Nigel Heath Posted February 25, 2018 Share Posted February 25, 2018 That's a very effective base, I always think such watery effects are difficult to pull off but you've done it to great effect. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bandsaw Steve Posted February 26, 2018 Author Share Posted February 26, 2018 Thanks guys. To answer your question Hendie - Yes, this is my first go at this seascape business, however I did a fair bit of experimenting and testing behind the scenes before attacking the job in earnest, so I was fairly confident that it would work. Although I did not follow Chris Flodberg’s method exactly I could not have done this without his work / method as a guide. I am especially pleased with the result given that it’s my first whack at this! 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
longshanks Posted February 26, 2018 Share Posted February 26, 2018 Looking good Buddy!! Kev 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albergman Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 Well done Steve. I too think this is a tricky subject to get right but you've captured it very well. I'm impressed. Frank 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bandsaw Steve Posted March 10, 2018 Author Share Posted March 10, 2018 Conning Tower I have relented on using only the magnets to hold the conning tower in place. When I added the sheet of plastic that makes up the walkway it introduced a slight gap between the magnets in the base of the tower and the top of the casemate - this weakened their grip on each other a bit so I have added some adhesive, my favourite two-part araldite, to hold the conning tower permanently in place. So now with the tower glued down I can start detailing it. Here I have added some (very basic) navigation lights on the flanks, a brass hand hold on the leading edge and am in the process of putting handrails all around the top of the tower. I was considering soldering this handrail into position - but chose instead to use two part epoxy - and it seems to be working OK... Clip off the excess brass with some heat-tempered scissors (great tools these). Ad here are my handrails - a bit dodgy maybe but they'll do. And now I'm concerned that there's only glue and magnets holding the conning tower in place. I still want the assurance that some physical object is securing the damned thing. If it ever comes off it'll be a calamity... So - back to the idea of using a dowel. Much easier to get the dowel holes lined up now that the conning tower is glued into the correct spot. In fact it's basically impossible to get this wrong now. I decided on two dowels - here you can see the first one going into place. I am using PVA glue. So now to the top platform. I made one a few months back as you may recall but it always looked a bit wonky to me - its symmetry was a bit suspect. So using my new you-beaut pre-marked sheet plastic I've had another go and I'm happy with this one. Basic details added - and holes for some more stanchions drilled. See how easy it is to verify whether their distribution is even or not with this plastic sheet. OK - that's it for now. Gotta Go - family has an outing about to start. Best Regards and thanks for all the feedback. Bandsaw Steve 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hendie Posted March 10, 2018 Share Posted March 10, 2018 nice update. I think I would still have been tempted to use solder on the hand rails though. I find solder much easier to clean up and get a nice finish afterwards. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bandsaw Steve Posted March 10, 2018 Author Share Posted March 10, 2018 You are probably right Hendie, soldering might have been a better way to go, but I haven’t done a lot of it and chickened out in this case. Will try to muster more courage next time - maybe when doing the main mast. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted March 11, 2018 Share Posted March 11, 2018 This starting to look very special! Martian 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bandsaw Steve Posted March 18, 2018 Author Share Posted March 18, 2018 Periscopes, difficult people and Lego bricks. A few days ago I walked into the local crochet supplies store and purchased two 1:100 scale E-class submarine periscopes... When I got them home I was initially quite encouraged - the length was about right and the tapering shape was pretty good - they even had a little assembly on the tip of the periscope that was clearly supposed to represent the lens. I chiselled away the large block of plastic at the base expecting to find a good long length of steel that I could use to really anchor this periscope into the conning tower. So how disappointing was this? There's not enough length in the base for me to properly key this into the conning tower and what's more - the bottom half of the periscope's mast is far too thick. This is not at all a fair representation of the original. I took it back to the shop and complained to the manager. She just kept going on and on about how they were supposed to be a 'crochet hook store' and how they supposedly 'knew nothing about submarine periscopes'... Ridiculous! Anyone who has a shop full of submarine periscopes should really know something about them I think! Anyhow - she wouldn't give me my money back either - said I'd damaged the item by removing the 'handle'. I just laughed at her and told her that periscope handles are inside the submarine so whatever I'd removed couldn't possibly have been the handle. Phew...some people can be so difficult eh! Anyhow - I've now decided I'm going to build the periscopes out of brass tubes that slip together like this. Simple huh! I still have to do something about the horizontal lens because everyone want's a periscope to have a little right-angley bit at the end... And now they look like this... I must be getting the hang of this drill-press business because these are fairly upright... Speaking of uprights - now the stanchions have to go onto the conning tower deck. I have used some thick Tamiya cement to attach some evergreen rods into the holes I had drilled earlier. As I have written before I always have issues with getting things truly upright and perpendicular. Here's my latest attempt to keep things straight. Lego blocks... I am experimenting with making construction jigs using Lego blocks (or in this case cheap Chinese rip-offs of Lego blocks). The idea is that Lego is very good at making items with true 90 degree angles so that whether-or-not something is truly upright should be able to be checked against the edges of the blocks - especially since they are always in such high-contrast colours. Here the stanchions look OK from the front... and here they look OK from the side...