seacon

Shipshape. Getting there. YBMS 2280 was built in Chicago by Grebe and Co. Inc. This is one of her sister ships under American ownership. M

I think I fix it! Thanks M

Oh! Oh! Small photos! Is there something I missed setting up Postimages??? M

Looks like this soft plastic reacts well with thicker liquid polystirene glue. I normally tack in place with a little CA and accelerator and then splash the joints with liberal amounts of whatever is available. In this case I dug out an ancient bottle of Mo-Lak Fiss thick liquid cement but would have as well used Tamiya orange cap, Faller or anything similar. I made a 90° jig to make sure that I have everything squared away. The soft wobbly plastic keel is held in place clamping it down with a metal ruler. In the end I added a few more frames to get a sturdier structure. In less than a hour my BYMS frame is done. Now I'll let it dry for a few hours. Looks pretty sturdy. Later I'll check for warpage. M

Let's start with scaling down and printing the 1/144 drawings on a regular photocopier. I prefer to figure out the "engineering" and assembly of the frame working directly on the paper plan in order to make all the corrections required to compensate the plastic sheet thickness and take into account any fit issues. Wow! This thing is small! I got a 1x1m 2,7mm thick plasticard sheet from a friend. He uses it to make fairly large RC aircrafts wings and fuselages. At first glance it looked ok but after a few cuts I realized the plastic is much softer than regular plasticard. Will see how it will work out... While scaling down the plans I decided to make a waterline BYMS. So, I cut the keel, the bottom of the minesweeper, the decks, 8 frames and the transom. I left some extra material on the rearmost part of the deck and on the transom sides. Later I will figure out the exact shape of the stern and will grind away the extra plastic. M

Di mare, legno e mine. Of Sea, Timber And Mines. Short story in plasticard and basic tools, in 1/144 scale. YMS and BYMS were built by the hundreds during WWII. Nonetheless, these little, important and omnipresent warships did not get very much recognition by model companies. Over the years, only the Heller Calypso has filled in a position that, for size and level of detail, should appeal to a vast potential market. This is my take to the Italian Marina Militare's Verbena. A WWII veteran with a distinguished postwar career in clearing mines along the Italian coast well into the '60s. I already have a problem: I do not have a web hosting for my photos! How can I post them??? M

Oh, well... we will see about that. For the time being I am gathering some info and a scale plan. I am planning to use styrene plates and profiles, metal and resin details and maybe some 3D printed parts. It is definitely a very low budget project. Stay tuned on this one M

Hello there Well, I already know that I will never finish this one... Looking at old photos I found these and got interested in the story of the little minesweepers that cleared much of the Italian coastal waters from the leftovers of WW2. I have plenty of plastic sheets and some time to spend on this build... so why not give it a try? Here is what I came up with... Enjoy M