richardsimpson88330]

You might want to consider such techniques as ballasting after the model has been put in the water. I’ve seen this done with very large models where the hull was put in the water then ballast in the form of lead acid batteries were dropped in before finally putting the top on. It can be a bit of a faffing around though and I think it ends up putting people off.

A much more elegant engineering solution is to fit ballast tanks and water pumps. Then you can drop a relatively light model on the water and start up the ballast pumps to draw in water to the ballast tanks ready for the morning’s sail. When its time to go simply bring the model into the side and pump the tanks out again.

Its not uncommon for people of our age group to make a relatively large model and then find, due to advancing years or ever encroaching medical issues, that we simply cannot lift the model in and out of the water.

All the best for Christmas Mick, all we have here at the moment is cold wet and windy weather. It almost makes you look forward to the next drought.

[John W EParticipant @johnwe]

hi there, your model looks roughly the same size to HMS Lindisfarne, which I built a while ago.  I built this model at 1:48 scale, and, to ballast it, I originally had in 2 mobility scooter batteries which were 12 volts and they weighed roughly about 3 kg each.  The model was pretty heavy with the batteries loaded up.  Eventually, I put 2 smaller 6 volt batteries in and a lot of lead to make up the 6 kg.  I found this was easier to manipulate at the pond side to load up.  So have a good think about your ballast.

As suggested by Richard, maybe ballast tanks filled with water may be a better option.   I am thinking about this for my HMS Lindisfarne model.

John

 

 

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Love big models, but the weight is an issue.

That’s a very nice hull you have there Mick.

Water ballast would be the way to go i must say. No need to lug large lumps of lead or concrete around. Built in pump…easy.

Ashley

[mick eastParticipant @mickeast46851]

Been a while since I’ve posted so here’s a update of progress

[mick eastParticipant @mickeast46851]

Just had a few days of painting a job I’m not fond of because I’m rubbish at it . The technique that seems to work reasonably well for me  is using acrylic model paints (mainly because it sands back nicely when you make a cock up as I frequently do)and then giving it a couple of coats of clear finish either satin or flat finish , I’ve tried gloss but in the scale I generally use 1/24 to  1/35 and it doesn’t seem to look good. Im going to start manufacturing some deck hardware next on the lathe and milling machine , now there’s job I really enjoy doing just as a break from the superstructure and hull.

As normal constructive criticism always welcome.

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

I also find that acrylics with a protective clear coat works well. The matt and satin finishes are best for medium and small scales and give a more realistic effect. Gloss can give a ‘toy boatosh’ appearance and also shows up imperfections more.

Colin

[Philip OxleyParticipant @inonowt]

I’ve been using white primer undercoat acrylic and Dulux acrylic for colour.  The Dulux decorator centre will mix one of their 4800 colours or scan and mix to your sample.  Watered down a bit to reduce brush marks and several coats to cover. A 250ml sample tin costs about £7.00.  Then Rustins satin finish exterior gloss. £10.00 for 500ml from Toolstation.

For white finish, just primer undercoat and Rustins.

The Rustins looks well just as a varnish on wood.
<p style=”text-align: center;”>Philip</p>

[Richard SimpsonModerator @richardsimpson88330]

Trying to think of how to allow for the effects of scale when making a model both in terms of finish and colours can be quite rewarding.  I try to think of it this way, if I was looking at the real vessel at such a distance as it would appear to be the same size as the model in my hand what effect would I expect to see on the real vessel?

Firstly, as has already be said, you would not be able to see a high gloss finish.  Almost certainly a satin finish or even a matt finish, depending on the scale, would look far more credible on the model.

Colour is another aspect to consider.  The further away the real vessel is the more muted the colours become as there is an increasing amount of atmospheric interference in our view.  While I am not suggesting that we paint everything the same sort of washed out colouring that we might see if we are looking at a large ship a mile or so away, it is definitely worth considering just toning down some of the harsh bright colours that we might get straight out of the tin.  As an example I am just putting together a plastic QE2 model, I needed a break from something that was driving me nuts, and while the hull for the period I am modelling is supposed to be black, I have painted it a very dark grey.  Pure black against the pure white of the upper hull would look quite unrealistic and stark.

