HMAS/m AE2, Scratchbuild

[albergman]

HooBoy ... in the home stretch ... there's the finish line ... you can do it!

 

This is looking very promising and I encourage you to keep at it.   Funny I should say this because I abandoned my Maserati scratch build months ago ... started another all-wood Ferrari 375MM which I've also tired of!!   But I understand the feeling exactly when you're almost done, you're sick of looking at the thing and all the pictures you've collected.    Sometimes it is best to put it aside for a short while then come back with renewed energy ... sometimes I don't know what I'm talking about too!

 

One last anecdote which might help.    I recently entered my Lancia D50 in a model show in Toronto ... first time I've ever entered a show and I was surprised and delighted with the interest and the chance to talk about the project with fellow modellers.    Mostly we labour away in solitude (spurred on by support from BritModeller lurkers) and the only person who sees that tiny part you took 3 days to make and are so proud of is the Missus ... who glances up from her novel and says "That's nice dear ... what is it?".

 

Get yourself and AE2 to that show and enjoy the interest it will generate.

 

Frank

 

PS  Not a naval expert but I think "conning" tower is derived from its main purpose ... reconnaissance.    

Edited March 20, 2018 by albergman

[Courageous]

3 hours ago, albergman said:

Sometimes it is best to put it aside for a short while then come back with renewed energy ...

Emphasis on 'short' otherwise it may take up residence on the 'shelf of doom' never to be seen again.

3 hours ago, albergman said:

PS  Not a naval expert but I think "conning" tower is derived from its main purpose ... reconnaissance. 

As good a definition as anything so far.

 

Stuart

[albergman]

3 hours ago, albergman said:

31 minutes ago, Courageous said:

Emphasis on 'short' otherwise it may take up residence on the 'shelf of doom' never to be seen again.

Too true, too true Stuart.   I have at least seven unfortunate candidates languishing on that very shelf!

3 hours ago, albergman said:

31 minutes ago, Courageous said:

As good a definition as anything so far.

 

Stuart

I did go and Google it just now and the closest I got was  "conn ... also spelled cun, conne, cond, conde, and cund, (whoops that was close ... F) is the act of controlling a ship's movements while at sea."

 

So maybe it is more to do with conning ... as in steering than in reconnaissance?

 

[Bandsaw Steve]

Batteries Recharged - Dive, Dive, Dive...

 

OK folks - after a bit of a run on the surface these old submarines would get a hull full of fresh air and a bank of batteries full of electricity - all set for the next big dive. That's where I'm at now - all ready to plunge in again.

 

This is due to three things:

• I've made a decision to use the WASMEx as a 'hell or high-water' deadline - essentially just a target to hit to get this thing done. If need be, I'm going to take annual leave to hit this mark.
• The ocean base has come back from the picture framers and now I can really see what this thing's going to look like finished - not much guesswork involved any more.
• Most importantly - all of the encouragement and positive energy streaming into the project from you lot on Britmodeller. I really do owe you all a vote of thanks.

I am pretty happy with the work the framer has done and was going to do a big 'reveal' at the end in the RFI section but since you have all been so supportive I think I can spare a couple of sneak previews... 

 

 

 

 

I'm happy with this.  I hope you like it too, because this is basically what she's going to look like when done.

 

Hendie: As for your question regarding the conning tower. I've done a bit of light research and it seems that indeed steering a ship can be to 'conn' a ship.  Apparently this is originally derived from French and shares the same root as the word 'conduct' (as in ‘to conduct or direct an orchestra’ or ‘to conduct a complex operation’). So in a sense the 'conning tower' can be thought of as a 'conducting tower' - a location from which the vessel’s operation is 'conducted'.  Nice huh... As the one time 'Reconcilor' I wonder if there's a link there too?

 

Once again, thanks to everyone for showing interest and providing encouragement when needed. Clear the decks - Seal the hatches - Flood the tanks - we are going in for the final run...

 

By the way - I have decided what the next project is going to be but am going to sit on that info for a few days longer - there's a reason for the delay, watch this space.

 

Steve

[Courageous]

Everything looking 'shipshape' there. Hopefully not much more to do before the paint goes on. 

 

Stuart

[Kevin Aris]

in american boats the captain when coming in to the control room says" i have the conn" meaning i have the submarine which is actually said in RN boats, we used it if the captain was taking command from the OOW possibly on returning to periscope depth in confined waters or in a known shipping lane

[Bandsaw Steve]

I cannot believe how educational this thread has become! 👍👨🏻‍🎓😀

[Nigel Heath]

It looks awesome Steve. Great work.

[bar side]

Looking very good I indeed.  Looking forward to the rfi reveal.

 

Next project - no clue in watch this ‘space’?  Air & water so far.....

