Steve D

The longest journey begins with the first steps.. However, I don't think the league thing is right, I still chuck and re-do more than I keep. Guess I'm just stubborn

Don't stress, let filler become your friend....

Andreas, Trust me, everyone can work with metal, way easier than plastic and the finish is so much better and stronger. Allow me to encourage you to try. I have a drawer of my cast off work and failed attempts, may be useful one day should I decide to model a scrap-yard Cheers Steve

As I've said earlier in the thread, the mast is telescopic. The lower section is rectangular and hollow to allow the upper section to slide inside. A detail I've not seen before. Never afraid of a challenge, I made the lower section from 2mm rectangular hollow section brass and the upper section from 1.6mm tube to that I could slot in the 1 mm wire lightning conductor. It was tapered to a tiny mast cap in the lathe. The cross yard is made from1.2 mm brass wire and the flag gaff from 1mm wire. To the base you can see a cleat, there is a second one on the wheelhouse wall. The RHS was capped with a turned section that I filed down to be just proud of the mast, this supports the mast-head light platform. Nice little project. Its sitting on an etched base with raised bolt heads (not that anyone will see them....) Resting in place in its upper support bracket. Note I've added printed louvre doors to the engine room hatch and primed the additional bits on the deck, deck ready for final colour. At the stern you can just see the new smoke machine. The other one I made was a US Navy pattern smoke machine (drawings from a USN manual). I did think they were all the same but it was wrong for the MTB, this one is much better and matches the pictures I have. Now in primer waiting for the mast head light (which I will turn from Perspex rod) final paint, rigging and the ensign Can't keep putting off the second torpedo tube, running out of other stuff to make... Cheers Steve

Dmitriy My first scratch-built vessel took me 4 years and 3,000 hours... As you say, the journey is the hobby, then you are left with the problem of where to keep the finished result The hull framing is first class, looks strong enough sail across the Baltic.... Keep it up and Happy new year Steve

To break things up, I did a little work on the Carley floats today. I'd noticed in a couple of pictures that these floats don't have wooden plank bases, they actually had netting so I made up a small frames and wove a net section. I use a thin crochet thread, stained down with teak wood stain for this. The net is woven and then the intersections are fixed with a blob of cyno, slips off the frame and glues to the underside of the printed float. The grab lacing is then threaded in the groves in the printed float, the paddles are just sanded from some 3mm by 1 mm lime wood, will be stained down with Tung oil to finish She carried two floats, so repeat, these will be lashed down to the support beams in the end. Just visible at the end of the torpedo tube are the rather tiny ladder hooks where the raised timber gangway bearer sits on the deck. The sea ladder will be stowed on the Carley floats The unpainted support beams and a few other details I missed earlier are awaiting primer, tomorrow, final colour painting coming soon Cheers Steve

Not much of a post this time, been fiddling with tiny bits (engine quadrant, too small to photograph etc.) However, in between it came time to prime the wheelhouse and add the grey undercoat stripe to the starboard torpedo tube. This is such a cool paint scheme I thought I'd share, also note claxon on wheelhouse roof, scratch-made in brass and added and nav lights, Carley floats awaiting rigging Those stripes do line-up when you get it fully side on Can't wait to see it in blue, it will really pop Cheers Steve

The real challenge is the ammunition .

Every now and again, its nice just to make something from scratch, no etching or printing, old school. Below one of the .303 Lewis guns on its pedestal mounting And before you ask, yes it swivels and tilts..... Cheers Steve

Thanks Stuart, I'm starting to like the model now, ordered the case yesterday, so I'm committed to finishing

Update on the Wheelhouse and misc fittings Below a shot of various printed fittings in white and grey primer Lockers, loaded and empty depth charge shutes, fire extinguishers, lifebuoys in racks and the flag locker assemblies that fit either side of the wheelhouse entrance plus an oil drum. I've seen ;pictures of these being carried on deck and thought it might be fun to include them, we will see. One thing I love is cluttered decks, so many models have clean decks with just a couple of ropes. Wartime decks were cluttered as hell, many ropes and all sorts of other items (like the Danbouy I've made. The aim as ever it to create an impression of realism Here is where I've got to added detail to the wheelhouse (glazing comes as the end, one of the reasons its removable). Handrails, nav lights, the badge, a circuit breaker box and the binnacle all clearish in this shot The starboard side, voice pipes, seat, flag locker resting in place, shops wheel and steering stool, visible here And the port side showing the armoured door, hydraulic fluid reservoir tank, port seat and port flag locker assembly with hand held fire extinguisher. Better shot of the binnacle support I have the engine and torpedo tube controls to add plus more timber hand-holds. The latter will go in after painting as they will be left wood finish. The masking tape on the seats is covering the wood surface for priming an painting, which will be left natural. The primed lockers are removable for final painting, they are stuck in very late on So, nearly done. Moving to the mast assembly next with its lowering upper mast section that slides into the square lower box section, interesting detail Cheers Steve

