Hi Adrie!
What a excellent work you have done!
I read your diary and have recognized that paper has much possibility as a material of models.
Also in my DiAGOSTINI Akagi, the trusses under the flight deck are made of papers.
Best Regards,
Yutaro

Good evening, all!

It's been a hectic few days but with the weekend in sight I should have a bit more time to build and report.

So without further ado ......

The last time I stopped with a picture of the stokehold deckhouse glued under its platform which also doubles as boatdeck under weight, because I used quite a bit of PVA glue to glue them together and the water in PVA and card really don't go well together.

And when I removed the jar it showed because the loose flap of the platform had warped.



Nothing major, mind you, but enough to cause a problem when placing the assembly onto the deck. The flap should form a connection with the rear of the conning tower where a door was showing. If left unchecked, the warp would mean that any crew that walked through that door would crash on the platform below rather than step onto it!

Ok, ok, I know there aren't going to be any crew that would even consider stepping through the door, notwithstanding the fact that the door isn't real, but it's the principle that counts!

Luckily the fit with the conning tower was good so I would be able to glue the flap against the conning tower and all I needed was a temporary fixture that would keep the flap straight while the glue was setting.

I cut off a strip of the 0.5 mm cardboard after marking the height of the deckhouse on it and with three triangles glued in position to keep it from falling over, I was ready.



The rest in place ...



... and we are ready to glue down the deckhouses. I did the aft deckhouse first to make sure the circular end would end up circular. To do this I applied glue to the tabs then placed that part on the deck and pushed the circular area with my finger until it fitted inside the halfcircle drawn on the deck.



Not bad, and the door and portholes are really effective!

But we already knew that, didn't we?

So upwards and onwards!

The main construction was finally ready to be glued. I used the aft deckhouse as anchorpoint and dropped the assembly down with a little bead of glue on the connecting edge to the conning tower. A little push to make sure all was flat and I class it a successful operation!



I left the rest in place while the glue was drying ...



... and started on the last parts, the deck rims.



These are basically grey strips of card to be glued to the platform to act as a ...... trip hazard? It's nowhere high enought to stop a sailor from falling over the edge and in real size would probably just reach shin-height. Not very safe, I would think.

Not to mention painfull!



But after forming and bending these were added to the platform edges.



And of course the cut off tab had to be replaced.



Once it is fully dry I'll add some glue drops and a bit of paint to get rid of the gap.

But in the meantime we continue with the superstructure for the platform, which is the base for the funnel.

These are them bits ...



A rectangular base, two stairs and brackets, all relatively simple to do.

This is the constructed base ...



And the base placed on the platform with the brackets attached.



And we are ready for the next layer, the funnel. This will be build up in stages. The bottom stage consists of the following pieces:



The framework works the same as for the conning tower, the formers are constructed first.



Once this is fully dry, I will add the skin around it as with the conning tower but this time I will glue the connecting strip against the former and use that to position the skin.

But that will have to be tomorrow, I'm afraid.

Thanks for watching in and until laterzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

Adrie.

She is indeed, Alan! And thank you for the praise!

But with every day more white areas are disappearing. Mind you, there will be plenty of 'micro'-bits still to come to slow it all down but so far she's been growing well.

Let's hope we can keep that going!



While I was working of the Surprise I used the in between times when there was something that required drying to keep working on the de Ruyter but didn't have the time to show it here. So we have a bit to catch up upon.

I glued the connecting strip to the funnel framework ...



,,, and let that dry thoroughly.

In between I cut out the bits for the second funnel layer ...



...then continued with glueing the skin against the connecting strip.



Then after that dried, I glued the end of the skin to the connecting strip as well, which showed a couple of problems.

The skin was too big, both in width ...



... as well as in height.



I needed to add a strip of 0.5 mm card to fill up the height difference.
The width wasn't that big a problem because the skin fell almost completely within the ovals which were drawn on the base and the platform.

So I glued the platform to the funnel as if nothing was wrong.



Nothing really that would suggest it didn't really fit.

So onwards, then!

The second funnel part was constructed in the same way as the first part.



I glued the skin around it, which fitted well, then added the funnel cap.



That was then glued onto the first funnel part/platform.



Then the rticky part came, a wall that went around part of the platform which acts as a smoke discharger, apparently.

Whatever it didm it was a tricky fit with nothing but the edges of the platform to glue it against.

In the end it went on ok ...





... but it will require some touching up.

But Im going to do that after it has all dried thoroughly again! So until tomorrow, then!

Adrie.

Still full of admiration for you cardies This is look fab Adrie, keep it coming.
Steve

Hi Adrie,

Still stunning me with this one.

WTG matey

Keep up the good work.

Regards
delboy271155
(Derek)

Loving this build, still can't belive its paper .
And by the builds in the background its not your first.
If you like paper model please check these out you can build, you would do a great job of them.

http://uhu02.way-nifty.c...le_der_minerva/041.html

Keep the pictures coming.

Peter

Good evening, all!

Not that much to show, I'm afraid.

I seem to have the additional time required for getting the crane spot on a bit wrong.

And it could have been worse.



