mdesaxe

One possible factor in the variation of the behaviour of polystyrene card may be the fact that this substance is photosensitively unstable. Polystyrene unprotected against sunlight will change its chemical structure gradually. This initially manifests itself visually as chalking - the surface becomes more and more matte. Further exposure to sunlight re-arranges the internal polycarbon structure so that it loses its integrity and become crumbly. The rate at which this occurs is not completely predictable but it usually is a result of both the amount and intensity of exposure to sunlight and the specific manufacturing formulation. I have some polystyrene sheet (of a very odd thickness) that I bought at least 40 years ago that has been kept in a paper envelope and is still perfect, while I have some other material that I bought less than 5 years ago and was careless about its storage that seems to crack almost as soon as I look at it. Maurice

Ian It was bodied so that Rolls could transport a small hot air balloon in the rear section to various meets. Maurice

That is really interesting - I did not realise that Airfix had modified the moulds to make it into a full-hull model. I had dozens of these at one point, all waterline and fitting into a seascape base, because I used them for wargaming. Remarkably nice result, too! Maurice

Bertrand du Guesclin was born not all that far from where I Iive now. The painting of the figure and shield are well beyond anything I could accomplish. Nevertheless, aren't the double headed eagle and bend rather anaemic? Maurice

Tea is a really bad idea if you are concerned about longevity. Almost all tea contains tannic acid (some, especially herbal tea, can contain citric acid). Either will affect all natural rigging line over time, causing it to become fragile at best or disintegrate at worst. If you want to dye rigging line (or sails, for that matter) always use purpose-made fabric dyes. If that seems too extreme, you can get away with using wood stain instead. I recently retired after a 25-year career in maritime museum curation and saw many dozens of models whose rigging died from tea dye. Maurice

Here's the photograph. The original scans for both images are much larger but would take up too much space on the site. I could possibly send them to you if you PM me. Maurice

Any help? (From: Imperial Chinese Navy Ships, 1855-1911, a Chinese-language publication by Guong Chun published in Hong Kong 2013). This also has a very large photograph but it is across the gutter and too large to scan easily - I might try if you are interested. Maurice

This is rather a tangent on this really excellent build. I have just started work on making a 1:250-scale model of one of Laird's 30-knotters from the 1895-1896 Programme. My subject, however, was named Griffon, whereas the next use of the name for a destroyer, the subject of this build, was as Griffin. This strikes me as very odd and I wonder if anyone has an explanation. Maurice

From my experience working with paper models I can pass on a couple of things that may help make the join less obvious. First, do not cut on the printed black line at the join but cut on its inside, thus eliminating it. The difference in the overall length of the deck will be in the order of 0.02mm. Secondly, it pays to lightly burnish the cut edges on both the top and the bottom of the paper to eliminate the very slightly higher edge caused by the knife blade. The disadvantage is that the burnished paper will be shinier than the surrounding area but a coat of flat finish will fix that problem. Also, remember it is not o good idea to use acrylic finishes over paper-it can take up the water and buckle-so it is better to use a lacquer for this. Maurice

The photograph was taken in March or April 1991, very early in the actual manifestation on a more country-wide scale (outside Guangdong and Shanghai) of Deng Xiaoping's "capitalism with a communist face". Wearing crisp white business shirts had become a way for people to demonstrate their professional status after 40 years of everyone wearing washed-out blue Mao suits. Maurice

I had to go through folders full of photographs to find those I took of these shining locomotives. Here is one showing the crew polishing their steed. This is just before a first scheduled morning departure from Xiamen. Maurice

When I was working in China in the early 1990s, the rail system divided into three sections as far as motive power was concerned. The northern division used electric locomotives, the central division used diesels, and the southeast division still used steam locomotives. All the rolling stock was pretty shabby (I am being polite) and so were the diesel and electric locomotives. But every trip I took in the southeast was behind a gleaming black steam locomotive with its red wheels trimmed with white tyres - and the crews invariably spent quite a bit of time before starting from the terminal each time to polish their locomotives. The crews at that time all belonged to work units and it did not benefit them to do this work of keeping up their machinery but they certainly were proud of them. Maurice

Profil24 make both long nose (Le Mans 1955 winner) and short nose (Le Mans 1956 winner) D-Types in 1:24 scale. Resin kits and not cheap but really astonishingly detailed. Maurice

For what it may be worth, I happened to be looking through my copy of the late David Lyons' book The First Destroyers. In the section "Colours and visibility" he notes "The protective compositions applied below the waterline of destroyers at this time seem usually to have been black in colour. For example, in March 1899 Hayes' black protective composition was used on Teazer, Wizard and Conflict." citing Cover 128A/228. He noted that C-in-C Portsmouth, Admiral Charles Hotham, wrote on 19 January 1901 to the Admiralty: "destroyers should be painted same colour and bottoms black before delivery from contractors." Hotham also complained that "Myrmidon arriving here from Jarrow had a broad white waterline which had to be scraped out." Citing Cover 165/118, Lyons also noted "The bottoms to be black antifouling (Rahtjen's or Stephenson's)." Maurice

