Martian Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 Am I allowed to say that this is good recovery? Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phildagreek Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 Good to see you've regained the upper hand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted July 16, 2014 Author Share Posted July 16, 2014 Am I allowed to say that this is good recovery? Martin Quietly! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted July 19, 2014 Author Share Posted July 19, 2014 This might look as though there has been very little progress, but actually I've got a long way today. If you look back at some of the pictures in post 168, you can see that the join between the replacement front end of the flight deck and the Phalanx deck wasn't quite lining up - and I was wondering how to sort it. Then I realised that the CIWS deck is scratch built anyway, so why not just replace it. So off comes the CIWD deck: Then I started again with a single piece of plastic to make a single deck from the bow right back... That's a good couple of hours of sanding and dry fitting, but it'll be worth it in the end. More tomorrow. Crisp 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
longshanks Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 Coming back together nicely ! Cheers Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted July 20, 2014 Author Share Posted July 20, 2014 (edited) Starting to tidy up round the edges of the flight deck now - the port quarter is a different shape in Ark from the other two hulls, so I've had to remodel the spurn water / flight deck loop housing; this now looks a lot neater (the white bit is replacement deck edge etc., and by the look of it I might need to extend it for'd a little): Also getting ready to fit the cat walks, which are much smaller than the Lusty ones modelled by Airfix. Top marks to WEM for including them, which has saved me loads of scratch work. For now I am at least getting them fettled and ready; they might not be fitted for a while. Only gravity holding this one in place, but it is beginning to fit nicely. Steady, but pleasing progress. Edited July 21, 2014 by Ex-FAAWAFU 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxy Posted July 20, 2014 Share Posted July 20, 2014 Great work shipmate . Nice going and its up and at it. Cheers foxy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted July 25, 2014 Author Share Posted July 25, 2014 Port side catwalks taking shape: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rich2010 Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 Those catwalks look great, so far - watch the thinners tin. When I opened my envelope from WEM I saw these and they filled me dread. They still do a little bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted July 25, 2014 Author Share Posted July 25, 2014 Those catwalks look great, so far - watch the thinners tin. When I opened my envelope from WEM I saw these and they filled me dread. They still do a little bit. Thinners tin? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianthemodeller Posted July 26, 2014 Share Posted July 26, 2014 Jar with the green top?? Oh, spent a pleasant hour reading the thread - very interesting build and giving me a bit of encouragement to get my Indefatigable off the shelf of doom... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted July 27, 2014 Author Share Posted July 27, 2014 (edited) Jar with the green top??... Ah yes. Not thinners, but Tamiya cement - but I take the point! I confess I was trying to work out what auto-correct could have turned into "thinners tin" - some comment about the PE catwalks, perhaps? Edited July 27, 2014 by Ex-FAAWAFU 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted July 27, 2014 Author Share Posted July 27, 2014 Jar with the green top?? Oh, spent a pleasant hour reading the thread - very interesting build and giving me a bit of encouragement to get my Indefatigable off the shelf of doom... Indefat? Do tell. What scale? What catastrophe put it onto the Shelf in the first place? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted July 27, 2014 Author Share Posted July 27, 2014 (edited) Inevitable, really. Since I last wrote I have been double checking references, and it appears that5 my era Ark has a slightly different layout of her catwalks than the others - specifically the layout of the liferaft canisters along the port side. A small part of me wishes I'd never spotted it, but now that I have I have to fix it, or it will always bug me! It's difficult to illustrate, so you might just have to take my word for it, but here I have started to fix it. The big stroke of luck is that I have a mate who has built this kit, including using the WEM PE, but as a straight Lusty - which means he has the Ark / Invincible bit of the PE still available. This will give me just enough spares to get the job done without too much pain. For some reason best known to the RN, Lusty has some slots on her catwalks with 5 rows of life rafts, and some with 4, and some with 3. Ark's were all 4 in the late-80s, which means some of the holes are too big. It is hard to see in this shot, but the slot on the left is a 5 open, and that on the right (which I have already extended with some very careful razor saw action) is a 4 but started out as a 3. I now need to find a way of making the left hand one, as we look, about 20% narrower - which will probably mean replacing it entirely with a spare section of catwalk wall from my mate's set. Probably easier to see the difference in size in this pic. Otherwise, this PE is excellent, and really takes the model to a different place. Getting it to fit properly round my newly re-worked port quarter is a bit of a game, but lots of dry fitting and careful filing of fragile pieces and I am gradually getting there. Once all this is in place, I then have to build the 24 liferaft racks on the port side (though I will fit the catwalks properly before that, or the impact of any sanding and filling will be mayhem!) More soon... Edited July 28, 2014 by Ex-FAAWAFU 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianthemodeller Posted July 27, 2014 Share Posted July 27, 2014 Indefat? Do tell. What scale? What catastrophe put it onto the Shelf in the first place? It's based on the Heller 1/400 Illustrious kit. I made up the hull, cut it to make a waterline model and then extended it as the Indefatigable was longer than the Illustrious. It was at the point it stalled as I couldn't get the profile of the rear hull to look right. But I think I have a cunning plan (Mr Fox) so it will be coming off the shelf once my current build (a VW party bus) is finished! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fritag Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 Well now. After all of this fine work with PE - you'll be just the man to turn to for advice on working with etch! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted July 28, 2014 Author Share Posted July 28, 2014 (edited) That would be the blind leading the blind, Steve! The biggest problem - which I am yet to resolve fully - is what glue to use. CA certainly works, but it is as rigid as a very rigid thing on a specially rigid day in Stifftown, which means that even the tiniest flex in the part (and the catwalks are obviously pretty long and thin) means it pops off at high speed. Fine now, but aggravating in the extreme if it does it after you have carefully filled, sanded, faired in, painted...I have had some quite good results with white glue on the fo'c'sle, so I think I am going to try that next. The other thing I have learned it to have a fairly fine grade sanding stick to hand (preferably an old one that you don't mind getting manky!). Any glue spilled onto the surface of the PE comes off easy as anything while it is still fresh, but turns into immovable concrete if you leave it more than a few minutes.The vice is a godsend, as is my hold and fold thingy. But the one thing you definitely cannot do without is a lot of patience; working with PE if you're in any kind of hurry is fatal! P.S. When I get a little time at a weekend (so not soon...) I plan to experiment with soldering PE. The problem of tiny mating surfaces is every bit as prevalent in 1/350 as it is in 1/48! Edited July 28, 2014 by Ex-FAAWAFU Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fritag Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 I have had some quite good results with white glue on the fo'c'sle, so I think I am going to try that next. I might have a play with that idea as well. I like the logic of it getting around the unforgiving rigidity of cyano - especially as ultimate grip strength is probably not the key issue. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AntPhillips Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 I'm sure I've seen or read of using small well spaced dots of CA to locate the etch part and then using White Glue (PVA) to fill between. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted July 28, 2014 Author Share Posted July 28, 2014 (edited) I might have a play with that idea as well. I like the logic of it getting around the unforgiving rigidity of cyano - especially as ultimate grip strength is probably not the key issue. Exactly - particularly if you use Ant's idea of combining the two. These catwalks are laminated onto plastic card to give the deck some rigidity (WEM's suggestion) - otherwise they'd be flopping about all over the place and would bend horribly even when fitted. That does at least mean that there is a reasonable area of plastic for the side walls (as it were) to bond onto. - as you say, that means that they are reasonably strong. The biggest headache so far (apart from the bloody Navy re-configuring the layout of the life rafts just to annoy me; can't those fish-heads leave anything alone?) is getting the port quarter section right. The catwalk there bends rounds the corner and ends up with a ladder down onto the Phalanx deck, and I have completely rebuilt that, of course, so I am going to have to find a PE ladder from somewhere and fettle it to fit; it is actually quite prominent. Edited July 28, 2014 by Ex-FAAWAFU Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxy Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 PVA is the answer to your problem with railings, it also dry's clear, so less sanding needed. Nice work so far FAA shipmate. Cheers foxy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 Great progress! Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rich2010 Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 Ah yes. Not thinners, but Tamiya cement - but I take the point! I confess I was trying to work out what auto-correct could have turned into "thinners tin" - some comment about the PE catwalks, perhaps? Sorry yes, an under the belt comment from me. It all worked out ok in the end, so I reckon I'm in the clear. Great work on the PE. Re the rigidity issue, I've always thought CA to be very brittle with the slightest knock sending the bit pinging off somewhere. What are the long term effects of using PVA though? Can't remember if it's paintable (certainly not with water-based paints). I guess the problem is that PE, and resin I suppose, doesn't bond/ weld like plastic. I would guess the best way would be to solder PE together, but then the scale effect can be lost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted August 3, 2014 Author Share Posted August 3, 2014 (edited) Not much this week - I went down to Cornwall to see a bit of this at CU: But I have now got all three catwalks fitted (the deck pieces, that is, with the remodelled walls to follow): I am away for the next few days, so this is likely to be it for a couple of weeks, though I might possibly sneak in an hour or two here and there. Happy modelling! Crisp Edited August 3, 2014 by Ex-FAAWAFU 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted August 11, 2014 Author Share Posted August 11, 2014 Ever since I built the anchor cables and the capstans area of the fo'c's'le, I have been a bit dissatisfied with the level of detail. It was just a question of whether I'd get too far down the painting road before I cracked... and I didn't. Off came the old, rather crude, reinforcing plates that protect the deck from the cables, and I have replaced them with some adapted sections of Lusty catwalk. This is not 100% accurate, but once painted it will look a whole lot better than the simple slabs of plastic that were there before. Note also the start of added detail for the forward bulkhead that sits beneath the Sea Dart launcher - Airfix's Goalkeeper ammo lockers, cut down. ...and the same thing with the fo'c's'le deck dry fitted (adding the detail once the deck is in place would be three times as hard). Also started to add detail to the catwalks, starting with port aft. The flight deck loop has been tacked in place all along the side (the thing that looks like a horizontal ladder), and I have put in the first 4 (of about 30) PE life raft brackets - a major improvement on Airfix's offering: ...and with 4 life rafts balanced in place (not cleaned up or anything - just to gauge the spacing before the CA gel dried): 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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