SS Ophir Steam Coaster +++FINISHED+++

[Murdo]

To be honest mate, unless you're going for a really brand new, out of the shipyard build, then rather than get rid of the beading, paint it rust colour and you have an instant rust effect.

Rust causes that kind of rippling and beading.

[longshanks]

You doing a grand job Ray!!

If your thinking of plating the hull may I make a suggestion?

It may be simpler, quicker and more representative if you use masking tape following the lines of the plating, The edge left will give an impression of plating that is not to heavy.

Keep up the good work

Kev

[Ray S]

If your thinking of plating the hull may I make a suggestion?

It may be simpler, quicker and more representative if you use masking tape following the lines of the plating, The edge left will give an impression of plating that is not to heavy.

Kev

Thanks for that tip Kev, I have given it a go. I used some of my Tamiya tape, which just happened to be the right size for the plating sections. I used strips of it to form the gaps, and then popped down two or three pieces to follow the curve of the hull fore and aft. I also put some tape down where the 'anti-rubbing strakes' (I think) go:

Then a quick spray of Halford's finest grey primer or three and I ended up with:

A giant humbug! It looked quite neat like this, but somewhat unrealistic. I added the strakes along the hull sides and around the transom, I used some larger diameter half-round rod for this. I found fitting the side ones was okay, using the glue-a-bit-then-some-more method I had learnt the other day, but the bit around the aft area was more tricky, despite being able to bend the rod with my trusty probe. I must take a picture of it so you know what I mean - it is something my Grandfather gave me over 40 years ago, and it gets used for tons of things! I could see the ridge/edge that Kev had mentioned, but proof was in the painting as they say, so I brush painted some Revell Antracite acrylic which had been suitably watered down, and after two coats I had this:

This really highlighted the 'plating', and I am pleased to say that it has worked a treat, the edges are visible, but in a subtle way, definitely not 'in your face', so a huge thanks to Kev. I have learnt plenty from you so far! One thing I did notice was the difference in texture between the primed area and the non-primed area. There is some graininess on the primed bit, and it highlights the plating just a hint more, but next time I will probably give an extra coat of primer when I have removed the masking tape, or sand the surface down with micromesh or similar.

I have also painted the wooden decks with some of Revell's Hellgrau 371, this will end up with a thin wash of a brown enamel to try and make it look like weathered wood.

Last night I also made up a second hold hatch, which will go towards the bow end of the cargo deck. Today I have given the hull and decks a third coat of paint. The grotty waterline should hopefully vanish when I fit this to a seascape - the filler has crumbled a bit where I did not get the plastic hull base quite right on the join to the hull.

That is it for now, thanks for looking and all the comments and tips, it is really appreciated.

Cheers,

Ray

[Robert Stuart]

Looking good Ray, the plating works well

[Col.]

Although I know close to nothing about ships your model looks 'right' if that makes sense? There's enough surface texture to impart life and detail without going to the extent of being rough.

[longshanks]

Looking tasty buddy

Glad to be of help

Looking forward to further progress

Kev

[nimrod54]

That looks fantastic Ray, it's amazing the difference that a lick of paint makes. On the Halfords primer, I usually give it a light rub over with a 3200 grit pad and that tends to smooth things out but leaves enough of a key for the topcoat.

[CliffB]

What a transformation! Now looking even better (if that's possible!).

Cliff

[Norman]

Great work ! i am very much enjoying this !

[Ray S]

Hello all. Quite a lot of small stuff done to SS Ophir these last few days. First up was some colour, in the form of lifebelts:

I had some plastic tube in stock, it was 3.2mm and seemed to fit correctly. I trimmed the end off the rod with a razor blade held vertically, then stuck 8 of these down onto some double sided tape attached to a stick. While I was at it, I used some thicker black Contrail rod, which also had a proportionally wider middle, and cut a few discs of that, which will be destined to become spare tyres for protecting the hull sides when in harbour. The photos show at least one over the side of the ship over the gunwhale.

I have given the wooden deck a bit of colour too. I had painted the main colour as Revells Light Grey, and today I used some Humbrol 93 Desert Yellow enamel dry brushed over the planking, giving just a hint of a brownish faded colour, with the grey still predominant:

Then it was time for some more titchy stuff. I had got some White Ensign 1/200 Photo etch for the ladders, so I made up two of these short ladders:

I painted them with a light grey acrylic to act as a base coat, the gave them a coat of Humbrol 164 for the treads and gloss white for the handrails. These are somewhat easier to work with than their 1/700 cousins...