[JohnWS]

18 hours ago, Bandsaw Steve said:

I cannot believe how educational this thread has become! 👍👨🏻‍🎓😀

Looks like graduation day is not too far off. 

 

John

[Bandsaw Steve]

5 hours ago, bar side said:

Looking very good I indeed.  Looking forward to the rfi reveal.

 

Next project - no clue in watch this ‘space’?  Air & water so far.....

Well Barside, that could have been a very good guess but not on this occasion I’m afraid. I have a very long list of subjects to build and several highly fancied projects are either ‘real-space’ or ‘sci-fi’ but this time it’s going to be all about jdirdnlfeaqfcvikl! Oh sorry - did my typing go awry just then?

[Bandsaw Steve]

Run Silent - Run Deep

 

The submarine is progressing well, but you wouldn't know it by watching these pages.

Right now I'm focused on actually doing something to the model and not blathering on about it here. I'm kind of running silent.  Like I said in the previous post - the last weekend of April is the 'hell or high water' deadline for this project, so I'm putting what small amount of spare time I have into getting this job done! I am however, hoping to post a proper update this weekend.

 

In the meantime - I have managed to start that other project that I was going on about... and it is... to scratchbuild a 1/32 Avro 504 and to start the build on the 100th anniversary of the formation of the Royal Air Force!  So far I have committed a whole 20 minutes of building time to this new project so it hasn't distracted much from AE2. Don't know how long this will take but at least it did start on schedule. 

 

Here's the link - Feel free to go and have a look and a laugh because at the moment my Avro does look pretty funny! I'm hoping it will improve with a bit of effort!

 

Very Best Regards,

Bandsaw Steve

 

 

 

[JohnWS]

9 minutes ago, Bandsaw Steve said:

... In the meantime - I have managed to start that other project that I was going on about... and it is... to scratchbuild a 1/32 Avro 504 and to start the build on the 100th anniversary of the formation of the Royal Air Force!  So far I have committed a whole 20 minutes of building time to this new project so it hasn't distracted much from AE2. Don't know how long this will take but at least it did start on schedule. 

 

Here's the link - Feel free to go and have a look and a laugh because at the moment my Avro does look pretty funny! I'm hoping it will improve with a bit of effort!

 

Very Best Regards,

Bandsaw Steve

 

A couple of nails to hold the wings on and you're done. 

 

It'll be a fun build to follow.

 

John

[Bandsaw Steve]

13 minutes ago, JohnWS said:

A couple of nails to hold the wings on and you're done. 

 

It'll be a fun build to follow.

 

John

Yes, I’m confident that it’ll be fun to follow. I’m not so sure it’s going to be fun to actually do though! 🤔 I think biplanes might prove challenging subjects and suspect there could be some bad language used in the factory over the next few months.

[Courageous]

I was just wondering about this boat of yours Steve, glad it's still going albeit 'silent and deep'. Now, I better go and find this Avro thread, should be interesting.

 

Stuart

[Bandsaw Steve]

Bits and Bobs

 

Of late, life in general has been a bit too busy for comfort. Nevertheless, I am pleased to report some progress on AE2 and still think that I can hit the end of April deadline.  Here's a grab bag of some of the bits and bobs that I've been up to.

 

Firstly the submarine needs a steering wheel (which I think it's more correctly called the 'helm' but I'll leave that to the experts).  Start with a circular bit of plastic of the right diameter trimmed off the end of a bit of evergreen tubing.

 

Get one of these incredibly, ridiculously fine drills and drill 6 holes evenly spaced around the outside of the 'wheel'.

 

Thread some plastic through each of the holes - note that the first length (in this photo the one running straight up and down) can run across the full diameter of the wheel - but subsequent spokes have to terminate against that first length so have to be shorter.

 

 

As you can see I've already whittled the 'periscope stay / stand / support thing' to a nice rounded shape. Now I stuck a thin slice of plastic sprue onto the back of it with superglue. I attached the wheel onto that disk with Tamiya, thick cement.

 

There's been one or two other little jobs done around the conning tower - but basically this was where it was up to at the time the wheel was done.

 

Now for some soldering! I'm not much of a solderer so don't get your hopes up that this will be anything special.  Despite being a bit of a neophyte at this I do find the process enjoyable and I managed to make some good strong joints this time around.

 

If you haven't tried soldering, I suggest you have a go. The only real problem I've found with soldering is that it would be good to be able to grow a third hand when needed, like that dude in Terminator 2 - who, ironically enough, was actually made out of  solder! 

 

Here's the cross-beam thingy being added to the radio mast.

 

Hmmmm... looks OK - but the mast gantry needs some stays to hold it in place.