Toning down harsh bright colours with just a spot of something to bring down the brilliance can make the overall effect more credible.  For instance for a bright yellow or a bright red I might just add a couple of drops of a light grey to take the edge off it.

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

Good advice Richard. I have tried both the satin and matt finishes and  prefer the matt as it usually does have a very slight sheen. It also gives more ‘depth’ to the appearance of a model and helps disguise any building imperfections.

As always, there is an exception to the rule.  Back in the 90’s when I had my own boat we often visited Portsmouth Harbour. On one occasion the Royal Yacht Britannia was in port and we passed within yards of her, (you would get shot out of hand if you approached vessels in the naval berths nowadays!). The blue hull was painted in high gloss -very impressive.

Which kit of the QE2 are you building? Interesting comments about hull colour as Queen Mary 2’s hull is painted in charcoal grey for exactly the same reason you describe. I have several unbuilt liner kits including the  QM2, Oriana, Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth, Mauretania and Canberra. I rather doubt if I will make them now.

Colin

[Richard SimpsonModerator @richardsimpson88330]

Colin, the kit is the old Gunze Sangyo 1/450th scale one.  I believe Revel reissued it at some point as well.  It has proved to be particularly difficult to find a period which closest suits the kit without getting into too much modification.  I particularly wanted a red funnel but didn’t want to get into extensive modification of the top decks and aft end.  I settled on between 1983 and 1987, which gives me a red funnel but with the steam propulsion funnel.  The remaining problem is that I should fit the two additional tenders, Alpha and Beta, as they are not included despite them being on the box art, but that would mean scratch building them.  I might just claim modeller’s licence and not bother.  Unless you know of a source of the two launches in 1/450th scale!  From what I can gather the hull was black up until ’94 and then returned to black in ’99, so I’ve used Tamiya Rubber Black, which is basically a dark charcoal.  I’ve used matt paint apart from the red boot topping, which is gloss but over matt undercoats so does have a slight texture.  You are right, Tamiya matt is such a beautiful finish it still has a slight sheen so looks spot on at this scale.

Being quite low on parts count the model is mainly an exercise in painting and masking.  Much of the detail is moulded in.  I did use it to support an article on masking though, so it was handy for that.

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

Richard,

I was not aware of that kit. As far as the tenders are concerned, if anyone asks (which they won’), you can say that the ship is depicted on a cruse to Norway and the tenders are away taking passengers ashore! You coul make up some plasticard davits.

Colin

[Richard SimpsonModerator @richardsimpson88330]

I’m surprised Colin, I thought you would know the kit.  It was ‘the’ QE2 kit of its day, generally regarded as fairly accurate but when you think of the alternatives such as the old 1/600th Airfix offering there was no comparison.  Mind you 40 quid at the time was pretty expensive, and you can find them nowadays for a couple of hundred.

I think you are correct, there won’t be many who might realise that she should have the tenders if modelled between ’83 and ’87.  It would be nice to be completely accurate but I’m not enthusiastic enough to attempt to make two scratch built tenders in 1/450th scale with davits!

This is the box art Colin:

And this is the hull paint job:

[Richard SimpsonModerator @richardsimpson88330]

I thought I would have a stab at the transfers this afternoon and, to be honest was half expecting them to fall apart.  They held well and with the help of setting solutions I think I got them down onto the Tamiya matt paint OK.  But I did have a frightful moment when it came to applying the ‘CUNARD’ logo on the side.

As I was testing the transfer to see if it had come loose from the backing paper the ‘C’ came away so I thought I’d torn it.  But no, all the letters were individual!  So trying not to panic but get them all onto the model and then aligned by sight and sat down properly was a tense ten minutes.  I think I got away with it but I’m now going to leave it overnight before trying to wipe it down and then apply a clear matt varnish over it.

[Author]

Posts