This is the top of the crane. And according to some pictures I found online, all that should remain of it are, in fact, the black lines.

And all that is grey should be removed.

Now that is a bit too much for me. If I had a PE fret with the crane I would have used that instead, but since I don't, I won't.

But consider that the second on the list of wanted improvements for this model, after the chains for the anchors.

I could start cutting some of the grey away in the hope that the crane wouldn't be turned into a very weak version of a swiss cheese (or any cheese with a lot of holes in it) but I couldn't do that to the already made crane parts and to have one crane with and one without would look even worse.

So I'll stick with what I have done so far.

I must admit that I had some reservations anyway regarding the crane. I once saw a model of the de Ruyter in 1:400 where the builder had made the crane cables from thread and glued that in place. Unfortunately the thread hadn't been straightened before glueing so that the crane hook made a hook of about 30 degrees off the vertical.

Although you can only applaud someone trying his best to make the model a little bit better, the problem is that if you can't get it just right, the model will look worse with the embellishment rather than better.

And that is my worry, that I, even though the intention is good, ams making the model worse, not better.

So I am taking as much time as I need to try and get it right. And since I am using a thread as well as cable (as indicated in the instructions), I made sure it was a lot stiffer than normal so I could make sure the thread could be forced in the right shape and stay there.

Of course, I used the PVA-water mixture for it and gave the thread two coatings. I would have used three coats but I am sure the glue would have shown up badly.

The crane fitted well enough in the structure so that was quickly glued in place. Then I used the thread and glued the tip to the top cable roll and let it dry. The other end of the thread was then lead around the bottom of the two lower rolls and secured with a drip of glue.

That was left to dry again and the remaining thread (carefully) cut off.

The second cable was then installed, after glueing the hook to it. This was first glued with a drop to the wheel at the end of the crane, left to dry, then glued to the top of the top cable roll and left to dry, aftwer which the remainder of the thread was lead to the other roll and glued in place.





With all the reservations I had about it first, I think I have pulled it off quite nicely.

And here it is, glued in place.


So after two days of stopping and starting, I have another one to do!



Here's to hoping we get the other one done as well as the first one and in LESS than two days.



Until laterzzzzz!

Happy building!

Adrie.

Beautiful work Adrie, keep it going....

Regards

Alan

Hi all!

And thanks, fellas, for looking in and the kind words. I think she is looking better and better and I do think that finishing one section of the ship before going to the next section does help here.

And thank you, Robin and Budgie! .

Your input into the problem is VERY MUCH (!!!!!) appreciated!

The ideas brought forward are quite similar and it made me suddenly wonder why the designer had the 'good' bits drawn in black and the 'bad' bits in grey. It would have made more sense if he had done the same as he did with the jib sides and the foot, namely print the 'metal' in grey and the 'holes' in black. But I don't think it would look that good if the sides were 'free of black bits' and the top and bottom would still sport them.

Another worry is with this section.



The stripes at the point of the jib are quite short. That would make the staples or the strip squite small and I am unsure of being able to keep it strong enough to resist manhandling, apart from it becoming extremely fidgety.

In a perfect world where I had another copy of this kit available, I would have tried to just cut away the top and botttom sections and replace it with strips. But even then I would have no clue as to how to create them as 'K'-shaped strips. You would prabably need something as 0.25 mm rod to cut to length and glue other cut rods as the 'arms'.

Luckily I finished one crane and it looks decent enough to give me some praise, so it can't have been that bad.

So I will do the same for the other crane and see if I can blow up this kit to double size (A4 to A3 printer/scanner would do, that is if I had one ) and then try it again with a bit more material to play with.

But as I have been told, I am to be 'well chuffed' with it so far , so I would do well to tread the well-trodden path! But that doesn't mean that I don't appreciate and welcome the assistance offered!!

Oh, and Robin? YAY on the cyberman!! When are you going to show them all? They are not that hard and if I can do them, then the Master of the Messines Ridge should have no trouble with them!

Oh, and Budgie? What's the latest on the Hood? I am still very interested in seeing how foaming the formers is going to turn out!!!



But I guess it is time to show what I have done so far. I made better time, this time!

And since I had done it before I decided to fill some of the required waiting times with the next parts, some more boats. This time two more cutters.



These are to be placed on either side of the superstructure with a pair of davits next to them.



But I started with glueing the jib and the base together as before and when it was throughly dry, I started on the threads.




During the drying time I started on one of the cutters as before, with forming the bottom of the hull and glueing the transom first to one side of the stern then the other, keeping the assembly in my fingers until the glue set.

Then the bow section was glued together and the whole set aside to dry.



I then returned to the crane and glued the threads to the cable rolls as before.



And when it was dry, I straightened the hook and the crane was ready to be glued in place.



I will finish the proper 'drop' of the hook when it is all nicely dried.
It's quite close as it is but can be made a bit better.

I must admit I think it looks good. Good enough to leave her be for the moment and have some rest.

Thanks for looking in , happy building and until laterzzzzzzzzzzzz!

Adrie.

Hi Adrie,

Brill,

Work to the usual high standards. WTG

Regards
delboy271155
(Derek)