South African Defence Force Maurice

That is what they said to me after SADF drafted me and before I spent large parts of the next four years hovering over Angola. Maurice

Steve Usually tight fits are good - they ensure accuracy and integrity of the basic structure. Maurice

Steve This looks like a good choice for a first model. There is a build log for this kit that you may find useful on another site that also has a gallery by another model builder who chose it for his first wooden ship model project. I do not know if it is permissible to post the link on this site--perhaps one of the moderators can comment. Maurice

Steve Welcome! If you have never built a ship model (or any model) the very last choice should be a three-masted fully-rigged ship. The sheer volume of repetitive work involved in rigging will test your patience to the limit, and raises the very strong possibility you will abandon the project. In your situation, I would choose a schooner. Maurice

Jeff @ArnoldAmbrose Huascar had quite a remarkable career. Under the Peruvian flag it fought against Spain, as part of a rebellion against the Peruvian government (during which time it engaged the British cruiser Shah in an action that saw the first combat use of automobile torpedoes), and, after the rebellion ended, in the War of the Pacific against Chile (including the sinking of Esmeralda) and was captured by Chilean forces at the Battle of Angamos. Chile put the ship into its own service (including fighting an action with the Peruvian monitor Manco Capac) and in the Chilean Civil War. Huascar was made an early example of the 'heritage ship' in the 1930s, was largely restored to the final state it had in Chilean active service (circa 1890) in the 1950s, and is still afloat as a museum ship. Paper Shipwright in the UK publishes an excellent 1:250 scale model of the ship and it is quite high on my list to build (once I recover from all the rigging of Prinz Adalabert, because Huascar also was brig rigged). Maurice

@ArnoldAmbrose I am not as confident as you in the expertise of contemporay designers! One could regard all ironclads of this era--apart from those that were armour covered versions of broadside sailing ships--as experiments. This is especially true of the designs that tried to combine turrets with sailing rigs (which were necessary for any ocean-going steam-powered warship because of the very high fuel consumption required to provide sufficient steam for rather inefficient engines). Since there was no existing design data, the design process was empirical and the outcomes could be less than optimal. In the case of Prinz Adalbert one can only say that the designer did not produce a very effective vessel. Two contemporary designs--those for the Peruvian ironclad Huascar and for the ex-Confederate warships taken over by the Royal Navy as Scorpion and Wivern-- were much more balanced with greater arcs of fire and the use of tripod masts to clear the space taken up with shrouds. One possible reason for placing the turret towards the stern may have been better weight distribution; the heavy weights were boilers, engines, turret successively from forward to aft and they were concentrated over the middle section. Also, Prinz Adalbert was designed with a ram which protruded 8 metres ahead of the bow underwater, and it is possible that it was seen as the ship's primary armament. I do not think we ever will know the full rationale behind the design because the builder went bankrupt in 1868 and I am not aware of any remaining company records. Thank you for taking such an interest in this model project. Maurice

Sam You might want to take a look at the body plan for HMS Glorious which is accessible online at NMM: https://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/56637.html Maurice

Many thank again for your encouraging comments and likes. I now have added all the chainplates below the channels. I then cut out and furled all four square sails. I had already decided to replace the provided paper yards with items made from brass but discovered that I needed to do some serious maintenance work on my lathe, so I took a shortcut and used turned brass spars from Master Models in Poland that were exactly the correct size. The sails then were fitted to the yards. It may seem that they are placed incorrectly since they are in front of the yards instead of below them but this is accurate since Prinz Adalbert’s sails were bent to the yards using jackstays on top of the yards—a common method adopted earlier in the 19th century. Finally, I fitted the four yards to the masts. The topsail yards are lowered to the caps because the sails are furled. Next up is making up and fitting the lifts for the yards. Thank you for your continuing encouragement. Maurice

I really appreciate all your support for this project. Thank you. I have made further progress with rigging Prinz Adalbert. Almost all the standing rigging is finished since I now have made up and fitted all the backstays. All that remains is fabricating and installing the chainplates. Adding these has had to wait until all the shrouds and backstays were in place because they have to align with their orientation. The process so far has highlighted the large quantity of elements involved in rigging square rigged vessels. Even though Prinz Adalbert was only a brig (with two masts) and had unitary topmasts and topgallant masts, the standing rigging has required over ninety deadeyes and almost three metres of Albion Alloys wire (perhaps I should buy shares!) and I still have all the running rigging to make up and fit. Thank you all again for your interest and support which keep me moving forward with this project. Maurice

Thank you all again for your continuing interest. Forty deadeyes more and the lower shrouds have been assembled and installed! Now I only have to make deadeyes for the backstays! Thank you for looking. Maurice