There are 13 stanchions on either side of the cargo deck, these are metal bars which go from the deck to a point on the inside of the hull side, and the diagrams I have show they are fitted to a plate on the deck. Getting consistent spacing is another failing of mine, so I used a sticky 'tape measure' - I used some Tamiya tape, and marked on directly from the plans the spacing. I drew across the tape with a pen, then cut the tape lengthways, and placed them in position, the fitted the plates with a dab of CA applied with a bit of fishing line, the plates were fitted by using a damp blunt cocktail stick, which picked the bits up easily. They are still not quite straight though!:

I have also made up 10 sets of double bollards, 10thou card for the base and .9mm round rod for the bollards. To make sure the bollards were the same size, I taped some Tamiya tape to the edge of my cutting mat, and held the completed set at the edge (the lip on the base hooked over the edge of the mat) and used the razor blade to trim to length.

They were painted Revell Middle Grey for the base and Tar Black for the bollards. Finally, here is the ship as she looks now:

Thanks for looking, and the lovely comments again.

All the best, til next time

Ray

[longshanks]

Good progress Ray, Its good to get some of the fiddly bits out the way as you go. Keeps you fresh for the main components.

Deck has come up nicely

Kev

[CliffB]

The detailing is looking very nice Ray. Do you prefer scratch-building the fiddly bits or the larger structural components?

Cliff

[Col.]

Marvellous paintwork and scratch-building Ray

[wimbledon99]

I'm in awe of this. To build this from nothing is rather special

[Murdo]

This is coming on really well!

[Murdo]

C'mon Ray, getting impatient here.

Post more. I need my fix!

[Ray S]

The detailing is looking very nice Ray. Do you prefer scratch-building the fiddly bits or the larger structural components?

Cliff

Hi Cliff, good question. I loved building up the hull and general superstructure, but at the moment the sense of achievement when I have finished something smaller and complex is quite a feeling.

Murdo, thank you for your 'prompting!' I have been remiss in not posting for a few days. Please accept my apologies! I now have a few updates for your perusal.

First up, I fitted four sets of bollards to the rear raised deck. These had been painted on a peg, and thankfully I managed to prize them off the masking tape without ruining them. I fixed them with liquid poly, straight onto the underlying paintwork:

Then it was time to start on the cabin on the flying bridge. I looked again at the original photos I linked to early on in the build thread, and something had not looked right. One of the photographs, whilst it is Ophir, must be from an earlier period in her life, as the bridge looks really different to the other three pics. There is a covered cabin in the three, but not in the one. I suppose she was modified, perhaps during one of her Navy secondments. The plans showed no cabin. So I decided to go with a cabin for this version. This involved windows. Another area where I have difficulties. What to do?

Well, I thought about it a bit (hence the lack of updates) and eventually decided to cut them out of the plastic sheet side walls. Some of the better modellers out there have used photoetch ladders to produce their windows, but I did not have anything in stock suitable, so I drew out the window positions onto the walls, then chain-drilled a load of little holes, then carefully trimmed them out to squares with a new scalpel blade, ensuring I missed my fingertips this time. The photos showed that the window arrangement was 'handed', so I marked on the inside which was was towards to bow. There is a bigger blank section at the aft end of the wall compared tp the front.

I have also made up the flying bridge, I have used plain card rather than grooved for the deck. I managed to get the edges reasonably square, and was able to add the beading trim to finish it off in line with the pictures. I have also made up a control stick for a ships wheel to go inside the cabin, and will also see if I can rustle up a table and some other bits and bobs to furnish the cabin with a bit more 'stuff' as you should hopefully be able to see through the windows when all is done. I remembered AFTER I had finished the cabin that they needed a way to get in, I had forgotten the door! I made one up and fitted it to the rear starboard wall, as that is where the plans show a ladder from the boat deck, which I think is the proper name for the 'roof' that I will mention shortly. I still need to re-open the window aperture.

Last night I started on the rear deckhouse roofing and got the part sanded out, then today I managed to put the vertical parts on which hang below the roof. I there are also three skylights to fit to the roof, another area where I have struggled, but I had a plan in mind for this attempt. I have made up the largest of the three, but not put the skylights themselves on. I am going to use clear card, then mask the 8 glazed sections then paint it, and fit that rather than trying to make frames then glazing them.