Hi Dmitriy, I have a couple of soldering irons but I don't like them. They take too long to get the substrate hot and are quite clumsy, or I am, either way the effect is the same and not good. Instead I use this (Oxyturbo Turbo Set 90 Lead Welding & Lead Burning Kit) with a 0.8mm needle tip. This gives me great local intense heat, is super quick and good for both soft and silver soldering. That way you can do multi-part assembly soldering without unsoldering other bits (sometimes...) For brass I use a low temperature silver solder (normal silver solder has a melting point not too far from brass and so mistakes are easy), 0.5mm wire and powder flux dissolved in water. Silver soldering is actually very easy, the solder runs to the heat (which always amazes me) so you heat on the side of the joint away from the solder and the solder melts and runs to the joint. Get it right and its very satisfying. With this torch I can easily silver solder 0.5mm brass wire without melting it. For larger assemblies like the one above, I use soft solver paste (Fryolux Paint) which splatters like mad but doesn't add a lot of solder to spoil the details on the etching. For gap filling I use soft solder wire (sold for plumbers) but only occasionally as it runs everywhere and can spoil work. Hope that helps. People seem worried about silver soldering, get enough heat and its really easy. Cheers Steve

Wheelhouse Part 1 Left alone today so good progress on the wheelhouse. Most of the side plates just stick on to the wood core but the wind-deflector needs soldering. This is (I admit) very fiddly. It took a couple of attempts to get things right, luckily solder unsolders easily Here is is upside down at the start of the assembly The sides are then bent in and the remaining brackets soldered in place. Then its soldered to the upstands on the rear sides as shown here The brackets stick out to make slots the outer sides can slot into. They are then cut away and the whole assembly sanded and cleaned up so give this result Which I'm reasonably pleased with, this is the most challenging assembly, all down hill now.... Obviously there are lots of detail still to add, there will be a second update on the wheelhouse before painting Here is the lower mast support installed. The lower mast is square and hollow allowing the upper mast to slide down inside it. Interesting detail I've not seen before. I've sure 2 mm rolled hollow section brass for the lower mast, loosely fitted here to give the idea of where this is going (you may need to zoom in). In this shot, I've also added the canvas roof covering and wooden trim to the deck to form a mounting flange Part 2 coming by Friday Cheers Steve

Quick update on the wheelhouse progress. The etchings took quite a bit of fettling but I've got them in place ready for the windbreak tomorrow... First, added some detail to the forecastle, cat heads, hatches and vents added, the water-trap cowl vent bases will be added once in final colours, this detail is all in the B15 so safe to fix in place. The pole forward of the large hatch is the locking pole to hold it open. I'm pleased with the spring detail on those hatch lids made from brass wire taken from a Rioja bottle, useful stuff, 0.25 mm dia. The wine was also good... Then the wheelhouse. The timber roof will be canvas covered as full size practice And from the starboard side. The rear windows are sealed up and will be covered with splinter mats, this is still removable at this stage, fixing comes very late in the build Coming together now, should be painting final colours next week Cheers Steve

Nice project Stuart, though you know I would say wood should be the material of choice Good luck with it, I'll follow along Cheers Steve

Ha Jamie, yes I not only know B15 is blue, I've even bought your paints for this model, for the first time, so you will get the shout out when I apply the top coats. The grey is primer.... Cheers Steve

Great observation Stuart, In my defence, the spray booth is really only used to apply primer and for this I use automotive paint which creates plenty of overspray. I can close it up immediately after spraying to prevent dust attaching to the items. However, that said, it does look quite horrific in that picture, perhaps after 14 years, I should give it a clean Then again, maybe not... Steve

