Modelik Flower class corvette

[cdcoyle]

AOS book is invaluable!

One thing I forgot to mention about the platform supports -- as I said before, each support is made from 6 pieces, and unfortunately, the diagrams do not show (as far as I can tell) how those six pieces are supposed to go together. Once again, the AOS series title on Agassiz saved my bacon by showing a more detailed picture of the supports. So far, I have not had to make extensive use of the book, but the few times the kit diagrams have come up short, I've been very happy to have the book nearby.

An aspect of the kit's design that rather surprised me is the construction of the 4" shell holders. The parts supplied in the kit (#120) only make the base of the holders. The real-life item included two brackets that extended above the base and actually held the shell. Considering the phenomenally small detail parts that have been supplied elsewhere in the kit, I thought it interesting that this particular feature was thus simplified. In any case, in the interests of time saved, I chose not to scratch-build this extra detail, nor to individually turn the 18 4" shells called for. At this point in the build, I'm quite pleased with how things are turning out, and my wife even made a comment to the effect that the model is looking "more like a ship" -- and coming from her, that's high praise indeed!

TTFN,

 

[cdcoyle]

gun

Here is the 4" gun. Some itty-bitty parts, but otherwise not too difficult. I removed the glue tab before rolling the barrel. There's some seam visible in the pictures, but it's not obvious when viewed from the side or from above. The tiny handles on the recoil cylinders are made from annealed wire. They should actually be square instead of rounded, but darned if I can get square corners when forming such tiny parts. Some PE would've been nice for those.

Bye for now,

 

[eibwarrior]

That's excellent detail for small parts. Great effort on the handles. When you use wire at such small scale, it's hard to get it exact. PE would be nice, but it's hard to find for certain ship types...

Keep up the good work. You're going at a very fast pace!

 

[cdcoyle]

Model warships don't really look cool until...

Model warships don't really look cool until they have armament. 8) The 4" gun is now complete (excepting the gun shield -- next on the agenda). These shots show the port side, starboard side, and breech. I took the extra step of cutting out the spaces between the spokes on the elevation and traverse wheels (had to paint them to hide some of the 'boogering' that occurs when cutting out such tiny bits). I first thought the wire extensions on either side of the gun were mounts for the gun shield; it turns out they are supposed to be the telescopic sights, so I painted brackets on them. Their mounts were also shown in the diagrams facing two different directions -- I discovered this AFTER I had glued them on (naturally). A quick check of the AOS book showed that they were oriented correctly (yea!).

Regards,

 

[cdcoyle]

hatches, hatches, and more hatches

Hi, all.

I haven't dropped off the face of the earth...it's just that fire season ended, and I've been busy burning brush and leaves (got most of it done before it started raining last night -- yea!).

The next construction step, if one proceeds by part numbers, is to do the life raft decks. However, I noticed that some hatches needed to go beneath these structures, so I figured I should do those first. These hatches are highlighted in the photo. While doing those, I decided to do ALL the hatches (heck, why not?). There are quite a few to make, but they don't make a patently obvious addition to the model, so you may have to scrutinize the photo carefully to find the eight hatches, lockers, and bucket racks (23 total) that were added since my last post.

Best regards,

 

[cdcoyle]

depth charges

Work has commenced on the excruciatingly slow process of building the 29 stowed depth charges. Each charge, when built as designed, has 14 parts (first photo), which amounts to 294 total parts, IF one decides to use all of them. Problem is, the charges are one of those features that I don't think were designed very well. First case in point: the second photo shows a depth charge cylinder prior to rolling. The diamond-shaped portion in the center represents the depth charge carrier, which in real life is a separate part. In the kit, this 'part' merely gets outlined with thread. Hmmm... So I photocopied the cylinders onto extra cardstock and used those to cut out separate carriers (photo three). Looks much better, IMO. Second case in point: each real-life charge has four plugs filling the holes where the explosive is poured in. In the kit, these 116 tiny holes are supposed to be cut out from each cylinder end, after which the holes are backed by 116 tiny circles, creating a recessed plug. Only in real life, the plugs weren't recessed. So, since neither the printed circles on the part nor the recessed plugs formed by all that fiddly cutting is realistic, I went with the easier option, which is leaving the printed circle -- and saving myself 232 cuts in the process. Each charge should also have three lifting rings and a handle for the detonator; I tried making these from wire, but they just didn't look good, so I decided to forego them. Anyways, photo four shows a finished depth charge with its strop, lashings, and bracket attached. Photo five shows the charge set in its chocks. Now, only 28 to go...:-D :cry: :-D :cry:

Best regards,

 

[eibwarrior]

Yikes! Good luck keeping your sanity...