I am not sure what colour the cargo deck should be, there is no mention of it in the book, so I have made a 'best guess' and painted it white, but I have deliberately made it a patchy white. I am going to have to learn how to 'weather' this, as I rarely weather my models, but a coastal steamer would not be gleaming. I will probably use Tamiya weathering sets, I have dabbled a bit in the past but not on anything too important.

Anyway, here she is, with the deckhouse roof and flying bridge just dry fitted.

Thanks for looking and the advice (and question!), and for your keenness to see more Murdo! That is the first time anyone has said that sort of thing with one of my builds. It made my day!

See you soon,

Ray

[whitestar12chris]

looking very good Ray, know what you mean about the little things and scratch building.

All the best Chris

[Col.]

This really is taking shape beautifully Ray. Very nice work.

[longshanks]

Good work going on here Ray

There is something very satisfying in scratch building........

Keep up the regular posts

Kev

[Murdo]

First up, I fitted four sets of bollards to the rear raised deck. These had been painted on a peg, and thankfully I managed to prize them off the masking tape without ruining them. I fixed them with liquid poly, straight onto the underlying paintwork:

Thanks for looking and the advice (and question!), and for your keenness to see more Murdo! That is the first time anyone has said that sort of thing with one of my builds. It made my day!

See you soon,

Ray

Absolutely dead keen here mate, this is brilliant work!

The pic above:

Ray, I really, really hate to tell you this now but... Bollards would always have an oval hole (generally just slightly wider than the bollard) in the hull right next to them to feed the mooring rope through.

[Ray S]

The pic above:

Ray, I really, really hate to tell you this now but... Bollards would always have an oval hole (generally just slightly wider than the bollard) in the hull right next to them to feed the mooring rope through.

Murdo, this is just the sort of help I need! Thank you so much for pointing that out for me. I think I will be able to get the holes drilled out, and also for the 4 sets that will go on the cargo deck. There are areas marked on the plans roughly where the bollards go, but I misinterpreted them, so you have set me back on the straight and narrow...

Anyway, today's update: I have done very little construction these last couple of days, but I had a bit of time today to get some painting done, I have painted the loading hatches, I had no idea on colours, but the book gave a description of paintwork in general, and mentioned that at least some Shipping Lines used red for the hatches, so that is what I went for. I first up painted the two assemblies in Revell Middle Grey acrylics, then, gave it a coat or four of Light Grey for the hold itself. I found that painting the darker grey acted like a pre-shade and gives a slightly worn look to the lighter grey. I used Humbrol's H60 Red for the hatches themselves.

I have also cut out a hole up on the Boat deck to accept the funnel, which I made out of some plastic tube that just happened to be spot on size wise. I have given it a funnel grating from .10mm rod, with a capper which originally was a coaling scuttle for HMS Dreadnought in 1/350 scale, but looks ok perched on top of the funnel. There is a strengthening strip around the funnel at the base of the black section where the funnel stays will fit. That was made from .2 thou round rod that had been curved using a paintbrush handle pulled along the rod.

As usual, the cabin, boat deck and funnel are just dry fitted, and the funnel still has some masking tape on it. It may be a while before I can post some more, I have a busy few evenings coming up after work.

I do have one question: on the plan, there is some rigging from the foremast which is like the sailing ships, with ratlines. Any ideas where they would fit on the hull anyone? I have some very tiny etched parts which were from GMM's set for the Russian ships Borodino and Varyag, and they were to tie down rigging - I was thinking of fitting them to the cargo deck and running the vertical lines down to them but am not sure:

Don't forget, any advice is always appreciated, especially if it stops me making a boo-boo!

All the best, Ray

[longshanks]

Hi Ray,

coming along nicely

RE Shrouds would come down to the deck inside the bulwarks and connect to the deck via a bottle screw / turnbuckle

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ship/gear.htm

Hope this helps

Kev

[bhouse]

I'm seriously impressed by the skills displayed here. I think the finished piece is going to be a real winner.

I'm also very impressed with Ray's courteous posts - even when replying to new information that will result in hours of additional work! To me, his responses exemplify the spirit of Britmodeller.

[Lashenden]

Just found this inspiring build! One of these late-victorian/Edwardian steam coasters is still in existence - the SS Robin, built in Bow in the '90s and substantially unaltered. See www.ssrobin.org Although she has a slightly different configuration - an open bridge separate from the stern superstructure, she is essentially a very similar vessel to the Orphir and would be a great reference for many of the details you're 'guesstimating' currently. I used to be quite closely involved with the Robin, and you have reproduced the characteristic lines of a coaster hull perfectly - respec'!