Sorry for the radio silence, I was side-tracked by the need to build a basement extension for my eldest daughters dolls house, its a long story... Anyway, progress on the MTB has been a little patchy and not really helpful to post, so here is quite a major update First, the hull and deck.. Lots of careful masking and priming resulted in a reasonable well primed hull with rudders fitted and the primer in the camouflage pattern but before I get there, I added the canvas anti-slip areas. These are bordered in very narrow brass strip and infilled with sections cut from a linen handkerchief that had been sprayed with matt varnish to seal it and prevent fraying. Stuck down with wallpaper repair adhesive Also visible in this view, I've added bolted strips to the hard rails at the stern (visible in photographs), the forward angle bracket at the break of the forecastle, two of the circular hatches and copper infill over the main engine room access hatch and the torpedo tube rail support beams (visible in pictures with the torpedo tubes removed) and here it is in primer, note rudders in foreground The colour scheme for MTB34 is really simple, White and B15 (illustration composed from images in Coastal Craft History Vol 1) I also tidied up the cowl vents seen here in my spray-bay And scratch-built the windlass seen here with the cowl vents and other hatches in place here Then I made up the first torpedo tube rail assembly. This starts with folding a very long narrow box which has slots for the transverse frames and a lot of holes. Luckily, it fits around a piece of scrap brass I have which helps to get it straight and flat I've realised that I didn't take any pictures of the frame before soldering, if anyone is interested, I'll post a picture when I make the second one Anyway, here it is trial fitted to the tube before fitting the external brackets and after And then primed It's Ok, second one should be better.. Lastly, the twin Vickers mark V mount, which I'd printed (same as the SGB) fitted out with it ancillary brass and copper bits, tub in the background. The gun mount pins are over length for handling, the guns are removed for painting and assembled at the end Sitting in the tub, ready for priming So, lots of bits of progress, the wheelhouse comes next.... Cheers Steve

Seems conclusive

I can't claim to be an expert in post-war colour schemes, but Green makes perfect sense to me Cheers Steve

Hi Rod, That's really interesting, you may well be on to something there. On Medea, there was a square rack for petrol tin storage for the motor tender (those old rectangular petrol tins) that is about the same size, I'd not thought of that Cheers Steve

Hi Dmitriy, welcome back Good to see the notifications on this thread working so I could catch up with this excellent build. Great work on the bow section, always a challenge with wooden hulls, looks like you took more care with it than I normally do, well done The workshop would have been quicker at 1/16th scale, just saying.... С Рождеством 🎄 Steve

Hi Colin, Thanks for the kind comments and you're most welcome to tag along. I grew up with a passion for technical drawing so the conversion to computer aided drafting came naturally, we're not so far apart age wise... Still there are better members on this forum than me, at drawing, 3D modelling, certainly painting, at everything really! I make so many mistakes, its a wonder I finish any model, but I just love ship models so I keep trying. Also, nice to see you modelling in God's own scale of 1/4 inch to the foot. If it was good enough for shipyards, its good enough for me Cheers Steve,

Great model Stuart, excellent work, what you guys can do with plastic sheet always amazes me Now we just have to get your head around wood and aluminium, plating so much better in 4 thou ali

The etching sheet arrived yesterday, earlier than I'd expected. Now we get to see how accurate my drawing is...... I actually made a start on the wheelhouse, but that's a post on its own and I'm not finished yet, so we'll start with the hull fittings First the cavitation plates and brackets that improve the rudder performance. These are 4 pieces each with the slot cut after the back is soldered in place. Just solder paste here, tends to run and make everything silverish Only fettling was a little filing to open the slot slightly, pretty good really. Here they are epoxied in place with the rudders placed in their brackets to give some idea of the complete assembly (rudder shafts still over-length, upside down of course) Then I opened up the scuttles to receive the brass outers. These have a slight ridge on the onside face so they centre the hole. The hull is so thin (.5 mm) that this can't be done with a drill, I used a tapered stone burr to gradually open up the holes until the brass covered snapped in place The hull is not ready for a coat of primer to check for blemishes Then I added the deck trim for the canvas anti-slip matting and the engine room panels that are bolted in place The staining is the thin cyno I'm using to stick these down, runs everywhere but it provides an even joint and lays flat on the deck, it'll look OK once painted Here is the same shot with the twin Vickers tub and engine room hatch in place. IN the foreground is the first of the round hatches, still needs the spring and hinge bar added The Vickers mount is the same print model I used on the SGB but the tub is different on the MTB, slight higher with a flange towards the bottom. The clips are 0.5 mm brass wire The next few updates will be similar, me assembling tiny bits of brass, all much the same once you get going. I'm still thinking about how to bend the torpedo tube frames, tough..... Still real progress can now proceed full steam ahead.. I have everything I need to get this finished, its a simple model but needs to be crisp because that simplicity doesn't allow me to hide mistakes the way a more complex boat does ... Cheers Steve