Good looking assembly when they're finished, it's just getting there and so many times.

 

[cdcoyle]

depth charges

I finished the depth charges! Well...half of them, anyway. :cry: Even this much has taken me several days to complete. This morning when I looked in the mirror to shave, I didn't recognize the dazed, hollow-eyed, stubble-faced wretch staring back at me...and I noticed a twitch or two that seem new. I attribute this to the depth charges...heh heh (twitch). I confess this has NOT been my favorite part of the build (boring...repetitive...elicits use of "special words"). During construction, two of the tiny restraining brackets made a break for freedom and were never seen again.

So anyways, here's a few pics, along with a couple of the forward gun shield. I shall press on!

Regards,

 

[eibwarrior]

Wow Chris. That's some nice work. I know how de-spiriting repetitive parts can be. But you did an excellent job.

Nice work on the 4" gun and shield. I've seen several and that may be the cleanest one yet.

Keep chugging along Chris. I'm following your build with great interest.

 

[cdcoyle]

Thanks, eib.

I presume you are referring to the couple of build reports over at kartonbau.de? I notice that I'm at almost at the same point in construction where the other fellows left off (gave up?...hope not). Since I'm building for someone else (and my own pet project is in mothballs until I finish this one), and that someone has sort of a deadline, I'm still pretty motivated.

Regards,

 

[cgutzmer]

HOLY CRAP! That is some super fine building. Excellent details and very clean. Keep it up! Do get some rest though....
Chris

 

[cdcoyle]

I finished the depth charges last night! :grin: :grin: :grin: Whew! To see them, just look at the starboard side depth charge pics and reverse the image in your head to make it a port side picture.

TTFN,

 

[cgutzmer]

For those of you that have trouble picturing it in your head.....

starboard

port

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA Sorry, I am easily entertained.
Chris

 

[cdcoyle]

Of course, the two sides aren't exactly the same, but that's pretty much the effect! :grin:

 

[cgutzmer]

They arent exactly the same in teh pictures either - the numbers are all reversed!
Chris

 

[eibwarrior]

Chris that looks great.

Yeah I noticed the other build over at kartonbau.de. For a moment I thought I was having deja-vu... :-D

Great work. Keep the updates coming!

 

[cdcoyle]

gooseneck vents

Hi, all.

Other committments have kept me away from my modeling bench for the last week or so, but tonight I got around to completing the gooseneck vents. There are 11 of these. Of course, four of them are located directly beneath the lifeboat decks. Anyways, I made these from formed wire (actually leftover electric fence wire :twisted: ) and blackened them with Blacken-it, an oxidizer used for blackening brass, copper, etc. The Blacken-it was diluted about 10:1 with water but still worked rapidly on whatever kind of metal this particular wire is made from. I chose blackening, as paint would not adhere to the wire, and the blackened parts (after a bit of buffing with the Dremel) look pretty nice and blend right in. I also ditched the paper straps and substituted thread soaked with CA -- it was just a far easier process and looks just as nice.

First photo shows the formed bare wire and a finished vent. Second photo shows three of the starboard vents in place...you might have to look pretty closely!

 

[cdcoyle]

liferaft deck

Also finished off the portside liferaft deck (no liferaft yet).

 

[cdcoyle]

progress to date

And finally, since most of my recent shots have been close-ups, I thought I'd throw in one stand-off shot to show how things are looking.

Regards,

 

[rlwhitt]

Very nice, as always, Chris!

Where do you get this Blacken-it stuff?

Rick

Hi, all.

Other committments have kept me away from my modeling bench for the last week or so, but tonight I got around to completing the gooseneck vents. There are 11 of these. Of course, four of them are located directly beneath the lifeboat decks. Anyways, I made these from formed wire (actually leftover electric fence wire :twisted: ) and blackened them with Blacken-it, an oxidizer used for blackening brass, copper, etc. The Blacken-it was diluted about 10:1 with water but still worked rapidly on whatever kind of metal this particular wire is made from. I chose blackening, as paint would not adhere to the wire, and the blackened parts (after a bit of buffing with the Dremel) look pretty nice and blend right in. I also ditched the paper straps and substituted thread soaked with CA -- it was just a far easier process and looks just as nice.

First photo shows the formed bare wire and a finished vent. Second photo shows three of the starboard vents in place...you might have to look pretty closely!