(maybe just a tiny touch crooked)... Being made of Lego, the jigs are endlessly reconfigurable - here's the finished jig for this job. I left the work sitting like this for 24 hours to let the cement get completely hard. And here is the result to date - with a small rough cut-out for the - whatchamacallit - stand thing immediately behind the front periscope... That's it for this time around except now I'll tell you a little secret... This submarine is supposed to be finished by Saturday 28th of April - the last weekend of April - that way it can be on the competition table for the West Australian Scale Model Exposition here in Perth. But I still have a long way to go. More importantly I feel like I'm running a bit low on battery power for this project. This has been a fairly long campaign and now I'm just down to annoying fiddly little details - no bandsaw work here, so I'm running a bit low on enthusiasm (note - running low not running out!). So any encouragement now would be much appreciated! Any mojo you can send through the interweb would be greatly appreciated! Best Regards, Bandsaw Steve 10 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Heath Posted March 18, 2018 Share Posted March 18, 2018 Hi Steve, Great detailing work, it's these little extras that will turn it into a true masterpiece. (I hope that's sufficiently encouraging). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hendie Posted March 18, 2018 Share Posted March 18, 2018 Ah.... lego. I went and bought some 1-2-3 blocks for the same purpose, and still can't get things square/straight/pointing in the right direction. The conning tower is starting to look the business Steve. Why is it called a conning tower? 1 hour ago, Bandsaw Steve said: I took it back to the shop and complained to the manager. I guess you just got conned. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_W Posted March 18, 2018 Share Posted March 18, 2018 29 minutes ago, hendie said: Why is it called a conning tower? And those strange Americans call it a Sail, even though it is not made of canvas... 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robgizlu Posted March 18, 2018 Share Posted March 18, 2018 Steve - absolutely superb work throughout. Thanks for the Lego tip - Top-notch!!! The periscopes look superb - I'm picking up so many tips!! Super-charge those batteries, it's the detail that's going to continue to take this to further levels (or slow time down......) keep it coming Rob 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
longshanks Posted March 18, 2018 Share Posted March 18, 2018 How can you be running out of steam ..... It's downhill from here to the end. Got to be done for the show, so keep up the good work Kev 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnWS Posted March 18, 2018 Share Posted March 18, 2018 Looking great Steve. 2 hours ago, Bandsaw Steve said: ...I took it back to the shop and complained to the manager. She just kept going on and on about how they were supposed to be a 'crochet hook store' and how they supposedly 'knew nothing about submarine periscopes'... Ridiculous! Anyone who has a shop full of submarine periscopes should really know something about them I think! .... I agree! lol 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hendie Posted March 18, 2018 Share Posted March 18, 2018 2 hours ago, Bandsaw Steve said: So any encouragement now would be much appreciated! Any mojo you can send through the interweb would be greatly appreciated! I think if you head down to those shops you so frequently frequent, and ask the little lady with the mauve colored cardigan very nicely (but quietly) - she has a secret stash of mojo stored on one of the under the counter shelves. It comes in little bottles and is quite expensive but I think she'll see you right. She may also have some little angley periscopey things masquerading as ear studs 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courageous Posted March 18, 2018 Share Posted March 18, 2018 (edited) What the others have said. To me, the hardest part was in the distant past and the final should be relatively easy going. Besides, you can't be running out of steam, AE2 isn't steam powered. The Lego is good aide, must use that. 17 hours ago, hendie said: Why is it called a conning tower? Don't know why it was called 'conning' but it was an intermediate space outside the pressure hull, below the bridge and resided within the sail (US)/ fin (UK). As periscopes got longer they were able to move this 'conning' area inside the pressure hull. Now, no slacking, crack on and get this girl finished ...then you can start the next one . Stuart Edited March 19, 2018 by Courageous Corection 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Churchill Posted March 19, 2018 Share Posted March 19, 2018 Fiddly little details are the best bit. Anyway, Britmodeller expects that every man shall do his duty - and in your case that means photos of the boat on the judging table posted by close of play on Sunday 29th. 😁🏁 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitestar12chris Posted March 19, 2018 Share Posted March 19, 2018 Come on Steve, sending additional battery power down the web. No the feeling, the scratch built C class is giving me a few headaches as well, your past the worst of it with a great looking sub. All the best Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courageous Posted March 19, 2018 Share Posted March 19, 2018 16 minutes ago, whitestar12chris said: the scratch built C class is giving me a few headaches as well I was just thinking about this myself? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Aris Posted March 19, 2018 Share Posted March 19, 2018 Òoooooooh you want some mojo - here you go, lovely work 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted March 19, 2018 Share Posted March 19, 2018 Come on, you just need one last push to finish off this wonderful project which will clearly be a hit at the show. Does that help? Martian the Encouraging 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeR Posted March 19, 2018 Share Posted March 19, 2018 Your very nearly there, so don't give up! If you can't finish by the end of April, so what? Enjoying the hobby takes precedence over any competition. Mike. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kris B Posted March 20, 2018 Share Posted March 20, 2018 Nice and tidy. Looks like Lego is very handful. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courageous Posted March 20, 2018 Share Posted March 20, 2018 15 hours ago, MikeR said: Your very nearly there, so don't give up! If you can't finish by the end of April, so what? Enjoying the hobby takes precedence over any competition. Mike. A very good point but sometimes a little pressure focuses the mind to get it done. Stuart 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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