 

Remove the gantry from the hull and solder some brass stays on.  Note that the masking tape is really just there as a marker - helping me to get each stay the same length up the gantry and so forth.

 

She's a bit rough - but this'll do. I cleaned up the joints a bit later on with a file and some sandpaper.

 

Mushroom ventilators needed to go on.  I made the little hemispheres from a drop of glue on each one.

 

These submarines had a canvas 'dodging' screen (I don't know why it's called that but apparently it was) all around the tower.  Exactly how to build this had been worrying me for a long time (that was part of the reason I was running low on mojo) - but in the end it wasn't too bad.

 

Cut a length of thin evergreen card to the right length and width and slide it inside the stanchions as shown below.

 

Glue it into place with some Tamiya thick cement (not the uhu stuff that's accidentally in the background of this photo).   Cut out and glue on the extra bit that adds some shape to the front of the dodging.

 

Now, in an effort to represent the fabric simply cover the exterior of the structure with fine masking tape. 

 

Add a 'hem' to the top of it to sort out any rough edges.

 

And paint a layer of 'EZ Kote' Liquid resin over the whole lot to prevent the masking tape from lifting over time.

 

OK - this is about where I'm up to - although I note I haven't put the mast in place yet.  All the bits are just sitting there dry fitted, but I don't anticipate any difficulties with sticking them all together.

 

That's about it for now. Am working on this most nights now so hopefully might have some more posts soon.

 

TTFN and see you all soon

Bandsaw Steve

 

[Martian]

That was a really informative and enjoyable update Steve.

 

Martian

[hendie]

I shall echo the tentacle one's comments and throw in an additional 'nice dodging'

 

can't wait to see this one with all her clothes and makeup on

[Courageous]

Nice to see some good progress on the bridge.

 

Stuart

[Ted]

Just finished reading this log from the beginning, I love your creative use of materials and techniques.

 

Also...those water effects!

[albergman]

It's interesting to see the materials chosen by different scratch builders to accomplish the same thing.   Really shows that there are many solutions to a challenge.

 

Coming along nicely Steve and, in the words of Charles Dickens ... an Artful Dodger.

 

Frank

 

PS ... soldering:  Cleanliness of the parts is key to good solder contact.   Fine sand each area first then apply flux/solder to each piece separately.   Place the 2 pieces together and maybe lock them in place with masking tape.    Apply heat to the join ... no more solder really necessary unless you want  to add bulk.

[Kris B]

And who need a plastic kit? Very impressive. 

[robgizlu]

Lovely work on that canvas dodger and all the solder work 

Rob

[Bandsaw Steve]

Guards and Handrails

 

For many years I have worked in the mining industry and have noted that whenever our mill maintenance colleagues have 'nothing much to report' in the daily operations meetings they always say they have been working on 'Guards and Handrails'.

 

This never gets questioned for two good reasons:

• It's safety related.
• It's a bit like painting the Sydney Harbour bridge - it's a job that's never finished.

So now for some 'Guards and Handrails' work for my submarine.  Here's the starting point - very dangerous, the sailors might fall overboard...

 

If you go back far enough through this thread you will see that I have actually planned ahead with this moment in mind - remember me buying these from the nice young haberdashery assistant?

 

And cutting a series of slots in the casemate so the stanchions would have somewhere to live?

 

And even checking that they would fit in place before sticking the hull together?

 

Well, now's the time that all of that preparation paid dividends.  Basically I just slipped each stanchion through it's little bung-hole until the point of the needle poked out on the underside of the model. Then I stuck some two-part epoxy on it...

 

And pulled it back up into place so that the glue came into contact between the needle and wood and then - after checking against the laminated plans...

 

I positoned each stanchion at the correct height.  This way each one was secure and set at the correct height and, since they were glued from below, there were no sticky glue marks on the deck.

 

I also had to remember to rotate the needle in it's spot so that all of the eyes were facing fore-aft.  This is so that when ezy-line is threaded through each of these it will run nice and straight along the length of the boat.

 

At the foremost extreme of the casement there was one central short stanchion with the eye at 90 degrees to the boat. This will guide the ezy line correctly around the bow...

 

and there's another one at the stern.  In this shot you can also see the flag-staff at the rear of the boat that I made from a bit of brass tube.

 

And here she goes so far. Rigging should be easy from here...should be...

 

Not much to add at this point except to say that the sailors still aren't safe because there's no railing yet.  Oh well - like I said - this job is a bit like painting the Sydney Harbour bridge.

 

Next time, we get to throw some more paint about.

 

Thanks for staying with this one.

Bandsaw Steve

 

 

[Courageous]

Good work Steve, you'll make that deadline yet. As for rigging between stanchions...it's a little bit practice before you start your biplane in earnest .

 

Stuart