tony007

Airfix were waiting on how the Virgin Cosmic Girl performed yesterday. We may have had a new mould 747 with launcher. (wishful thinking) After the failure last night they might wait until next year. A 1/72 Lincoln or Manchester would be nice along with a 1/350 Queen Elizabeth carrier.

Don`t think you will get much change from £250 for this beast! A lot of money to fork out for a paper ship. A 1/350 QE carrier now, that`s a different story.

Thanks Alejandro, looking forward to it. Tony

I like the way you are making the LIncoln. Is there any update on this model? Tony

Sorry Kevin I did not take any pictures, working on them was enough. When we were 1st year apprentices, part of our training was to build a cardboard double bottom section. It showed how strong the structure was, our instructor got the biggest lad in the class to stand on it. There was no buckling at all! I think this model may have its origins there. I remember the Fire service wanting diagrams etc of the ships structure, so they knew what they were facing in a emergency. I think it was one of the architects who designed this model to help them. Most of the important structure is in the model, but it also is a simplified version of what was actually there. A example is where the frames(longitudinal stiffeners) in the double bottom sections (and most other parts of the ship) go through non watertight bulkheads, they never touched the bulkhead. On both sides of the frame there was a small gusset plate welded between the frame and bulkhead. This allowed a bit of movement in the ships structure, otherwise structural failure happened. That`s all for today`s shipbuilding lesson.

Nice work Kevin, brings back a few pleasant(unpleasant) memories. I used to work on these in real life at the shipyard where they were built. The model is very true to the original, but you missed out the 3 run fillet welds at the bottom of the bulkheads.(only kidding)

Lovely work on the Javelin, will be following this build😀